Three Spheres

Chapter 118 - Lili

About 200 years before the Great Hunt, a Witch was born. At that time, there were about 10 wells where new creatures sprouted every 30-50 years. The Coven was huge, divided into multiple castes, houses and hierarchies. The great Witches of this era were over 2,000 years old. The Matriarch was a decrepit beign alive at over 5,000 years. It was she, in her golden years, who instituted wars against humanity, fearing the latent potential of Spheres in constant evolution.

All three attempts, however, failed. The evil of Witches and their long lives is procrastinating their actions too much. All thanks to the arrogance disguised as meticulousness of the Witches who were incapable of delivering a fatal blow, and to the joy that the reigning chaos provided them.

The Witch who was born at this time, had dark gray skin, black hair and blue eyes. She was born without a sound; her orbs wide-open. She was taken as a servant to a young Witch, as a gift for her "graduation" from the teachings of an elder.

However, the Master was cruel, harsh, bossy. Like a good Witch. She would say, day after day: "Study, Lili, because the war is just around the corner! I don't want to watch you die in the filthy hands of a human". Lili obeyed, always quiet, always attentive. Like a good Witch, she'd devoted her first two hundred years to the services of another cursed woman.

At the end of this period, however, another type of woman rose from the chaos: The first Paragon; a bloodthirsty warrior with a desire for victory, wearing the mantle of justice and peace. Lili's Master collapsed before the Evolutionary Spheres that extremely quickly dominated the nuances of magic, mystery, and death.

Lili understood, watching her Master, her servile companions, her Coven colleagues being brutally killed, that the Witches' war against humans was doomed to failure, if the Witches insisted on not swallowing their pride and deviate from their own honor.

Lili understood that the enemy, unlike anything she'd been told, is formidable. Overwhelming. Terrible. Infinitely worse than a good Witch.

She survived the attack by pretending to be a human child. A Paladin carried her to the safety of a tent, where healers struggled to treat others. She saw tears welling up from dark eyes, thanking for the care not for himself but for a companion who had just passed away, without pain; in peace.

Lili fled as soon as she had the chance, pondering and pondering, as that was her greatest power. She hid and remained hidden, following her Master's instructions to the letter: "Study, because the war is just around the corner". However, Lili set out to study themes that were little liked by the Witches: The history of the faith of humans who for hundreds of years worship the wrong gods; the theory they invented about the Spheres and their functioning; the constitutional principles that would govern the Ecclesia some years into the future; the spells dearest to the barbarians not for their practicality, but for their beauty.

And Lili learned what a "family" was, something she never had before, but which was able to explain the tears of someone grateful for another one's quiet death... Able to explain the kisses and hugs she saw humans exchange between themselves, generating such pure and childlike joy. The conclusion was simple:

_ I shall have my own family, thus, I will be able to take revenge on humankind, and save the Coven, and be recognized... I will have my own family and I will destroy theirs.

Like a good Witch, she was patient, patient, patient. While the others struggled to survive under space-time distortion spells, brooding over their remorse in fear, Lili worked hard to understand the triumph of the human creature:

_ Their power is in their numbers and their allies.

Then she looked for ways to predict and prepare: The predestined future was captured by her skillful hands. It was not easy, however, to master clairvoyance when having a natural talent for darker arts... This was how she conjured her Cat, first of many servants of doubtful conscience.

From that thought, she sought an arsenal untamed by humanity, and found the Demons. She was the first, in all ages, to create techniques, to perfect methods for opening rifts between the realms. She made herself a triumphant experiment. Demonic magic became a weapon, tool, and means of domination.

When she turned 500 years old, approximately 200 years after the founding of the Ecclesia, Lili asked for her name of great Witch. The name was given to her, as an exception based on the promise that she would carry the Coven to victory on her own. In addition to the honorable name that matched with her master spells, Daemon Cordis, Lili was guaranteed a chair of honor and the servitude of the entire Coven if she managed to retake the Witches' dominion over the world, without risking the welfare of the few remaining.

It took Lili nearly 900 years to complete her plan of revenge. After so long, she no longer remembered the visceral hatred she felt. Now, haughty and mature, she acted out of a skewed sense of justice. Her aim, like that of the first Paragon, was to save her people from conquering tyrants.

Along the way, she formed the family she always wanted: Miriam (300yo), Ayla (260yo), Leah (190yo), Edisia (100yo), a black Kitten, several servant dolls, a lot of monster-friends.

Lili understood humanity better than any human being had ever been able to. So she chose a Paragon, not a Witch, to lead her army to victory. She chose a perfect man and not a cursed woman to die in combat; to fight on her behalf.