Interlude: Outclassed
Willow and Amity were walking around bonesborough, they had both calmed down from today's events, but they were still nervous.
At any time, from any corner, one of their opponents could jump out and strike. Depending on how they responded, that one strike could be the first and the last one.
They could be killed by a weapon.
They could be killed by a bare hand.
At any time, they could be killed.
The young witches felt a special kind of fear witches had not felt for ages, decades, centuries even. It was a unique fear, a true fear if you will. One that is as pure as fear could get, one that did what fear was supposed to do: prepare you.
"Kill or be killed" is the essence of the natural world, "survival of the fittest" is the core of evolution. In the time witches attained magic, they attained absolute supremacy in this world, no one could challenge them. No one could hope to be on level with a witch in this world.
Magic was the ultimate evolutionary advantage, and so because of it, witches had begun to lose that inherent fear of death that motivated wild animals to survive. The feared not what they could stomp with ease.
But of course, there is a catch: magic was the ultimate advantage of this world.
But their enemy was not of this world, it was from a different world.
Luz came more than a year ago and showed witches a truth they were not prepared to face: your ultimate weapon is not yours alone.
The magic that had carried them to unchallenged victory was stolen, studied, and even evolved past the point where it was even imaginable. Luz had achieved feats and spells of a level even Belos was forced to prepare for.
Amity and Willow still remember the moment they realized just how outclassed they were by Luz:
(What do you mean it's fine?! Belos is going to open the portal to YOUR world! He Is going to invade YOUR people! YOUR family! And you are telling us "it's fine"?!)
(Amity, calm down. I promise it's perfectly fine.)
(HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?!)
(….. Well, if you MUST have an explanation…. Basically, I've been studying magic extensively, and I've been learning about the portal and the way it works. I've been looking into how Belos plans to make a portal.)
(….and?)
(….)
(It's gonna blow, we don't have to do anything.)
She knew, before the whole thing went down, she knew Belos would fail.
She had studied and experimented so much that she came to learn the inner workings of magic better than even the Emperor himself did. She successfully predicted the disastrous outcome the Emperor tried to prepare for.
They were out classed, outclassed beyond understanding.
And now, they went up against 7 of them. 7 beings that could outclass them if they set their mind to.
What was it? What did humans have that allowed them to dominate no matter where they went?
Was it their intelligence? No, plenty of creatures are just as intelligent.
Was it their scientific knowledge? No, it could not explain magic yet, and Luz did not need it either.
Was it their unstoppable willpower? No, countless beasts were as unstoppably persistent as humans, some even more so.
They didn't know the word for it in the Isles, because truth be told very few witches had this quality within themselves, so a word for it didn't exist.
But among those few, most of them surrounded Luz, as if naturally driven towards that quality. Because they were, whether they knew it or not.
Amity, Willow, Gus, Hunter, and even Boscha were among the few witches that had this incredible quality.
They were drawn to Luz, and Luz was drawn to them. And so, they naturally became close.
There were others with this quality that were not around Luz: Odalia had it as well, and Belos did too.
It's a quality that few witches have, but that every human lives by. All humans have this trait, all humans live by this principle, and the pursuit of it is the key to happiness in the human world, whether you succeed or not it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you go after what it poses in front of you.
A true happiness in the human world, one that is not momentary, one that gives you the thought "I can die with no regrets", such happiness can only be achieved by pursuing that which this one characteristic sets you out to do.
Sclep was also one of these witches as well, except she was fully aware of it, and she recognized this trait in the human in front of her, Jack Hanma. She was drawn to him, and he was drawn to her for the same reason, they would fight as a result, that much was obvious and inevitable.
It is a desire, the desire of surpassing others, to be the best there is, to surpass anyone and everyone there is, even yourself.
It does have a name, a name witches don't know, and one that only a few understand:
Ambition.