The Pure Witches

The next morning, Max brought Zero to the common area where the other witches under the church's command often stayed while they resided within the cathedral. When Max entered the room, Zero saw several women inside who quickly got up and bowed.

"Lord bishop, we are honored to have you here today," a witch, dressed in black robes, said. "What do you ask of us?"

"I am here to introduce your new comrade." Max brought Zero forward. "Her name is Zero, please welcome her."

One witch spoke up. "Hello Zero, my name is Rachel. Come on in; we are glad to have you with us. It is always great to get a new sister and I hope that we can get along well."

"I shall be taking my leave now," Max said as he turned toward the door. "You can spend the rest of the day settling in, Zero."

Zero sat down on a couch as Max left. She was still somewhat hesitant in speaking, but suddenly someone plopped down on the couch next to her.

"Hi Zero! I'm Elaine. I know we are going to be great friends!" The woman surprised Zero with a sudden hug. "Let's all introduce ourselves. My ability is to freeze any object I touch so that it can't be moved or affected at all for a short duration of time. If you walk into a frozen object it will hurt quite a bit; my power can be a bit dangerous to others if I am not careful."

"I can make objects move around by themselves," Rachel said. "It does require me to touch them first to establish a connection, but after I can control them without contact."

The witch dressed in black spoke next. "My name is Claire. I can create fire."

The last witch was sitting to the side silently. Seeing everyone look toward her, she finally began talking. "I am Kelly. My power allows me to extend my control into things I touch and alter them."

The room fell silent, and Zero realized it was her turn to talk about her abilities. "I can absorb people by defeating them within a mental battleground, gaining their memories and skills."

"Does that mean you are actually an old man inside?" Elaine poked Zero in the chest.

"No, I am still me." Zero paused for a few seconds as she thought about what to say. "It is like I see a lot of things. I have to be careful with my ability though so I don't accidentally use it on any of you. Though I have been getting good practice with keeping it under control so it shouldn't be a problem."

"Don't worry Zero." Rachel placed her hand over Zero's shoulder. "All of our abilities are dangerous. As long as we don't act recklessly we won't have a problem."

"I've accidentally hurt people when they ran into the frozen objects I left floating around by mistake." Elaine's face flushed red. "I got lectured pretty badly after that incident."

"While I feel that your ability is off putting, I won't let it get in the way of work," Claire said. "Just do whatever you are supposed to do and I don't see a problem."

Kelly was glaring at Zero silently for some unknown reason, but said nothing.

Zero began looking around and saw several other doors around the room. "What do you all do here?"

"This is just where we rest. There are more of us, but most of them are away on missions. When we don't have an assignment, we usually just stay here in the lounge area with our fellow sisters." Rachel stood up. "Come, I'll show you around."

They walked to the side of the room and Rachel opened one of the doors. "This is a training room where we can practice our abilities over there. We are supposed to use them regularly even when we are not on missions."

Zero looked inside the room. The floor and walls were reinforced with stone and there were several wooden targets inside, alone with other objects scattered around.

Rachel walked past several other doors. "There are some more training rooms here. Sometimes there is damage from volatile abilities so we have some backups."

She stopped in front of another door and opened it. Inside were several bookshelves. "We have some books here if you ever want to read any."

Elaine snorted. "Those are all boring stuff. Not even Claire spends all day in there. We should do something more interesting, like playing tag in one of the training rooms." Elaine smiled.

"Don't mind her," Rachel said. "If you wish to read through those texts then feel free to. I myself have perused them occasionally, though I find it difficult to stay engaged."

"One needs a focused mind to properly understand what is within the books." Claire walked toward Zero. "They teach us valuable lessons on how God wishes us to serve. It is imperative that we hold ourselves to higher standards than the ordinary people."

"I will keep that in mind," Zero said. "I think I might be interested in taking a look."

Next up was a rather plain room, only holding some tables and chairs, along with some boxes of paper. Despite seeming ordinary, it appeared that the room was used quite frequently.

"This is where we usually go to write our reports about our missions," Rachel said. "We are often asked to recount what occured while we were out and provide further information about what we encountered. Don't worry if it seems intimidating, I can help you with it until you get the hang of it."

"That's alright, I think I can manage," Zero said. "I do have a question though, what sort of tasks will we be assigned to do? I was wondering how I will be expected to make use of my skills."

"You will be assigned a job based on what tasks you are most suited for," Claire said. "Some of us might travel to distant places while others might rarely leave the cathedral. When the time comes our superiors will give us instructions on what they wish for us to do. There is no need to concern yourself with that before then."

"I have had to eliminate subversive and heretical people in the past," Rachel said. "Sometimes I was alone, other times I had help from other witches like Elaine or Claire. We do our part as an instrument of the church, making sure that the people do not stray from God and bring the world to damnation."

"Yes, it is a harsh world out there." Elaine's tone turned solemn as she recalled a painful memory. "Even the slightest slip up could cause our deaths. We have to put all of our effort into our work. But when we have a chance to rest, we should cherish it."

"I understand," Zero said quietly. A few moments of silence passed.

"Well, that is enough about that," Rachel said. "I think that it is about time we demonstrate our abilities, so we can gain a better understanding of each other."

"I will need a test subject for that," Zero said. "My ability can only be used directly on another person. I should be able to request one, if they have one prepared."

"Alright," Rachel said. "In the meantime, we can show you our abilities first."

The witches gathered in the training room. The first one to go was Claire.

She stepped up to a wooden mannequin and let loose a jet of flames from her hand. The mannequin quickly turned to crisps and disintegrated, leaving only the metal stick that it had been mounted on. Then, the flame began shifting, creating various shapes as she controlled its movement. Finally, she let the flames dissipate.

After Claire walked back, Elaine went forward, plucking a strand of blonde hair from her head. She held it in front of her, letting it dangle freely. Then, she let go, but the strand of hair didn't fall. Instead, it remained fixed in the air. Elaine grabbed a wooden stick and swung it at the hair.

A loud crack filled the air. The hair remained dangling in the air, unchanged. However, the wood had cracked in two where it had struck the hair. Elaine tossed the broken wood to the side.

"Wow, that is pretty impressive." Zero walked up to gaze at the frozen strand, being careful not to touch it. "How long does this last?"

"It depends on how much magic power I put into it," Elaine said. "The longer it is the more power it takes. And larger objects are harder to freeze too."

"Hmm, that is interesting." Zero began turning toward Rachel. "So how about you."

Zero found Rachel already in the midst of action. She was juggling several balls in the air, all without actually touching them.

Then, there was a sound at the door. Max had come back, bringing someone with him. Since it was standard policy to have the witches use their ability regularly, preparations had already been made to secure a supply of subjects. The sacrifices were chosen from extremely pious individuals who were willing to give up their lives, though none of them were high ranking members of the church.

"Thank you," Zero said, bringing the man into the room as Max left. The other witches were gathered, curious to see Zero use her power. In an action that was practically routine by now, Zero entered into the mind of the woman in front of her.

The other witches watched as Zero transformed into a white streak of light and disappeared into the body of the woman which soon morphed into Zero.

"That was, not what I imagined," Elaine said. "It all happened in an instant. Did you really fight a whole battle in there?"

"Well, she did surrender after I beat her around for a bit, so it was quite quick," Zero said. "But in general no time passes in the real world."

"That is good to know," Claire said. "In a battle this can allow for an enemy to be eliminated instantly. It is good that we get better acquainted with each other's capabilities.."

"Okay then." Finally, Zero looked at Kelly. "Could you show me your ability?"

Kelly stayed silent, and did not make any move. Suddenly, a ball flew over and dropped itself on her head.

"Don't be shy now," Rachel chided. "Just give us a short demonstration."

After a few seconds, Kelly finally started walking toward a wooden mannequin. She laid her hand on it. A dull creaking began emerging from the wood, and the surface of the wood was changing somewhat, and it looked as though thin tendrils had permeated through the material. Then, as Kelly appeared to get bored with the demonstration, the mannequin shattered, bursting apart.

The broken pieces of the mannequin fell to the floor. Then, Kelly walked out of the training room silently.

"Don't mind her," Rachel said. "She isn't one to talk much."

"Hey Zero, do you want to play a little game now," Elaine asked.

"What is it?" Zero wondered what the other woman had in mind.

"We can play tag." Elaine slapped a nearby mannequin. "We chase each other and try to touch them. When that happens, the person who was caught becomes the next chaser." Elaine paused for a few seconds. "Oh, and powers are allowed."

Zero gave Elaine and unamused look. "I won't be able to use my power safely in this setting."

"Oh well." Elaine laughed sheepishly. "Let's just ignore that fact for now." She turned to the other two witches. "Do you two want to play too?"

"I have no desire to engage in this foolishness," Claire said. She turned and walked out of the room.

Rachel sighed. "I'll do it. Maybe it will be more interesting today with Zero here."

"Great! I'll start. You two have 3 seconds to get away." Elaine started counting. "3. 2. 1."

Zero began running away, weaving around the chairs and boxes that cluttered the floor in that part of the room. When she turned around, she saw that Elaine was chasing after her.

Elaine was circling around, trying to force Zero into the corner. Zero turned back, moving to get into the center of the room. However, Elaine reacted quickly, blocking off the path of escape. When Zero backed up a bit, Elaine chased her into the area with scattered objects.

Zero ran, jumping over chairs as she kept her distance from the other witch. Elaine had almost caught up a few times, but Zero had been quick enough to make an escape as Elaine didn't seem to be quite as good as moving through the obstacles as her.

Then, Zero saw Elaine step onto a chair. Zero watched in confusion, wondering what the other witch was doing. Another chair was put on top of the other chair in a configuration that could in no way be considered balanced. Yet it stayed there completely motionless. Elaine climbed onto the chairs and jumped toward Zero.

Zero's eyes widened as she saw Elaine falling toward her. She turned to run, and as she did she heard Elaine land in a pile of cushions nearby. Zero turned to the side and saw Elaine approaching quickly. There wasn't any good ways for her to get out easily.

"Got you!" Elaine's hand reached out toward Zero and slapped her on the arm.

Suddenly, Elaine vanished from Zero's sight. Zero looked around in confusion, wondering what just happened. One moment Zero had saw Elaine tag her, and the next moment there was nobody there. After looking around, she saw the missing witch, now at the other side of the room.

Zero didn't give chase immediately. Instead, she took some time to figure out what was going on. The chairs that Elaine climbed onto were on the floor. Yet, Zero couldn't recall hearing the chairs hit the ground. How had the chairs fallen without her noticing? It was as though she had missed a period of time.

Zero realized what happened. Elaine must have frozen her and taken that time to get away. Zero scowled as she turned toward the witch responsible.

Elaine grinned and waved at Zero.

Zero looked around the room. Elaine had moved far away, leaving Rachel as the one closer to Zero. She saw Rachel currently lounging on a couch while watching Zero and Elaine run around. Seeing this, Zero decided to go after Rachel.

Rachel continued to sit there, showing no sign of wanting to move. However, before Zero could reach her target, an object slid along the floor and tripped Zero. She was caught off guard by the sudden disruption to her movement, but she was able to avoid flopping onto the ground and instead turned her fall into a roll. By the time she got back on her feet, Rachel had gotten up and moved away.

Zero chased after Rachel, making sure to avoid the moving objects along the floor. Zero soon caught up, hopping onto the short box that separated them. Then, the box suddenly tilted to the side and threw Zero off.

"I wasn't doing nothing all this time, you know." Rachel said while moving away. "I spent time attuning myself to several objects to set up the field."

Zero got back up, carefully observing her surroundings. By now she had a good idea about which objects were under Rachel's control. Zero went after Rachel again, weaving through the jumble of objects.

A few times, Zero was caught off guard when Rachel brought a new object under her control and abandoned an old one. But doing so would require spending time in contact with the object, and as Zero got better at the chase, Rachel had less chances to do so.

Rachel didn't make use of her control to obstruct Zero as much as she could have though, as being more aggressive might have hurt Zero. So, after a few minutes Zero finally caught up to Rachel and tagged her before scurrying away.

Rachel turned toward Elaine, wanting to give Zero a break. As Rachel ran toward Elaine, various boxes and pieces of furniture around the room began to move to box her in. Elaine began running, but the trajectory of the objects shifted as well.

The cordon of moving objects came toward Elaine while Rachel followed quickly behind. There was a wall behind Elaine, and attempting to climb over the approaching objects would likely get her thrown off.

Then, Elaine froze one of the approaching boxes. Even under Rachel's guidance, it was unable to move because of Elaine's power. The chair next to it continued to move forward, and would have exposed a gap in the encirclement had Rachel not reacted quickly to pull it back. But Elaine froze the chair as well and stepped onto the chair and then onto the box. From there, she jumped off.

Rachel continued chasing after Elaine, and while she was not able to perfectly obstruct Elaine's movement, it was still enough of a hindrance for her to catch up. Then, the chase started anew.