Witch of the Universe

Morihara

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵? 𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘧𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘩𝘶𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘳.

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵, 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘶𝘣𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 "𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘺"...?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The scent of food filled the air, as Key's eyes eventually opened. Awake and realizing that she was in her own room, in bed. It felt like a dream, but the lasting sting on her ears reminded her that it wasn't. It seemed that Key had passed out back when she accompanied Lunalie and her familiars to her cleanup job at the hospital, she would remember everything clearly, up until the ghoul unleashed it's blood curdling scream.
Key quickly left her bed, heading towards the kitchen to find Axis, to seemed to be setting up the table for one person, which would be Key.

It didn't take long for Axis to notice her assistant come into the room, "Good morning, how are you feeling?"

"Fine I guess..." Key would respond back, "Wait- no- What happened? Did that reaper get rid of the ghoul? Is he even alright? And-"

"Everything's fine!" Axis had to chuckle, listening to her assistants sudden panic, "After you passed out, reinforcements came and aided us. Lunalie is fine, but he's gonna end up bedridden for a week for the injuries he took. He promised to give us our payment soon after he's well."

"What about Asimi and Nora?"

"Perfectly healthy, a few scratches, but they're good."

A sigh of relief hit Key, her body now more relaxed, and exhausted now despite sleeping the many hours. Heading over to the table and sitting down as soon as Axis finished setting up. It still felt hard to process last nights events, the spirits, ghoul, reapers... what the ghoul kept on muttering, it was vague but it sounded like a name. I- something, but thats it.

"Oh thats right," Axis remembered something as Key continued eating, "We're going to have a special visitor today, I'm sure you would know her. Even if you don't."

Key was confused on what Axis meant, but after a nod in response, she went ahead and finished her meal and cleaned up. If there was going to be a visitor when she would need to hurry and get herself ready. Especially since she rushed out of her room still in her nightgown.

After quickly washing and changing, Key quickly returned to the front of the store. Grabbing the broom to start sweeping, with a quick snap of her fingers, a roll of tablecloth flew in the room, spreading itself out on the table for the guest that was supposed to arrive soon, apparently. Axis would come arrive moments later with a tray of tea.

"You know, you can rest more after that whole ordeal yesterday rather than immediately work." Axis stated, as she placed the tray down on the table to set up.

Key in response shook her head, "I'm fine, I've got plenty of sleep anyways. Also, I can't depend on you my whole life, especially after yesterday night when I ended up being a burden."

"Haha, you were not a burden Key, you never are."

A knock was then soon heard during the conversation, the jingle of the door as it opened, and in came a black cat. Well, more specifically a humanoid cat, wearing an outfit that is well suited for a funeral. Long, beautiful black hair that went to her legs, and eyes the color of sapphires a large, silver cross was hung behind her, and overall gave off a rather gloomy presence about her. Perhaps it was because of that presence, that Key suddenly had tears roll down her face the moment she saw her, but perhaps it wasn't. Either way, she was utterly confused as of why she was suddenly emotional upon someone whom she never met until today. The visitor looked a bit surprised, upon seeing this,

"Oh, I didn't realize there was another lunar here... I'm sorry, you must be alarmed..." she spoke, walking over and calmly wiping away Key's tears with a handkerchief.

"Ah- uh- thank you-" Key ended up in a flustered alarm, she didn't expect the mysterious lady to come up close, and apologizing at that.

"Key, this is Morihara Chilver," Axis went ahead and introduced her, with a chuckle, "I'm sure that name is familiar to you at least in someway, but in information that you don't know however, she's a reaper. One that works directly under... Mortem, the god of death."
Axis's last words showed hesitance, as if showing a bit of discomfort towards the name alone.

"Morihara... ah-!" the name suddenly clicked onto Key's head, "Right, I have heard of that name from a fairy tale back on the moon, how a cursed warrior fought against beasts despite being hated by everyone on the moon. Well, aside from the other warriors that fought alongside her, it ended as a tragedy however."

Morihara gave out a sad look in her face upon hearing that, "So, it's been long enough to where it's become a story now... well, I suppose it's better then being forgotten."

"You mean, you're a person in this fairy tale?" Key had asked, "No, you're the cursed warrior... right?"

Morihara stared at Key, then she couldn't help but give out a snort of laughter, giving the curious rabbit a pat on the head before going to Axis, "She's sharp, that's good. Yes, I am the cursed warrior from that fairy tale, though if anything I'm not a warrior, and the fairy tale is not really a fairy tale. But instead an event that actually happened decades ago. I would love to explain it to you more however... it's not what I came here for."

With those words Morihara finally had gotten back at the task at hand, the reason why she came here in the first place. Rummaging in her pocket she took out a small, trinket box, placing it on the table. Axis, went ahead and took it, opening the lid to reveal a single, small scale. It glowed luminescent against the sunlight that leaked past the window, it was surely pretty as a jewel.

"That's the payment for your job." Morihara then said, "A single scale of a dragon, surely  that would be enough?"

"It is more than enough," Axis replied, closing the lid, "Its genuine as well, are you sure this is alright?"

"Reapers have no use for items such as these, so it's better off in your hands." Morihara then paused, looking over at Key, then back over to Axis, "Also, I'm here to let you know that you have until 8 moons, until the deadline."

"8 moons... ah, I see... that's a lot sooner then I thought." Axis said, the pained smile returning to her as she quickly shook it off. However Key already paid close attention to Axis, especially after her strange behavior last night. Even though no one else would notice, Key at the very least, did.

Morihara gave a slight bow, getting up from her seat, "Well, that should be all from me. I'll be sure to visit again when I have the time."

"Of course, come by anytime." Axis followed, saying their goodbyes as the two shopkeepers watched the black cat leave the building. Silence only filled the room for a few seconds more, before Key finally gathered up the courage to ask Axis something that had been stuck in her mind, for quite a bit.

"Axis, what does she mean by 8 moons?"