My Long Lost Mate

"Ah, so this is Gordom's border?" I asked, looking out the window where a huge wall stood. It was without a doubt the biggest wall that I had ever seen in my whole life, and I couldn't even see the end of it from inside the carriage. 

"It is, and when we go out of that gate," he pointed to a tall and rusty gate by the center of the wall, "We will no longer be in the land of vampires. Instead, we will reach a place called Shadow Woods." 

"Shadow Woods?"

"It's a forest that belongs to no one and is used to divide the three lands," he explained, taking out a parchment from his pocket. The parchment turned out to be a map of the three lands, depicting the location of each land. 

"Have you heard about Axthrone?" he queried, and when I shook my head no, he laid out the map on his thɨġhs, showing me the map.

When I looked at the map, I realized for the first time that the three lands were all located on the same continent, separated only by the forest called Shadow Woods. Shadow Woods itself was located by the middle of the map, spanning from the bottom to the top of the map—splitting it into two halves.

Wonsvile took the majority of the map's left side, while Gordom and Myltha shared the remaining half. Myltha occupied the smaller upper side, whereas Gordom occupied the larger bottom side. 

"You see, all of this used to be one," he said as he circled the entire map, "There was no Wonsvile, no Gordom, and no Myltha—there was only a place called Axthrone. It used to be a place where all creatures lived peacefully alongside one another. However, the peace didn't last long." 

I nodded to his explanation, allowing him to continue. 

"Axthrone was destroyed when a war broke out, and we call that war the Great Axthrone War. It first started as a war between all creatures, each creature vying for dominance—though I can't say the same about humans," he chuckled, "Werewolves, vampires, and humans eventually came to an accord and resolved to battle the witches together, as witches were the ones who first started the war."

"Why did the witches start the war?" I asked.

"Of course, to rule the world," he answered, "They wanted to create a world full of magic, where witches rule over all creatures. They were greedy for power, but then their greed cost them their magic." 

"What do you mean it cost them their magic? They can't use their magic anymore?"

"Ahh, did I not tell you?" he asked, tilting his head to the side, "There are two kinds of witches, a black witch, and a white witch. The black witches were the ones who started the war, not the white ones. And when I say magic, I mean black magic. Black magic is magic that is only used by the black witches, mostly to bring harm to others." 

There are two kinds of witches? It was my first time hearing about it. 

"How did they lose them?" 

"At that time, the white witches were on our side. Despite the fact that they are sisters, black and white witches have always had a bad relationship since they never view things the same way. That's why white witches banded together with us and helped us defeat the black witches. While the other three creatures cornered black witches, white witches gathered their strength to seal the black magic in an orb known as the black orb.

But due to the immense power of black magic, one black orb was not sufficient to seal it all. As a result, white witches sealed the black magic in three black orbs and kept them hidden in a place only they knew about."

"Why didn't they just destroy the orbs?" 

"Because they lack the power to do so," he explained, "In order for them to seal the black magic, they needed to pay for a price—and that price was their own magic. That's why they could only seal half of the black magic, but that was enough to defeat the black witches." 

"So to defeat the black witches, the white witches sacrificed their magic?" 

"Not completely, but yes," he said, scratching his head, "I don't really know much about the witches, but I believe only a certain group of white witches lose their magic."

"Does that mean white witches are good? But why are they treated the same way? People would immediately kill anyone suspected of being a witch, regardless of whether they are a white witch or a black witch—or if they are a witch at all."

"Well, it's because we can't tell them apart. The fear of not being able to tell them apart drove people to kill just anyone under the suspicions," he folded the map back to his pocket, crossing his legs together, "But as white witches are quite helpful, a few recognized ones live under the protection of the church, using their magic to help people in need.

White witches who live under the protection of the church will have a mark on their bodies, and only those who bear the mark of a white witch will be safe from the people's dread—although it seems not everyone knows about this fact."

It is true that not many people knew about this fact—or about any dark creatures in general. I only knew about the dark creatures because my mother used to tell me a lot of interesting stories, but even with that, it was the first time for me to hear about the things Luke told me about today. 

While not many knew about the existence of the other two dark creatures, it wasn't quite the same for witches. We have been told many horrible stories of witches, but none of them tells about the different kinds of witches—probably because people had decided that all witches were evil. Despite the differences in their nature, both witches were grouped together and feared the same. 

"Does that mean all the witches we found outside of the church are black witches?"l

"Not exactly," he shook his head, "White witches who live under the protection of the church are always heavily guarded, with every of their actions observed. That is why I believe there must be some white witches out there who chose to live in the darkness rather than live under control." 

"But why are they controlled?" 

"Because there might be a chance of them turning to a black witch by tapping into the remaining black magic."

Ahh, that makes sense. I wanted to know more about how they sealed the dark magic, but I didn't think Luke would know that much about the witches. It was quite fun to learn more about the world I'm living in. 

I was so engrossed in hearing Luke's explanation that I didn't notice that we had long entered the Shadow Woods. When I looked out of the window, I realized why this place was called the Shadow Woods. The trees around us were thick and tall, towering over us and hiding nearly all of the day's light. It seemed as though day had abruptly given way to the darkness of night.

It wouldn't be shocking if something suddenly showed up... something otherworldly. 

I swallowed the lump in my throat, slowly backing away from the window. I was not fond of things like this, even though I was used to the darkness. I'm not sure when the dislike for this first started, but I believe it was on one of the days when I was locked in the underground room. 

I remember I was locked in the underground room for about a week, and I was very weak due to the days of starvation. I'm not sure if it was because I wasn't feeling well, but I recall seeing a shadow in the underground room where I was constantly alone—a shadow that wasn't mine. 

Even though the room was dark, I could still see some light from the small opening created by the closed door, and that light caused me to see the shadow. At first, I thought I was hallucinating. But then the shadow started to move, going around the room and stopped in front of me. It stayed for some time as if scrutinizing me before then started to move around again.

The only chair in the room started to move on its own, and the chains left on the ground started to make a clanking sound. I was certain that there was something else in the room, as I could feel a breeze whenever the shadow went past me. It was the first time that I was afraid of something I couldn't see, and it made me realize there was a lot about the world that I didn't know about. 

I remember—for the rest of my stay in the underground room—I was not alone. 

"AHHH!!" I screamed.

While I was replaying the horrifying memory in my head, something suddenly touched my hands, immediately startling me. I drew my hands away from whatever was touching me, but it turned out to be Luke, who had the same surprised expression on his face after attempting to take my hands in his.

"Did I... do something wrong?"