Beginning My Journey

The next day started in an interesting way. I was off today and decided to hang around Verdi today. Verdi stuck closely to me and smiled a bit. She was teaching me about making potions. I watched her as she was making potions then it failed again.

"Maybe you gotta realize that maybe there's something wrong with the equipment. My pots and pans aren't made for witchcraft and all this." I said.

"Well I didn't see anything else that I could've used to make my potions..~ Maybe we can go out and find a cauldron..?" Verdi asked.

"No need...I still have one that I used as Halloween decoration." I said and walked toward the front closet. I opened the closet and rummaged through the closet. I found the cauldron and pulled it out of the closet and into th kitchen. "Here.."

"We probably need to go elsewhere with this..." Verdi said.

"I have a basement that you can use for now, I can probably get someone to build an establishment for you nearby..." I said.

"Let's go~" Verdi nodded.

I picked up the cauldron and made my way to the stairs leading to the basement with Verdi. We walked downstairs together and Verdi turned on the lights. I set the cauldron down on the floor and sighed softly.

"Uhm, to get this started I need Essence...A-And I know how you don't want to—"

"Just this once." I said.

Verdi looked at me then blushed as I gently held her chin. I leaned into her then gently kissed her lips, transferring some of my Essence into her. I pulled away and blushed a bit. I cleared my throat then let her go. Verdi looked away and smiled a bit.

"Thank you..." Verdi said softly and summoned her wand. "Okay, I'm gonna start off easy. Every Witch, Wizard, Mage, whatever you want to call yourself needs to learn how to make potions. First you need water.."

Verdi held her hands out over the cauldron and tapped the cauldron with her wand then gray waters formed in the cauldron.

"Next the base water needs to be boiling..." Verdi instructed.

She tapped the cauldron then a circle of fire appeared around the cauldron, heating up the pot and making the water boil. She handed me a red leaf.

"Drop it in.." Verdi instructed.

I looked at the leaf and dropped it into the pot. The leaf dissolved into the water, making the water turn red. I looked at Verdi and noticed her smile.

"You just made your first Potion...The Red Simple Potion, but it takes more than just dropping material into the pot... you must enhance the potion to claim that you succeeded in potion making...The Simple Potions only need to be enhanced two times into Level 3 Potions. The higher the level of the potion, the stronger the potion's effects become." Verdi said.

"How do I enhance them..?" I asked.

"Like this..." Verdi said and handed me her wand then placed her hand on mine. "Your Essence is the key...say Enhance to enhance the potion."

I cleared my throat. "Enhance."

The red liquid in the cauldron shined then sparkled. Verdi nodded and smiled at me. I said it again and got the Red Simple Potion to Level 3.

"There are three main types of Potions. HP, meaning Health Potions. These potions are typically red and deal with healing health issues and statuses. MP meaning Mana Potions help recover Mana and are typically Blue. Finally, EP meaning Essence Potions which helpe recover Essence and are typically Yellow. You can achieve other effects by using different material and different colored materials. The Green Elixir I gave you last night was a Specialty Potion only I can make called Rejuvenation Elixir. I have to infuse my own Essence inside...as in Love Nectar.." Verdi said.

"Love Nectar?" I asked.

"My uhm..." Verdi said and blushed madly.

"She basically uses her own bodily fluids to make the potion and as in bodily fluids I mean she—"

"I think I got it." I said.

"You're not weirded out by that..?" Verdi asked shyly.

I shrugged and crossed my arms. "Why would I be..? Your methods are different from what is the usual and I'm not gonna bash you for your different methods. If you're willing to go as far as that for me, who am I to keep being stubborn?"

Verdi looked at me and smiled. "So...I can have your Essence when needed?"

"I need you to survive and you need me to survive...whenever you need Essence, I'll supply you with it. I'm not safe anywhere as your sisters are probably after me and then those Cursed Vessels...and those monsters...I can't catch a break right now.." I said.

"That's why we will find you a Familiar...don't worry." Kuroi said and his tail swayed.

"I have enough Essence to actually go into the Spirit Domain. We can go in there. Like all Familiars, they will only make themselves known to you if they find you worthy." Verdi said.

"Alright, I'm down.." I said.

"Okay, we head there now." Verdi said then created a portal.

Kuroi hopped into Verdi's shoulder and yawned. Verdi smiled at him then took my hand, leading me into the portal. We walked around the Spirit Forest and looked around for any Familiars. As we traversed around, we had no luck for a while until I noticed a book on th ground. I picked it up and looked at it.

"Grimoire of the Dark Gods..?" I asked and looked at the back.

"Wait, you said what?" Kuroi asked.

"Grimoire of the Dark Gods." I said and looked at Verdi and Kuroi.

"That is his familiar..?! That's not even a familiar! It's an Ancient Artifact!" Verdi said in awe.

"No...That Book contains multiple Familiars. It contains the Spirits of the Original Enchantresses. He actually got really lucky to have eleven familiars at the palms of his hands..." Kuroi said in awe.

"Original Enchantresses?" I asked.

"The Original Enchantresses were Witches like me and my sisters. They were so strong that they were worshipped we Dark Gods. Each one used with their Familiars to gain Absolute Power and succeeded. There were Eleven of them and each one had their own ability." Verdi started.

"The Eleven are as such: Anima Pegasus, Valkyrie. Anima Cerberus, Fiora. Anima Titan, Anemos. Anima Jormungand, Lehm. Anima Diablo, Diablo. Anima Kraken, Cee. Anima Medusa, Medusa. Anima Gorgon, Stheno. Anima Chimera, Destiny. Anima Hellhound, Fenrir. Finally, Anima Occultist, Baphomet." Kuroi explained.

"How do I summon them?" I asked.

"There's a chant you must say to summon them, but once you finish your incantations, they will become Bound to you until they die and you'll have to use your Life Force to summon them again." Kuroi said.

"They are the most powerful beings in our Dimension, so it won't be easy trying to get along with such beings. Plus...they are very sexual beings that HEAVILY rely on a man's Essence. For them to listen to you, you'll need to provide them with Essence just as you will need to do with me and my sisters." Verdi explained.

"Great...You know when I was wishing for excitement in my life, I wasn't asking for all of this! I'm now toying with seductive Dark Gods AND Witches?" I asked.

Verdi looked at me and seemed a bit upset at my response.

"Fuck it, we ball I guess. No turning back now." I said and sighed.

Verdi and Kuroi seemed pleased with my answer and with this, we returned home. Once we made it home, I looked at the Grimoire and opened it. The words were all in Greek.

"I'm gonna assume that this is translated?" I asked.

"Basically." Kuroi said and hopped onto the table. "Go ahead and try it, summon one of them."

I hesitated a bit, but knew this was going to be my one chance at survival. I cleared my throat. "Dark God—Nope. I'm not saying this demonic shit."

"You're reading the Inverse Incantations that will end up summoning them in their Malevolent Forms. You'll want to summon them in their Anima Forms." Kuroi said.

I flipped the pages and cleared my throat. "Anima Goddess, I summon thee. Spread your wings of a thousand feathers and respond to my call! I summon you, Anima Pegasus, Valkyrie!"

There was silence then suddenly a dark magic circle appeared on the ground in front of me. A woman appeared in front of me and let out a soft giggle.

Her long black hair flowed majestically, her golden eyes shined with curiosity as she stared at me, she spread her black wings open in a powerful manner, her horse ears flicked and her tail swayed. Her figure was beyond Verdi's and Zumaina's...her beauty was beyond comprehension.

"Master..~ Oh? A Human summoned me..?~ How interesting...~ And he's accompanied by a Witch..? Hmmm...what Dimension are we in?" Valkyrie asked.

"My Dimension." I said.

"I figured...My Essence immediately disappeared upon arrival. It's nearly like a curse, or some form of barrier blocking out our true power. Anyway, my name is Valkyrie, Enchantress of A Thousand Feathers, Anima Goddess of the Warrior Spirit." Valkyrie introduced.

"My name is Weiss. CEO of Stellar Inc. My entire personality revolves around discovering the power that dwells beyond the stars and what all is truly out there." I said.

"My name is Verdi and this is my Familiar, Kuroi. I'm a Stellar Witch, born in the Geo Major Star Cluster. I'm one of Six Stellar Witches as our Mother is the Anima Witch. I'm pleased to be in your presence." Verdi bowed toward Valkyrie.

"Hm...A Stellar Witch and an Astrologist? No wonder you seem very important, Weiss. There dwells in you an ability that is needed for you to reach your max potential...you actually have an Unlimited Amount of Essence." Valkyrie said.

"What?" Verdi and I said at the same time.

"The Sun is a Star in itself, and at night the stars will come out which also provides you with Essence and Mana. Even though I haven't been summoned, I can quite still see events and I can tell you that if you don't find a way for the Stellar Witches to cooperate and take down their main threat, all is doomed." Valkyrie said.

"I mean, you can help me right? You are one of my Familiars right?" I asked.

"Of course~ I can't leave my master stranded with no direction~ What kind of servant would I be, but it is gonna cost you~" Valkyrie giggled and walked off.

"Fuck..." I sighed and ruffled my head. "Okay, I can't deal with anything more than this. Plus I have to be the one to make peace...I have an unlimited amount of Essence so I can potentially help all six of you. I just need to bring you all together."

"Not alone you won't." Verdi said and held my arm. "My sisters...well a few of them are highly dangerous. Doing this alone is like a suicide mission. I can't let you do that..."

I looked at Verdi then at Kuroi. "Right...Kuroi can you track them?"

"Negative. Usually I'm good at tracking literally anyone, but Witches can naturally conceal their Mana, making it impossible for me to track them. You need to bait them out." Kuroi said.

"Why me?" I asked.

"Because you're the only one who has power beyond us right now via the Grimoire of the Dark Gods. Once we attract one, if they attack, we fight. We need to gain their trust and it's only through you." Kuroi explained.

"Fine...I am guessing we go out at night?" I asked.

"Yes. We go at night. Be prepared." Kuroi said.

~To Be Continued~