Under Her Cursed Scythe

"You told on me, didn't you?" she growled and anger danced in her pupils.

"No…" The voice of the male Blesser became wobbly.

"He did nothing wrong by reporting you! As clearly written on the message I've sent you," the boy in the white cloak went on, "The High Council has asked us to guard her and not to take a toll on her!"

"So you got the High Council speaking this bollocks too? This is the Witch, the one mentioned in that prophecy, the one that will lead all beings to their doom!" Molly reproached. "I don't know why you can't find it in yourself to execute it, Agent 616, but I am able to! If the Council blames you for this Witch's death, I will take the blame, clear? I don't mind having Witches' and Daemons' blood on my hands." she underlined, furiously. "I am more than willing to help!"

"She's not a Witch and not the one in your prophecy, Molly. I have inquired your grandmother's tribe and they say there is more to it. What you heard was only part of it. I will fill you in later on but first, you must stop trying to hurt her! I've spoken to the High Council about her situation and they have permitted me to bring her back ALIVE! So don't try to kill her!" the boy in the white cloak warned as he pulled the girl away from Alivia's bed.

"You guys are nuts!" Molly tugged her hands away from the boy's grasp. "All I want is to take off that stupid ring as soon as possible before it starts hurting anyone again. Look at Victoria! Look at Abz and Bunny! They are all lying in the hospital because of it! This 'girl' doesn't deserve to live!" she whined, her emotions were uncontrollably bursting out while one of her hand gestured at Alivia and her other hand formed into a fist, clenching it so tightly that her knuckles went white and her nails dug deep into her palm.

"MOLLY!" the boy in the white cloak pulled down his face mask and let out a thunderous shout all of a sudden when he noticed his friend's body language as well as the colour of the "face" on the acorn-shaped amber necklace she was wearing, "Can you feel the stress that you have caused on your Familiar? She's frightened by your anger...and I guess you can feel it slowly turning into wrath, right? You don't want to lose your balance and affect her, do you? "

His reminder was like a powerful fire-extinguisher which instantly put out Molly's anger in that she was hushed and looked as if she had just woken up from a nightmare.

"Sorry." Molly apologized after a moment and placed her hand on top of her acorn necklace while she whispered to it, "I'm sorry, Tink. I'm sorry…I didn't mean to frighten you." She softly patted the pendant as if she was soothing a spooked cat and gently stroke the surface.

Now closer, Alivia could pick up on a tiny semi-transparent glowing figure wandering around the acorn. The creature looked like a tiny girl with pointy ears, gold hair, lime skin as well as a pair of butterfly wings, and for second, its pair of Emerald eyes met Alivia's and a sound of tinkling bell echoed into her ears.

"You…" Molly growled at her as she tucked away her necklace.

"Oh! You are awake!" the boy in the white cloak realised and seemingly ignored the intense attention between the two girls.

He came forth and queried, "How are you, lady? I hope they didn't put you into any discomfort." He held up his last bit of courtesy to call the girl, lady, and presented his hand to her to help her out of the bed.

"Huh?" Alivia chuckled woodenly and rejected the hand. "Kidnapping and threats of death…What do you think they are? Invitation to a ball? Tickets to an amusement park?"

She stubbornly sat on the bed, refusing to leave it while her arms firmly crossed over her chest.

"I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience they have caused you. We don't aim to fight. We just want to have a little chat with you." the boy explained.

"No, not us. Only you want to talk to this creature." Molly corrected firmly with her hands akimbo and head awry.

"Molly! You are being very rude." the boy roared, infuriated. "Ming," he addressed the emerald cloaked Blesser beside Molly and asked, "Do you mind pulling her aside while I talk to this girl?"

"No problem." Ming replied while he pulled Molly away towards the opposite corner.

"Take your hands off me!" Molly shouted, trying to pull Ming's hand off her shoulder.

"Come on, Molly! You need to chill."

"Stop calling me Molly! Argh! I knew it. You are on his side now..."

After they had walked aside, the boy sat down on the chair beside the bed, forming a ninety-degree angle between him and Alivia, and then said to her, "Lady, the ring that you have possessed is something extremely dangerous. It kills a person by- "

"I know what this ring does to people." Alivia interrupted with a cold annoyed tone.

The boy in the white cloak looked startled for a second. "Then why are you using it? I can ensure you that it is not fun to kill. It is evil and vicious and this kind of power is addictive! You will lose control one day and when you are finally awake from your mistakes, you won't able to live with yourself." he said.

"I know…" Alivia lamented. "I don't want to kill…but do you think I have a choice?"

"You do. Everyone does."

"Wrong...Those souls are used to save someone who is important to me. Without them, she will be crushed again." Alivia stated firmly. "I have no choice but to reap souls for her!"

"There are two common rituals for collecting souls. You either want to revive someone from the dead or sustain someone's life. So which one is it, for you? Or is it both?" asked the boy in the white cloak, but before Alivia responded, he carried on, "Believe it or not, none of them will end well and from the cases I've encountered, I've learnt one thing… sometimes if you love a person, you have to let them go. You have to-"

"That's not what I want!" Alivia interjected. "Don't tar everyone with the same brush and don't act like you understand me! Yes, I'm collecting souls for someone who came back from the dead but I'm not doing all this for him. Sustaining his life has never and will never be my goal or my desire." she underlined, grimly. "I am only doing it for her, that only person who truly matters to me. Once I get this done, I can get what I truly desire, her-" Alivia caught herself fleetingly. Why should I tell him? He's just a stranger! Besides, he won't understand... neither mother or father could…or else SHE would have asked me to stop hunting and HE would have come back for me.

"What do you truly desire? Tell me. Maybe we can help you."

"You can't help me…" she stated somberly. Perhaps, Joshua can... Her eyes skewed towards the heel of her hand where the leather star bracelet was at. But not now…

"There is nothing in this world, not even magic can give me what I want at this moment." Cuz magic would only generate "artificial" feelings. She added at the back of her head. " Magic is merely a tool for me to kill others more effectively. "

"But you think killing is the only way for you to get the other thing you want?"

"Yes." Alivia answered determinedly.

"Okay…" He paused. "Still, I'm curious. What exactly is the other thing that you want? That not even magic can give you? There are barely anything in this world that magic can't give you. "

'Yes, barely. But not this.' Alivia thought.

She sighed and lowered her chin in response to the boy's confusion. "You will never get it... even if I tell you. You think my ambitions are as high as the sky but I'm sure when you learn about my true desire you would mock me for sacrificing so many for this 'tiny', 'petty' wish of mine."

'Because you, happy, lucky people…' She thought.

'Yes, I'm talking to you. You take LOVE from others for granted. You think love comes naturally to you especially those from your family; you think it's an instinct that a parent would love his or her child, but no, that isn't the case anymore, at least for humans.

There are cases where parents, choose their love or not love at all. There are cases where no matter how hard one tried, that tiny place within her mother's heart remains hard and cold....Oh, I'm not referring to my own mother...She's slightly different from that kind of mothers…I guess...she just loves me in her own way...I'm sure.

But still, for people like me, love is more scarce than gold or any piece of jewelry in this world but for people like you, will never treasure or aware of the happiness and blessings you are showered with. You will never understand the fact that love is the only thing that is worth fighting for! That's why you will never understand me. Never!'

The boy gently shook his head and declared, "I would never mock at anyone's ambitions regardless of what it is. But can killing people really give you what you truly desire?"

Alivia didn't answer, clamping her lips shut. She knew what the answer was for this question but she just didn't want to admit to it.

"Has it really helped you in any way to get what you truly desire?" the boy dared. "Then why not change your strategy? Why not stop reaping other's souls, stop causing miseries to others and yourself when there's a better way out there… that can give you anything you want? "

"A better way? Something better than magic? " Alivia's eyebrows lifted and her heart slightly lifted when she heard that there was another way. "Like what?"

"Like believing in miracles!" the boy suggested.