(CHAPTER 19: THE WITCH AT THE EAST SWAMP)

Luckily the desert does not stretch further away at the south, after only one day of travelling, they've finally arrived at the swamp. Their first impression towards the area was that this place stinks and reeks. Hero take a sniff, and he gagged, the air was filled with disgusting smell of rotten flesh, mossy water and parasite infested trees. The swamp was mostly covered in gooey, muddy water, so crossing it and searching for a witch's hut would be quite a hustle.

"Yuck." Hero said as he sink his feet into the swamp. It was a disgusting feeling, as if he was walking in a pool filled with slime goo and dog drool, icy and icky. "How far are we from the hut." Brine asked, she was clearly covering her face, looks like she also couldn't stand with the smell.

"Maybe a day of travel," Hero said. "If we make it out of this alive." He take a step, and it let out a fur raising "squelch", he felt something coming out of his throat, but he has to hold it. He took another step, and what follows was another "squelch", and another, and another as they moved difficulty through the swamp.

When night fall, they have no other choice but to stay one of the hollowed out tree bark. Which is definitely a bad idea, since it was hollowed out by parasitic worms, luckily they left long ago, leaving the dry out corpse. But they didn't have time to think about that, as another problem was smack right in front of their face.

They couldn't set up their campfire, or torches.

Maybe it is the cold damp surrounding, or maybe the flint and steel they are using ran out of durability, but they just refuse to light up. Without the campfire and torches, they cant cook food and worse, mobs were starting to swarm them. Without any choice, he blocked all the entrance of the tree, and soon it was pitch black.

"Brine, where are you?" Hero shouted, his hands scrawl around blindly.

"I am here, what's the matter?" He heard her voice and he headed towards it. As his eyes adapt to the darkness, he is able to see a shadow at the corner of the trunk. He headed towards there and when he come closer, he is able to see her clearly, sitting on floor.

"The torched refuse to lit up, so do the campfire, it is pitch black here." He said as he sit beside her.

"Yeah, it was really dark." She replied.

"…." He seems to felt his words offended her, although she wasn't.

"You want some food?" He asked as he search for the food he had packed for the trip, but as he took out a potato, he was shocked. The potato in front of him was rotten, mushy and soggy to the feel. Panic, he put his backpack upside down and shake out all of the food, and almost all of them were rotten, only the baked potatoes and some cooked meat as well as stew survived.

He let out a sigh as he leaned at the wall of the trunk.

So now, a new problem has rose.

"What happened?" Brine asked once more.

"Nothing." He replied as he hand her one of the baked potatoes, "Here, have some."

She took it and nibbled on it slowly, while hero took one of the small brown mushroom he has collected on the way as he popped them into his mouth like popcorns. He chew on it, it was rubbery with a slight meaty and fishy taste to it, it taste fine, but hey at least it is nutrition. He chewed the gum like mushroom as he look at Brine, suddenly an idea flashed through his mind.

Since the witch is able to cure a zombie back to human, then, why didn't he ask the witch to cure Brine's eyes?

He shook his head, trying to get rid of the idea.

He didn't know whether the witch is hostile or friendly to them.

He had no idea whether she is able to help them.

He didn't even know whether the witch really exist.

Suddenly he felt he was on a wild goose chase, but he has no choice. He has gone too far, there is no room for him to turn back. He took out their bed and they slept for the night. He could her the hissing and growling sound of the mobs outside them, but the idea to cure Brine's sight was like a cancer, spreading through the rest of his thoughts. He felt excited for some reason, maybe he can finally help her, or maybe he can finally get rid of his guilt.

He turn his head around and look at Brine who was sleeping right beside him.

"I will cure you, I promise."

The night finally passes.

Hero woke up as he tries to find his axe. One night within a tree trunk is already quite enough for him. His body is icky and sticky from all the sweat. It was hot and stinky inside the trunk, not to mention that it was dark and damp at the same time.

When he grab hold of his axe, he took a big swing at the trunk as he cut an opening on it. Letting fresh air to fill in the inside but not large enough to allow mobs to break in. Whether it is their luck or the swamp, there were almost a ton of mobs surrounding them, mostly creepers, one of his worst nightmare. One wrong step would send him flying off without limbs.

"Get up Brine, we gotta move, now." He shake her bed, trying to wake her up.

"..."

"Get up-" The moment he flip over her blanket, he froze.

"What the he-" He took a step back as he leans at the wall.

He look at Brine. She was white, not like pale, she was glowing, her skin was turning faint blue as weird markings appear on her skin, with red lines on it, glowing faintly. He rush towards her as he put his palm on her forehead, she was icy cold. He shook her as she called her name, but she only replied with a weak groan. Her body is starting to fade, as it glows dimly. He suddenly realizes something as he flipped over to her back, and he saw that, a pair of tiny wing was poking out of her back.

Everything became clear right now.

"You are a fool to disobey the words of mine, Hero." Phil whispered as he put a golden box identical to the one he kept his vexes on the altar. On the box carved 5 large words: BRINE

"You will come back for me, crawling, begging, crying."

Hero break through the wooden wall as he rushed towards the witch's hut. Time is running out, and he has to act fast. He could feel arrows swooshing past his ears as well as creeper blowing randomly behind him. He has no time to turn back and see, or even to stop. He took out the map as he ran towards the direction of the witch's hut. He could feel blood gushing through his veins as he tries his best trying to keep himself from tripping over the roots poking out of the murky swamp water.

His lungs tightens and expands violently as he heaved heavily. He could feel at some point one of his veins might pop. His vision started to grew hazy as he could feel his muscle turning into jelly. Suddenly his right feet hooked onto one of the root and he fell flat into the murky swamp water, taking a bit out of the natural mud. He stood up from the water as he reaches for the wooden box he have made for Brine. He picks it up and tries to carry it but one of the strap on it has break on impact, making it almost impossible to use. He has no time to stop and fix the broken strap, he has to keep going. He open the box as he carries her out as he starts running again with her in his arms. The swamp water was cold, but she was even colder. He look at her, she was fading away, time was running out for her.

"Hold on." He panted as he headed towards the direction. From far away, he is able to see a hut faraway, with its roof poking out behind a tree. "We're almost there." He was about to stumble but he was able to reach his hands out and he regain his balance and continue to sprint.

The moment he reached the witche's hut, he didn't even bother to knock on the door, or even make sure there are people inside. He knock over the door with his shoulder as it opens with a huge slam. He look inside the hut as he tries to find the witch, but there was no one in it.

"Hello!? Anyone!?" He screamed as he searched the entire hut from top to bottom. But he found nothing.

"I need help!" He screamed once more as he stood at the middle of the hut. "She I dying! I needed help!"

The moment he realizes that no one was in the hut, desperation filled his mind. He was dumbfounded, shocked as he walks wobbly towards the one and only bed at the corner of the hut. His ears are ringing while his eyes were sore, he feels like he could fell down and loose his consciousness any second right now.

His hand were shaking as he lay her on the bed softly. She was barely breathing, the wing has sprouted and she is turning more and more alike to those vexes he have fought before. His tries to make her comfy by covering her with a layer of blanket but he knew that this is not going to save her. The moment he look at her eyes he finally break down.

He should've leave that damn Inn.

He should've kill Phil the moment he could.

He should've keep her beside him all the time.

He should've take her out of the room instead of locking her inside.

He kneel in front of the bed as he sobbed uncontrobaly as he grip her icy cold hand tightly. She has suffer that much because of him. He was the cause of all her unfortunate. He tried to make her happy, he tried to make her comfortable but it all backfired. He has never done anything good to her, anything that makes her happy.

Now he is about to lose her, because of his own idiocy.

Just when he was in a middle of a breakdown, a single squeak emerges out of nowhere. He stopped crying as he looks at the door. A squeak, and another, and another, as if someone was climbing up the stairs to the hut. A figure emerges at the entrance, she was a tall, slender woman at her 40s, with a long purple robe and a black witch hat with an emerald tied to it, her skin appears rather dull while she wears a leather pant and boot beneath the robe. Her face is wrinkly with a curly, pitch black hair. She has a long, pointy nose and with a wart on it. Her mouth was filled with crooked teeth and her eyes were mystic purple in color. She stares at Hero for a moment as she let out a sigh :

"My, my, look what we've got this time."

The figure enters the hut slowly as she put down the herbs and medicine she just gathered from the stroll. "What do you want, mister. " She said as she sort up the items she have just collected in some wooden barrel. "First, tell me which clan you are on." She sat down on the carpet with a tea in her hand and asked.

"Clan?"

"Yes, clan." She laughed. "You are an illager, right, you must've a clan." She take a quick sip out of the tea cup. "Tell me right now, if you wanted my help."

"Well….." He has no idea, all he knew is that he has to pretend that he was an illager if he needed her to help him. "I am with Phil, you know that guy, owns a Inn at a desert?" After some quick thinking, he answered. If Phil learned dark arts from her, she might've knew him, at least recognize his name.

"Oh, Phil." She let out a sigh. A cat leap towards her from the shelf, it looked at Hero as it let out a hiss before proceed to cuddle in her arms. "He needed weakness potions and golden apples for the cure again?" She patted the cat softly as it let out a soft purr. "They are in that barrel at there." She pointed at a barrel located at the corner of the hut. "I am running low on storage right now, tell him to pay me next time."

"Yeah, the cure." Hero nodded cautiously as he walk towards the barrel and carry it up on his shoulder, he act carefully, afraid that his trick would be found out.

"Its weird that Phil would send someone to trade, " She stares at Hero, he turn his head around , evading her eyes.

"I am abandoned from another clan, he took pity of me and let me work with him." Nice excuse, he thought in his mind. "And what's with the girl on my bed." She pointed at Brine, who was still out cold. "She….." Hero panicked as he searched his mind for excuses.

"She?" The witch stood up as she pushed hero aside and look at Brine. "She is going to change into a vex. What did you done to her."

"Well….. She was Phil's, err, maid, yes maid. She was, err, helping her with the Inn when she accidentally stumbled on it, and Phil wanted me to carry her here to let you cure her." He stammers his way through the excuses as he tried to play it cool.

"Oh, is it." The witch look at Brine and at Hero. He kept his head low.

I am so dead right now.

"It was unbreakable with any potion or spells" The witch spoke as she look at Brine. Hero lift out his head, he couldn't believe the word she have said, what do she means by unbreakable, is she going to die? "The spell can only be undo if you destroy the box of soul."

"The box of soul?"

"Yes, the box of soul. A box that trap and enslaves the soul of mortals. That's how vexes were formed." She stood up from the bed as she walk towards one of chest and took out a rectangle object wrapped in layers and layers of cloth. She unwrapped it nice and slowly and within it was a gold tinted box, with a huge emerald eye stuffed at the middle and a few diamonds decorating the side. The box contains various spells and mystical drawings, but the top side of the box remains empty.

"The way this box work is through writing the victims name on it." The witch pointed the top empty part of the box.

"And that's it?" Hero asked.

"No of course." She chuckled, bearing her hideous teeth. "A spell need to be conjured first to the box as well as some offerings at the altar. It should also need to stay near with the target for some time in order for it to fully trap his soul, which is actually the tricky part for the spell. Not to mention the box itself cost a lot since it is the one that is able to support the spell."

The box, it support the spell.

The box is the median.

So that means-

"So the spell." Hero asked anxiously as hope flashes in his eyes. "It can be destroyed when the box itself is destroyed, right?"

"Yes, but it also has a chance that-"Before she could even complete, Hero took the barrel and rushed towards the door. "Hey, what about the girl!" The witch shouted as he rush towards the door. "You keep her safe for tonight, I will be back shortly." Hero screamed before fading into the thick mist of the swamp. What left was his shout that echoes through the swamp.

"What a weird fella." She shook his head "Come on spider, we got a guest tonight." She patted the cat which was resting in her arms as together they enter the hut and shut the door.

Hero panted heavily as he traverse through the maze like swamp, which is now thick and heavily flooded with mist. Beads of water started to form on his hair, his shirt, drenching him little by little. But he didn't stop, the feeling of adrenaline gushing in his vein was a sweet, sweet feeling.

The moment he finally dashed out of the thick, damp swamp and into the hot, blazing desert, it was already dawn.

West

He took out his compass as he continue his journey to the village. There is still time before she fully turned into a vex, he still have a chance. As he sprinted, he could see a small dot far away. As he hike over one sandy dune and another, the dot started to get larger and larger, clearer and clearer. And finally when the last shred of sunlight sets beneath the horizon, he was back at the town.

If the town was lifeless before, it is completely dead tonight.

Hero walk through the ally way where he was swarmed by villagers, but no one was there. It seems as if everyone within the town disappeared together in a single night .All the lights within the buildings were blown out, the only source of light was the Inn at the middle of the town. Hero has a bad feeling about this….

He stood at the entrance of the Inn. Strangely the wooden oak door was open wide, as if it was inviting him to enter, taunting him… He took a deep breath as he gather up every ounce of his courage

And step into the Inn