Under Her Cursed Scythe

Slowly, Alivia half-opened her eyes as she regained her consciousness.

As soon as she was wide-awake, she immediately picked up on the fact that she was immobile and something was preventing her from moving and feeling her own body. Her limbs were weak and paralyzed as if they weren't hers. She glanced around her whereabouts between the niches of her eyes, trying to figure out where she was at.

It was a large, high-ceilinged room. The walls in the room were navy blue in colour, the long lines of beds against the walls and the tiled floor were white. There was a heart rate machine beside her bed on her left, and on her right, she saw her oil lantern key chain and her glove being placed on the tiny side table beside her bed.

'Where am I?' Alivia asked herself but before she found out the answer, she heard someone opening the door and heeded the Blessers who had assailed her, between the widening gap. By then, they had took off the gears that were hiding most of their appearances.

Fleetingly, Alivia picked up a few more features of her two kidnappers before pretending to be asleep: boy - pinkish eyes, extremely pale skin and white hair; girl - black eyes, close-cropped brown hair and natural dark skin tone with patches of white.

"Council's orders to retrieve the ring and execute the Witch. Has it woken up yet?"

A sharp female voice ran into Alivia's ears.

"No, I guess the effect of the medicine was too strong for it." came a voice from outside of the room.

"Well, that's good news! I guess I was right on injecting this creature with a high dose of narcotic. Relying solely on the magic-immunity spell is just not enough when it comes to restraining this one." the female voice uttered pompously. "Agent 206, do you mind guarding the door for us while I accomplish my mission? No matter what you hear, don't open it, will you? "

"Sure...I'll try my best, Senpai."

"Thanks."

"What are you up to?" After the door was closed, a deep male voice hissed. "If the Council finds out that we've demolished the Witch without their permission, we are screwed!"

"All three of the Great Magi are having an important meeting with those magicians and monks from Japan and China right now. None of them will have the time to care about a little Witch. They have more important things to attend to. So chill."

Alivia felt that someone was hauling her fingers now. It pained her a bit but she understood that she could not yell or even open her eyes, for that might cause her more pain later on. The only thing she could do was to be endure it.

"Don't worry! I know what I'm doing, Agent 106. I am not a little kid anymore."

"You are still a kid, you know...base on your age-"

"13 is considered to be a teen already... Anyhow, I've also applied a dark-magic-immunity spell on myself before touching its hand."

"I'm not sure..." the male voice sounded. "I really don't think we should come in contact with this Witch without the Council's-"

"Oh just stop being a fusspot!" the female voice scolded. "We have to get this done before he-"

"Before who?"

"You know who! Quit pretending that you don't! Anyhow, what's more concerning is why on earth can't I take this stupid ring out of its finger?"

"There's some kind of a 'defense system" being activated within the interior of the ring." the male voice analyzed. "There's no way you can take it off if you can't figure out what's powering it. It can be pure magic or a daemon inside of it. But it takes so much time to come up with a result. So let's give it up and get out of here to enjoy ourselves like watch a movie, shall we?"

"No!" the female voice rejected.

"But there's no other way to-"

"There is." the female voice denoted. "We never said we needed the ring's powers or to use it, we just need to retrieve it and shield it from the rest of the world! So the easiest way to achieve this, is to cut off this Witch's fingers! Just that simple!"

Every instinct in Alivia's body bleated in panic at those words.

"Hang on," the male voice intoned. "I still don't think this is a good idea."

"Why? I'm just cutting off one of its fingers, no big deal! It will grow back in no time! Perhaps, two will grow back from it just like that two-headed Warlock we hunted the other day." the female voice asserted. "They are basically human-like earthworms!"

"I mean not a good idea as in he will be mad..."

"Agent 616 is mad! Not in the right mind...that kind of madness. So forget about him!" the female voice uttered in a fretful tone. "He's under this Witch's spell, remember?"

"No, he has already proven that invalid by passing through the Sacred Spring."

"But he's still not in his right mind, don't you see it? He thinks part of this creature is still humane!" the female voice said it as if it was something ridiculous. "Sometimes, I just don't understand him. I know he's more a strategic thinker than a fighter but all he had to do was trap the damn beings. He can leave the blood-shedding to us. Yet, recently, he not only failed to complete his basic task, he also couldn't keep his mouth shut! Speaking of those absurd salvation theories, wasting our time and becoming our burden! Why couldn't he just corporate?" she asked.

"I heard he has been attending Professor Helios's lectures." the male voice said. "You know, his theories about giving a second chance to certain dark creatures, to save them instead of exterminating them… He might be under Professor Helio's influence." he suggested. "Or maybe, he's just being very sympathetic towards her. To be honest, this Witch does look and act more like a human than most of the Witches or Warlocks whom we've encountered... And, empathy is a virtue… "

"It is, in the Non-Magus world. But in the Magus, no." the female voice lowered and became solemn. I see it as a kind of weakness, almost a sin, especially when it comes to eliminating beings on the Left-Hand path. These dark creatures' souls or goodness have been either polluted or long lost. If we have sympathies for them, they would only use them to destroy the things we cared the most!"

"That's not true...some are indeed-"

"The last time I gave sympathy to a Witch, it killed my eldest sister, Diana, Agent 106!" the female voice interjected, in a trembling, hateful tone. "She was a very powerful and skillful Blesser...her talents wouldn't have wasted if I didn't hesitate."

"Mo-"

"Shhh...just be quiet! I need to concentrate." the female voice silenced the male voice before he could give his condolences.

"Well, the Witch who murdered your sister was a level 8. What Professor Helios has suggested is that, he thinks Witches and Warlocks between level 1 to 5 like Harris Goldmen and Babayaga can be saved…" the boy in the emerald cloak said in defense, after a while. "And since this Witch now appears to be a level 5 instead of a 7, we could consider- "

The girl in the dark blue cloak opened her eyes and they flecked with annoyance. "Oh gosh! Don't ever EVER mention the names of those new 'professors' to me again." she interjected. "I can never accept them stepping their feet into that holy ground and polluting it!" she blustered. "The more I hear about them, the more I want to travel to that world right now and hunt them down, regardless of what those nonsense revolutionists suggest." The sound of clenching teeth followed.

"Will you please calm down?" the boy in the emerald cloak asked. "It's really not that big of a deal. They aren't as scary as the rumors have talked about them... If you have attended Babayaga's first lecture yesterday, you will find that she is in fact, a very humorous person and her ironies are quite well-said, especially when she mocked herself." he jabbered.

"Itself! Not herself! It! It! " the girl corrected. "No matter what they say or do right now, it doesn't change who they are. Evilness still resides in them. It's in their nature! Just like the scorpion in the story of the Scorpion and the Frog . They will doom us all one day no matter what they say!"

The boy heaved a sigh. "We all have darkness in our nature, don't we? The only difference is that we know how to maintain the balance while they don't... at least, not before. But now that we are all on the same side, we can teach-"

"They were monsters and they will forever be monsters." said the girl, sternly. "They will never truly be on our side! Stop being naive, Agent 106!"

The boy shook his head, disagreeably. "Then why did the shield allow them to enter into Avenar …and into the Bureau? Why didn't the water of the Sacred Spring turn black? Why didn't the flowers and grass rot as they passed through the Enchanted Forest? Why-"

"Oh gosh! I don't know why and I don't want to know why!" the girl gave an irritated grumble. "But will you please please please please please please SHUT THE HELL UP?" She then stomped on the boy's feet, hard.

"Ouuchh! Don't ripper out on me!" the boy reacted with a resentful tone as he hopped around with one foot. "I am not the one who let them into the Bureau. I used to be against it too, remember?"

"Then stay being against them!"

"But after those first lectures, I figured that they are not that bad as they seem…"

"Argh!"

"You must really go and see for yourself so you can-"

"Please…" the female voice gave a little pause before continuing. "Can you stop talking? Can you just go back being that person who wants to stick on your phone and play video games 24/7?" she asked, thoroughly unnerved. "I permit you to play that stupid game, okay?"

"I know this might sound ridiculous but I kind of feel glad that he had invited me to participate in Baba Yaga's lectures. They have really changed how I see-"

"Huh, huh, huh. Never mind." the girl butted before the boy finished.

"Bu-"

She sighed. "You don't have to explain anything to me. Neither you nor he can stop me now, not until I can prevent that prophecy from happening!" she said in a determined voice.

Then, she paced forth towards Alivia, raised her hands, wiggled her fingers and chanted a spell.

She was half-way through in completing her spell-casting when abruptly, sounds of disputes came from outside interrupted her and soon after, the door of the chamber was forced open.

Someone bustled in.

"Molly!" that person addressed the female Blesser with a bawl.

The girl rolled her eyes. "It's Agent 129! How many times do I have to tell you boys not to call me Molly while we are on a mission?"

"Molly! How can you lie to Hiroshi about the High Council's order? Do you know how serious this is? Thank goodness that Master Gaspar has urged me to come back and check on the girl!" he said.