Chương 67: Mama's boy

"Your boy? You mean the casualty?" She said. An outpouring of Aura tickled Grim's senses before it retracted, gaining control of itself,"Casualty? He can't be dead… His amulet came through the portal, it's here, I know it. Wait. You there, why do you have it? What did you do to him?" The other woman said to her. She looked to be in her late twenties, but she had that look to her that said she was much older than she appeared. She was wearing a black and blue bodysuit with a black cloak covering her.

The armour looked to be like what Grim was wearing but way more high-tech. Two small dome-like drones hovered over her shoulders. Her eyes were wild and promised violence as she looked down at Grim, blood dripped from her gauntlets and scorch marks marred her armour.

"She had him locked up pretty tight in her authority, luckily, she was smart enough to let him go so the med boys could take him," Sergeant Mallah said. Now that she was hovering over her, she was close enough to read her name tag.

"I wasn't asking you. What did you do to my son?" The Sergeant stood up in front of Grim, "She's in our custody, Witch. You can file a request for information after we interrogate her."

"If she hurt him, she's not leaving here alive, Stripe."

"That's not up to you. Are you willing to go to war over this?"

"Yes."

"Then do it. See what happens." They stared at each other, their auras ramping up when one soldier broke rank and whispered into the Sergeant's ear. She cursed and spat on the ground, "You've got five minutes before I file a grievance. We can both tell her soul's burning up, and I'm not taking the fall for turning in a corpse." Soryn's mother nodded, her aura placated, "I know." She glared at the stripes until they backed off enough for the illusion of privacy.

Hazel held her mouth as the officers got off her, only for the two drones she had with her to take their place hovering behind Maya and Hazel. Maya tried to speak, but a low buzzing from the drones forced her into silence.

"I don't want to hear from you, Maya," the Witch said.

"You, on the floor, what's your name and why do you have my son's tracking amulet?" Her whole body burned, but Grim forced herself to speak, "Grim."

"Amberlite. Tell me what happened. My patience is limited."

"I fucking saved him, that's what happened. You should be thanking me," Grim spat. Amberlite's eye twitched, "Thanking you? He's barely alive and his soul… the extent of the damage should've been fatal. What did you do to him?" Grim hissed, "What I did to him? I saved him, you mean bitch. His Authority was what nearly killed him."

"How could his Authority have done that? He didn't have one before he entered. What is it?"

"A dying star burns the brightest," Grim choked out, the words tasting like ash on her tongue. The Witch frowned and stared off into the distance, "I can feel the truth in your words, but I don't want to believe it. Why?"

"He seemed to think it was a good idea to solo a horde of Petals, the Giant and somebody strong enough to not just react to him, but start winning."

"But he won?" Grim squinted, "What? I mean yeah. Killed just about everything there, or else none of us would've showed up."

"That's my boy," she whispered to herself as a small smile passed over her lips.

"Why do you have his amulet?" Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

"He gave it to me. Told me to tell you not to cry. He knew what his Authority was going to do to him."

"It burnt him up and you…" Her eyes flared with power and she looked over Grim's body.

"You stabilized him, took some of the burn away. You know the damage is permanent, right?" Grim nodded, "Yes, I know. What was I supposed to do? Leave him? Let more of us die, to what? Feed that thing? You knew what you were sending us into, each and every one of you knew, and for what? How many people died for nothing? You're lucky I saved him, everyone else I tried to is dead." The Witch was silent, "Yeah, we knew but what choice do we have?

If we don't, it'd come through the portal and it wouldn't stop at killing just a few, no, it would eat its fill. There's no fighting that thing, believe me. We tried. I tried. I've lost just as many people as you. Each and every one of us hates it as much as you do, we've all been where you are, kid."

"So what? Keep sending people into that shit? Let them be ripped apart and turned into a monster? They aren't dead. They're still alive in there, I know that for a fucking fact." She sighed, "Can I let you in on a secret? You won't like it." Grim looked around and gestured at the Stripes waiting to arrest her, "What do I have to lose?"

"Fair," Amberlite chuckled, and in a flash her expression hardened.

"We're losing."

"What?"

"The war, kid. More and more of us die every single day, and we're not replacing our losses fast enough. Worrying about less than a hundred deaths? We've got less than ten years before Eternity's wiped out, according to current predictions. So while maybe yes, if we all banded together, we could clear out the portal once and for all, too many of us would die to do it, and that ten-year timeline? We'd be lucky to last months after that."

"So… why are you telling me all this?" Grim asked, the pain hadn't lessened.

"Everyone who becomes a Witch needs to know. There's a lot the government and the city hide, and it's gonna take some time to teach you what's really going on. Just assume that everything you've been told is a lie. Chances are, it was," Amberlite said as she reached down and brought out what looked like an inhaler, there was a green shard powering the device.

"Breathe in for ten seconds and hold it in your lungs for as long as you can. It'll stabilize your soul damage for now until we can find you some help." Grim didn't bother asking questions and put the device to her lips. A deep lungful of the stuff coated the inside of her and she felt it pushing in deep as she held her breath. The constant pain she'd felt lessened but didn't disappear completely. But the improvement was massive.

It felt like going from fighting for every breath just to stay alive to a comfortable, oh fuck, I am hurt.

"Oh, wow, that's good stuff," Grim exhaled.

"But I don't understand. What do you mean by join?"

"Well, you're a Witch aren't you? You got your dog tag right?" It took her a moment to get to a position where she could reach into her armour and grab it, but she pulled it out, letting the cold metal rest on her palm, "Yeah, I do."

"Then get up, no Witch in my coven kneels," Amberlite glared at her as she offered her hand.

"Your Coven? You mean like, join it?"

"That's what I said." Grim glanced at the Stripes gathered several feet away, still watching her every movement. She shook her head, "What about them? They won't let you take me." Amberlite snorted, "I very much doubt they could stop me. So decide, you can either go with them or with me. It's your choice, but there's no taking it back. Once you're with us, you're with us." Grim froze, trying to process everything she was hearing. She'd gone from ready to tear her head off to trying to recruit her.

"Why? You heard what they're taking me in for. I doubt they'd let me go that easily, even if you could take me now. They could just as easily come with more tomorrow. This won't be as simple as you're trying to make it sound."

"One, if you are really guilty of what they say you are, you will be immensely useful to us. Useful enough, it'll be worth the favours and goodwill we'll have to spend. Two, if you're not? Then they'll drop it and instead we're left with someone with enough grit to survive the Witching trials, an already activated Authority and someone who saved my stupid, heroic son from dying," Amberlite reached out her hand.

"So, what will it be?" Grim looked towards Hazel, still dazed from the hit she'd taken but cognizant enough to have heard and understood everything that had happened. Blood dribbled down her mouth as she nodded, sending droplets to stain her clothes. She wanted Grim to accept the offer.

"Her, too." Amberlite paused as Hazel shook her head, her eyes squinting at her. The woman's hand wavered as she almost dropped it, but turned and activated her sight on Hazel. It only took her a glance before she turned it off and pursed her lips, "What is… that?"

"That's my fucking sister, and she's got a dog tag. It's both or none of us." Hazel spoke up, "What are you doing?"

"Something you want for a change. Didn't you say you wanted to be Witches together?"

"Yeah, but I'm not important. I'm okay with being your shadow. It's enough."

"I'm not." Grim stared at Hazel for a long time, neither of them wanting to back down. She watched as Hazel flickered and her fingers twitched, restless and primed to do… something. Whatever it was, she would take it. She crawled back from the fucking dead to see her again, she would not hide her any longer. She'd rather crawl right back into that pit. Before something could happen, Amberlite got in front of the two and sighed, "I'll accept on one condition: you tell me exactly what's going on here."

Grim looked at Hazel and nodded, it was faint, barely perceptible by anyone but someone who'd spent hours and days together. Hazel stared back and after a brief pause, she did as well. They were in agreement. She reached up and grabbed Amberlite's hand.