1 YEAR LATER
JOY LIERIA
It's been a difficult year for me. The witches weren't happy with me, I have cruciefied and humiliated and most of all shunned by the covens of this place for the crimes I committed but thanks to Sybil and her family I guess the witches were linient on me with their punishment. I’m still not able to perform any spells or so any magic ever since that night my father punished me. Max and Sybil have been teach me the basic spells, they say I need to believe in myself that I can do it but how do I begin to do something that made me kill people and almost kill my only living family?
Faith still won't talk to me after what I almost did to her and I don’t blame her, Max has tried to talk to her and tried to help mend our relationship but what I did was unforgivable and I accept whatever punishment she sees fit for me because I don’t know how to forgive myself after what I did. School is going well I guess, I mean I’m just living because I have to, either than that I see nothing to live for after everything I have done to everyone around me.
My phone rings and it's Max, I let out a breath and answer his call. He’s been the best thing to ever happen to me, so loving and patient and forgiving of my crimes. I can't begin to thank him enough. He and I are friends, good friends if I could put it like that and I’m happy with that and also Sybil is a good friend to me.
“Hey” I answer.
“Oh? Have I done anything?” He asks and I frown confused stopping in my tracks.
“I don’t understand, why?” I ask him.
“Your tone is not as happy to hear from me. What are you doing?” He asks and I chuckle.
“I’m going to my next lecture. What are you doing?” I ask him.
“I am driving to see my little brother, he’s playing today and he asked me to be there” He says.
“That’s nice, good luck to him” I say and I hear him let out a breath.
“You know we connected right? I know when you not ok. What's wrong?” He asks me and I let out a breath.
“This other witch from one of the covens goes here to this same university and she was more than happy to teach me a lesson” I say with a heavy sigh.
“Who is she?” He asks.
“I don’t want to go to war with the covens Max, lets just leave her be please” I say. This is why I don’t tell him things because he always wants to come to my rescue.
“You paid for your sins Joy, you cannot punish yourself forever. You can't let this witch walk all over you over one little mistake. You were manipulated into everything you did, it wasn’t you but the dark magic inside of you” Max says and I shake my head no.
“Still Max, I allowed the dark magic to take over me and now I have to pay the price. Please just pretend I didn’t say anything so that we can just go on with our lives. I’m just tired” I say with a sigh and he lets out a breath.
“Go to class ok, I’ll see you after your classes?” he says.
“Yes, bye. Enjoy the game and great Ethan for me” I say.
“I will, bye”
I rush to the ladies and I find Rissa with her friend there and walk past them and get into the stall and go about my business. When I’m done I open the door when suddenly this fire shows out of nowhere blocking me from leaving the toilet stall. Rissa laughs it off with her friend as they watch me struggle to get out of the bathroom stall.
“What? Afraid of a little fire?” Rissa asks.
“Rissa please, please just let me get to class” I plead.
“How does it feel to be helpless huh? To not be able to defend yourself as you did with those other witches? You put yourself into this mess Joy” she says provoking me and I feel myself getting really hot.
“Rissa just let me go. I don’t want any trouble!” I say to her and she laughs at me again and the windows shatter and the mirror breaks and before I know it the fire goes off. earning a scream from both of them. I take a step back shocked and confused as to what just happened.
“What did you just do?” Rissa asks
“You said she didn’t have any magic!” the friend says to Rissa.
“Breathe” I say to myself remembering the lessons from Max and Sybil. There’s no longer any dark magic inside of me but in order to control myself and my magic I need to learn to control myself else the magic will consume me. I chant a little spell and the broken glasses start to levitate.
“What are you doing?”
My name is Joy and this is who I am, a Lieria witch. The last remaining of my kind doing my second year in university and this was my story.
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MAX WALMER
“What are you doing here?” The current regent of the witches asks me when I storm into her house.
“Joy served her punishment. Why is your daughter still tormenting her?” I ask her and she fakes a shock.
“Rissa would never do that!” she says defensively.
“You and I both know that you not the rightful regent and as soon as Joy can practise again, you are supposed to step down and let her take her rightful place!” I say to her angrily.
“The witches will never agree to being ruled by someone who killed their regent!” she says and I chuckle.
“You think? The witches are being fed BS by you. The ancestors spoke and do you know what was decided? To give Joy her rightful place and you return to being a common witch that you are. Tell your daughter to lay off on her or I won't hesitate to call a meeting with the witches of all covens.” I threaten.
“And what happens if I don’t?” She challenges.
“I don’t think the witches would be happy to know about the hand you played in manipulating Joy and her aunty”
My name is Max Walmer, a heretic and the future husband of Joy Lieria. I may have not chosen Joy as my wife or partner or anything of that nature but today I stand to be corrected and I am grateful that she is the woman I am meant to spend my future with.
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SYBIL ADAMS
“I’m glad you came Sybil” Syre says
I chuckle sarcastically “You left me no choice. What do you need?” I say bored
“This ground we on is sacred, lots of people died here so we need you to give back their magic to us” this old woman says, I have never seen her before but I’m assuming she’s Syre’s mom.
I look at the woman speaking “Give back their magic? Why didn’t you consecrate their bones or something?” I ask
She takes a deep breath and lets it out “With what bones? Sybil we need you syphon up the magic here on these grounds and find a way to get it back to us”
I sigh “So what? I suck in the magic and then the next thing I implode? We all know what happens when a witch sucks in that much power”
She looks at me and walks over to me and puts a hand on my shoulder “You know how the harvest ritual is done right? We can do it like that. Have the magic flow from you to each one of us”
I chuckle “You must think I’m stupid. I have to die in order for that to happen”
“But that’s the beauty of it Sybil, you don’t die. You the definition of immortal”
I pop out my eyes “So I’m supposed to risk my life? Death for me is different compared to the death you guys experience. If I died again, havoc would occur. People would die!” I explain. Not that I’m special but if I died there’d be a way to free my great grandmother from her prison
“So what do you suggest?” she asks, I look at her and shrug my shoulders
“We need to send Ariana back where she belongs or your boyfriend will die together with his doppelganger and Ariana will be unstoppable” she says, I take a deep breath and let it out.
I look at Syre “I’m not doing any harvest ritual but this is what will happen. The magic here is too much for one person, it’s way too much for even two or three so I will need 12 people to join me in the circle after I’ve consumed the magic so that we can do a splitting transference spell. I need the most powerful witches of your coven and syphon witches cannot participate else a lot could go wrong”
They nod and pick the 12 people I requested. I create a circle that will keep the magic within us all. I am hoping Ntando can handle this else we are screwed! I place my hand on the ground and start chanting to take in the magic and store it between my brother and I and I can literally feel it consuming me. It’s a lot that I had anticipated. I suck into my system until its all finish and I collapse to the ground.
My name is Sybil and my story continues. I was and will always be the mistake caused by fate and that’s ok, it's who I am and will always be.
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The End
Thank you again for the love and the support.
I am Sandisiwe Gxaba, until we meet again.