The light of Caterina’s mind washed over Siderius and he was swept away into the land of her memories.
There, he saw fragments of her life. Each represented a time that had passed.
Alchemy Palace allowed total control over one memory. From the moment you were born to the last sign of consciousness you had.
From here, Siderius could access memories that even Caterina didn’t know she had. The first laughter when she was an infant. That night in the tavern she had too much to drink. Everything visualized vividly as fragments on an endless hallway of mirrors.
Siderius leisurely walked forward, advancing to the later memory of Caterina’ life.
There he saw the fragments play back her childhood, her upbringing, even her awakening as a witch.
Caterina was similar to Jude. She was not a highborn, but a daughter of a carpenter. But she was cursed from the day she was born.
Caterina was weirdly cold. Not to herself but to others. Her skin always felt ice cold. Her breath let out those white clouds of smoke that you could only see in the cold lands.
Those were the first signs that she was different from the rest.
And one fateful day. When the people were tormenting her, calling her a beast born of chaos, she finally snapped. Her cold skin exuded black wind that blew everyone off their feet. Then she managed to wreak havoc on those who wronged her.
The pitiful commoners who always acted superior now looked no less than a few worthless ants on the ground. She killed them all and burned the village down.
Then, she wandered, looking for a place to call home.
She finally left that secluded village and was exposed to the kingdom of Eldoria. For the first time ever, she wasn’t treated like a monster. Caterina was now a High Lady.
She experienced the wealth, the hospitality and the fear that Caterina had never known in her life. Her desire was realized in this time and revealed itself as Bloodlust.
The image and satisfaction of killing those villagers brought her joy. She took it as her identity, the core of her magic.
Then, she arrived in Itertia, the land of the black witches. The cover that had Bloodlust as their main desire.
When Siderius saw this memory, he finally understood. Caterina did have a connection with the woman that Damien Argentius was in love with. They were taught in the same school of magic.
It was at this coven that Caterina received her last name, Fataliyah. An ancient witch surname that only bestowed to those with who followed the path of killing.
"This is..." New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on 𝗇𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗅•𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾•𝗇𝖾𝗍
From her memory, Siderius finally saw the secret of this world’s witches.
The fountain of youth. The endless source of youthfulness of witches of this world.
Lyara had mentioned this to Siderius once but he declined her offer. Siderius also hadn’t kept too much thought. But now, he knew that it was much more than he could ever imagine.
The fountain of youth, or more precisely, fountains, were the Mother Trees. Each Mother Tree produced tears of pure dark magic that allowed each witch to advance their power and extend their immortality.
Witches also had immortality in Siderius’ old world. But their immortality was connected to their desire. The more they fed, the longer they would live.
But their desire was a chest with a hole that could never be fulfilled. Sooner or later, witches would corrupt the entire world, tip the balance of reality. In the end, their desire would cause destruction to anything and everything.
Witches in this world did not rely on their desire entirely. Their desire was still very important. But their core power came from the mother trees and its tears.
Tears of mother trees were condensed corrupted Dark Aether that could only be consumed by witches. It fulfilled the witch’s desire without actually enacting it. It was fast, effective and therefore, the witches of this world had adopted it as their main way of development.
The Tree of Woe and the Golden Delight were the two most powerful trees in Eldoria. The Tree of Woe was carved on the face of the silver coin, while the Golden Delight was carved on the face of the golden coin.
In Caterina’s memories, Siderius saw how the witches tended to the trees, harvested its tears and consumed them.
A scene caught Siderius’ eyes. It was a man that was infected with the Gray Death. His entire body petrified into rocks but his heart beat wildly and never rested.
Then, he died. But his heart continued to beat.
Caterina’s teacher taught her how to harvest the ’seed’ from the corpse of that man.
Siderius finally understood. He had always had a feeling that this Gray Death was very similar to the Bubonic Plague back in his old world, a giant magical spell that tortured a generation of innocents.
The Gray Death was similar. It came from the Mother Trees and the tears. The tears were harmless to witches. But they were deathly to humans. It caused them to have the Gray Death.
And when they died, a new seed was born. A seed for a new mother tree, a new source of youthfulness for the witches.
Siderius gathered as much intel as possible about anything related to the Mother Trees. Then, he moved on. He still needed to learn what had happened to Caterina and her son.
Eventually, the vengeful hunter arrived when Caterina had met Jude. They didn’t meet in Scalize but at the capital of Eldoria.
There, the two saw in each other a promising young witch that was full of potential. It was at this time that Caterina learned of the desire of Jude.
His was Gluttony. The desire to eat. But his desire didn’t limit to only food. He ate anything that was available.
He conquered Caterina on the bed and was insatiable. It was as if he could never have enough of her.
He ’eats’ the wealth he collected and the pride he gained. For Jude, eating wasn’t simply eating, it was consumption and digestion.
Jude was very creative with his desire. He knew how to expand it and make use of it effectively. That was why even without proper schooling, Jude had become a powerful witchling.
But there was a catch in his way. By looking at everything as food, his desire grew to a state that he must consume everything.
Consume even his emotions, his love for Caterina, her mana core, and even their own son.
Siderius stopped in front of a fragment. A dark piece of mirror that exuded black smoke endlessly. The negative emotions attached to this piece of memory was unmeasurable. It reeked the air and weighed down anyone who saw it.
Siderius reached his hand into the fragment and joined Caterina to relive the horrified night that she wished to forget.