"So… Vivi's children. Great… Well, this is awkward, hehe," said the deer‑eared, horned witch; her ears drooped.
"Aren't you ashamed?" I asked.
"Hey! Don't be like that. Do you know how boring it is to be here?" she said. "This is my only source of entertainment, and besides, nobody was harmed."
We were sitting on chairs in front of one of the tables in the bar, which had the kitchen where I had woken up.
The place had regained its color and was now full of movement and joy. The "people" laughed, drank, and chatted as if nothing had happened.
There was even a group playing instruments and singing on an improvised stage. The strangest thing was seeing the middle-aged woman—Madame Mortier—doing a duet with the captain who looked like my future self.
It felt so surreal that it seemed unreal. Of course it was. None of them were real.
I let out a sigh.
My eyes remained fixed on one particular table. The copies of Livia, Milaine, and Emilie, still in kitchen clothes, were sharing a cheerful moment with other girls I'd also seen in the kitchen.
I watched them in silence while another girl—the dark‑blue bob‑cut one, the same one who had hit me earlier—served us drinks in wooden cups.
She gave me a stern look. Narrowed her eyes, placed my cup down abruptly, and then left.
"Are you sure they're not real? They look pretty realistic to me," I said as I gave the blue-haired girl the middle finger. She gave me the finger back. With her other hand, she pulled her eyelid down and stuck out her tongue.
The witch chuckled to herself when she saw my exchange with the girl.
"Well, they look real because the personalities are. I told you already. They're effigies, representations of the Play," Agatha said. This time her ears perked up and she smiled with pride.
Right, effigies.
Apparently, what I had just lived through was nothing but the projection of a story that had already happened. The kitchen, the rain, the ruined city, the refugees, the impending final battle: all of it was fake.
According to Agatha, the small black box to the side of our table was a Nexus, a magical object that allowed you to relive any story. The only condition was that it had been written in a book.
You could also change certain parameters: number of extra characters, setting, even the genre. According to her, taking the role of the villain was important for her training—although she gave me the impression that she did it because she enjoyed it.
"Okay, I get that. But why do I see people I know?" I asked.
"Well, you don't just see people you know; you also see people you knew. The Nexus renders the effigies by giving them faces already recorded in your conscious and subconscious."
She smiled while resting her hand on the ornate black box embroidered with a red book.
'Subconscious? Maybe people I saw on the street. Yeah, it makes sense.'
"I chose to set it that way because I didn't expect anyone else to enter my domain. Well, perhaps Vivi," she said.
"And the monsters? I'm a hundred percent sure I didn't see most of… whatever those were," I asked.
"Same logic. Maybe you heard about them somewhere, or had a nightmare once. It's even likely you saw some of them in another life," Agatha explained. Then she drank from the wooden cup and let out a silly sigh.
"Other lives? That's real?" I asked.
"Yup, of course. Unless something or someone interferes with your soul, once you die you return to the cycle of reincarnation."
I looked at my cup and took a sip. It was sweet—maybe wine; I'd expected something more bitter.
"I see," I whispered, to no one in particular.
"In any case, why are you here, child?" Agatha said, growing more relaxed; the silly look on her face spread. Even her cloak had fallen to the floor.
A light tingling ran through my hands. It wasn't strong enough to be my Instinct, but it was enough to make me wiggle my fingers and work out the numbness.
"I came because I need help," I said.
"Yup, you said that. But maybe you want to be a little more specific," she prodded.
'Right… where should I even start?'
I gave her a brief summary of what had happened. I hesitated for a second about telling the whole truth, but I chose honesty at the end. There was no point in lying; nothing guaranteed the witch couldn't use Legemens, just like Violet.
By the time I finished the reconstruction—including how I ate the sandworm's remains—most of the effigies had already disappeared.
"I need to solve the problem with my Instinct, and well, maybe learn some more spells." I said.
Agatha fell silent, staring at the ceiling as she slumped back in her chair.
"How enviable," she whispered, finishing her ninth cup and stacking it in a pyramid with the others.
"Enviable?" I asked, thrown off.
"Ah, apologies. You know, I always wanted to participate in a Game of Gods. There's no better place to generate chaos than an event like that."
"I don't get it," I said.
Agatha crooked a finger and floated another cup from another table to her; she stole it from the effigy of the blue‑haired girl, who was drinking alone in a corner. Then she toyed with the cup while staring at the liquid.
"Don't worry about it. You're too young to understand. I'm not going to be the one to give you the talk," she downed the cup in one go, sighed, and then hiccupped.
"Hey. If you want to say something, say it. Don't give me some ambiguous shit," I said.
She barely lifted her gaze from the cup to look at me.
"You swear too much, has anyone ever told you that?" she said with a lazy smile. "Besides, you'd need a True Name to grasp it." She set the cup on top of the now‑finished pyramid and knocked it over; several cups fell to the floor.
She giggled at the mess on the floor before speaking again.
"Mmmh, I guess I should teach you some evocation and abjuration. We should also check your essentia. Since Vivi didn't teach you her charm spells, you must really have a low amount, so maybe low spells first. A familiar would be good too,"
"Ah, almost forgot," she snapped her fingers. A vibration ran through the tavern and everything shook for a few seconds.
[The System has been reactivated]
"There, you should be able to see that now. If I'm honest, I don't like the System much, it's kinda out of dat—"
"Hey. Who says I don't have a True Name," I cut in, a hint of annoyance in my voice.
"Oh? I didn't know that, hehe," she smiled, touching one horn with a near‑mocking gesture.
"Mhmm. And what would it be… L‑e‑o?" she said, punctuating the letters of my name while keeping that irritating smile.
'Ugh, this bitch…'
Another small spasm, this time in both hands.
[Your Adversity is resonating with Chaos]
I snorted and turned my gaze to the witch. She had her arms on the table, chin resting on her hands, cheeks a little red, and a smile too wide. She smelled strongly of alcohol.
"Well?" she said, with a mock grin.
Saying my name out loud made me feel second‑hand embarrassment. More than that: it felt too personal. It was easier to say I had turned into a woman than to pronounce it.
"The Witch of Adversity," I whispered.
"What was that? I couldn't hear it properly, heheh," she said.
Another spasm.
[Your Adversity is resonating with Chaos]
'Agh, how annoying. Why am I embarrassed now?'
I looked away, searching for the effigy table of Livia and Milaine. They were gone, but Emilie had stood up and was patting the blue‑haired girl's back on the corner; she gave her a tired smile.
Something in that exchange gave me a bit of confidence back.
"A‑Adversity…" I said a little louder, still a whisper.
"Huh? I can't hear it if you say it with that much shame, hehe," Agatha made the table tremble with her hands.
[Your Adversity is resonating with Chaos]
I clicked my tongue and turned to her.
"Adversity. I'm the Witch of Adversity. Happy?" I said, annoyed.
The sound of a hard crack against the floor made me look up. Only then did I notice that Agatha's horns had snapped off.
An awkward silence followed. Every sound in the tavern faded; even the girls who hadn't left yet were no longer there.
Without horns she looked smaller. Cuter, even. The deer ears I hadn't liked before now had their charm.
And without the antlers as a focal point, her emerald eyes looked bigger. They matched her dark‑cyan hair nicely.
"Hey, Bambi. You dropped something," I said, staring at the witch. Her face was red; she was still smiling, but her mouth trembled.
"Ah… hahaha… yeah, I noticed," she said, pulling back a little and slumping into her chair. She moved her hand and burned the horns on the floor with a green flame. She also grabbed the cloack that was on the floor and covered her body with it.
[Your Adversity rejoices in bringing Chaos]
As I read the notification, I saw something fast and purple shoot out of the tattoo on my left arm. It was so quick I couldn't make it out; I only saw it slam straight into the witch's face.
[Your Adversity is trying to absorb Chaos]
I panicked and stood up immediately.
[The Chaos rejoices in the presence of its twin]
The witch looked up. Her smile was nervous; her eyes were clouded and trembling; a deep flush colored her cheeks.
"Ahaha… this… is interesting. Who would've thought… we're Twitches…" she said, her voice trembling and her deer ears twitching from side to side.
***