(HIATUS) A THOUSAND YEARS ✶ druig

⒈⒈⒈ 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒑𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒊𝒊

ACT ONE. CHAPTER ONE,
FROM POMPEII

━━━━━ ʚ ♡⃛ ɞ ━━━━━

In a bustling city of prosperity and wealth, Vita preferred not to live in the hustle and bustle of it all. She lived just outside the city walls in a farmhouse where she cared for her own garden. Vita had a secret that only most of Pompeii knew: she had magic. It was practiced by her ancestors after they were taught by what her grandmother called 'otherworldly beings.' To this day, she is still unsure of what she meant. But the citizens of this affluent town knew nothing of her origins. She's just the quaint, lonely sorceress who made antidotes and amulets for the sake of helping people.

They might be starting to get skeptical, though. Why would someone who was dressed as a patrician living amongst the plebeians?

But there was a reason she stayed outside the walls: to practice magic. Vita understood that humans would not be able to wrap their heads around the idea of magic, and knew that if they knew, it would put her at risk. So she practiced, out of their sights. At this point, she learned a few incantations, spells, and began to develop a power she has yet to learn. Every once in a while, a gray energy blast would surge from her hands and break her wooden table. She would then mutter an incantation to revive the piece of furniture to what it once was.

Vita stepped out of her farmhouse, a basket looped around her left arm. A fellow Pompeian requested for a healing tonic to be made for his sick daughter, and who was she to deny a request? While fixing the shawl on her head, she walked over to her garden filled with herbs. As she harvested the leaves from the plant, her ears picked up on the pitter patter of the pebble beside her knees. It rumbled with the ground, and soon she began to shake as well. Vita dared to look up, seeing a few of her neighbors running away from... something.

She ran over to the nearest person, which was none other than the man who requested for the tonic. He was holding his daughter in his arms. "Decimus! Decimus, wait!" He continued to run, only slowing down when his breath grew heavy, "What is going on? Why is everyone running?" Vita asked as she grabbed a hold of his arm.

"Vita! Let me go!" He exclaimed as pulled out of her grasp, cradling his daughter's head with his rugged palm. "You better run too. We're gonna try to get the gates opened!" With that being said, Decimus bolted towards the city walls.

When she turned around, Vita understood what they were running from. An iridescent, four legged creature charged at the village. It let out a mighty roar as it neared her. Vita panicked, and began to run too. The monster, however, was faster.

Her knees and feet began to ache as the walls grew closer and closer. Every tinge of pain that surged through her legs weakened Vita's steps. She was only drawing the monster closer to the city walls. The gates began to open and Vita stopped in her tracks. She toppled over and landed flat on her face. The creature drew nearer, now standing only a few feet away from her. With deep, heaving breaths, Vita raised her hand in the air, soft, smoke-like wisps emitting from her skin as she called out a spell.

And it was quiet.

Vita peaked from beneath her raised hand, to see the creature frozen in place, glimmering in the Roman sunlight. It was stunned, and the spell worked. She let out an amused chuckle while running her hand through her brown hair as she gazed at her victory over the vicious beast.

Little did she know that her victory was short lived. Its contorted face began to twitch, followed by the front legs, and the shoulders.