1692

Where it begun...

The girl swung slowly with the growing winds, her hair brushed across her face as bright as flames. The moonlight lit up the ground around her, her face a ghostly white traced with blue, her eyes closed creating an almost peaceful expression. A soft trickle of blood now sat crusted down her chin where she had bitten too hard, the noose having tightened too quick. The entrails of her dress dragged across the damp ground beneath her, the newly blossomed flowers hanging their heads as though in prayer for the girl. 

With a loud crack heavy footsteps ran toward her, sobs escaping the newly come visitor. With the flick of a wrist a knife swung out and sliced through the rope, the girl dropping with a thud into the strangers arms. 

“Evangeline,” the man sobbed into her neck, his voice cracked from the tears. His hair swept across her cheek, black against her skin. “Evangeline.”

He shook her form softly in his arms, begging her to wake. 

He felt a twitch. He looked down and fell back as Evangeline’s eyes flicked open, her hands reaching out and grabbing onto his face, her eyes a smoky white. With a grunt the boy leant forward as he slowly felt the life slipping out of him, a darkness wrapping around his heart. His heartbeat thudded loudly in his ears as his eyes drifted closed, his muscles weakening as a light glow trickled out of his mouth toward Evangeline, a cold feeling coming over him. 

Evangeline’s hands tightened as she pulled the boy closer, the green of her eyes returning, the blue of her lips slowing becoming a plump pink. With a final gasp she pushed the boy from her and hunched over on the grass, feeling like she would be sick at any moment. She glanced to the boy and whimpered; her brother: Nathanial. She had taken the life of her own brother so she could live. 

Bile rose in her throat. 

She screamed, her voice carrying over the quiet field. Birds flew from their branches into the night sky, disappearing as the leaves shook in their wake. 

Evangeline stood up and looked down at her brother, his eyes closed as though he were asleep. It shouldn't have been him. She looked up and through the forest edge saw the faint glow of the town before her, her anger almost too much for her to contain. So quickly had her own friends and family turned against her; saw her for a monster opposed to the good she had been doing for the town. Healing those sick. Growing food for her neighbours to harvest.

And Kerum and Daniel - where were they now?

They had sworn to protect no matter the cost, sworn to be there for her when the Council had started their crazed witch hunt. But instead they had watched as she had been dragged through the town kicking and screaming to the top of the hill, her body strung up for the whole town to witness her death. 

Evangeline moved quickly now, running into the forest with a  burning sensation growing within her hands. She clenched her fists as the light of the town grew closer, the sounds of her neighbours banging and moving around in their homes loud in the night. 

She hissed as the flames building alongside her rage bit at her skin, her hands shaking with every step she ran until she finally let it go. The flames soared from her body with ease, as though they had been building inside of her her entire life, waiting to be released. Her red hair thrashed around her face as the grounds lit up around her, houses setting alight like stacks of hay to a single match. Screams erupted into the air as people hurried from their homes in panic, the night sky lit up; burning. Evangeline stopped still and watched, her eyes alight with excitement as her town burned around her. Several of her neighbours caught sight of her and stumbled back, praying to a god who could not save them now. The witch moved slowly amongst the chaos, a smirk playing at her lips.

She watched them all burn. Just as they had watched her.