Chapter 74: Fate Is Playing Some Kind of Trick

Faye’s chest tightened at the sight of another skeleton standing in front of her, looking down with empty sockets.

But she didn’t feel as afraid as before, even though she usually quite disliked the Fire Witches.

The woman, as she guessed from her voice and the spell she had just cast, was a Witch for sure.

Instead of coming to hurt her, she could tell this one had come to help her.

"I’m fine." Faye said meekly, her emotions caught somewhere between her normal self and her serene state.

She was forcing her emotions down now, trying not to break down in this critical moment.

"Can... you... walk?" the skeleton asked, her gaze already pulled away from Faye and turned toward the distance, where the Faceless Witch’s body had probably been thrown.

Faye nodded and stood up.

Her whole body ached and her breathing still wasn’t steady, but at least she could stand and walk.

"Good..." Seeing her stand, the skeleton said, then added, "Now... run..."

Meanwhile, she raised her hands forward and began to chant.

"O Eclipse of the Fading Sun... Darkness that has gathered since before the First Light... Blind Mother of Ash and Ruin..."

She strained so hard to force the words out that it showed even in her voice.

But she managed to finish the spell, though painfully slow.

"Let your judgment come in... flame."

From her bone palms, another pillar of fire suddenly formed and shot straight forward, burning everything in its path as it advanced.

Faye’s attention was drawn by the sudden burst of flame. Shielding her face from the heat with her arms, she stared at it for a moment, even forgetting to run.

She thought power like this hitting the Witch twice had to kill her.

But as the flames slowly died down, leaving behind only another flat, charred patch of ground, the figure could be seen still standing upright at the end of it.

"No way..." Faye couldn’t believe her eyes as she saw the scary Witch standing there.

She looked mostly burned, as her already worn clothes had more missing parts now, and her hat looked even more charred, turned pitch black with black smoke rising from it.

But that was all, as she was still living and breathing.

"That... was all... I have..." the skeleton’s voice came from beside her, her hands slowly lowering.

That was all the mana she had managed to regenerate through her years of captivity in this dimension.

She had only wanted a moment to use it to end her own life.

But instead, after Magna freed her from the rope and the spell that had bound her and kept her from using it, she chose to use it to help them.

Nevertheless, her spell wasn’t even enough to do much harm to the Faceless Witch.

"What now? Come on, we should run." Faye urged, despair creeping into her voice as well.

"There... is nowhere... to run..." the skeleton whispered, as if she had already accepted the endless torture waiting for her in this place.

She was already used to it.

She just felt sorry for the girl and the boy, that they would have to spend the rest of their lives in a place where not even death offered any escape.

Amid the dark thoughts circulating in her mind, she felt a hand grab her robe from behind, forcefully pulling her backward.

"Who said there’s nowhere to run?"

Magna grabbed Faye by the waist and threw her over his shoulder, then pulled the skeleton along by her rope, dragging her bony body behind him as he started to run.

Faye was startled for a moment as her feet suddenly left the ground, but she recognized the voice immediately.

"Magna!"

Trying to look up with her view turned upside down toward his back, her lips pressed together as tears began to fall.

Seeing him again brought all her emotions rushing back at once, along with the relief that came with it.

"Not now." Magna warned her while running at full speed. "Save your crying until we’re out of here."

"Yes." She forced her tears back and tried to look behind them to see if the Witch was following.

What she saw terrified her.

"She’s coming, she’s coming!" she screamed, trying to warn him right away.

Until now, the Witch had only ever seemed to walk, someone you’d think couldn’t even run at all. But now she was running behind them so fast that her figure blurred.

"What?... Fuck." Magna cursed, feeling the presence closing in fast.

He never seen the Witch run before, which made Magna think that maybe those villains in horror movies who only walk actually existed in this world, but apparently he was wrong.

He was already running as fast as he could while carrying two burdens.

Neither Faye nor the skeleton was heavy, but Magna also had a small body.

"Leave... me..." the skeleton said, her body dragging behind him, bouncing up and down with every jump as Magna leapt over the bushes.

She was already quite amazed at how a child this small could run so fast while carrying two weights in his arms.

Faye was the first to answer her. "No."

After being saved by her, she didn’t want to leave her behind.

But the decision was entirely Magna’s, and he chose to stay silent.

A while ago, while searching for Faye, he had found her by spotting the long, bright pillar of fire deep in the forest.

And when he arrived at their location, he heard the words the skeleton chanted to activate the second fire pillar.

Let your judgment come in flame.

At that moment it reminded him of the time mother goblin used that same spell to kill all the goblins in the cave, including herself.

’So the books in the cave came from this Witch?’

He thought, feeling as if fate was playing some kind of trick on him.

If mother goblin had never found those books, she would never have become a deviant and grown human instincts.

Then Magna would have simply died alone by the riverbank, from hunger or cold, with no one ever finding him.

The skeleton reminded him so much of mother goblin too.

After being freed from the rope, she’d had the chance to either save herself or kill to escape this endless torture, but she chose instead to help Faye and save her.

With the very same spell, that fire pillar, as mother goblin had used to save Magna.

’Well, even if I left her behind, my speed wouldn’t go up by much,’ Magna thought bitterly, finding another reason not to leave her behind.

***

GenF: I’m pasting below all the honorable names of the 5 Matriarchs. Just want you to know they are not just random sentences, but have good lore behind them that you will find out later on.

Matriarch of Life

O Vein of the Living World, River that has flowed since before the First Dawn, Silent Mother of Rain and Sea.

Matriarch of Death

O Eclipse of the Fading Sun, Darkness that has gathered since before the First Light, Blind Mother of Ash and Ruin.

Matriarch of Fate

O Needle of the Woven Sky, Thread that has bound since before the First Breath, Unfeeling Mother of Luck and Destiny.

Matriarch of Time

O Spire of the Eroding Coast, Tide that has washed since before the First Age, Tongueless Mother of Youth and Age.

Matriarch of Order

O Monolith of the Solitary Mountain, Scale that has balanced since before the First Rule, Breathless Mother of Law and Marble.