Legacy - A Witch Story

Once upon a time, a warlock arrived in the lands of Iceland, fleeing from the religious massacres that were spreading throughout Europe to those who practiced magic. All his family was killed in unthinkable ways and this warlock, because of his hatred, sought revenge. He did a ritual, where his magic stopped coming from nature to request that power from an evil being. All the magic he got was black, darkening his soul.

But all magic comes with a price, all power must be paid back; The warlock knew this and still agreed with the devil to be able to avenge his family, requested such a power that would allow him to kill in horrific ways to everyone who was part of the previous atrocious acts. The warlock knew that all power always requires a sacrifice, a heart’s sacrifice. The demon indicated that it couldn’t be from anyone, it must be the heart of one of his children.

The warlock, before fleeing massacres, had been the father of a boy and a girl, both with powers provided by nature. The demon knew that these children were his weakness and that it would be the only sacrifice that would darken the sorcerer's soul. So it was at midnight, the only time every 10 years that the moon of blood is formed, the warlock appeared in front of that willow behind his home, with a heart in his hands.

The demon appeared and inside the blackness that represented his face a smile was drawn. He asked the sorcerer —Who did you decide to sacrifice?—He, still with his hands full of blood and tears running under his eyes, replied —To my daughter—The demon vanished and a wind went through the sorcerer, supplying the power requested to his already rotten heart. Where before the warlock held a heart, now was a parchment, a contract that was already signed by both of them, a contract that said the amount of power that he and his family to come would obtain.

At the end of this contract, there were also the terms of the curse that would now haunt his family. Every 4 generations, only 1 girl was born, a girl who would obtain all the power that the warlock was now receiving; this girl would also be tempted to a dark soul, to commit acts that dirtied her name and her soul and could never be born a new one without having died the previous one, every 4 generations after her soul was totally consumed by darkness, they had to renew the sacrifice , but this time with one son. Now it would always be the heart of a boy; and just at that moment, they would obtain absolute power.

The warlock cried all that night, for what he had just done, for his deceased family, for having murdered his daughter. The next morning this crying had disappeared to give way to a coldness in his eyes. His son, still crying the death of his sister, not knowing that his father had been the cause of such an act. An act that concealed until its final moments, where it confessed it to his grandson, doing it the guardian of the parchment. The parchment was tied to the life of that family, its destruction meant death. “With death, they were formed and with death would cease to exist” were the words that lead that scroll.

The generations passed, the curse was fulfilled, each girl who was born ended up becoming a dark being that brings destruction and pain, guardians of the parchment having to give this honor to one of their descendants who understood the importance of that power.

Soon, this family became the most powerful in the region, as well as the most feared. Many other warlock and witches arrived on that island as well, fleeing from Catholic inquisitions and massacres to practitioners of witchcraft; the most daring made unions with this family, tried to ensure power and that their lineage was the one that brought the next great witch to the world; others fought against them, trying to destroy that scroll that meant the disappearance of a great evil.

Everyone knew the history, sides were made, where the years were counted until the arrival of the next. Living in peace in the few years before this birth when the previous matriarch of evil died, after all, they were not immortal. It was even more years of war when this witch was newborn. The side that tried to destroy the parchment always tried to attack when this witch was a baby, because when its power will begin to develop and learn to control it, attacking becomes impossible.

All this changed, when born Valkyria Tryggvadottir, her destiny was the same expressed in that parchment, but she chose another one. She has been the only witch in the history of the family who has not succumbed to the darkness, who fought against what the curse dictated, who studied to break that spell that kept her family imprisoned in the darkness; She refused to sacrifice one of his children. The murder of a pure soul is what generates darkness in one's own, by not fulfilling this sacrifice, or killing anyone else, his soul is not darkened; also didn’t let the evil make her commit another murder.

It was a constant struggle, it wasn’t easy, she had voices in her head that told her what she had to do, that incited her to evil, many have gone crazy because of those voices, madness that leads them to commit atrocious acts; but she doesn’t, she develops protective spells, her grimoire contains a series of rituals that helped her to have a real life.

The side that has beaten our family with death was not convinced that goodness was really possible; but she died demonstrating the opposite, fought for peace between clans, and as she never completed the sacrifice his power never fully developed, waiting until the next.

The waters tensed again 15 years ago when she died. We all knew that the time was approaching for a new witch to be born. Before dying, he left a letter for the next generation as well as a letter to the guardians of this new witch.

.

The letter for the guardians said:

"Dear family, dear children, dear grandchildren, great-grandchildren or whoever is reading this letter. If you're reading this, it's because I've already died. The fight is not over yet.

These years were a torture as a blessing for me, I learned how to survive with this nasty evil in my heart but I also learned to love how I know that none of my predecessors have done it. That's why I don’t want to deny this love to anyone who comes after me. I leave my grimoire and indications attached to help the next one overcome all this more easily.

But there is something they should know.

My death is not a thing of old age; this very night I again invoked the demon that condemned us to this life, I needed to get some way out of this curse. But I did not achieve much, I just got some information.

The first one is that the power that I refuse to receive will accumulate until the next one that decides to make the sacrifice, the more accumulation of power you have, the harder it will be for the next one to endure the temptation, the more voices there will be in your head, more desire to fall in the face of evil. And the next time someone decides to receive that power again, they will have an evil that could destroy everything we know now.

This does not end there, this accumulation of power also increases the sacrifice. For every generation that refuses to renew the sacrifice, one more male child must die. Therefore, my successor, if she decides to accept this power, must sacrifice two of his children. So it's imperative that she not do it, let's not bring more deaths to this family.

I also leave all the information so that she can continue with my investigation and try to get out of this curse before it is too late.

Please, help my successor to fight against his demons, the support of his family is fundamental.

16 / 11- Valkyria Tryggvadottir "

The next day she was found dead, with both letters in her hands and a package with all the objects she left behind. The letter to the successor has never been opened, nor the archives of the investigation. On the attached sheet, Valkyria asked exclusively for the successor to open it and that no one else in the family should try since was bewitched.

3 years later, you were born. The first-born of your father, of your generation.

From the age of 8 you are listening to voices and they are getting stronger; besides that, the recent wave of deaths to our family caused by those that want to annihilate you, brings with it the evil of which we have tried to flee. Your uncles Olav and Abel Jorgersen were part of the fire that destroyed the family's watch store; as well as your great-grandmother Kaira Naess who died poisoned with Cicuta. Half of the family on the side of your great-grandfather have also been killed by them with the same poison, the worst was Haakon Haraldsen because the dose provided was so large that it melted from within

You are 13 years old, old enough to decide a path, and known this details, it is time to read the letters that Valkyria left and move towards the destination you decide

What are you going to do?

—Let's fight against this

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This is an original story, created exclusively for Celf challenge; the tree and the letter was created by me using the following reference

Sources: 1 -Image-; 2 3; Cicuta.