This is also the first time I have encountered such a situation,” Nightingale stood at Roland’s side, shaking her head while explaining, “She depleted all her magic within her body, but now her magic power s already at the point of saturation, even more rich than it has been in the past. If I did not calculate it wrong, today at midnight will be her day of adulthood.”
“Do you mean she’s going to be an adult while in a coma?”
“No, she will die while in a coma,” Nightingale said bluntly, “You must use your will to overcome the suffering on your day of adulthood. If your resistance is broken, the bite of the witch’s magic power will irreversibly destroy her body.”
Roland moved a chair next to the bed and sat down, “I remember that you once said that when facing magic backslash, no matter how painful it becomes, you will always stay conscious and clear-headed. Either you will be able to cross this hurdle or you will choose to terminate your life.”
“Indeed, it is exactly like this. Within the Witch Cooperation Association we also had someone who believed to draw support from being unconscious when passing through the bite of the evil spirit … only having to bear the torment once a year,” Nightingale hesitated but then continued, “she said that she relied on alchemic substances to sleep, but in the end it was meaningless … when the moment came she was immediately devoured by the magic without any chance to resist.”
“The pain does not slowly increase?”
“No. When your time arrives, the pain will strike you just like lightning, but how long you have to resist varies from person to person. My sister was not strong enough, but …” she trailed off.
Roland understood what she meant, not knowing how long they had to suffer the pain was already a kind of torture in itself, not knowing how long they have to resist – it was similar to being on an abandoned ship in the middle of a heavy storm. It would be easy to let people give up the desire to live on.
During the moment of silence, Roland felt a hand on his shoulder.
“During my homeless and miserable years, I had seen too much death. I saw witches being treated like cattle, hanged, burned, or tortured to death just for the entertainment of the nobility. The only way for a witch to survive was to live far away from other humans, living a cloistered life. I do not know where the Holy Mountain is located, but in our hearts it is an unattainable paradise.” Nightingale’s voice became softer than it had ever been in the past. “but Anna is different. In addition to the help we sisters can give her, I have never seen someone else being so concerned about a witch as you. She is needed by people, she is valued and treated like a normal person … Your Highness, Anna has not even made it through her adulthood yet, but she has already found her Holy Mountain.”
However, this was not the outcome Roland had hoped for. He closed his eyes, and recalled the scene when he had meet her.
She was barefoot, and was only wearing tattered clothes. She had been living in a cage, but there was not the slightest hint of fear in her face. Her eyes resembled an unpolluted lake surface, clear and calm.
She was the flame, but she wasn’t flickering like a flame.
Memories began to appear like the pictures on a film reel.
“I have satisfied your curiosity, Sir, so can you kill me now?”
“I have never used my power to hurt someone else.”
“I just want to stay near you, Your Highness, nothing more.”
“The Demon’s Bite will never kill me, I will beat it.”
“Are you dreaming? I’m not going anywhere.”
……
Roland had to restrain his surging thoughts and whispered, “I will stay here and accompany her until the last moment.”
“I will also stay … thank you.”
After dinner, when Nana heard that Anna would go through her day of adulthood, she insisted on staying. Roland set aside a room for her and her father who would accompany her during the night.
Like this, Roland and the two witches were sitting besides the bed, quietly waiting for the approaching midnight hour.
Regarding Nightingale and Nana, they would also have to face the Demon’s Bite this winter, but fortunately their magic awakened on different days. Otherwise, the three witches would have to suffer their test of life and death at the same time. Roland estimated that if that was the case he wouldn’t be able to stay calm in the room.
The town had no clock tower, so with only the light of the candles, the passage of time became blurred. Cold wind blew against the window, so from time to time they could hear the screeching wind. When Roland felt a trace of weariness attack his heart, Nightingale suddenly said, “It has begun.”
Only she could see the magic flow within Anna’s body. She saw that it became restless, and the cluster of green flame became unusually rich, but the white incandescence in her center turned dark, while all of the irritable magic converged inward. It seemed to be pulled towards the center while struggling and rolling wildly