The Witch

Chapter nine: Aziza's POV

My death didn't seem so bad. I could finally be free of all this recurrent fighting. For once, I could rest, and the only ones that I cared about were Naya and her lions, but she had her kids, so she wouldn't be alone. I wouldn't be a burden to them, and from what she was telling me right now, even put them in harms way.

"You don't look scared my dear child." Yamoja looked surprised by my reaction. I was young. At my age you are supposed to want to live. If someone had told me before that I had to die, I would have fought like crazy, but now my mom was gone, and if I left this world, I would be with my mom again.

"I'm not, I have made my peace with death, and if it came I would welcome it with open arms." Naya came right next to me and started to shake me while she asked me why I wanted to die. I didn't even register when she changed to her human form, but she was and her kids looked at her like they were seeing a stranger.

"But do you really understand what happens when you die?"

“Well… what happens to everyone, right?”

Yamoja sighed, and I knew, deep in my bones, that another hard truth was coming my way.

“No Aziza, you possess a demon inside of you, and not just any demon. He was after you since your mother’s womb, and he is not going to stop once you are dead.” No… that can’t be. “If you die, you’ll be dragged to hell with him. You won’t see your momma.”

I stood there, petrified. What could I say?

I will never see my mom, not until I get rid of this bastard.

“Then how do I get rid of him?” She dodged my eyes, meaning that the information that she would provide would not be to my liking.

My patience was running thin, and if she didn’t answer me in the next couple of minutes I was going to lose it.

“Only a friend's sacrifice could get rid of the demon. He is not the same as the one that your father-,”

“That man is not my father.” He wasn’t, he was just the guy that gave half of his material to my mom, so I could be there.

“You know who I’m talking about. The demon inside of him is a lesser demon, a joke to the one that you have inside.”

“Finally, they recognize my power.” He started speaking, he was enjoying so much that he was being praised.

“He is a pillar from hell itself,” I’ll be damned.

After the revelation, I just turned around and tried to hide. Nature has a sort of calming effect on me, but it was just temporary. I knew I had to fight him, especially if I wanted to see my mother once again.

I had what, probably sixty or seventy years left? Yeah, that was it, and then I would be forced to hell.

Why? Why me? What did I do? Before the m******e I hadn’t hurt anyone. I even saved a couple of animals, including one of Naya’s cubs. So why was I being punished?

A couple of hours passed, and I could see that the sun was finally setting. The view was marvelous as the sky was painted with several hues of red, purple, orange, yellow and even pink. It was one of the most beautiful sunsets that I’ve ever seen.

I was still admiring the beauty of the savanna when I felt Yamoja sitting right next to me. She still has that calming aura around her, and I couldn’t help but wonder why that couldn’t be me?

We were both witches, both powerful, so why was she a blessed one, and I was a cursed one?

“Aziza, you need to stop beating yourself. Your destiny was chosen before you came to this world,” yeah, my destiny is to be literally dragged to hell.

“I don’t want your comfort words. At least you get to live and then when you die you’ll see your loved ones. We are almost the same age, I believe, but you have a whole life ahead of you while I don’t.” She didn’t answer me back, so I looked at her, was she thinking on a way to make me change my mind?

I was ready to see a lot of things, but to see this so-called goddess trying to contain her laughter was something that I definitely didn’t expect. I wanted to punch her in the face for laughing at something so important, but once she calmed down a bit she explained why she had that reaction.

“Sweetie, I’m not your age. I’ve been alive for at least two thousand years.”

My mouth dropped to the floor.

WHAT? But… she didn’t look old.

Now that I thought about it, when Naya told me where we were going, I imagined someone ancient, in the middle of nowhere, probably with a hyena by her side.

“Close your mouth or a fly is going to get inside it.” She laughed once again. Now I understood why she found my previous statement so funny, she was freaking ancient and here I was calling her a child practically.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to assume your age, but I’ve never met someone… well, someone-.”

“As old as me? Yeah I figured. It is a power that we witches have.” That surprised me even more. Did I have the same power? Then it meant that my destiny didn’t need to be hell. I could live on for thousands of years, trying to find a cure to get the demon out of me. And one day, if I achieve it, I can finally rest in peace with my loved ones.

It was a small brim of light, but it was enough to keep me going.

“Teach me.”

Chike’s POV

That b***h, Aziza, was going to pay for what she did to me. She killed my father and everyone in my village. I was left with literally nothing, and had to pay some visits to my friends.

I had to make them see that Aziza was a danger to our society, to all our lives. Only then would they help me.

I knew I shouldn’t have trusted her, she wasn’t the naive woman that my father thought she was. No, she had become someone strong that was aware of all her weaknesses and strengths. And even if I hated to admit it, she was a warrior.

I managed to escape in time to not be harmed, but I had to tell them another story. If they knew that I left the villages and all my people behind, no one would support me. I had to find another narrative, and I needed to it fast.

Thankfully, I still had a long way to go, so until I arrived I could think about what I would tell them.

Several stories and situations came to my mind, but they didn’t convince me enough.

And then, it came to me. The perfect idea, the one that would ensure me their help while they feared Aziza.

She didn’t know what was coming her way, but she would soon find out.

For my plan to work I had to get myself hurt, like I had lost a great battle and not run for my life. The only things that could help me now were some rocks that were in the way.

I did what had to be done and when I looked like I had endured a great fight I limped my way to the village.

My friend was the son of the chief. They didn’t like my father very much, but I saved his son during a hunt, and so they owed me one, and now I have come to collect his debt.

As I was arriving, I could see people looking my way. They didn't approach me though, and I could understand why. They didn't want to get messed with whatever had happened to me, so they were cautious. I bet I looked like a mess. I could feel the dry blood sticking to my skin, causing it to itch, but this is what I had to do. If not, they would never believe me, and even worse, he would treat me like a coward, and I was not one.

One of the guards finally noticed me and came to where I was, trying to stop me, of course. But once I announced my name, they took me to see their chief. When I arrived, I was instantly asked what had happened. Of course, I told them a bunch of lies. I was not going to tell them that I had taken Aziza to the village, or that she was my sister for that matter. No, I just told them what I knew would make them help me, to see her as a menace that had to be killed on sight.

"So this witch you are telling us about, she just came to your village and killed everyone?" Chief Manoke asked me. I know it sounded weird, but I had the final touch to make them realize that she was indeed evil.

"Yes, she is being controlled by a demon, Azazel himself seems to be inside her." All the people in the room gasped. I was telling them that the worst demon known to men was roaming our territory, and of course, they didn't like that.

"And how do you know he is the one that controls this woman?" The chief wasn't stupid, but what I was about to tell him was going to be decisive.

"She used the red dust to kill my village, I barely escaped her wrath." With that, they knew that I was telling the truth. The red dust was used a long time ago to kill our ancestors, and the one that could use it was no other than Azazel. I wasn't lying about that, but I knew that Aziza was not being entirely controlled by him.

"You do know what that means, right Chike?" The chief looked at me straight in the eye, just so that I understood what we were about to do.

"Yes, we have to kill her, and I'm asking for your help." He remained silent for a couple of minutes. He had to think about his decision carefully. I was basically telling him that we were going against an evil force that could annihilate us at any moment. I had a bad feeling, he was going to tell me no, and I couldn't let that happen. "She went to attack our water goddess." That made him look at me once again, finally I had hit the jackpot.

"Then you have my full support, Chike, she is an enemy of my village as well." I wanted to smile at his words, but I didn't want to show him my real motives. "Kill her, and bring me her head."