40. Haydn

"You're a witch!"

Flora yelled, and he in return covered his ears trying to soften the blow.

"Geez, can you talk any louder?"

He asked sarcastically.

"He can't be a witch, that's impossible!"

I said, trying to calm Flora down.

"It can speak? And what do you mean it's impossible for me to be a witch?!"

I shook my head.

"Because you're a guy, and everyone knows witches are women!"

"No, they are not!"

"There's no women witches?!"

"What? Of course there are!"

"But you just said that weren't any!"

"No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you did!"

"No, I... what am I doing?! I'm arguing with a monster."

Well, he's an ass.

"And you're now talking to yourself like a lunatic."

<You just said that? You!>

Shut up Patty.

While him and I were debating how wrong he was, Flora had pulled out Fate Weaver and pointed it at him.

"Is that really necessary? I'm not here to hurt you."

Flora rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, right, you knew my name! That means someone hired you to kill me! Probably that guy I robbed, or that broad a sold a fake health potion to. God's above, it would be easier to pin down who hired you if I remembered their names."

"Look..."

"If you think I'll go down easily, let me alleviate you of that misconception.

One scream from me, and everyone around here will know you're a witch!"

"So?"

"So?! So, if I tell on you, they'll burn you alive."

"No, they won't."

He gestured towards the end of the alley.

"None of them care."

"You think you can trick me? This is Hexeia!"

"Look, I can tell I'm not getting anywhere with you two, and I'm in a hurry. So, do forgive me."

I felt the electric currents rise into the air.

His eyes glowed as veins of colorful energy snaked throughout his body.

"What's going o..."

I didn't get to finish because he swiped his hand, and we all vanished.

___

"Where are we?"

I asked no one in particular.

"Does it look like I'd know?"

I looked over at Flora, we're in a grey space.

All around us is nothing but grey.

I can't even tell if this place has a shape or not.

"Yeah, I was mainly just asking the question out loud."

"Yeah, well, don't. I need to think, and I don't need your asinine ideas distracting me."

"Hey... hey!"

"What?!"

"Patty hasn't insulted me!"

"Well, give it time."

"No, she hasn't spoken, and I can't feel her!"

"Don't pan..."

"Stop that!"

(Unknown voice)

"Don't interrupt me!"

"That... wasn't me."

The grey area started filling in with color.

First a sky appeared, then buildings and roads, and more until the village of Feuerdorf appeared.

Then, people started to materialize, one with pink hair getting his ass whooped was all too familiar.

"I'm sorry!"

Pinky - who looked to be around ten - yelled.

One of his assailants hit him with a rock.

"You thought it was funny, putting that shit in my food! Well, why aren't you laughing now?!"

"Get him Bernd!"

"Kick his ass!"

"After this, why don't we dress him in one of my dresses, and tie him in the middle of the street?"

The group of kids bullying him were getting rougher, but none of the passing adults did anything.

If I had phone, I'd definitely call child services.

Though this kind of thing seems familiar...

"Oh, I get it!"

I said.

"What?!"

"This is all just a memory, or a version of it at least. Although, I don't know how he did it without casting a spell."

"That is correct, but how did you know I didn't use a spell?"

The real Pinky showed up.

Appearing, literally, out of thin air.

"That's because I can le..."

Flora decided to cut me off before I could finish.

"That's none of your gods damn business! How'd you do this?! Was it mind magic?!"

He put up his hands.

"Look, I'd never use mind magic! It's just allows you to see my past, no mind manipulation at all!"

"But you didn't cast a spell."

He looked back at me.

"Witches are more attuned to mana than most others, which allows me to not only rip apart others magic, but to do magic without spells. Though it is a lot harder to do."

So, it's like building something without reading the instructions.

"I think we got off on the wrong foot. My name is Haydn, I know yours from a clairvoyance spell I had done two days ago.

It told me that you could help me, but not how you could help me.

No one, I repeat, no one hired my to hurt you."

Flora eyed him with suspicion, but lowered Fate Weaver.

"So, you dragged us in here to see you get your ass kicked, so that I'd help you out of a sense pity?"

Tsk, as if that work on her, she has no pity.

"No! It just takes time to stabilize, and in the time it takes me to do that, I can't help what is seen."

We turned back to look as the younger Haydn was still getting his ass beaten.

"Hey, after we're done dressing him in my dress, let's throw him in the shit pit."

They started dragging him away.

"Yup, that's Emilie for you, very inventive."

"She didn't actually...?"

"Throw me into the shit pit?"

We nodded.

"Yup, she definitely did. In her defense though, I kind of had it coming."

"How?! How does anyone have that coming?!"

"A few days prior I ruined her chance to marry a minor noble. I wrecked her prettiest dress, and he chose to marry a twenty year old."

"Well, that's a pretty big age difference! Wasn't he ten?!"

"No, he still married a lass younger than himself."

"A man in his twenties wanted to marry a ten year old!"

What the fuck kind of pedo shit is that!

"No, don't ridiculous, he was in his fifties. A young noble wouldn't be able to so easily chose his own wife."

"That sounds like she should've been thanking you, not throwing you in literal shit!"

He shrugged, like it was just bygones.

"This isn't what I wanted to show y'all anyway."

He swiped his hand once more.

"Here we go."

The scenes started to shift, the years piled on, and we got to see just how creative Emilie could be in skirting the line between bullying, and straight up torture.

That kid should've been locked up.

Until we got to Haydn's teen years, he's at least sixteen.

His wrists were tied, he was severely beaten, and was being shoved into the village square.

"What did Emilie do to you this time?!"

"It wasn't her who did this to me actually, it was him."

He pointed at a man with greying black hair, one of those walrus mustaches, leather armor died black, a hood, and an iron sword glowing red-hot.

He threw Hadyn down into the dirt.

"That's Rupert, he's a witch hunter.

I think a wandering warlock or human must have sold me out, as my mother and I had been living here peacefully for years before she died.

Normally hunters would either just kill the witch right there or transport them back to base for torture then death, but Rupert loved an audience.

He liked mob justice, where they'd shame you before they lit you up."

Rupert waited until a decent crowd had gathered.

Once they had, his act began.

He spread his arms wide in a cross pose, as if to embrace them all.

"My dear village folk of Feuerdorf, you have been tricked!"

He let those words hang in the air before he continued.

"This... mongrel has just confessed to being a witch, and consorting with others just like it!"

He paused for the tension to rise.

"Normally I'd take this vermin to Hexenburg, to give it a trial and give it the chance to turn in its fellow witches before we carry out its death sentence, but I know all of you would love to hear it straight from the beast's mouth how it betrayed all of you."

He yanked Haydn up by the hair, and jabbed his thumb into one of Haydn's open wounds.

"Aaaah!"

"Tell them what you are!"

"I'm... aah... a... witch!"

He twisted his thumb inside of Haydn's wound.

"Louder!"

"Aaaah! I'M A WITCH!"

He stopped twisting his thumb in his wound, and pulled his sword out.

"And that's not all, I learned that this beast tricked y'all into burying its mother like a human! Don't worry, as soon as we're done lighting it up we'll dig up its mother. We won't let that thing desecrate your burial grounds. Hahaha!"

A stone flew through the air and hit his hand, causing him to drop his sword from the pain.

"Owww! Fucking gods! You missed!"

He grimaced, and grasped his hurt hand.

"The fuck I did. I can nail a fly a hundred paces from me."

Emilie said while picking another one up.

"Are you fucking insane bitch?! Do you know who I am?!"

"Yeah, the guy who is going to be letting go of that witch. Now!"

The man - who is obviously a village leader of some kind - said tersely.

He was gripping a flail tightly.

"Are all of you crazy?! Don't you know what he is?!"

"Yeah, an annoying brat no one likes, but no one talks about Kätharina like that, ever!"

"She was a... Ow!!!!"

Another stone upside his head interrupted what he was about to say.

"She was an angel! She taught me things about my body, I didn't know were possible!"

"She took my virginity!"

"Mine too!"

"And mine!"

"She fixed my house!"

"She made water for my plants when they were dying from the drought!"

"She taught my kid how to read, he still stupid, but she tried!"

"She taught my husband how to pleasure a woman, he finally knows what to do with my clit!"

"All of you slept with her?! She was a witch!"

"Exactly! She wasn't human, so anything we did didn't count! We still go to heaven!"

"That's not how that wo... Ow!"

Another stone.

Man, she's really good at that.

"And we might not like him, but there's hope yet. When he's older he might make witch friends, and bring them here!"

"I hope it's a guy! ...Not because I'm attracted to men, I'm not gay!"

One guy said.

Another older man put his arm around him.

"Of course not son, you already told me the time I caught you wearing your sister's dress in bed with your friend was a joke.

I still can't believe that you tricked him into believing that you were a girl!

Hahaha!

That sense of humor will serve you well when you finally meet the right girl."

We both looked at the real Haydn.

"Yeah, he's gay.

He did end up getting married and having a kid, but both of them have lovers.

He sneaks around wearing women's clothing, and fucking around.

The whole village knows too, except their respective parents."

"It sounds more like he's trans, not gay."

"What?"

"Never mind."

Rupert looked like he wanted to argue his point further, but the amount of people showing up with improvised weapons made him rethink his position.

"Fine, but if you think this is over, y'all are dumber than you look. When I return with other witch hunters this witch will burn, and y'all get what comes to traitors."

Emilie walked forward.

"Who said you're leaving?"

His face paled.

"I'm an official of the court! Touch me and a fate worse than death awaits you!"

He tripped over himself walking backwards away from a grinning Emilie.

"We wouldn't dream of hurting a witch hunter."

He breathed a sigh of relief.

"But a witch on the other hand..."

His fear was palpable, and smelled like piss.

Oh, he pissed himself, that's why.

"Y'all can't..."

The village leader from before spoke up.

"The brave witch hunter faced the witch and was vaporized, but don't worry, his sacrifice exposed the witch! Allowing us to burn him alive."

The village folk surrounded him.

"No, no, no, no, no, noooo!"

"Remember to strip his gear! It'll go for a lot when we resell it."

They stripped him, chained him to the X on the pyre, and lit the fire.

"You're making a mistake! Please! I will leave and never come back! I don't want to die!

I have children!"

"And they'll be proud their father died doing his duty."

"Aaaah! Aaaaaaah! It burns! Aaaaaaaaaah!"

Haydn swiped his hand, and we were back in the alley.

"Yeah, y'all don't need to see the rest of that."

I am glad he ended it, I kind of had forgotten just how cruel humans could be.

Consequence of fighting actual monsters I guess.

"Did... did he suffer long?"

I asked.

Haydn nodded in return.

"Yeah, it was rainy and windy that day, it took three and a half-hours for him to die."

"He had it coming."

We both looked at Flora in disgust.

She just shrugged.

"Don't get me wrong, it was a brutal death, but it's the same death he was looking to subjugate you to. Not to mention all the others he probably did that to before that.

I'd kill a witch in a heartbeat if it came at me, but I know I can die in the attempt.

Nothing is just going to sit there and die, they'll try their hardest to kill you before you kill them.

His chosen profession was a dangerous one."

Haydn chuckled.

"You remind me of Emilie.

I had nightmares for weeks after that, she lied straight to the witch hunters' - who came to investigate - faces without a shred of regret."

"Why should she? Survive of the fittest."

"I guess you're correct about that."

"Of course I am! Now, why did you want my help?"

"My partner and I investigate and handle stray magical threats around the village.

A couple of days ago we were investigating a cave system not to far from here, and we found bandits and a warlock.

My partner got captured, and I was hoping..."

"Yeah, not a chance."

"What? But..."

"The last rescue mission I did paid fifty thousand gold, and you don't look like you're worth two silver.

I might be persuaded if you gave me your mother's mana heart, but some in my party might be averse to digging up her grave."

She looked at me.

"Because grave robbing is wrong!"

"See! And he's just a dumb monster. The others also share his mental defect."

She's talking about having a conscience, something she lacks.

"Look, I know it will be dangerous and I can't offer you much, but it's the right thing to do."

She rolled her eyes.

"And I have no qualms about doing the 'right' thing, as long as I get appropriately compensated for it."

He breathed a sigh of resignation.

"I understand.

It's probably for the best, mind control is especially dangerous."

"Mind control? They're fucking with mind control?!"

"Yeah, what we learned before she got captured is that they're trying to create a mind controlled work force."

"Okay, we're in. Meet us by the pyre in four hours."

Without waiting for a reply, she turned and left.

I waved goodbye, then followed after her.

"What the fuck was that?!"

I asked when I caught up to her.

"What?"

"The complete three sixty back there! I know you, and you couldn't care less about him."

"This isn't about him, it's about stopping any attempt to perfect mind control."

"You... actually care about that?"

"Of course I do, do you know why mind magics are taboo?"

"Because you're invading someone's right to privacy."

"Wrong.

It's because it is irreversible.

Even the smallest spell cast is forcing your will into their brain, causing damage.

One good example would be when prince Hamle the third thought he could do away with crime with mind control.

Long story short he broke the part of their minds that made them care about anything else.

They went on a warpath killing, raping, and eating anything that didn't escape.

Ever since then the empire has not used mind control, but if this warlock figures out how to do it mildly safely they could change their minds.

If I ever get caught, I can escape from a prison cell, not so much mind control."

"So, all of this is because of what might affect you?"

"No, it's because of what will affect me. As long as it doesn't affect them, every single person in power would use mind manipulation to control everyone else. Now, let's hurry the fuck up."

______________

We - everyone, except Lyra - are a little under a thousand feet away from the warlock's hideout.

"How are we going to scope out anything from here?"

I asked.

"Like this."

Haydn waved his hand.

The air straight in front of him shimmered and turned glass-like.

<Spell learned: Far sight. Usable.>

A round portion of the air moved according to his will, and was like looking through a pair of binoculars.

"Okay, that's cool."

We all looked.

Oddly enough there's no one guarding the entrance.

"We need to take a closer look."

Jurea said as she stood.

She started heading down, but Haydn grabbed her arm, and pulled her back.

"Maybe you should... hold off on that."

Flora glared at him.

"Why?"

He had on the 'I ate the last slice of pie' face.

In other words, guilty as hell!

"I might have neglected to mention a few microscopic details."

"Like what?"

"My partner is Emilie..."

That isn't so bad.

Surprising sure, but not bad enough to stop us... Oh, shit.

"And she might have been cursed by witches... into becoming a... ugh... nagmyre."

Flora stared at him for two whole seconds, before punching him in the face.

"Ow! Okay, so I may have forgotten some pertinent details; but in my defense I thought if we rescued her before she got triggered, that there'd be no reason to burden you with useless information. Ow!"

She punched him again.

"Useless information! She's a nagmyre! How'd she become one in the first place?!"

"That I can answer. She said some... off-color remarks about a group of witches that were passing through.

In return they used some powerful group magic to curse her as punishment. Thinking that she'd kill all of her loved ones and suffer for as long as she lived.

You typical curse stuff."

I never did get people who curse others.

It's not justice, which is doing to them what they did to others, it's just hurting them because you don't like what they did.

Which just validates them because it's the same shit they're doing, treating people bad just because they don't like or care about them.

<That's because they just want to pretend to be gods and dish out 'punishment'.>

Wait, you're agreeing with me?!

<No, you're agreeing with me.>

"What happened to the witches?"

Eric asked Haydn.

"The spell kind of backfired on them.

They thought she'd kill everyone in the village, they underestimated her, or rather they underestimated her vindictiveness.

After the nagmyre took over she tracked down the witches, and tortured them to death.

She spared none.

Afterwards the rest of the village kicked her out, and she now lives with me a safe distance away.

They won't tell the witch hunters about her as long as we clear up the messes the witch hunters normally would."

"That's bullshit."

I said.

He nodded, completely at peace with it.

"It is what it is.

Look, I'm sorry I lied, I just didn't want y'all to turn your backs on her just because of something she can't control."

"What even is a nagmyre?"

I asked.

"It's the result of shoving the essence of a presence from another hell dimension into a host.

When triggered the host takes on a nightmarish appearance, and indulges in the most horrendous shit you can think of.

They're unkillable raping, pillaging, and murdering monsters.

The only known solution is to beat them down with an enormous amount of force, lock them up, and forget where you dropped the key in the ocean."

Flora answered my question, saving me from wasting energy.

"Is that the only option? Aren't they victims in all of this as well?"

"Well, no, if you know of a portal to hell, you can throw the key in there."

"We are not doing that to Elie! She's not even that strong, compared to other nagmyres. My clairvoyance spell pointed me in your direction for a reason, please!"

Flora sighed, then took out a small white pill from her capacity gem.

"Well, we can go with door number two, and use this."

"What is that?"

"It's a nutcracker pill I paid a lot for, it comes from Jadian."

"What does it do?"

I asked, interjecting.

"It causes the cessation of higher cerebral functions, and places the subject in a persistent vegetative state."

...

...

...

She looked across all of our faces, cocked an eyebrow, and gave a simplified answer.

"It makes you brain-dead. Hence the name."

"Why the fuck would you ever have something like that?!"

Haydn asked.

Flora pointed her thumb at me.

"I work with monsters, if he ever came at me, I'd be able to put him down without killing him."

WHAT THE FUCK?!

<Well, she doesn't know what killing you would do to her, so this is a very sound contingency plan.>

Shut the fuck up Patty!

"Now, I only have one of these, but for the greater good, I'm willing to par... Hey!"

Jurea snatched the pill, threw it on to the ground, and smashed it with her foot until it was powder.

Then, she kicked it around, scattering the remains.

"Why the fuck would you do that?! Do you know how much that cost?!"

Jurea rounded on her.

"If you ever have something like that again, I'll kill you!"

I don't think I've ever seen her this mad before.

She stared down at Flora, and Flora stared right back at her.

"Hey, so what now?"

Eric said, breaking up the stare down the two of them were having.

"Well, because she idiotically destroyed plan B, we'll have to use plan C, and plan C..."

She looked at me.

"Will be a lot more dangerous for some."

Ahh... shit!