Black Witch

Driven to hopelessness by grief, Alyssa Flumina, a skilled witch and potions master, is pulled into the past by one of her potions and into the arms of an equally desperate Ciel. But desperation and vengeance are a dangerous combo, especially when a contract with a demon is in the mix.

~Victoria Super Omnes~

Chapter 35

When you're stuck as a ghost there are certain things I think you'd like to avoid. Bright white lights for instance. I'm not sure about you but I sure as hell didn't want to be the one to prove that a bright white light appearing when you're a ghost meant you were two steps away from heading to the 'other side'. Or whatever the other side was anyway. I'm Hindu so would I be reincarnated? And if I was then what would I even come back as? Knowing my luck probably a plant. And not even a particularly useful one either. Probably something cliché like a rose or a lily. If I could come back as a nettle that would be cool. They were hella useful plants.

But I digress.

Bright white light equals not a good sign… Generally at least.

I shut my eyes against the light which did all of zero good because it was so bright that I could still see it through my eye lids.

'Easy there, I won't hurt you,' the voice said again as the light began to dim. Hesitantly, I opened my eyes and was stunned to see a woman… no… more like a girl because she didn't look like she could be any older than fifteen, sitting cross legged on the ground and smirking up at me. Her hair was sun bleached leaving numerous light streaks in the otherwise dark hair that fell around her ears in thick wild curls. Her lips were twisted in mirth and, with her dark eyes and darker freckles decorating her cheeks, nose and shoulders, she looked more like an imp all light and full of mischief, ready to take off in a second.

I blinked, stunned but still wary, and looked around more than a little surprised to see that our surroundings had changed and that I was now in a forest of some kind. The girl's smirk never faltered even as I touched a nearby tree to test whether I was dreaming or not.

'Feels real doesn't it?' I heard. Or… not heard really. More like the voice echoed in my mind. I nodded slowly, running my fingers along the bark of the tree. Amazingly enough it felt real. I could feel the ridges in the bark, the roughness of the wood and even smell that old musk that came with ancient trees.

"Where am I?" I asked making the girl giggle.

'Honestly? Nowhere really. Slightly less honest answer, a memory.' Was the reply.

My face must have looked as confused as I felt because the girl started laughing. I pouted a little but fortunately the girl seemed to take pity on me and my confusion because she rose and took my hand in her tiny ones, leading me away from wherever it was we had been previously.

This close to her I could see that we were roughly the same height but she seemed to lack weight. I was bulkier than she was no thanks to my training with Sebastian and all the food he heaped on me as part of his 'experiments'. I wouldn't say I was chubby but I definitely had some healthy weight which just barely made me larger than the twig of a girl leading me to gods knew where.

"Who are you?" I asked as we walked. The girl threw a mischievous grin my way but said nothing other than to warn be about a fallen log before moving on.

Displeased with the fact that it didn't seem like I was going to get answers anytime soon I settled myself to just looking around the forest she was leading me through. As we walked I could make out all sorts of trees growing in this little wood, most of which had no right growing next to each other. I spied a wide oak sitting comfortably next to a balata*, both of which were shading a wild growing rose bush which held blooming roses of all colours.

It was strange to say the least but that seemed to be the norm in this place as I spied more and more trees from mora* and purpleheart* to birches and elms all coexisting within feet of each other. I glanced back the girl but she seemed intent on whatever was ahead, no longer sparing me any impish looks as we moved.

I wondered about the girl and her intentions. I couldn't sense any maliciousness from her but at the same time I really wasn't sensing much of anything here. This girl told me we were stuck in a memory. What did that mean for my spirit? Was it just back in Caius' great big empty ball room staring into space or had I been transported somewhere else yet again.

My eyes rolled at the thought. If that happened then what was the point in me setting up all those backup plans with Undertaker for my idiots to follow? I wondered if those dunderheads had even managed to get my fail safes working. It should have been easy for them, I'd practically left everything prepared for them in case I'd disappeared but… maybe it might have been too much to ask Sebastian and Will to work together? Maybe? Eh, I'd have to cross that bridge when I got there because the girl stopped suddenly almost making me walk right into her.

"A little warning next time?" I complained, wincing as the girl's grip on my hand tightened.

'Tell me, what do you know about the origins of magic?' the girl asked.

I made a face. Well wasn't that a loaded question.

"Well, according to the stories in my family there was no real origin of magic," I said slowly. The girl's face gave nothing away so I continued speaking. "Magic has always existed in the world. Maybe not in the form of unicorns or wizards wielding wands but the earth has always held magic in its core. It's an intrinsic part of nature."

The girl nodded once, sharply. 'And what do you know of the origins of magic in humans?'

That one gave me pause as the girl was now observing me carefully.

"There are a lot of stories as to how humans came to possess magic," I told her. "The origins of magic go as far back as to when humans were first able to stand upright and make fire but there's no conclusive or definitive point at which one could say 'here was the origin of magic' for humans. If I were to theorize, which I have, I would say magic in humans began to come about when they began believing in gods or higher beings. The need to believe and the desire to bridge the gap between mortals and the divine resulted in what may have been the earliest forays of human kind into magic."

The girl made a face and tilted her head from side to side. 'Well you're not wrong but…'

I frowned. "But what?"

'But… did you have to be so clinical about it?'

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Well I do believe in the scientific method and as much as I like theorizing, there's only so much I can do when I have neither the evidence nor the means to support my theories. So pardon me for being so clinical." I huffed. Rude.

The girl seemed more amused by my little rant than anything else and that only served to make me more agitated.

'Well, clinical or not you're on the right track. When humans started being smart enough to ask the bigger questions they began cultivating the potential to become bearers of magic. The more they prayed and began to express things like wonder and piety the more that potential grew.'

I nodded as she explained, not entirely sure where this explanation was going or what the point was. She'd led me out of the forest and to the edge of a lake filled with water so clear and so blue that it actually hurt my eyes to look at it for too long.

'Sit!' she ordered, already making herself comfortable on the ground leaving me no choice but to follow as well. That was when I realised I wasn't wearing my usual maid uniform at all but was in my favourite sari.

"When did that happen?" I muttered, fixing my skirt so that I wouldn't be sitting on the trailing material.

'This is a dream. I think. That sort of stuff just ends up being pulled from your mind,' the girl supplied. Helpful but also a bit creepy.

'But that's not what we should be talking about. We weretalking about humans and their potential.'

I nodded. "Right. Their potential for magic. And the start of it all for us."

The girl grinned. 'You know what this means right? Story time!' she exclaimed looking excited all over again.

Despite myself I couldn't help but get a little excited. I'd always loved being told stories and legends as a little girl and despite everything that had happened in my life, my love for stories hadn't been tempered in the slightest.

The girl cleared her throat loudly, an act that was obviously for show purposes, before zeroing in on me.

'Now I believe I should start with this, before humans could even think of knocking a flint together and making fire, great spirits already existed in the world. These First Spirits, as I like to call them, were powerful beings which knew no maker for they had simply come into being as the earth's magic grew and began to desire form. These spirits could be felt in the skies, and the earth and water, and in the creatures inhabiting these places.

'They were powerful but also fickle beings for, as great as they were, they were also prone to easily becoming bored. Unfortunately, that's when the trouble started.

'Picture this, a charismatic young man rising to be the leader of his village. Not only that, but this young man could also feel the presence of the spirits in the world. So what did he do? He began leading his people in devotions to the great spirits in an attempt to win their favour. And guess what? He did.

'The spirits were so pleased to be acknowledge for once that they showered the man and his village with blessings: fertile soil for crops, enough game to feed every member of the village twice over and no man, woman or child ever felt sick.

'As for the young man, the people were so pleased with his ability to bring the spirits' blessing to them that they began to view him as an god of sorts, a man above all other men for his ability to bring them such good fortune. At first the man accepted the praise humbly, happy to do what he could for his people. He took a wife and made many children, spreading his good fortune to many other lands but in time these acts alone weren't enough to satisfy him.

'Soon he began to desire the power of the spirits themselves so that he could wield their might at his own whim and fancy and so that he would have to supplicate himself to them no more. He had become arrogant, believing in the praises his people threw at him and he wondered if he could become greater than the spirits themselves.

'For this he set out to commit a great taboo for the time; he left to kill a magical creature. Now, at this time any and all magic was revered, magical beasts most of all. Harming a magical creature, even accidentally, was a great crime and easily punishable by death. The young man knew this but his desire for power was too great so he left his family and travelled to the sea in secret in order to hunt in peace.'

"Why the sea?" I interrupted, earning a dark look from the girl.

She scowled at me for a moment, obviously not pleased with my interrupting her tale but answered anyway. 'All life came from the sea and so did all magic.'

I nodded, more to myself than anything. Made sense I suppose. I mean, as much sense as a fable could make anyway.

'Satisfied?' she snapped.

"Very," I replied meekly. The act seemed to appease the girl and she returned to her story.

'Right, where was I again? The sea!

'Yes, so the young man travelled to the sea in order to find what he wanted. He needed a creature bursting with magic and so he hunted for three days before finally finding a creature that suited his needs.

'From the sea he pulled forth a creature that no longer exists with a name that has now been forgotten but was full of the raw magic he desired. Pleased with his catch, he returned to land where he slaughtered, cooked and ate the creature. He hoped that by consuming the meat of this creature he could gain its magic as well.

'He was right. As he ate the creature he could feel the magic starting to flow in his body, changing him and making him stronger. But the magic came at a cost. It took his body seven whole days for all the changes necessary for him to be able to wield magic to occur and during this time he experienced pain greater than any man had ever known.

'The pain was so great that it nearly drove him mad but by the time it was over he was more pleased than ever and was convinced that he had done the right thing in taking magic for himself. He stayed away from his people and his family for quite some time after that, killing more beasts and taking their magic as well as teaching himself how to use it. By the time he returned to his village he was bursting with so much magic that his people truly began worshipping him as a god, forgetting all about the First Spirits.

'While this was happening however, one of the young man's children had stepped up in his place to lead the village in their devotions. It was the man's eldest daughter, a child full of wonder at the world around her who was fully devoted to her family and her people. She had thought it as a great honour to lead her people in her father's absence but once he returned and the people forgot about the First Spirits she felt lost. She loved her father dearly but she couldn't forget about the spirits that had blessed them in the first place. Not to mention she was worried about where her father had suddenly gotten these abilities from. These weren't like the regular gifts the spirits gave her and she instantly grew suspicious but hid it well from her people, choosing to observe her father instead in hopes that she would learn his secret.

'She would, eventually, but not for many years to come and during this time her father continued to kill and consume more creatures in secret growing more and more powerful but also losing more and more of his sanity as well. He began demanding that his people worship him as a god and, as he grew more powerful, they did just that only feeding his ego even more.

'In the end, his daughter discovered the source of his magic when she secretly followed him on one of his 'hunting trips' and saw him hunt and kill a centaur. Horrified, she fled the scene and the village, too terrified to return to her family and hid deep in a rarely travelled forest. There she found refuge, praying to the First Spirits for guidance and a way to help her father.

'All this time the Spirits had been watching on. At first they had been curious when the man had first taken magic for himself, simply leaving him be as watching him alleviated their own boredom, but by the time they realised that they were no longer being worshipped it was already too late and the man was too powerful for them to interfere with on their own.

'They found the girl, praying to them in the depths of the forest, and decided to help her - for purely selfish reasons of course. You see these spirits were pretty vain and they liked having all the attention on them rather than on another human so when they saw the opportunity to rid themselves of a problem they took it.

'The spirits spent years fashioning a container in the shape of a jar, or in their language a pithos, for the girl. This container would be able to steal the magic from her father if she cut out his heart and stored it inside.

'When it was finished they gave it to her with clear instructions. As soon as his blood touched the pithos it would drain the magic from him until he had none left. See, the spirits were angry with themselves and the fact that they had allowed this man to make a fool of them so they wanted him gone.

'With a heavy heart she took the pithos and returned home where she found that her village had devolved into an orgy of madness with her father, fully insane at this point and drunk on power, at the centre of it all.

'She was welcomed back with open arms as though she'd never left and she bided her time until her father fell asleep. When he did she snuck into his room with the pithos in one hand and a dagger in the other, fully ready to cut out his heart but when she saw him she found that she couldn't bring herself do it.

'Despite his madness the girl still loved her father so she found another way to deal with him. While he slept she shaved his hair off and stored it in the pithos. Then, she bled him a little, enough to activate the pithos and stole all of his magic. Satisfied at the thought that he would just be a regular human once more, she snuck away to the forest to be with her spirits once more.

'The next morning when he awoke, his mind was clearer than it had been for years and he was filled with shame when he saw what he had created in his lust for power. He disbanded his followers and left his family once more, committing suicide some time later in shame.

'When she learned of what had happened to her father the girl mourned but the spirits comforted her saying she had saved her people. While this wasn't exactly true the spirits just thought she would want to hear it and, while it did make her feel better for some time, a new fear rose in the place of the old one.

'What if someone else came looking for magic? Worse yet, what if someone had realised what she'd done and tried to steal the pithos from her? Then the problems would just begin all over again. She begged the spirits to take the pithos from her but they refused to interact withit. Instead they offered to seal it within her, thus hiding it away where no one but she and the spirits would know where it was. She agreed and thus became the first pithos, a living vessel for magic, to exist.

'After all this the Spirits were rather pleased with themselves. They had gotten rid of their largest nuisance and would surely regain their followers once more, but they failed to realise what would come from the new children the man had made while he still possessed magic.

'These new children were born with magic flowing in their blood and with none of the side effects of blood lust or insanity like their father. These children would go forth to create more witches and wizards to live among regular humans of the earth. These humans they could not stop and so a new race of people were born. People who were able to use the magic they were born with as well as the magic of the earth and bend it to their own desire.

'These humans went forth into the world to usher in a Golden Age for humananity where magic was used for good and no harm was done.

'As for the girl, she fell in love with one of those magical humans and they had many children of their own together. She planned on carrying the secret of the pithos to the grave with her but ended up telling the story to her favourite daughter who told the story to her daughters and on and on.

'When the girl finally died, instead of dying with her the magic of the pithos moved from her to one of her female descendants. And that is how it had been for generations. When one pithos dies a new one takes her place, guarding the magic stored in the container from those who would use the First Magic to do harm.'

I rubbed my temples as the girl finished speaking. So this story was obviously some sort of background as to why Irene kept calling me a pithos but, even to me, it seemed a bit far-fetched and more than a little bit long winded. Still, the story was nice even if it didn't give me much by way of help really.

"So all of that was to tell me that a pithos is basically a glorified magical thermos and that only females of a certain bloodline are capable of being a 'pithos'?" I summarized.

A vein in the girl's eye twitched. 'Yes.'

"You could have just said that from the start!" I complained, seriously ready to flip a table or something with how frustrated I felt. I mean really, I loved a good story but I really didn't think it was necessary for me to sit through a nearly hour long story to get to one gods be damned point!

The girl huffed. 'You have no patience.'

"Excuse you. You try being forcibly shunted from your body by a ghost you didn't even know was possessing you and see if your patience survives the trip," I snapped, crossing my arms.

The girl fixed me with a hard glare, one I was only too happy to return, before sighing and relaxing. 'You have a fair point, I suppose.'

I nodded, pleased and we fell into silence as I thought over the information I'd been given.

"So…" I began slowly. "This being a pithos business. What does it really mean?"

The girl tilted her head. 'What are you asking?'

I huffed. "I'm asking, what is a pithos even really supposed to do? If it was really all that important like you were making it out to be then wouldn't I have known I was a pithos ages ago? And what about all that storing magic nonsense?"

The girl shrugged. 'A pithos was a necessary existence years ago when magic was still wild and needed a certain amount of taming. The vessel was often used to store massive amounts of magic for the safety of whoever was involved. But as humans developed and the world began to change, so did magic. It learned to adapt as well and gradually the need for a pithos grew less and less until they were just dismissed as old legend."

I nodded, thinking it over. It made a little bit of sense I guess?

'Nowadays a pithos isn't needed for much. They can take in more magic if necessary but that's usually left to the individual themselves. Usually they just quietly live their lives before passing it onto the next pithos.' The girl admitted sounding a bit sad.

"And I suppose it'll never end either," I mused. The girl gave me a confused look. "The law of the conservation of energy. You know, the one that says it can't be destroyed or created? Just change shape or move? In the end magic is just a form of energy so it has to follow that rule."

I shrugged and looked up at the sky. "I guess it's not so bad. I mean I managed to live my life so far without knowing I was a pithos and I've only gotten myself into trouble once because of it so I think I'm doing pretty well," I said with a grin.

The girl gave a sad smile. 'Yes, I suppose so. Not all pithos have been that lucky. Before the legends died down most pithos were hunted mercilessly by others who hoped to use the First Magic they hid. It wasn't an uncommon thing for a pithos to die before even seeing their second decade.'

"Shame…." We sat in silence for a moment again. I considered the girl beside me for a moment as she stared at the sky. She looked so young but at the same time she seemed much older than she appeared.

"I have a question," I said, interrupting the quiet moment. The girl didn't stop looking at the sky but she nodded. "This First Magic I supposedly store, can I use it?"

The girl hummed contemplatively, lips turning into a thoughtful frown. 'I don't see why not. Few pithos before have ever dedicated themselves to the task of understanding the magic they bear but it isn't impossible. I see no reason why, with a little insight and training, you shouldn't be able to access it.'

"But will it harm me? Or the people I care about?" I asked, turning onto my knees and giving the girl my full attention.

'The First Magic is a fickle thing but not necessarily a harmful one. It reacts to intent. Do you wantit to harm the people you care about?'

Ciel crossed my mind, that strong yet fragile young man, and then Sebastian standing beside him. Madame Red was there as well, tugging on a very irritated Ciel's cheeks and I shook my head vehemently.

'Then they should be fine.'

"Should? That's the best you can give me?" I demanded.

The girl broke her staring contest with the sky to fix me with a steady look. 'All magic has the potential to harm or help. It all depends on your control does it not? This magic may be old but it is no different. Learn your heart and learn your magic and, like I said, all should be well.'

I pouted, feeling chastised but it was as solid advice as I supposed I would get.

"Who are you anyway?" I asked. I already had my suspicions but it didn't hurt to ask.

The girl gave me a rueful smile. 'A guide.'

"A guide for…?" I urged.

The girl gave me an amused smile. 'I'm not a pithos if that's what you're trying to get at.'

I pouted. "Darn. And I was so sure of it too."

That got a laugh from the girl. 'A fair assumption to make but not a true one.' She sighed and looked over the lake. 'Call me something of a relic. That book you saw in that room. That's me.'

I stared at her hard for a moment before realization hit. "You're a grimoire! A living grimoire!" I was practically vibrating with energy now, sitting up stock straight and looking her over excitedly. "I've heard that living grimoires were possible but I never thought I'd meet one!" I was practically bouncing in place now and the girl laughed.

But then I stopped as something hit me. "But how did you get here? Among two ex-Reapers?"

She turned sombre. 'My owner left me with that Reaper many years ago. He put me in this room for protection and I've been alone ever since. Imagine my surprise when the first time I get opened I see a pithos, or the spirit of one at the very least.'

I smiled but then it faded away slowly. "You must have been so lonely."

She shrugged.

"…. I wish I could take you with me…."

'So you do have a plan of escape,' she mused.

"More like two… if they can make it…"

'Friends of yours?'

I shrugged. "Of sorts?" She raised an eyebrow. "It's complicated."

The grimoire grinned. 'Is it now?' she leered and I flushed at the implication. It didn't help that my mind was oh so unhelpfully supplying me images of those intense looks Sebastian seemed so fond of giving me recently.

"I take it back. You can stay here," I muttered making her laugh again. We settled into an easy sort of silence for a while when a thought occurred to me but before I could voice it a loud bang echoed through the forest.

We shot to our feet in an instant, tense.

"What was that?" I demanded, looking around the forest.

'Nothing in here! It must have come from outside!' the grimoire said, looking nervous.

We stumbled as the bang came again, this time accompanied by a fierce tremor in the ground.

'Your friend I'd like to assume?' she asked as another tremor rocked the ground. 'That Reaper would never do anything that could cause me harm!'

Hope burned in my chest. Would it really be too much to hope that they'd managed to get through? Without realising it I'd already taken a step towards the forest even though I had no real idea how to get out of here.

'If so then I believe it may be time for me to release you,' the grimoire said, placing a shaking hand on my chest.

For a moment I felt torn. "It feels wrong to just leave you here," I protested.

She shook her head. 'Then take me with you when you surface but you can't stay here!'

I wanted to ask what she meant but before I could get a word out I felt a sharp pain in my chest followed by that white light from before that forced me to close my eyes.

When the pain finally stopped and I was able to open my eyes again I found myself back in the ballroom feeling strangely light headed.

I glanced down at my body. Yep. Still a ghost, which would explain the light headedness. While in the grimoire my body had felt much more substantial and being forced back into this waif of a form was a head spinner.

The ground shook again but I didn't lose my footing this time. It was so much harder to trip when you weren't actually depending on the ground for balance. Looking around I realised that one of the doors to the ballroom had been torn open but no one was with me. Instead the loud noises seemed to be coming from outside.

I ran outside, retracing my steps to a second story balcony only to run smack dab into a solid wall of chest as soon as I'd hit the second floor landing.

"I shouldn't be hitting things like this!" I complained, rubbing my nose. Who even ran into a ghost?

"Miss Alyssa?!" A familiar voice said.

I blinked when I finally looked at the person I'd ran into. "Will?!"

*Balata is a type of tree common in my country, Guyana's, rainforest. When cut it produces a very sticky and rubber like sap that is mostly used by indigenous peoples to make craft to sell in the coast towns. I have a lot of balata craft around my house. It takes a lot of skill to work with the rubber as, once it sets, it's hard to mould and doesn't move easily. The end result is pretty to look at though.

*Mora is another wood found in my country. It's very hard and is fairly resistant to bug attacks which makes it a good wood to use in housing and such.

*Again with woods from my country. Purpleheart is very water resistant and is ranked one of the hardest woods in the world. We often use it in making docks and the like due to the fact that the wood isn't easily eaten away by salt water or fungus.

I really was trying to get this chapter up earlier but things happened. I was forced to put down my dog yesterday, a dog who I've had for close to fourteen years and it broke my heart. He was the first dog I'd ever had and he'd been with me through so much that it hurt to see him go. But he was suffering from cancer and the many complications that come with a german shepherd and old age so I suppose it was for the best. Doesn't stop it from hurting though.

A lot more was supposed to happen in this chapter in terms of plot but it ended up being a lore chapter. I'm not too pleased with it but, eh, that's what editing is for am I right? Also, I finally have a plot for this thingy as opposed to just writing off the top of my head which is good on one hand because that means more regular writing, but on the other hand there are a few plot points in the previous chapters that I'd set up just in case I never got around to a solid plot which are now more red herrings than the foreshadowing they were initially meant to be. C'est la vie.

Feel free to leave a comment, they give me life.

-Rayne