DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN STARDEW VALLEY (Concerned Ape) NOR HAVE ANY RIGHTS TO THE STARDEW VALLEY EXPANDED MOD CHARACTERS/ EVENTS (Flashshifter).

Chapter 1: A Certain Kind Of Magic

Year 7

Summer

Wednesday 24th

23:00pm

Gently, ever so gently, the faint noise grew louder. It was almost impossible to hear at first, but if you listened carefully and listened with patience the signs were as clear as day. The almost undetectable sound of raindrops were colliding with the purple stained glass window and it was growing more and more obvious. The Farmer couldn't hear the rain at first, there was no way he could in this giant stone Witch's tower. After almost two weeks of patiently waiting and listening he knew his senses weren't lying to him. He knew that this meant only one thing.

Money.

"C-Camilla? Do you hear that?!" the Farmer leapt up from where he had been sitting and hurried over to the enormous decorative window. It was a giant diamond shape that took up an entire wall of the Witch's tower, the purple stained glass featured around the border of this window as well as a smaller diamond shape in the centre. The Farmer was able to open a small square of glass at the bottom, it was on a latch and swung open, big enough for him to put his head out of. So he did. He was thankful to get a breath of fresh air into his lungs, the smell of the Witch's tower was an overwhelming yet intoxicating stench of Coconut Milk and Vanilla. Camilla's perfume.

"It's hard to over your ranting and raving!" the blonde haired woman joked, sighing and now moving to lay on the right side of her body. The silky white sheets of the bed were concealing the lower half of her semi-naked body. When she didn't have her Witch's hat on her long hair fell messily on either side of her shoulders, it covering most of her dignity at the moment. The Witch's sarcasm seemed unavoidable whenever he spoke about something she had no interest in. An understandable trait when you were the magical protector of Castle Village.

The cool precipitation was splashing against the Farmer's sweaty face, the lighter air flooding in from the window, helping to make the room a more suitable temperature. It had been like a sauna a few moments ago. After a few more minutes of silence, the Witch simply watching as the naked man bathed himself in the rainfall, she decided to poke more fun at him.

"You know . . . I've never noticed how cute your butt looks from this angle." Her giggles making the man become slightly embarrassed.

"You know what this means though right? Me and the other farmers in the valley have been waiting for a decent rainfall for at least three weeks." The man ignored the woman's comment and remained with his back to her.

"I know Grimy . . . It's been a similar situation for the inhabitants of the village. They have been complaining that their wells were bone dry for a few days now."

The Farmer turned quickly to speak dierctly to Camilla, "And you haven't helped them?!".

"What would you have me do? Refill the Aquifer underneath us? Cast a spell so that they forget their thirst and that their crops are dying? I cannot disrupt the natural order of things."

"Bullshit. Just make a totem and give them some reprieve for pity sake!"

The Witch scoffed loudly, a familiar, cruel and evil smirk was on her face. "A totem? Really? Then I suppose you'd have me dance to summon the rain too? You may use totems but they are mere child's play compared to what we witches and wizards are capable of."

"Then why not help?"

"Because it is not our job to help Grimy-"

"I really wish you'd stop calling me that."

"Are you not my Grimy?"

Yet another giggle escaped the woman, she was taking pleasure at his annoyance. The farmer sighed and turned around once more, leaning on his elbows at the windowsill. He was gazing at the different red and yellow torches and braziers within Castle Village, one by one the lights were extinguished as the rain became heavier.

"I get it . . . it's not your job to help, it's your job to observe and study."

"Precisely."

"Is that what you're doing right now? Observing and studying me?" the man spat a bit of playful venom in her direction.

"I'm definitely doing the first."

The Farmer could feel those purple eyes tracing his every feature, examining the finer details of his body as if searching for something. It was unnerving, but addicting at the same time. "You know- Rasmodius warned me about you . . . did I ever tell you that?"

"That old fool couldn't tell his arse from his elbow."

"What a creative insult Camilla."

"And you listened to him I presume? Heeded his warning?"

"You know the answer to that- look where I'm standing." The man had turned back around and was looking initally at Camilla after that sarcastic comment, but now he had begun to admire the insides of her tower instead.

Located in the heart of Castle Village, the Witch had constructed and designed the tower herself and it was filled with extraordinary odds and ends, some of them were the artifacts she possessed but most of them were the decorations that she had strewn about the walls and shelves. To name but a few; Camilla seemed to have a fascination with sentient plants, crystals of all shapes and sizes, most of them, including the Prismatic Shards and Cinder Shards were gifted by himself, ancient weaponry as well as everything and anything purple. The ground floor of the tower was an infirmary and kitchen combined into one, go up a level and you would find a typical Witch's laboratory filled with differnet ingredients and elixirs that Camilia brewed for Isaac, Alesia and the other fighters of the village. Of course a Witch's cauldron was included. At the top of the tower was Camilla's bedroom, a colourful and comfy place. A giant purple and white bed was against the northern wall of this hexagon shaped room, along with an ensuite in one corner and a magical wardrobe in the other, it was a room fit for a Queen.

"Anyway- I would never study you Grimy . . . I-I enjoy your company." That comment was completely unexpected and it broadsided him, a smirk was now growing on the man's face, it reflected his genuine surprise.

"Was that a sincere statement from the witch of Castle Village?" the man decided to give Camilla a taste of her own verbal medicine.

"It was . . . Don't make me regret saying it."

"Or else what?"

"Or else you would have wished I turned you into a Mutant Grub when we first met."

The Farmer laughed at this threat but internally he knew that it was genuine. While their relationship was a proffessional and sexual one, the man knew when not to push his luck any further. Camilla always got what she wanted, through any means necessary. Whether it be an item, money, punishment or death. He had known that from the moment he had first met her.

The memory of their first encounter replayed through his mind vividly, that brief enchanting look she had given him in Cindersnap Forest was still a fresh memory. Rasmodius knew it had been a mistake telling the Witch about him. The Farmer would later find out that she had left the council meeting early for the sole purpose of seeking him out.

"Oooh . . . You're much cuter than I initally thought!" the woman exclaimed a few seconds after she materialised.

"Uh-" the man regretted reaching for the hilt of his sword first, it was hardwired instinct that Marlon had drilled into him. It was a justified reaction in his mind, especially when a stranger appears out of thin air in front of you in a remote forest.

"Handsome and defensive?" the woman disappeared from site in a flash, reappearing behind him just as quickly. The man swivelled around quickly upon hearing her footsteps adjust her posture.

"I can see why Rasmodius and Marlon put their faith in you."

"You're Camilla- aren't you? Castle Village's witch?" the man not removing his hand from the pommel of his Galaxy Sword.

"Hmmm- maybe I am- maybe I'm an illusion?"

That damn smirk growing across her purple lips. Once again the Witch disappeared, only to appear out of his peripheral vision. The tense silence lengthened and yet neither backed down from this close encounter. The only noise that could be heard was the wind being caught in the tops of the tallest trees of Cindersnap, as if it were distant waves breaking on a foreign shore. The woman had begun pacing around him at one point, examining the man and his equipment, his head followed her round like a security camera, refusing to take his eyes off of the Witch. Eventually, after one full rotation around the Farmer, Camilla broke the silence.

"I suppose I will ponder on whether I will grant you permission to Castle Village."

"T-Thank you" the Farmer hesistantly spoke, finally releasing his hand from his sword. The gesture that she had been waiting for: he had let down his guard. The infiltration of his mind was now possible and inside it she had found something new. Something that she wanted.

"Adieu."

The second time the two individuals met was when he realised that Camilla had developed a truly strange attraction to him. It was the same day where her nickname for him had started. In his defence he wasn't prepared. After a truly grueling day of mining in the Skull Caverns, the Farmer had returned home and immediately gone to sleep, not having had the chance to wash the Serpent entrails and purple slime off of himself. Hence the grime on his skin . . . and face.

He had woke up late the following morning and decided to venture into town for lunch, not truly caring about his appearance that day, however when he was locking his front door an unexpected guest had been standing behind him on the doorstep.

"Hello my dear" the blonde haired witch spoke softly as he turned around.

Before he could react, Camilla had stepped uncomfortably close to him, their faces almost touching, the woman holding his body close to her's as they teleported away. His hands had somehow found their way to her hips when they rematerialised in the Nexus.

The man shook himself back into reality, his eyes meeting those piercing dark purple ones from the bed, it sending a shudder down his spine. The woman flashed another toothy evil smile upon seeing her effect on the man.

"Something on your mind my dear?"

"More like something in my mind . . . You. I've asked you to stop."

"I wasn't."

"Yeah- sure you weren't"

"Okay . . . I confess. Look- I just wish I could excite you as much as the rain could. I want to excite you like- like I did before."

"Hey- Hey don't say something so stupid."

The Farmer had now walked back towards the giant purple and white bed, deciding to join the woman inside of it.

"I'm sorry- I was just looking forward to what's coming. This weather front will be over the valley by morning."

"Well- look's like you'll have to stay the night then. Can't have you catching a cold in that storm."

"What a tempting offer."