The Devil's Cursed Witch

Aureus felt like Morpheus looked at that mountain with a different gaze, as if he knew something was about to happen. He wanted to follow his uncle, but he knew the gray eagle would find out he was tailing him.

Aureus didn't know what to do. He looked at the mountain up north again.

"Where are you looking at? Erlos asked as he looked over there as well. "Is there something special about that mountain? A while ago, your uncle was looking there too, wasn't he?"

Aureus eyed Erlos. 'So he noticed it as well. I must not be that wrong about it.' He asked, "What is that mountain?"

Erlos raised a brow, "Why are you asking me?"

"Aren't you the local?"

"Well, I don't know. There are hundreds of mountains surrounding Agartha." Erlos replied vaguely.

Aureus pondered for a bit before asking, "Earlier, did you notice that the way my uncle was looking at that mountain seemed to be as if there was something strange?"

"I don't know, but then your uncle is strange. Maybe something wrong with his bird brain. If he is sane, then he will not cause a mess in the palace every time he visits. Tsk. Just remembering how I have to clean up everytime makes my mood sour--"

"No, Erlos. I...I have this feeling that something is going to happen. I try to ignore it, but my instincts aren't letting me be at peace. It's telling me something bad is going to happen and we need to stop it."

Erlos wanted to say that Aureus must be overthinking due to the atmosphere caused by the day of mourning, but then, he didn't want to hurt his friend's feelings. The golden eagle looked restless already. "So what do you want to do? You can tell me and I will help you."

"We...I think we need to go to that mountain and check what is there. Just a while ago, I felt strange energy from there. It was brief, and then afterwards, my uncle looked in that direction. There must be a connection. I am sure that feeling is not simply an illusion."

"Did you as well?"

"You mean, you too?

Erlos nodded. "Some kind of bad feeling I have been getting for a while now. I thought it's because I was getting emotional over this day. For years, terrifying memories from the past keep troubling me whenever this day approaches."

"We need to go to that mountain," Aureus said.

Erlos glanced around them. "We normally can't leave unless the council members and the seniors or each clan leave first. We have to sneak out."

Aureus understood. However, they were both too high profile--one the golden eagle of the current generation, and the other, the only surviving High Elf. Aureus had to dodge his clan members, while Erlos had to hide from the eyes of the Wood Elves. With the help of Erlos using a stealth spell, they slowly made their way out from the crowd.

Once the two were away from attention, Aureus held onto Erlos and they flew away from the Netherfields, headed towards that snow- covered mountain up north.

---

Cornelia went to Zelda who was silently standing by herself in front of the tombstones of her fallen sisters. The old witch looked lost, as if she was thinking about unsavory memories.

"Senior Zelda," Cornelia called for her and the stooping Black Witch looked at her.

"Lady Cornelia," the old woman politely nodded.

"Missing our sisters?" Cornelia asked as she stood next to Zelda. In front of them was the grave which belonged to Zelda's dear friend, the former Head of the Witches who was also Cornelia's master.

"We can do nothing more than missing them and keeping them alive in our memories," Zelda spoke, her hoarse voice more broken than usual.

Cornelia lowered her head and stood quietly by her side for a while, before saying, "That vision, you know about it."

Zelda simply sighed but said nothing. Cornelia took her lack of denial as confirmation.

"Did you... did you try to look into it further?" Cornelia asked, looking at her with a gaze full of expectations.

"What's the use?" Zelda commented. "Things that are meant to happen will happen. Stopping a tragedy will cause a more painful tragedy to occur."

"But, we can try to..."

"Enough, Lady Cornelia. You should prepare yourself for the vision to come to pass," Zelda spoke in a low voice, her gaze not leaving the gravestone.

Cornelia bit her lower lip as she held in her disappointment. "You...looks like you already know what is going to happen."

"Don't you know as well?"

"Not everything."

"I am the same as nothing is certain," Zelda replied, and this time, she didn't look at Cornelia but somewhere at a distance. "I only know that it will bring us pain."

Cornelia felt something was amiss. "Senior Zelda--"

"Cornelia, my dear," she heard a familiar voice calling for her. She turned around and found the senior White Witches from the Spirit Circle approaching them.  One of them was missing.

"Greetings, Lady Cornelia."

Glinda and Maria gave the Head of the Witches a light bow before looking at the Black Witch.

"It's been a long time, Sister Zelda," Glinda said as she offered her a smile.

Maria, being younger, was more polite. "Greetings, Senior Zelda."

"Good to see you two," Zelda replied. In terms of seniority, Zelda and Glinda were similar, with Maria and Thala slightly lower in status despite all four of them being elder-level individuals of the coven before they retired. "You must have something to talk about with Lady Cornelia. This one shall excuse herself."

Zelda walked away from them, choosing to stand alone once more in front of a different grave, her back looking lonely as she stood away from the rest of the witches.

What Cornelia wanted to ask Zelda remained unspoken. She could only let out a silent sigh. Cornelia moved her attention to her seniors. "I don't see Senior Thala."

"This is what we are concerned about. She left the Spirit Circle without us knowing and we don't know where she is," Glinda told her, shaking her head. "She even blocked Maria's connection from reaching her."

"What...I mean, what is going on?"

"We told you last time that Commander Morpheus came to see her."

"Yes."

"Since then, she has been acting suspiciously. She doesn't let us know what she is up to. Since we were worried, we were keeping tight watch on her, but she still managed to escape."

"She...must be somewhere around," Cornelia said anxiously. "This particular day is important to her, just like us so..."

"No, Cornelia. You do not understand. She is not called the Witch of Destruction for nothing. If she is behaving  like this, it means that the secret she's keeping is something we would never approve of if we knew. I have this feeling-- this intuition-- that she is going to do something really terrible."

"We should find her then. Do you have an item that belongs to her? I will try to scry her location," Cornelia said and the other two agreed.

"Thank you, Cornelia. We will try other ways as well."

On the other part of the graveyard, Leeora was standing in front of the tombstones of her husband and sons.

Wood Elves believe that members of their clan would return to earth after their death, turning into spirits who would further nurture the forest. At this moment, she could not help but reach out to ask help from them as the last resort of help.

Leeora closed her eyes, putting a hand over chest in order to ease her heavy heart.

'If you can hear my words, know that I am troubled. Something terrible is going to happen. After so long, this kingdom is finally experiencing peace. The peace you've worked so hard for... and I don't want anything to happen anymore.

'I am tired of being in pain. Tired of being left behind. I don't want to lose anyone again.

'If you can hear me, if you are listening to me and watching over the hard-earned peace of our kingdom, please, don't let anything happen. Please help me stop it. At least, show me a way to stop it. I believe your spirits are still here and still wishing for the wellness of this kingdom.

'Please, help me.'