Chapter Seventy-Two - A Stupid Quest

After sighing and seriously questioning what paths he could take from there, Locke decided to first analyze the second woman's memories, he then moved over to her and removed her mask.

Gerda was a little older than he imagined, the woman must have been close to fifty, she had dyed brown hair and expression marks on her face, she also wore almost no makeup, Locke touched her forehead and soon she made a pain expression.

To Locke's relief, Guerda's story was far less complicated than Carmina's, the witch was born into a middle-class family and had a fairly normal childhood, the woman's life could be described in a single sentence, ordinary.

Guerda was a happy child, she didn't have everything she wanted but still her parents spoiled her a lot, although not necessarily popular, she had a fair number of friends, she might not be the smartest in her class but she she never failed to get good enough grades to pass, she certainly wasn't the prettiest girl but yet she wasn't ugly either, just ordinary.

But that was something she hated.

Guerda wanted to be special, she wanted to have something that made her stand out, something in which she was better than others, something unique.

She tried everything, she tried sports, she tried to draw, she tried to paint, she tried to be a cheerleader, she tried music, singing, dancing and many other things, in all of them she only got a reasonable performance, good enough to be accepted and even earn some praise, but far from good enough to be considered a talent.

It also didn't help that her sister was born with incredible talent, she was not only prettier than Guerda but she had what her sister most wanted, an extraordinary talent, she played the piano so beautifully and so perfect that even Guerda was thrilled.

Guerda then tried to revolt, she started dressing provocatively, participating in parties and ballads, trying to live an anarchic and crazy life.

Her parents, unlike what would be common in a situation like this, showed a deep support for the girl, instead of arguments they covered her with even more love and support, and her little sister, despite having much more talent than Guerda, had always idolized her older sister, following Guerda around like a puppy, and for that Guerda felt guilty.

Guerda then abandoned her rebellion fase, the girl tried to conform to her destiny and focus on getting on with her own life, even though her destiny was probably destined to always have an ordinary life, she would probably work some ordinary job, marry an ordinary man and have more ordinary children, and when she died, the world would never remember her.

One day, when Guerda was old enough, she went to college. She purposely chose one far away from her house, trying to avoid her friends, wishing never to be compared to her little sister again, she was approved for relatively good college and started studing something that interested her, she made a point of trying to be the best in her class but, once again, although she was good enough to pass with accolades, she was far from being talented enough to be among the best.

One day, while Guerda was leaving the library carrying a pile of books she bumped into a girl right in the hallway, the books were on the floor along with the two girls, Guerda was ready to apologize when she realized who it was.

It was a girl who attended the same college but was taking a different course, one who was known for dressing strangely, a typical alternative girl, with heavy makeup on her face and punk-style clothes, with dyed hair in pink and too many piercings and tattoos all over her body, a girl who was always in the rumors and was said to be capable of curses and witchcraft. Guerda was worried, fearing she had caused a fight, but the girl just looked confused, she got up and helped Guerda with the fallen books, then she introduced herself as Samantha and offered her her hand for a shake.

Guerda was surprised by the girl's attitude and accepted the greeting, as soon as both hands touched Samantha's expression changed to surprise and then joy, she said being able to feel that Guerda had a great potential for magic, she invited Guerda to a meeting of her Coven and handed a small card with her phone, then said goodbye.

Obviously Guerda was skeptical, she might not be the smartest person in the world but she was smart enough to know that magic didn't exist, she believed the woman was just a fool who wanted to feel special with the idea of ​​being born with magic powers that no one else had, she was sure the so-called witches' meeting was no more than a party in the woods at dawn, filled with a bunch of silly, childish girls, who believed they had power because they were running around a bonfire while they repeated words from ancient languages ​​out of context or some other made-up nonsense.

Guerda was ready to crumple the paper and throw it away when she hesitated and tucked it into her purse.

The time until the meeting was three days, and in those three days Guerda questioned himself whether or not she should participate, many times she came close to throwing the paper away and forgetting all that, but she found herself thinking of just participating a only time, even if she didn't believe in magic, maybe it would be cool to participate, maybe it would even be fun.

On the day of the meeting she got in touch with Samantha, even though she didn't believe it, she felt good for Samantha saying she had talent, so, she go.

The meeting started the way Guerda had expected, Samantha greeted her with a smile and led her to a fire in the middle of a clearing, where a bunch of quirkyly dressed girls sang in a weird language as they danced around the fire, they welcomed her with joy, the girls drank and played with each other, while they talked about the most diverse subjects, the 'witches' meeting' seemed to be nothing more than a gathering of friends with a common faith, who vehemently believed that their rituals had some real power.

She watched from the side for a while as she exchanged words with any of the girls who addressed her, things stayed the same for a while and she even started to enjoy the conversations, the girls were kind and easy to talk to, none of them showed a bad attitude, they seemed to have already accepted Guerda as if she were a sister, unfortunately it was getting late and she was ready to leave, that's when it happened.

One of the girls she was talking to stopped suddenly, she got up and walked to the fire, she threw some branches of an unknown plant into the fire while screaming words in that same language, the fire took on a strong green color as it exploded, the flames became so big that Guerda get's started and screamed, which caused a wave of laughter from all the other girls.

Feeling humiliated, Guerda was ready to leave when she noticed something strange, a figure began to form amidst the flames, and soon an older woman crossed the fire, appearing in front of the girls with her dress immaculated.

Guerda watched it all in shock, her mouth so open it would have fit a baseball, her mind trying to find logical explanations for what she had witnessed, trying to understand the mechanism behind the trick, millions of ideas raced through her brain and all were discarded, she simply could not understand how the woman had made that triumphant entrance.

The woman walked out of the fire and entered the middle of the girls, who stood up and circled her, greeting her with kisses and affectionate hugs, the woman received everyone's affection with a warm smile, treating them all as if they were her daughters, she then see Guerda.

"Ohoo? And who is this child?" the woman questioned with a gentle smile. "I don't think I've ever seen her at our meetings!"

"Mother, she goes to the same college as me, I could see her potential as soon as I touched her, and that's why I invited her to our meeting..." Samantha replied.

The older woman approached Guerda, keeping the same gentle smile on her lips, she reached out both hands to Guerda, Guerda took both hands instinctively.

"Oh! I can see... Really, this one has the potential to be a great sister... Tell me, child, what's you name?"

"G-Guerda!"

The woman then snapped her fingers, a throne-shaped chair formed and she sat down, which increased Guerda's confusion and interest, little lights lit up around they as a small table formed beside her, even a goblet appeared on the little table and the woman took it, the goblet was full of what appeared to be wine, the woman took a small sip and continued. "Tell me, Guerda, do you want to learn magic?"

Guerda's lips responded before her brain. "Yes!"

After that day, Guerda's life changed, she was still skeptical at first, her mind still wondered if everything she had seen was just an elaborate prank or some illusion show, but even if it was fake she wanted to learn it, to her delight magic was real, very real, and she found herself feeling more excited than she had ever felt in all her life.

Guerda then began to learn about the secrets of the world, not only was magic real, but its existence was well known and controlled by the governments, there were also other species that lived among humans, some peacefully, very well inserted in society in secret, and others in a bellicose way, preying on humanity in the darkness.

Learning magic made Gerda feel special, to her utter joy she was finally able to discover something she had talent in, not just an ordinary talent, a great talent. She demonstrated a talent far greater than her companions and soon surpassed them, she had a special talent for elemental magic, especially lightning, wind and ice magic, and, learning these spells, she felt like the weather goddess herself.

But Gerda wanted more, awakening her talent wasn't enough for her, she wanted to show it to everyone, she couldn't accept to keep having to live hiding her powers, she didn't like the fact that she couldn't show everyone how special she was.

The first and only normal person she showed her new power to was her little sister, she hoped she would feel jealous, but her sister showed pure delight, she claimed that she always knew that Guerda was special and that she was happy for her, a sweet and honest reaction, far from what Guerda expected or wanted.

Guerda tried to follow the rules of her Coven, she hid her talent from other normal people and tried to be happy despite that, she tried to push the desire for recognition deep into her while exploring her gifts and making them grow in the shadows, she almost made it.

One day her little sister came to pay her a visit, a surprise visit, Guerda only found out when she found her sister talking to Samantha at the entrance to her dorm, her heart filled with terror at that moment, especially when she realized what Samantha was doin .

Samantha wasn't a particularly strong witch, but she was very good at measuring other people talent's, as soon as she saw Samantha touch her sister's shoulder she knew what she was doing.

Although her heart pounded with fear and anticipation, Guerda took on an appearance of joy and approached the two of them, she hugged her sister and accepted her affection as she watched her friend from the side and tried to understand what she had seen in her sister.

The next two days went by like this, Guerda took her sister everywhere and Samantha accompanied her, Guerda feared two things, that her sister would say that she broke the taboo and showed magic to an ordinary person or that her friend would reveal that the her sister had the potential for magic.

Luckily nothing happened in the two days that her sister was there, so Guerda was quite happy when it came time for her to leave, of course she didn't show it on her face, but as soon as her sister left Samantha approached her and confirmed her fears, her sister also had a talent for magic.

The idea of ​​her sister getting the only thing that made her feel special was a shock to Guerda, she didn't want to take any chances or even think about the idea of ​​her sister having more talent for it than she did so she begged Samantha to hide that fact.

Her friend did not understand her reasons for such a request, she claimed to be unable to accept something like that, she also said that is dangerous for a person with talents for magic to live without the slightest training, that having this undeveloped talent could cause her sister to become a target for the monsters.

Guerda then pretended to agree, she asked Samantha to give her some time and leave it in her hands, she would talk to her sister and explain everything to her, which Samantha agreed.

But actually, Guerda's plans were completely different, she never told her sister about her gifts, just stating to Samantha that her sister didn't want to be one of them, but that she accepted to learn only the basics through Guerda, and she would teach her what was necessary so that her sister could at least hide her powers.

As a consequence of her omission, one night her family was attacked by a monstrous creature, attracted by the mana constantly emitted by Guerda's sister the creature invaded the house and killed her and her parents.

Guerda thought her problems were over, she told the other witches that despite the training she had given her sister, she still ended up getting caught by a monster with her family, unfortunately for Guerda, Samantha wanted to get to the bottom of it, she and the Coven Mother went looking for answers.

Realizing that things were getting out of her control, Guerda took a desperate measure, she used the dead of night to invade the Coven leader's quarters, she stole her most precious possession, her spell book, and fled. She then started to roam the world, she broke the taboo and started using her powers in front of normal people, who worshiped her like a goddess.

It wasn't long before the Bureau found out about her, they sent a hunting team and the woman was successfully captured, she was ready to be incarcerated when she was saved by a group of strangers, they are the Heralds of the New World, a group who believed that magic and monsters and everything else should be public knowledge and that the people in power should be the ones with magical gifts.

She gladly joined them, she was trained to use her gifts for battle and her talents developed even more than before, the cultists did not feel sorry to spend elixirs and magic items to increase the woman's skill, which grew to a frightening level.

Guerda also discovered the pleasure of killing the inferiors, normal humans were so weak and pathetic, she began to feel like a queen stepping on ants and became one of the Heralds' greatest executioners.

"Another fool, her stupid quest for recognition took her on this spiral of madness and stupidity, she didn't even realize she was used by the cultists, that they indoctrinated her and manipulated her into becoming a monster... maybe she was already a monster, she preferred to see the little sister die than let her be like her..." Locke commented, he looked at the two passed out women with cold eyes. "Neither of them deserves to live, they killed too many innocent people..."

'A stupid quest, indeed... Are you going to kill them?' Tia questioned.