《Witch of Rotting》 Witch of Uselessness part 1 The girl opened her eyes and gazed at the sky for what felt like the first time in her life, the giant orb of light in the sky was blinding, yet she could not avert her gaze from it (even if it hurt a little), she wanted to etch it along with the awe inspiring gradient of blues and oranges into her memories, It felt like something as miraculous as that beautiful evening sky was a once in a lifetime sight to behold, something she may perhaps never see again. The girl, who now averted her eyes from the sun because the pain started to get unbearable, wanted to say something, perhaps she wanted to sing about her admiration for the picturesque dusk, she didn¡¯t know if she could even make noises though, it was literal lifetimes ago that she last had spoken so perhaps she had forgotten the tongue, there was no harm in trying though, she gathered her breath and sang ¡°urghhh eugrghhgh glughhh.¡± At least her vocal chords worked, the girl thought, she did not know any words yet she had amassed a small crowd of spectators, 6 of them to be precise, 3 men, 2 women, and someone who she could not discern as either one or the other that looked at her like she were a talented lyricist. ¡°Heh, that was cute, you think that was some sort of ritual?¡± A burly man said, he looked to be in his late 20s, maybe a bit younger. ¡°Maybe or maybe the horror of being trapped inside that cave drove her insane, maybe she wants to go blind to forget how the world that forsook her looks like.¡± Another man hypothesized, he was tall, lanky, and was dressed in black from his head to his toes, he looked like a runway model. The androgynous person pushed the man to the side ¡°You¡¯re being too rough, I mean, we just unsealed her, it¡¯s obvious she¡¯s gonna be a little confused about what¡¯s going on, perhaps a bit excited about finally being free. let¡¯s take this slowly.¡± They gave the girl a candy, she looked at it inquisitively ¡°Go on take it, it¡¯s not poisonous (unless you¡¯re allergic to nuts).¡± They smiled and unwrapped the candy. A name¡­ that was the gift His majesty bestowed to His favorite subjects, they seemed happy when they received theirs, alas she never received one¡­ She shook her head, ¡°I don¡¯t have one¡­ ¡± ¡°Well that¡¯s no good, " one of the women smiled at her.¡± She could not make out what came out of this beautiful woman¡¯s mouth as she slowly lost consciousness and found herself witnessing hell in human form,, she saw the same woman that granted her a name get struck down by a creature too strange to accurately describe, it was 2 heads taller than the average man and it had a pair of horns adorning its very buglike face, its tattered wings seemed too broken to help it fly yet the creature¡­ The demon managed to effortlessly float up in the air as it hunted down the remaining people leaving the girl at last. What a strange dream Charlotte thought to herself as she awakened from what seemed to be an eternal slumber, she chuckled as she thought to herself that this was very similar to the start of a novel she read last night, a book about a girl discovering she housed a god in her heart, literally, she was an aficionado of progression fantasy stories like that one, they always gave her hope that perhaps she was much more special than she thought she was. Charlotte got up from her desk,it was full of textbooks about magic and curses with highlights over a few spells she wanted to master, ¡®¡¯Life Drainage¡¯¡¯, ¡®¡¯Parasitosis¡¯¡¯, and the one that caused her the most amount of headaches ¡®¡¯the charm of good manners¡¯¡¯, Charlotte was the kind of person that tried to learn the hardest things first because she thought that way the easier parts would come naturally, if her magical aptitude was not so abnormally high, she¡¯d definitely suffer from this mindset. She was a witch in training, and a terrible one at that as she disliked having to harm people, matter of fact that¡¯s an understatement, the mere idea of an unpleasant encounter with another person was enough to make her skin crawl, and it was only very recently that she got over her fear of strangers. a poor attribute in a profession that specialized in fighting others and socializing, back in more civilized times, witches were employed by nobles and kings to strengthen their magical defenses and other stuff that has been lost to time. As she got up, she hit her head on a metal cage that for some reason she decided to put on top of her desk. It was supposed to house a fire spirit, but it was nowhere to be seen. She bought it a long time ago in Brune, the capital city of the country she resided in Charlotte was kind of tall, not tall enough for people to notice, but she thought herself a giant and that made her proud, she had black hair, a complete contrast from her blonde headed mentor who had just now arrived from somewhere, that mentor was an adventurer that loved to disappear for days on end, sometimes Charlotte would feel their house was quiet without her. ¡®¡¯Hey, Charlotte¡­ Good news¡­¡¯¡¯ THe gorgeous blonde woman exclaimed as she jingled a pair of archaic looking keys, the sort that kings tended to gift to their most loyal subjects and other nobles, although that was a thing of the past, nowadays there is no King but the GOd Emperor, and he was not the kind of man to carelessly gift these sorts of keys to a pair of lowly witches. Ashieeeeeee!¡¯¡¯ Charlotte squealed as she ran to her master, she had tears in her eyes, the last time she remembered seeing her was about 2 months ago. ¡®¡¯uhhh what¡¯s that key for?¡¯¡¯ Charlotte tilted her head as she investigated the key. ¡®¡¯It¡¯s your KEY to a better life, that¡¯s what it is.¡¯¡¯ The redheaded woman, Ashe the Immortal Slayer made the arduous effort of making sure Charlotte heard her very clever wordplay in her sentence, she even used a spell to increase the reverberations of her voice a tad bit when she said the word key, a waste of talent and skill from one of the most accomplished adventurers from this modern era. ¡®¡¯Get it? because it¡¯s a key?... What I¡¯m trying to say is that this key will open the windows to a door-fortable life¡¯¡¯ Charlotte just stared at Ashe for a few seconds, her expression was hard to read but there was a bit of pain in it, Ashe arrived at this conclusion after looking at the massive bump that was on top of CHarlotte¡¯s head, but she concluded that she was just trying to hold back her laughter, she was 13 after all, the perfect age for a rebellious phase. Charlotte just sighed and spoke trying to mimic the most refined accent she could possibly make as she bowed and lifted her skirt looking like a child attempting to mimic the curtsy she saw her favorite cartoon princess do. ¡®¡¯WOudst thou be so amiable as to inform me what¡­ uhhhh the thingy does please and thanks?¡¯¡¯ She looked kind of tired after this routine, as if the mere act of speaking drained her stamina away. Ashe just laughed and said ¡®¡¯woah, you almost got me Charlotte¡­ You were so cute doing that curtsy that I almost felt like doing what you asked me to!... I recommend you try using your natural accent next time, you don¡¯t have to overdo it you know?¡¯¡¯ Ashe sternly told her pupil how she could improve her use of the Charm of Good Manners, according to her, this spell could easily disarm an entire nation yet Charlotte could not see that, honestly she thought that this spell may just be some sort of torture that Ashe was making Charlotte undergo for the time she accidentally destroyed her ritualistic daggers and pagan statues while trying to learn some sort of healing spell. Charlotte, as red as a tomato, scurried her way back to her desk to pretend this interaction never happened, she buried her face in the closest book she could find, a historical novel about witches and their origin. Witches were a warrior class made up of ancient women that specialized in many different schools of magic, mainly curse magic and elemental magic, they were said to live isolated from everything at large until Rupart, the bloodmoon ordered to execute most of them. This pair of women fit a few stereotypes of witches, they lived alone in the middle of a swamp, isolated from society at large, they wore large pointy hats when they left their witch hut, and they used brooms to fly from place to place, though recently they were seriously discussing whether to upgrade to vacuum cleaners, this was more of a daydream than reality as up until now these two witches had been going through a rough patch from a financial sense, witches were not as coveted as they once were, the world at large was at peace after all, happiness was abound and there were no men looking for people to help them curse each other as recent developments in magic studies had allowed even most ignorant of people to learn the art of magecraft, their profession was dead and if it wasn¡¯t for Ashe¡¯s rash decision to become an adventurer on a whim, the pair of girls may have already starved to death¡­ or worse, most of the remaining witches would just call them roleplayers appropriating their aesthetic of witchcraft, but they didn¡¯t care, they were both raised under the same nest any witch came through. ¡®¡¯words have no meaning in this world, they only meant what you want them to mean¡¯¡¯ Agatha von Volffsbane (the first witch) Charlotte and Ashe followed this commandment from the witch¡¯s bible at heart and they did not concern themselves with what others thought about that, both of them were witches since birth and nothing would change that. ¡®¡¯So will you please tell me what that key is for?¡¯¡¯ Charlotte closed the book that she was reading as the pair of girls walked into their kitchen, it was very small, too small to be called a kitchen, it was more like a closet that could fit 2 people in a good day, thanks to Ashe¡¯s Magic it was more than capable of everything a Kitchen should do and much more. ¡®¡¯Oh yeah, it¡¯s a key for a dorm room in magic school academy, your dorm room.¡¯¡¯ Ashe grabbed her cup from the purple rift in front of her, it was the kitchen drawer. ¡®¡¯Like¡­ The one from the novels?¡¯¡¯ Charlotte took a slice of pre-toasted bread and slathered it full of chocolate spread, her favorite, it was honestly a miracle that there was still some left as she would go through jars of it as soon as it appeared in her hands. ¡®¡¯That very same.¡¯¡¯They both walked through the green portal that was in the center of the kitchen as they found themselves in a castle¡¯s dining hall, it was full of strange creatures all around, men with the face of a calf, calves with the faces of fish, two legged fish grafted out of human skins, anthropomorphic Goats, and much more, they all unilaterally kneeled at the presence of these 2 guests, for demons they had exceptional manners. ¡®¡¯How did you manage to get one?¡¯¡¯ It was as if Charlotte sounded indifferent at what was going on, she seemed like she was absolutely clueless or in denial at what was going on, not that anyone could blame her, it had been about 2 years since something this good had happened to her (at least in her opinion), she quickly pinched her cheek to see if she had not cast the Eternal Recursive Dream curse on herself again, one of her biggest dreams had just become a reality and she did not know how to aptly react, ever since getting lost in an alternate dimension and being saved by a group of students from that very same academy, she¡¯s been dreaming to go there, perhaps she hoped she could meet her saviors again, or maybe there was another reason why she wanted to go there. ¡®¡¯I saved the serving Metatron¡¯s child during an expedition at the Abyss, asked for a few favors, and he pulled a few strings to have them done.¡¯¡¯ Ashe gloated a bit, even puffing her chest as a beautiful man approached her, he had long luscious white hair, the kind that would make anyone jealous, his eyes were as dark as the bottom of the ocean and so was his suit and the wolf mask he wore, on the sides of his face were two very long horns, and he was carrying a bottle of what seemed to be a very expensive liquor. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!Ashe raised her hand and the Demon bowed, walking away afterwards. Charlotte didn¡¯t know why they were in hell today considering that they were talking about saving a close associate of the God Emperor and that would be blasphemy of the highest order, but she didn¡¯t really care, the view from this castle was gorgeous, not to mention that she was busy thinking about what she¡¯d do once she was inside magic school academy, the greatest school of magic in the world, perhaps she¡¯d follow on the footsteps of Jerry Tapper, the protagonist of one of her favorite movies who discovered and stopped a conspiracy from one of the headmasters who planned on sacrificing the entire school to demons, or maybe she¡¯d discover that she was the chosen one that would save the god emperor and the world (although to some they were both the same thing), perhaps even sacrificing herself heroically to do so (she¡¯d prefer not to die though.) In any case, she spent the rest of the day writing out her fantasies not knowing that classes didn¡¯t start tomorrow, but instead in just under 2 months, she wrote a novel about her potential adventures in the meantime. The first thing Charlotte did while at Magic School Academy, and it was bumping into someone, and a very intimidating person at that, he was about 2.80cm tall (a lot of heads taller that Charlotte), his rugged face looked as if he had peered into hell and decided it wasn¡¯t enough punishment, and his muscular arms were full of scars, the same type of scars that you could only get attempting to slay a dragon. This man was known as Alberich the Kind, once a decorated military hero who served General Raphael in the fight against the Abyssal Scourge; he was enjoying his retirement from the military by serving as a guard in this school, and a part time PE teacher. ¡®¡¯Oh sorry missy, didn¡¯t see you there, are you okay?.¡¯¡¯ He stretched his hand in front of Charlotte. ¡®¡¯D¡­Don¡¯t sweat it s¡­Sir¡­¡¯¡¯ Charlotte struggled to even mutter those words to the hulking giant in front of her ¡®¡¯Did you say something? Alberich¡¯s voice had a very peculiar timbre, it sounded like he was singing every word, perhaps the rumors of him being the illegitimate son of Raven Jaye were true, he put his hand on his ear as he said this, he did this in a very exaggerated way that evoked the old cartoons he used to watch as a kid with his father, he probably sensed how uncomfortable Charlotte felt at the moment, he was not known as Alberich the Kind (and also sometimes the Empath) for nothing after all, or maybe he was just a strange man. ¡®¡¯No¡¯¡¯ Charlotte ran away as fast as she could from here forgetting that she needed to ask for directions, what would Kiara the Abyssal Goddess have done in this situation? That question plagued Charlotte¡¯s mind as she bumped into yet another person, this time it was a girl about her age, and just around a head shorter than her. If I had 2 gold coins for every time I bumped into someone today I¡¯d have 4 gold coins, just enough to buy that new spell tome i¡¯ve been eyeing, Charlotte thought to herself as she laid down in the floor, she reached to her Dragonskin bag (not really made of dragon skin) to see if it was still there, and lifted herself from the cold concrete ground. ¡®¡¯I am so verily sorry about my misdeed, I hope you have it in your heart to forgive a lowly witch such as myself, mayhaps if thou couldst forget about mine lowly existence, I¡¯d consider that a very uhhh¡­. Please just forget that this whole interaction just happened.¡¯¡¯ She bowed to the girl in front of her, she was the most beautiful girl Charlotte had ever laid her eyes on, her skin was as clear as the ocean, her eyes as green as a valley, her blonde hair flowed like a river and shined like the sun, why so poetic today? Charlotte wondered as she awaited this girl¡¯s response hoping that she managed to succeed with her elegant request, she fell down to her knees in the meantime, hoping for a fluke as she could not handle humiliating herself further today.. ¡®¡¯...¡¯¡¯ The girl just stared at Charlotte, more accurately she looked down on her like she was garbage that sullied her view. ¡®¡¯Lowly Commoner, how dare you tarnish my dress?¡¯¡¯ She stomped the ground with enough force to make Charlotte flinch at the sound of the concrete lighting up a spark bright enough to blind most people. This girl¡¯s gonna kill me, Charlotte thought to herself as chills ran through her back, perhaps she wasn¡¯t cut out to go further than hell. ¡®¡¯What would Kiara do?¡¯¡¯ Those words reverberated through her mind as she thought of a way to handle this situation. ¡®¡¯kill and devour her.¡¯¡¯ ¡®¡¯kill and devour her ¡®¡¯kill and devour her¡¯¡¯ ¡®¡¯devour and kill her¡¯¡¯ ¡­ Right, Kiara was not a good person in that novel, she was the embodiment of the All Consuming Abyssal Phenomena made into a cute girl, hardly someone to imitate in a situation like this. There was something imposing about this girl, like she had the ambition of a conqueror or the aura of a God emanating through her, she could probably kill someone and nobody would care because it was her divine right to do so, this thought gave Charlotte even more chills, she felt she could faint at any second, what if she was her first victim? What if she wasn¡¯t her first victim? Paranoia quickly overtook Charlotte¡¯s mind as she wondered what to do¡­ ¡®¡¯S¡­ Sorry about that.¡¯¡¯ Charlotte stuttered as she attempted to apologize to the girl in front of her, she ran as fast as she could, she did not want to deal with someone like that ¡®¡¯What was I supposed to do again? Right, I had to leave my bag in my dorm room. Charlotte quickly ran to the dorm rooms checking in and going directly to her room. Her dorm was on the left side of a massive building that was about 5 witch huts wide, and 3 witch huts tall, the room itself felt like a hundred times the size of her own house, Charlotte felt like a princess in her castle, and her excitement was palpable, not only did she have this entire room by herself, but she did not have to share it with anyone else, there were no goblins that would steal her food, there were no werewolves to look out for, there were no witches to insult her, in short words it was her paradise. the room had 2 floors, one of them had two beds, two desks, and the latest model of antimatter crystal balls to browse the maginternet, the second floor had a few sofas, they looked like the sofas in Hell, and they were as comfortable as them, maybe more, there was a mist projector for students to relax and watch the latest shows, it looked like an artifact that Ashe once brought home, Charlotte was amazed at her room, it had everything she expected from such a high class institution and much more, it had a small selection of Abyssal Magic books, a topic she¡¯d been interested in ever since reading her favorite novel ¡®¡¯The Abyssal Princess¡¯¡¯, and it even had a guest bed so she could invite Ashe to sleep over whenever she had the time, maybe they could watch a few Yakuza movies like they did before Ashe became an adventurer! ¡­ Or so she thought (or deluded herself into thinking), as soon as she finished aweing at her surroundings at everything, another girl showed up, she had olive skin and green eyes, and her beauty was akin to that of a marble statue. Charlotte started to wonder whether being attractive was a requirement to enter this school, and what that may mean for her, the most pathetic witch. ¡®¡¯Hey, my name is Alexandria von Holke guess we¡¯re roommates.¡¯¡¯ the girl waved her hand as she introduced herself. She had a radiant smile, a giant bag full of things in one hand, and a sword on her hip. She was the daughter of a soldier, and she carried herself like a general, she seemed like someone born to rule the world, fitting as every novel set in this school featured future kings and gods, it was said that the God Emperor himself studied here, Charlotte on the other hand was only here because of Ashe¡¯s luck at saving an important person. Charlotte stared at her for a few seconds wondering what to do¡­ A personal room was the highest tier of defense one would want against astral beings and other antagonistic forces, no vampire could enter your room without your permission, and carving a small rattlesnake would forbid even the 7 immortal witches (though now it would be more accurate to call them the 1 immortal witch) from even gazing at the door, a fact that had saved Charlotte¡¯s life numerous times. ¡®¡¯h..hi my name is Charlotte¡¯¡¯ she stared at the floor, you could barely make out what she was saying, ¡®¡¯I don''t have a last name though.¡¯¡¯ She was a polite girl, even though Alexandria, the Raider may have invaded her space, she was not rude enough to not greet her back, especially when she had such a kindly tone of voice and when she didn¡¯t seem to display any hostility within her eyes, those manners had been beaten into her since birth. ¡®¡¯Huh¡­ Even the lowliest of peasants have last names these days, you¡¯re not trying to pull a fast one on me are you? Are you part of the Van Dyke family?¡¯¡¯ Alexandria was reaching for her blade as she said this, there were some news about the Van Dykes and the von Holkes going into some sort of war, it had been all over the maginternet these past few weeks, but Charlotte always avoided the news so she knew nothing about that. ¡®¡¯I¡­i¡¯m lowlier than a peasant now?¡¯¡¯ Charlotte murmured to herself. ¡®¡¯Did you say something?¡¯¡¯ Alexandria pointed her blade at Charlotte, ¡®¡¯N¡­no?¡¯¡¯ Charlotte stared at the ground as she fidgeted with her hands ¡®¡¯Well if you¡¯re not kidding, you can go by mine!¡¯¡¯ She put down her blade and made a thumbs up gesture, perhaps this was her way of making amends? ¡®¡¯U¡­Us witches are not a..allowed to¡­take¡­alleagances..T¡­there¡¯s no bigger allegiance than a noblewoman¡¯s house.¡¯¡¯ She could not stop fidgeting with her hand, her legs were shaking like they were buildings in an earthquake, and she was sweating bullets, perhaps even missiles. The woman in front of her was two steps away from murdering her just now and now she acted like nothing was happening, how should she react? Kiara would have killed this woman as soon as she pointed her blade to her in the most terrible of ways, she would have probably hunted her entire family down and made them into slaves, but she was also the most twisted of gods, and Charlotte was just¡­ Charlotte, a normal human with a slight aversion to violence, she still enjoyed reading violent books and she¡¯d occasionally hunt down the gnomes that would trample on her flower garden, but she¡¯d more often than not spare them her rage as they¡¯re harmless creatures after all, and getting through those books was hard for Charlotte,, it was the author¡¯s fault for making them so good¡­. ¡­Perhaps I should look for a better fictional role model, as she wondered how she should respond to this person, her thoughts were interrupted by Alexandria ¡®¡¯Y¡­you¡¯re a witch? Like the ones from legend??¡¯¡¯ her eyes shone like a diamond, ever since birth, she has been a huge fan of the Olga Cycle, the historical document detailing the life and death of Olga the Witch of Eternity, it was a tale of love, hate, birth, rebirth, and adventure, said to be written by Olga after her own death, witches were fantastical beings on the same level as phoenixes to some, no doubt many of Magic School Academy¡¯s students were inspired to become Magicians and perhaps even Warlocks thanks to stories like this, such was the case for Alexandria after all.