"Hey." Someone says.
You wake up a little startled.
"Geez, I didn't mean to scare you. You said you wanted to come check it out today?" Viney smiles.
Vineys your best friend. Has been for a good while. You met her at Hexside when you were younger and have been friends ever since.
"Oh yeah, I did want to come." You say.
"Great, they're really looking forward to meeting you, so hurry up." She smiles.
Viney recently joined a group of people, a guild she likes to say, of wild witches. You both are interested in more than one track and since you can only choose one you decided that's unfair and how you guys want to be wild witches.
Viney likes beast keeping and healing. You like beast keeping, potions, and plants.
You put on your shoes and meet Viney out the door and begin walking to this guild she was talking about. Some other old Hexside students are a part of it as well from what you've been told. It's kind of exciting.
It's at a group of wild witches who live underground Bonesburrow. It seems like they have their own civilization built, it's huge. There's tons of people. You even recognize some of them being old students at school.
As you walk in they welcome you happily. They all seem like a very nice group of people and as you walk in they guide you to their leader. The Owl Lady and the Human Luz.
Luz has been in the boiling isles ever since she was 14. She once had the opportunity to go home with the portal key but it mysteriously vanished some years ago. Luz is 20 now. Some think that it was taken in the hands of the emperors coven. You kind of doubt that. If that were the case, the Day of Unity would have been years ago, but it's still nowhere close.
"So you're Y/N?" The owl lady says suddenly and approaches you.
You stand still and look up at her. You've never seen her in person, only in wanted posters, but she had long greyish white hair, a golden tooth, paired with golden eyes. If you were to picture a wild witch, she would be the first to come to mind.
The Owl Lady smiled down at you, she gave off an intimidating presence, but she had a kind yet intrigued voice.
"Yes, my friend Viney, she told me about you guys." you smile brightly and look up at her.
"Viney? she joined a couple months ago, you guys are close?" She smiles.
"Yep, have been for a while now." you say.
"What do you specialize the most in?" Eda smiles.
"I prefer Beast keeping, potions and plant magic." You say.
"Interesting." She smiles.
"I did a bunch of potions myself when I was enrolled in Hexside as a kid." She says.
Eda looks over at Viney and Viney smiles at Eda and nods her head. Eda nods and looks at you.
"I'd love for you to join us since you've known Viney for so long, I trust you wont give our location away." Eda Smiles.
"Of course I wont. I think its fascinating you've been able to build so much down here, how long have you guys been running?" You ask.
"My companion Raine Whispers actually found this place a long time ago and formed a small group back when Luz was only 14. We've been building more and more down here ever since." Eda says.
"Its amazing, this place is like its own town." You say.
"It is isn't it? I'm so proud of how far we've gotten." Eda says.
After Eda agreed to let you join the guild you and Viney walked around the civilization for a bit. She showed you some of the places they have and the little housing areas. She asked you if you would like to live with her in her little space. You said yes, it was a perfect fit for two.
It took some days to finally get all moved in but you finally were. When you left home your parents gave you a big hug. You told them you were moving to the wrist of the boiling isles to pursue something in Beast Keeping. You cant really tell them the truth. Your stepdad doesn't really support the ideas of wild witches, he's big into the emperor covens politics. Mattholomule is your younger half brother, Steve being your older brother. Matt was into the construction Coven similar to your father, but he's also been somewhat into Illusions, but he's been keeping it a secret from everyone.
You ended up finding out because he was practicing in his room late at night with his door somewhat cracked open.
Matt adores you, you love him too, he looks up to you and Steve a lot. Steve is your full brother but you don't see him that much anymore because he's a part of the emperors coven. Your stepfather pressured him to be when he was fresh out of Glandus.
You were the only one who was enrolled at Hexside for all your school life, Matt ended up transferring to Hexside, but Steve ended up transferring to Glandus mainly because they were the only school accepting emperors coven try outs.
"You're not just ditching us cold turkey right?" Matt says.
"No of course not, I'll still visit sometimes." I say.
"It gets lonely being the only kid here." Matt scoffs.
"Well, I'm not a kid anymore, I'm 19 now." You smile.
"Right, Right, whatever." He huffs.
I ruffle the top of his head and wave him off. Viney helps carry some of my things out and we begin heading out.
"When we get to this side of town, use these." Viney says pulling out a glyph.
"What is this?" You ask.
"Its an invisibility glyph, Luz created it, as soon as we merge into the crowd we use them and casually go into the sewer pathway." Viney smiles.
"Just hold your breath when you slap it on." She says.
You nod and smile.
"Eda's having a little get together tonight with all of us, she's actually interested in you helping with something." Viney smiles.
"Oh?" You ask.
"The guild has different parts to it, there's the clothmakers and food gatherers, the guild is basically its own civilization but we need hunters and gathers to help supply to the guild, because some of the wild witches down here cant be seen really on the surface. I was telling her about how skilled at Grudgby you were and she kind of wants you to be a scout." Viney smiles.
"Like...?" You ask.
"They're more skilled witches, you were very good with your work at Hexside, you're always on top of things, so she wants you to be a main part of the guild and help supply things beneficial to wild witches to help them learn about the properties of wild magic." She goes on.
"Some of them find ancient texts or settlements owned by wild witches and bring back any artifacts to help bring back and learn about." Viney says.
"So, like, I'll have missions?" You ask.
"Basically." She nods.
"That actually sounds kind of fun." You smile.
"It is, I do it sometimes too, but only in groups. Eda thinks though you're probably skilled enough to go on your own." Viney says.
"No definitely, I'm sure I can handle stuff like that." You laugh.
"Great, we'll let her know as soon as we get there. For now, prepare your glyph we're about to go in." Viney says.
You do just that and prepare yourself to sneak into the sewer passageway.
After a while, you finally are all settled in with Viney at her place.
Eda eventually knocked on your door and you both let her in. Viney left the room to leave the two of you alone so she could discuss with you her plans.
"I assume Viney told you already what has been proposed?" Eda asks.
"Yep, she has. I don't think its anything I cant handle." You nod.
"That's perfect! I was hoping you'd say that." Eda smiles.
"I'd like to get you started on your first mission in a few days." Eda nods.
You blink and look at her and listen to what she's about to say.
"You said you're skilled with potions right? That's perfect, potion work is actually a very broad aspect of wild magic. You can create whatever potion you want, not only that but you can make spells if you brew them right." Eda smiles.
You nod and adjust yourself in your seat.
"There's this abandoned potion brewery a little bit east of the toes of the boiling isles, and I'd like for you to go over there and scavenge any interesting artifacts about potions if you can." Eda smiles.
Your eyes light up.
"If you could head around 2 days from now, that would be the perfect time to go. Usually emperors coven scouts are near those areas this time of the week but they've been scheduled on a new mission soon so they should be clearing up soon." Eda nods.
"I can do that." You say.
"Excellent. We have some people here who can supply you with anything if people happen to come across your path during that time, you said you specialize in potions, beastkeeping, and plants right? We have a potion maker here who makes some good spells you can take if needed. No payment needed, since I appointed you a scout you get some perks." Eda winks.
"Thank you Owl lady, I appreciate it," You smile excitedly.
"If you need backup or anything at all, use this, it'll send a signal wave to our communications and we'll send anyone to help you. You're usually not supposed to be around that property so, it's in case you get caught." Eda smiles.
You nod.
"And don't worry about perfection, it's fine if you cant find anything of use, sometimes the emperors coven can get their hands on things before we do." Eda rolls her eyes.
You nod again. Eda looks at you and smiles, she stands up, you stand up as well.
"I'm honored you decided to join us." Eda smiles.
"I'm thankful I'm here. I'm just glad I can express myself here." You smile.
Eda smiles and nods.
I lay down in my new bed that night and relax. Viney sleeps in the other bed across. This is my new home. I'm going to fight for the right to use magic the way I wish. Maybe I can make myself more comfortable with what I choose to be in life now.