Temeria, 1202.

"Sun is getting low. Better hurry."

The Witcher taps his heels into his mare and gallops closer towards the tree line where the setting sun is glistening through the branches and thicket giving the impression that it has been lit on fire. Eventually he stops and gets off the horse and his armored leather boots hit the grass as he dismounts.

Clad in leather, cloth, and chainmail the witcher pats his horse and reaches down into a black saddle bag on the brown and white mare and pulls out a piece of paper and unfolds it revealing a notice that was taken on a notice board a few miles down the road.

Havilok Disappearances

Attention Citizens!

There have been numerous disappearances over the past month of towns men and women who journey close to the Havilok Forest east of town. And during the nights and days there have been reports of screams and roars from unknown creatures. Anyone who is able to kill whatever is in there and find what happened to those who vanished will be rewarded handsomely.

Sincerely yours,

Alderman Alvin

The Witcher puts away the notice and looks up at the dense woodland and back to his horse. "No way I can fit you in there Annie. Looks like I have to go in on foot."

He reaches up and unbuckles a large black leather bag that contains everything he needs for either a hunt or a long journey. He goes through the bag making sure he has everything in there from food, to water, alchemy ingredients, potions, oils, and even some bombs and extra crossbow bolts.

He synched it back up and strapped it to his back over his blades, the main instruments that a witcher would use on the path. He scans the woodland area with his eyes and using his heightened hearing he hears faint growling and snarls about a mile or so deep in the forest.

He turns back to Annie and starts petting her. "Head back to the town, it's too dangerous for you to be out here."

The horse looks at her rider and huffs in disbelief and worry.

The monster slayer reassures her with a smirk. "C'mon now, you know that I don't go down easy. Hopefully I'll be back by midnight or until sunrise at the latest."

Annie rubs her head to him saying goodbye and turns away and starts galloping away. The witcher turns to the forest and starts walking in. "Time to get to work."

The sun has now lowered completely, coating the Havilok Forest in complete darkness except for the moonlight peeking through the autumn leaves and mostly bare branches. The witcher quietly steps through the forest with his senses fully activated finding any tracks or marks that may indicate what he'll be dealing with.

He eventually stops to get close to a large oak seeing giant claw marks on the trunk.

He says to himself. "Whatever did that was a big fucker. Far bigger than a bear, and at least 800 to 1000 pounds. Probably a fiend but not enough to go off of that. Whatever it was, looks like it was marking its territory."

Talking to oneself while odd is the only way a Witcher can focus properly. And to keep himself from going crazy from the isolation he puts himself through.

He steps back and focuses his hearing hoping he can find that growling and snarling he heard from before he stepped in, but nothing but the wind.

He thinks aloud. "I would've heard at least a bird or something this far deep."

His eyes narrow. "Something's not right."

He looks to the side and sees an animal lying down in the dirt and leaves.

"Hm?"

He walks over and begins to investigate.

The corpse was absolutely mangled and torn open, and most of its guts and meat are missing. From the few body parts that still remained, it was a deer.

"Poor thing. Couldn't run fast enough."

He looks at the deer carcass even closer.

"Hm, looks like one of the horns is missing, and no clean cuts in the flesh. Whatever did this was desperate for a meal."

He looks around and sees deer prints and a set of monster tracks on one end leading up to the body and going in a different direction is a blood trail with said tracks.

He smirks. "Blood looks relatively fresh. Looks like our glutton didn't clean up properly or he might've gotten hurt on his hunting trek."

He follows the blood trail and while he's not walking he starts to feel his medallion trembling.

Magic is close.

He glances down at the silver necklace wrapped around his neck. The snarling lion head with leather wings behind it is shaking more and more violently as he is getting closer.

Eventually the monster hunter gets to a small clearing and hides behind a rock glancing over it toward the clearing and his eyes widen at what he is seeing.

A large circle mixed with blood and other unknown substances with symbols and runes decorating the inside of the perimeter, and at the center a large stone altar and at the top are pieces of flesh such as arms, hands, and ears on strings. Lit candles surrounding a bowl filled with something foul, and herbs surrounding that.

And with their back towards the Witcher is what appears to be a woman of black hair and fair skin wearing a brown and red dress kneeling by the altar, blood coated hands stretched outward position similar to showing a form of worship.

'What in the fuck?' He thinks to himself.

He then heard her speak.

"I have done it! Ladies of all things big and small, lend me your power and I shall fulfill what was foretold centuries ago when the trees were but saps and acorns!"

'Ladies? Foretold? Is this woman a witch or some kind of fanatic?' A million thoughts were running through his brain on what he is looking at right now. It's been decades since he has seen a ritual like this and this blew the previous one out of the water in both scale and complexity.

She starts chanting in a tongue that the witcher has never heard before and the wind starts picking up and the trees start rocking more and more while fog begins to form in the clearing surrounding the area.

While this is happening he quickly unstraps his bag and opens it, getting some gear that he might need for the potential fight. Swallow, Thunderbolt, and Tawny Owl potions are safe choices to boost his healing, strength, and sign powers in case he needs it. He puts them on his leather bandelier on his chest, then he grabs four bombs and straps them to small hooks on his belt behind him ready to be thrown. Then he grabbed a vial filled with a thick green substance and he quickly and quietly unsheathes one of the swords on his back.

A beautiful steel blade gleaming in the darkness with a crossguard slightly curving upwards with glowing blue runes decorating the blade. And at the end of the leather and metal grip is a coin shaped pommel with an image stamped on it.

Same image as his medallion.

A witcher's steel sword, their primary weapon for fighting humans.

He pours the green substance on his blade, completely coating it. Finally he grabs a small blue bottle with decorated imagery across it and puts it in his belt.

He stands up, takes a deep breath, and slowly walks around his cover into the inevitable killing field.

A twig snapped behind her and the woman stopped her chanting and turned around in annoyance and fear and saw a man walking towards her, sword in hand. Her eyes widened when she saw yellow cat eyes glowing in the darkness, and when he got closer she now knows what this man is.

A witcher.

A mutated killer.

But not like most witchers up north here in Redania, no this one was different. This man had light bronze colored skin and medium length black hair tied back in a bun, a stubble, and two claw marks on his left cheek. And from what she can tell, his medallion doesn't belong to most witcher schools up here. It has the head of a snarling lion but has wings like a bat behind it and with horns.

He has leather armor with chainmail mixed in, a white long sleeve shirt, and dark pants with armor plates at the knees and a knife strapped to his right thigh. His gloves are leather with small dull metal spikes on the knuckles and forearms, and his boots are also leather with a piece of metal on the toes. She sees he has potions on a leather bandelier with a large pouch on his side, and the hilt of a second sword peaking out on his back.

"So, it looks like they finally sent a Witcher." She says.

He stops walking and replies. "Well when your people are getting killed in your local forest, you will inevitably get desperate."

"So." He continues and gestures towards the blood circle and altar with his blade.

"That them? The people from the village?"

"If you mean those sheep, then yes." She spats.

He glares at her. "Why?"

"I didn't personally kill them if that's what you're wondering. It's none of my business anyway to discuss the plans and will of the Ladies to a mutant such as yourself."

"Do you have a name then, cause it'll be a mouthful to address you as 'crazy witch wannabe'." He asks in a mocking tone.

She smirks."Asharia. Now mutant, I am going to give you one chance to leave or else I will have to summon the ho-"

Before she can continue with her threat, her right hand engulfs in a flash of flame before it dies revealing a symbol looking like an S with an extra curve.

"AHHHH!" She yells.

Taken aback, the witcher looks in confusion while his body completely tenses at Asharia grabbing her hand in pain before her head snaps up with her blue eyes now turning completely white. As this is happening the fog gets heavier and the wind has picked up. The candles on the altar previously lit aflame had all gone out.

His medallion is shaking violently now.

"How dare you speak for us woman!" She says, but it's different. Much more shrill and old sounding, and then another voice spoke from her, only deeper and slightly muffled. "Allow us to introduce ourselves to this fine young man."

Asharia then collapses to the ground on her hands and knees, heaving in breath. And through the fog, three figures begin to form. And what the Witcher sees is absolutely horrifying.

The first one is short and hunchbacked, with decaying skin with one eye covered in bandages, a hooked nose, and a long red cone for a hat. And there are what appears to be legs sticking out of her torso. The second is similar in stature but her face is covered by a red and black shawl, and wearing a white canvas bag filled with human limbs. And the last one is absolutely massive, with fat decaying flesh held by rope and her head is covered by a wicker basket.

"What are you?" The Witcher asks while getting into a fighting stance.

"Sheathe your weapon young man! There is no need for bloodshed!" The one with the red hat said.

"You'd be wise to do so, but then again he looks rather nice and lean, perfect for a spit roast!" The big one says in hunger.

"Quiet Brewess! We don't need the witcher to defy us more than he already is!" Said the one with the shawl.

The red hat one speaks again. "Whispess is right, sister. Forgive us witcher, please tell us what is your name child and why is it that you are out here?"

The monster slayer replies, eyes narrowed. "Darek. The nearby town put up a notice of disappearances happening out here. I accepted the job and now I know what happened. You killed several innocent people for whatever the fuck this is."

The red hat witch responded. "Ooh, naughty mouth on you boy! Hopefully you'll be wise to not attack our servant, so I would recommend you leave this place with your life, Witcher of Zerrikanian blood!"

Then the one with the veil piped up. "Or better yet, you can assist us, and help fulfill our centuries old endeavor. I can see in you that you would love to have more than taking handfuls of coin from spiteful, ignorant humans for monster heads, don't you Darek?"

While Darek didn't break his fighting stance or his facial expressions, he did contemplate on what was said. The life of a witcher is one of toil, loneliness, and death. Doing jobs that not many can do just to make some money from people who can't stand his very presence is something that he wishes would be different.

As much as he craves for something more, he knows better that there is nothing he can do with the hand that fate dealt to him.

Instead of bitching and complaining on whatever sick joke the world threw at him, he trained and traveled across the continent to become the most efficient monster slayer that the school of the manticore ever created.

To make sure no one else can get hurt or killed from monsters while he's around.

Both human and inhuman.

"I appreciate the thought you lovely ladies put into for me, but I'm afraid I'll have to pass."

He holds up the potion that he pulled out of his belt.

"Killing innocent people is a huge red flag for me, so it looks like you're gonna have to close shop."

He pops open the lid and guzzles the contents while grimacing at the taste wanting to throw up, but can't.

He throws the bottle down and the effects are immediate. His brown skin gets a little lighter in tone and dark veins start appearing on his face while his pupils become larger, taking in more light. He feels his energy and strength is far greater and his senses have widened even more.

"Wrong choice child!", said the red hat witch.

"Devour him!" Yelled the big witch now known as Brewess.

The images of the witches dissipate and the woman moves to the altar grabbing a jar filled with a blue substance and frantically starts mixing in some monster blood and other items.

The witcher leaps in about to cut her down but in the corner of his eye he sees something barreling out of the trees and coming fast.

ROOAAAARRRRR!

At the last second Darek did a gesture with his free hand and is covered in a gold aura before he gets hit and the aura explodes as he flies backward rolling around on the ground. He quickly gets back on his feet from the momentum and sees what collided with him. A giant brawny four legged beast with a maw filled with teeth, a tail, and large horns similar to an elk. And at the center of its forehead is an extra eye.

"Fucking fiend. Should've known you were close." Darek growls out in discomfort after taking that shot, now sheathing his steel sword on his back and reaching for his second one pulling it out swiftly.

This one is a little different from his first one. This had a leather handle and a couple steel rings wrapped around the handle. And the pommel is shaped to that of his manticore medallion. While his steel sword had a straight crossguard, this one resembles that of a small jagged U going upward along the blade. This blade is however shinier than his other sword, and has runes as well along the blade, this time glowing orange.

This is a witcher's silver sword. Used to kill monsters.

He pulls out a bomb and throws it towards the fiend as it comes close and it explodes in a white flash causing it to get disoriented. Darek swiftly moves in and slices it across its head causing blood to start seeping from the wound.

He moves away as it starts to orient itself and uses his hand to throw up another golden forcefield around him. He starts running close to the woman who has now set the bowl contents of flesh, blood, and the blue substance in a fire of azure. He swaps out swords and prepares to slice her down but out of the fog comes another creature swiping at him forcing him to dodge again.

'Oh no, not you motherfuckers!' He thinks in seething frustration as he swaps swords again. Fiends, one at a time he can handle, Foglets on the other is a whole other story. These are big grayish blue hunchback elf-like creatures with sharp claws and teeth, and pops in and out of the fog ambushing its prey.

He starts dodging out of the foglets grasp and as soon as it appears again trying to slice at him he maneuvers to the side and with his silver blade swings down in one swoop and cuts through its neck decapitating it with purplish blood spewing out of it.

The fiend is now charging in forcing Darek to leap and roll out of the way and tries to swing at it in the back but misses.

His medallion is shaking even more now and now looks behind seeing other monsters pouring in out of the woods to join the fight into ending him. Multiple corpse eating ghouls, rotfiends, and more foglets come out of the mist, as well as blue drowners, and angry cloth wearing wraiths appearing in a green light. He looks to the side and eyes widen when he sees a tall wooden leshen stumbling in with wolves and crows surrounding it. He hears digging and looks down as he sees small nekkers are burrowing out of the ground near him.

Everywhere he looks he sees monsters of all categories surrounding him. "Oh gods no!" He yells and when ghouls and an alghoul are about to swarm him he uses his free hand and spins around as hot embers and flames spew all around him catching some corpse eaters on fire as he rolls out and starts to gun it towards the ritualist who now has the bowl of blue flames and starts chanting in tongues.

As he is running he dodges, pirouettes, cleaves, and cuts his way through killing some ghouls, cutting off legs of an arachnomorph, and decapitates a passing drowner.

He thinks fervently as he gets closer. 'Got one shot at this!'

He pulls out his crossbow which already has an arrow in it and aims.

He pulls the lever.

The bolt flies through the air and collides with the woman in her shoulder causing her to drop the bowl.

It drops to the ground and spills the flaming contents on the ground, and she drops down as well, grasping the bolt head sticking out from the front of her right shoulder.

The dark haired woman turns her head around glaring at the witcher who is now getting swarmed by a waterhag, an arachnomorph, and two alghouls as he is surrounding himself in a gold dome shielding himself as they try to break it by clawing it in a ravenous fury.

She looks back and sees the blue contents now following the bloody lines of the ritual circle coating the entire clearing in a bright blue light.

It grows more and more intense as she tries desperately to move away from the large ritual circle.

Darek's shield is about to shatter as he tries everything in his power to hold it together.

"Shit, this is it!" He yells out as it begins to shatter. "Looks like it's my time!"

'Fifty years is not that bad a run.' He thinks to himself, finally accepting the end.

Then everything in the clearing gets blinded by a powerful explosion of blue light surrounding both it and some of the surrounding woods.

And in the end, everything living in that circle and in the surrounding woods vanished.

"Ghhnggg." The witcher opens his eyes seeing a bright blurry yellow, orange, and purple environment.

He rolls over onto his stomach and slowly stands up grabbing his head as it is pounding like a Redanian snare drum. He looks closer at his surroundings now seeing them in better detail.

"Huh?"

The grass is red and white while the trees are either orange or purple, and the sky is a pale shade of yellow. This kind of pigment in a forest is very odd to say the least, which is saying a-lot considering how long and far Darek has been traveling the path.

Not to mention these trees are very different than the ones that he was just near. He looks around in bewilderment when a glimmer catches his eye. He sees his silver sword lying on the ground and a splotch of green next to it. He walks over to it and picks it up, sheathing it on his back, but looks down at the liquid.

He kneels down and sniffs at it, instantly recognizing the potent stench. It is one of his witcher potions, particularly a decoction that increases his reflexes and healing abilities.

"I didn't remember packing this on me, which means..."

He looks up seeing a black canvas bag hanging on a bush. He rushes over and grabs his bag of supplies quickly going over the damage. While not too bad there are a few potions that are slowly leaking from the cracked glass.

"Dammit. I need some vials, now!" He grabs what spare vials he have that are still intact and starts transferring the potions into them.

As soon as he finishes, he looks back up and sees a bright light at the end of the forest. Darek packs up and starts walking towards it.

He gets to the end and what he sees challenges everything he has ever known.

Looking over a cliff sees the land that he currently resides after waking from the explosion.

A giant ribcage and a horned skull made from what looks like real bones overshadow the land and several towns and villages nestled in as all kinds of faraway creatures are flying around.

Taking all of this in, Darek had one thing to say.

"What the fuck, did those witches do?!"

After getting back in the Witcher 3, I wanted to do this. It's a shame that there aren't a lot of regular or crossover stories with this IP, because there is a lot of potential here. I also love the Owl House and I feel like the Boiling Isles is a perfect place for a Witcher crossover, because of how magically batshit crazy the environment is and a witcher there will be very interesting.

See ya!

Azrael-50