Sanctuary

Chapter 7

An angry filled baritone voice from behind interrupted her: "And you witch, and your kind are the ones responsible for it." He spited on the ground before him. Jan turned and shouted aggressively "Let the Lady speak. You had your chance!". The man closed his eyes and muttered something indistinguishable. Only the word "ignorant" could be recognized by the ones being closer to him. Emilia focused and continued:

"I am Emilia Schwartz. I am a descendent of an old family with traditions that roots back several hundreds of years. We believe in the magic and power of nature. That all that surrounds us is energy, that we are energy. Everything is, no matter the physical aggregation form it takes, does not matter if it is what we call "alive" or "dead" matter. That everything transforms, re-entering the cycles of Mother Nature. Some refer to Mother Nature as Gaia. Everything alive has a soul. Death is not the end. The energy of the matter dissolves and joins other matter. The soul persists as energy, spirits if you like. Some are benevolent, some are malevolent. They roam the lands freely until sooner or later they take corporeal form again. Not necessary as humans or animals or plants or what they were before. Everything is constantly changing, maintaining a balance. " Emilia paused briefly and looked in Eben's eyes. She smiled almost unnoticeable.

"Witches, that's what you are! Satanists that unleash demons upon this world!" the man in black gnarled.

"Most call us witches, that's right. We regard ourselves as being Naturalists. And demons are a misconception of your religion, Christianity. The religion that nearly wiped us out in the late 16th and early 17th century, according to your Christian calendar. I am referring to the great which trials of Würzburg, Trier, Fulda, and Bamberg; also to North Berwick and Torsåker. Christianity would not accept our concept. And because of a dozen of us who called upon maleficent spirits for aid, causing harm, your religion disregarded our divination of nature, our healing, our protection, our efforts to preserve life in every imaginable aspect. You disregarded the kindness of my people towards you ignorant ones. So you nearly whipped us out creating an imbalance for which you now hold us accountable. "Emilia's eyes spit fire towards the sitting tied up man in black, figuratively speaking, of course.

"It is time to get to the root of the issue. I mentioned that very few of us called upon very powerful maleficent spirits in their effort to gain more powerful magic. In the early 16th century, an ill-tempered and powerful so-called Naturalist tapped into the Spirit World, invoking help for further improving his magical skills. Soon after, he was offered help from within the Spirit World. He gladly accepted it, not considering the risks. When he realized what he had conjured, it was too late for him. The fierce malevolent spirit that lingered for centuries in the Spirit World had already taken possession of him and controlled him. Soon after, it conjured all kind of malevolent spirits to create a cult that sook out domination over the Land of the Living. In the following decades to come, there was an everlasting war between humanity and the army of Arlurf. Many of my ancestors gave their life aiding the fight against him. Then their help was gladly accepted. Only centuries later it was negated and we were sentenced to death for Arlurf's crimes. People had forgotten our help, our sacrifices and started being afraid of us again."

Emilia sighed. Her eyes filled with tears, but she managed to not let a single one drop out. Eben however saw the suffering in her soul but remained silent. He then moved his head around, watching the others in turn, while processing the information. Nina on the other hand showed a light smirk on her face. The others did not show any emotions so far. Having regained her emotional equilibrium, Emilia continued:

"Back to the war efforts against Arlurf. My people had left their individual traditions and gathered in an enclave, to support the ongoing fights. A High Council was formed, with the most spiritual Naturalists that were still alive. The task was not only to defeat Arlurf's army, but also to banish him out of the Land of the Living. But not back to the Spirit World, the risk that he could return once again was far too great. They set up a trap and finally banished his foul spirit into a crystal orb where they managed to block him due to powerful dispelling magic. The ritual of keeping him inside the crystal orb must be refreshed every 100 years. The power of the magic fades slowly if it is not renewed. "