When I opened my eyes again, the void disappeared. I was standing in front of a window with open purple curtains inside a room. Through the window, I could see a huge city that extended past the horizon. It was nighttime, but there were so many stars in the sky that it almost looked like daytime.
The city looked different from anything I had ever witnessed on Earth. Some structures were similar to old houses that I remembered seeing when I visited my grandparents as a kid. Two and three-story houses covered almost every space in the narrow streets. Some other houses that looked like mansions were also visible throughout the city. All the houses shared one thing; all of them were illuminated inside with a warm yellowish light.
The streets were made of stone tiles that bore a certain resemblance to the engravings in the books. I could also see a canal that ran through the city like the branches of a tree. The water inside it was a cyan color that emitted a glow that illuminated the city even more.
'What? What is this place?' As I stepped away from the window, I could see my surroundings. The room was a bedchamber adorned with a fireplace that had a purple fire burning in it and some type of luxury couch in front of it. The bed was way bigger than a normal bedroom.
'It could probably sleep 5 or 6 people there.' I noticed different paintings of different people throughout the bedchamber. They were all women. All beautiful women, some didn't even look human.
There were also three bookshelves filled with books next to a writing desk and a luxurious ancient-looking chair. On the desk, I noticed the purple book opened to the index. I approached it by instinct.
"Finished peering, child?" A voice came from behind me. When I looked back, I saw a woman with her hands resting on the back of the couch, lit by the fire of the fireplace, smiling at me.
To say "It was a woman" was an understatement of what I truly saw. Not even in my whole life had I seen a woman as beautiful as the one who was in front of me. She had long black hair with strands of purple, and also purple eyes. Her skin was light with no imperfections and a reddish tint on her face. She was wearing a dress that had little covering her cleavage, but it wasn't vulgar. It was alluring and charming. Her figure wasn't precisely busty but slender, though her hips were wider than even the most famous actresses I had seen in my lifetime.
The way she smiled made me gulp. That smile was something that sent a shockwave through my head. It was so powerful that my Instinct activated and tried to make me not look at her.
I tried to close my eyes, but I couldn't. It was as if someone was keeping them open with tweezers. Trying to close them was inflicting pain on my eyes.
'F-FUCK, WHAT IS THIS?' I clenched my teeth as I tried to move my hands to cover my eyes.
"Do not fight it, little one. You will not be able to win against it," the woman chuckled. Even her laugh was beautiful. Before I noticed, I unconsciously stopped fighting.
"See? Doesn't it feel better like that?" She smiled as I noticed myself already relaxing my body.
"Shit," I cursed because of how I felt when I stopped fighting. I felt good, at peace. The woman smiled before speaking again.
"Tell me, little one. Why do I have the pleasure? Are you one of Dorothea's children, or perhaps you are from the lineage of Cynthia? Ah... I miss little Cynthia." The woman placed a hand on her face as she closed her eyes as if she was remembering something.
'Okay, now what? Where do I start? I wasn't expecting to meet the witch in person. I thought it would be different, like her speaking through the book or something.' As I thought, the woman opened her eyes and looked at me.
"Oh? So you are not a child of Dorothea or Cynthia," she said as she got up from the back of the sofa.
My Instinct kicked in. 'Fuck, she can read minds too. Don't think, Leo, don't think,' I thought as I put my mind blank, trying to think of numbers and colors. The witch walked with a new smile on her face.
"She can read minds too? OH! Look at you, so you managed to learn [Legemens]." She chuckled as she walked to me and put her hand under my chin, forcing me to look at her. She was a little shorter than me, but that didn't stop me from feeling totally helpless. I'd never felt this level of powerlessness in my life. Even though my Instinct was screaming, it was useless. She had full control of me.
"Don't worry, I'll just peek a little, okay sweetheart? I just want to know you a little better. Don't fight, let it happen." She placed her hand toward my face and forced me to look directly into her eyes. I wanted to scream, to slam my forehead against hers and throw myself through the window, but it was impossible. I felt at peace, and I let all my thoughts wander.
I started to remember moments of my life; The time when I was a kid, when I witnessed my mother dying protecting me from my stepfather.
When I ran away from home at 9 and lived on the streets begging and stealing food. The first time I got into a fight, the first time the adults beat me up, the first time I beat up the adults.
The first time I got stabbed, when I had to run from the hospital because I couldn't pay the bill.
The first time I worked as a bodyguard, when I joined the military, when I got kicked from the military. My first girlfriend, when she cheated on me, my second girlfriend, when I cheated on her. Emilie, and finally the message from my future self.
I was crying, I was angry, but my anger disappeared in the presence of the witch. It was frustrating. Everything.
Finally, after a few moments, the witch let me go. I fell to my knees as I tried to stop my tears.
'Fuck. She saw everything.' I didn't raise my gaze. I was scared. For the first time since my mother died, I was really scared. 'Sorry, old man, sorry for wasting your sacrifice. I failed you,' I thought as I let the tears fall while my body trembled, unable to move.
After an unbearable silence, I felt a hand on my head.
"You did not fail, Leo, you never did." I raised my face and looked at the woman. She was smiling, but this time I did not feel an external pressure on my body. This time she was really smiling. I broke down in tears again.
***
After a few minutes, I finally recomposed myself. I was sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace. The witch, who had introduced herself as Violet, was sitting in front of me by the fireplace using the chair from the writing desk.
"How do you feel, child?" she asked with a soft voice.
"I'm fine, thanks..." I answered, still nervous.
She smiled and moved a bit of her hair behind her ear before speaking again.
"My apologies, I did not intend to look that deep into your mind. But I think it was the right choice, in fact." I kept silent and just looked at my hands.
"And I also apologize for being so rude with my charm. I was a bit excited. I haven't seen a woman's face in a long time." I looked at her with confusion and then toward the window where the city could be seen.
She smiled and closed her eyes. "The Citadel is empty. There's nobody except for me." She opened her eyes, she had a sad expression when she said that.
"When you say it was the right choice, what do you mean?" I said as I tried to cross my arms but was unable to because of my breasts. 'Shit,' I tried again, this time under the stupid balloons.
She chuckled as she covered her mouth. "Because of that." She moved her hands, and the fire behind her moved like it was water, flowing in front of us. Then it started to shape my future self.
"When your future self met me, he was probably already a different person from who you are now. Someone crueler, more pragmatic, a man moving by Instinct and looking only for survival. A man who may no longer be you." I looked at the figure of my future self. He looked like me, but different. Of course he was a man, but he was tired, worn down.
"He didn't want to help you, at least not until he understood that he couldn't possess you. He wanted your body. He wanted a second chance, and he failed."
I felt a sharp pain in my head. I already knew he had tried to merge our consciousness, but I never thought that he might have wanted to erase me entirely.
"I don't get it. What exactly does this mean?" I asked as I frowned.
"Don't frown, you'll get wrinkles," she said, giving me a finger tap on the forehead. "What I mean by this is that I'm going to help you. I will teach you Witchcraft."