The Witch Bone

She looked ethereal. She was wearing a maroon cloak that enveloped her entire body except for her head. He could detect no jewelry on her.

But there was something odd about her, he couldn't feel her aura. And this sent him a warning bell.

Bai Hua cautiously stood up and casually demanded, "Who are you?"

She came nearer and the scent of the smoky apple became stronger. It was warm in the cool night.

"You don't look like him. Perhaps I am mistaken as well. But I felt that person's presence," she said, more of a confirmation to herself than to him, "but I will find out. My artifact does not lie."

She pulled out a silver-looking metallic hair jewelry from behind her hair. It was cylindrical in shape and it emitted a faint glow under the moonlight. She felt it in her palms as if she was trying to divine something.

Bai Hua became alert when he saw that she made a sudden movement to pull out something from behind her thinking it was a weapon.

She laughed seeing his cautiousness.

"Balder's beard! You don't need to be so alert. I am Anna, the witch of fire. And I am no enemy of yours, believe me."

She put back the cylindrical jewelry back on her hair. And seemed to have come to a decision.

"Remember my name. I'll be back." She smiled and suddenly a fire erupted around her and she disappeared leaving a strong scent of smoky apple. She had deliberately left that scent as if to remind him something.

He didn't know how and why but he really liked this burnt apple scent. It tugged at his soul and felt a stir in his memories.

He realized that she was an apparition and was not actually there in person. That was why he had felt no aura from her. And he didn't feel any presence. Just the scent.

He sat down exhausted. He had no idea who that woman was, but like he said, he felt no enmity from her, just curiosity. She did not even look like someone from his kingdom. She appeared to be of Scottish descent, according to his memories of his previous world. Her name was also not a name that can be found in his kingdom or other neighboring kingdoms. And he started to wonder if the entire world interacted in the time that he seems to have been transported to.

He needed to look at maps of this world properly again. Bai Hua never bothered about the outside world only thinking about surpassing his father. But now, he felt lacking. He needed to find out more about this world. He was a history nerd in his previous world after all.

He decided to go and explore the history section of the palace library tomorrow. He stifled a yawn. He hated parties, it exhausted him more than a physical fight.

He remained outside the palace hall enjoying the calm night of the palace garden as compared to the bustle of the palace hall.

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Imsong and Wana had left the celebrations earlier than Bai Hua. Imsong had dragged Wana to the celebrations just to get her revenge on Bai Hua. Seeing his discomfort was a small satisfaction to a series of revenge plans she had thought of for him.

It's been thousands of years without a hint of excitement. And now having Bai Hua back, she became the young immortal that she was. She was not going to waste life away like a morbid spinster.

Imsong had gone back to the sacred grove. And Wana had gone somewhere to look for undisturbed peace.

Imsong was sitting under the Holy Tree when she heard the cawing of a crow. A crow landed near her. It had a streak of silver around its neck.

The crows were used as messengers by the shamans. One of the shamans had the power to talk to birds and to turn herself into one as well.

Suddenly the crow disappeared and a young shaman appeared instead.

"I got a message from one of my crows, Head. It's from Lord Bai Hua. He wants to show you something. He mentioned it was urgent."

She sighed, he could have waited for the next day, she thought. And disappeared.