Come Back Witch

"Do you really think I would sacrifice my own son for something like this?'' The answer brought the entire room to an abrupt stop; it seemed as if everyone was thinking about an answer, but no solution ever came.

Instead, the silence was broken by somebody opening the door as David walked through the giant church gates carrying another spear and skull. He didn't even look at them.

Everyone followed his walk with their gazes until he left through the exit. ''How would we know? As far as I can see, anyone changes a lot after surviving the first instance. How would it be after the second or even higher?''

Vinces spoke still staring at the exit, waiting for David to return. As Cloves spoke. ''You're insane if you think I'd sacrifice all of you for nothing."

Vin couldn't answer; he wasn't even sure himself. Maybe this crazy old man would do this, but until now Cloves seemed to be really heartbroken after his son's death.

"I'm sorry, Professor," he finally answered, not even sure if he was lying or not. But they needed to work together... for now at least. ''I'm just a bit on edge right now.'' Cloves was their strongest powerhouse right now.

As David finally returned back into the church, he didn't walk through it as usual; instead, he stopped just right next to cloves. ''We need to save the missing people.'' His tone was flat, but there was something small below it sounding like a faint idea of hope.

The sudden suggestion seemed to bring everyone out of focus; the verbal standoff between Cloves and Vinces was broken by something so human.

Vin shook his head in confusion. Right, he knew there were survivors; they should be their number one priority right now.

But Cloves reaction shook even Vinces. ''Maybe later; we need to get clear on the situation first. After that we might look for our last missing classmates and your people.'' The last part of his sentence seemed to be directed only at David.

Who simply laughed, ''Are you even human, doctor, or just one of those impostors hunting in the forest?'' His tone was filled with mockery towards somebody so inhuman.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

With that, the old man turned around once again, heading towards the entrance, meanwhile the professor seemed to shake from rage. As even the floor slightly started to move below his feet.

But he didn't act Vinces had predicted that his professor might even jump at David, but he just continued to stand there, not saying anything.

It was quiet, way too quiet, not even Vinces dared to move as the tension slowly seemed to start collapsing. Cloves simply sat down on the small stair leading up to the altar.

Miss Roseberg stood up, seemingly ready to walk over to the doctor, but her whole body was shaking.

Only after long minutes of silence did Cloves finally stand up ready to continue the discussion. But Vinces could see his teary eyes.

"Everyone seemed to be a bit tired; maybe we should talk later," Miss Roseberg finally spoke, breaking the silence, and without any answer, each one of them seemed to slowly move outside.

Only Vinces remained sitting in front of Roseberg and Cloves, having only one last question.

''You said the elder told you about the first instance, which was a lie, but there is one thing I want to know... Were some of the villagers survivors of the first instance?''

He had already heard from Lysandra that the elder was of the second rank, but he didn't know if he was maybe still alive somewhere out there.

Professor Roseberg simply nodded at him. ''Some of them had already cleared the first instance before our arrival over 3 weeks ago.''

Hearing her answer, Vinces stood up, ready to leave, but the last part of her sentence made him stop. ''What do you mean, three weeks ago? You guys should've only have arrived 4 days ago?''

Cloves finally spoke again. ''Time seems to flow differently in here. If we trust the information of the old day and yours, it's about one day on the outside equals roughly a week inside of here.''

''Then why are you guys still in here? Shouldn't you have already escaped or called for backup? I'm sure you have some magical friends." The last part was filled with mockery and anger towards his teacher, who didn't even seem to react.

''We can't reach them with any conventional methods, and not enough time has passed for anyone to notice what's happening.'' Roseberg answered instead, her tone calm and friendly as ever.

He had so many more questions but felt like this was the wrong moment to ask them; he was alone, and if it came down to it, he couldn't compare to his teachers in combat abilities, or they could just simply lie.

The safest option to gain information would be from Lysandra, but talking to her had turned extremely difficult. Finally having left the church, he nearly ran into David, who once again was carefully carrying a single spear and skull.

He wanted to warn him not to go inside but knew it wouldn't change David's mind.

Walking slowly through the street, everything felt surreal; no matter how much happened, his mind seemed to always find some calmness in it.

But his body wasn't much behind his mind, the swellings from the beating he had gotten had already disappeared and even his broken leg seemed to be functional, if just barely.

He thought about the skull he had left behind at the cave, another broken promise. Maybe he could get it later, it should be relatively safe in there.

Returning to his room, he could hear Finley and Ami talking inside of Finley's room. Perl also seemed to have returned, but his quietness worried him.

Entering his room, he expected Lysandra to bombard him with questions but had been very wrong instead she simply sat on her chair, seemingly bored.

''Can you at least place a book or something I could read somewhere here?'' She asked, staring at the ceiling.

But before Vinces could answer, a knock on his just closed door made him turn around.

''I think you were right about Dr. Cloves.''

''He's hiding something.''

A voice spoke behind the door.