The Wolf Witch

Chapter 4: The Blind Pyromancer

Was jamming A7x while I was finishing this chapter, and it's chapter four so I though I might as well put the song here.

"When will you let me hunt?" I complained loudly to Aerya. We'd been traveling together for well over a fortnight now, but all she'd allowed us to eat was the blood fruit. I was beginning to grow sick of their sweet taste.

"Patience, young wolf," the spider witch replied. "You are not yet ready."

"You keep saying that," I retorted. "When will I be ready?"

"You will know," Aerya's words were cryptic, as always. Sometimes it seemed as if she knew nothing, and just hid it well. "Now show me what you have learned."

I concentrated, and a copy of me appeared at my side. She wore the same black cloak and worn shirt-dress as I did, and our features were even more alike than a mirror could've produced. "Good," the spider witch said. "Now make her move." I had never achieved that before, and this time was barely any different. My twin moved to walk, but it was clunky and animated. Her still features turned to mist after the first step.

"It's too hard-" I started.

"Nonsense!" Aerya said sharply. "You think a knight is born a great swordsman? You think wars are only won by those with the largest force, and not the strongest soldiers? You think Richard the Conqueror was just given the throne of Sacreon? Victory is earned, young wolf. Mastery of your magic is nothing less than a victory over mind and body."

"I can't-"

"You believe mastery comes in a fortnight," she scoffed. "You are naive, girl. You know nothing."

"You teach nothing," I countered.

"I teach many things, you do not learn."

"I do-"

"You do not," Aerya was stern. "Though I do not blame you, you are young. I was young once too, but the cruelty of the world took that away from me. I am sorry you must go through the same now."

"I... thank you."

"There is no need," the spider witch smiled. "Now try again."

Every day was the same. She taught me what she could of magic, I tried to channel that knowledge into something, I failed, she chastised me. It went on like that for days, then those became weeks, and weeks became months. I had lost track of all time when I finally asked her to help me shift.

"So the young wolf finally knows what she wants," Aerya smiled. "This will be no different than magic. I will teach, you will learn, you will try, you will fail," her green eyes met my orange. "You truly want this?"

"I do," I decided, not thinking.

"I will teach," she nodded. "It is not time yet for you to learn, but I will teach all the same."

"Thank you."

Shifting and magic became one and the same for me. Both came to me slowly, but far too slowly. "You must be sure of what you want," Aerya advised, but I knew what I wanted. I wanted to learn magic, to learn to shift, to become powerful. To avenge Rael.

Peach fuzz was growing on my body where the fur would be on a wolf, black as an eclipse, I saw it in my duplicates. My senses were heightening as well. I was drawing near to shifting, but there was something holding me back. With my magic too, I was growing stronger. My illusions had living faces, and they were so perfectly lifelike. I could create four at once now if I tried hard enough. All four fell to mist, though, at a single footstep. Something was missing, something I needed to push me over the edge.