The Witch, The Wizard, and The Out-Worlder

A New Dawn, A Familiar Day

When I regained consciousness, I was laying down in the shade with my backpack as a pillow. All things considered, it was comfortable. The last thing I remembered, I was being burned from the inside out, so resting in the shade was paradise.

"She's up." I could hear the witch inform Felix. I sat up to find Felix not to far away, sitting in the shade of a large weed. The witch was looking at me rather curiously.

Felix wasted no time, springing to his feet, he quickly came to my side, "How do you feel?" he asked as he took a knee next to me.

"Sore." Which wasn't a lie, my body ached in places I have never felt before.

"You should be so lucky that all you feel is sore. I've seen stronger people succumb to the shadow blight long before you withstood." Celia said as she walked slowly closer.

It was hard to admit that I wouldn't have made it without her, especially when she made liking her so hard. "Thank you for helping me in the forest. I know you didn't have to, so thank you."

The witch chuckled briefly to herself, "Don't think I did it out of sheer altruism. I need you alive, that was the deal. You and I go home, and he stays. I am not going to jeopardize my chance of returning home."

"Even still, thank you." I persisted.

There was a bit of an awkward silence between the two of us, of which Felix didn't know what to do or say, he only sat next to me wide eyed. As I sat up, I felt the familiar snuggle of Lute against my neck. If nothing else, he was the sweetest thing I've met in this strange world. I held up my hand and waited until he leapt from my shoulder to my palm. He seemed excited that I was up, cooing and bouncing up and down, even his little wings were fluttering.

"He wouldn't leave your side." Felix said as he smiled at us.

"Does that mean you approve of him now?" I asked with a little laugh.

Felix rolled his eyes as dramatically as any one person could, "I guess he's alright. Maybe I gave him too much of a hard time."

"It's ok. Neither of us knew what to expect here. So, better safe than sorry." I gave him a reassuring smile.

"As soon as you have your strength, we should head back to the Out-Worlder. I'm in no mood for dallying." The witch was quick to interrupt our pleasantries.

I returned Lute to my shoulder, grabbed my bag and hoisted myself up. I was definitely drained of energy, but moving was manageable. "Hey Felix. How long was I out?"

"Hard to say exactly, at least a few hours." I nodded. There was a bit of a pause as we gathered our things. "When you fell to your hands and knees, the black smoke consumed you for a few minutes. Once it let up, we found you collapsed on the ground. I know it's awkward to say, but I was so relieved when I saw you breathing. I thought the worst when the smoke began to cover you."

Hearing what happened sent a chill down my back. I came so close to not making it. After I had my bag on, I walked over to Felix and hugged him as tightly as I could, "Thank you. I wouldn't have been able to make it if you hadn't carried me through, so thank you." I choked back a few tears and let go.

"Oh come on. You almost died. You didn't. Now that we have that over with, let's go." The witch interrupted. She was clearly losing her patience. Even with her nagging, Felix gave me a smile and a slight nod.

Sentimentalities aside, we finished gathering our things and started walking back to the Out-Worlders tower. We wound up not too far from the bridge, we could see it off in the distance as soon as we started looking. As we started walking, my mind began racing with questions for the witch. Unasked questions always seemed to bubble up like an itch I couldn't quite scratch.

"So," I started, only to be met with an immediate sigh from the witch, "what's with all the Unfamiliars in your forest?"

I persisted on asking, even though the witch was clearly unenthused, "It was merely out of necessity, nothing more." She answered bluntly, though it didn't answer the question like I had intended.

"Has to mean you spend a lot of time in that tower, not being able to get out." I tried probing, even if she wasn't thrilled about the questions.

"If you must know, after I stole the night, I had the attention of every villager in the land. At first, they came in small groups and requested I return the night. After I informed them that I wasn't going to be returning the night, that it simply wasn't fair for people like you, who could be stuck here like me, they grew agitated. Small parties with petitions turned into armed soldiers with threats. Soon, it came to my attention that a large force was being mobilized to siege my tower and take back the night. I couldn't have that, so I cursed the forest with those mushrooms and created the Shadow-Blight. When they came to raze my tower, they were consumed by the blight and my forest was protected once more. I knew I could leave, aided by my magic, if need be. I wasn't expecting to have to help anyone leave the forest though." She finished with a could glare in my direction.

"So all those monsters, they aren't actually monsters, but humans?" Felix asked her.

"That is correct. It was either that, or I kill them." She responded so bluntly. It was as if turning the soldiers into monsters meant nothing to her.

"Or, you could have returned the night and I could have been home already." I quipped, a little aggravated with everything.

As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew I should have kept quiet, "I stole the night, but this world stole my home from me," her voice was raised and her face was flushed, "If they wanted the night back, then they would have found a way to return me home. If they didn't want to become monsters, then they shouldn't have tried attacking me. Everything I have done, was done because of something they had done to me. So don't tell me how I should have just gave back the night. Just think about how badly you want to be home right now. Now imagine that you would never be able to return, and you were stuck here for the rest of your life. How readily would you be to give back to those who stole your life."

There was a long awkward pause, "You're blaming the people who have no control. All they know is, you stole the night, now they live in this artificial world." I spoke as calmly as I could. I'm sure someone had tried to speak reason to her at some point, so I wasn't holding my breathe on anything. I simply took solace in the fact that we were on our way to return the night to everyone.

"I didn't have a choice either girl. Life isn't fair, as everyone here very much so knows." Felix gave me a warning glare after she finished speaking. I knew it was time to drop the subject, everything was going to work out in the end, hopefully.

We finished the walk to the bridge in silence. Felix moved closer to Lute and I, and the witch led the way, keeping a sizable distance between us. I imagine she did this to keep me from engaging her with more conversation.