Two

I had believed in witches.

However, I would never thought that I'd met someone that day.

It was two in the afternoon and sun was covered by the clouds. I had liked the scenery, the world was not relatively hot or cold. The temperature was right enough of my own desire.

Class was over for me that day and I had plodded myself towards the plaza. University had began their year and it was already two weeks that passed by since I had felt an eerily familiarity of the silhouette I saw. Until at this day had I always swung on the abyss of bewilderment of who could that be or what creature it was. My curiosity towards the supernatural had risen, and even for Carmela's continuous statements that they did not exist, I refuse to let my spiritual beliefs plummeting down.

As I freely skipped my way, a seemingly old woman approached me with a smile I was versed with. Her face had not shown any signs of crinkle due to aging as her features could make out after fashion. She was a dame of nominal fifty years, light-haired to my natural black colouring, and complected; age stilled beautifully on her face.

She spoke, revealing the lovely curves made by the bow of her lip, and the beguiling fullness of the lower. "Come, dear Seraphiel. I had known of something you don't know. Come and you shall seek what you sow."

If I was a normal person, I would have to slap myself and run away from the lady I was not acquainted with. But because of that atmosphere filled with familiar warmth, speaking my name with honor and trust, giving me enticement to let myself in indulgence. Though, I pondered quietly of what could be the reason had she known of my name. I was certain that never in my years had I spoken to her or even met. And, with just one glimpse, she already acknowledged of my presence.

Hesitant, I nodded in return.

How had I gone mad. I followed someone who was completely unknown, identity I was not even to comprehend. Her whole existence was full of mystery, and as I walked behind her, I suddenly submerged myself to pure dire. I was scared. I didn't know whether this person was truthful or just heaped with absolute perjury.

I recalled what I worn that day: a glaucous-coloured velvet tunic, strapless design in modernistic style that fully warded my bosom, and beneath, a white cloth that appeared to be made with soft linen. I strode on the way in nonchalance, disregarding the cool I felt as the hem tips of my dress flew by the whispers of the wind.

Into the dark passageway I went, in which we and the aged woman emerged, we were in a street brimmed with vastly harsh cold, a formidable ordeal that if children entered would they end up screaming away. The natural light of the sun had not given enough brilliance in our small venture. The adult female stopped in a canopy of which its ceiling was embellished in plastic, rubicund in color. Its walls were dressed in plastic with the similar red color of its roof and hung casually onto the ground like huge curtains. In front, there was an embroidered golden seal of an owl, wearing a frame of glasses, which slit in half for the cottage's opening.

She gestured me to enter in which I agreed, with a resigned reluctance of someone who was invited. In contrast to the living terror of the outside brought, the inside of the tent was comparatively darker and terrifying. On the right side laid a skull, coloured in ivory white that look old of its age; crystals from amethyst to opal tailored around it, as if they were rich jewels of someone who was born in a highest possible in nobility. I let myself took a sideway glance towards the other flank, and there I witnessed cards piled in different deck, distinctively dissimilar of their own color. The front was two distant posts of two white candles; its melted wax smeared in trail, like a red carpet of a bride.

Several scrolls and pages of scriptures written in language that was alien to me, hung in the archways of the entirety of this place. A thought swiftly crossed in my mind, assuming that those leaves were spells known to specific people.

I paused for a moment, rethinking my decision whether I should cancel and run away or remain, my exhilaration and dread both growing. My mind was afraid, yet my heart was taken by curiosity than fear.

"Come, Seraphiel. Please, have a seat." She pointed on one chair, wooden and surprisingly fine of how I expected it to be in gravely dismal.

I sat upon the sturdy lumber, seemed like instinctively sculptured by artisans. She reached for her cards, then some crystals. On her way back was her hand brought a lamp — added the brightness of amber in which its tag damped with olive oil and lit with natural fire. She put all of her items in the table, setting them up in front of me. The woman pulled one card on each deck and laid them thrice, crystals of respected red quartz, blue sapphire, and black tourmaline laid on the top.

That's the time I figured I had met a witch, perfectly skilled in using supernatural forces.

"Your dictum is correct. I, indeed, was a witch. I am in my service for 45 years." she confirmed my assumption.

Compared to films and novels, I had expected witches to be hunchbacked and teeth crooned ghastly, not this woman who had lived as one like far from the previous century. She was modern. I was a student of a course in Psychology, and even if the department included parts of Astrology, I brought my whole attention to the seer to allow her beckoning my spiritual faiths was complete.

The chalet was pregnant with silence, broken only by the kindled sounds of the lamp burning.

I decided to speak. "H-How did you know my name?" I asked profusely.

A leer from her lips replied in return. "Witches had their capabilities to know the names of their visitors, regardless of they do an introduction or not."

"So," I raised my eyebrow. "you can see the future?"

"I can see fragments of what the divine beings would let me."

"Does the government know you guys worked as vessels of wizardry? Or. . . Have you encountered someone who wailed outside just because they don't believe in you?"

"Yes to both." Her voice was low, yet it was welcoming. "But the second one, we highly discourage that."

The hairs of my skin uprooted as dank air brushed by, making me regretful that I had not worn any tabard that could potentially protect me from the cold. However, I remained composed, for I knew it was not the cold that made me shudder. It was her statement, leaving me in trepidation.

"Relax." she crooned. "I don't mean killing. Though, our methods shall dwell in secrecy. Magicians don't reveal their tricks."

I nodded.

"Pick one of these crystals and I shall read you your future." she continued.

I looked down on the items presented for me, peering at it like some falcon hunting its prey. My mind began to swim with paths that could help me in my decision, and I had chosen the center at last. Its crystal was black tourmaline. I did not like that crystal but I thought it was calling me.

The seer pushed the objects I had not selected and focused herself on the deck of the card I picked. She shuffled the cards with her delicate fingers, leading them in a dance of the ether.

One card had skipped from her hand.

Its feature was a huge hand reaching from the silvery clouds, and over a verdant, bountiful garden, offering a golden coin that seemed a pentacle. Below it was a name, littered in rich obsidian ink: Ace of Pentacles. Another card had capered down. Its image was a disrobed woman, one feet touching on a pool filled with cerulean waters and the other stood firmly on the ground. She was pouring an orange jar of water down to the pool, and another one to the land. The landscape squealed green and few flowers unearthed. The card was The Star.

As the woman sitting reverently on the adjacent side, continuously jumbled the deck, two more cards then appeared. She halted, placing the four cards in front of us. One of both that fell down was the Ten of Swords. It pictured a man faced-down, his ten swords gathered in his back. The second one was the Three of Swords. Its sharp double ends pierced through a large red heart.

Her eyes flickered in recognition. I saw a faint reaction of the seer. Perhaps she inadvertently understood the meaning behind them, and interpreted it on her mind for me to hear.

"You will have the two contradictory luck. Incredible goodness and horrendous worst." She hoisted a weary, hard sigh; as if her tongue mysteriously curled, unabling her to speak carelessly. Or for what I learnt was perturbation. "Dear Sera, you will face a frightening tribulation, in accordance to the prophecy."

I stared at her in disbelief. I was hoping for good news, a great reading of what awaited me forwards. But I did not expect a reading that piqued my fear to trickle down on every inch of my body.

"How about love, career?" I questioned.

"Two men will break your heart and prime you for greater cause. Hence, you will meet the partner of your soul." The witch answered, painfully in honesty.

My mood anchored down to the grounds. I did not wish her to continue. I had thought of witchcraft as something bizarre, peculiarly oversees what held in the future. Perhaps I had met a scheming fraud, thus, resulting me to slightly waver my beliefs. I did not want to permit her.

"Seemed you are now bypassed on your own reverie." My mouth zipped back. "Fear not, that was the end of my reading. Seraphiel..."

She spoke my name in full, familiar to the adhering familiar insult. But, my heart was flattered the way her tone caressed my name. That was indeed fluttering, however, I was faltering to listen more of her foolish sentences. I eyed her with pure skepticism, dubious.

"Yes?"

"Take care on your course, or you'll hurt those who you love."

I paid her in obvious haste, adamant of getting out of what it looked like prison. My feet treaded on its way back to our apartment. I felt my head creasing in perplexity. I did not want to believe that who was called a seer. But why was it that I felt something a huge dispute of what I wanted to feel? I was feeling ambivalent.

A hiss swam out from my mouth.

∘₊✧۩۞۩۞۩✧₊∘

My fingers fiddled unconsciously on the air as I laid on Angelo's bed. He, on the other hand, was sitting in his chair facing the wooden study table. His glasses, which were not accompanied with lenses, held in the croon of his nose. A thick book unfurled on the center as his eyes glued on it.

As soon as I stepped my foot inside the house had I discovered that the rest of the ladies went on the mall for shopping. I sent them a text message containing my strife against their act. They had not dare to tell me where had they gone, but I was not entirely bothered of that. It was on the fact that they did not invited me to go along.

I threw an upheaval upon the arrival of Angelo. Regardless of the difference of our sexes, I was assured he would not dawdle himself on me, resulting in a disgusting sin. My eyes had just seen him as someone who considerably my male best friend, and, I knew that he saw me in that as well.

Angelo was three months behind my birth, in which made him the second eldest of our circle. He was neutral and saner among the rest of us. From Academics to Supernatural had I could relate with. He was smart in both brain and spirit, nonetheless, unwavering to stand in the ground as himself. Similarly, he had not really shown his interest to the supernatural when Carmela was around. As someone referred to as an occult, he oppressed himself and only communicate with me in terms we both comprehend.

Unexpectedly, I had not argued with him. Or at least for the things that were simple; and, his downtrodden, cowardice behavior. I did, when he wronged me for his worry and assumption that the only way for the university's admission was to advance. Obviously, he was stood corrected when we were called out. I was embarrassed that I believed in a thing that had baseless announcements. Nevertheless, time had healed my resentment towards him. And therefore led myself to mend our friendship.

"Long." A word rolled out from my tongue, calling him. That was my nickname to the latter and I was the only one he had let me to name him as such. "Long..." I called once more, now my voice trailing like wheat in the air.

"Hmm?" He answered a hum, not bothering to poke his gaze onto me. He was heedful on the words written on the pages, eyes punctured in every curves of the letters.

I continued. "Love you~" I purred, grinning.

My words were playful and held no attached strings. That's when I had finally caught the totality of his attention, flinging his head across my direction. His eyebrows knitted as he gaped with me. He might be curious.

Angelo spoke. "Alright," he closed his book. "now you caught my attention, what is it? What's bothering you?"

I sat upright and recoiled my legs. My body faced him as my fingers still restlessly fidgeting. "Uhm... I was cornered by a witch today." I lied.

I was not entirely cornered, for I was the one who agreed to come in the end. However, I figured it would be best to put it that way.

His bored eyes changed, morphing into surprise. The sockets widened as he poked me a glare, owl-eyed. "What? Really? Where? How was the reading?"

As I had told, he was much fascinated in things which cannot be interpreted by Human Coincidences. Than being worried of my situation earlier, he was rather thrilled of hearing what had gone off in that average canopy.

My shoulders shrugged casually. "I... I was told to choose a crystal and she shall read my fate. But I could not believe her. Do you believe that I would meet good and bad luck in the future and I would be unsuccessful in love? That I would be broken, like I would be a sort of dolls played for entertainment to people, and to love someone who was so cruelly ignorant to deal of my feelings?"

He looked at me blankly before he swung his head down, fingers supporting his chin. I knew he was thinking and I was eager to know what it was. My lips puckered in agitation, waiting for his response.

"Well, the world revolves around good and bad. So, it was not a surprise for you to both receive the two. Things held no meaning unless there are value, reasoning, and upbringing. If it was fated for you to experience the Yin and Yang, two symbolisms that signified the light and dark, then it should be it." The male replied.

"But Long..." I sighed. "I was expecting to have great luck in terms of career, love, and spiritual paths! I knew it! She must be a fraud."

Angelo returned a shrugged as he leaned his back on the seat. "Maybe. But hey... Can I tell you something?"

"Sure! What is it?" My annoyance was as the same speed as the lioness' run when it turned to excitement.

Shy, he answered me a sly sneer. "Here." He scrolled down on his phone and clutched it in front, allowing me to see a picture with a woman I was not accustomed. "...Is she cute?"

I narrowed my eyes. I had known Angelo for years. He might be different to people I had encountered, it was evident enough for my mind to surface a realization. He had an admiration to the lady on his phone. It was a picture, similarly close-up and might be taken by him when they were sitting in opposite. His ears would turn red, and had I not forgotten his perpetual topic when he had desired somebody.

A smirk crept out from my lips. "You are in love!"

He quickly turned off his phone and thrusted it in the side. "No, no. I was just inspired of the song I was listening and she reminded me of that. Her face... it would always appear in my mind when I hear the song."

Great cover up, my friend. I muttered behind the back of my mind.

It was not the first he had done covering his true feelings of love. Might be he was confused in the beginning and then later realized it when a situation warranted him. This was the third time he had denied. And even if it was in that firstly, in the end would he end up head over heels towards a woman. Unfortunately, how much a gentleman he was, his love and passion was returned with rejection. The circle pitied him and wished for greater things.

"Sure..." I answered with a hint of mischief in my voice.

Another day had passed by.

I was on the school grounds where I was sitting individually in one table. It was made in concrete and little pebbles, then smoothen by transparent paint. The one I chose was serendipitously shaded under the shadow of the huge narra tree.

I had ignored every shrieking voices of people chatting, chattering murmurs that bottled gossips, and careless loud tones of group practicing debating. One professor of my course required us to submit a paper containing all of the answers. Had I went onto my memory, remembering Carmela's request of answering the questions together. However, I refused wholeheartedly. I wanted to do this on my own. We were on the same goal, and I couldn't permit myself to go behind. I would work harder, see if my risks could indeed reap great rewards in the last.

The windy aura of the environment lingered around me. Despite of all the disturbances, I quite enjoyed their company. Although, nobody dared to sit beside me. I presumably concluded that it might because they were on their groups. Or was my face penetrated with scare when I was writing. Nonetheless, I had not paid any notice of the probable reasons.

It was nearly three in the afternoon and the due time was also getting thinner of the time. I had written one last sentence on my paper before I packed all of my things. Upon the midst of processing my belongings, the corners of my eyes caught a figure.

I raised my gaze and saw Ferros.

My jaw clenched in vivid irate. Ferros was once our friend. My circle had met him since they were children, and Angelo who was once his best friend known him since infancy. But as time went by, situations made a drastic turn when I faced him. Stupidity had ruled inside me, I was smitten in love with him. There were ways I formulated to befriend him and I was successful on my endeavors. However, the intensity of my love was not reciprocated. Even for his bisexual character, he had not favoured me as someone who could be with him. Instead, he yearned for full friendship from me.

I was hurt, of humiliating course. But our connection was the catalyst to the break of our circle's friendship. When he was gone, peace was brought upon us. Yet, my heart could not still forgive, for was I not only unloved, he had severed the ties we had as friends — it was not just mine but him and Angelo's as well. He had the pride, and Angelo was a caring brother to me. Their immature, manipulative side had transpired within, which strongly seized like electrocution.

I felt my hand scorched in turmoil. I was mad, infuriated even. The moment I would see his face would I remember how much pathetic I was. How did I let myself fallen into someone like him? Him who had loved men over women. It wasn't truly his fault, but mine as well. I made advances on him who had no interest, and that I could not move on from the pain. My heart was seemingly marred with huge chains, imprisoning my heart and in wrong turn would it crush to ashes. The ghosts of the past had haunted me, pulling myself down as if my feet were tied with large boulder that sunk me, forgetting the beacon of light was like.

His brown eyes met mine.

I walked away. I did not allow myself to weep.

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