A lone figure stands on a skyscraper overlooking a city. They wear interesting garb. A red hat comes up to a point and bends down. A yellow ring going through the tip. A black band at the base of the hat with a white crescent moon emblem on the front.

  The hat rests upon a helmet the back and sides of which are gray, the front is purple crystal with a bronze trim, with a Bronze band running down the center near the bottom it splits in two going at angles. At the sides of the band on each side are two more bands of bronze. The visor looks like it has a crude outline of a face. A space for the mouth and eyes.

  Some sort of gray cloth seems to run down from the base of the helmet down the neck.

  A dark moderate blue coat is wrapped around their body, it sports no hood, and the top wraps around the wearer's hands.

  The coat splits at the front revealing that underneath might be some kind of red tunic. The coat goes down to their knees, a face-like pattern is present on both thighs which are covered in a gray cloth. The tunic and coat have a bronze trim at the bottoms. Brown boots with two black belts on each that sport bronze buckles that stop below the knees and meet the gray pants.

  Their outfit also has iron pauldrons on the shoulders, iron knee pads, and iron plates on the back of the hands that have two studs on each. An iron chest plate with brown leather straps holding it in place on the top on the left and right are symbols; a similar symbol is at the bottom of it. A bronze heart shape is at the center creating a trim around a purple crystal heart with a star emblem.

  An orange belt is around their waist with an odd gray buckle which is box-like, on the left side are two bolts on the right is a purple crystal plate with a matching star emblem. Finally on the forearms is purple crystal armor that is held in place by leather straps.

  While looking like what someone would expect a Witch to look like but also has a mild resemblance to a knight.

  A gust of wind blows by them, and they grab their hat so it doesn't blow away as their coat billows in the wind.

  As the burst of wind dies down, emerging from their shadow is a black cat that looks like it's made of shadows or smoke, maybe even both. Despite its appearance, it lets out a soft meow and rubs its head against the witch's leg.

  They look down and pick up the cat which lets out a meow in protest. “Hello Cathrine, did you find something?” their voice comes out sounding distorted but still understandable. The phantasmal cat lets out a chirp in response. “A Demon?” they ask to make sure the cat runs their head against the Witch, “Well, guess it's time.” They let go of the cat which disappears into their shadow.

  The Witch thrusts their palms forward and bends their fingers as a purple magic circle manifests in front of their hand. The Witch begins to chant, “Radian, Artisa, Lunell,” as they chant they turn their hand to the side and bring their wrists together as a purple magic circle forms in front of them. “Guide my way,” They move their hands into a vertical position, “Show me the path I need to take.” They then split their hands apart and the spell circle hanging in the hand swings open like doors being thrown open, and they call out, “Traverse!”

  After they finished weaving together their spell they ran through their portal.

  In a different part of the city a monster that resembles a humanoid pig with mechanical parts sticking out of it. The creature lets out a squeal as it grabs a car and throws it into a building. People are both screaming and running away as the monster continues towards the area. The monster catches a woman who has on gold-colored bracelets, a gold-colored choker, and a necklace. “Give me your riches!” The monster exclaims before opening its mouth the woman’s jewelry and her purse glow with a sickly yellow aura before turning into balls of light that fly into the monster’s mouth.

  The monster tosses the woman to the side who screams out in fear, but she’s caught by someone, she looks at the person who caught her, “Y-you-you’re that Armored Witch right?” she asks, the Witch in question sets the woman down on her feet and tips her hat to her.

  “That I am, now please get somewhere safe.” The woman nods her head before running away. Some of the people noticed that the Witch had arrived and started cheering.

  Sirens could be heard in the distance, the police were on their way, and the Witch didn't want to deal with them so they decided to try and finish this as quickly as possible, which meant no taking time to repair the damage done.

  The Witch takes a breath and holds out their hand, the palm facing forward with a purple magic circle forming in front of their palm, their shadow extends towards and changes into multiple shapes as they chant. “As per our pact, answer my call and do my will. Tengu, Cait-Sith, Jin Chan, Orthos!” a large black Raven, a Cat, a gold BullFrog, and a two-headed dog jump out of the Witch’s shadow after which the shadow returns to its normal shape.

  The boar monster turned around after hearing the Witch’s chant to find the raven that was the size of an eagle flying at it to claw and scratch its face. The monster bleeds from the scratch marks through its wounds and seems to heal as it bats Tengy away. Orthos however had lunged toward the pig monster hitting its arm and making it squeal in pain. As the Witch’s Familiars fight the monster, a green and yellow aura coats them and the studs on the back of the hand grow and extend outwards into claws. The Familiars look back to their master and slip back into the shadows, “Ready to fight me now?” Though to its surprise the Witch flashed their claws into the center of their body and pulled them open. Instead of blood and guts falling out a deep blackness is seen. A young woman could be heard speaking from inside that darkness, “Where is that light coming from?”

  “That's the sun, can you pull yourself out?” Witch asks.

  “Why should I? I don’t have to worry about anything here.” The Woman responds.

  “Don’t talk like that, you have a dream, right? Something to live for, you can’t let this shadow consume you!” The Witch calls out hoping that it stirs something inside the woman.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “A dream?” The woman asks before speaking again, “Why should I? I don’t think I can make it a reality, not after today.”

  “Don’t talk like that! I once felt the same way, but you will always have a chance! Believe in me who believes in you! So what is your dream?”

  “I want to find a girlfriend, marry her someradi, and have our own family!” the young woman exclaims.

  “Good, now reach for my hand and continue living for that future!” The Witch reaches their hand into the darkness and feels someone grab their hand and they pull someone out.

  The pig monster starts shriveling up, it gasps and groans in pain. “I am Boar Vault, I can’t lose like this!”

  The Witch puts the young woman down. “Demon who was forced into this woman in her moment of despair, your judgment is now.” A card appears in her hand, and she loads it into her buckle. A voice announces from the buckle, “Arcana Twentieth, Behold The Judgment!” The claws return to being studs and the aura coating the Witch vanishes. A bright white light coats one of their legs replacing the yellow aura. The Witch presses a button on the top of the buckle. The belt announces, “The Final Decision!” A swift kick is felt to the Pig Demon and it crumples in on itself before exploding. The belt makes one final announcement, “It’s Time To Move Forward!”

  The Witch exhales and then turns to face the woman they saved. They see her hair red like apples, her eyes like fresh green grace and her light olive skin. In their opinion breathtakingly beautiful. A face all too familiar. The woman speaks up which catches the Witch’s attention, “I think you should go, the police are here.”

  The Witch takes note of how close the police were. They weave together their portal spell and leave but before they go, “thank you and stay safe.” are the words they give to the young woman.

  A few Radias later.

  That young woman is out shopping and someone calls out to her, “Laura, it's been forever!” Laura looks and sees a friend from high school, a young woman with golden blonde hair that is braided into a bun. Beatrice Veran, though everyone ended up calling her Betty. She noticed the unfamiliar prosthetic on her right arm.

  “We hung out last month, wait, you got yourself a new arm!” she says excitedly

  Betty smiles, “Yep,” She looks at her arm and her face looks a bit sad, “Yeah it took a lot to get this, but it's worth it.” Laura saw the fingers and wrist move so fluidly it was like it wasn’t gears and wires held together by a metal casing.

  “What's it like getting used to the new arm?”

  Betty rubs her arm, “It’s been going fine, my body isn’t rejecting the prosthetic… it's just odd having a second hand again.”

  Laura notices a note of apprehension in her friend's emerald eyes, “What’s the matter, Betty.”

  “Well I heard you got possessed by the other Radia, how are you feeling?”

  Right, she was turned into a demon, while she didn’t remember causing the havoc the Demon did on Siprrad, she remembered how her now ex-fiance broke off their engagement out of the blue and then just disappeared. Laura remembered how hurt and sad she was and then there was darkness. “I think I’m doing fine, I just guess there’s a disconnect because I don’t remember what happened.”

  “Kinda expected,” Betty gasps like she just remembered something, “you free tomorrow?”

  “Yes.” Laura is unsure of what is happening.

  “Good! Cause I’m having a get-together at my apartment, I thought it would be nice to have the old group back together. You, Lance, Perry, Me, while you never met her, I’m inviting Aria. The two of us shared a lot of classes.”

  “Sounds fun I guess.”

  “Great, show up around 1:30. That's when everyone else will be getting there, have fun shopping.”

  Elsewhere a woman with dirty blonde hair that is kept short, knocks on a door. She waits for a moment before the door is opened by a woman with black hair that transitions into a Ruby red. “You need to redo your hair Rouge.”

  The black-haired woman groaned, “I would but I've been strapped for cash, I'm just happy you could come to Aria.”

  “Anything for a friend, so is Nachtia ready for her lesson?”

  “Should be, oh you can take out your contacts if you want to,” Rouge suggests.

  “Thank you, I'm not sure how you stand them because they are so itchy.” Aria pulls out a contact case and takes out her contact lenses and puts them into the case. Her eyes which looked blue at first now look silver.

  “Well, why don’t you get your glasses fixed?”

  “I have a new pair coming in.”

  A girl's voice could be heard, “Rouge is that Ari?”

  Rouge chuckles, “She's been waiting all excitedly for you to come back.” she tells Aria before calling back to her sister, “Yeah she just got here.”

  Aria smiles at this, Though Aria wishes she didn't have to be here. Nachtia and Rouge like herself are Witches, though Four years ago an accident happened that resulted in her friend and student parent's deaths. Rouge isn’t the best teacher when it comes to the Weave, so Aria found herself devoting two Radia a week to teach Nachtia.

  Aria after taking off her shoes and leaving them in the entryway finds her way to the living room, she sees Nachtia who is excited to see her, and the black-haired fifteen-year-old runs up and hugs her.

  “Hey squirt, have you been practicing?”

  “I’m getting taller Ari!” Nachtia exclaims in protest as Aria puts her hand on top of her head, “And I have.” She says matter of factly.

  “Good, but before we get to the fun part, let's see if you remember the, oh what was it?” Aria pretends like she had forgotten, “Right the boring stuff.” Nachtia groans when she hears that. “Hey this stuff is important and vital what's left of our way of life.”

  “Fine.” Nachtia lets go of Aria and gets two wooden chairs for them to sit on.

  “Ok so let's start simple what is Ven?”

  Nachtia took no time in answering, “Ven is the name we use to call Air, Wind, Mind, and Speed Magic. Ven was also used as a name for one of the 6 clans of ancient Witches. Members of the Ven Clan used Ven as a suffix at the beginning or end of their name.

  “Good job, but where did they get the name Ven from?” Aria follows up.

  “Ven comes from the name Ventra, one of the gods worshiped by our ancestors,” Nachtia says but is cut off.

  “That we still worship Nachtia, our festivals, and practice exist to honor the Gods.” Aria reminds her.

  “But why, the Gods have abandoned us haven’t they? Great Mother, The Six Pillars, The Seasons, The Zodiac, The Sun and Moons. Our people suffered and were forced into hiding, our gods ignored our prayers, they stood by and watched.” Aria saw that her student was waiting for an answer.

  “A long time ago when our world was new, the Gods as i’ve taught you were more amongst us and interacted with the people. During this time the God’s saw themselves as the guides for their creations. As we grew, at some point the God’s realized that we were getting to a point where we didn't need them actively in our lives. Like children leaving their parents. It seems off to you, but the gods are flawed, and because we're made in their image, we’re flawed as well.” Aria explains. “I assume that the gods saw what was happening and believed the best choice was to stay out of it. Humans and Witches are both their children after all.”

  Nachtia crosses her arms, “I guess that makes sense.”

  They continue their lessons talking about their gods and their roles in ancient society and the cultures of the six tribes, Ven, Nia, Ouss, Erru, Rad, and Artis. How their magic affected them and their ways of life.

  “I think that’s enough of the history and language, let's get to the part you’ve been waiting for.” Nachtia cheers at that.