Hi everyone, this story is very difficult from what I usually write, so there may be a few errors. Also this story is based in India, and there will be a few Hindi words in it. The glossary is at the bottom.
The cover image does not belong to me.
Today was the day of the 'Vikram' comet, a day Anita had marked on her calendar months ago. She and her friends had decided to meet in the fields just outside her village to celebrate, for such a comet was considered sacred in her country, and wizards and witches everywhere in India gathered in abandoned open places, performed pujas, prayed to the deities, and… well, celebrated.
Hundreds of years ago, when the untouchablility system still prevailed, and girls were considered a burden in India, India's first witch, Nisha, was born into a Vaishya family, named after the beautiful night of the same comet. Her parents loved her dearly, and all around everyone considered her to be a messenger of God as she could perform magic. Nisha believed it too, and so did her kids, for there were no schools for wizards in India at that time.
As the number of 'greats' before 'grandkids' increased, Nisha's descendants spread throughout the country. It wasn't long before Noor, an intelligent half-blood realized that they weren't, in fact, messengers of God, but instead actual jadugars who could perform real magic. She, along with a few others traveled far and wide under an alias to ensure that proper education in magic was available to young magicians. Soon, the wizard community became more informed, and as the foreign men stepped foot on Indian soil, Indian witches and wizards became even more advanced.
The 'Vikram' comet was named after the power Noor hoped to possess. As India absorbed Western magical practices, Noor became more and more powerful. Noor proclaimed herself Head Witch and all mages her disciples. People soon began to envy her position of power, and soon a power-hungry witch called Roshni strangled Noor in her sleep. That's not, of course, what she told Noor's students—her new students. According to them, she had challenged Noor and dueled her valiantly till she was dead. The few who saw the strangle-marks—the imprints of Roshni's slender fingers—on Noor's neck were too scared to actually say anything.
Thus began the Reign of Terror in the world of magic. Roshini, quite opposite to the meaning of her name, spread darkness everywhere. She enforced strict laws for all witches, and even though the other magical beings were not able to fall under her control, they were terrified of her. She was unpredictable, untamable. She killed many people in her inner circle on a whim, and performed more Unforgivable Curses than actual spells. The countless wizards who challenged her were all dead. It was said that she chopped off their heads and kept them as souvenirs. Magical beings all over the country cowered under her and her followers' harshness, and nobody was brave enough to speak up publicly.
Some of Noor's old supporters, tired to following Roshini's pointless rules came forward and performed magic so dark it wasn't spoken of ever before then. This magic rose Noor from the dead. Noor, filled with vengeance and hatred, killed Roshini as soon as she came back, which was the day of the comet.
Roshini, however, had created a Horcrux, and presumably to honor tradition, managed to absorb enough power on the day of the 'Vikram' comet for her to return to the living for a few hours for yet another murder on the same person.
It is said that since that time, since the fifteenth century, Roshini and Noor have chased each other across time, space, and everything in between just for a stupid grudge.
The Roshini comet is celebrated to honor two of the most powerful witches ever in India, however evil they may have been. It celebrates two witches chasing each other for over five hundred years, fighting to get what they wanted.
Lost in her thoughts regarding the violent history of her ancestors, Anita didn't notice where she was heading. By mistake, she stepped on someone's foot. Looking back, she saw that a woman was on the ground in a light summer dress. The woman lay so still that Anita thought that she was dead. Apologizing, Anita knelt down.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
The lady whimpered but didn't say anything.
The lady looked too weak to do, or say anything, so Anita was just about to go call for help when a firm hand closed around her ankle.
"Are you alright?" asked Anita, crouching down. "I was going to go call for help."
"No," the lady replied in a strange soft and melodious voice. "You're all the help I need."
"Wha-"Anita started, but the lady cut her to it.
"Injisio!"
And then, nothing.
. . . . .
When Anita regained consciousness (at least that's what it felt like), she was walking fast, short and hurried steps, though she was pretty sure she wasn't moving her feet.
"C'mon, where is she?" said somebody.
Anita tried to turn around to locate the speaker as she had absolutely no clue what was going on, she found out that she wasn't able to move her neck. She was still walking, even though she wasn't prompting her feet to move…. And that voice—that was definitely her voice, though she didn't recall ever saying those words. She didn't even know who she was looking for!
"Looking for me?" said a teasing voice from behind.
Anita turned. A woman in a kurta-pajama was standing there, smirking, and twirling around a wand in her hand.
Anita got a feeling that she was supposed to know the lady. She took out her wand.
-and then it finally clicked. That woman she saw lying on the road… she must have possessed her somehow. Anita had read about possessing spells in the library, how they require huge amounts of power. But, why would the lady possess her?
"Ah, Noor. I missed you" Anita but not-Anita grinned. "Not really."
"Back to you, Roshini," said the other lady.
When she finally figured it out, Anita almost collapsed from sheer shock. So the tale was true! Roshini and Noor did kill each other every year!
As fascinated as she was by that, Anita didn't understand why her. There were hundreds of other people in her village, why not them? Why did she have to get caught up in a tussle between two ancient witches?
Lost in her thoughts, Anita didn't notice a beam of green light coming rapidly towards her. She reached for her wand sub-consciously, but Roshini had already performed the defending spell wordlessly.
Such small spells were exchanged between the foes, which were all reflected or removed easily, almost nonchalantly.
Anita—Roshini – said, " This is not fun."
Her hand came out and performed a spell, wordlessly again, which hit Noor directly on the chest. She collapsed, dead.
"Roshini, 364, Noor, 212," said Roshini before Anita was finally able to feel her hands again.
. . . . .
The Glossary:-
Vikram: means power.
Untouchablity system: People form less privileged sections of society were treated like vermin. Read more- wiki/Untouchability
Vaishya: the merchant class in medieval India
Jadugars: literally means 'magician', but since the word used for 'witch' is considered offensive in India, I didn't use it.
Roshini: light
Also, the spell that Roshini performs on Anita (injisio) means 'possess'.
The topics in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry I wrote this for are:-
Assignment #9:- Mythology, Task 3: Ceryneian Hind- write about chasing someone/something for a long time.
The Insane House Challenge: 952. Style- Third Person
365 Prompts Challenge- 96. Dialogue- "I missed you"