HNK File 002: Aria and the Witch Hunt

The bell in the middle of the town square rings 12 times. It’s a sign everyone here has known for hundreds of years; another witch burning. Every year about this time of October this usually happens. Are these people really witches? Or are we just endlessly killing people? I look up at the orange hued sky.  A magnificent crescent moon begins to shows itself. The sound of the town’s people snaps me back as I hear my friend Kagari jog down the road.

 

“Hey Aria, what are you standing for?” Kagari grabs my shoulders and shakes me a bit. “You heard the bells right?” Her face stiffens as we proceed on with crowd.

 

“Kagari?” I stop in place. “Do you think it’s one of our friends again? Last time it was Haruka accused of being a succubus and before that Misato and Kumi for being a tanuki and fox spirit. I’m tired of seeing this happen to our friends and other innocent people.” Tears swell in my eyes but Kagari says nothing she just grabs my hand and we charge forward.

 

The crowd of people is circled around the mayor Dogen and his assistant Murasaki. They are standing next to a pile of hay with a large piece of wood in the center. Kagari forces our way through the crowd of people so we can get a good look at the victim this time. I keep my eyes closed until I hear Kagari’s voice.

“Hikage…” She says stammering. I open my eyes and sure enough Hikage is tied up tight against the wood. We only knew Hikage for about a couple years but she was a really relaxed person like she didn’t have any emotions or anything. She was a nice person though who never caused any trouble. “You bastards!” Kagari threw my hand down and charged towards the mayor. I tried to call out to her but my voice couldn’t reach her angered heart.

 

“Restrain her! She’s trying to protect a witch!” Mayor Dogen’s voice rings out. The police make their way out and create a human wall between themselves and Dogen. Kagari continued her angry dash. “What are you all doing? Kill her.” The police readied their guns and took aim. “Fire!”

 

A single loud bang rocked my eardrums. The feel of hot metal caresses my cheek as I watch a single bullet fly past me and nail Kagari in the back of the head. A woman moves towards me and stands next to me. It was the captain of Dogen’s firing squad and my best friend since I was a kid, Mai. She clicked her tongue before placing her arm around my shoulder. “So, this is the kinds of friends you’ve been making since I left.”

 

“Kagari!” I try to run up to Kagari’s lifeless body but I am immediately stopped by the other members of the firing squad and Mai.

 

“Don’t be stupid and throw your life away like she did Aria.” I feel the warm barrel of Mai’s gun press against the back of my head. “We may have been best friends but I will not hesitate to kill you like I did to her.” The crowd of onlookers remains quiet as I fall to my knees and submit to Mai.

 

“What happened to you?” I turn my head and look at the girl I use to call “best friend” and see the cold soulless eyes glaring down at me. She smirks and retracts her weapon.

 

“You probably think this whole thing is fake don’t you?” Mai asks. ““Witches, magic and the occult aren’t real.” If only that was the truth. If it was Josui and Tamaki would be alive right now. My sisters…my only family was taken by them. I saw it with my own eyes. Crying and screaming out in pain and they beat each other to death with anything and everything around them. Someone was controlling them and I know who it was.” Her gaze falls on Hikage whose unamused look angers Mai.

 

“Yeah, I did it. I killed those 2 girls a few years ago.” Hikage, who was silent through everything up until now has finally spoke and what she said left everyone speechless. A girl who had never shown any kind of evil or malice is a murderer. “I killed them because I was bored one day back when I was following Hinata. I was in a dark place back then though.”

 

“Shut up murderer!” Mai screamed out. “You took them away from me because you were bored?! Mai lit a torch and lit the hay on fire. Mai stood over Kagari body and began shooting it again over and over. “You took what was precious away from me so now you’re going to watch as I punish the only person here who gives a damn about you as you burn and die the miserable death you deserve. May your punishment in Hell be infinitely worse and torturous. Otherwise I’ll follow you down there to make sure justice is served.”

 

“Heh” Hikage smiled a bit as the flames began to lap at her lower legs. She looked down at Mai. It was the first time anyone in the village had seen her do that. “Yes, what I did was awful, but you are going to be corrupted be your sense of what justice is.”

Mai cuts her off by firing her gun at Hikage but the bullets disintegrate within centimeters of hitting her. “I will kill you. No, we will kill you! And I will snuff out everyone of your kind.” Mai turns and persuades the town’s people to light more torches and get a bigger fire going.

 

I sit in the back behind the crowd who has moved close to Hikage burning body. My mind is in a complete mess. My new best friend is killed by my old best friend. Her sister’s were manipulated into killing each other and the one responsible is currently burning alive right now, Hikage. I can’t cry, I can’t scream. Only 3 things are visible to me. Kagari’s bullet filled body, Hikage’s burning body and Mai.

 

“It’s a shame. She should heed that girl’s warning.” A girl who I have never seen before is now standing in front of me. Her cherry red hair fluttered in the wind and her violet eyes were beautiful. “We should leave. I have a bad feeling about all of this.” The mysterious girl walks me out of town square and to her small house in an unfamiliar part of town. Her place is small and filled with unusual artifacts.

 

“Who are you? I’ve never seen you around town before.” The girl looks out her window before responding.

 

“My name is Shiaya. I’m a researcher. I’m from a family of witch researchers. These artifacts here around you are things my family and I have gotten from our research. I’ve learned a lot from my parents and ancestors.” She turns around and faces me. “Never doubt a witch’s last words. That Mai girl will be killed for trying to dish out her “justice”. Vengeance will only beget more violence and maybe even senseless killing. Like what’s about to happen now.”

 

Her words wonder around in my head for a few moments before I realize her last words. “What’s going to happen now?” I ask quivering a bit. She steps to the side and points out the window. I make my way over to where she is and look out. For a few seconds I don’t see or hear anything. I waited a few more moments and before I knew it people are screaming and running past us.

“It has started.” Shiaya peeked out the window with me and we saw the mayor’s assistant, Murasaki, surrounded by an evil purple aura. Her long violet hair covered in blood as she walks.

 

“Well, I’m a witch too. Come out and try to kill me.” Murasaki screamed out. Her hair blades shot out and cut through the town’s folk like butter. “You people are all high and mighty when you have someone tied up, but now your true cowardice is showing. Now perish.” Murasaki continued her rampage on all of the people in her path until she was out of view.

 

“What the hell was that?! Murasaki’s is a witch? What was that with her hair and those blades?” My minds continues to question things at the speed of light as I try to piece together what I’ve seen in the past couple hours. I sit on Shiaya’s bed as she looks at the countess bodies outside of her window.

 

“Sleep.” She dictated. “You’ve gone though a lot. Your friend died and your other friend is on a path of vengeance.” She walked into a second room and left me by myself.

 

Are the mayor and Mai okay? How long until Murasaki’s anger quells? How does Shiaya know about all of this? Those questions linger around in my mind; my heavy eyelids cover my eyes as I fall into a deep sleep.

 

I wake up to the sound of pots and pans. Shiaya is cooking something. She greets me and asks me how I am feeling. I tell her I am fine before heading into her bathroom. “Good morning sleepyhead.” I hear an all too familiar voice and look around me. But I see nothing but the usual things you’d see in a bathroom. “In the mirror Aria, look in the mirror.”

 

I did as the voice asked and looked. “Kagari.” I saw Kagari’s face reflecting back at me. Shocked to see her face I rub my eyes in astonishment. To my surprise I didn’t see Kagari’s face in the mirror when I looked again, I saw my own, but with one sudden change. “AHHHHH! My eye! This isn’t my right eye!” My right eye had changed to a crimson color like Kagari’s eyes.

 

“What’s wrong?” Shiaya came busting into the bathroom.

 

“My eye, what happened to my eye?” I grab around the area around my eye in disbelief. I don’t feel anything to make it seem like cut out or anything. I turn towards Shiaya and she sighs.

 

“Sorry Aria. I should’ve told you. I’ve been practicing witchcraft. Now before you jump the gun this does not make me a witch. I did this to help you. Even though the body is gone, the soul will remain eternal.”

 

“What does that mean?” I’m at my breaking point. My brain has been trying to make sense of everything that has happened since yesterday evening.

 

“Your eye hasn’t been taken out; your friend’s soul has been transplanted into your eye.” She says casually. “Of course doing something like this requires a lot of magical power. Like I have said, I am not a witch so I had to contact someone else who had magical power.” She pointed at me.

 

“Heh, I guess the cat is out of the bag. I hear Kagari’s voice and look into the mirror. My mouth is moving and my facial expression is different, but this isn’t me, its Kagari.”

That’s the last thing I remember before passing out. When I come to I am back in Shiaya’s bed. “Was that I dream?” Almost two seconds later I get my answer.

 

“Nope.”

 

Once again I scream. Shiaya walks next to me and slaps me in the face. She calms me down and explains the situation to me. Kagari is family is one of the most powerful witch families. Her and her four other sisters contain immense magical power. Their mother, Hinata was always one to persecute humans. It was because of her that witch hunts began. Hikage’s parents were killed by Hinata on accident when she was younger. Feeling guilty about it killing another witches parents Hinata took Hikage in with her 5 daughters. It was a few years ago when Hikage learned what had happened. And when she did she used her magic on Josui and Tamaki and had them kill each other.

“It was after that that mom gathered me and my other two sisters. She told us to fend for ourselves and escape while we could. Mom wanted the three of us to live, but Yugiri went back to go and help mom. It’s been years since then but now there are only one left.”

 

“Wait…” A shocking truth was just realized. “If Josui and Tamaki are your sisters then does that means that “she” is your sister too?”

 

“Yes, Mai is my sister as well. Mai seeks vengeance for our mother and sisters. She has thrown away her past and now wants to erase our whole race. Hikage followed the teaching of our mother closely. Her unemotional personality made her perfect for some of the higher ranked spells. She was able to understand things better than the rest of us. By the time she killed Josui and Tamaki she was right on mother’s tail as far as power goes. So only she could take her on one on one.”

 

“Hikage had paid for her sins, for all those years after the killings she’s been here in town being helpful to everyone. I even looked like she was beginning to develop emotion, every once in awhile you’d see a tiny smile on her face. Mai shot me because I didn’t hold a grudge against Hikage anymore.”

 

It was an incredible story. Everyone I know seems to be a witch, with Shiaya being an exception. Shiaya looked at me, or more, Kagari and asked what we were going to do. Mai is powerful with that gun of hers. But what worried me is that Mai was okay with shooting her own sister like that in cold blood numerous times. “We have to stop her. Not all witches are bad. We can’t let this genocide continue.”

“How do you suppose we stop her” Shiaya cuts off my speech. “Mai made it clear that this will continue until every last witch is gone. Even the head witch.”

 

“Head witch?”

 

“The strongest and original witch, however, her existence is mostly that of fairy tales. Unless she is dealt with our race will continue to exist no matter how many Mai kills.”

 

Shiaya looks at me and sighs, “I guess she’s gone for now.” She holds a mirror to my face and I see my right eye is back to normal. Sitting on the bed next to she asks nonchalantly, “What are you going to do now?” What do I do is the question going around in my head. I close my eyes and think back to all of the fun times I had with Mai and Kagari.

 

I must’ve fallen asleep because when I opened my eyes Shiaya was gone and there was someone pounding at the door. “Open this door Aria! We have some things we need to discuss.” It was Mai. How did she find out where I was? Also I’d almost forgot that Murasaki when berserk yesterday so she can’t be 100%. My heart pounds louder and louder as I open the door. Seconds become years as I slowly open the door and see the barrel of Mai’s gun pointed at my left breast.

 

“Bang.” Mai said as she fired at me. My best friend just shot me. As I fall to the floor I shed a tear.

 

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you…” My consciousness fades as I fall to the ground. I’m dead. I couldn’t really help my friend at all. Throughout all of this I never really did anything other than cry and think. If this is just some bad dream I hope it’s over with soon.

My eyes open and I’m once again in Shiaya’s bed. “I-I’m alive?” The familiar scenery greets my retinas. “I was shot in killed by Mai. Why am I still alive?”

 

“Kagari.” Shiaya answered. “Kagari took possession of your body when you were shot. She and I subdued Mai. Healing you, taking over your entire body and subduing Mai with a forbidden spell used up what she had left. So she is forever gone from your body and this plane. She did leave you 3 gifts though. The first one is your life. Kagari didn’t want to let you die like that. The second one is that your right eye is going to look like hers permanently. Consider it a scar of sorts. And last but not least she awakened your latent powers.

 

“What do you mean? None of this is making sense? How did Mai find this place? How did you guys subdue her? What are my “latent powers”? Explain to me, Shiaya.”

 

“First of all my name isn’t Shiaya its Ashiya. I am the head witch. Mai found this place because she is a witch. The cottage is invisible to regular humans only those with some magical potential can even sense this place. Mai was subdued with a forbidden spell I created. The spell won’t be lifted until Mai admits that she was wrong. Until then she will be forced to relive key points of her life over and over in her mind.”

 

“I guess that makes some sense.” At this point I had seen way too much to try and challenge my reality. “Now what are these powers?”

“Since you were young you spent most of your time around magical beings. So over time their power rubbed off on you. It’s the same with all humans that come in contact with us.” She prepared some tea as she continued. “The difference between you and the rest of them is that the amount of magic is usually very small and discrete. However the power you’ve gotten from Mai and Kagari has now blossomed thanks to Kagari fully taking over your body. So as of now you are a witch. If you want I can teach you how to use your power to hopefully stop thinks like this from happening in the future.”

 

The bell rings 12 times. “I guess Murasaki is next.” I get of Ashiya’s bed and make my way to her all too familiar window to see less people than yesterday move towards the town’s square. “I’ll follow you Ashiya. I want the killings to stop so please teach me so I use this power to stop people and use it to help make our future bright for both withes and humans.”

 

She smiled at me as she put her cup down. “Well my protégé let us be off into the dusk.” She smiled as she opened the door for me. I know that this is the right answer. Thank you Kagari and you too, Mai. Hopefully you realize the error of your ways. Even during this dusky evening the future is bright.

 

 

“Kachunk” The screen goes off and Nachi begins to chuckle.

 

“Goodness Haruka, first you aren’t mentioned in Yagyuu’s tale now you are a succubus and dead.” Nachi’s cackling continued for several minutes while Haruka and Kurohoro, like Aria, tried to piece together what had just happened.

 

“Ladies, let us just forget about what we just saw.” Haruka says looking over at Aria’s pod.

 

“I kinda enjoyed it.” Kurohoro said inching her way over to Nachi’s table.

 

“Kuro-chan.” Haruka calls “Just go capture the next target. This one should be a win for me.”