Finding the Cursed
Miranda stood before a foggy section of woods. She wove a bit of magic, and suddenly a trail appeared before her leading deeper into the woods. She sighed, time to find another cursed group. Another attempt to find the answer to her own problems and escape the inevitable enslavement she faced.
A blood contract was waiting for her back home; she had one small hope to break if she could find the right loophole. The problem was, Miranda wasn't exactly sure what she was looking for. Just cryptic words were told to her, and time was running out. She pushed that to the back of her mind and went forward onto the hidden path to help those who'd summoned help.
Miranda felt a shiver go down her spine as she walked the worn path through the woods and stopped at the edge of a road that intersected it. She turned left and walked down the road, coming into the main street of a small town. Once more, she was stepping into danger to find her own way out by saving others.
The town was cut off from the world, with no access to modern times, and it took magic to get here. She'd heard their plea and came, but had no idea of the dangers here or what she was about to walk into.
It was rather dark out, and even the lights coming on didn’t seem to help illuminate the place. She paused and glanced at the buildings as she walked the deserted street, trying to decide which was best to go into to find someone. Not a soul was out on the street, and she could feel the oppression here. The black magic swirling and tugging.
It was a small town, looked like one that was stuck back in time, maybe the nineteen fifties. There were modern things here; however, the town looked like it hadn’t seen an actual upgrade since the fifties. Not that it was falling apart, but magic was keeping it this way, and from time to time something modern got stuck. A new car that drove in, a lost hiker with a phone. Things like that, that magic pulled in.
Miranda had chosen to come because of the problem this town faced, and she glanced up at the sky. Tomorrow was the start of the full moon, so she had little time. The sky was darkening now, and the moon was already out.
She wore a pair of faded jeans, a dark blue t-shirt, and sneakers. Her hair was dark like a raven’s wing; in the right light, you could see an almost iridescent sheen to it. Her eyes were a teal color, and she was average height and in good shape. Her feminine form hid the fact that she was a capable fighter as well as a magic user.
Miranda went up to the building she thought was the town hall and went through the doors. No one was at the reception desk, but it was late. She heard talking to her left and moved that way; it sounded like the entire town was in there, or a good portion of them. She sighed and opened the door that led into the mess hall, and there were a lot of people there talking, most of them upset. Seemed like she just walked in on a meeting.
“Twice a year! Those who aren’t chosen are just left to wait and eventually send their loved ones to die. I say we don’t this time. The number asked for is growing.” A middle-aged man shouted; there was some agreement.
“We’ve sent for help again.” An older man at the front said, but it looked like he was so worn out by this old fight that he didn’t even care.
“Over two months ago, we asked for help before. Tried, and no one on the outside hears our pleas; we can’t leave. The birds aren’t getting out. If they were, we should have gotten help by now! All it does is bring in more victims!” This was from a woman, and there was more murmuring.
“We’ve tried to resist before; we’ll just lose more. Our elders before tried.” There was a silent agreement there.
Miranda slowly walked up the main aisle, and those in the back noticed her now, and a bit of whispering came. It was obvious that she was an outsider; not many came, and those that did couldn’t leave either.
The magic they were under would allow certain ones through that showed. Ones that could continue the population here, seeing they were at the mercy of a dark witch. One who used the people here for her own ends, whatever spell, and twice a year took one of the younger ones to keep herself young and youthful. Or used to, now she was taking more.
Feeding her magic with the lives of the people here. The curse the town was under fed the witch, and they were trapped as they could not figure out how to break it. Miranda could sense a lot here but still didn't know the type of curse they were under. Which fairy tale were they trapped in, or if it was more than one?
“I received one of your birds,” Miranda commented, now that the hall went silent and everyone was looking at the new stranger. Her voice soft and melodic. Though it went completely silent, every head turned to look at her.
“The reason none came before was that they couldn’t read the message; once the raven left, magic distorted the message, and only one well-versed in magic could decode it,” Miranda said.
Miranda had gotten the plea for help and what this town faced. This was what she did: helped those oppressed by the world's dark creatures and magic. Miranda herself was running out of time, but she was still trying, and that was all that mattered.
“You did? Are you a witch?” A younger woman asked, and she just glanced at them before the elders who clearly ran this town. Which the rest of the world had long forgotten existed, and she was here to help them return to it. To have a chance to live and not worry about being sacrificed. They could see the outside world; they just couldn’t interact with it.
“I’m here to help you with your witch problem,” Miranda commented. “But I need to know just what kind of witch I’m dealing with, if I’m to help free you.” There was a buzz suddenly, a scared, excited buzz. None of these people had been outside this town. A couple of generations had grown up here, trapped like this, waiting to die as a sacrifice.
“Come forward. What is your name?” The older man from before asked, and Miranda answered. She knew she hardly looked like the help they expected, but she was definitely the best they could get. Miranda was incredibly talented, and most had no idea what hit them until it was too late. She was misjudged a lot.
“Miranda, and I need to know first how you were put in this curse,” She said, and these people didn’t have much time, at least until the next ones were to be sacrificed over the next three days. She read what the letter for help said. Every few months, they lost people, and if their numbers got too low, then people from the outside mysteriously found their way in and were trapped too, to keep the curse going and the witch fed.
“It was a while ago; we are surrounded by forest. The black forest makes up a large part of it to our south. We were being attacked by nightmarish creatures for a long time.” This came from an older woman; she looked frailer and just as tired as the older man in charge.
“Our town has been here for a very long time, and we knew how to fight them. It just got so tiring, losing ours to those creatures. Demons were the worst, and a woman came one night. She said she could rid us of our dark creatures and demons forever if we helped her.” The woman’s white hair was short, and her skin wrinkled with time, her brown eyes warn and teary like she might cry.
“Help her how?” Miranda asked for just that short description, and she knew the witch had played on words. She didn’t feel any dark presence in the town, no demons. However, she did feel a dark presence around the town. “You are losing the youthful, correct?” There were nods all around.
“Yes.” One of ours back then volunteered. She said if we helped her stay young and beautiful, she would rid us of our problems. Of being preyed upon by many evils.”
“Now you are only preyed upon by one,” Miranda commented, and it was silent, and that was telling.
“Only her; she comes to our town to take three at the height of the full moon.” This from a younger man. “Normally, we pick those that volunteer first; if we don’t, she just picks, and she won’t take those that are old.” Miranda nodded. If the witch was vain and using those here to stay healthy and young, then she could see that.
The witch had a perfect life energy supply in these people. No one was looking for this lost town, and she didn’t have to go hunting out in the world, sucking the life out of the youth. This witch had set herself up with a feeding supply years ago, and it was some serious magic to keep it going.
That said, there had to be another source she was also using in this town to keep it so long. Something more powerful, she was also feeding from within the town for her to do so as well. They had to reinstate the ritual, keeping the town hidden from the world as well.
So Miranda had to find more than just the witch; she was sure. To anchor a curse like this for so long, it had to mean another magical object or being was here. Miranda subtly looked around the room appearing to think but really trying to see if their was someone she could peg in the group that might not belong here. Something that might be something else, or a puppet of the witch.
