Chapter 7
Faragonda was still in her office, trying to contact Griffin with no success. Cloud Tower has been always the target of lunatics of darkness, who wouldn't approve the new role of the witches in the world. It wasn't coincidence that the Trix and Baltor took over it in the past. The door opened, and Griselda entered in the office.
"Any luck?" asked Griselda.
"No," replied Faragonda, and breathed deeply.
"There's no need to worry," said Griselda. "If the girls find something wrong, they'll come back here immediately."
"I doubt that they'll do that," said Faragonda. "Although I trust them, they can be very impulsive. I'm afraid that they'll try to handle this situation by themselves."
"Speaking of which, do we know what's going on in Cloud Tower?"asked Griselda.
"No," said Faragonda. "And that's what worries me most. I always said that the most fearsome enemy is the one you can't see."
"Well, those girls faced many dangers before, and came out victorious," said Griselda, like she was trying to reassure herself. "They'll do it fine."
"I hope you're right, Griselda" said Faragonda. "Hope you're right."
…
Meanwhile, in Cloud Tower, Flora, Mirta and Lucy continued their way to the upper terrace.
"We arrived at the sixth floor," announced Mirta. "If I remember correctly, this floor house the dungeons."
"Right," confirmed Lucy. Suddenly, memories of the time the Trix took over Cloud Tower for first time came to her mind. She spent almost two weeks on those stinky and small cells. It wasn't until that moment when she realized how dangerous the Trix were. To think that she wanted to be like them...
The fact that she, along with her classmates, were freed by a fairy only made it even more ironic.
"Let's hope we find somebody here."
They reached the dungeons' wing, and began to register the cells one by one. However, the cells weren't even locked (some of them even had broken knobs). If Griffin and the rest of witches were still in Cloud Tower, they weren't there.
"Hey!" Lucy's voice echoed through the hallway. "Come here!"
Flora and Mirta rushed to where Lucy was inspecting.
"Did you find somebody?" asked Mirta, hopefully.
"No," said Lucy dryly. "But look at that."
In the cell's wall, there was something craved in the stone.
Find Clarissa Silver
"Clarissa Silver?" asked Mirta. Then she turned at Lucy. "Do you know her?"
"No," said Lucy with a shrug. "But I don't know all of Cloud Tower's students either."
"Maybe is a witch that broke free from wherever she was," interjected Flora. "We should find her."
"What about going to the upper terrace?" asked Mirta. "I think that we should go there."
"I'm with Mirta," said Lucy. "Besides, we don't know where she is, and it would take ages to explore the whole tower."
Although Flora didn't like the idea of leaving a poor girl alone with hordes of monsters, and those two black knights, she was forced to admit that trying to find her would a take time they didn't have.
"Flora," said Mirta, noticing the fairy's distress. "Remember what Lucy said: Cloud Tower won't harm a witch. That Clarissa would be fine...I think."
Flora smiled weakly.
"Yes, maybe you're right." said Flora.
"We should move," suggested Lucy. "It's obvious that there's nothing here."
However, when Lucy left the cell, she realized that she wasn't in Cloud Tower anymore, but in some kind of ravaged city. Scared, she turned back, and saw Flora and Mirta, strangely unsurprised.
"Mirta?" asked Lucy. "What's going on?"
"It looks like we're about to see another snippet of Griffin's past." said Mirta.
Lucy then remembered that Mirta already told her about the two flashbacks they saw, but she had forgotten about them.
Grey clouds covered the sky. Most of the buildings were completely in ruins, and some others even set of fire. There were several corpses scattered through the city. Some of them wore black robes with the Ancient Coven emblem, while others wore white clothes with a golden ankh. They also realized that the city has been in ruins for ages, and it's decayed appearance wasn't the result of a battle.
A witch with long purple hair was standing in front of a young, white haired fairy. The fairy looked exhausted, while Griffin smiled wickedly. The fairy raised his arms, formed a ball of white light between her hands, and threw it a Griffin. Griffin waved her hand, and the ball dissolved in mid air, much to the fairy's shock.
Griffin then cast a blaze of green fire at the fairy. The white haired fairy created a barrier, but Griffin's attack shattered it effortlessly, knocking the fairy backwards against a wall. The fairy was bleeding from her mouth.
"Fool," said Griffin, walking towards her menacingly.
"LEAVE HER ALONE!" said a thundering voice behind her.
Griffin turned around, and saw a man. The man was a bulky, muscular guy with black hair and a beard. He was wearing white robes, a chainmail and a partial armor that covered his shoulders and forearms. In his right hand he was holding a yellow phantoblade with red edge. Griffin didn't take long to guess that it was a paladin.
"Don't dare to touch her!" menaced the paladin. "Arthaia, are you okay?"
"Tobias, no!" shouted the fairy. "She's too powerful!"
"I don't care," replied the paladin firmly.
"Surrender, fool," said Griffin. "Your army has been vanquished. You know what the we ca do, and what we will do to anybody who stands in our path."
However, the paladin wasn't intimidated by Griffin's menace. Suddenly, the paladin's sword began to glow more intensely. The paladin then made a slash motion, and launched a crescent-shaped, energy blast at Griffin. However, the witch stopped the attack with a magic barrier.
The paladin then charged against Griffin with a battle cry. Griffin used a levitation spell to raise herself on mid air and avoided the attack. The paladin quickly turned at her, and cast a beam of golden light. Griffin cast a blaze of green fire. The two attacks clashed, making a huge explosion. Griffin landed out of the resultant cloud of smoke.
The paladin came out from the cloud of smoke with fire in his eyes, and charged agaisnt Griffin again. Griffin gestured her hands, and the paladin suddenly stopped. The ground under his feet had turned into mud, and was unable to move. However, the paladin didn't give up, and throwed his sword at Griffin. The witch dodged it gracefully, and laughed. The sword, however, came back like it was a boomerang, and Griffin almost didn't make it alive.
Angered, Griffin summoned another ball of green fire in her hand, but this time it was bigger and glowed with more intensity, and cast it at the paladin. Griffin's attack knocked the hapless warrior several meters backwards. The fight was over.
"Impressive," said another male voice. Griffin didn't react, because he knew which voice was.
The witch was happy. Baltor, no less, had witnessed her fight (and victory) over Tobias and Arthaia, the two commanders of the Army of Lumyon, allies of Domino and the Company of the Light.
"Excellent job, Griffin," praised Baltor.
"Thanks," replied the witch.
"This will teach these wretches not to interfere with our plans. They really had guts to come here and attack us. In one of our bases, no less." said Baltor"Now finish him."
Griffin took some moments in answering.
"W-what?"
"You killed the fairy. But the paladin is still alive. Finish him."
Griffin was speechless. Did she really killed that fairy? No, it couldn't be true. She didn't hit her that hard.
"What are you waiting for?" asked Baltor, annoyed. "He's just there, lying in the ground. End his misery already."
Slowly, Griffin walked towards the paladin, and raised her hand. A green flame appeared on it. She then realized that she was trembling. She couldn't bear the idea of killing somebody in cool blood. A part of her was telling her to finish the paladin off and show Baltor her might and loyalty, but another part was saying the opposite.
Seeing that Griffin was taking too long, Baltor cast a blast of black fire at the paladin, ending his life.
Flora and Mirta looked away, not wanting to witness Baltor's cruelty.
"Here's some advice," said Baltor. "The next time you take that long in killing an enemy, it would be the enemy who will kill you."
"Sorry Baltor, I just..."
"Don't worry. You are still nervous. But try to overcome that the next time we fight."
Griffin wanted to throw up.
Suddenly, a young man wearing a black armor with the Coven's emblem walked by.
"Lord Baltor, the remaining Lumyons are fleeing," said the knight. "What are your orders?"
"Hunt them down. I want no survivors." said Baltor coldly. "Then, order the troops to head to Lumyon. We will devastated that planet and all the life on it."
"Yes, Master," said the knight, walking away.
Griffin paled when Blator said that.
"Baltor...is that really necessary?" asked Griffin, uneasy.
"Of course it is!" replied Baltor, like Griffin asked something stupid. "We need to teach those goody two shoes who's in command."
"B-but, we already defeated them. They won't be a menace anymore." said Griffin. Realizing of Baltor's expression, suddenly added: "I mean, we don't have to waste our forces on an already defeated kingdom."
"It won't be a waste, that's for sure. Besides, the Witches love to destroy planets. Return to the base. I have things to do."
And Baltor vanished.
Griffin stood there for some moments, thinking in what just happened. Faragonda's words echoed in her head: are you sure you know what you're doing?
"W-witch..." said a nearby voice.
Griffin quickly turned around, and saw that the fairy she just beat, was trying to stand up. She wasn't dead. Griffin sighed in relief. However, she then realized that the fairy was her enemy, and reacted accordingly.
"Don't move!" shouted Griffin.
"Look at me...do I look like a threat...?" asked the bruised fairy.
"What do you want?"
"You...you have to tell..." the fairy began to cough blood. "...have to tell...that they're going to...to attack Lumyon...my son...my family is there...you have to..."
Griffin was disturbed by the fairy. Why?
"I'm part of the Coven! I'm your enemy!" said Griffin, angry. "Why do you think that I'm going to help you!?"
"Because...even you know that this is wrong..." said the fairy between coughs. "You...don't want to do this..."
Griffin's composure began to flag.
"No, you're wrong!" said Griffin. "I...!"
"Behind all that darkness...I know...that...that there's the will to do what's right..." said the fairy almost in a whisper. "I can see...it..."
The fairy collapsed.
Griffin fell down on her knees, and for first time in years, began to cry.
The ruined town disappeared, and the three girls found themselves again in Cloud Tower.
"That was horrible!" said Flora in horror.
"I knew that Griffin served in the Coven, " said Mirta. "But that was beyond what imagined."
Lucy didn't say anything. During the flashback, she saw herself in the place of Griffin. Like her teacher, she wanted to be powerful. And like her teacher, went as far as making a deal with the devil to obtain it. And, like her teacher, she found that making a deal with the devil is not a good idea.
"Lucy?" asked Mirta. "Are you okay?"
"Y-yes," replied the tall witch. "I just thought that...Griffin has his office in this floor. We should inspect it. Maybe we could find something useful."
"Great idea!" cheered Flora. "Let's go."
Griffin's office was near, and they could reach it without running into monsters or other menaces.
Like the rest of the building, the office was completely ruined: the floor and the desk were covered in dust. There were spiderwebs everywhere, and lots of books and other items scattered across the floor. There was so much dirt accumulated in the windows that the outside wasn't even visible.
"If Griffin saw her office, she'll gone mad for sure," chuckled Lucy, picking a broken lamp from the floor.
Mirta noticed something in Griffin's desk.
"Hey, it's Griffin's crystal ball!" said Mirta. "Maybe we could use it to call for help. Do you think that you could make it work, Lucy?"
Lucy ran her hand over the ball, revealing a thick cover of dust, and grimaced.
"I don't think so, but I'll try." said Lucy.
"Girls!" called Flora. "Come here!"
Flora was crouched down, looking at something in the floor.
"Did you find something, Flora?" asked Mirta.
"Yes. I found Clarissa Silver."