The night was cold, and riddled with fog. The moon shined brightly upon the town that slept rather peacefully, the many houses enclosed within high, stone walls, with guards lazily patrolling the tops of the walls. Yet not all homes were so safely enclosed, some were built beyond the walls, many of which were wrecked. Yet a few select homes remained, and one of which still had all the lights on inside unlike most others. WIthin this home were two women, one an older woman wearing a scarf for the dreadful cold she was facing, the other a beautiful blonde woman dressed in a nightgown.

"Easy now aunt Adina, this medicine will ease your nausea, I am certain of it." The blonde woman said, as she gave Adine a bottle of medicine. The elder gratefully accepted her offering, and took the small bottle in her wrinkled hands.

"Oh I thank ye dearie, but what is this stuff? Most doctors I see will always give me leaves and ground up herbs." Adina asked with skepticism laced in her voice. The blonde looked away for a moment, as if to compose herself before answering.

"It's much the same I assure you, but I simply found that making it into a liquid state provides much better results." She answered. The elder woman simply shrugged, not knowing anything of medicine herself.

"Anyhow, ooh my stomach...no, no, It'll hold until I get back. Never should've eaten that damned chicken at the inn, not cooked properly at all I swear…"

"I'd make sure not to go back then. Have a good night aunt Adina, and stay safe, the roads outside the walls aren't always too secure, the guards are far too lazy in my opinion."

"You shouldn't ever speak ill of the guards dearest, you know that they all belong to the church under the pure sun." Adina warned. The blonde doctor let out a small sigh, as if she'd heard the same warning many times over already. She began to escort Adina out of the house, when she heard a knock upon her wooden door.

"Who could that be? One of the guards perhaps?" Adina asked.

"I'm not so sure, the guards never usually come to my house. Adina, hide, quickly."

"Whatever for?"

"You know the stories that have been going around, now go, we don't have much more time."

"Oh alright, but will you be okay Aurel?"

"I'll be fine, now go auntie! Hide!" Aurel whispered quietly. The old woman quickly shuffled over to the bathroom and locked the door. Leaving Aurel alone, and once she was, another knock came from her door, this one louder than the first. She took a deep breath, and slowly approached the door, before peeking out of a small hole in the door...only to see nothing.

Carefully, she unlatched the door, just in case it really was one of the guards, only to find a large shadow standing in front of the doorway. She flinched, and her breath hitched audibly. She lost control of the door, and a pale hand came from outside and grabbed a hold of it, before slowly forcing the door to open wide.

Aurel stared at the newcomer's form, it was a man from his stature that she could tell, a man wearing a dark green cloak that concealed the rest of his body from view.

"Aurel Luiza?" The man spoke. He did not remove his hood, he actually pulled it further down as he did so, as if to hide his face, as if she would know it somehow. His voice wasn't overly deep, yet it was rather scratchy sounding, almost as if he had a sore throat.

"Um..yes, that would be me." Aurel admitted. The man took a step closer, her eyes narrowed and she carefully placed one of her hands behind her back.

"You're no longer safe here, in Timișoara. Leave tonight in the next hour, or face the consequences."

"What? My family is here, they live in the city, I will not just leave them! Who are you to tell me to leave my own home!?"

"I'm surprised you do live here considering what I know you're currently preparing behind your back right about now." The man said. Aurel flinched visibly and removed her hand. Showing that she had nothing.

"Did you think I was referring to something physical? Like a fucking knife? Don't play stupid, woman, what you were preparing right now wasn't something the church that's housed in the city would condone, and controls most of the country I may add!"

"I'm not sure what you're implying but you need to-"

The man walked up closer and Aurel took a step back in fear as he took his first step into her home. He was taller than he seemed outside now that Aurel could see him properly in the light of her lantern-lit home, standing at a solid six feet.

" . .are.Witch."

Her eyes widened and she instantly stepped back before throwing both her hands forward. Her hand glowed a bright orange and a stream of hot fire burst out from her own palms, out of thin air, like magic. Yet the man moved even faster than a stream of highly condensed fire, and he held up something that he seemingly pulled out of thin air. The flames she shot at him somehow vanished right before they struck his hand, and she dispelled her attack to see that he was holding a rather ordinary looking rock in his raised palm.

"What...what is-"

"The church has found something dangerous, a type of stone that dispels all means of witchcraft, and they plan to unleash it onto the world soon. Do you finally realize why I'm here now, witch?" He asked. The man balled up his fingers, concealing the stone from view, and when he opened his hand, the rock had somehow been crushed into pieces that he threw onto her floor.

"Y-you're warning me? Why? If you know what I am then-"

"Not everyone enjoys sucking the dick of the church, woman, you're not only a witch but also a woman of science, which they also despise, since ignorance is how they stay in power. Now leave before-"

The man stopped talking suddenly, and Aurel saw his head turn to the door like a dog that had been startled by something their owners could not hear. He quickly turned back to her a moment later.

"Hide, flee, right now, you have less time than I expected. This conversation never happened, you do not want to be captured. Trust me." The man claimed.

"What? What do you-"

She blinked, the man was gone, almost as if he had never been there to begin with. The door was still wide open, letting in the cold air, but amidst the darkness she could easily make out the lights of torches approaching her home.

She had to flee. If the stranger's warning was any indication, she had no choice-

"Aurel? What's going on out there!? Is it safe to come out dearie?"

"Oh gods auntie, what will they do to you if they find you here? Shit! Auntie! Get out the window, quietly, do it now because it's no longer safe here." Aurel said.

"There she is! Quickly, seize her before she can do anything!"

Aurel spun her head around just in time to see the projectile someone launched wrap around her body in the blink of an eye and force her to crash onto the ground. She smacked her head against the boards, and she cried out in pain. Her aunt heard the struggle outside and was quickly trying to escape with her life still intact.

Aurel struggled against her restraints, they had thrown a Bola at her, but they were strong, also hard, but not like metal. No, these restraints felt more like…rope with stones mixed into the weaving.

As an experiment, she attempted to utilize magic.

Nothing happened.

'Oh no…that strange man was telling the truth, the church has found a way to de-power witches.'

In walked five men, four dressed in white robes with the symbol of the sun on their chests. While the fifth was clearly higher up then the others judging by the medals on his robe, and the far more elegant, red designs adorning his more golden-colored robe.

"Aurel Luiza, I presume? I believe you know just why we're here. You have gone against the will of the pure sun, you have seeped into the powers of chaos, of the unnatural, of the lord of calamity himself. Why do you dare to practice the dark arts here?"

"There is a large difference between dark arts and regular magic, you damned old bastard!" Aurel cried out.

"Good folk would not take the time to actually study that which is forbidden by the church. For it is only through the will of god and his subjects that the lord of calamity was defeated eons ago, for it was only through his graces, that the forces of evil remain at bay, for it was the gift of angels that we can finally fight back against rebellious scum like yourself who would dare to defy the will of God."

"Society can be made to be-"

"Shut your trap whore!"

One of the other priests delivered a nasty blow to the woman's jaw that was so devastating it rattled her teeth and caused her mouth to start bleeding. The head priest looked down at her, his eyes filled with self-entitlement and resent towards every fiber of her being as she laid helpless on the floor.

The priest who hit her grabbed her by her aching jaw, his breath reeked of wine.

"Such a pretty thing too, I bet that's what you traded your very soul for wasn't it love? A pretty face in exchange for the purity of an untainted soul, what a sin, I might have even been interested too."

"I thought priests didn't take on wives or partake in sex you fat pig!" She spat on him as she spoke. The priest's eyes widened, but the head of the group seemed unconcerned.

"Enough. You have defiled this land, . You have tainted God's country, God's land, and God's people, and for that, the punishment is death by burning at the stake. For this is the will of god, of the pure sun, of the church!" The high priest shouted out. The other priests picked her up by her shoulders, and another one began to dump a liquid of some kind around her home. Right before making a spark with a knife.

"Wait, NO PLEASE!"

The house went up in flames, her pleas of mercy were ignored. Nearby, her auntie looked back at the house and saw the smoke. She hesitated…quite a bit.

"I'm so sorry dearie. What're they gonna do to ya?"

Her aunt walked away with her head hung low that night, as she listened to the desperate cries of her only niece as she was forced from her burning home.

Little did she know what would become of her shortly after.

Hours later, the city that once slept was now wide awake. Torches lit the streets, and the town square was where the people gathered under the order of the church. Within the town square, was one wooden pole, surrounded by firewood doused in a highly flammable liquid. Tied to the wooden pole was Aurel Luiza. Dressed in nothing but rags and being observed by nearly everyone in the town, who all knew what her position meant.

"She's a witch!?"

"To think it was sweet Aurel!"

"I should've known really, her medicinal methods always did work a bit too well compared to the real doctors."

"Oh no, that woman helped me but if she's a witch she might have cursed me! Burn her quickly!"

"SILENCE!"

It was a large priest who spoke, or more accurately, a paladin. The churches own personal guardsmen, who wielded a large pole arm with an emblem of the sun etched into the blade. Behind the paladin stood the head priest, the same man who led the assault on Aurel's house.

"Thank you sir paladin, now then! Attention good folk of Timisoara, good folk of gods country and the great kingdom of Soapiere. For years I have served as your head priest, for years I have kept this city pure from then foul hands of corruption. Yet my duty is never truly done, as you can see, there is a foul witch amongst us! Look how easily they can infiltrate our cities, our towns, our very lives!" The priest shouted.

"Boo!"

"Kill the cursed one!"

"Make the devils whore suffer!"

Aurel began to tear up, all she had done for these folk, and look how easily they just…turned on her. She saw a few friendly faces in the crowd, but they all just looked away from her, like looking at a family member who had just committed murder. She burned with anger, she trembled with fear, and tears fell from her eyes as they drifted over to a man wielding a torch.

"Indeed! For the only way to redeem her, to free this woman of her sins, is to burn away the corruption that plagues her! To burn away the evil stench of Calamity! For the lord of calamity has agents everywhere, even your own family may be an agent! You must never waver in your service to God, you must never waver under the light of the pure sun! Now, let us begin! Firecaster! Throw unto her the torch that shall eat at her corruption!"

"Yes, my father."

Aurel watched as the man wielding the torch turned to her, a supposed man of god. She knew better, these were ignorant folk, ignorant and wrathful, looking for anything to blame for even the smallest bit of suffering they had to endure in their day to day lives. He raised up his hand and she closed her eyes.

She heard something akin to a crack, and a scream from the firecaster soon followed. She heard the Firecaster tumble onto the ground, and she opened her eyes. The man was clutching one of his hands tightly, and kicking around in agony. The torch was still dangerously close to the wood pile, but the crowd had shut up completely.

"Who dares interrupt this sacred ceremony!? Sir Paladin!" The head priest barked. The paladin was already prepared, but that attack had come from seemingly nowhere, and it was hard to see in the massive crowd and the dead of night with only torches to aid his vision.

"Step back from the holy grounds! Whomever dared to strike a man of the church, step forward and face me if you dare! Let God and his pure light of the sun, of his gaze, decide your fate!" The paladin screamed out. The crowd backed off, forming a much larger circle around the burning site. Yet one man, draped in a green cloak, did not move. The paladin pointed his decorated spear at the man.

"So, it was you then, hooded stranger? You were the one to dare strike a servant of god!? A servant under God's holy Light!? A man of-"

"Yes, for god's sake you people love to talk...although you know something?"

"What would that be heretic!?"

"Your religion is based upon the sun and its holy light right?"

"At least you know that much heathen!"

"Right, but see…the sun is already down…so I guess you're all just ordinary folk right now aren't you?"

"Even if his gaze is not upon us, we shall always be-"

"Let's see how much he's protecting you right now then."

The man reached into his cloak, and the paladin charged him immediately. Yet the Paladin only made it about two steps across the dirt before the cloaked man's hand shot out of his cloak and something came along with it. Another crack resounded through the air, causing everyone in the crowd to flinch as it collided head on with the Paladin's right arm. The Paladin tumbled due to the sheer shock of the blow alone, and he could visibly no longer use his right arm properly as he tried to hoist himself up, using his pole arm as a support.

"Your armor really is awful." The man said. The Paladin looked up, and saw that his opponent was twirling something around his right forearm.

"Is that a whip!? What kind of whip can pierce straight through my armor!?" The Paladin yelled.

"Why exactly do you think I should tell you that?" The man asked before once again, his whip blurred out of existence and struck not the Paladin, but one of the priests on the stage who had been pulling out a knife from his robe.

"What sort of priests are you? Carrying knives in your own robes, maybe you all really do lack confidence when the sun goes down...actually maybe that's why you became priests in the first place." The man taunted. The head priest simply frowned before turning towards the crowd still behind the man. Aurel looked towards her savior…

It was the exact same man who had warned her of what was coming.

The priest's frown turned to a great scowl before he raised his hand.

"Guards! Townspeople of Timisoara, do you stand idly by while this, heretic defies the word of-"

CRACK!

The head priest flinched and stopped talking, that crack had been close to him, too close in fact. He felt a small stinging sensation on his cheek, he brought up his left hand and wiped his cheek, and looked unto his hand with the torchlight and moonlight nearby to help him clearly see the blood that now stained his index finger.

"Seems your god didn't protect you there now did he?" The heretic muttered just loud enough so those close to him could hear. That's when a bolt was shot down from one of the walls, the man did not move, he just looked down at the bolt and then up to the guard that had fired it.

"Capture the criminal bastard dead or alive! Take aim and fire at will, do not strike the civilians! Groundsmen, ensure the people get to safety while the archers cover you! FOR SOAPIERE!" The commander of the guards yelled from atop one of the walls.

"FOR SOAPIERE!" The rest of the guards repeated. A small smug grin grew back onto the priest's faces, they should never have been worried to begin with. The heretic would die just like all the others who dared to go against them. The head priest did remind himself to berate the guards later for not acting any sooner. The archers took aim and the townspeople began to race back to their homes while other guards with spears in hand started slowly closing in on the newcomer.

The newcomer reached into his cloak quickly, and bolts were fired. One of the bolts struck true and nailed him in the leg, but he did not cry out in pain, instead he pulled out a black stick of some kind. He pulled the top, and all of a sudden smoke began to pour off the cylinder like crazy. He yanked out the bolt in his leg and threw it at the head priest.

The head priest avoided the bolt, but narrowly. As it was very fast. The Archers could no longer see anything, and the groundsmen were having a hard time determining who was who from the silhouettes alone amidst the smoke. A crack resounded in the air, and one of the archers fired upon hearing it. The bolt vanished into the smoke, and no cry was heard. There was another crack, another bolt, this one met its mark, as a body fell.

"I got him!" An archer yelled out. Yet that would prove to be a horrible mistake as another crack resounded through the air, and one of the other archers grabbed his crossbow from him before he accidentally killed anyone else.

Aurel could hardly see anything at all, all she could hear were cracks and see the silhouettes of confused guards and priests that occasionally cried out in pain as the whip of the stranger flew out of nowhere and struck them with severe ferocity. She then noticed someone approaching, and soon someone was cutting her bindings.

"HE'S FREEING THE WITCH!"

"Help me woman, or else you're not getting out of here in one piece." The hooded heretic muttered to her. He cracked his whip in the air, striking the priest that had seen them, the priest screamed as one of his fingers had been cut clean off from the strike. He went back to cutting her bindings, but something stabbed him in the back from behind.

"NO!" She yelled, her only salvation had fallen and tumbled down the logs, driving the knife even further into his backside, but the bindings were incredibly weak now. A mere tug should suffice really, but the smoke was clearing away now too. She looked back to see the head priest holding a knife and smiling with satisfaction at having finally turned the tables.

"Do you see now heretic!? Do you see now that defiling the word of god is the path to failure!? Do you see now that.."

"Augue!"

Suddenly, a massive red circle, filled with symbols that none could properly understand appeared in front of the hand of the witch that had somehow broken free from her bindings, and a massive stream of orange fire burst out from her hand and washed over the priest. Causing him to scream in agony. The guards and other priests were all shocked, as most of them had never even seen magic on full display before.

"Who's burning for their sins now, sun freak!?" Aurel screamed. Yet tears fell from her eyes as she watched his skin melt, and his clothes burn around him. She had never done this before, but she knew too well that this is what he had been more than willing to do to her mere moments ago. She stopped her spell and stumbled back, letting the priest scream and run away while still on fire. Some of the other priests ran after him, while the guards took aim at her.

"Scutum Ignis!"

Another red circle appeared, this one much larger than before, and à flaming, spinning disk of orange fire burst to life in front of her right as the archers fired. Their bolts melted amidst the flames and whatever remained simply fell into the ground harmlessly. Her flames had also caught her sacrificial pole on fire, causing it to practically burst with flames, blocking off the guards and the archers from her completely, and those flames caught onto her now fallen savior's body. She felt sorrow for him, as well as gratefulness, but wouldn't let that cloud her judgement, she began to back up away from the shield she had thrown up and turned around.

"You're not leaving this city witch!" A guard yelled, armed with a polearm. Aurel couldn't cast another spell while keeping up the flaming disk that kept the other guards at bay, she was helpless. She began to back up, but she was painfully aware of her own magic shield protecting her from harm on the other side. She was running out of steam too, soon she'd be truly surrounded or maybe instantly shot by the archers.

"Ha! Looks like even witches have their limits doesn't it!? I'll be promoted if I kill you I bet-"

Something blurred past her, and struck the guard. He didn't even register what happened for a few moments before dropping his pole arm alongside one of his own fingers. He screamed, and she looked back and nearly took down her spell because of what she saw.

Her savior was standing, his cloak still burning and his hand outstretched with his whip. The dagger was still in his back, nearly cutting all the way through his body.

"Been a while since I've been stabbed like that, (huff!)...sorry for the wait, now let's move before you run out of magic power!" He said. She was about to protest before he reached behind his back, yanked the knife out from his back, letting his blood spray out, and watched as he threw the knife into the neck of the guard whose finger he had already chopped off with the crack of his whip. The guard sputtered and blood seeped out from his neck, he grabbed his neck and clawed weakly at the dagger lodged in it, but he fell to the ground quickly.

Her shield was weakening fast as her mind was distracted, so the cloaked heretic grabbed her by the arm and began to run with her. Once they got far enough away the shield dissipated, but the houses around them blocked the archers range, and left only one or two routes for the guards to chase after them without having to run around the entire town.

"H-how are you alive!?" Aurel cried as she ran through the town in her bare feet.

"I ask myself that same question quite a lot, you know. We're far enough away, stop here."

"What!? They're gaining on us you fool!"

"Not for long, shield your eyes for a moment unless you want to be blind."

He reached into his cloak and pulled out a crystal, a crystal that was glowing a bright yellow.

"Is that…a portal lacrima!?"

"Aye! That it is, now shield your eyes woman!"

He threw the crystal with all his strength and threw up his cloak. The crystal exploded into a brilliant yellow light that lit up the whole town and nearly blinded the guards chasing them down further off. The cloaked heretic took down his cloak and revealed a swirling yellow vortex that led into a dark void.

"You'll be safe on the other side, now flee before they catch you again!" He cried out before leaping over her head and cracking his long whip threateningly at the guardsmen who were getting closer. This actually did result in them stepping back a bit, as they had all seen what his whip could do.

One of the guards tossed his spear at the cloaked heretic. The heretic caught the spear an inch away from Aurel's nose, he spun it around and tossed it back. Another guard tried to block the spear with his shield, but once it struck that guard stumbled as the spear slammed against it, and the heretic used that moment of distraction to strike the face of another nearby guard, causing a nasty gash to appear across his face. No archers from the walls could reach them yet thankfully.

Yet the other guards were becoming bolder by the minute.

"Why haven't you left yet!?" The heretic screamed. He turned around and shoved her with so much force the woman practically flew into the portal, and she briefly saw a spear fly through her savior's chest as she was overtaken by darkness.

The portal closed, and there stood the heretic, a spear going through his chest. The guard planted his foot against the heretics back, and yanked out the spear. Yet to his shock, the heretic did not fall.

Instead he twirled around as fast as a tornado and struck that guard in the eye, severing his eyesight and causing that guard to howl in agony. The heretics whip struck his jugular next, and the man's throat was torn open. The guards couldn't believe what they were seeing, this heretic had just shrugged off a completely fatal injury. He had just been completely struck through, and stabbed in the back earlier as well, and he was fighting better than most trained men. That was impossible…no…it had to be witchcraft.

"H-he's…"

"We should've fucking known the second someone raised a hand to help a witch of all things."

"The wandering Witchman!"

The witchmans whip cracked against one of the nearby stone walls so hard it actually tore off the stone.

"Seems my job here is done (hack!)...don't kill anymore innocents or burn lovely ladies at the stake, alright lads?"

Some of the guards blinked, and the witchman had vanished. Those that hadn't could've sworn he faded into some kind of mist and disappeared into thin air. More witchcraft, impressive witchcraft even. All that remained was his own blood that stained the ground, and the blood of those he had injured or killed.

"H-he really is immortal, just like the legends said!" A guard cried out.

"Fucking hell, I thought he was just a myth! A story they told new fucking recruits!"

"SILENCE!"

It was the injured Paladin who had ordered them. They all looked back to him.

"Tend to the deceased later, we shall burn them in a holy funeral come tomorrow. Take care of the critically injured now, before the witch and witchman claim even more lives. I want scouts patrolling the city, report back anything that looks suspicious or like the targets!" The Paladin shouted. Some of the guards grumbled at having a paladin order them around, but they silently went on their duty. The Paladin stood with his right arm hanging limp, that whip had done extensive damage. More than a whip should have really. The Paladins eyes drifted towards the blood stained ground, and he recalled the sight he saw earlier.

The sight of a man, standing with a spear through his chest, and continuing to fight back their forces. The sight of a man that death would not accept, the sight of a man who went against everything they stood for. That aided calamities creations…there had to be a way, a way to destroy him, and they would find it. Perhaps the magic canceling stones they found to the east could be of use.

"Sir Paladin! It's the priest! He's horribly burnt, but he's still alive, even if just barely!"

The Paladin could hardly believe his ears. The sun even began to rise just then, god's gaze was over them once more, and the demons had fled in the night. God's grace would save them, let them recover from their losses. For the ways of god and his gaze worked in mysterious ways in the paladin's mind. Even as the blood of his servants stained the ground in front of him.

The Paladin counted the casualties. Thirteen, many with injuries they'd have trouble recovering from, especially those who had their fingers chopped off. A few of those thirteen laid dead on the ground. Some, their jugulars torn apart by the strike of a whip. Yet for a witchman, he didn't use much magic. Was it because he didn't take them seriously? The Paladin internally swore to make him regret that one day. The Paladin raised his spear into the air.

"I…Roland SunGard, dedicate myself to ending your life in the name of the pure sun…wandering Witchman."

Thought I'd try something new for once. Yeah it's an OC story, yeah I'm not rebooting one of my past stories like I always promise to, but how many people have actually even ATTEMPTED to write about the past of Fairy Tail? Before the guilds, the demons, and the dragons or even Zeref? How many people would actually rather attempt something like this rather then writing the six hundreth Lucy Heartphilia ship with Insert character name here? Or the next Natsu gets a harem with every woman that breathes in the country of Fiore and beyond while bashing every other male character that exists? I'm not saying those stories can't be entertaining, I've read some and I'll never get to the level of many of them at my rate.

I'm no genius at writing. I know that, but I'm at least going to try and do something new and hopefully not fuck it all up this time around like I sometimes do, when I get too carried away and end up having Ignia torch an entire country and slaughter millions of people without making it have too much overall impact.

This story will carry on into canon, I plan to let the kingdoms and nations slowly develop into what they become in the modern age. No I don't plan on writing every single year because that would take ages, I plan on writing a few short stories of significant events that carry on into canon timeline. Some time-skips will be massive, not everything will remain the same either.

Anywho, that's my rant, inspired by castlevania and the witcher btw.