THE WITCH HUNTER’S CROSS
CHAPTER 1
The night was cold and dark with thin winds blowing. The
hiss of the wind was loud but inconsistent; one could think that they were in a
snake-filled pit. The moon was blood red so that one could think the end of
times had come. This night could be compared to the night of rebirth of the
witches five hundred years ago when all evil was unleashed unto the world, a
mere myth.
Melrick walked along the empty street with no particular
destination in mind. This had become routine since had started living alone in
the city. Look right look left then look right again, go to Hell, He crossed
the road without much care; death didn’t scare him at all. He finally found
himself between two buildings. The buildings that had such beautiful fronts
were so ugly at the back. He found this oddly similar to his case, in reality
only outward appearance mattered; people couldn’t judge what they didn’t see or
know.
As he stood there lost in thought, he felt the wind get
colder and its hiss get louder and immediately he knew. Behind him a whirlwind
appeared. He wanted to run but the alley was closed at one end, the end free of
danger of course. The thought of running left him, one cannot outrun the wind.
As the whirlwind roared towards him leaving behind it a trail of destruction,
Melrick leaned against a wall and said a short spell. He slipped through the
wall like a poltergeist and found himself inside a club. Damn why didn’t I think of this before- getting into a club without an
ID. The seventeen-year-old walked out of the club like someone without a
care. He did not even think about the attack since he did not care. He walked along
the empty streets. This time his destination was clear, home.
Rivalry among witch covens, magic brawls to test or estimate
strength and even strange horrid murders and other vile acts performed using
magic: all these were things common in Melrick’s world for Melrick was one of
the last true witches of pure blood. His magic was pure and burning just like a
flame, the symbol of his family. It was not as static as the earth from whom
the family line of Kaos the destructor emerged. It was not as wild and cold as
the magic of the wind, the magic that ran in the blood of Hakkatan and his kin,
them being the ones that had attacked him earlier. His magic was not as mad as
that of Mwenda Mwendwa-the mother of all witches, who had been hunted down by
nations and lynched on an altar as large as a city over a millennia ago. No the
magic that flowed in Melrick’s veins and existed in every cell of his body was
special and highly unique for it was pure, purely good.
As he neared his home, he saw as if for just a second, the
image of the moon had shifted. The moon was larger than ever. It was as if the
moon goddess had pushed it closer to the earth. She shone more brightly,
shedding her light throughout his environs. He wondered how in one night the
moon would go from being blood red to being whiter than snow. He guessed that
the moon goddess could get rid of the anger and ill feelings in her heart very
quickly and replacing them with pure love. He felt as if the moon’s light was
soothing his heart and warming his soul. For a moment, he dropped his normal
lackadaisical nature and opened his heart, letting his feelings of fear, anger,
and love flow freely. His feelings flooded his soul and with a smile he shed a
tear. When that one tear touched the ground he felt as if he had been cleansed,
it was if that tear had carried with it all his fears, ill feelings, anger and
uncertainties.
The largeness of the moon this night and its beauty were
incomparable to anything he had ever seen before. He remembered the story that
his mother had told him. Elfy Manka was her name. She had told him how the moon
had fallen in love with a mortal yet she was a goddess. When the man died, the
sun god who had desired the moon goddess for so long did not want them to be
together so he denied the man entry into heaven. He punished the moon so that
she could only shine at night when all men including her lover, were asleep.
The moon’s lover became a wandering ghost. He slept during the day so that at
night, he would see the moon. Elfy Manka had told Melrick that whenever he saw
the moon closer to the earth and larger than normal, it meant that the moon and
her lover had been reunited. Melrick had never liked this story, why should you be separated from the people
you love? And he hated it more when death took away his mother, the only
one he had truly cared about.
He woke suddenly from his reverie. He had let the moon
bewitch him with her beauty. As he started to take his eyes off the moon, he
came to doubt his eyes for atop the crescent moon sat a flaxen girl. Her golden
hair danced around in the wind as if it was a separate entity from her. She
smiled at him with her eyes fixed on his and he guessed that it was she who had
put him in that trance using the moon. Immediately he hated himself for being
such easy prey. Although she had not harmed him, she was a witch and from all
his experiences, all witches were evil.
She descended slowly from the skies like an angel. She
maintained her calm face and beautiful smile but as she neared the ground, the
wind blew a little stronger and her dress was blown over her waist. After some
struggle she succeeded in holding down her dress using her hands. When her eyes
met Melrick’s again her cheeks turned red contrasting greatly with her pale
skin. He guessed that she was embarrassed so he looked away. He looked back at
her waiting for her to speak or attack for she was a witch after all.
