The witch smirked, bending slightly as if to whisper a dark secret. "Yes… 1 have waited for this moment. And now, I shall end your lives… just like 1 did to your mother."
"Mother?"
The word left their lips in unison.
The witch's smirk deepened.
"Ah… so you never knew the truth… how amusing."
A chilling silence fell between them as a long-buried secret was about to be revealed.
"Very interesting." Alexandra said, her voice trembling but firm. "Tell us about our mother. Why did you kill her? Please… we need to know."
The witch's lips curled into a wicked grin.
"Hahaha! No, I won't tell you," she sneered. "You shall die without ever knowing the truth!"
Throwing her head back, she let out a chilling. Maniacal laugh before gripping her broomstick tightly, raising it high to strike them down.
Starlet clenched her fists, her entire body trembling-not in fear, but in rage.
"I won't let you kill us!" she shouted. "You took our mother from us, and now you've attacked my sister… 1 won't forgive you!"
With those words, Starlet instinctively thrust her hand forward-and in an instant, something extraordinary happened.
A blinding burst of energy erupted from her palm, crackling like lightning. The force struck the witch, sending her flying backward with a furious scream.
The moment she hit the ground, everything fell silent.
Gasping, Starlet wasted no time. She bent down, lifted Alexandra with all her strength, and ran.
She didn't know where she was going-she only knew they had to escape before the witch recovered.
Minutes passed.
Then… the witch's eyes fluttered open.
She groaned, sitting up as she clutched her aching chest, rage burning in her veins.
"They escaped…?" she hissed, her fingers digging into the dirt.
Her eyes gleamed with malice as she slowly stood, brushing off the dust from her tattered cloak.
"1 will not rest… 1 will not sleep… until 1 find them."
Her voice was low, filled with venomous determination.
"And when 1 do… 1 will destroy them."
With a final, sinister laugh, she vanished into the night, leaving behind only the promise of revenge.
Royal Commander David Zechariah rode north under a sky streaked with dying sunlight. The air was thick with unease, a silent omen of the truths he was about to uncover. As soon as he arrived at the northern outpost, he summoned the soldiers stationed there, their faces wary as they lined up before him.
"The magical creatures," Zechariah began, his voice calm yet firm. "You've seen them?"
The men exchanged glances. Some nodded hesitantly.
"What do they look like?"
"They're monstrous," one soldier muttered, gripping the hilt of his sword. "Huge enough to crush a man with a single blow."
"A savage beast," another added. "Cruel… merciless."
Zechariah narrowed his eyes. "Has it killed anyone?"
Silence. Then, conflicting voices.
"Not a soul."
"It took one of our men—no, three!"
His sharp gaze swept over them. "Three deaths… yet some of you know nothing about it? How is that possible?"
A murmur rippled through the ranks. The inconsistencies gnawed at him. Someone was lying. But why?
He turned to one of his trusted men. "Bring me my loyal soldiers stationed here."
The response came swiftly. "They're dead, Commander."
The words struck like ice. Zechariah's jaw tightened. "How did they die?"
Again, hesitation. "The creature killed them," one soldier finally said. "And… there are rumors. The villagers whisper of its shadow lurking at night."
Zechariah's fingers curled into fists. Only his loyal men had fallen? The rest had survived to tell the tale? No one had seen the beast up close, yet they spoke of it in vivid detail?
He smelled deception.
"Then I will see for myself," he declared. "Tonight, I keep watch."
The hours crept by, the camp shrouded in an eerie stillness. Most of the soldiers had succumbed to sleep, their breathing slow, their bodies slack. Zechariah remained awake, his senses razor-sharp.
Then—a sound. Faint at first. A rustle in the distance.
A soldier stirred, peering into the darkness beyond the torches. His body stiffened. A single, shaking hand lifted in signal.
Zechariah followed his gaze.
And there it stood.
A towering figure loomed in the shadows, just beyond the reach of the firelight. It was massive, its form indistinct but undeniably powerful. A primal, bone-chilling fear settled over the camp.
For the first time, the soldiers' whispers of a monstrous beast no longer seemed like mere rumors.