The Archmistress

A silhouette appeared hovering above a ship. The ship stilled itself in open water, with no light except a faint green orb circulating a lower cabin. The Sage's Wand. Imbued with infinite power, it has free will to pick its own master and often lent itself to the reigning Archmistress of the Red Witches. Tina thought that its green color betrays (?) the Red Witches name, but the wand itself was singularly responsible for expelling Lord Ghael for a thousand years. But it's the third time she's summoned in haste to Emily. Not because of politics or the rebel queen Meredith, but because of Lord Ghael.

Tina flew just outside the ship's cabin window. She saw her master's green orbs clearer now. There were five of them circulating in a regular pattern. She smelled faint cider and wooden incense burning in the room, a second person appeared from her blind spot and began pleading, "There's no time. You chose this moment to embolden the witches' standing in the world. Ghael himself will decide your fate." Before answering, the archmistress raises a hand. On instinct, Tina covered her face as the cabin windows rattled and broke. She was never photogenic but she hated scars. They made her master look like a battered elderly high on drugs. "You can open your eyes, Tina." Emily spoke with a raspy voice. The glass shards floated in the air, each sharpened as though the wand spoke with violence. Tina began casting her spell, but unlike her master, she had to use her voice to cast it "Thuim O' Pia". A second, level platform materialized just outside the cabin. An insulated magic box, capable of absorbing voice and preventing whispers. Although their ship was on an empty and lifeless open sea, Lord Ghael's plots and plans required discretion. Nonetheless, she stood proudly on her platform, second in rank to her master.

"Is it true, that he's free and unwounded?"

"Only just, Tina. He looks to be counting treasures and biding his time. Per tradition, he always relinquishes direct control over his Visitors. None of his spawns are attacking civilians in a concentrated pattern."

The second man walked to the window. He had his eyes completely covered in blindfold, yet he tilted his head towards Tina. He frowned to himself and said, "Emily, you mustn't let arrogance blind you. Half a decade of conducting death rituals and sending souls my way, and yet you still underestimate your nemesis." Emily cast aside her small bonny hat and merely shrugs. Finally the man turned around to face her. This time, Tina had a good look at his rear. He wore a cape with a dead mummified eagle woven onto it. The spirit-wanderer. Tina learned early in her life that this man's job was to wonder the dead sea for wandering souls. Unnatural deaths from dying in a crumbling building to being murdered by visitors and humans, were all taken by him for their eventual return to the origin of life.

"There's death in this world. A tyrant rules over the central (name of Arbil's region) and her two sisters are too distant and aloof to care about what's happening. The lofty palaces and succulent feasts has made them completely immovable. They dwindle their responsibilities just as you are shirking your own!"

Emily sent two of the green orbs to Tina, as if to make her more visible to the conversation. "Ghael will not seek human life. It's yours per your reason for existence. He only seeks treasures and human sin. If he picks another one to evolve he'll just..." Before Emily could continue, the spirit-wanderer fisted the wall, this time sending the glass shards flying and the wooden splinters thrown onto the platform that Tina stood on. Half of the cabin was blown off, but none of the sharp glass shards reached Tina. Well, at least it was a calculative magical spell, Tina thought to herself. "He is not dumb. What would you feel if you were defeated and sent a thousand years into the void. He will see potency and treasures not in inanimate things but within us. He'll see what you and I are."

Tina begun moving her lips. This time, both Emily and the man stood still, as if waiting for her. "Death is a particularly difficult topic to understand. None understood the concept of pain so thoroughly that even philosophers shudder from researching it. even Queens avoid thinking about it. Humanity understands little of it, there's no reason that Ghael will begin a mass-abduction of humans because he will likely understand little of it." Emily smiled proudly. She had raised Tina well and her promotion to Second Witch was well worth her insight. Emily raised both of her hands and suddenly the green orbs rose high in Tina's magical box, casting a wide light over the entire sea. With a large comical smile, she jokes, "there, listen to the wielder of the Traveler's wand. She traveled a great many places and found nothing that speaks of humanity's newfound interest in death. But if this really bothers you, I'll assign some of my junior witches to observe kidnapping acts, particularly in the poorest of all human slums, the Wind district (same district as the red sabres meeting)."

"A poor extension of your good will. Ghael will decide your fate. I need someone better"

Emily simply replied nonchalantly, "I'm sure he will. But it's not a question of where, but a question of when. Until he crosses my plans, I need Meredith to ascend so we can take our rightful place. And, perhaps, I may ease your worries by appointing the Third Witch to directly counter his plans."

(Unfinished. Add more)