“I’m not worried about the other witch.”

  Brandon shakes off Ulysee’s last statement. He attempts to bring ease to the situation at hand.

  “The only reason the battle was as close as it was, was due to the rain.”

  “The rain?”

  “My powers…my magic…it isn’t as effective in the rain, seeing as my magic is infused with dark flames.”

  “Makes sense.”

  Ulysee shrugs. Brandon goes on.

  “I plan to have the ritual during a better day of weather, that way if our opponent does show up, I’ll be more than enough to take him down this time.”

  “And the spell, what’s it like?”

  “The ritual?” Brandon corrects her. “I haven’t done it before myself, but I’ve witnessed it. It’s completely harmless. It extracts all the mana out of a single host. There will be no sort of pain during this.”

  “And why me again?”

  “Your mana is special. It gives off a different frequency than other witches. The problem is the spell takes at least a couple of hours to complete – requiring the chosen one to sit in the middle of the crafted pentagram, and remain still the entire time.”

  Ulysee looks unsure.

  “But as I’ve said, the spell is completely harmless. You won’t feel a thing except maybe sleepiness. That is, once the ritual is done.”

  Ulysee pauses for a moment before speaking again.

  “Can I ask you something else?”

  “Go right ahead,” he assures her.

  “Who did you witness use this spell?”

  Brandon unconsciously freezes up from her question. His mind goes back to a place he often desires to leave behind. A single image appears in his head before he answers.

  “My um…my father. He used this spell on my mother. It failed. He died shortly after.”

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  “Oh.”

  The tone in the room shifts. There is gloom all around them.

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  Brandon shakes off this gloom.

  “But that’s how I know it’ll work. I’m not my father – I won’t make the same mistakes that he made.”

  Ulysee’s sudden gloom isn’t gone. The discussion has shown to drown her in even further concern.

  “You don’t have to go through with this, you know.”

  The disappointment in Brandon’s voice can’t be hidden.

  “It’s ok if all of this is too much for you.”

  “No.” She objects. “I never really used my magic much anyway. I mean…I could never get a good grasp on it – except for a few defensive spells. But…”

  Brandon waits for Ulysee to get the rest of her words out.

  “I’m not sure how I will feel knowing that I can no longer have access to any of my magic.”

  She looks down at her hands while saying this, the remains of her candy bar still in her palm. She eventually looks back up at Brandon, with a concerning look on her face.

  “What will happen if I didn’t partake in this ritual?”

  Brandon doesn’t want to respond. He realizes the sacrifices that this woman he doesn’t even know, has to suddenly make. It hits him hard, quickly trying to see himself in her shoes. He sighs before saying a word.

  “The underlining curse that has wiped out so many witches before. Will eventually wipe us all out – including you. Everything would just be a matter of time. This curse knows no limitations. It could my father and grandfather without mercy.”

  Going deeper into this part of his mind, Brandon relieves the darkened moments of his past. He speaks along the lines of these moments.

  “There are symptoms you should look out for. Those who were infected first experienced white spots on the palms of their hands or their upper legs. Some of their spots even started around their stomach. The spots then spread until they have taken over the entire body, with the victims dying only a handful of days later. Three days max.”

  Ulysee suddenly stands up. She lifts her stretchable wet shorts only a few centimeters higher. Brandon turns his head in shyness.

  “Is this the kind of spot you are talking about?”

  Brandon slightly turns his head to look out of the corner of his eye. He then slowly places both eyes on her, seeing the exact nightmarish spot he had seen before.

  The plagued spot was located on her upper inner thigh. Brandon’s mouth slightly hangs from the sight of this. It’s clear to him that she’s already infected. Ulysee covers the spot back up.

  “I thought it was some sort of Abnormal bruise or something,” she informs him.

  Brandon is still too shocked to say anything. The one person that could change the fate of their existence, was already marked for death. They were already playing with borrowed time at this point. There wasn’t much for him to say. Still, he managed to conjure up something.

  “It’s not only about the future of witches anymore…”

  Brandon pulls himself back together.

  “It’s about your life as well. Your life is on the line a lot sooner than expected – you’ve already been cursed. This was something that was going to happen to you eventually, you’re just dealing with it sooner than later.”

  His words sank into Ulysee. She closes her eyes for a moment as if she is digesting the thought of what was to come.

  “Then it sounds like the choice is already made for me.”

  Ulysee puts her candy bar aside, refusing to eat any more of it.

  “I want to continue living.”