 | Name | The Little Witch and the Undying Fire (II) |
| Type (Ingame) | Quest Item | |
| Family | Book, loc_fam_book_family_1051 | |
| Rarity |  | |
| Description | "You're more than halfway through and you haven't even pushed the plot forward one iota! Why is it all about the setting!?" "And what would you know? Besides, this stuff isn't fleshing the setting out. It's elucidating natural science and other miscellaneous disciplines!" |
Item Story
| Deep in the woods, nighttime. The little witch soared upon her broom beneath the blood-green moon. Blood-green was regarded as a symbol of great change in astrology, though whether such change be for good or ill cannot be determined by any result. —Actually, that shade symbolizes the dominant race of this world, the Nephilim. They were the children of gods and humans, and so their blood, too, was the conflux between the red blood of humanity and golden, divine blood. And actually-actually, the green moonlight was the result of the moon's physical composition, the distance between the planet and its moon, atmospheric scattering, and other factors. Anyway, so the little witch was soaring upon her broom beneath the blood-green moon, and then, she met a young lady who claimed to be a "fortune teller." "I wish to become a witch's familiar," said the young lady. But before they could even consider that, the little witch had something to ask: "Can fortune tellers read the skeins of fate?" The fortune teller then explained the underlying principles. Put simply, it's something like this: In our world, the stars are the heavenly strings by which humans are bound. But in other worlds, the subjects of astrological study are the solar ecliptic energies, the various lunar energies of the satellites, the will-energy of the celestial rulers of the planets, the scattered interference energy of distant stars, and the dark energy that suffuses the pitch-black cosmos. Of course, it's not like these things don't exert influence on our planet — they have merely been greatly weakened by a giant sky-shroud. As such, astrology on other worlds is far more abstract than that which is practiced in ours. By the way, other planets refer to an actual celestial bodies as an "archon" and a theorized one as a "virtual." The planet the little witch was on was no exception. You see, we also call a will that comes down from the heavens an "archon." They are normally planets that have sentient life on them, and they number seven, and therefore they are called the "seven archons." As for the virtuals, their number varies between one, two, and four. The planet the little witch was one may well have been one. And in the case of such a world, the "virtual" would be the "dark sun." Astrologists and diviners are, in essence, performing weight calculations on the sky-shroud, the cosmos, and the "archon" and "virtual" celestial bodies, before deducing individual developmental tendencies from world to world. But the relative weight of the sky-shroud over our planet is just way, way too great, and so, investigating it already allows us to obtain very precise results. As for the world the little witch and astrologist were on, they would have to go through the entire formula. After the little witch finished listening, she was very impressed by the fortune teller's learning and technique. Now they could speak of the matter of familiarhood. To be a witch's familiar was to share in her magic, and with magic, one could peer into more destinies. That said, becoming a familiar could have unforeseen side effects — it was hard to say what might happen. Yes! That's what the blood-green moon means: great change, which can't be judged as good or ill by the outcome. See how it all comes together? We didn't go off-topic! "It is a shame that I am still not a great witch. I can't make you my familiar yet, " said the little witch. "I know of another way to establish a contract with a witch. It seems we must resort to using it," said the young lady. This was the night bathed in blood-green moonlight, and it was also, coincidentally, the witches' Night Carnival. By the way, the Night Carnival is an ancient, taboo ceremony. Legend has it that at such times, the witches' magical powers are at their apex. They hold rituals in secret, offering sacrifices and keeping the bonfires burning through the night. This tradition had been forgotten in the westernmost parts of the magical continent but, for some reason, it had been revived within the deep woods. Normally, this was an event that only great witches or figures greater still could be invited to, or invite others to attend. In practice, though, participation in a Carnival had a direct relation with a witch's romantic or marital status. In any case, for some totally unknown reason, the astrologist knew all about witches while the witch knew nothing about astrologists at all. The point is, they decided to go and check out the Night Carnival. Let's just go with it being a way to deal with the anxiety the little witch felt over not being able to find the "undying fire." Under the blood-green moon, the great witches danced around the bonfire. The little witch and the young astrologist hid in the shadows of trees that grew so thick that even dense clouds couldn't compare, and even the bonfire could not illuminate them. "We just need to wait till the day after the ancient, forbidden night of revelry, when the dawn light first breaks and the various great witches depart. "In the grey embers will be a flame that never dies. When a mortal takes this flame and offers it up, that is equivalent to signing a contract with a witch," said the young lady. "Does this method always work?" The little witch asked. "It's possible a witch could reject the contract, but witches do so love their spirit mediums, and I'm not afraid of becoming a fearsome creature," the young lady replied, her voice thick with yearning. "In that case, isn't this an 'undying fire'?" Dark thoughts came into the little witch's mind. "What if I took that flame for my own?" And so, under the blood-green moonlight, the great witches sang their song: "If all things a witch's opera be," "Then nothing true worth mourning would the world ever see." "Our festival has come to a fruitful end." "The story shall not stay its feet," "And every night hence shall also be the witches' night." A sense of shame surged forth within the little witch as she listened from the shadows — it wasn't out of worry that those present, great witches and greater still, might include her teacher, school principal, instructors, or anything like that. She knew everyone at her school, and she was sure no one familiar was present. By the way, while the official rules at the school she attended were lax when it came to governing teachers and their students, students of similar age would still be ranked against each other. Students of different teachers were also permitted to interact outside of classes. The creation of this system could be traced back to the rise of the Western witches, long, long ago. They did not shy away from exchanging secret hexes and rituals for their mutual benefit, which would also result in their swift rise in those days. Of course, the organization that the little witch belonged to was a direct successor of these Western witches. Also, this blurb definitely wasn't just added in here because I forgot about this worldbuilding earlier. Back to the story. She said to the fortune teller: "Since we have this opportunity, go bravely forth, then! Once dawn comes, take that fire. If you should be so unfortunate as to become a monster, I will give you a quick end. You will not suffer." As a gift to commemorate this friendship, the young lady gave her treasured crystal ball to the little witch. "This crystal ball feels joy for all known destined paths, and its heart breaks for all unrevealed tragedies. If you ever feel lost, allow it to be your oracle!" Actually, there's a story behind this crystal ball. It— |
She has res shred like Zhongli. She doesn't need to keep hitting targets. VV is an active res shred...