Back story
Do you want to know how this town started? I'll gladly tell you.
Witches Brew was started by my great-great grandparents.
You know... some towns are built out of war, some out of need. This one was built out of love :
~~~*~~~
-Witch!- someone shouted as an egg flew in her direction.
She didn't feel as it shattered on her arm. Her eyes were on him. The innkeeper pulled him up by a fistful of hair. Two other men held his arms. How brave they were when they faced an unarmed man...
-The way I see it, boy you have two options - a forth man spat the words at his face. - Either you take this torch and burn the witch yourself and we let you run away to your little village or you die with her for you have been corrupted.
He didn't even hesitated for a second. His voice didn't break when he spoke: "I'm with her, 'till the end".
-Don't... - her words where cut short by a rough slap across her face.
-You fool... Are you so ready to die for a filthy wench? Very well, double the entertainment for us!
A few more man behind the innkeeper echoed his laugh. She would remember every single one of their voices and rejoice when the time come to hear them screaming for mercy.
- No! - she cried as the sword plunged to his heart. His eyes looked to hers in a last goodbye as the memories of what she would always long for flashed before her. Their first kiss, the dance under the moonlight, that time he pulled her close to protect her from the cold.
Why?
Why would they do that? His only crime was to love her. Nothing more. Love someone that was different was more dangerous than to fight a creeper with your bare hands in that land.
The man laughed, pushing his body to the ground and kicking him to the side.It was a short lived sound though for a grave silence devoured them when they looked at her, free of the ropes that had been griping her hands walking in their direction, the man that slapped her before dead at her feet.
They took a step back, she took a step forward, the grass wilting around her, trees shriveling up as if she was sucking every last drop of life from them.
-Curse you! - she shouted, kneeling, her fist pounding the earth with a fury that demanded revenge.
With a roaring noise the ground cracked swallowing three of the man in a rumble of dirt and lava.
As the others ran for their lives she whispered in their heads: " you will all perish. You'll see your houses burnt to the ground, your crops humbled and your families famished. I curse you and this land! As long as I live your children shall know no peace!".
She turned her back on them, her eyes filled with tears. And she cried... for days.
She cried while the villagers from where her love had come attacked her own and nearly destroyed the town in the name of the lost life.
She cried while the ones that survived the attack took the fight back to them.
She cried while both sides continued serving death by large fills.
She cried while the earth around her dried up, the crops turned to dust and the valley looked nothing but a pale ghostly picture of what it once was.
Her tears puddled into a lake, bubbling as they meet the lava. Green grass, luscious shrubs and tall trees made a barrier around her, keeping the rest of the world away a beacon of life where life was lost.
----
Aurora closed the book.
-And that's the legend of how the Cauldron was formed and how the war between Lastemara and Broma started. - She looked at the children in front of her, waiting for their reaction.
-Ma mom says she'll lock me up if she ever finds me going to the cauldron. She says the water there can kill a man with just one sip.
-I heard you can still hear the evil witch cry if you go near.
-My brother went there one time and when he came back he didn't spoke a word for a week!
Aurora shook her head, smiling.
-It is a very dangerous place but not because of a witch... who by the way was no more evil than the people that tried to kill her just because they did not understand her. It is dangerous because it's the only spot less than five days of journey that still has fertile soil. So, just like we go there to get it so do the warriors of Broma. It's dangerous because of men, not because of ghosts. If only we would share it instead of fighting for it both towns would be better off.
-Ma says it was the witch that killed the Bromian man to start the war.
-My father says it was the Bromian army that killed them both on their way to attack our village.
Aurora stood up and put the book away.
-Whatever the reason was, we don't even remember anymore.Still we keep at it, guided only by hate without reason and by - a loud cough behind her made her stop.
-What is this? My own daughter filling your heads with nonsense? - the mayor stood behind her, a stern look on his face. - Those Bromian are worse than demons. We will only be safe when we get rid of them.
-Or they get rid of us - Aurora looked angrily at her father.
He chuckled, pulling her into a bear hug that muffled any protests on her part.
-Ah.. child... for someone so against the war you sure have a warrior's soul.
She pushed him away. She loved the man, but boy did he made her angry when he treated her like a 5 year old.
Aurora never cared for doing things without knowing why. Since early childhood she developed a strong temper and would question everything. Maybe if she was any other child that would get her in trouble but being the mayor's only daughter gave her the leash she needed to get away with it.
That was probably what pushed her to go to the Cauldron the very first time. Someone told her she couldn't go there but no one told her why... so she went out to look for herself.
There was nothing there but fat berries that she could never find back home and beautiful animals that she never seen before.
She was 8 the first time she went there and it had been a place of hiding to her ever since.
Once or twice she had the feeling she was being watched, but she tossed the feeling aside blaming the stories everyone told about the place.
She knew very well that warriors from both towns scouted the edge of the Cauldron but no one went to the center so she was safe there, marveling at the beauty around the lava pool, stepping carefully not to fall on the lagoon right next to it.
Feeling particularly frustrated with her father that afternoon she escaped once again, her mouth watering with the promise of a juicy redberry.
------
The witch watched her from a tree.
Damn the girl!
She lacked the cold blood to dispose of her when she was but a child but now she continued to come there, eating her fruit without a care in the world!
How dare she disturb her mourning?
Was it not enough that, more times than she cared to think about, she had to get rid of greedy men trying to steal her land? When would they learn to keep away?
She thought about snapping a three branch right above the girl's head and be done with it but somehow she couldn't bring herself to do it..
Where the years making her soft?
A song filled her ears. Annoying habit of her visitor... breaking into song randomly. And why did she have to have a sweet voice?
The witch's right ear twitched, a sound of a twig snapping somewhere to the right tickling it.
Stupid girl! She would get rid of her one way or the other... Oh! Brilliant idea! She would just take her song to one of those pesky warriors ears and he would get the job done. She was singing of a Lastemarian tale and there was no way one of Broma's finest would ever let her live if he crossed her path.
She blew softly on a leaf and and the wind picked it up carrying it with Aurora's song to the outer edge of the green forest.
An unease feeling nestled in her chest and the witch decided she had enough blood spilled in front of her to stay and watch. She went to her cottage and there she would make sure the deed was done.
She threw a log in the fire and looked to the flames, seeing a young man follow the sound of Aurora's voice, his sword in his hand.
It would not be long now... she hold her breath when she saw the girl turn around and see him standing a few steps away, his vest clearly indicating what side he was on.
The witch expected the girl to scream as he lifted his sword to strike her... but his sword had not moved and Aurora was the one doing the striking with a limp branch.
She watched curious as the girl threw the branch at him not listening to his words of warning and turned around to flee only to find that the floor had somehow escaped her feet and dive quite involuntarily into the deep lagoon.
She stood up astonished as the man dropped his sword and dove right after the girl instead of watching as the weight of her wet gown dragged her down.
The witch stepped closer to the fire, mumbling an amused "my, my, my". Then she laughed. A hearty laugh. She did not remembered when was the last time she heard that sound and it startled her. Her eyes darted to the fire, hungry for something she could not quite name. Was it... hope?
------
Eric jumped without a thought. He was midair when his mind decided to remind him that the water of the Cauldron was supposed to be poisonous.. or at least boil men to death.
He was actually surprised when the warm water greeted him with nothing more armful then bubbles bursting against his skin.
His eyes looked for the girl finding her struggling to get rid of her heavy coat.
The buttons would not wield to her fingers and she was running out of air. Her eyes widened when he approached her with his dagger in his hand and she tried to push him away not ready to meet her death at the tip of the sharp blade. He held her in place as he swiftly cut the front of her coat, helping her out of it and pulling her to the surface.
They both crawled their way back to dry land.
-Are you alright, lass?- he asked worried - I tried to warn you, i said you were too close to the edge but you would not listen.
-Well, you startled me!- she managed to say, turning to him still gasping for air.
He was the one startled when she started to laugh, pointing at him.
-You lost a boot...- she blurted out - How will you explain a lost boot when you go home?
He looked down. One foot was clad in a dark leather boot, the other had just a droopy sock, halfway gone as well.
He joined her laugh, looking around to see if the boot was anywhere to be seen.
Luckily was close by and was quickly retrieved.
-We should move closer to that side. The heat from the lava will dry us up fast. - he said, reaching for her.
Many moons after she would look back to that day and realize that she was lost the moment she let him take her hand and looked into his deep green eyes.
------
The weeks flew by as the witch looked down on the couple she inadvertently brought together.
She felt her sorrow melt away as she watched them fall in love.
She had witnessed 3 generations of hate and misery... she was thirsty for the redemption those two promised.
They seemed so right for each other that the witch sometimes felt like a pawn in someone else's plan even though she was the one arranging their meeting.
The witch was pleased by how fast they decided that they didn't care where the other one was from and she was delighted to hear how they planed to live right there if there was no other way for them to be together.
She vowed to protect their love keeping away people with a powerful banishing spell, hiding them when they came in or left, erasing footprints or any signs that might give them away. They would not meet the same fate she had and as long as they were under her protection no harm would come to them. In her forest their love was safe.
But... there is always a but, what happened outside her land was outside of her power to control, something she was acutely aware of the first day Aurora did not show up for her picnic with Eric.
We'll be waiting for you!
But, does this mean your changing your RP profile Alaila?