Just one more dose of Star Shards and a Fairy Stone, and I should be…
It was already the dead of night, and Wizard Rasmodius was sweating profusely over his cauldron. It was bubbling its usually murky green mixture, though it flashed with hints of purple at the addition of the Star Shards he took from a nearby shelf. He reached up again and frowned.
I ran out of Fairy Stones NOW?
He threw down his hat and ran a frantic hand through his disheveled hair in frustration. He was THIS close to a breakthrough.
I suppose it's too late right now to ask someone in town to try their hand at fetching one for me. This is too unstable to leave unattended for too long a period of time…
He whipped around at the sound of a resounding BANG of a door being thrown open. Standing there again the dark was the silhouette of a person in a long, sweeping black dress, wind-blown long hair, and a pointy black hat on her head. The Wizard dropped his shoulders and threw a furtive glance her way.
"Back again?"
"Only for tonight, like always," the Witch replied with a hint of cackle in her voice, stepping inside with her broom in hand. She looked around the dungeon-like abode. "Things never change here except…" She eyed the bubbling cauldron in between them. "…an experiment on the verge of completion?"
"Yes, so leave it alone," The Wizard answered curtly, "I've been working on this for months now."
"Like past experiments you'd coo over while I was overlooked!" The Witch screeched wildly as angry tears began to form. "Cast aside! The proof you forgot I was there was the day you went off and did what you did-"
"I think you should leave before you hurt yourself!" The Wizard yelled at her, pointing towards the door and making a motion to shoo her away with force if necessary. Instead, the Witch just inched forward.
"Years, and I've still never gotten over it! Why do you think I visit ever year?" she said in an eerily calm tone, "And now, here you are on the brink of a breakthrough, the pinnacle of your hard toil…How easy it would be to just…lift a finger…"
"NO!"
As the witch pointed a dainty finger at the cauldron, the Wizard lunged at her and knocked her to the ground. Her intended spell released, and the gunshot of blue plasma struck one of the Wizard's shelves of bottled minerals and ingredients. They splashed into the cauldron with a sickening electric blue explosion while the Wizard and the Witch were scuffling with each other on the floor to prevent the other from blasting spells in their faces.
It was only when the blue explosion became a flare of fiery red that blew out the Wizard's roof and into the night sky like a destructive beacon did they stop and stare.
The sound of Kovu barking madly at the front door was cutting into Faye's much-needed beauty sleep. Groggily, she pushed strands of her maroon-tinged locks out of her face as she reached for a light switch. However, when her vision came to focus, there was no way she missed the bright firelight pouring through her window.
Seriously? The Wizard does this kind of stuff at night?
She strode over to the front door, where Kovu was pawing at the door nervously. She hushed him gently before stepping outside for herself. What she thought was just another simple spell or experiment gone awry was much farther from the truth than she thought.
From the near distance of the Wizard's tower from her farm, the clouds above were swirling dark where the beam penetrated what was thick black night. The sky had become rotten shades of green and yellow spreading over Stardew Valley with lightning bolts flashing through like white vines.
The sound of monstrous screeching met her ears. Days in the caves warned her of oncoming cave bats. Seeing a colony heading her way, she grabbed her Galaxy Sword beside the door in time to hack at them before they struck her face. Blood, guts, and a large number of bat wings splattered everywhere.
This is SO not normal.
She quickly changed out of her nightclothes into a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt, keeping her sword close at hand and, after stepping into her boots, strapping on her small pack, and pulling on a red flannel, ran out the door towards the stables. With a whistle, Faye jumped on her approaching horse, which neighed nervously.
"To the Wizard's tower, Pip!" And they raced through the well-kept fields. To Faye's dismay, more bats had arrived, destroying her crops and nipping at the two of them. She swung her sword, leaving entrails in her wake, though her white shirt now sported specks of blood from bat bites.
Upon reaching the grounds in front of the tower, the winds had picked up immensely like a hurricane without rain, and the murky yellow and green color had descended onto the town as mist. Faye found the Wizard squaring off against a wickedly-grinning Witch.
"What have you done?!" he yelled at her, revving up a spell in the palms of his hands.
"What I always wished I'd done every time you ignored me!" the Witch stuck out her tongue as she aimed a spell at the Wizard. He ducked sideways and crashed into Faye, who had dismounted and ran towards him. The spell impacted a boulder beside them.
"Young Faye!"
"Wizard! What's going on? What did you-?"
"No time to explain right now! Take this and make safe the town! I will draw the Witch away from here!"
At that, the Wizard shoved a particular large vial labelled Barrier into Faye's hands. She barely had time to register what was happening before the Wizard charged into the Witch. Before her eyes, the Wizard shoved the both of them through a portal in mid-air, effectively disappearing and leaving Faye in the increasingly windy fields.
She turned towards the direction of the town. Already, otherworldly monstrous sounds were echoing in the air mixed in with distant screaming.
She shoved the vial in her pack, jumped on her horse, and raced through the trees towards the nearest buildings of Marnie's ranch.
A/N: It's been quite a while since I've made any fanfiction, but my addiction to Stardew Valley had me thinking of writing one, especially one involving issues between the Witch and Wizard starting something catastrophic. However, I feel a bit rusty, but hopefully I'll pick it up in the next succeeding chapters nyehe.
This may or may not get darker. Constructive criticism and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome :3
