The dappled moonlight filtered through the ancient trees as leaves rustled softly in the gentle breeze. The forest was alive with magic, strange glowing mushrooms, whispering spirits, and enchanted streams that meandered through the mossy undergrowth. Its thick fog was overwhelming to any sentient being, except for three individuals.
"I've grown tired, Master Grimhild… how long must we continue without rest?!" Chroliosa carried Obsidia atop her shoulder, weaving through the enchanted forest. The tall trees stretched upward with moss-covered trunks, and colorful magical plants blooming along the path, visible through the mist.
"Come now, you surely cannot be tired from walking a few hundred feet." The witch lifted her staff in hand to clear the fog in front of them, occasionally glancing back at the trail they left. The forest seemed alive with whispered secrets and gentle rustling of leaves; which wasn't common, given its reputation.
"You've given me a mortal body… I'm bound by human limitations! We spirits are naturally inexhaustible, but I've lost those traits." She panted before stopping in her tracks, leaning against a tree. "It feels like I'm going to throw up…"
Grimhild chuckled, turning around to face the former spirit. "You've never had a human physiology before, it's a common trait due to the body's physiological response to intense activity. You're likely dehydrated." Grimhild huffed a soundless sigh, approaching Chroliosa with a tender gaze. "Very well, we can rest for now, I'll give you thirty minutes."
Chroliosa, exhausted, fell to her butt, dropping Obsidia beside her like a bag of rocks. Grimhild swayed her staff to the side, creating an invisible barrier around them, masking their scents.
"So… tired…" The witch sat across Chroliosa, noticing how pale and exhausted she's become. Her usually pristine white robe is now stained with dirt and sweat, including her long blonde hair. "I need water…"
"I don't know, do you deserve it?" Asked Grimhild with a teasing smirk. "You have to earn it."
The former spirit glanced at the witch in disbelief, still catching her breath. Slowly sitting back up, she placed her hands behind her, arching her head to the sky.
"Master, please… water…"
Grimhild closed her eyes, chuckling.
"Very well." Lifting her hand, quantum particles fluttered around Grimhild's palm, forming a magic circle. "Ronaita." Creating a ball of water, the witch levitated it into the spirit's hands, keeping it afloat via mana control. "Drink."
"Ah… thank you!" Holding the floating ball of water, Chroliosa slurped on it like a slushy and felt her energy return back to her body in an instant. "Ahhh, it's so good… how refreshing!" For the first time in her life, the spirit needed mortal sustenance, and she didn't like it one bit.
"This will be a lesson for you in case you see starving children without food or water on the side of the road. You'll know how they'll feel from now on, and provide for them, won't you, Chroliosa?" Grimhild sat crisscross, sternly gazing upon the former spirit in question.
"Of course." Nodding her head, she smiled at the Witch of Justice, finally understanding what it was like to be mortal. "Now I see why you truly made me this way, master, it wasn't because the Golems hated spirits, but it was to teach me a lesson about mortalkind."
Grimhild lowered her head, closing her eyes with a smile. "Indeed. Now you're catching on." Placing her staff on the ground, the witch glanced back at the spirit who finished slurping down the ball of water. "In case I, or Arthur Pendragon perishes, I will need someone to watch over this world and do the right thing. I cannot let Yggdrasil be destroyed, at all costs, even if it means giving up my life."
The former spirit faced its master with a reassuring stare. "Master…" Chroliosa placed her hand on her chest, determined in her eyes. "You can put all of your faith in me! I am your contracted spirit, I know you like I know the back of my hand. I can tell what you're doing is for good a cause, and nothing more."
Grimhild snickered, nodding her head.
"Well, you only know some things about me. A lot of my information is hidden within the Yorgana System."
Chroliosa lowered her hand, grinning.
"Well even if that's the case, I've seen your true nature, however, your actions exist in contrast to its essence."
Grimhild. A Witch who wanted to leave the past behind and redeem herself from all the chaos she caused during the Mythical and Legendary Age.
Falsely changing her title to the Witch of Justice to hide her true nature; Grimhild was something far more sinister. Destruction. She was the embodiment of destruction, on a fundamental level, where "justice" was only a fabrication—utterly deceitful.
"Yes, you're part of me, so naturally you can see my true side." The witch's demeanor changed, showing vulnerability in her eyes. "I exist as Destruction, even if I refuse my nature as a destroyer. My Destruction Magic is the sealed form of something far greater." Grimhild lifted her hand as black particles fluttered above her palm, forming a dark and purple flame.
"What are you saying, master?"
Grimhild, saddened in her eyes, closed her hand into a fist, dispersing the flames of Armageddon.
"It derives from the Atamon Plane, outside of all realities. It is where the three Primordial Forces that govern over everything exist; Chaos, Destruction, and Creation. I'm a descendent from Destruction."
Chroliosa widened her eyes, baffled by Grimhild's statement.
"A descendent from the three primordial forces? Are you saying that the other Witches of Calamities are also descendants of these abstract formations?"
Grimhild, hesitant at first, nodded her head.
"Yes. The Witch Agnes derives from Chaos, and the Witch Beatrice descends from Creation. I'm afraid I cannot tell you the whole story, but we are sisters."
Chroliosa, intrigued, leans forward to learn more about Grimhild and her past.
"So… you basically took the essence of Destruction and sealed its power into a magical formula, lessening its strength so you can use it without annihilating all of existence?"
Grimhild chuckled at her comment, finding the thought rather amusing from her dark sense of humor.
"Indeed, though Destruction has no definitive form, so I used the collective unconscious to give it some sort of physical manifestation, like fire. If its seal was to break—then I'm afraid all of existence would perish—that's why the magical formula I created for it has over a thousand complex ancient runes and magical inscriptions, ensuring its containment."
Chroliosa, finally hydrated and well-rested, grinned nervously as she asked her next question, "With its power, I'm assuming you can stop Dracula, right?"
Lifting her brows at her question, Grimhild shook her head in denial.
"I'm afraid not. Dracula has connections to Chaos, one of the other Atamon Orders. He can easily stop my Destruction Magic with his own magic, however, if it were to be unsealed, I could easily destroy him and those infamous Other Gods, but that would lead to the annihilation of all of reality."
Chroliosa gulped, scratching her cheek.
"I-I see! I suppose that makes sense now. No wonder why you don't use its actual power, that'd be catastrophic…"
"You don't seem to grasp the absolute power of the Primordial Orders. By nature, they're immutable forces that supersede reality and all its ideas. Everything that you see around you are mere manifestations of Chaos, Destruction, and Creation. Concepts and ideas are just representations of these greater forces, you'd lose your mind trying to perceive them."
Chroliosa was baffled by these revelations. Even if she was a spirit, she'd still have a hard time trying to process all of this at once.
"If you're nothing more than a descendant of one of these Primordial Forces, then how can you resist the urge to destroy, master?"
Grimhild unnoticeably widened her eyes at her comment, as if struck with past regret.
"That is a story for another time." She turned away, frowning.
"My curiosity gets the best of me. I've seen your nucleus; you represent destruction and all its ideas on a fundamental level! There is nothing you cannot destroy, be it magic and mana, even abstract stories created by mankind that give birth to the Alufray. With such a power, how can you resist the urge to not use it to its fullest?"
Grimhild lowered her head, sitting in silence. There was no response, only a disappointed sigh escaping her lips. "I'm only telling you this because you're now part of me, Chroliosa, however, I cannot tell you the full story." Grimhild stood up from the ground, turning the other way. "Let us be off, you've rested long enough."
Chroliosa nodded her head, a bit nervous about making Grimhild upset. She could easily tell the change in her demeanor which made her hesitant to stand up, but she done so nonetheless. Rising to her feet, she picked up Obsidia with a silent groan, prepared to venture out.
"I will tell you one thing, Chroliosa."
"…?" The former spirit widened her eyes, feeling suspense overtake her.
"I hate who I am—destruction is not what I want to be—I'd give it up for anything." Grimhild ambled ahead, finishing their conversation with profound clarity.
She wanted nothing more to do with such topics. Grimhild was finished.