Legend of Lady Anastasia

Today's lesson brought them back to medieval Europe. A time of fear and paranoia, where life felt like they were living through the punishment of gods, and a bitter war of Humans against Witches.

Prof. Crumpet skilfully presented them with the image of that time through his storytelling. He didn't just line up dry facts and sequences of events through numbers and places they'd never even heard of. No, he spun it into plausible real-life experiences of common folk, stories of significant events through lenses both of the victims and the perpetrators. Starting from the religious Inquisition of heretics that cascaded into the Witch Hunt which led many to be cruelly tortured and consequently executed for many centuries.

Perhaps it was surprising he didn't take the stand to strictly vilify the humans that victimized witches. Some were evil, as there always was evil, but some were simply fearful and made horrible decisions in their ignorance.

Then, he went on to explain Primas.

"In the past, a special kind of mage would be chosen by the Elements in a time of great hardships. Prima Maga. Her task would be to spearhead through hardship and lead mages to a better life. In possession of great wisdom and forethought, no other could be more suited for the task. Inside of her would be the reincarnated minds of her predecessors, with their knowledge and experience, who would help her lead. She would have the power of all four Elements as well as the power of the mysterious sacred Fifth Element, one we call Spirit, and would be the most powerful mage among them all."

And at last, such demanding, most difficult times, created a prima who was above all that came before her. It was Lady Anastasia. A prima with power beyond comprehension, who had handled an impossible task no one could dream of and created a completely new world for her sisters and brothers.

Ostracised, mages gathered around the young Prima. They had a simple choice: perish or find a different place that wouldn't devour them following simple-minded ambitions. Through their joined effort they became the architects of an entirely new world, and her power—which rivalled gods—created what was thought impossible.

Because their ambitions were as great as the gods themselves, they knew sacrifices would be just as great. Many of her acolytes selflessly sacrificed everything, their bodies and souls, to create a sanctuary for witches and open the door to lead them there. Their willingness to sacrifice everything for future generations they knew they would never meet, allowed witches to be here today.

"Lady Anastasia herself made a detrimental sacrifice. Her wish was that she be the 'Last Witch' to sacrifice herself for the world. And consequently became the last Prima we would ever see."

As the lesson was winding to an end, Maya sheepishly raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss Watergate," the professor acknowledged her.

"How did she die?"

He seemed a little stumped by the question. "She sacrificed herself for our world."

"I meant, what did that sacrifice entail?"

"I'm afraid I am unable to tell in detail. Our records speak of her sacrifice, but we do not know the intricacies of the magic she had used. Only that the price was great. Only Lady Anastasia herself would know what has transpired."

"I understand. Thank you."

"I apologize for not being able to give you a better answer. But asking questions is good. It gives me joy you show interest. Does anyone else have a question?"

As such, classes passed in regular order. Perhaps, it was slightly noticeable on teachers' faces before they would start their lessons that they were painfully reminded by the certain empty seat that one of the students of their class would never attend again. It was Stella Rivera, one of the victims, the girl Maya tried to befriend on several occasions but never quite succeeded.

And then, came the time for the school assembly. The Headmistress wanted to address the incident from yesterday. Throughout the day, the word got spread, and soon everyone knew the fate of the missing students before they knew they were considered missing in the first place.

"Lately, it seems we're having funerals every other day…"

Maya stood in the crowd, quietly waiting to hear the announcement while listening to the people talking around her.

"…Yes it was horrible. However, some students did react rather strangely…"

Next to her, Maya overheard a group of gossipers who were recounting their first-hand experiences from yesterday's trip into the woods.

"Yeah? Who?"

"First, it was that junkie guy. You saw, right? The way he started shaking and ran away like he was guilty…"

"No way!"

"He's one of the students that went missing last year… Yeah, Hunters brought them back… If you ask me, something isn't quite right with that bunch. They just feel… empty."

"Nah, man. It's because they're drugged up all the time. It has nothing to do with that incident. They chose to get cooped up and high. He was probably just tripping there."

"Then what about that freshman girl? The one dating Keith Spencer."

Not trying to listen in particular before, Maya perked up her ears after hearing Elena was the subject of their conversation. Come to think of it, Maya doesn't know what Elena's reaction was like even though she was standing right next to her when they reached that ridge. She was too blinded by her own panic attack and soon after Adam brought her away.

"Huh?"

"You saw her reaction, right?"

"No. I was busy seeing four corpses in front of me. What did she do?"

"That's the thing. Nothing. She did absolutely nothing. It was like seeing corpses was nothing eventful to her. I just happened to look in her direction when my stomach turned and I looked away. That new girl that she hangs around screamed in shock, but she just looked at her like she was overreacting."

"No way."

"I swear. Our eyes met at that moment and there was no emotion on her face. I felt like she could've been the one that killed them herself and not bat an eye—"

"Is your friend okay?"

Maya flinched at Adam's voice, feeling like she was caught red-handed eavesdropping. He was standing near her talking to his own friends so she didn't expect him to suddenly talk to her.

"I get what they are saying. I also coincidentally looked at Elena when we found those bodies and… Her expression was a little weird."

"What do you mean?"

"It's like they said. Her face was rather blank. I'd say she wasn't the least bit horrified as the rest of us. I know everyone deals with shock differently… Maybe she'd seen dead bodies before. Do you happen to know anything?"

Maya felt it was rather strange he would inquire about it. If you think about it, most people here probably saw someone die. They are all traumatised kids in need of counselling. And Maya was the one person who sees souls re-enact the way they died almost daily.

"I know many of you are disheartened. Barely one week passed and we were struck with such tragedies…" The Headmistress started with her speech, saving Maya from answering.

"I know it is especially hard on our youngest ones. The whole world has suffered the same loss and it was only a matter of time before our enemies learn we have lost our watchful protectors. Perhaps it was unavoidable they would brazenly use this chance while we struggled to cover our weak spots and mock our loss. They have gotten us at our low, but we will show them we do not despair. This will not happen again!

The number of our guards is being reinforced and the night patrols will not have blind spots. I also beg for your cooperation. Obey the curfew, obey the rules. Keeping the town safe is not an impossible task if we all work together."