The Pale Witch I

After everyone got in the array, Fae spun his staff in a full circle and tapped the floor with it, just like before. Ammine braced herself for the floor to open up and for them to fall through into a wormhole, but it didn't happen this time. Instead, they just simply teleported to another area without falling or being sucked into anything.

It was over in a split second. The group found themselves in a gigantic room lit up by a singular giant chandelier. The walls were bare white with a few large symbols carved into them, likely runes. There was a giant orb seemingly made out of magic in the middle of the room that was slowly rotating. "Welcome to my domain," said a female voice. The words echoed the room loudly before fading off.

Fae positioned his body to face the orb and bowed. Kies and Ammine looked at Fae and then did the same. Haro and Issie didn't bow since they couldn't exactly do so(with one of them having the body of an owl and the other not having a body at all). Instead, Haro held his wings to his chest as a sign of respect.

It was a little strange having to bow an orb but they did so anyway. It wasn't the first time Kies and Ammine experienced something like this. At least, unlike with Arc, they had something to direct their faces to when speaking. "I see that I need not introduce myself," the voice said in an amused tone. "Well then, let's get down to business. I think we both already know what we want each other, and I agree with your condition. It's just a matter of whether or not you accept mine."

"Wait, how is it that you know what we're here for?" Ammine asked the White Witch. Neither she nor Kies had told the witch why they were in this forest. The only other person who knew about what they were doing was Haro and he hasn't said a word either.

"In this forest, even the trees have ears. When you first arrived, we heard you talking about your plans. However, we didn't contact you then because we wanted to see your capabilities first. After all, there would be no point in contacting you if you were too weak," the witch told them.

"I guess that means that we passed your test. By the way, is there a reason why you're talking to us through an orb and not uh... face to face?" Kies asked the White Witch.

"Hm... I'll tell you this. We are in fact speaking face to face right now," the witch told Kies.

"What?" Kies turned to Fae to tell if she was telling the truth and Fae nodded his head yes. "Wait, you're an orb?"

Fae couldn't restrain himself and chuckled at Kies's remark. Kies looked at Fae, unsure of why he was laughing. He stopped after a bit and apologized to Kies. "I'm sorry for laughing at your question. I'm also very sorry, your excellency."

"Oh Fae, you don't need to do that. I find it rather humorous myself," the witch said while laughing a little as well. "Mind my rudeness, but the answer to your question is yes, I am indeed the orb in front of you. But the reason why you see me as an orb is that my magic is constantly leaking out and that your magic is not strong enough to see through my layer of magic and observe my real form."

To show what she meant, the witch retracted her magic power to reveal a tall beautiful woman in a white dress with black thorny vines laced all over it. There were even some curled around her arms and went all the way to the tips of her fingers. She had long white hair that touched the floor and pale, smooth skin. Kies noticed that she had no pupils, and where they should've been had nothing but white. Oddly, he didn't find this creepy at all. Instead, he felt somewhat mesmerized towards her. It took all his willpower to not run up to her and embrace her.

Kies turned his eyes until they were looking at the floor to avoid being entranced by the White Witch. Kies turned his head back a little and saw that Ammine was doing the same. It seemed that it affected everyone regardless of gender. Even Fae wasn't powerful enough and had his head lowered to avoid looking at the witch directly. The only person that didn't look like they weren't affected was Haro. The banshee also hid meekly behind his feathers.

Haro tilted his head sideways and hooted, "Your beauty is certainly stunning."

The witch smiled and replied back, "And your strength is certainly something as well. Unlike most others, you're not affected by my gaze and are able to look at me directly."

"Hoo, thank you."

"Now then, let's get back to our original objective."

---

Grammar errors, story errors, other errors, and advice, email flightless05@gmail.com

Thanks!