Chapter 10: Witch
“Hungry little fel, ain’t ya? Hehehe~!” The old witch cackled as she fed the cute bck cat some preserved meat and fish from a gss jar. Then she looked over at me with her cataract-covered eyes, “How’s the stew, Sweetie? To your liking?”
“Yeah, it’s delicious! Thanks Grandmom~!” I answered in my childish voice, almost sounding as high-pitched as a baby. I didn’t bother trying to use a spoon and just dipped my head into the bowl. She actually had a high-chair for me, which I could just barely use by standing on my hind legs and pushing on the armrests with my wings.
“Grandmom…” The woman’s wrinkled, toothless mouth smiled, “Haven’t had anyone call me that in a very long time…”
I bit down on the juicy chunk of beef and slurped up some of the delicious brown gravy-like broth of the pot roast. Then I looked up at the old woman again and smiled wryly, “I haven’t called anyone Grandmom in a long time either.”
“I’m sorry, Sweetie, what did you say your name was again?” She sipped some hot tea and asked, “My memory ain’t so great anymore.”
“Acheron…” I thought it sounded cool at first, but now it feels kinda weird introducing myself with this stupid fucking name.
“Ah Karen?” She giggled and nodded her head, the white hair falling down towards the table, “I’ll just call you Karen.”
“Uh, sure, whatever.” I wanted to say my name was Tony or some shit, but fuck it. I’ll be a Karen for now. Probably best not to use my ‘real names’ anyway. Who knows what kinda witchcraft and magical bullshit might exist in this world? Tony isn’t even my first name. I’m afraid to even think about my first or st names in a world where Devils and Gods factually exist, especially if they’re anything like the ones I ‘created’.
“Did Roger send you to keep me company?” She didn’t introduce herself or say her own name.
Suspicious.
Maybe she’s just senile though and thought she already introduced herself? Or maybe she’s a devil in disguise? Either way, I’m probably just being overly paranoid as usual. Well, not paranoid to stop eating the delicious pot roast! God, I can’t remember how long it’s been since I ate something this delicious? Okay, it’s only been 3 months. It’s not that amazing. But my draconic senses are definitely pretty damn impressive. Everything feels and tastes so much better than before.
“Who’s Roger?” I asked after eating part of a soft and squishy onion. I was already reaching the limits of what my stomach could hold and my bowl still had a lot of soup still in there. The stewed carrots and potatoes were amazing, but it was all so damn filling.
“Roger is… Was my son. He died a long time ago.” She sniffled a bit and started eating from her own bowl of soup. Blowing on it a few times, before she took a few ‘bites’ of the soft, scalding hot potato. She hissed and almost spit the food out, but ended up gumming it down to mush before swallowing.
“I’m sorry for your loss.” I didn’t really know what else to say, “But no, your son didn’t send me. I was just attracted by the smell of food.”
“A wandering spirit then?” The granny looked at me with those cataract-covered, almost milky white eyes, “I’m blind, but I’m not stupid enough to think you’re a human.”
“I never said I was human.” I snickered and didn’t bother trying to lie, because there was no point. At least I don’t think there was, “Thank you for the food, Grandmom.”
“You’re welcome, Karen.” She giggled and continued eating. She didn’t even bother trying to chew the meat, swallowing the tiny little chunks whole. The old woman was skinny as fuck. Deathly skinny. A complete contrast to the other two people I saw, but didn’t talk to… Hmmm, I guess this dy is the first person I’ve spoken to in three months, huh?
“What are the Savages on the other side of the mountains?” I couldn’t help but ask. Though it felt like I was a protagonist in a video game, asking random people about random shit, even though the pyer would just hit ‘skip’ anyway.
“Which side?” She snorted in disdain, “They’re all Savages to me.”
“Umm, okay then, so what can you tell me about the people who live in the West?” Like do they have anti-air missiles or magical abilities? Well, maybe I shouldn’t ask that much.
“Westerners huh…” The old dy sneered, “Rapers and svers the lot of ‘em. Savage Cns that spend more time fighting each other than against the Imperial pigs in the East.”
“So they have Cns, but like… What do they look like?” I licked my snout and pushed the giant bowl over to the side so that I could speak to the woman more easily, “Do they have green skin, pointy ears… Fur?”
“I’ve seen a man with green skin before. He didn’t live long. Witch Hunters strung him up and burned the poor bastard alive.” She frowned and compined, “The Pureblood Empire pricks are just as evil as the Western Cn cunts. Don’t let ‘em catch you, Karen. I don’t know what deformity you might have, but I’m sure they’d put you to the torch for it. Happened to my second daughter… Eliza.”
“Jesus.” I frowned and couldn’t help but get pissed off for the poor old woman.
“Not Jesus, Eliza. My seventh husband was named Jesus though. He pronounced it ‘Hey Zeus’ though. Poor man was conscripted by the Empire to fight against the Westerners st year though. No clue whether he’s alive or dead now.” She sighed dramatically, “I’m so fucking unlucky.”
“I mean, you had seven husbands. I think that’s pretty fucking lucky.” I retorted and she also ughed.
“I guess you’re right. My Goddess has never let me down in that regard.” She looked over to a painting on the wall of a sexy naked woman with a purple octopus for a head… Yeah, so anyway, I should probably get going before I end up as her 8th husband or some crazy bullshit.
“So the Westerners and the Easterners are just… Normies? I mean, normal humans?” I frowned and looked up at the woman’s smirking face.
“Don’t tell them that.” The granny cackled, “Normal humans? No, not exactly. The Holy Mother teaches us that ages ago, there was a terrible cataclysm. The Purebloods were nearly immune to any disease, capable of living for over a hundred years, they also had incredible technology that made them superior to the Mutants and the ‘normal’ humans… After millennia, the Purebloods lost the advantage of their technology, but the world also calmed down a lot. I don’t know what really happened, the damn Imps like to keep their secrets. Eventually the magical races and beings disappeared from the world. Or so they cim. We Mountain Folk still see creatures and monsters from time to time. We’re supposed to report them to the Empire, but the Goddess would forsake me for such bsphemy.”
“Uh-huh…” I nodded and looked at the old woman’s massive tits, which greatly contrasted against her extremely skinny frame. Sure, they dangled down to her waist, but she was certainly well endowed by her ‘Goddess’. I’m sure she also had many offspring and lovers. That’s usually how Ecstasy worked, the Devil of Lust. Chastity was the Goddess version that focused on the virtue of… Chastity. Yeah, I wasn’t overly complicated with the names because that was meaningless.
“I’ve heard that the Westerners are actually Mutants with supernatural powers.” She said something that intrigued and concerned me, “It would expin why they’ve been able to compete with the Empire for so many years. Even when the Empire is much more united and technologically advanced. Oh… They also have Dragons.”
She didn’t seem to have much awe or fear of… Well, anything. Which was interesting. ALso terrifying, because I was starting to get suspicious that she was actually some kinda Devil’s incarnation. Or maybe some ancient monster from the ‘olden days’ and this frail, elderly appearance was actually just an illusion or some meat-puppet she was using to communicate with me.
“What’s your name, Grandmom?” I almost regretted asking. But thankfully she didn’t do or say anything too weird or ridiculous. At the very least, no giant centipedes burst out of her eyeballs.
“Anna.” It was an eerily familiar name, but also an extremely common one. Still freaked me out though. Then she cleared her throat and crified, “Lanna, sorry, I’m Lanna Cortega… I was a Professor of Anthropology in Breckenridge Academy until the Empire took it over. I escaped before the Witch Trials started, not sure if anyone alive still remembers that women were allowed to teach anymore? Or that we used to have real cities and cultures of our own, not just whatever the Empire or Cns forced down our fucking throats.”
Breckenridge? Doesn’t sound familiar. Was there a pce like that on Earth? Is this Earth? Would it be weird to ask that directly?
“I always wanted to travel the world when I was younger.” Lanna sighed dramatically as she pulled the silver chain up, holding the little cross in her palm.
Yes, not just the crucifixion, even the cross symbol itself was stolen by the Lust Devil. Though there are a lot of other Devils and Gods, so you never really know for sure which one you’re actually worshiping. Some are very protective of their followers, while others are perverse and depraved… Assuming they actually care at all or are actually paying attention. If this is thousands of years after the ‘world ended’ in 2023, then who the fuck knows whether the MCs are still alive or even in ‘this world’ anymore? Even the Devils and Gods could’ve fucked off by now. Even the humans or sentient AI could’ve left Earth to explore the cosmos by now, or found a way to invade into other parallel worlds. Who knows?
“I was so naive back then.” She continued talking, those white eyes gazing bnkly above my head, “I wanted to visit all the beautiful, ancient cities in the Eastern Empire, the Western Cns, even the Southerners and Northerners… It was one thing reading about their cultures and civilizations in history books and newspapers, but seeing their barbarism and brutality in person was completely different.”
“How long ago was that?” I looked towards the opened window where I entered the hovel, getting ready to escape. Then I turned back towards her wrinkled and ancient-looking face.
“Sixty years ago? It’s hard to remember anymore.” Lanna smiled wryly, reaching over with shaking hands to grab her cup of hot tea. She stirred a cube of sugar into it. I was actually surprised it was still steaming after all this time. Maybe that’s just how cold it was in the house though?
“How old are you?” I raised my right eye ridge. Not sure if it’s called a brow if you don’t have any hair on it.
“Oh Karen, don’t you know you should never ask a girl her age?” She stared directly at me for a moment and I could’ve sworn her eyes glowed purple for a moment there, but then I blinked and they were back to the usual milky white. Eventually she sighed again and told me, “I should be ninety-seven years old. I wonder if I’ll make it three more years?”
Is 97 old? Maybe. Or maybe not. She might actually be much older than that and just doesn’t remember anymore. Who knows? She looks like she could be anywhere from 60 to 160 to be completely honest. Even if she said she was 37, I wouldn’t have been that surprised.
“Well… Anyway, it’s been nice meeting you and I loved the soup, but now I gotta go.” I wanted to get the fuck out of there before I got sacrificed to the Goddess of Lust or had explosive diarrhea.
“You’re welcome Dear. I hope you find what you’re looking for…” She smiled at me with her missing teeth, but for a moment it felt like her long white hair transformed into purple tentacles, her eyes glowed bright violet and her empty gums were repced by shark-like teeth!
“Ah, um, bye!” I jumped out of the chair and fpped my wings anxiously! It took a moment for me to reach the windowsill, then I soared up into the cold sky as fast as I could! It looked like the fucking mountains around me throbbed and pulsated like they were made of veiny meat!
Drugged!
“No shit!” Well, either drugged, allergies or maybe psychic/mystical bullshit, but either way, I was really fucked up!
The moral of the story is not to trust crazy old witches who literally worship the Devil and live alone in the middle of the fucking mountain wilderness!
