Descending Shadows: The Witch's Hour

“Take this, you monster,” Nolan said, cutting its hands off with his sword.

It screamed as it went up in flames, but more jumped in. We fought them off, but once we were done, I noticed one of the people who joined us lying on the floor injured. I checked to see if he was alive and, to my dismay, he was gone.

“This is bad… We can't continue this, we need a plan or soon, we'll all be lying dead on the floor. There are too many of them for just a handful of us to fight off,” I said.

“I understand that, but what are we supposed to do? It's not like we have any other options,” Nolan replied.

“I don't know, but we need to think of a way to get rid of all of them.”

“Before that, we need to fix the roof,” Leslie said.

We fixed the roof and also added Zavaryan salt on it. We then went to our rooms, hoping there would be no more attacks. There, I lay in bed, reminiscing how happy we were before the Serpians came. I remembered the dark day those foul creatures descended on us like it was yesterday:

It was Christmas Eve, and Mom and Dad got a call from the defence ministry. They said that a portal had been opened from our world to another dimension. It was bad, it wasn't on the map. It was opened by a witch who used black magic to gain immortality. She was killed by the Serpiens before she could close the portal, and now we have to fight them.

She cost us our families, and I felt furious at her for what she did, but what good is it being furious at a dead witch? We desperately needed a way to close that cursed portal before we all went extinct, but how we were to go about it was yet to be found. I wondered if there were any other witches we could find to help us.

The next day, I was going through my parents’ army documents when Leslie walked into the room.

“What are you looking for?”

“I need to contact the Defence Ministry.”

“But what do you plan to accomplish?”

“I want to find out about the witch who opened the portal.”

“You’re thinking of finding a way to reverse the spell?”

“Yeah, and maybe—just maybe—there’s another witch somewhere close by that could help us.”

“Okay, count me in.”

We were soon joined by Nolan as well, and it was he who eventually found the number. “Here’s the number, Moon.”

“Thank you, Nolan. Can you get a pen and paper ready?”

“Sure thing.”

The phone kept ringing for so long that I wanted to dash the phone on the floor. Finally, there was an answer.

“Hello.”

“Hello, can I speak to the Defence Minister?”

“The minister was killed by Serpians a week ago. May I know who’s speaking?”

“I’m Moon Kelart. Who am I speaking to?”

Kelart, as in the former General’s and Defence Secretary’s daughter?”

“Yes, and you are?”

“I’m Joel Solomons, the current defence secretary. I was nominated after your mother was killed.”

“I need to find out about the witch who opened the portal.”

“Her name was Anabella Simon. You’re aware that she’s dead, right?”

“I know, but she must have relatives. If any of them are witches, or at least know how she opened the portal, maybe we can close it.”

“Wait online, I’ll check it out.”

A few minutes later, he said he had found that Anabella has a living sister.

“I’ll send some soldiers to check on her right away,” he said.

“What? This was my idea, I’ll handle it.”

“I understand how you feel, but I can’t let civilians get involved in this.”

“‘Can’t let civilians get involved’? We have been involved ever since that witch tore a portal open for those wretched monsters! We fight for our lives every single day.”

“I understand, but still, you’re a teenager. I don’t want to endanger you any more than you already are.”

“Yeah, I am a teenager, but that doesn’t matter in the new world that has dawned upon us. I should be in school with my friends right now, but many of them are dead. My parents are dead! And you sending those soldiers now would only spook the woman. Let us go there.”

Solomons then gave me Arabella’s address. When Leslie, Nolan, and I reached her house, she walked out the door.

“Moon, what are you doing here?”

“Ms. Sullivan? This is your address? I’m sorry, but we were looking for someone called Arabella Simon.”

“I’m her, Moon… I changed my name when I found out what my sister was doing. I tried to stop her, but she was too stubborn.”

“Couldn’t you use your powers to stop her?” Leslie asked.

“I don’t have the gift regular witches have. I only have premonitions.”

“Help us undo what your sister did,” Nolan said.

“But how? I don’t have the capacity to perform regular magic as my sister did.”

“Just try, please. Even your life depends on it,” I said.

She hesitated, but finally agreed. A team of soldiers also showed up and stood on standby as we walked inside to start a counter-spell.

We all held hands and she began to chant. Things inside began to float and move around in the air, and I could see the strain on Arabella’s face as it continued.

“The portal is closing,” she said.

We thanked her and were walking out the door to lure the remaining demons into the portal in time when Arabella started screaming. We turned around quickly only to see her being dragged away by a Serpian.