The Past

The Witch was beginning to feel tired walking in such narrow stone passages. The rock walls left behind scratches all over her leather sleeves. The view ahead and the view behind were the same. The darkness above was constant.

Even so, she continued to mark her arm and the walls as she walked. The last thing she wanted was to get lost in here.

There was no way to tell how much time had passed. It was like when she lived in the forest. Every day was the same. The passage of time was irrelevant with her long life. The only times when her dull routine was broken was when the people needed her help or when she went on this journey to Pandemonium every five years.

Still, people rarely bothered her, and she was only called in for emergencies. She spent most of her time in the forest alone and in peace.

For a time, peace was all she wanted. After the war, she wanted to go into hiding. War always made people strange, but she became stranger than most. A demon had taken her heart. In exchange, the demon morphed his flesh into a heart for her to sustain her life. Over the years, the demon’s flesh spread to other parts of her body, changing her.

With a small part of demon inside her, she was amazed that no one detected anything until they noticed that she wasn’t aging much. Although arcane artificers age slower than most people, there would still be visible changes after 50 years. The average life span of an arcane artificer was 110 to 160 depending on their mana.

Not only did she not age like she was supposed to, her strength had increase, her skin had toughened, and her magic abilities had developed beyond what was normal. A knife would not graze her skin open anymore. Dark mana became as easy to manage as the other elements. A man twice her size no longer proved to be a difficult opponent in physical combat.

There were others like her to a lesser extent, but that was during the war, and those abilities diminished after the war ended. Her capabilities, however, kept growing.

It was later that she found out many arcane artificers had been fed what they shouldn’t have been fed, herself included. It was all to close the gap between humans and demons, to let humans stand a fighting chance. As to what they were fed… no wondered the demons hated the arcane artificers the most on the battlefield.

After the war ended, she went to Pandemonium. She didn’t return until 50 years later. She became a teacher and taught magic in the Arcane Arts Academy.

One of the professors noticed her abnormality. Without realizing, that professor had been studying her, collecting blood from her by accidentally harming her. The truth that the Witch was no longer completely human was exposed, but she was not afraid.

She had thought that this might come one day. She had no more family. Her friends were more like acquaintances. Or perhaps it was just her lack of heart that made her fearless.

It caused a huge scandal. She went before a hearing in front of the Council of Elders. Her records were clean, she had a good reputation amongst the students and fellow teachers. They had nothing on her other than her altered body, but nitpicking always happened in these situations.

The deliberation that took place over weeks, debating whether she’s evil or good, left a bad taste in her mouth. She retired from school, but the Council would not let her disappeared into seclusion.

Coincidentally, there was an empty seat in the Circle of the Rose Witches, and she was invited, or rather, coerced, into joining them. It was the suggestion of one of the Council members who as a friend with of one of the Rose Witches. Thus began her role as the Witch of the White Rose. It was the Council’s way of indirectly keeping an eye on her.

The Circle of Rose Witches did not have any formal duty or role. They began as a group of witches who traveled together and became friends. Throughout their journeys, they defeated monsters and protected people, but the made sure never to get involved with politics or be used by others. They wanted to be free and remain free.

These Rose Witches settled down when they began to grow too weary of travel and took on students. Later, those students would take on their teacher’s titles.

The Witch of the White Rose, however, did not have any students. She retired into seclusion, only coming out when the Circle gathered for meetings. When she died, her seat was kept empty.

Of course, the Witch of the White Rose had to pass a test given by each of the Rose Witches. With her war time experience and her capabilities, the tests didn’t pose any problems, and they didn’t go easy on her at all.

Each time she passed a test, the Rose Witches grew more excited, and the next test became harder. By the time the last test commenced, she was sure that it was beyond the capabilities of what most Witches could handle.

After the tests, she thought she could finally find a forest for herself and live peacefully. However, the Circle of Witches sent her on missions after missions. She had not time to rest for herself.

Until one day, she broke. Her body weakened. Her hardened skin softened. Her strength gone. She thought she was going to die. She thought might as well, she was so tired. She just wanted peace.

He came for her. He brought her back to Pandemonium.

Every new year day in Pandemonium, the moon would turn purple and shine a special light upon the denizens of the demon world. The Blessing of the New Year washed over her and she felt renewed again. For a time, once again, she lived in the Pandemonium.

Nothing ever lasts, and before long, she returned to the human world. In her absence, a new generation of Rose Witches had taken power. A new Witch of the White Rose sat in her seat. She would have let allowed it if the new White Rose was a good person. However, there were other new Roses who were corrupt.

Perhaps it was only inevitable that without check, an organization would become different than what it had set out to be in the beginning. The Witch took back her seat of the White Rose and challenged the other Roses who were corrupt.

The Council, seeing her return, were at first nervous. After rooting out the corruption within the Circle, the White Rose made a vow to be a keeper of virtue and not let the Circle stray in its path.

It seemed like a difficult vow to keep, but as long as the right people were selected to the Seat of the Roses, the White Rose thought it would be alright. It was for this reason that skills and competence were not what she tested, but character and virtue. The foundation of a group is its people, and if the foundation is right and strong from the start, the rest would take care of itself.

The new generation of Rose Witch did not assign her on missions anymore. She finally found a forest to retire in peace. However, she soon realized that days spend by herself were boring.

She took on missions, long and short. She made friends. Those friends died. She made more new friend. The new friends die. In her long life, she could only handle so much lost. Every five years, her travel to Pandemonium to revitalize herself. The Blessings of the New Year became necessary to keep her stable. At the same time, the long life of the demons and familiar faces brought her comfort.

However, she hadn’t been able to leave the Rose Witches behind. She had not wanted to return once again to find them corrupted or veered from their original purpose.

She also had not wanted to return to a world where no one knew her anymore.

That was how she had come to live in the human world while making the trip to Pandemonium every five years.