“Don’t tell me you got caught.” Whispered Jeongyeon to her friend as the brunette got comfortable in her usual place on Jeongyeon’s bed. 

 

“I’m an adult, Jeong.” Nayeon rolled her eyes, “Getting caught was the least of my worries.” She assured as she kicked her feet up on the metal bed frame of Jeongyeon’s king sized bed. 

 

“Then what took you so long?” The blonde scoffed, and Nayeon hesitated before muttering out a response. 

 

“...I was waiting for my mom to go to sleep.” 

 

“Jesus.” Jeongyeon chuckled with the shake of her head before sighing. “I’m gonna miss you.” 

 

“Stop that!” Nayeon hissed, slapping her companion on the arm. “You’re not going anywhere.” 

 

“You know that’s just wishful thinking, Nay. There’s no way we’ll get out of here by next week.” 

 

“I mean…” The older girl rolled her eyes, “It’d be really, really easy to get out. Like, I literally just have to close my eyes.” 

 

“I know,” Sighed the taller woman before pulling her knees to her chest and hugging them. “My moms would never forgive me if I didn’t fulfill my duty as a warrior though, you know that.” 

 

"God," Nayeon rolled her eyes dramatically, "you're always so serious. You guys make it sound like the cold war. The battlefield wouldn't miss one witch." 

 

"I know…" Jeongyeon sighed, "But it'd miss this witch. I can't let other covens fight my battle." 

 

Nayeon huffed and crossed her arms over her chest in distaste at Jeongyeon’s stubbornnes. 

 

“Fine. But don’t die, or I’ll find a necormancer to revive you and then kill you again.” Nayeon complained, making her friend giggle before curling into her and holding her close, as they’ve done for as long as they’ve been friends. 

 

“Deal.” She murmered against her best friend’s hair as she began to doze off into the last peaceful slumber she’d feel for a long time. 

 

… 

 

“C’mon, Jihyo, you can do this.” Grunted Jisoo’s father from behind her, gripping her shoulders with a tightness that made her wince. 

 

“D-dad, you’re hurting me…” She whimpered at the sensation, and the man growled at his daughter. 

 

“You can stop me if you really try, Hyo.” He promised, “Just access my mind and ask me to let go. That’s all it takes.” His voice was low and dangerous, and his breath was laced with fire water, something she knew made him unreasonable. 

 

Something he abused often nowadays. 

 

“Dad,” Jihyo cried, tears welling in her eyes, “I-I can’t do it, p-please.” She pleaded, and the man let out a roaring exclaimation of anger before pushing her head into the book roughly, making the young witch yelp in pain at the sensation of her nose hitting the pages.

Jihyo wiped her tears, then the blood that trickled down her lips, off onto a hankerchief she had in tucked in the bust of her robe before standing up, taking the soiled book with her as she walked through the library.

 

She walked up to a dusty mirror decorating the walls and waved her hand across her reflection to clean the surface and see through the dinge to her face, tear stained, and more eerily of all, blood stained. 

 

She sighed and closed her eyes before opening them and being forced to look at a visibly flawless face once again. 

 

Though she was clean, and the pain in her nose and head were gone, the pain in her chest was something a simple spell could not alleviate.

 

This was the third time this week. 

 

The last time, he slammed a six thousand page encylcepedia on her fingers because she miss-spoke a single word after a five minute speed read on it. 

 

He didn’t even catch it at first, which is what angered Jihyo the most. 

 

He had to go back and read the book to ensure she had gotten everything right, and after getting tired and dehydrated, she took a breath in the middle of a ninety two syllable long word. 

 

So she was punished. 

 

Angrily, Jihyo slammed the book in her hands on the table, disrupting the blanket of dust on the surface, and, at the same time, making the doors of the library slam shut. 

 

“He shouldn’t do that to you.” Muttered a small voice, and Jihyo was startled as she turned to face who was talking to her from the blacony of the third story of the endless library. 

 

“Who are you to talk, stack wench?” Jihyo hissed with the roll of her eyes before being stricken with guilt at what she’d said. “I...I’m sorry, I-I don’t know what came over me, that wasn’t fair to you.” She muttered, and the blonde girl chuckled, appearing beside Jihyo in a second. 

 

“I’m used to it. People don’t usually take kindly to me.” She shrugged before looking over the book Jihyo had thrown on the table in her rage. She turned it to the cover and read over the title. “‘Indundation of Mortal and Immortal Psyche?’” She asked with intrigue, and Jihyo rolled her eyes.

 

“There has never been a witch in existance to even surpass telekenesis, let alone mind control. He’s crazy.”

 

“Well, I read somewhere that any witch can expand their abilities beyond what is expected, based on training, instinct, will power, and natural talent.” The girl chimed, “I don’t think it’s impossible, but I don’t think forcing you to do it is a healthy methodology.” The girl hummed as she hoisted herself to sit up on the table beside the desk. 

 

“I’ve never seen you before.” Jihyo admitted, tilting her head inquisitively toward the blonde woman, who shrugged. 

 

“I’m almost always here. I have been since I learned how to read.” She explained, “Reading is kind of all I’m good for.” 

 

“Oh, are you the coven bookkeeper?” Asked Jihyo, remembering hearing many people speak of the human girl who grew up in the Archives, but she never spent much time out of the coven leader’s mansion when most of the important books were duplicated into her father’s personal Archives, allowing her to study them from home. 

 

“The one and only.” Sana jumped down and bowed exasperatedly, making Jihyo giggle. 

 

“Don’t bow to me, I hate it when father makes people do that. I’m just like you.” She insisted, but the girl frowned. 

 

“Well, at least you can do a simple healing spell.” She grumbled, and Jihyo rolled her eyes. 

 

“It’s stupid for you to feel jilted because of our lack of magical powers when it makes you unique, being the only one unalike everyone else.” Jihyo rationalized, “And when you have knowledge, supernatural abilities are simplyan accessory you don’t need to thrive.” 

 

“Yeah…” The human pouted, “It doesn’t hurt though.” She added, making Jihyo giggle. 

 

“I’m Jihyo.” She offered, along with a hand, and the human smiled at her act of kindness. 

 

“I’m Sana.” 

 

… 

 

“Tzuyu-ah!” Wined someone from below Tzuyu’s field of vision, so she looked down and turned around to be met with the face of a little Hooki she called her friend. 

 

“Mili-ah!” The young witch wined back before kneeling down to look at the little green creature, putting her hands out for him to use his long, stringy legs to step opon it. He had scales and one eye in the middle of his pyramid shamed body. “What do you need?” She grinned at Mili, who huffed out of his little purple nose. 

 

“You haven’t come to visit us in ages. You used to visit every day.” Tzuyu frowned before beginning her walk throughout the Alsudfa Forest, as she had done almost every day as a teenager. 

 

“I know, Mili, I’m sorry, but I’m growing up.” She lifted the hem of her white dress to keep it from dragging across the toadstools while she trekked around barefooted, trusting the plants not to hurt her as much as the plants trust her to save them from death. “I’m due to be married tomorrow morning, so I’ve been making preparations.” She explained, and Mili’s eye sparkled with excitement. 

 

“A wedding? I love weddings! Can I come?” He asked, and Tzuyu frowned again. 

 

“Trust me, it’s not a fun wedding.” 

 

“How could a wedding ever not be fun!?” He asked as though it was a preposterous proposition. “The joining of two souls in matrimony, to show their families of their love for one another…” She trailed off dreamily, but the witch sighed sadly. 

 

“I don’t love her.” Tzuyu sighed sadly, and finally, Mili understood, and his legs gave out so he could sit on her palm sadly. 

 

“Oh…” He drooped dejectedly, and the witch sighed. 

 

“I know. But it’s my duty as the next heir to coven leadership.” She sighed, and the small creature kicked his tiny stick legs off the side of Tzuyu’s hand, and Tzuyu knew that if the species was born with hands or wings, he’d be fiddling with his fingers nervously. 

 

“Is she nice, at least?” He asked, and Tzuyu shrugged. 

 

“I haven’t met her yet. But her coven is full of really aggressive people, so I can’t assume she’ll be very different. 

 

… 

 

“Did you need some soup?” Asked Mina of a boy who was sitting under a tattered blanket near the fire. He nodded thankfully as he recieved the bowl she offered and used the steam to warm his nose. “Good luck in battle, tomorrow.” She said kindly before pulling her robes closer to her body to cover herself from the gaze of every man who looked at her as they always did. 

 

“Minari!” Grunted her father angrily as he approached her with his limp extra prominant today. 

 

“Yes, Papa?” She said in her small, soft voice as she approached him, bowing as she awaited his instruction. 

 

“I wanted to make sure you were ready to head to the Peacemaker’s village at dawn.” He reminded, and Mina looked up through her eyelashes, feeling a pang in her chest at the reminder that she was being given away. 

 

“Yes, Papa. I’m all packed and ready.” She sighed, and he grunted before walking away.

 

Mina felt useless. 

 

She was the only woman in the entire coven, and for as long as she’s been alive, she’s always felt lost. Helpless. 

 

Like dead weight. 

 

She was always known as the one who saw the soldiers off to battle, and watched them come and go, dying to defend a coven whose only constant at this point were her and her father.

 

Though nobody ever wanted to fight for her. 

 

Everyone saw Mina as a burden, even when she was feeding the entire coven and keeping them warm when they were incapable of it, because, of course, their hands materialized ice. 

 

So, of course, at the first chance, they would send her to live with the Peacemakers. Let her make laws that had to do with keeping order, rather than changing the world, or fighting to better the coven. 

 

Instead she’s been set on some bull initiative to ‘unite the covens’ when everyone knew very well that a coven that specializes in warfare has no care for peace, or for using their resources. 

 

She was just being dumped on somebody else. 

 

She sighed before going back to her tent to meditate. 

 

She sat on the floor and crossed her legs into themselves before closing her eyes, palms up, lips tight as she allowed her mind to relax. 

 

She thought of all she wished to have in her life, of a dream she held for as long as she could remember. 

 

She longed to be a hero. 

 

She wished with every fiber of her being to be seen for her power. 

 

To be seen as more than just some woman to be cast away, or given to someone else. 

 

She was better for more than bringing soup to little boys, and she so longed for her people to see and appreciate that. 

 

She wanted to be strong. 

 

Most of all, she wanted to belong to something. 

 

To be loved, really loved. Not this sad excuse for love that definitely wasn’t love. 

 

So, she imagined herself, surrounded by beauty and wonder, and someone who would hold her hand when things got hard. Someone to marry who loved her for who she was. 

 

Though most of the time she herself didn’t even know who she was. 

 

She sighed sadly before opening her eyes, only to be met with her reflection staring at her from between her legs. 

 

Great, she thought as she stood up as carefully as she could, so not to slip on the thin sheen of ice she’d created across the floor of her tent. She stood, feet shoulder width apart, palms up to the sky, and willed everything inside of her to melt the ice, something she could only do when her heartrate rose high enough to make her feel warm. 

 

She held her breath and thought about all the times she’d been pushed to the side. 

 

Of the time her father shoved her to the ground when she tried to help in a sudden invasion. 

 

Of the time Minho had called her a sissy witch when she cried over the death of her friend who came back from battle wounded. 

 

Her friend, the only man in their coven who had ever believed in her. 

 

She remembered the way he smiled at her and big her farewell, insisting she’d see him the next day, but when the fleet returned three days later, Yuta was bleeding through the sheen of ice they’d put over the palm-sized wound that had been burnt into his chest. 

 

Mina opened her eyes when she felt a chill wash over her body, watching the water slither up her legs and soak into the pores of her skin, all the way up her body until her robes were damp and her skin was moist.

 

She sighed before lying down on the ground under her covers and smiling at the memory of freezing the lake over when Minho was swimming later that evening. 

 

It took him forty five minutes to fight his way out, and when he glared at her, she felt the satisfation in being able to smirk back at him and throw those same words at him. 

 

“Sissy witch.” 

 

… 

 

Back on the other side of the celestial plane, in another realm, in another world, one with more conventional means of society, there stood a small girl with a big smile, bright eyes, and a dream. 

 

“Kim Dahyun.” Smiled the shop owner at her customer, who eyed a particularly bright looking crystal with intrigue. 

 

“Tell me, Kim...” Muttered the old white lady distractedly. 

 

“U-uh, Dahyun.” She corrected, and she blonde woman shook her head. 

 

“Yeah, yeah, Diane… what exactly are these crystals supposed to do?” She asked skeptically, and the Korean girl cleared to shake off the insulting interaction. 

 

“They’re supposed to bring in good energy, and manifest-” 

 

“Manifesting?” Interrupted the lasy with a scoff. “So it isn’t real magic?” She asked, emphasizing the word before ‘magic,’ making Dahyun’s body go rigid. 

 

“Well, the only magic that isn’t real is-” 

 

“All magic.” The bottle blond suburban mother interrupted again with the roll of her eyes before setting the crystal down harshly and storming out. 

 

Dahyun groaned and leaned her forehead down to rest on the marble counter beside the register. 

 

“Still no luck?” Asked a small voice from behind a shelf, and the shop owner sighed. 

 

“I’m afraid that’s the fourth customer to walk out on me since we opened.” She sighed before taking a seat on the stool behind the counter. 

 

“In that case…” Said her new friend as she walked around the shelf with a pack of tarot cards, handing them to Dahyun. “I’d like to buy these, please.” 

 

“You bought a pack of these last week,Yerim.” The older girl pointed out, making Yerim shrug. 

 

“These are a gift.” 

 

“Oh yeah?” Dahyun giggled, and Yerim nodded as though she were 100% convinced of the lie she had just uttered to her friend, and it worked. “Fine.” The blonde relented before taking the box and ringing it up. “But let me buy you a coffee in return.” She insisted, making Yerim grin. 

 

“Only if I can call it a date.” She challenged, making the shop owner blush. 

 

“I-if that’s what you want.” Dahyun shrunk, and Yerim giggled. 

 

“Why wouldn’t that be what I want, Dahyunnie?” She asked, eyes falling from Dahyun’s eyes to her lips. 

 

“I mean… most people wouldn’t come within ten feet of me.” She explained, ignoring the fact that Yerim’s question was obviously rhetorical. 

 

“I’m obviously not most people, am I?” She flirted, and the blonde giggled before looking down to her fidgeting fingers. 

 

“I’d love to take you on a coffee date.” Dahyun smiled blissfully, and Yerim smiled before pulling a ten dollar bill out of her pocket to set on the counter. 

 

“Great! I’ll see you at ten tomorrow.” She exclaimed, leaning over the counter to plant a quick kiss on Dahyun’s cheek before taking the cards and running out before Dahyun could give Yerim her change.

 

The shop owner caressed her cheek where Yerim’s lips touched, looking at the door blankly, brain short circuiting from trying to process what the hell just happened. 

 

Coming to terms with the fact that she wouldn’t be able to process it, Dahyun simply sighed as she looked after the girl’s presence. 

 

“This girl…”

 

… 

 

The next day, Tzuyu found herself rushing around, making preparations for the wedding that would be taking place in just an hour. 

 

She had just gotten word from her mother’s cooncort, Wendy, that her suitress has arrived to the village, which means she will be allowed to meet her before they are due to wed. 

 

Needless to say, she was nervous to meet the woman she would be marrying. After meeting her father, how much better can she be if she was descended from a man who so wished to kill the way he did? 

 

Of course, this coven unity meant that the Ice Coven would stop their barbarics and turn over a leaf of peace. 

 

Though, she worried for her village, what it would be like having these men intruding it. She assumes that a coven full of nomads will have a hard time staying in one place for too long. What if they got restless? Living this calm life of peace and bliss?

 

How would they take their frustrations out? 

 

She wondered if they’d be taken out on the wildlife around, given her coven was one who thrived off the plantlife, rather than relying on the animals for sustenance, whereas the Ice Coven is known to be filled with hunters. 

 

What if-

 

“Miz Chou, your suitress is outside.” Uttered another concort who had, thankfully, brought her out of her thoughts in enough time to pat her dress down and adjust the red rose in her hair before clearing . 

 

“Let her in.” She said authoritatively, and the man nodded before opening the large wooden doors to bring her face to face with someone she’s been waiting to meet since she heard of the annointing as a kid, 

 

Her greatest destiny, a proud and nobil warrior, a-

 

“H-hi!” The girl stammered, her voice cracking as she stepped to cross the threshold of the door, tripping over her robes in the process. 

 

A clumsy idiot. 

 

Once the shorter woman regained her balance, she looked up with a blush before making her way to address her betrothed. 

 

“I’m Myoui Mina, y-your bride to be.” She bowed, holding her robes out at her sides, and suddenly, Tzuyu was less nervous to marry. 

 

“I’m Chou Tzuyu.” She bowed back, trying her best to hide the amusement on her lips in the form of a smile. 

 

“You’re… a lot taller than I expected.” Mina blushed, scratching the back of her neck nervously, and the dimpled witch couldn’t help but giggle. 

 

“Well, you’re a lot smaller than I expected.” Tzuyu countered, making the ice witch look down to her feet nervously. 

 

“I hope that’s not a bad thing.” She muttered nervously, something that Tzuyu couldn’t help but smile at. 

 

What was she so worried about? 

 

She stepped forward and took Mina’s hands, trying her best not to react to the icy sensation on her skin, begging the shorter girl to look up at her. 

 

“You are not what I expected, Mina.” Tzuyu promised, “In the best way.” She added, making Mina finally look at her, giving her a small, shy smile, that was very easily reciprocated. 

 

“Where are your people?” Tzuyu asked, looking behind Mina to see if they were beyond the threshold of her chambers. When she looked back at her betrothed, the woman was giving her a confused look. 

 

“They went off to fight… as planned.” She reminded, and the taller witch gave her a look of equal confusion. 

 

“What are you talking about?” Asked Tzuyu, as she unhanded the ice witch, and Mina seemed just as lost. 

 

“Wasn’t the point of uniting the covens today that our soldiers can fight together?” She asked as though it were common knowledge, and Tzuyu’s expression melted from confusion to anger. 

 

“Absolutely not!” She rose her voice, making Mina just back in a fright. “The point of uniting the covens was so that we could come together in peace!” She began to pace back and forth as she racked her brain for something to do. “How long ago did they leave for battle?” Tzuyu asked the frightened witch, who stammered out a response. 

 

“Th-they went straight to the grounds. I arrived in a different caravan. Y-your soldiers met them hours ago.” 

 

“We have to stop them!” Tzuyu demanded, “My people were not built to fight!” 

 

“They’re already in battle,” Mina blinked nervously, “We’ll never make it in time.” She rationalized, causing Tzuyu to huff before racing to a window and whistling outward, making it echo throughout the land, over the mountians and into the trees. 

 

They waited for a moment, and Tzuyu almost worried that her lack of attention to the creatures in Alsudfa Forest had affected her relationship with them. 

 

Almost. 

 

She felt her face light up when she heard the flapping in the distance, and even more when she saw the shadow cast over her. 

 

“Is that a-” 

 

“Kadori Pixie?” Tzuyu grinned over her shoulder. “Yes. Yes she is.” The nature witch swung her leg over the window’s threshold and held her hand out for Mina’s grasp. 

 

“Wait, you want me to go help you stop a war?” Mina asked, speechless that anyone would ever want her help. 

 

“You have ice powers, right?” Tzuyu asked as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. 

 

“W-well yeah, but-” 

 

“Come on!” Tzuyu urged before jumping atop the large, blue winged creature, yelling over the loud wooshing of her wings. “When is a time you can ever call yourself a hero if you don’t take the jump?” 

 

Mina contemplated her choices. 

 

Stay here and let her wife to be do all the work and prove to her and the rest of her coven that she’s just as useless as everyone thought. 

 

Or jump on the back of that pixie and do something worthy of a coven leader. Take action and be a hero. 

 

“Okay.” Mina nodded, determined to show Tzuyu that she is indeed worthy to lead by her side. 

 

… 

 

Chaeyoung’s eyes shot open when she felt the first burst of energy wash over her, meaning only one thing. 

 

The war has begun. 

 

She doesn’t even need to go above ground and hear the screams or breakings of bones. She doesn’t need to smell that awful, stomach churning smell of burnt flesh. 

 

She can feel all the souls leaving their bodies. 

 

She can feel them getting lost on their way to cross over. 

 

She can feel her heart beating again, and for that, she wishes she herself were dead. 

 

“They’re not gonna greet themselves.” Muttered a voice behind her, and she sighed before turning around in her place to face the eyes of her beloved. 

 

“Can’t I just stay with you? A little longer?” She asked, her eyes pleading beyond the depths of the crypt they inhabited. 

 

“As much as I wish I could say yes…” She swallowed a lump in before tucking a strand of hair behind Chaeyoung’s ear, “You have a job to do.” 

 

Chaeyoung felt a tear fall from her left eye and soak into the tattered pillow below her head, and her lover smiled sadly before wiping it away with the pad of her thumb. 

 

“I’ll see you when you get back.” She assured, and Chaeyoung’s voice cracked as she spoke, taking her girlfriend’s face in her hands. 

 

“What if it takes centuries this time?” The blonde girl whimpered, and the woman holding her smiled sadly. 

 

“I could endure nine thousand years without you if it meant I could spend one more hour with you, my love.” She promised, and the witch pulled her closer, nuzzling into her neck. 

 

“Then let me spend this one hour with you, here, now.” She begged, soaking the woman’s flesh with her tears. 

 

“You know we can’t do that, Chae.” She sniffled before moving away and resting her forehead against Chaeyoung’s. “I’ll wait for you. And if I sense danger, I’ll come find you.” 

 

“Promise?” Chaeyoung asked, her eyes puffy and voice hoarse as she looked into those big brown eyes. 

 

“With all my heart.” She smiled, and Chaeyoung nodded before taking her lover’s face between her hands and locking their lips together in a kiss that could very well be their last. 

 

Once the two pulled away, cheeks stained with each other’s tears, Chaeyoung stood to her feet and walked to the corner of the small, dark, airless room to grab her robes and pull them over her shoulders, taking in deep breaths despite not needing them. 

 

“Until next time, Chaeyoung.” She smiled sadly from her place on the bed, and the blonde’s lip quivered. 

 

“Until next time, Jinsoul.” Chaeyoung swallowed a sob as she waved her hand over the stone entrance to conjure it open. “I love you, with all my heart.” 

 

And with that, she ducked through the entrance and found herself in the middle of the warzone, the place she’s lived for as long as she’s been alive. 

 

She looked around and saw the attrocities being comitted, from the spears of ice being driven into hearts, to vessels of life running around, screaming in pain at the flames that engulfed every inch of their fragile human skin. 

 

This is where she had to be, this is where destiny has willed her long, painful existence. 

 

… 

 

Jeongyeon’s heart pounded against her ears as she tried to regain her breathing from her place, where she hid behind a tree. Her fingeres trembled, the soot coating them making it hard to determine whether she was developing frostbite from the opponent she had acquired. 

 

“Give it up, girl.” Spat the ice witch as he approached, heavy footed with rage in the pit of his stomach. Afterall, Jeongyeon was a fire witch, and she could sense the flame of vegence in the core of his being. “You’re just a child, destined to die at the hands of war, deserving of it for being naaiive enough to believe you stood a chance.” 

 

Jeongyeon’s throat was horse, so she dared not talk and show weakness. 

 

The man had two ice blades in his hands, sharp and ready to plunge through Jeongyeon’s chest at any moment, and she could feel her head swimming, disoriented from the blows she’s already taken, mixed with the deafening sounds of her friends and families dying around her. The only thing keeping her standing now was the tree she hid behind like a coward. 

 

Her moms would be embarrassed if they saw her now. 

 

Ready to give up just two hours into her first battle.

 

Against men, no less. 

 

“You’re not dying on my watch!” Whispered a familiar voice from behind her, making Jeongyeon jump in a start. 

 

“Nayeon, what on earth are you doing here?!” Jeongyeon shouted as quietly as she could, and the messenger witch sighed. 

 

“I put a ticker tracker in your armor so I can pop in and save you if I need to.” She hissed back. 

 

“Oh, you have a friend with you…” Laughed her oponent maniacally as he closed in on the tree. 

 

“Nayeon, go home!” Jeongyeon demanded, and Nayeon rolled her eyes before disappearing before Jeongyeon’s eyes. The fire witch sighed and moved to pop out from behind the tree at last, only to see her opponent holding the blade to the neck of her best friend. 

 

God damn it Nayeon. 

 

“What did I say?!” She hissed to her friend, who was too busy trying to pull the man’s blade away from , blood falling from her palms as the edge broke her skin. 

 

Suddenly, there was a loud thundering noise that washed over the battlefield, yet still, nobody stopped fighting to see what it was. 

 

“Give it up, woman!” Spat the ice witch who held her friend with a deep, maniacal laugh. “Tell your superiors to surrender to our will or I’ll kill your ally!” 

 

Jeongyeon watched Nayeon’s eyes roll, and couldn’t help the smirk that came to her lips. 

 

“I’ll pass.” She said simply before Nayeon dematerialized from the man’s grip. The man’s eyes flashed in confusion, and before he could see it coming, Jeongyeon’s hands were ablaze, and she was hurling a molten ball of heat toward his chest, so fast and so hot that it tore straight through his body, making him fall to the ground in a lifeless heap. 

 

“No!” Sounded a deafening scream from above, and Jeongyeon looked up, finally seeing the source of the thundering. 

 

A pixie flying above the battleground holding two people. She watched as a girl in grey robes jumped from the pixie, despite it being hundreds of feet in the air. Her palms faced down to materialize a slide of ice beneath her feet until she was on the ground and running through a crowd of clashing covens to collapse at the corpse of the man Jeongyeon had just silenced. 

 

Jeongyeon couldn’t explain why, but she was mesmerising. 

 

She’d never seen a woman with ice powers, and despite her instincts telling her to fry her too, she couldn’t help but watch as the girl sobbed over the body. 

 

“Father!” She sobbed, shoulders shaking as she mourned the immediate death of her kin. Jeongyeon felt the presence of her best friend behind her and looked over her shoulder to see her eyes filled with remorse.

 

Mina’s chest ached, and her body was trembling as she lay draped across the lifeless vessel of her father, and her eyes spilled icycle tears over the burning hole in his chest. 

 

Something begun to boil inside her stomach from the very core, making her entire body run so cold that her skin turned a haunting shade of blue. 

 

Tzuyu watched from where she stood helping one of her coven members up from the ground, distracted by the way her betrothed glowed in a way she’d never seen. 

 

The ice witch stopped crying and stood up before facing Jeongyeon. 

 

“You!” Came a voice unrecognizable. One that boomed so loud that it scared the pixie away. “You killed my father!” She growled, and Jeongyeon finally snapped out of it, finding all the strength left inside of her weak body to ignite a flame, one that coated her entire body in a bright sheen of orange. 

 

Mina’s body moved on its own, and before she knew it, she was lunging toward the fire witch, who stood still and waited for her new opponent to come to her. 

 

“Stop!” Nayeon screamed, suddenly between the two, just before they would clash. 

 

Mina stopped, her chest heaving, seething at her very core. 

 

Nayeon’s eyes looked panicked, and there was something in her demeaner that even Jeongyeon couldn’t read after being with her for twenty years. 

 

“It’s the prophecy.” Nayeon uttered, her face taking on a haunted look before blinking and looking between the two of them. “The prophecy!” And suddenly, she was smiling, and laughing. She looked over at Tzuyu, then between the fire and ice witches. 

 

Jeongyeon’s fire went out and she blinked out of her battle enduced trance before looking at her friend as though she was crazy. 

 

“What are you talking about?” 

 

“The prophecy!” Nayeon shouted again, “A fire witch and an ice witch!” She looked to the glowing blue figure and stepped closer to her, making her step back, her skin turning back to normal as she stepped back, fear and pain in her eyes. “You’re the first female ice witch to be born in thousands of years!” She stated, as though it were some revelation. “You’ve been prophesied to change the outcome of the end of the world!” She turned to meet the eyes of her best friend before stepping closer to her, looking at her strangely. “Jeong, you’re one of the sacred seven!” 

 

“What the hell are you talking about?” Asked the fire witch, and Nayeon looked around frantically for a moment, noticing the battle still going on around them. She disappeared and reappeared between two opponents in battle. “Nayeon, move!” Jeongyeon screamed, ready to run and save her friend, but something odd happened. 

 

The fire witch ran right through Nayeon’s body to clash with her opponent, spilling his blood all over the soil. 

 

“The necromancer is here too!” She gasped, and disappeared, leaving Jeongyeon, Mina and Tzuyu standing in what seemed to be a fake battle field, staring at each other in confusion. 

 

Mina’s eyes were still spilling with tears, fists clenched with rage as she looked at the witch who slaughtered her father. 

 

When Nayeon reappeared, she did so with a short blonde woman in black, tattered robes on her arm, looking around in confusion. 

 

“The necromancer!” Nayeon laughed, and the girl looked up at Nayeon in wonder. 

 

“You can see me?” She asked, voice trembling, and the Messenger scoffed. 

 

“Of course I can, silly! I’m a messenger. I can see everything.” The enthusastic witch looked around to the ice and fire witches, “You can see her too, right?” She asked, and both girls nodded, making Nayeon squeal. “I knew it!” She gasped. “We have to find the remaining four!” 

 

“Remaining four what?” Asked Chaeyoung, and it was Tzuyu’s turn to speak up. 

 

“Of the sacred seven.” She uttered, recalling a vague story a Jeckle told her while she was visiting a forest in Yorio as a preteen. 

 

Nayeon looked to the tall witch and grinned giddily, “The remaining three, I guess.” She chuckled, making the nature witch look at her in confusion. 

 

“What? Me?” 

 

“There is no other reason for you to be able to see a necromancer.” Nayeon recalled, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Not unless you were dead, of course.” 

 

“Are you?” Asked Chaeyoung in a whisper, and Tzuyu seemed offended. 

 

“No!” 

 

“That settles it then!” Nayeon grinned. 

 

“Settles what?” 

 

“We’re going on an adventure!”