The Witch

Chapter eight: Aziza's POV

I don't know how much time has passed, I just know that the sun hides and rises every night and morning, and that several of them have passed. Taking into account that Naya's cubs are now huge, I suppose that it has been a long time. They have helped me a lot. In fact, they don't only help me to survive, but they have also helped me with the darkness. It still tries to consume me, to make me set it free, and even though I fight it, I sometimes wonder what may occur if I lose the battle.

I wake up almost every single night screaming. I can hear their crying and how they asked for help. Their screams hunting my dreams. Sometimes, when I wake up, I can even smell their blood. Zohar is the one that doesn’t leave my side, he is very protective of me. I can’t understand why. He saw me, like the monster in me. Then why does he care about me?

But they do, they all do, and I’m grateful for that.

Naya was the one that told me about this place. She had heard several people talk about a powerful witch that can help with anything. They say that not even death can stop her. If I thought about it, I had the same power as well. I have brought several animals back to life.

“But you have ended several lives as well.”

I hated it when he did that. Remind me of what I had done. I tried not to hear what he had to say, but it was becoming harder every day.

Naya transforms back almost every night and talks to me. She told me why she had to stay in her lioness form.

To say that her story is shocking would be an understatement. She had been through hell several times and had gotten out of the pit by herself. That kept me going, to know that I had someone strong was giving me the strength to continue.

The story of shifters was a sad one. Apparently, they all lived in harmony for centuries, until the werewolves started to take over. They didn’t stay where they belonged to, and slowly, but steadily they made the other shifters leave their home. Some of them went to the colder areas, others went to the cities and forgot that they had a beast side, and the least fortunate ones had to do the contrary. They stayed in their beast mode and only changed back when it was extremely necessary.

After a while, some of the shifters forgot they were humans, and so they couldn’t transform back. This meant that several lines of shifters were lost, and would never be back.

The werewolves had destroyed numerous lives, and I couldn’t fully understand why. The earth was big enough to host all of us, but for some reason they wanted supremacy above all beings.

“How are you feeling?” Naya asked me once the sun settled. Her kids were sleeping while I sat on the rock looking at the moon. Its white light washed all over the savanna, making it look ethereal. I wished I could stop time, to not have to continue fighting, but that wasn’t something plausible.

“Okay? I don’t know.” She sat right next to me. At first, it was weird that she was always naked once she transformed back, but now I have gotten used to it.

“We are near Aziza. Only a couple more nights.” I sighed at her remark.

I wanted to get to wherever our destiny was, but at the same time I was scared. What if it didn’t work? I will be back to square one.

“And what if I’m a lost cause?” Naya hates that I talked like that about myself. She tells me to always keep fighting, and if I had to fight people external to me that would be easy, the hard part is that this fucker is inside of me. Taunting me day and night.

“You are not. I’ve seen a lot, and you are not a lost cause. Just believe in yourself.” She grabbed my hand to give me some sense of comfort.

I miss my mom a lot. She would be singing right next to me if she were here. She always tried to calm me down, and bring joy to my life.

“And what about your other mother? Are you just going to forget her?”

I closed my eyes in a futile attempt to make him stop. It never worked, but I always tried.

Having your worst enemy inside of you is exhausting. He knew what I feared the most, and he used that to his advantage. Nevertheless, I was not going to let him win. No way, I had to be stronger, for Naya, Zohar, Shil, Zhate, and so on. For my mom, Nia. I was not going to let her down.

With my newfound strength, I felt invincible. It was time to get rid of the only enemy that I had left, and I was almost near my objective. Well… I was forgetting about Chike, but he had been gone for so long that I didn’t think he would bother me.

I was so freaking wrong…

I was still so naive…

And the problem was that the ones that I loved the most were the ones that paid for my mistakes.

After the sun rose and the whole savanna was painted with its light, we marched towards our destiny. I could feel something in the air, like it was thicker, almost like a warning of what was awaiting me.

We got there sooner than I expected, and it was quite obvious that we had reached the destination. The whole area was surrounded by nature, the greenery was something I'd never seen before, and I could hear water running from the inside.

It was an oasis…

The sight of it was wonderful. I'd never seen anything like it. I was mesmerized by its beauty. I couldn’t imagine that something so precious could be hidden in plain sight. I could even hear some birds chirping, making the whole scenery more fantastic. I was looking around everywhere. I was so distracted that I didn't see a woman standing in front of me.

She looked young, maybe twenty to twenty-five years old. She was wearing a blue and gold top, and a skirt of the same colors that was also decorated with I believe it was silver. Her face was painted with blue as well, showing different symbols on it. Her hair was beautiful. Her curls flowed with the breeze, while at the same time they left a blue trail behind her. It seemed that sparkles were coming from her, like she was some kind of magical creature. She was beautiful as well. Her face was very delicate, and had the most gorgeous blue eyes you could ever see. It was almost as if she was impersonating the ocean.

"Hello Aziza, I've been waiting for you." I was astonished. Even her voice was like a melody. I don't think I've ever met someone as beautiful as her. "I'm the same as you, Aziza, so don't you worry." She gave me a bright smile to show her kindness, and once again I felt like home.

I don't know how to explain it, but she was calming me. Her presence was.

"Excuse her Yemoja, she has been through so much," Naya quickly answered for me. I was still staring at her, and couldn't help it.

"Don't worry my child, I know what has happened and what is going to happen to my child. I'm just going to give you a hand." She extended her arm, giving me the sign that I had to grab her hand.

I debated internally if I should trust her or not. Everything was telling me to, but for some reason I couldn't. She didn't stop smiling at me though, it was like she knew what was going on inside my head.

“Aziza, I know you don’t want to trust anyone right now. That demon has made you doubt even your own shadow, hasn’t he?” I nodded, I couldn’t speak a word to her, but at least I could show her that I was listening. “Well, I want to make you trust me, and I know it is hard, but would you let me?”

“Yes.” Was all I could mutter. She gave me a warm smile in return.

“Now let me present myself. I’m Yemoja, but they know me as the goddess of water and wisdom.” Goddess? Is that why she feels so homey? “I’m not a goddess though, I’m a witch, a very powerful one.”

Was she like me? But they adore her, while they feared me. Why?

“Now I know, dear Aziza, that you may be wondering why your father hated you since you were born.” How did she know that?

“How do you-” I started asking, but she quickly interrupted me.

“I know a lot of things, and I know when another witch is walking around, especially someone like you.”

Now her eyes became stern, like she didn’t like what she was going to tell me next.

“And although you are not a bad person, what lives inside of you is.”

Well, I already knew that he has tormented me since I became a teenager. I even thought that I was insane, that maybe my brain had become damaged for one reason or another.

“Tell me something I don’t know.” Now she looked at me with sadness, and I hated it.

“A long journey awaits you, my dear child, and it is not going to be an easy road. Many horrors await for you along the way, and it is up to you to fight them all.”

“What else could happen to me? I had already lost my mother, I was tortured constantly by my brother, my father tried to kill me the moment I came into this world. This thing inside me has tormented me for years, and unfortunately, I gave up to him, causing great damage in return.” My eyes started filling up with tears of impotence. I wasn't sad, I was tired of always fighting. Ever since I was born I have had to fight, and I wanted a break.

"You have an enemy that is still looking for you, you'll experience heartbreak as well, and..." She hesitated now. What else could happen? What could be so bad that she didn't want to tell me?

"And? What?" I was starting to get mad. I didn't like how she spoke with riddles.

"Death, your death."

Wonderful...