Chapter 121

121 Is this a goodbye?

In front of the four of them there she stand, the woman whom they were searching for such a long time. The woman with a beautiful face, long black hair, and unusual rainbow color eyes. She was laughing maniacally while dancing around.

“Oh, how I long for this day to come, another chapter of my life, meeting with the four handsome hunters who were frantically searching for me in every corner of the kingdom.” Said the woman that they were calling the witch of the mountain.

“You... What do you want exactly?!” Screamed Justice to the woman, his eyes glared with fury, “And where is Anne? Why do you keep her with you?!”

“Oh, yes, the girl with an unusual purple color hair...” The witch gave a specific trait of Anne with a smirk on her face, “So, what about my gift? Did all of you like her? Oh, wait, I guess you all do.”

“It was you who cast the bewitched spell on us, right?” Said Vale to the witch. “I know you’re capable of doing wicked things like this.”

The witch’s eyes go straight to Vale. “I guess one of you could put two into tow together. Good job, magi, and for your question, I was the one who put the bewitched spell on four of you.”

Justice, Xavier, and Henry were astonished when they heard the fact, although not so much for Vale. They were wondering about this, about who’s the one that could inflict an ancient and powerful spell of the bewitched spell. Not to wonder about the insanity that is induced by the spell, how they become obsessed with an innocent woman, and almost make her life turned upside down.

“You make us obsessed with Anne. Why?” Xavier tried to pry the witch with a tangible answer. “Why do you want us to be obsessed with an innocent girl like her?”

The witch suddenly giggles, and when the giggles turn into a burst of laughter, she looks into the four of them. “Innocent? Are you sure that the girl is innocent? How much do you know about her? The sweet girl, the kind girl from a rural village, is it really her true identity?”

.....

Justice clenched his fist. He was done talking to the witch. On the other hand, Vale was trying to get more information from her. He carefully grabs into Justice’s hand and whispered.

“Not yet. We need to know the whole story from her. I mean, there must be something about Anne that makes her decide to use the girl as the object of affection.” Vale was desperately trying to convey his reason to his friend.

On the other hand, Justice couldn’t take it anymore and almost jumped into the witch if it was not for Xavier who hold him from behind. They knew the desperation, the rage, not just because the witch was playing with their feelings, but because she also made Anne the victim of their disputes.

“No, Justice, listen to Vale, we need to know the whole truth!” Xavier desperately clings to Justice.

The laughter from the witch just made the crown prince agitated. He squirmed, even though Xavier overpowered him. Vale and Henry stepped closer to the witch, and both of them could maintain their calm and collected manner towards the witch.

“Tell us! Why us? And why Anne? what exactly do you want to achieve here?!” Asked Henry. He was as furious as the others, but like Vale, he wanted to know the whole truth.

The witch looked at the four of them with a mocked on her face. She was enjoying this moment, the moment that she always cherishes more than once.

“Aaah... it’s good to see that I could still irritate the four of you this bad.” The witch moaned with such pleasure when she spoke to them once more, “Don’t worry, the next chapter has just begun. Be patient since the main character will never be changing.”

The four of them were stunned. The witch was talking with puzzling words, and nothing make sense from everything that she spoke of.

“Still irritated us?” Asked Vale, he tried to get closer to the witch, trying to get something, or anything from her face, “We never met you before, this is the first time for me, Xavier, and Henry to see you in person, even Justice just get a glimpse of you and never more until now.”

As it turns out, the witch never even intended to answer any more of their question. Her eyes flicker, and her long black hair was raising into the air. She was hovering and laughing maniacally once again. Vale was trying to cast a powerful spell but the witch’s hand pointed at him, she makes Vale lose his voice, and he even tried to gasping for air.

Justice and Xavier jumped into her with their weapon ready to hack the witch, but reflected protection put the two of them on the ground immediately. Henry tried to defend his friend, knowing his capacity in battle will always be the weakest.

“Stand back! What do you want from us?!” Henry tried to intimidate the witch, who was trying to get closer to them.

Before the witch attacked the four of them, Brom was coming from behind and cast full protection on the four of them.

“Captain! Everyone! Are you alright?!” Shouted Brom at them.

Henry looked into the witch, but what he saw was something out of the ordinary. The witch looks horrified. Her eyes lock onto Brom, and in a second, she runs into the darkness of the forest and disappears.

“Henry! what happened?!” Justice finally awakens after getting knocked out from the fall.

“Oh, thank God! We almost got killed by the witch.” Said Henry, while he helped Justice back to his feet.

Brom came and tried to help Vale, who was still gasping for air. He cast a spell that proved to be effective and Vale could breathe once more. Henry stared at Brom, he knows the witch run away because of Brom. Something about him made the witch afraid.

“Anne! we need to find Anne, now!” Justice screamed and run as fast as he could into the deepest of the forest.

After walking for five minutes, they saw her inside the jail bubble. She was sitting in the center of the bubble. She was scared and had not even noticed her rescuer.

“Anne, are you alright?!” Henry asked her, while he tried to break the jail bubble.

“Henry?” Anne finally looks up and saw the others. “Oh everyone, you’re all here.”

“Stand back! I’ll use my axe to tear this jail apart!” Shouted Xavier to Anne.

Hearing how serious Xavier was, Anne goes as far away as she can be, and when Xavier successfully broke the jail, they look at her with the same relief. They knew she was safe, and somehow, in their twisted mind, that’s all that mattered to them.

“Oh, I am so glad to see all of you?” Anne said to them with a smile on her face, but as soon as her smile bloomed, she remember something else, “Oh my God! Clarice! My parents!”

“I saw Clarice helping the villagers with her fiancé.” Said Brom to her, he then added, “As for your parents... I am sorry, Anne, I wish I have some piece of good news for you.”

Anne dropped into the ground and wailed, Xavier need to carry her along the way to the village, everyone still trying to recover, the houses and the buildings were gone completely, and the victims were being put in one place for identification. Anne walked into the tent, and Clarice was there to give her some comfort. Two bodies with some distinguishing features were being put into the corner.

“I’ve already identified them. It seems your father was trying to protect your mother from the debris from the clinic.” Clarice whispered to Anne. She tried so hard to calm Anne by embracing her whole body. “I am sorry Anne...”

Anne could see the two bodies of her parents. They were smiling and with their hands tangled with each other. Her tears ran down her face while she held onto her parents’ dead bodies. Justice, Henry, Vale, and Xavier couldn’t do anything for her. They were mad and felt how weak they were at this moment.

One day after, the funeral was held for the victims of the earthquake. Anne was sitting inside the tent while the priests and priestesses sang the mourning song for all the victims. The four gentlemen following her into the tent tried to engage in a conversation with her, but to no avail.

Justice was trying to open a conversation with her. “Anne, it’s probably best that we...”

“Did you know how my parents found me?” Said Anne so suddenly to the four of them, she smiled with tears running down her face, “They found me on the crystal river, closer to the valley, they took care of me and always think of me as their own daughter.”

Henry look sympathizes with her, “Anne... You don’t have to tell us...”

“Even though they knew I was coming from another world.” With her bravery, Anne told them the truth. Their faces were awestruck, never occurred to them that Anne was from the same world as them. She took her mourning hat and open the tent. Before she goes outside, she looks at the four of them, one by one, “I want all of you to drink the cure, and forget about me. Goodbye.”

Her smile widened, but her eyes were telling them lies. She walked away from them and, with a sigh of relief, left the four of them inside the tent.

Justice’s hand was shaken. He took the cure from his deep pocket and drinks the whole vial; the others follow suits; they leave the once rural and beautiful village of Viora after the funeral. Anne saw them leaving her behind, and with a whispered goodbye, she walked onto the opposite road from the four men who were now occupying her heart.