Chapter 14:

What happend in the past of the real Uriel?

How the wicked witch became the hero's sidekick


Everything is dark around me...again. From the darkness, I walk into a forest. Everything is silent. But then I hear children laughing. Slowly I follow the noise. Until I stand before Uriel's hut, or I should say, my hut. But it looks much better, not as rotten as I knew it. 

I hear rustling in the bushes and jump behind a tree in alarm. A girl and a boy come out of the bushes and knock on the door. The door opens and Uriel comes out. Wait, what?

"Are you here to get the medicine for your mother?" Uriel says.

"Yes, but we can only buy a little, as we do not have enough money," the girl says sadly and looks to the ground.

"It's ok. Just take it," Uriel says while smiling at the children.

"Really, thank you very much," the children shout, take the medicine, and disappear happily in the bushes.

Uriel closes the door of the hut, and some kind of timeskip happens. It's like the time around me is moving faster than me. Day and night switch 3 times until everything stops and the time moves normal. 

It's night, and some guy in a dark cloak and with a lantern in his hand knocks on Uriel's door. She opens with a candle in her hand.

"What can I do for you, Judao?", Uriel says. 

"Let's talk inside," he says nervously.

"I prefer the conversation on the door," she says. 

"Mhh, fine. I wanted to ask if you can brew other potions than healing ones."

"Other potions? You mean like potions against insomnia?"

"I was thinking more of something that would make someone sleep forever, if you know what I mean..." he says with a shady look on his face.

"What?! You mean something like poison?!" Uriel shouts, shocked.

"Psssht! Not so loud!", he says startled.

"Why do you need something like this? You don't want to poison the mayor because of your conflicts, do you?" she asked, still shocked.

"Who cares? People live, people die! Sometimes you have to help a little to get what you want."

"I will never make poison or hurt people! Go instantly, and I will pretend that I never heard your request."

"Do you think you're better than others because you act like a moralizer? Everyone knows that you are not normal, you witch. You will regret this."

"Go now," she shouts, and he disappears.

As she closes the door, the time runs faster until people with torches and pitchforks appear in the woods. Among them was the man from before.

"There is the witch!!!" he shouts and points at Uriel, who comes out of the hut as she hears the people.

The crowd begins to shout, "Burn the witch!!!"

"What is the meaning of this? "I am no witch!" she says.

The mayor comes forward and shouts, "You are accused of witchcraft and sentenced to death at the stake!"

"That's hilarious! You all know me. I healed all of you at least once." 

Emotionally hurt and exhausted, she looks at the people who she selflessly helped in the past. But they look down on the ground or ignore her words fully.

She falls to her knees. Disappointed and filled with fear. She begins to scream in tears as the crowd grabs her. Now everything around me crumbles and cracks into thousands of pieces. Everything went black, and then the light was back.

Now I find myself bound to a stake, unable to free myself. Around me are the people from before.

I seem to be in the middle of her memories. From the perspective of a viewer, I now see everything with her eyes. Everything feels so real, but I am not able to do anything or say anything. I feel her fear, disappointment, and despair.

"Burn the witch!" they shout.

"Please stop it!" she screams. 

But no one seemed to care. In the crowd I see the man from before. He smiles, as if he planned everything. Uriel's emotions turn into rage as the fire opens and the red flames begin to burn her skin. I scream too, but there is no way out.

Then for a second, I felt nothing, no pain or anything.

"I will help you!" says a voice out of nowhere.

Then everything turns black again, and I wake up, drenched in sweat.

That's bad, really bad... So Uriel was really a human after all. No wonder that she became a human-hating wicked witch after that... But whose voice is it in my dreams? And how did she become a witch? The memories in my dream seem like a dead end. But something else must have happened...

Now that I've cleared my mind, I look around and see that everyone is still sleeping, except Knox; he seems to be patrolling in the distance. As the sun should set soon, I won't sleep anymore. Actually, I would prefer to stop sleeping forever. But let's delay my next dreaming torture to next night.

I go near the dungeon entrance. The dungeon cave is closed by two large metal doors decorated with ornaments and partly overgrown by moss. The ornaments look like the silhouette of a curved dragon. Actually a big spoiler regarding th edungeon boss.

Left and right next to the door are two columns carved into the rocks. The door looks sealed. Ah, right, in the novel they had to break the seal. 

They had to attack the seal for hours until it finally broke. Oh gosh, that will take so much time... Slowly I touch the door, and a transparent-looking red seal breaks instantly. Irritated, I step back. How?

I hear a rustling in the bushes and turn around. Then I see the others coming.

"Here you are!" Knox shouts.

"Yes, I am here. I checked the entrance in advance," I say nervously.

"OK, then let's break the infamous seal," Caspian says.

"There is no seal! The seal must have been so old that it broke some time ago by itself," I say, quite nervous.

"Really? I thought there was a seal yesterday!" Knoy says.

"Aria must be right. We have no time for questioning; let's enter the dungeon !" Lionel says.

Lionel did not question it? Fine for me. I don't know why, but actually we saved ourselves several hours of work because of me. They should be thankful!

"Are you all ready to enter the dungeon?" I ask a little tense.

"Ready for my first mission," Sisli says seriously while she jumps on my shoulder.

Let's go, the others shout, packed with backpacks full of supplies, since we don't know how long we'll be in the dungeon.

"Here is your bag," Knox says and gives me my bag.

"Thanks, then let's go," I say with a queasy feeling while I grab my bag.

Lionel and Knox push the large doors, which slowly open inwards with a loud creak. A stony cave passage emerges, paved with stone slabs on the floor and some carved ornaments and columns in the walls.

Knox lights one of the torches on the wall, which bursts into a blue flame. The other torches leading into the corridor ignite too, but by themselves, guiding the way into the vault.

As we enter the dungeon, the doors suddenly close behind us.

Damn! There is no turning back now ...

Stealth303
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