SprylliNES IV: The Eternal Myth

Azure crystals lined the walls. Everywhere you looked was a distorted reflection of yourself, grinning back at you. Here, deep within the palace at the center of the city, was where Endas the Witch had made her lair.

Progressing through the labyrinth of crystals was a heroic feat in itself. Even those who made the trip before could get lost in the neverending labyrinth for hours, perhaps even days at a time. Yet Endas and some of her closest servants could clear it within minutes. Many suspected that the Frozen Queen had cast a secret enchantment upon the labyrinth.

He did not know how much time he had spent in these labyrinth. One easily lost sense of such things while inside it. He dropped a small pebble and went to the south, then curved east.

He saw the same pebble on the ground, and sighed. It was just as he suspected. He was utterly, utterly lost out here.

He suddenly heard footsteps behind him. He whirled around and sawn an ancient ghost. A split second later he realized it was the Undying Queen, the Endless Witch. "You were late, so I came to greet you by myself," she said.

"My queen," he mumbled. "The people wishes your opinion on how to deal with the demon threat..."

"The demon does not particularly concern me," the Queen said.

"But it does concern the city," the man said.

The Queen let out a laugh. "And the reason for you seeing me is..."

The man gulped. "You are a witch. You must know how to deal with such things."

The Queen frowned. "Look into the wall and tell me what you see of me."

He did so, and discovered that the Queen was not reflected on the wall. Rather, there was a reflection of a dark haired young woman, more a being of fire than the being of ice that the queen was. He stood there agape as the reflection placed her arms around his reflection. "That is what I truly am," she said. "Tell me, do I look beautiful?"

"Yes,"

The reflection immediately withdrew. She turned her head so that it no longer faced him. "I will assist you with the demon, but the other demons will want a price. Are you willing to pay that price?"

"What kind of price?"

"Find me," she said. The reflection slipped a knife into his pocket. "A pair who has grown close, and seperate them."

"There is none of my own design. You called me for your own reasons and I found myself a guest to bring along. This man shows us both that there are more terrible things than our squabbles." With Midnas's help, Pollix set Quence in a somewhat comfortable position, though the broken man took no notice. "The beast stands outside these gates, and I've heard tell of a couple of fools with death wishes and pride have gone out to meet it. Pardon my haste, but what are the terms of this truce?"

"The fighting ends," Midnas said simply. "I agree with you when you say that there are more terrible things than our endless feud." Midnas knelt down and gently layed his mailed hand on Quence's shoulder. It was meant as a gesture of comfort, albeit unnoticed by the withered man.

"Firstly, we purge this demon from our city," Midnas said. "After we defeat the monster," If we defeat the monster, Midnas thought privately, "We will sit down and make our peace in whatever way we can."

Midnas then rose to his feet and held out his hand. "Do we have an accord?"

Pollix shook Midnas's hand. "Aye, indeed we do." Pollix then hefted up Scholar's Grievance. "So, how are we to rid ourselves of this beast, this devil who stands at the gates of our Lord-Protector's city?" Pollix looked down to see Quence convulsing as if something were using him as a rag doll. Quence flailed back and forth, wailing and gnashing his teeth. At last, he curled up and was still for a moment. That whole event sent shivers along Pollix's spine. At last, Quence spoke.

"The bones! The bones whisper! Can you nae hear the things they whisper? Their quiet screams and whispered shouts? They call to me!" Quence convulsed again for a moment. "They call to me, and I can nae do anything to stop their voices. Death cries and mortal wounds, laments of lost loves and family. I can here Pederic's voice... Can't anyone hear them? Midnas, do you hear you namesakes voice? Pollix, do you not hear the name they chant? Incessant, above all their whispers! Bosk... Bosk... Bosk... Why did I look upon its face? WHYYYY!?!?!?!" At that, Quence fell still and was silent.

"Midnas, quick! Is the man dead?"

Echlas was pushing his mare as she gallopped across the grey hills.
Beyond the city, beyond the beast, into the east.

Soon, Echlas reached the counterforts of the Iron Mountains.
The tamer of Beasts unmounted, and whistled and sung. He sang a song like that of the birds and, sure enough, soon enough, a great eagle came flying down from the peaks.

"What do you want, Tamer of Beasts?" sang the eagle in the language of the birds.
"I need your help, o Rider of Winds. Take this silken cord, if you will oblige me, and tie it around the loftiest peak. Turn three times around the peak, and when the cord is fastened hard, fly with it up to the city of Gritchen. There, the one who waits will take it from you, and you will be released from your oaths."
"I shall do as you wish, Tamer of Beasts." and the eagle flew upwards, the silk cord in his beak.

Echlas mounted again his faithful mare, and rode northwards.
Soon, Echlas reached the wooded rolling hills that lie at the north of Pog.
The tamer of Beasts unmounted, and chittered and howled. He howled as the monkeys of the forests and, sure enough, soon enough, a monkey came swinging down from the canopy, swaying gently as he held to the branch by his long tail.

"What do you want, Tamer of Beasts?" howled the monkey in his simian language.
"I need your help, o Runner in the Leaves. Take this silken cord, if you will oblige me, and tie it around the strongest and oldest trunk of the forest. Turn three times around the tree, and when the cord is fastened hard, run with it up to Lerone. There, the one who waits will take it from you, and you will be released from your oaths."
"I shall do as you wish, Tamer of Beasts." and the monkey ran upwards, the silk cord in his hand.

Echlas mounted again his faithful mare, and rode westwards.
Soon, Echlas reached the wastes scorched by the setting sun.
The tamer of Beasts unmounted, and whistled in such a high pitched tone that men cannot hear it, and sung in such a high pitched tone that women cannot hear it. And, sure enough, soon enough, a ground squirrel came running from a hole in the desert.

"What do you want, Tamer of Beasts?" said the squirrel in his high pitched tone that only Echlas could hear.
"I need your help, o Desert Roamer. Take this silken cord, if you will oblige me, and tie it in the deepest cave of the wastes. Tie it down there, turn three times around all the tunnels, and when the cord is fastened hard, run with it up to the city of Gritchen. There, the one who waits will take it from you, and you will be released from your oaths."
"I shall do as you wish, Tamer of Beasts." and the ground squirrel raced downwards, silken cord in his small paws.

Echlas mounted again his faithful mare, and rode southwards.
Soon, Echlas reached the first village of the tribe of Nopog.
The tamer of Beasts unmounted, and spoke and called. And, sure enough, soon enough, a man and a woman came from the nearest house.

"What do you want, Tamer of Beasts?" asked the man in the language of Pog.
"I need your help, o Man and Woman. Take this silken cord, if you will oblige me, I nede to tie it to the strongest thing I can find hereabout so I can tie the monster that threatens Lerone with it."
"I don't know where you could tie it then, our houses are not as strong as the stones of Lerone. Our riches lie in our hearts, not in stones, tools or arms."
"Really, then what is it that you have which is the strongest?"
"My love for my husband, laughed the woman."
"Then so be it, said Echlas, smiling. Let me tie him to you with this silken cord."
As a joke, Echlas did what he said. The pair let themselves be tied.
"Do you think we could hold your cord from here, tied like that?"
"Sure you can", answered the Beast Tamer, and he no longer smiled.
He took a small phial from one of his pockets, and sighed deeply.
"I am so sorry", said he.

As he drew the other item from his pocket, a tear dropped from Echlas's eye. With a swift wipe of the knife, he cut the woman's throat open. The man looked at him, and started crying.
"What did you do?"
Echlas mingled his tears and his wife's blood into the phial, and backed.
"I did what I had to."

Echlas ran away, mounted again his faithful mare as the men from the south came out of their huts and ran after him, sticks, spears and bows in hand.
He rode faster than them, and pushed his mount forwards, but an arrow hit him in the shoulder.
"I need your help, o Faithful Mare. Take this phial, if you will oblige me, and bring it back to the Witch in Lerone, that the cords may be strengthened by her wicked powers."
"I shall do as you wish, Tamer of Beasts." answered the mare as Echlas fell from her back.

A shadowy figure sat in front of a strange contraption. It kept on turning it and turning it, and a small string of pure red color flowed out of it. The witch stood over the whole process in her throne, looking at the shadowy figure with childlike glee. She began to hum a little song...

"On the first night, gouge those chosen by the key and kill.

On the second night, tear apart those who have grown close and kill.

For the red of a lover's blood is the most beautiful thing in the world,

and a tear from the living one is as a pearl is to me.

And these two I give it up for you,

just as the parents of Lerone give their firstborne son to me.

Ah love, how heartbreaking it is.

Surely it is the finest sacrifice in the world.

And for these fine sacrifices, I ask for your own help.

For I have broken apart an unbreakable bond,

I ask you to forge an unbreakable bond upon these strings.

And as love lasts until death do them apart,

never allow the strings to break until I draw my last breath."

The machine stopped, and the long red string fell onto the floor softly. The shadowy figure rose and began to walk towards Endas. It was stopped by an invisible barrier around the machine.

Endas waved her hands. "I free you of your bonds, Caacrinolas. Go, leave Lerone and haunt the surrounding lands. Let chaos and oblivion and deception follow your wake," the shadow turned into a cloud of bats and flew out of a nearby window, screeching away through the night. Endas the Witch picked up a long long pile of string from the ground. The Beast Tamer had done his task satisfactorily.

Into the darkness he flew free for the first time in hundreds of years, below him lay a city of thousands of souls to destroy but he could not land to bring chaos and destruction among them a powerful blanket of sorcery lay upon the city. It was like offal in his mouth the taste of the pitiful humans down there, not suffering enough.

Deep magics were laid into the very stones of this accursed city it was a bane to the devil and all his servants. Away he flew into the darkness he would find victims here tonight it had been so long, he couldnt wait to feel the despair of those who had lost all.

The deceiver; blacker than night he stood a shadow deeper than the shadows, his monstrous wings folded at his back. A village of sleeping men lay before him and even now they were beginning to feel it, darkness creeping into their dreams nightmares real before them rending their flesh. The monster under the bed crept out stirring a child from sleep, the terror began to spread quickly.

"Daddy! There is a monster under my bed!" scream the children.

"Oh it is nothing sweet ling, look I will check." But what delicious horror, the sustaining fear when the blackness under the bed looks back at you8230;.

"TO ARMS! TO ARMS! THERE IS A DEMON AMONG US!" went up the hue n cry

In pairs they went with swords in hands, into the darkness fevered minds telling them to protect their town. A scream in the darkness, a man turned to see a demon looming over him, he swung with his sword and the demon vanished, his neighbor fell dead slain by his slash. Across the town the madness swept some men were cut down by their neighbors and brothers thinking they were under attack by a winged black demon. On the roof of the tavern he stood shadowy cloak blowing in the wind, watching the madness, some men were drug into the street accused of murder. Their friends and neighbors cut them down coldly till only one man stood drenched in blood in the middle of the square.

Caacrinolas leapt down from the roof, the ground trembled as his cloven hooves struck the earth and the survivor lost his feet and lay shaking in the gore. It felt good to stand in a pool of blood once again look down at a broken man and know that soon he would see the color of his insides. So many long years of imprisonment his anger flamed around him, black fire began to consume the tavern. Soon roaring leaping from home to home darkness consumed all around.

The feel of the soft human neck under his clawed and hard fingers reminded him of the ancient days when humans lived only to die before he and his kin. He lifted the last man high into the air raising to his full height the spiked points of his towering horns were eleven feet in the air. The man gasped for air his soul pleading for mercy, for release, for death, for anything to take him from the grip of the terrible demon holding him.

His monstrous fist closed decimating the neck and spine of the man his body falling and his head landing a moment later as Caacrinolas opened his hand and stood basking in the destruction. For fifteen centuries he had been trapped in all those long years his hatred of men had grown immeasurable he had dreamed always of the screams of the dying and the blood on his hands. This was what a demon was meant for not for shadowy deals it was unjust a crime against his nature to have been locked away so long.

Vengeance would be terrible soon All men would tremble at the name of Caacrinolas, the deceiver demon of oblivion.

Midnas felt for the pulse of the man's heart.

"No," Midnas said. "The devil lacks the mercy to give this man a quick death."

Before Midnas could continue, the door to the hall burst open. Standing there was a lone villager, his eyes bloodshot and sunken, with a face paler than death.

"What is it?" Midnas demanded of the villager.

The man trembled violently, stepping into the dancing flames of the candles. The man was splashed with blood, and his right arm was nothing more than a gorey stump.

"By my father, what has become of you?" Midnas said in exasperation.

The villager looked into his eyes with a manic expression. Midnas blinked sudden;y as light flashed across his eyes. The light was reflected off of a carving knife clutched in the villager's right hand.

The man only whispered one word. "Demon..."

Suddenly, the villager screamed like a banshee and charged at him brandishing the knife. Thinking quickly, Midnas charged in front of Pollix, tore his axe out, and deflected the knife with a fierce blow. Midnas winced as the knife gashed his face, splashing blood over his face. The villager drew back for another fierce stab, but Midnas buried the axe in his skull. The villager stood there, momentarily stunned on his feet, then fell to the ground gracefully.

Midnas drew in great gasping breaths, wiping blood from his eyes. He ran two fingers across the cut left by the knife. Crouching down, he pulled the axe out of the man's skull. "I didn't think I would be needing this," he said breathlessly, replacing the axe on his belt. "It appears I was mistaken..."

The beast bellowed furiously at Endas, and began to charge. Endas smiled, and broke a single seal upon many parchments that she carried with her. Immediately, a crimson cord shot out from the distance and bound the beast's right arm.

The beast bellowed in fury and it struggled against the cord that bound it but the cord did not break and the beast could not lift the mountain that the cord had been tied to.

The beast raised its left paw, large enough to crush Endas under it like a child steps on an ant. But Endas broke yet another seal, and yet another crimson cord shot out of the distance and bound itself to the left arm of the beast. The beast flailed around, and the forest shook as if an earthquake had struck it. But the tree was planted in the time that even Endas could only barely remember, and did not break, and neither did the crimson cord.

The beast still did not give up, and it leaned towards Endas as if to consume her. And just as the beast opened its mouth, Endas broke yet another seal. A third crimson cord shot out of the distance and tied itself around the neck of the beast. The beast yelped in pain as it found itself choking on the unbreakable crimson cord of Endas's creation. It fell behind on the floor, unable to move at all.

"Hush, young one," Endas said as it approached the beast. "If you dare to strike me once more, I shall seperate your head from your body, and mount it upon the walls of the city as a warning to all those like you, and all those unlike you."

And the beast grew still. Endas twirled her hands, just as a puppeteer may, and the cords began to lift the beast back up. When it stood on all fours as it had done so before, Endas smiled. "I may have use for you yet," she said, and she flicked her hands once more. Immediately, the cords began to tug the yelping beast away from the city of Lerone. To where, only Endas knows. Perhaps she sent the beast away to seal it in a hidden place that only she knows of. Perhaps she had sent it away to do a dark bidding for her.

I'm gonna have to quit this nes

sorry, i just don't have the time for it.

Midnas dashed out into the streets, his face soaked in blood, prepared to fight more maddened villagers. He was surprised, however, to find that the streets were deserted of life. He paused to scent the air. It reeked of bloodshed. no doubt that whatever madness had overcome the villagers was the same of the man with the carving knife. Had the villagers turned on each other in their madness and slaughtered themselves? The possibility wasn't far-fetched.

Midnas turned the corner to find a street covered with fresh corpses. Midnas stepped around them and the crows that had descended upon the newly dead to gorge themselves on the organs of the dead. The city was deadly silent, except for the cawing of the crows descending on the feast of flesh. Trying to navigate around bodies, he heard a noise around the street corner. Drawing his axe, he held it before him, ready to split another skull if need be. Taking a deep breath, he spun around the street to face the threat. The first thing he saw was the long mane of white hair...

"Ednas!" Midnas yelled furiously, still holding the axe. Midnas had no use for witchcraft, and had never trusted those skilled in the arcane arts. Given her impressive powers, the undying witch was no exception. "What is the meaning of this travesty?"

He stood in the shadows breathing in deep the beautiful smell of blood and the every growing sickly sweet scent of death and decay. The last man had cowered in the shadows covered in blood shaking and raving mad for unknown hours before the stranger had appeared. Dried blood drenched everything he smiled a terrible smile and watched the last of the villagers die oh what beauty to see man slay man. Nothing lived except for the stranger, the stranger and the crows.

This one was strong indeed he would not be fooled by silly illusions like a common man, the huge axe dripping the blood and brains of the man as he tore it from his skull. His anger was delicious Caacrinolas could taste is feel it coming from him, and as it receded there like an electric jolt a hint of fear. Banished as quickly as it had come the large man sheathed his blade and burst from the hall with a battle cry. He drew up short when he saw the extent of the massacre the disgust clear in his eyes this too the demon fed on watching this man as he turned over a blood soaked body with his boot.

“What madness is this?” the man said startling a group of feasting crows from a nearby body. Content to watch this mortal for the moment the deep shadow laid on the roof of the hall no living eyes could see what stood there, horror beyond the imaginings of men. Another was coming now he could feel her; the power that she commanded was enough for the demon to sense her coming from a long distance, the witch. His anger flared she had released him this gave her power over him power to keep him from her city, to be freed by the hand of a human a lowly witch. He had danced with flames of pure evil in the lakes of hell, they had tortured human souls laying their deepest fears to bear and skewering them for all to see; it used to make us laugh.

Now even the feeble senses of the mortal could detect her presence he spun and sprinted to the corner turning the corner with his massive axe in hand. Again the impressive killing tool was denied its thirst for blood, he could not assault the witch and he knew it. But he wanted to “Ednas!” he shouted. Caacrinolas felt the man’s desire to cut the witch down where it stood he was rightfully distrustful of her, his distaste was palpable.

He stowed his weapon and said "What is the meaning of this travesty?"

“Midnas” she said in a deceptively sweet voice. “What makes you think I had Anything to do with this horror?” she indicated the nearest corpse a grisly wound had nearly severed the poor man’s neck and a gang of crows was feasting on the ragged flesh.

He began to respond and his voice was drowned out by a cacophony of screaming, cawing, and the flapping of wings. Thousands of crows screamed in protest and took flight the Witch and Midnas covered their faces as the wave of crows passed around them, the crows fled the town. The screeching continued as thousands of ravens screaming, fighting, and feasting on corpses settled on the town the roofs were covered and the corpses looked as if they were crawling with maggots or ants as they were devoured. His old friends the larger birds stronger blacker they had driven out the crows and now engulfed the town in a rush of black wings. As the birds settled and the noise died down the man, called Midnas, looked accusingly at the Witch again indicating the birds.

“This looks like Black Sorcery to me” Midnas said shortly.

All around them, feasting on flesh the Ravens listened, Caacrinolas listened to the words of the humans.

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted — nevermore!

Megaman: that's a pity. I'm completely fine with you staying even if you aren't writing as many stories as other people.

Freemanuncg (and everyone else): You shouldn't make other characters do things in your stories. Only Seon can make Endas speak. Your story is canonical and don't change it now, but please don't do that again.

I'll post an update within the next few days. The stories are all great; keep them up.

New players are still extremely welcome for all characters!

Alrighty, i didnt know. i mean i did rather think i should not do much of them hence description from My perspective of the actions Midnas takes in his own story i just used the one line she said to him as a method for Caacrinolas to learn midnas's name.

Nothing prevents players form coordinating (PMs...) and writing together a part of dialogue.

^Yes, that, and Midnas and Pollix have managed to have quite a good dialogue.

Thank you.

Update Two

So, my Prince, that was how the beast, still nameless, was charmed and entrapped by Endas the Witch and by the unmatched heroes of Lerone and sent away to the furthest lands. No-one knew then where it went. They said it would return some day. Perhaps I shall come to that bit one of these nights as we sit up on this tower, towering over the valley and remembering the stories of our ancestors.

But now let us move on. The clans of Cephas and Midnas lived in peace from now on, and they came closer and closer together. They built a shrine for those among the people who died seeing the lion, and they ornamented it with their wealth in gold and marble. They soon became known as the chief priests of the city, as the Shrine of Those who Saw, and the people all hailed them as the upholders of righteousness and morality in a city besieged by fear as the hair of the dread Queen grew longer and whiter. Rumours grew around the city that the hair was so white that one day it would become as white as the Beast's fur had been golden and could derange the men who saw it with a mere glimpse. Demons flew through the city's air and now there were plagues and now there were famines and now the wonderful edifices of the city collapsed into rubble, magnificent with gold and glowing with the gems of the once-unparalleled spired turrets.

Some say that the plagues and famine were the Queen and her Demons, but others say that the Queen was ever-merciful for the length of her long reign, while the plagues and famine were demons following in the wake of the men from the far west. They were led by a wonderful being, with two heads of a man and a woman, and he rode on a dragon with the head of an ox. They called his followers the Men of the Barley (the Gemorans), for they grew the grain called "barley" where they came from, and brewed an intoxicating drink from it. They settled in the hills and their men spread throughout the plain to the west and the south of Lerone, so lately ravaged by the beast, and they carried off the food from those fields to their city. They grew and prospered, and they wore iron mail coats worked from the metal of the earth from the western hills. No-one dared resist these formidable men, and so Lerone's population began to decline from hunger and diseases from the West, and its money was spent on buying iron implements from the Gemorans, those men inured with intoxicated rituals and endless in their speech.

Thus did the Gemorans make life in Lerone worse for all the people and they called on their priests of the two greater clans to deal with the problem. All the clans begged their own leaders to deal with the issues facing the city.

But the Gemorans, those men inured with intoxicated rituals and endless in their speech, were not the only people who it pleased the Devil to send into the lands around your pleasant lake, O Prince, at that time. On the east, in the sparsely populated lands of that noble Lord Frast the Goat-Tamer, descendant of many Frasts before him, there came an army of the Golden-Armoured who Spoke in Riddles
(the Mopolachesthents) who laid waste to his mountain pastures and ate many of his goats, and drove many of his men to sail away in boats to seek fish in the deep sea, while the rest implored their leader to join with them in escape from the fearsome Mopolachesthents on their well-varnished fishing vessels.

Thus Lerone saw the other men of the world, and truly the spired turrets did tremble, truly the turrets did shake, and truly no man felt so blessed and free of the Devil in any day after that year. A single generation had passed since the Beast, and eight since the founding of the city.

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Seon is Endas the Witch, the Undying Queen
Anonymoose is Frast, descendant of Frast Over-the-Lake, still the only chieftain outside the city
Quisani is Lerquinas the Bold, son of Pollix the Brave, descendant of Cephas the Wildman
electric926 is Ariel the Pious, nephew of Midnas Ax-Lord the Younger, descendant of Midnas Ax-Lord
LDiCesare is Prillitas the the Far-shooting, the now aged younger brother of Echlas the Tamer of Beasts, descendant of Dontas Horsehammer
freemanuncg is Caacrinolas, a spirit released by Endas the Witch (if he's still alive) or his offspring (if he isn't).

Trilidys the Mighty, son of Micil, son of Pederic, descendant of Micil the Brave, is free, and is a fairly normal clan which anyone can characterise however they want.
The Hillmen remain disunited, disorganised, and sometimes criminal until someone chooses to reunite them.
A player is free to assume control of the Gemorans.
A player is free to assume control of the Mopolachesthents.

Being a witch is like going down an endless letter into the bottomless depth of hell. Slip, and you fall straight down into the eternal flames.

I know. I've been there. And I have also seen so many people fall. Their screams slicing through the air as they fall past me.

But I am very careful. Overly so. And in thousands of years, I have managed to fall as close to hell as possible without actually being there.

And I have constructed a throne for myself out of glass and blood. And I reign supreme over all the mortals of the city of gold.

But it's also alone down here.

And also so boring.

After I have gained everything, there is nothing to strive for anymore.

"I will grant you a wish," I have begun to say. "Any wish at all."

"But just a single wish," and then some people say that "I want to wish for more wishes!"

So boring. All of them. In that case, I just say "Alright, you have more wishes. Bye."

It's so frustrating. I give them the power to twist the universe with a single wish, but they would rather wish for a million different small things that are probably of no consequence.

Some people ask for great wealth. So I give them a bag of coins from far-away land, which are of great wealth there, but worthless in Lerone. Is wealth such a great thing?

But then, once in dozens of years, there comes a few who is truly worthy of the time I have spent in these adventures. "I want to be a witch," a girl told me when I asked her of it.

"Oh?" I replied. "A witch? Do you wish to hop on a broomstick and fly through the stars? Do you wish to create a fireball to consume your peers? Do you wish to multiply the bread you get for dinner by two? Do you even know what being a witch is?"

And she told me. "It is obvious that a witch can do all those things. By becoming a witch, I will bring forth all the things of my dreams. And I can do that, for I am already a witch."

" You babbled it, right. That you are already a witch, huh...?
Can you assert that you are a being that can stand side by side with me, the witch of the absoluteness, who possess the title of lady?
Know your own place, you stunted and insignificant human...!" I said. She interested me. It was a quite a break from the normal boring conversation with the others. There was something in her after all...

"Yes, I am a witch," she replied calmly. "And the only thing I wish to seek from you, is your recommendation stating that you recognize me as a witch."

"Hah!" I told her. "I see, as long as you hold the title of a Witch, you believe that nobody will be able to deny that you are a witch!

But tell me, little child. A devil is a devil and a destroyer whether or not anybody chooses to recognize him as such.

Would you also not be a witch whether or not I tell you that you are or not?"

"Yes," she said. "I already realize that I am beyond the realm of humanity,From my view, I can declare that I am in the highest position among all humans.
However, I need the view from a being who is in an even higher position than mine passing sentence that the position I am in now transcends the human level."

" ......... It's possible for a human to acknowledge that one transcended the human level but, only a witch can acknowledge whether you reached the witch level, is that what you mean?"

"Yes," she replied.

"And what if I say no?" I said.

She shook her head. "You do not need to recognize me against your will, for if you do so, then I shall simply make you recognize me as I have made the humans recognize me. And not even you will be able to deny that I am a witch."

I laughed. "And what king of compendium of magic can a lowly human create? Did you say that you will show me it? Very well then, show me!"

And she did.

And she frightened me. Her compendium of magic, of course, was incomplete. But there were many things that I did not even imagine was possible. Her magic was clumsy, but it showed an infinite promise of what to become.

No, it was as if she had just opened a parasol and drifted down the distance I had steadly climbed down over the last thousand years.

"I liked it," I replied. "I, Endas, the Endless Witch, certainly recognize you as a witch."

absolutly amazing story seon!