Brewing Love and Casting Lies

Chapter 1

The day was warm, though that was how it often was. Dreadfully warm summers, chilly falls, freezing winters, and wet springs where pollen just about took over the skies. The market was full of sorts of magical creatures roaming the area as they shopped and mingled amongst themselves. Children ran through the carts and stalls laughing and joyfully screaming as they chased each other, free of the burden brought by age and the experiences of life.

Shop owners stood behind their stand, most of them couldn't afford a real building those that could, were here in an effort to bring more attention towards their own business. Or maybe attempting to find a new partner, employee, or even competition. Most of them were selling food, homemade clothes, and a few were even selling magical goods.

To the side of it all, underneath the shade of a run-down building stood a young man. He pushed off the wall he was leaning against for a moment to adjust the sleeves of his shirt, pulling them down over his wrists. The man also sported bright yellow gloves, and his cape and shirt were black with yellow accents. A hat he wore hid his light brown hair and cast a shadow upon his face. His face was the most unique thing about him. His eyes were two different colors, the right one a magnificent green and the one on the left... a bright yellow that matched the snake-like scales that took over the whole left side of his face, and most of that side of his body as well. He was tall, that was undeniable.

The man sighed as the town clock chimed twelve times. He was here to meet his new hire but they were late. He owned a business a little farther down the road and as proud as he was about it becoming more popular and him gaining more business and clients, it was beginning to become too much for him to handle alone. He had been searching for nearly a month now, he had become almost desperate to find the help he needed. Yet not a single person had inquired about the sign in the window of his shop or the ad he had placed in the paper. Not until last week anyway when he had received a letter from someone inquiring about the job. The person seemed to fit all the qualifications Janus needed, and since there was nobody else interested Janus really had seen no reason, or choice, not to hire him.

A few more minutes passed and Janus was about to give in when someone who Janus hadn't even seen approach stopped in front of him and started talking. "Are you Mr. Verum?" they asked.

Janus nodded, "Yes, but you can just call me Janus. And you're Virgil I presume?" They nodded slowly.

He was a short young man, barely reaching up to Janus's chest in height. It didn't help that he seemed to be making himself look smaller than he really was. He had dark hair, somewhere between brown and black that looked like it hadn't been cut in a while, which hung in front of his eyes and hid them from view. He was thin, almost dangerously so, and pale. His clothing wasn't in the best of condition, his shoes were torn and ripped apart. The shirt he wore under his jacket was a light gray, the collar of which was ripped. His jacket seemed to be the only thing in good condition. He carried a large duffel bag with him.

They were human, that was pretty obvious. They had no indication of being any magical species, and there was pretty much always something about magical beings that gave them up. Not to mention Janus could sense others with magic, Virgil had none of it. No, he was completely human.

Not that there was anything wrong with that, at least not in Janus's opinion. Many others would disagree, there were plenty out there who thought humans were the equivalent to rodents just because they possessed no unnatural abilities and were considered 'weaker'. Some people took these beliefs to an extreme, going as far as to purposely inflict violence, harm, and awful crimes on them.

Janus hated how people did that. Though, unfortunately humans weren't the only unlucky ones. People tended to have some not so nice opinions on half-breeds too, and Dragon Witches were very controversial at the moment with all the stereotypes and recent events surrounding them.