Chapter 3

The moon, it glows up there high in the sky. How odd, I can recognize the moon, yet it feels like the first time I’ve seen it. Somehow, I feel like the moon is watching me intently. Almost as if it is waiting for something.

My head hurts, and everything looks blurry. Can’t seem to remember much. What is my name? I heard those people say the name. . . Keira. Is that my name? It sounds so familiar. Yes, I do believe my name is Keira. I feel like some people has called me that before I fell asleep.

Now that I am awake, what will I do now? My hero has led me outside, but I don’t know where I am. Do I even have a home to go to? What about a family? I feel so lost and scared in this whole new world I woke up to.

I can’t explain why, but I feel some sort of connection to my hero. It’s odd, he speaks to me in some sort of foreign language. But when I am close to him, I feel safe and comfortable. I need to stay with him, at least until I can regain my memories and find my way back home.

Morning has arrived, Mark wakes up bright and early. He has a cup of hot coffee with Carter and Flora to relieve the bags under his eyes from sleeping so late. He also offers a cup to Keira, but the smell of ground coffee beans offends her. They check the time and sees that the doctor’s office will open soon. Mark doesn’t have time to eat breakfast, he needs to make sure that Keira is the first patient of the day. Considering how nervous she gets around other people, he needs to limit Keira’s contact to as few people as possible until she can get used to being around others.

Carter and Flora waves goodbye to their new friend as Mark takes her to see Doctor Hardy. They promise to support Mark in any way they can and check on Keira every now and then. They hate that they must have Mark to care for Keira alone, but they know that this is what’s best for her. For now, all they can do is continue their research and hope that whatever they can find will help Keira.

The walk to the doctor’s office is short, but Keira looks around in wonder. It’s still early, so everyone else is either still sleeping or preparing for the day. Mark holds her cold hands to make sure she doesn’t get separated from him and gets lost. They soon arrive at the clinic, and luckily they are the only people there.

Inside the clinic, Keira looks around in horror as she sees the many things she doesn’t recognize. She holds Mark’s arm tightly as the medical equipment intimidates her. To Mark, everything in the room is used to save lives. But to Keira, everything looks like instruments of torture. Even if everything makes her feel nervous, holding on to Mark’s arm brings her all the comfort she needs to relax. As she looks around, her eyes widen as she sees an older man looking through a bag. All she can think of is who is this stranger, and why Mark brought her to him.

“Doctor Hardy, it’s me, Mark.” The doctor stands up and turns around. Keira shivers as his appearance frightens her. He is a large bald man with a scar that runs down his face, one of his eye is metallic with a small glowing light in it. His white lab coat is complimented by his striped boxer shorts. Keira wishes to run away, but she also knows that there is no place where she can run and feel safe. Only standing close to Mark and trusting that he will protect her can make her feel secure.

“Hello Mark, how are you feeling today? You’re always healthy, it’s quite unusual for you to drop by my clinic.”

“I’m fine actually. I don’t need anything, but I did bring a patient for you. This is my friend Keira, and I found her lost nearby. I was hoping that you can run a check-up on her and make sure she’s not sick or anything.”

Hardy walks up to Keira and watches her closely. She shuts her eyes and buries her face into Mark’s shoulder. Hardy then rubs her chin as he says, “she’s very pale. Poor girl must have been away from the sun for quite some time. I’ll have to prescribe some iron and vitamin D supplements to treat that.” He the pulls up a chair, “have a seat miss Keira. I’ll run some routine tests.”

She hesitates. Mark then holds her hand and tells her that everything is going to be okay. As he helps her take a seat, Mark kneels down as he continues to hold her hand. Hardy then pulls out a pen light, and starts flashing a bright light across her eyes. As he performs his test, he makes a shocked face as he notices something odd. “Hey Mark, is your friend blind?”

“No, at least I don’t think so. Why?”

“Her pupils aren’t reacting to the light. I was expecting them to dilate with some bright light, but they just stay open like a pool of ink. How unusual.”

Mark gasps and takes another look at Keira. “That’s weird. I know she can see just fine. She can definitely tell me apart from Carter and Flora. She also got scared by Doctor Hardy’s appearance. She was even able to write on the white board last night. I wonder what’s going on with her,” he thought to himself.

Hardy reaches into his bag and pulls out a stethoscope. He then places the tips in his ears and holds on to the diaphragm to check Keira’s heartbeat. As he moves closer to open Keira’s robe, Keira quickly reaches in and pulls out a knife. She then unsheathes the blade and points it at Hardy holding it with both hands. Hardy and Mark jumps away from Keira in shock.

“What the, what is that,” asked Hardy.

“Is that a chastity knife,” asked Mark.

“I don’t know, but tell her to put it away!”

There is a moment of awkward silence as Keira continues to point the blade at Hardy. She is trembling, and she has no idea what is happening. All she knows is that she must defend herself at all costs. As Mark stares at her, he remembers what Carter said back at his camp site. For all her life, she has been living in a single room with almost no contact with others. Ever since she woke up, she has kept her distance from everyone except Mark. Now that he knows how scared Keira must be, he’ll have to try harder to comfort her.

Mark places his hands on Keira’s and helps her lower the blade. Keira turns to him, and he says, “it’s okay, I’m here. Please put that knife away, I won’t let anyone hurt you, I promise. Do you trust me?”

He has no idea if Keira understands what he is saying, but his voice comforts her. Her tense arm relaxes and she sheathes the blade and returns it back in her robe. Both Hardy and Mark takes a deep sigh of relief, thanking the goddess that nobody got hurt.

“Next time, please warn me when your friends have stuff like that,” said Hardy.

“I just met her yesterday. How was I supposed to know that she had something like that,” explained Mark.

“Okay, so let’s try this again. This time, I won’t try touching the robe. I don’t know why, but she clearly doesn’t want me touching it.”

Carefully and as slowly as he can, Hardy decides to go for her hand. Instead of listening to her heartbeat on her chest, he’ll try to use the base of her wrist. At first, Keira pulls her hand away. Mark holds her other hand tightly and nods at her as if he is saying to let him. Keira relaxes and allows Hardy to hold her hand. He then places the diaphragm on her wrist and quickly notices something odd. He then curiously waves his hand left and right over her mouth. He moves away from her after what he just learned, his face as pale as a ghost.

“Why are you so quiet, what’s wrong,” asked Mark.

“I know this will sound strange, but I think your friend might me. . . Dead.”

“What? What are you talking about? She just pulled a knife out at you! I’m pretty sure you’d have to be alive in order to do that.”

“I’m aware of that. . . But Keira has no heartbeat. . . And she isn’t breathing.”

Mark gasps again and takes another look at Keira. He remembers that Keira wasn’t breathing when he found her at the mines. But he was sure that she would start breathing once she woke up. He also remembers that she has been living underground for centuries with no food or water. Whatever is happening to her would explain why she survived so long.

“Is there anything we can do to help her,” asked Mark.

“I’m afraid this is above what medicine can do for her. If I was still in the city, everyone around her would be terrified. But this is Forget-Me-Not Valley, and the supernatural does thrive here. Now I am no expert in the subject, but it seems like Keira must be under some sort of magical spell.”

Mark thinks for a moment then thinks, “or perhaps a curse. If that’s the case, then there is only one person who can help Keira. Witch Princess.”

Hardy runs a few more test, but concludes the same. Mark then leaves the doctor’s office and takes Keira back to his house in the farm. He then tries to leave, but Keira holds him back pleading him not to leave. It takes him about an hour trying desperately to explain to her that she must stay at the house while he gets her help. Once he is sure that he can leave without Keira following him, he rushes over to the Witch Princess hut. He can only hope that Witch Princess can figure out what’s happening to her.

At the hut’s door, Mark knocks hard a few times and steps away. It is still quite early and he knows that Witch Princess might be in a sour mood being woken up. His heart beats hard once he hears the slamming footsteps of the angry witch coming closer. The door flies open and Witch Princes pops out yelling, “who dares knock on my door this early in the morning? I swear someone is going to pay dearly for this!” She then finds Mark standing outside her door wearing a nervous smile. She then crosses her arms as she continues, “oh it’s you! What do you want? I didn’t ask for anything.”

Mark chuckles nervously as he says, “actually, I am here for a different reason. I was wondering if you can help me with a curse.”

As soon as Mark says ‘curse’, Witch Princess’ mood changes quickly. She went from being irritated to happy and friendly. He has never seen her smile before. “A curse huh? So you finally crossed over into the dark side? Come on in, let’s talk.”

Before Mark has a chance to say anything, Witch Princess grabs his arm and pulls him into the hut. Inside her home, Witch Princess runs off to her collection of spell books and grabs a few. As she does, Mark takes a moment to look around the hut. Even though he has known Witch Princess for a few years, he has never been inside her house. The hut is as creepy as he imagined it. There are random bones of many different animals hanging from ropes. Strange toxic plants in pots growing here and there. There are even jars of what he thinks are organs and small dead animals. In the middle of the hut, he finds a large cauldron boiling some sort of green liquid. He covers his nose, after all this time he has finally found the source of the stench that he always smelled each time he comes near her hut. He wonders how can anyone live comfortable like this?

Soon enough, Witch Princess slams a stack of books on a nearby table. “Okay, I’m sure I’ve covered all our basics. I have curses that transforms people into weird things. . . Strange and uncomfortable diseases. . . These curses alter memories or behavior. . . And so many others. Nothing fatal of course, professionals like me have standards after all. So tell me, who is the poor pathetic person who my curse will be unleashed on?”

“Actually, I’m not trying to curse anyone. I’m trying to break one.”

Hearing Mark say that dampens her mood. “Aww man, that’s disappointing. I was really looking forward to ruin someone’s life today. But still. . . A discussion of a curse is still a discussion of a curse. I’ll take my wins whenever I can.” She then snaps her finger, and a chair floats towards her. She then takes a seat and continues, “so, what kind of curse are we breaking?”

“How about a sleeping curse?”

“Oh, a sleeping curse! Those types of curses are my favorite!” She snaps her finger once again, and a book flies off a nearby shelf and lands in her hand. She then flips through the pages and starts to read, “let’s see here. . . We have sleep from cursed fruit, a spinning wheel, long term sleep spells, summoning sleep paralysis demons, sleeping death – Oh, I like that one. I’ll keep that bookmarked for later.”

She then slams the book shut and says, “there’s way too many curses involving sleep. I’m going to need to know more about the curse your friend has. What else do you know.”

“How about a curse that stops you from talking too?”

She makes a weird and confused face, then starts flipping through the pages once again. After scanning each and every page, she shuts the book closed and says, “nope, I got nothing. There’s no way a person has a sleeping and a mute curse at the same time.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. Magic is a very delicate art that should never be mixed. Casting more than one curse on a person can have some strange and terrifying side effects. Remember that time I cursed the goddess with a mute spell? Because I was so irritated with her, I casted the wrong spell and she turned to stone. Took us years to break it. The last time a witch used a double curse, the victim turned to a monster that ate her.”

Mark quickly takes a few steps back away from Witch Princess. He knew that magic can be dangerous, but not that much. But he stands his ground knowing that Keira is depending on him to help her. He must be brave for her.

Witch Princess tosses the book over her shoulder, and it lands neatly where it was. Her eyes then pop open, “wait a second. Who the hell is cursing people around here. This is my territory, and no other witch is allowed anywhere around the valley! You better not be holding back on me Mark, or you’re gonna pay!”

“Calm down, it’s not what you think. I found this girl yesterday named Keira, and she is cursed. That’s all I know, I promise.” Mark quickly notices Witch Princess mood changes once again after hearing Keira’s name. She now appears lost and confused as if she is trying to remember something. “Hey wait, does that name ring any bells?”

“I don’t know. . . I don’t think I know anyone named Keira, but it feels strangely. . . Familiar. . .”

Now Mark is confused. He feels that there can’t be any way Witch Princess knows Keira. Witch Princess looks so young, and Keira lived so many centuries ago. While he doesn’t know anyone else named Keira, there has to be other people with the same name. So he decides to change the subject and says, “you know, try not to think about it too hard. She’s not from around here, so I’m sure some other witch in another village cursed her.”

“Hold on a second, let me check something really quick,” interrupted Witch Princess. She then turns around and moves towards a different bookcase.

Mark follows her to the bookcase and gasps in wonder. The bookcase is very tall and goes up all the way to the ceiling. Unlike the spell books, these books look very different. They are hand written notebooks that is nearly filled to capacity. The ones on the top seem super old and are held together with nothing but duct tape and faith. The ones on the bottom seem to be very modern. Everything in between is a mixed bag of old and new in descending order.

“That’s a lot of books. Are those more spell books?”

“Nope, they are my journals. I’ve been keeping them for longer than I care to remember. Don’t touch them, not like you can read them anyway. They are all written in the ancient wiccan language.”

“Wow, there’s so many of them. How old are you anyway?”

“You got a death wish or something? You should know better than to ask a woman her age.”

“Yeah, you got a point there. Sorry.” Mark then backs away slowly. Even though he didn’t get an answer, he can clearly tell that Witch Princess must be a lot older than he thought. Just in case, he decides to back away and remain silent before he says anything else that could upset her.

“Ah, here it is” shouted Witch Princess as she pulls a journal out of the shelf that has the year 1592 written on it. She then opens the journal and starts to read silently. As she reads, Mark tries to peek in the journal, but he can’t read the words she wrote. The language in the journal is not the same as the language from the mines he keeps finding.

“Found it, Princess Keira of the Hanabishi clan.”

Mark gasps, “so you do know her?”

“Yep. I used to work for the king back in the day when the castle used to be here. I practically raised the princess myself.”

“In that case, how did she get cursed?”

“Hold on a second, let me check. There’s a lot of dates to go through. You need to forgive my memory; I haven’t thought about the Hanabishi clan in centuries.”

She continues to read the journal, but finds no answers. She then pulls out one journal after another until she reaches one that dates 1601. She scans through the journal as she says, “lets see here. . . King Ryoske asked me to watch his daughter, blah, blah, blah. . . Something about a game of shogi, yada, yada, yada. . .Oh hey, would you look at that!” She then turns to Mark with a sheepish smile as she says, “silly me, turns out I was the one who cursed her after all. It’s been so long since it happened that I completely forgot.”

“Why would you do that?!”

“According to this, we were playing some board games and she beat me. I told her that she must have cheated, but she said that I must have been bad at the game. I got so mad, that I placed a curse on her as punishment. But once I realize what I did, I ran away from the castle and sank it into the ground.”

“Wait, that was you too?!”

“Of course! If the king found out that I cursed his precious daughter, he would have chopped my head clean off. But I did make sure the castle sank slowly to let everyone escape. I got away by the time the king and queen realized what I did to Keira. Or at least that’s what I thought at the time. I guess Keira didn’t escape?”

“Well, what kind of curse did you put on Keira?”

“I dunno. It happened so fast. I was so mad at her that I just put any random curse on her. I didn’t stick around long enough to find out what I did to her. You now when I’m mad, my magic can get pretty wacky and do weird things. Just like what happened to the Harvest Goddess.”

As the Witch Princess puts the journal back on the shelf, she thought to herself, “so she was asleep all this time? I wonder how will she react when she wakes up? Would she even remember me? Oh well, when she does wake up I can-”

She then suddenly realizes something Mark said earlier. She turns to Mark with a face that can kill. She then slowly steps towards him as she asks, “you said that she can’t talk, didn’t you? That can mean only one thing, she’s awake?! Start talking, or you’ll regret the day you met Witch Princess!”

“Woah, calm down. Yes, I did wake her up. Wait, was I not supposed to do that?”

She grins wickedly as she chuckles, “this day just keeps getting better and better. Tell me, where is the princess right now?”

“She’s at my house in the farm.”

She quickly grabs her broom and pulls Mark’s arm as she heads out of the hut. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go see her right now!”

Outside the Witch’s hut, she gets on her broom and invites Mark to ride with her. “Hang on tight,” said Witch Princess just before the broom flies into the air. Mark screams in fear as the broom flies over the trees of the valley. He grabs on to Witch Princess’ waist as tightly as he can. His eyes tightly shut so he doesn’t see the ground far below them. One wrong move, and he can fall straight down becoming one with the ground.

They land safely at the farm a few minutes later. Witch Princess wastes no time grabbing her broom and rushing towards Mark’s house. Mark staggers for a moment, but he then follows her into the house once he regains his balance. She burst through Mark’s front door and find Keira standing there.

Witch Princess then throws her head back and lets out a wicked cackle. “I can’t believe it, it really is you! Wow, the centuries were not very kind to you. Your skin is as pale as a ghost!”

Mark rushes in, then says, “wow, you really do know her?”

“Yep, her father assigned me as her caretaker ever since she was a little girl. Her parents were too busy being the king and queen and all that good stuff you know. I can’t believe that my curse kept her alive all this time.”

“Okay. . . Could you break that curse now please?”

“What are you talking about? She’s awake, isn’t she? That should mean the curse should be broken already.”

“If that’s the case, why isn’t she talking?”

Witch Princess turn to Keira and watches her curiously. “You know something, that is strange. Hey Keira! Say something! Anything!”

Keira remains silent as she back away from Witch Princess. She then crosses her arms as she continues, “she really can’t talk, I wonder what’s wrong with her? And based on her reaction, I can tell that she doesn’t remember me at all. But then again, it has been four centuries. Whatever curse I put on her must have been a complex one.”

“So, is there any way you can help her,” asked Mark.

Witch Princess squints her eyes and stares at Keira. “I can see some magical residue on her. It’s faint, but it’s definitely there. If I can just absorb a little bit of it, I should be able to tell what curse I put on her all those years ago.” She then turns to Mark and continues, “hey, do me a favor and sit her down somewhere. I need you to hold her hand and keep her very still. Can you do that?”

He nods, then sits her down on a couch. Mark then places his hand on Keira’s and tells her to relax. Once Witch Princess is ready, she opens her palm near Keira’s face. Keira then begins to glow faintly, and Witch Princess begins to absorb some of the light. Mark becomes a little nervous, but Keira doesn’t seem like she’s getting hurt. He just takes a deep breath and lets Witch Princess perform her magic.

Once she is done, Witch Princess nods and takes a moment to think and process what she’s learned. She then turns to Mark to ask, “hey, did you touch the princess while she was sleeping?”

Mark blushes, then answers, “why are people asking me that? I would never do anything like that!”

“I didn’t mean that in a dirty way, you pervert! I meant did you make any direct contact with her. You know, skin to skin. Like maybe you touched her neck to check for a pulse?”

Mark gasps as he remembers that moment when he did touch Keira’s face deep in the mines. “Yeah, I did. I was curious to know if she was a real person or some kind of doll.”

“I bet it hurt like hell, didn’t it?”

“It sure did. Wait, how did you know that?”

She then rests her hands on her hips confidently as she answers, “well, it’s official. I now know what kind of curse she’s under. It’s a very old and special spell known to us witches as Bound by Fate.”

“Bound by Fate? What does that do?”

“I’m glad you asked. It’s your typical everyday sleeping spell, but with a few added steps. It’s a bit weird and hard to explain. Let me start by telling you the story of its origin.”

She clears her throat and begins, “a long time ago back in the age of runes, witches and other mystical creatures were as common as other people. During this time, a young couple were deeply in love and were engaged to be wed. But before their wedding came, the Magic War started, and the husband-to-be was drafted to fight. He promised her that he will return and marry her before leaving to join the human army. His lover waited in their house in the woods for him to return for years. Her heart couldn’t wait any longer, so she begged an old witch for help.”

“Question. The witch in that story, was that you?”

“Hey, do I look old to you?”

“Yeah, you got a point there. Sorry.”

“Please don’t interrupt me and pay attention. Now where was I? . . . Oh, I remember!

“So anyway, the young maiden begged and pleaded the old witch to use her magic on her. She couldn’t bear waiting for her lover any longer and wanted some way to skip ahead for his return. So the old witch crafted a contract and put her to sleep until her lover came home. The contract states, ‘rest and do not wake up until your suitor makes contact and shares life energy. From that moment forward, you shall wed and be Bound by Fate.’ Once the young maiden was asleep, the old witch carefully carried her back to her home. She placed the maiden on her bed where she sleeps until she wakes up and completes the terms of her contract.

“So you see, the spell works by separating the human soul from the body where it drifts in limbo. The magic then shuts the body down and preserves it to make sure the person affected won’t die until the day she wakes up. Does all that make sense?”

Mark takes a moment to process what he just learned. He then thinks to himself, “I get it! That must be why that room I found her was still intact when I found her while the rest of the castle was completely destroyed. If the room collapsed while she was still in there, there would be no way to keep her alive. That must be why the room collapsed when she finally left.”

He then thinks for a moment longer, then asks, “that still doesn’t explain why Keira can’t talk. What’s up with that?”

“Well, you know that the curse is designed to keep its victim alive until they wake up. But it was not designed to last this long. A few years, maybe a decade at most. Four hundred years is a lot of time, even for a spell like this. Having your body shut off for so long can cause some strange side effects, mostly organ damage. Her heart, lungs, kidneys, vocal cords, they won’t work too well after four centuries of sleeping. Lucky for her, the magical residue is keeping her alive, but that won’t last for too long. If she would have been asleep any longer, she would have dropped dead the moment she woke up.”

Mark takes another look at Keira, everything he has learned so far is making sense. Doctor hardy couldn’t find a pulse on her. Since there is no blood pumping, her skin has gone pale. She would have died if it wasn’t for the curse. But the curse is temporary, and she will truly die if Mark does nothing.

“Is there any way to help her,” asked Mark.

“Did you forget who you’re talking to? I am the greatest witch that has ever lived. There isn’t much that I can’t do. Watch me, I’ll fix her up like new,” said Witch Princess. She then grabs her broom and rushes to the front door. Just before she leaves, she turns around and continues, “don’t go anywhere, I’ll be right back. This won’t take too long.” She then walks out the door and flies off back to her hut.

As Mark waits for Witch Princess to return, he starts to imagine what kind of person Keira is like. Will she be like the princesses in the fairy tales, or will she be like those in the history books? What does her voice sound like? What kind of stories will she be able to tell about her old life? And most importantly, what will she do with herself once this is all over? He imagines that she’ll move in with Witch Princess since she is the only one Keira knows in this time. He’ll be happy for her and hopes he can remain friends with her after that happens.

“I’m back,” shouts Witch Princess as she bursts through Mark’s front door. She then places a small bottle in Mark’s hand. “Have her drink this potion, and call me in the morning.”

He looks at the bottle filled with a mysterious purple liquid that swirls eerily. Curious to now what’s inside, Mark pops the lid open. The stench that swirls out of the jar is overpowering. He heaves with disgust, he would have puked if he ate any breakfast earlier. He then covers his nose as he asks, “oh wow, this stuff smells like a dead rotting rat! What’s in this?”

“Milk of nightshade. It’s a very powerful healing salve that is primarily used by demons. It can heal literally anything. Even so, I wouldn’t drink that if I were you. Nightshade is highly toxic to humans. Just a sip of that stuff can kill an entire army of men.”

“And you want Keira to drink this?”

“Oh relax. The curse is keeping her alive, remember? The potion should cure everything that went bad while she slept for the last four hundred years. But the taste of this potion can be quite. . . Unpleasant. But I’m sure she would rather drink that than keel over and die once that residue wears off.”

He hesitates, but he finds himself with little choice. If the potion tastes as bad as it smells, he would never give it to anyone under normal circumstances. But she did survive this long, it would be a shame to let Keira die at this point. So he places the bottle in Keira's hands and instructs her to drink. It takes him several tries speaking slowly and using hand gestures for Keira to finally understand what he wants her to do. The putrid smell causes her to hesitate, but she is able to bear it and chug the whole thing. Her eyes then widen in shock as the bottle shatters on the ground. She grabs her throat and falls to her knees. She trembles as her long hair covers her face like a closed curtain.

“Keira, are you okay,” shouted Mark.

He tries to rush and help Keira, but Witch Princess grabs him by the collar of his shirt and holds him back. “Leave her be. The potion is working it’s magic.”

“But she looks like she’s in a lot of pain!”

“Of course she is in pain. Her body is healing, and it’s not a pleasant feeling. Her heart will start again, her lungs will inflate, and so many other things will start working again after centuries of sleep. Her body is changing rapidly and she is in shock. She’ll be fine, I promise.”

Even though she says that, watching Keira suffer makes him feel uncomfortable. She continues to shiver for several minutes, then she remains still for a while longer. He desperately wants to check on her, but he decides to trust Witch Princess and let the potion do its thing. Soon enough, Keira stands up and her hair glides off her face. Mark blushes as he sees Keira’s face turn from pale to a bright peach color. Her brown eyes are lovely which makes Mark’s heart skip a beat. Her lips are now as pink as the bud of a rose. He always found her to be rather pretty before, but now she looks absolutely stunning. The title of princess cannot even describe how beautiful she is.

As Mark tries to relax his beating heart, Keira takes a deep breath for the first time and relaxes. Once she is comfortable, she tries to speak her first words, but her voice cracks and starts to cough. She then takes several deep breaths as she gets used to breathing again.

“This is so hard to watch,” said Mark as he looks away.

“Give her some more time, there is no reason to worry,” said Witch Princess.

Once Keira is ready to try again, she takes another deep breath and says, “ima wa zutto kibun ga yoku narimashita.” Mark nearly faints from shock hearing Keira speak. After all that work he did, he still can’t understand her. Keira then smiles as she continues, “watashi wo sukette kureta hiro ni kansha shimasu.”

Mark turns to Witch Princess and asks, “what’s going on, why is she talking like that?”

“Are you dumb or something? She’s clearly speaking in her native language.”

“Her native language? Are you serious?”

“Of course. Did you really expect people from that long ago to speak the same language as we do now? Use common sense!”

“Well, can’t you translate what she’s saying?”

“You’re kidding me, right? I haven’t spoken that language in centuries. And even so, I wasn’t fluent at it either. I knew enough just to get by, but I am not from the Hanabishi clan. Sorry buddy, but you’re on your own.”

Mark sighs, then looks at Keira once again. He is a bit disappointed that he can’t talk with Keira yet, but at least he knows she’s okay now. He can only hope that maybe Keira can learn to speak his language over time. Once she does, she’ll be able to live a normal life in Forget-Me-Not Valley.

“Thanks for everything Witch Princess.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just so you know, I only helped Keira because you helped me with the Harvest Goddess. We’re even now, so don’t come around asking me to help break curses.” She then stretches her arms and lets out a big yawn. “Well, I’m tired now. I had a long night, and performing magic takes a lot out of me. Time to go home.”

She then turns around and heads to the front door. Mark watches her wondering why she isn’t taking Keira with her. As she walks away, she says, “bye bye now. Have fun with the princess.”

“Wait a sec, you’re just going to leave her here?”

“I did my time already, she’s your problem now.”

“But isn’t she your friend or something?”

Witch Princess stops and turns around, “friend? Do you know who I am? I don’t have friends. I just worked for her father a long time ago, I could not give a damn about her.”

“Well, what should I do with her?”

“Wait, you haven’t figure it out yet?”

“Figure what out?”

She starts to chuckle menacingly, “oh boy, you have no idea what you just got into. I almost feel bad.”

Her last words make him feel worried. There was already a lot thrown at him already, h couldn’t imagine that there could be more. “What does that mean?”

She takes a moment to think about it. She then snaps her finger and says, “well, I don’t have a reason not to tell you. So I guess I will! I suggest you pay close attention, things are about to get. . . Complicated.”

He starts to get very nervous. He wonders what she meant by complicated. How much more is there to Keira’s curse? Witch Princess then returns to Mark and begins to tell the dark story.

“So, remember that girl from the story I told earlier? How did you think that story ended?”

“Um, I guess that her lover returned and woke her up? They got married and lived happily ever after?”

“Nope! I want to say that she died or something normal like that. But her fate was far worse than death. She ended up getting dragged to the infernal abyss where her soul is trapped in a sea of pain and despair. I believe you normal people call it Hell.”

“Wait, what? Why? How did that happen?”

“Your puny brain won’t understand if I explain it normally. I guess I don’t have much of a choice except to give you a crash course on how magic works.”

With a snap of her right hand, she summons a ball of fire. The flickering crimson flame looks normal like any other fire anyone can make. “This is called utility magic. All magic users and even normal people can use it. It’s a simple form of magic that witches, wizards, oracles, witch doctors, and yes even Harvest Goddesses use. We use it to defend ourselves, move objects, teleport, make potions, and all sorts of other cool stuff. We use runes that is generated by farms to fuel this type of magic. This is why all magic users live near farms. You normal people can’t see runes, but we can. Magic was banned all the way back during the Magic War, but few of us can still use it today.”

She then snaps her left hand summons another ball of fire. This flame is much different than the one in her right hand. It’s blue, looks cold, and emits no light. Mark can hear some faint voices coming from the blue fire. The voices he hears sounds like a million people screaming in agony. As he looks closer, he can almost see faces screaming from within the blue flame.

“This is called Mana. It’s a magical energy used exclusively by witches and wizards. It is made by the burning of human souls deep in the nether world. We use this type of energy to fuel spells and curses we cast on other people. This is the reason why demons crave human souls.

“A long time ago back in the age of runes, people worshiped the Harvest Lord and his goddesses. People farmed and offered their crops to receive the blessings of the Harvest Goddess. But the goddesses’ powers were limited, and humans craved more power. So people started making deals with demons to gain magic powers comparable to the Harvest Goddesses, and the first witches and wizards were born. Our job is to form contracts between demons and humans. If you fulfill the contract, the spell is broken and you live a normal life with whatever you wished for. If you fail, demons will claim your soul and drag it back to the nether where it burns for all eternity.”

Mark starts to get scared. He hasn’t even heard what role he or Keira plays in all this, and he already knows that this might not end well.

“Remember the contract between that girl and the old witch. ‘Rest and do not wake up until your suitor makes contact and shares life energy. From that moment forward, you shall wed and be Bound by Fate.’ The problem was that her lover died in the Magic War, and someone else found her and woke her up. She refused to marry him, and the terms of the contract were not met. So the demons came and claimed her mortal soul as payment.”

“And you’re telling me that Keira agreed to this?”

“Of course not. That’s the difference between a spell and a curse. A spell is an agreed contract between a witch and another person. A curse is when a contract is forced against a victim’s will. The end result is exactly the same, so people use those two words interchangeably.”

“What the?! Why would you do that to her?!”

“I’m a witch, these things happen sometimes. That is why it’s never a good idea to piss one off.”

“Okay. . . So how do we stop this?”

Witch Princess sighs stressfully, “you are so dense! Looks like I’ll have to spell it out for you then. If you want to save the princess and break her curse, you’re going to have to marry her.”

“Oh I see. That doesn’t sound hard. I’ll just have to. . .WAIT WHAT?! You don’t mean like actual marriage? Like wedding bells and stuff like that?”

“That’s right lover boy. You should count yourself lucky, you’re about to have a really cute wife. It could have been much worse.”

“Wait, why me? Can’t we get someone else to do it?”

“Because it’s you who woke her up, stupid! The moment you made contact with her, she stole a bit of your life energy and you became bound to the same contract. Hence the phrase ‘Bound by Fate’.”

“But I can’t marry her, we don’t even speak the same language!”

“Trust me on this, demons don’t give a shit. It’s your job to figure out how to make this work. And you better figure it out quickly, she has only a week left before that residue wears off. Once it does, the demons will claim her soul.”

“This can’t be happening! There has to be another way. Please tell me there’s another solution to this!”

Witch Princess takes a moment to think, “there is something else I can do to save the princess.”

“Really? Fine, I’ll do whatever. What is it?”

She then points at Mark and says, “you’ll have to give up your life in her place. I can’t terminate a contract; demons will not be very happy with me if I did that. But I can alter it a little. These demons don’t care whose soul they take as long as it’s human. They could simply just take your soul instead of hers. So those are your three options; Keira dies, you die, or you get married. So, what’s it gonna be?”

Mark starts to panic. He had no idea that the moment he found Keira, he would hold her life in his hands. He looks at Keira who is unaware of anything that is happening to her. All he can ask himself is how will he be able to build a life with her? Will she even agree to marry him? There isn’t even have time for him to get to know her. He doesn’t want to burn in Hell forever. He also doesn’t want to live with the idea that he let this happen to her. Any way he chooses, his life is ruined.

He slowly backs away from Keira and Witch Princess as he says, “I don’t think I can do this. I don’t know what to do, but I can’t marry her.”

“Then let her die,” said Witch Princess. Mark’s eyes widen with shock, surprised that she said that cheerfully with a smile on her face. It’s like she takes absolute pleasure in watching others suffer.

She then turns to Keira with a wicked grin on her face and says, “I can see it already. A demon will rip open a portal between here and the nether. It will then rip her soul right out of her body, then disappear from where it came. Without a soul, the body can’t hold itself together and the real fun begins. She will age rapidly until she’s nothing but a human sized raisin. Her flesh will then melt off like ice cream on a hot Summer day. Even her clothes will disintegrate into nothing. All that will be left of her once it’s all over is her bones half buried in her own dust!

“Now that I think about it, that does sound like fun to watch. Hey, do me a favor. If you let the princess kick the bucket, let me know. I want to watch it happen.” She then lets out another wicked cackle that can send shivers down the spine of the bravest person.

Mark couldn’t take it anymore, so he yells, “you evil witch, how could you be so heartless! Now I understand why nobody likes you! You should be ashamed of yourself!”

Her mood shifts quickly as she snarls angrily. Her eyes glow red, and her body is engulfed in blue fire. Mark backs away and hits a wall as Witch Princess walks towards him and raises her hand ready to cast a spell. “How dare you speak to me that way? Did you forget who I am and what I did to your friend? I shall cast the same curse I’ve placed on Keira on you! This time, I’ll bury your worthless carcass so deep underground that no one will ever find you until the end of time!”

“Wait, please stop. I’m sorry, please spare me! I’m begging you!”

The flame vanishes and Witch Princess calms down. “Since I’m in such a god mood, I’ll let you off with a warning this time. Just don’t let it happen again!”

He nods nervously. Witch Princess then grabs her broom and walks away. Just before she reaches the front door, she turns around and says, “remember, you got seven days to tie the knot. Oh, and if she dies and you don’t tell me, I’ll kill you!” She then walks out the door and flies away.

Once the coast is clear, Mark falls to his knees and takes a sigh of relief. If she was any more upset, this could have been his last day alive. He then looks around and finds Keira in a corner hiding herself behind the sleeves of her robe trembling. He walks up to her and kneels down asking, “are you okay?”

Keira reveals her face then says, “sore wa kowakatta.”

Mark sighs again. He can’t understand a word she is saying, but he can tell that she is frightened. He holds her warm soft hands and says, “don’t worry, she’s gone now. But still. . . What am I going to do with you?”