A Witch's Apprentice | Xiaoven

Chapter 10

It was dark.

Pitch black.

My eyes fluttered open and a vision of light blinded me. My eyesight was blurry for a quick second before I managed to see clearly enough to be wary of what had just occurred.

Barbatos-..! That horrid witch..— he'd trapped me inside of this sort of...- mind book of his!

I mumbled to myself, cursing him out from under my breath. I was carefully laid down onto a soft patch of grass in what seemed like an endless meadow filled with flowers of all kinds bundled together in this valley.

The place was filled with nothing more but flowers and flowers and flowers!

"What kind of memory of his is this?" I questioned myself, my eyes flickering towards a figure in the distance heading towards me. Even laying flat down on the ground I could still see them coming over to where I laid.

I sprung up instantly, watching as they approached me. I gulped as they stepped forward in front of me, their eyes gleaming— peering down at me.

It was a women—, perhaps around her early 20's. Her skin was as pale as fresh snow, and her eyes shined a bright gold, sparkling without even a hint of life bearing inside of her pupil. Their hair was a bright silver, almost looking like the color white— but the tint of gray added to the silvered toning.

"Who are you?" Was the first question that came out of her mouth. Her tone of voice was cold and she sounded unreal. She stood tall, possibly around six feet already.

"I should be the one asking that question." I stumbled to get up, slipping on the flower petals before I managed to stand up straight.

"You ought to watch your mouth. Last time I checked, this was my garden, not yours." She bent down, plucking out a flower from it's roots.
"See." She shoved the flower in my face. "It has my name written all over it."

Each one of the flower petals had a sort of script on it. I leaned in closer to get a better look, and saw the words, Rhinedottir, written on it in a faint gold ink.

I flinched, stepping backwards just a slight bit, but she—.. Rhinedottir, noticed.

This was Barbato's old apprentice. The girl he had joked so many times about devouring, yet I doubt he did so in the end. Standing before me was her. The one known as Gold. I felt a rush of fear rush through my body and I felt unsafe in her presence.

Knowing who she really was now made me uncomfortable to even look her in the eye.

"Now that you are aware that you have trespassed onto sacred land, hurry along your way and don't turn back." Rhinedottir rushed me, not wanting another bother to deal with. "Barbatos isn't quite pleased with people such as you entering into our claimed property."

I froze for a moment before turning my head around, surprised that the name would slip out of her mouth.

"Barbatos? You mean that witch?" I asked her, playing dumb despite already knowing the answer to my own question.

"Yes. We live together." She was very blunt and honest with her answers. She spoke as if she had nothing to hide, nothing to be afraid of.

"You live with a witch?"

"I am a witch." Rhinedottir rolled her eyes at me. I suppose she had expected me to turn away and  run away screaming, but I continued to stare at her, suddenly interested with her personality.

She looked surprised that I had bothered to stay at all, even after knowing who she truly was.
"Hm. You're a strange one, aren't you?" She gently placed the flower in her basket, walking away— leaving me behind in the flower field as she didn't bother to look back at me.