A Witch From Another World

Caroline stood up, tears streaming from her eyes. "Well if that's how you feel, then just move out tonight already! It's clear you don't care about this family anymore!" With that, she spun on her heel and practically ran out of the living room. Moments later the sound of a slammed bedroom door could be heard echoing through the house.

"And that's my cue to go to your mother and talk her off the metaphorical ledge." Magnus Blackstone stood up, brushing his palms on his knees.

"You're not changing my mind, Dad."

"Wouldn't dream of trying, and just ignore that last bit your mother said about moving out immediately. I know you know how scared she is for you, and she's never handled fear very well -- just ask Victor. She'll be fine in a couple of hours, and then she'll pretend she never said any of those things. I know it, you know it, and she even knows it, but she just can't help herself sometimes. It's time she and I made a therapy appointment before this gets any worse." He stepped forward and enveloped his daughter in a hug. "You going to be okay?"

"I'm fine Dad. But hey, I had an idea. This house is about to be the proverbial 'empty nest', and I was thinking I could use a little bit of the settlement money to give Mom and you a Pacific cruise like you've always wanted. I think that would help her relax."

Magnus looked at her in pleased surprise. "Last time we talked about doing that a year ago, before you got hurt, you said that a cruise would be a waste of money. You really have changed, munchkin -- and I can't say I dislike it. I think that's a good idea. It'll get us out of town for awhile, give everyone some space, and she's always wanted to see Hawaii."

"I'll take care of everything, Dad. Go help Mom, I'm good."

As her father headed down the hall to the master bedroom, Natashka felt someone's gaze on her. She turned, and her twin brother Victor was standing in the doorway to the dining room. He pointed behind him. "Hey. Can we talk for a minute, on the deck out back?"

***

Natashka breathed in the July evening air as she sat down on a bench against the deck's railing. It was a lovely night, and what few stars were visible compared to the night sky of All Stone were quite beautiful tonight.

Victor had settled into a chair at the table nearby, watching her with an intent expression. "Last time Mom freaked out out like that, I moved in with Uncle Gerry. I know she means well, but I just cannot deal with her when she gets like that. You handled it better than I did." He sipped at his glass of water. "I'm sorry I called you a 'stupid granola-head' right before I moved out. I was just pissed at mom and you just happened to be in the line of fire."

Natashka waved it off. "I'm over it. Bigger game to hunt. We're all good."

"Really? Odd way for you to put that." He took another sip. "Last time I saw you before you went into a coma, you told me you never wanted to see my face again for as long as you lived. Sometimes you were as big a drama queen as Mom."

Natashka paused. This hadn't been in any of Victoria's journals. "I said that?"

"Oh yeah. When I told you that I didn't want to go to that protest rally with you, you threw a glass full of water in my face and called me a gutless coward." He looked down at the tumbler in his hand. "This very glass, now that I think about it. It's still got that little nick on the base."

Natashka shrugged. "Well, nearly dying does give one a new perspective, I guess."

Victor took one last swig of water, and set the glass down. He ran both hands through his long dark hair -- hair that Natashka was still in the process of regrowing. "Okay, let's just bite the bullet here." He leaned forward, his hands resting on his knees as he stared right at her. "Who are you? Because you are not Victoria, and I'm starting to get pissed at this act of yours."

The Dread-Witch's eyes went wide, her mystic senses suddenly focused directly on Victor Blackstone. "Kai, I'm not seeing anything resonance-connected to him at all. Do you concur? How is he sensing this?"

"I concur. He has no active reservoir of arcane energy, no items of empowered provenance upon him, or anything else. He is a normal human."

"Victor, what are you talking about?"

Her twin pulled a pair of brass knuckles from his pocket, and put them pointedly on the table next to him. "Cut the bullshit. Victoria never called me anything but 'Vic' when we were alone. You walk differently, you talk differently, you act differently, and I don't buy for a second that head injuries account for that. Because you weren't just injured, you were brain-dead. I saw the medical records, and I do not believe in 'spontaneous medical miracles'. My sister Victoria Blackstone is dead, and if you're some con artist trying to get her lawsuit money or some other twisted shit, I will promise you I will crack open your skull and give you a whole new round of head trauma." He stood up, and slipped the weapon onto his right hand. "So I'm giving you one chance to come clean before this gets ugly." He tapped the screen of the smartphone in his left hand, pointing its camera at her. "Start talking." Victor was a tall man with a very well-developed physique, and he carried himself as if he was quite comfortable with physical violence when necessary. No doubt someone Sergeant Borkin would've respected as a "fellow warrior", she thought to herself.

Natashka sighed, and sat up straight in the chair. "I suppose this was inevitable. Before I start, I have one request."

"You're not in a position to make demands." He raised his weapon-bearing hand.

"I didn't say it was a demand, it was a request, and it's for your sake, not mine. I understand you're recording this conversation, but after I'm finished explaining, it will be in your best interest to delete that file."

"Give me one good reason."

Holding open one hand, the Dread-Witch poured the tiniest fraction of her mystic might into the air before her, mind-tracing a sigil that created an invisible 'dome of privacy' around the deck, preventing the conversation from being heard or seen by anyone else nearby. She cast a second sigil, and a pair of elemental constructs formed on either side of her, one made of rock and gemstone, the other of swirling wind and ice. The pair were vaguely humanoid in shape and took up guard positions, eyeing the young man across from her. "Because, Victor, while you do not believe in spontaneous medical miracles, I have first-hand knowledge that they, and other magics besides, are quite real. Put away your weapon. There is literally nothing you can do to harm me, and I do not wish to harm you or anyone else in this family."

The brass knuckles fell from Victor's limp hand, and he nearly collapsed into his chair. "Did you drug me?"

"Not at all. If you doubt your eyes, I can have my rock-guardian give you a gentle pat on the head. You wouldn't want to touch the ice-guardian, you might lose some fingers, or worse." She sighed. "You are correct. Your sister Victoria is dead, but this is her body. I died recently myself, and my mind and soul were brought to your world and placed in your sister's empty vessel."

"My... world?" At Natashka's mental command, the rock-guardian did indeed step over towards Victor, and held out its large hand. Victor touched it, his eyes growing wider as his senses registered that the large creature was actually right there in front of him. "You're not from Earth?"

"Indeed not. My name is Natashka Veltris, Dread-Witch of the Emerald Forest, formerly of the world we called 'All Stone'. I died defending All Stone from the dreadful Abomination of Flame, and in my last moments my deity sent my spirit here. Supposedly this was so that I could experience a more peaceful life the second time around, although I'm beginning to suspect that there is more to it than that. I'm sorry about your sister."

"Why this act? Is this about her money?"

"I didn't choose this body. One minute I was bleeding out under the open sky, about to become a corpse one month shy of my sixty-first birthday. The next I awoke rather abruptly in your sister's eighteen year old body just as they were getting ready to 'pull the plugger' on her life support. I didn't know about the money until much later, and quite frankly I don't care about it, although having those resources available has made some things easier."

Victor edged his chair away from the guardian, and Natashka directed it to return to her side. He shook his head. "The expression is 'pull the plug'. It's slips like that that made me suspicious, among other things. So why are you so intent on going to college?"

She held her arms open wide. "Victor... or would you rather I called you Vic as your sister did?"

"Victor is fine."

"Fair enough. Victor, I've been given a second life to live, on a world that I'm still very unfamiliar with. I want to learn what this world has to offer -- knowledge, vocations, culture -- and decide what sort of person I want to be in this life. Isn't that what college is all about?"

She stood up and stretched. "For decades I was the fabled 'Dread-Witch', always putting the needs of those around me before my own. Using my wits, my knowledge, and my power to protect various local villages, then cities, then nations, and then the entire blessed world from uncounted maladies, calamities, invaders, and strife beyond imagining. And I was damned good at it. But it seems it took me dying and being reincarnated on an entirely different world in order to get some 'me time', so to speak."

Her brother bent down to pick up his brass knuckles, looking from them to the two mystic guardians. Shaking his head, he put the weapon back into his pocket. "So I have an idea."

"Do continue."

Victor sat back in his chair and ran a hand through his hair. "I was accepted to Ellwood as well. I wasn't sure if that's where I wanted to go, since I had a couple of other offers elsewhere that were dangling better scholarships. But I'm thinking you need my help."

The Dread-Witch leaned forward, her elbows on the table. "Help with navigating this new world? I wouldn't ask it of you, but if you are offering, then I'm right pleased by that. In return, I can make up for your lost scholarships by covering your tuition." She gestured, and a can of zero-sugar cola from the kitchen materialized into her hand. "I have to say that you're taking all this in with more grace and emotional agility than I would have expected." Her ice-guardian took the can from her for a moment, cupped it in its hands, and then set it back down on the table. She opened the now-chilled can and took a sip. "Fascinating and delicious invention, this stuff. I would have given much to have it back on All Stone."

Victor watched all of that in fascination. "I've mourned for Victoria already, and I need to move on. I honestly had no idea what I was going to do with myself from this point, but now I feel like I've got a big neon sign pointing me in your direction. You're going to trip over your own feet trying to fit into this world if you don't have me helping you out." He gestured with his glass to the two guardians. "And the chance to see some real magic up close? The nerd in me would never forgive me if I let that chance just walk away."

Natashka nodded, clasping her hands together. "Would you like to learn my arts? It seems the right thing to do - and it would help you to understand where I've come from."

"I could do that?"

She nodded. "You have some latent potential, yes. Most likely not enough to reach the heights I possess, but enough that I would've considered taking you on as an apprentice, had we met back in my old world."

Victor gulped down the rest of his water, and set down his glass. "I'd...wow. Yes. Please."

"Excellent. To that end, I'll need to introduce you to someone. A moment, if you will." She turned her thoughts inward. "Kai? Please connect an apprentice-bond to my new brother."

The bond-spirit's face appeared before her. "At once. Shall I awaken his dormant power?"

"Yes, but gently. Open but a trickle for now, since he has no concept of how to control it yet."

A line of mist appeared between the Dread-Witch and Victor, and the young man's eyes almost popped out of his head. "Who's that?" He pointed right at the floating face of the bond-spirit.

"This is Kai, my bond-spirit and familiar. None can see him but myself and those who I have established a mind-connection to, as I have done now with you. Introduce yourself, Kai."

***

"Tasha?" Victor looked up from his smartphone. "An email from dad just came in. New round of vacation pictures. Looks like they're still having fun."

Natashka didn't interrupt her morning stretches, sweat dripping off her forehead. Even with the backyard's copious tree foliage providing some shade, the august heat was still a moist furnace, the air thick and unpleasant. "Excellent." She motioned to her brother. "Now stop stalling and put the phone down. We have more training to do."

Victor chuckled. "Yes, oh most venerable sensei." But he obediently put down the phone, pausing only to wipe his own sweat away with a clean towel before stepping off the deck and into the grassy yard. "Casting or combat training today?"

The witch rolled her eyes. "If we were back in All Stone, you wouldn't have dared to give my old instructor that kind of flippant attitude. He would have crushed your toes into powder and laughed as you hobbled your way to a healer. But to answer your question -- both. You're still too slow on even the most basic spells, and it's past time we addressed that." She pointed to a spot before her. "Ready position."

Victor stood five feet away from her, one foot stepped back behind him. He raised one hand to be level with his chin, fingers open and his palm facing his sister and teacher . His other hand was down at waist height, palm facing towards his own hip. "Ready."

"Half-speed to start." The Dread-Witch lunged forward, her right fist moving in a straight line towards Victor's jaw. Victor stepped into the attack, his raised hand deflecting her strike to the side while his lower hand surged forward into a countering gut-punch. She caught his wrist with her left, then pulled him forward and off-balance while her right fist swung back into play towards the side of his head -- but Victor's knee was coming up fast, and she slapped down instead to hard counter the knee-strike. "Stop. Good improvisation there."

They backed away, and Victor made a small bow. Natashka chuckled and imitated the motion. "Is the bowing really necessary, brother?"

"Sorry, old habit from karate classes. It's to show respect for your training partner."

She shrugged. "Well, there's no harm in it. When on Earth, do as the Earthers do, I suppose."

"Was that really only half-speed?"

"One of the advantages of having a young body again. I get to apply old experience to a body that can actually keep up. Don't worry, we'll get you there." She gestured to him. "Cast a kinetic barrier around your fist and forearm."

He took a deep breath, and two seconds later, his limb was encased in a glowing shell of green light. He gave a sheepish smile. "I know. Too slow."

"Yes indeed, but let's try something a little different. Instead of just standing there concentrating on the casting sigil's mind-trace, try to do it in conjunction with a high block motion, so that your arm is shielded by the time a strike would connect with your forearm."

Over the next hour, Victor would attempt again and again, but in every case the spell didn't go off until long after the block was completed. "I know this is frustrating," she said. "But trust me when I say that I'm already seeing improvement in you. Practicing spell-casting is almost exactly like working a muscle. Repetition brings strength, and builds reflex. There will come a time when you will throw a block before you're even consciously aware of being attacked, and the barrier will activate in conjunction with your physical movement on pure reflex. Trust me. And now let's do it again."

Twenty minutes later, Natashka dropped to her knees in pain, cradling her arm -- but her eyes were wide with excitement. "Yes! Remember how that felt! That was perfect!"

Victor looked down at his glowing forearm, and then down at his kneeling sister. "What just happened?"

Victoria struggled to stand, holding her injured arm close against her body. "I lied to you, and it worked better than I...ahhh... expected. After I said that we were done for the day, the instant you started to lower your guard, I threw one more punch. I was hoping you'd throw the block -- which you did -- but I didn't expect you to successfully cast in time as well, or else I'd have put up a barrier on my own senile self instead of getting my arm broken! Oooo, this smarts." She stepped back onto the deck and sat down. "Be a kind brother and fetch this old woman a bag of ice, if you please?"

Victor returned shortly with a chilled gel-pack. "Gotta stop calling yourself an old woman. I know it's a habit for you, but at college they're going to look at you like you're crazy."

"Noted. But I asked for ice, not some strange pillow."

"Trust me, this gel-pack is much better than ice. Dad keeps several of these in the freezer for his arthritis, and they're amazing." He slipped it into a cloth sleeve and then carefully velcro'ed that around the damaged limb. "We may not have any knowledge of magic, but we Earthers make do pretty well with science."

"I'm not inclined to argue, that is very helpful. Feels a little better already." She looked down at her arm, her pained expression shifting to one of thoughtful contemplation. "Kai, I need your assistance on something."

The bond-spirit's face appeared. "Ready to serve, mistress." Natashka rolled her eyes at the honorific, but wasn't in the mood to press the point.

"Kai, I want to...ow. To test a theory. When I was brought here from All Stone, this body was subjected to some rather powerful divine healing. Restored brain-matter and other such details, so that my spirit could safely enter." Kai nodded, and she continued as Victor pulled up a chair to listen in. "Is it possible that being exposed to such drastic magics may have increased this body's compatibility to healing magic in general? Especially since it was this body's first experience with arcane energies of any sort." She turned to Victor. "Healer-mages are quite prevalent back in All Stone, but I am not one of them. My talents lay in more, ah, entropic pursuits."

"Like blowing things up with fireballs, I take it?"

She laughed. "Among many other things, yes. Now, I could...mmmph. I do have the ability to cure some diseases, relieve allergies, and other such small-scale biological changes. You can do quite a bit to help a person with just the introduction of a small conjured anti-viral agent, for example, but even that takes quite a bit out of me because of the precision involved. But larger tissue restoration, mending damaged flesh and bone, that was never something I was very good at. Didn't have the right energy flow for it."

Victor scratched at his chin. "Kind of how anyone could theoretically learn how to play the trumpet, but some people have more innate talent, the right sort of mouth and jaw structure, that sort of thing?"

"Yes, exactly. But with a new body comes new energy flows, especially a body that's been put through such extraordinary circumstances. Kai, be a dear and project an image of the Constance Kalawi Grimoire. Codex five, I believe." As the image of a complex page of mystic writings shimmered into the air before her, she turned to Victor again. "Kai is able to pull any memory from the depths of my mind for me, and then show it to me. Blastingly useful."