The Witch and the Boy

It was a bright day after the heavy rain. You can still smell the freshness of the leaves and the wet earth. The animals went back to their usual business. Haunting their prey, building nests, and spending the time of their lives. Fiore watches them from her window.

"You will die too, useless creatures," she said in a deep angry voice while chewing peanuts. "When you die, you will be dinner for me!" Fiore exclaimed. She stood up from her chair and threw the nutshells to the unsuspecting birds. They got startled and flew away, but the birds went back to take the nutshells. "Go away, filthy creatures without magic! Chaaaa!!!"

"Ouch! Filthy creatures without magic. You should name them after me then," asked the guy who went out of the bushes. He was squinting while walking towards the house because of the sun. Fiore noticed that he was tossing a ragged pouch made of leather from one hand to another. "What are you doing, Fiore?" he added.

"You better tell me that you have coins," said Fiore while picking her teeth with her long nails. The guy scratched his head then tossed his body to a shabby couch.

"It's just the usual," he answered.

"I hope you can eat those pearls when we get hungry," said Fiore, who was now leaning against the window with her back against Nevin. "They're useless now, unlike almost a hundred years ago."

He lifted his right hand while looking at the pouch. Nevin does not know what's with the pearls. Collecting it has been his pastime since he was young.

The pearls only appear after the rain. They can be found at the end of every rainbow that will appear. Before, merchants will race to get to the end of the rainbow because they believe that leprechauns and fairies hide their pot of gold there. They never found a pot of gold and saw the pearls instead. They did not pay much attention to it due to disappointment and because there are only a few pieces every time. They saw the pearls as small, worthless, and unattractive, even if it's rare since not every end of the rainbow has pearls. Some merchants sell the pearls as jewelry, but it is as common as grass for them, and it doesn't sell that much. It's even called "the poor man's treasure." Nevin thinks otherwise.

But even though it seems special to him, he can't sell the pearls to anyone. First of all, nobody cares, and second, it was as good as trash to most people in their town. Add the fact that they know that he is living with Fiore. The pearls do not even equate to a single slice of bread. In short, it has no trade or market value.

Nevin closed his eyes while slowly drifting away from his consciousness. He is losing track of time, but he knows that he's still not completely asleep. He tried to focus on something. It was as if he was reading the past events in his head, and each day he lived was a page of a book. Then, he came up with something interesting. That one time when he was getting pearls on the Muri river.

Nevin focused on that memory, and he took it like a book that he wanted to read.

Muri river has a powerful current because it is connected to the Leyu falls. It is a historical place because the Enchanteds and the humans gathered there to give their offerings to Bathaluman, the creator of everything in Varázslatos. There was a part of the Muri river with a perfectly circular rock in the middle. To get there, you have to pass through the river. And Nevin, knowing the danger of it and that he was not strong enough to fight the current, walked his way to the rock because the end of the rainbow appeared there. He knew that the pearls would be there.

Everything started smoothly. Nevin even bragged that it felt like he was walking on motionless water. Each step felt easy for him, but when he looked at the supposed location of the rock, he was nowhere near it. He'd been dragged by the current sideways. Nevin panicked and started slipping off the river rocks. He lost his balance and hit his head. He can still remember how the current dragged him like nothing and how he fell off the Leyu falls.

He was losing his consciousness while being submerged in the deep. That's when an interesting event happened.

While his sight was turning black and he couldn't see his surroundings anymore, he noticed something else. It felt real, but he knew that it wasn't there. He was confused because he knew that he should not see anything. But while his sight got darker, the images started to become more apparent. It's in his head as if he is reading his own mind.

He saw a group of people enter a dark thunder portal. He doesn't know them, and he knows that they are not from their town either. The images suddenly disappeared as they started creating something else. The second image was a war. It was a huge war. He doesn't know which era it was, but he knows pretty well that they are from an older period. The Enchanted people were involved in the war, but he couldn't see who they were fighting with.

Along with it was Fiore's voice. He can hear her saying, "As long as we use our powers the way you like it, the world will never be at peace!" Nevin felt like he was watching someone's memory. The images disappeared once again as his sight came back. He rushed towards the surface and gasped for air. Something he should have done the first time he fell.

Nevin was unsure if he was dreaming or remembering. He cannot tell if he fell asleep at all. Nevin meant to ask Fiore about this, but he knew that she would not take it seriously.

He saw Fiore still standing by the window, watching and cursing the birds that didn't do anything to her. The sight of Fiore made him giggle. Fiore hates everything around her as if she was born and created out of hatred. Nevin never really saw Fiore as a bad Enchanted since she never mistreated him. He never wanted Fiore to act any other way.

All of a sudden, Fiore fell on the floor. She was holding her bleeding forehead. Nevin rushed towards her and helped her up. When Fiore removed her hand to look at it, Nevin saw an open wound and a lot of blood. He carefully assisted Fiore to their couch then busted their door open.

"What the heck was that?" Nevin yelled. He saw three men laughing at him. The three of them were holding rocks and were about to throw them at Nevin.

"She's an evil witch! Her cursed face is an eyesore!" said the guy who threw the first rock.

"You can just pass by our house without hurting anyone! Go on your way, and don't make a stop here if you're not gonna do anything good!" Nevin yelled out of frustration. He never liked arguments or confrontations. He felt like he was sick of fighting without a known reason. But when it comes to protecting Fiore, Nevin can be very aggressive. It's clear to him that he can't fight. But he's more than willing to use his body to shield and protect Fiore.

"Oh, this is for the good of the many," another guy said as he threw a rock at Nevin. He missed and hit the closed wooden door. "Do us a favor. Can you curse all your fellow Enchanteds and die?" The guy added while laughing.

"You will all die being swarmed with worms. They will populate in your body and eat out your organs. They will come out of your eyes, nose, mouth... in every hole of your body! Your family will watch as you die screaming in pain, and you will only be treated with my kind's piss!" Fiore cursed while she was standing by her window. She was holding her right hand in the air with her fingers stretched out. A strong wind gushed, and everyone in the area felt it.

The men went away laughing. "Whatever, crazy bitch! We'll get you some other time! Bathaluman will not be so kind to you next time." said the third guy as he spits in Fiore's front yard.

Nevin rushed inside the house to see Fiore. Her face became pale, and there was a lot of blood. "Fiore, I told you not to curse again!" said Nevin. He went running inside their house and checked on Fiore's forehead. Her nose started bleeding as well.

"They deserve that. Do you think I will treat them? Hah! They can bring me Ehreb's head, and I still won't treat them! Pack your things. We will leave now," Fiore ordered Nevin.

It was always the same for them. Someone will hurt Fiore, she will curse them, and they will leave. Nevin never left her side because he grew up treating Fiore as his mother. Besides, he owes her his life.

Fiore was a well-known "mamumuyag." Her kind was known to curse people that they disliked. And Fiore, being the spiteful Enchanted that she is, curses anyone she doesn't like. With the two divisions of the Enchanted people, Fiore's kind was categorized as evil.

But that's not the case—not how Nevin sees her.

Fiore found Nevin in the forest when he was six. He was cursed by another mamumuyag because he stole food from them. Nevin had lumps all over his body, and he was dying. From hunger, from the curse, and from living alone at a very young age.

When Fiore found Nevin, she instantly treated him. After a few chants, his lumps, hunger, and other wounds disappeared. But when Fiore did that, Nevin noticed that her face suddenly had scars.

Since then, they have been together. Nevin never asked Fiore to treat him if he gets sick or wounded again because of the fear that she might acquire the damages from the people she was healing.

The house they are currently living in was the place they stayed the longest. Fiore inherited it from her relatives as the last known mamumuyag. It was far from the people, from other Enchanteds, and away from pain.

As they were packing their things, Nevin asked Fiore, "Aren't you getting tired of this? We've been running all our lives."

"You. You've been running all your life. I was fighting for it. Always fighting for it," Fiore replied.

"Tell me, Fiore. Am I just an ordinary person, or am I Enchanted too?" Then there was silence.

"What are you going to do if I told you that you are one of us?" said Fiore.

"Then I will fight! I will defend our home! I don't want to move somewhere else again!" Nevin exclaimed.

Fiore stopped packing her things and stared at him blankly, "You can't."

"So, that means I am an Enchanted too! I knew it! I'm just too weak because you never taught me anything," said Nevin.

"No. You can't because you're ordinary. You're just a human," Fiore said as she started packing again.

After some time, Fiore heard several people outside their house. They were yelling. This is not new to her as her kind always lived like this. People will only be kind when they need them. But most of the time, they were treated like pests.

"I'll hold our ground," said Nevin. He stood up, closed his eyes tightly, and frantically stretched his hands as if something would happen.

"Stop doing that. You look like an idiot," Fiore said and smacked Nevin with a loaded satchel.

"No. I will stay here! Maybe I can produce fire or water! I've seen images when I almost drowned at the Leyu falls! Yes! Maybe I can control the water! I will block them using it! How do you cast your spell? Maybe I can do that too!" Nevin answered. Fiore was staring at him out of confusion.

"What did you just say? You've seen images when you almost drowned at Leyu falls?" Fiore asked him.

"Yes! I know I am an Enchanted too! I just don't know what kind!" Nevin said.

Fiore struck him again with the satchel. "You cannot produce water, dumbass! Come with me. I will discuss it with you along the way. You're too stupid to be that special."