Twenty centuries ago, Seven Men who possessed the Velth turned to the dark side. Manipulating astounding powers, they shattered the world in an event history calls "The Great Shattering"
**Corset—Elephant Music**
Beyond stunned, Ember watched as their headless bodies crumbled to the floor just in time for her mother to complete the Runic Spell which she pushed over at Rashel and the palace of flames with a petrifying scream of rage.
The spell, like drawings of fire come to life in an ancient language, elongated and covered the entire palace building. The impact threw Rashel off whatever high horse he stood on and the protection spell took its root, engulfing the palace of the Azure Witches in red tunic texts like fiery flames.
But great damage had been done, and the promise of a far greater damage hung in the air that was charged with danger.
Ember scrambled to her mother, her expression set in true fear, "We must leave…." She said, her voice breaking, "mother." She added hesitantly when the woman didn't move but instead stared at the five battle witches and their bloodied heads that rolled to the side of the room.
She was probably thinking the same thing Ember was thinking—that no matter how much of a great channeller Rashel was, he shouldn't have been able to easily take them down like that.
No one had that kind of power—not an Arch Witch, Supreme witch, or even a mere Fifth Gate Fallen One.
Nausea came over Ember, but she swallowed it down. This was hardly the time to show weakness in any form. This was hardly the time to watch the lifeless eyes of the severed heads that stared back at her! Death… the very thing she dreaded more than anything had visited, and the flying ravens were more than enough sign of it if the headless bodies weren't enough.
Even though trapped outside the runic shield, the highly ominous ravens that visited when her mother was still in labour fluttered their wings even more violently. They had all thought they came for her sister, but now it was clear the ravens came for them.
Her mother looked down on her small figure, and then fell on her knees unable to hold herself up anymore. Ember's small hands darted out to support her, but she shrugged her off of course. It was already impressive that she was able to hold them off with just twenty percent of her strength or less, but her mother didn't seem to share her thoughts.
"He took down five of my Battle Witches just like that," she muttered, her red hair identical to Ember's, matted to her skin with her sweat.
After the very rare Supreme Witches, there was the still rare Arch Witches, and then highly sought out Battle Witches. A B-Rank Witch shouldn't have been taken out like that—especially not in a battle.
But this had been no battle—it was a massacre.
"He… he was Grand Channeling, High Priestess. He is something that we never expected…" Ember said in a shaky voice while the weight of her mother's judgemental stare rested on her.
"You know… assuming you possessed even a lick of the powers bestowed by our ancestors, you could have helped. We could have been stronger. Our line has come to this because of you…and me."
Ember's shaking small body froze at the words. Without flinching, her mother had poured a cold bucket of ice water on her in the middle of such a dire situation…once again, the woman was ruthlessly blaming Ember for something that she never had control of.
Was it really her fault that she was like this?!
Her eyes stared at the headless bodies and the blood drenched in the room. Her heart, heavy, even when she wanted to remain unfeeling. Her mother staggered up and began to leave the room. Scrambling up as well, Ember motionlessly followed her.
But even before the protection spell had been put over the Palace, some monsters had made it in… and those monsters made the mistake of gravitating towards the High Priestess whose rage knew no bounds.
Glacier Orcs and Frost Drakes all from the fifth gates… it didn't matter which. With a mere flick of her fingers, her mother took them down, walking over their gory, bloodied bodies. Ember followed suit, and underneath her small feet, their hard bodies made no sound.
There should be at least five species of monsters from the gates but it seemed only these two had managed to escape.
They made it to the Safe Room where most of the witches in the castle were huddled in. There were about five hundred of them—and they represented the people that her mother's protection spell helped. Fifty men were there as well, and in the crowd was Ember's father.
The men of their coven were tribute slaves sent to them by the Human clan. They were picked from the weakest to ensure that only a female child could possibly come of them. The aversion towards a male witch started centuries ago, and it was the events two thousand years ago that sealed that aversion.
Male witches when born by mistake were killed immediately, although that hardly ever happened as two months into pregnancy, the gender of the child could be detected with the use of an advanced spell. Thus, abortion was rather preferred.
Ember's father was just a figurehead without a will of his own. Some might call him a donor. Even though her mother's Chosen one, he had no real power or a real place in their coven. Same as the fifty men that stood behind him.
Even as they entered the safe room, her father's loving gaze was on her mother who as usual took no real notice of him. Going straight for her newborn daughter, she cradled her in her arms and then took her place at the high pavilion. But the peace in the room greatly contradicted the chaos that was brewing outside.
Occasional impact that shook the palace showed that Rashel was trying to break through the protection spell that had kept him out. And something in her mother's eyes told Ember that the man might succeed sooner than they expected.
The witches looked up to their coven leader who delivered a harsh truth.
"Rashel, the Fifth Fallen One, breaks our walls… and he will succeed." Valata said, stilling the air in the room.
True to the kind of woman she was, she continued without pause, "In five minutes, or less, he will break through my protection spell. As for the six covens that make up the High Witch Council, I've alerted them but it will take at least fifteen minutes for them to get here."
The most Elderly witch of the coven, a woman of three hundred and two years, struck her staff against the ground. "We are prepared to die honorable deaths fighting to the last!" The woman gritted in a raspy voice, and the remaining witches echoed the same words.
"As the Azure Witches should!" her mother said, chin thrust up, "but we must still preserve our line no matter what. I shall have the Knight of Debts come and collect Freya. The Crown Princess Serpentine Andal Thorne of the Huntsman Human Clan owes me a blood debt. I am sure she will see to it that Freya is raised well."
Ember had anticipated that there was never a place for her in the matter of preserving the last line of the Azure Witches. She was after all just an empty bearer of the bloodline, and after seeing her powerlessness for herself in the face of Rashel's attack, she no longer fought the truth.
She found herself reconciling with that fact instead. Hell, she was tired of fighting already.
But before her mother could say anymore, the shield shattered like glass, the flame licking threads that formed its runes dissipating into thin air before their very eyes. Lightning fast, Rashel was before Valata who was encumbered by carrying a child. The Fallen One gripped her by the wrists, but Ember was already running for them before the next thing would happen.
As her sister fell freely from the high pavilion in her swaddled clothes, Ember barely made it to catch her.
Breathing hard from the near miss, she stared at the blank face of the newborn who still hadn't opened her eyes to the chaotic world around them… then instinctively, she cradled her closer to her chest wishing and wanting to protect her unstained innocence.
For a fleeting second, her and her mother exchanged a silent stare that held profound weight. 'Protect Freya,' her eyes said, but Ember didn't need her to tell her what to do. Her mother might not know it, but Ember too was capable of making a choice as well. And now, she will make the most important choice in her life.
Standing there though, she had a feeling this was the last time that she would ever see her mother.
Valata AshFall, High Priestess of the Azure Witch and Supreme Witch, turned away from her and then conjured an offensive spell with her free hand. Ember watched as that hand was severed by Rashel much like a thin knife cutting through bread. Then all hell broke loose.
Literally.