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W.I.T.C.H

W.I.T.C.H [ Witch Induction Task-force Control Hub ]


The Witch Induction Task-force Control Hub, dubbed W.I.T.C.H in dry humour, is an initiative by the power-hungry human government that has been created and maintained in secret to train and harness young witches and their abilities for war. This is a highly secretive society that only a select few with proper clearance truly even know about. The initiative was conceived by one unscrupulous villain who masks all his misdeeds in shade and secrets with the purpose of utilizing one of humankind's greatest fears as weapons of control and subjugation.

Young witches were routinely tracked, found, and when the parents tried to run with them, hunted down around the time that they start to manifest their magical abilities. Their parents would be killed regardless of their status as a witch or human and the child would be taken to a secret facility in lands unknown where they would be taught to hone their abilities in service of their masters. Once a witch is taken they are subsequently collared with a device that was made specifically to keep them in line. If the collared witch made any attempt to use their magic to harm their masters or even make an attempt to remove the collar, they would receive a debilitating shock from the device that most don't survive. The witches go through a rigorous and selective indoctrination that tests their magical abilities, where the more useful stay and the not so useful were disposed of immediately. Those who showed promise were kept and trained in the ways of utilizing only their magical abilities to aid the organization.

There are three branches of W.I.T.C.H, each having one witch assigned to a team of ten of the most highly trained soldiers in the world, making a total of eleven personnel per team until closer to the final years of the organization's existence. The witches assigned to each team were met with contempt from their peers and were usually abused mentally, emotionally and physically by the soldiers. The teams were only ever deployed in secret in times of crisis where natural combat scenarios would not be enough to ensure victory, such as fighting a losing battle against greater numbers, combating rogue witches, espionage, and extraction or the assassination of key targets.

The story begins a generation before Sibyl's time...
✧Improvidus, Apto quod Victum✧
Stam: 3, Agi: 3, Str: 4, Con: 7, Arc: 7, Acc: 6
W.I.T.C.H
W.I.T.C.H Chronicles #1 - Late 19th Century


"All units hold position." The squad leader made his order clear without the need to repeat, knowing his highly trained subordinates would need no further cues. The men were strategically based in varying locations within the thick of the heavily shaded forest. The two snipers on the team had selected elevated positions within the trees some distance away from the operation's target area, their scopes seeking blood and glory to be won this night. The remaining seven excluding the group leader was crouched on land, hidden behind thick trees, covered by the same darkness that protected their current target. "Sniper One, is the target in sight?" There was steady breathing to be heard on the other end of the line, a response only seconds away in its coming. "Negative." The squad leader peered around the tree in a gamble, hoping to help with retrieving visual. Through his night vision lens and being closest in proximity to the target area, he was able to spot their target with minimal risk, that was until the crazy old woman had caught the slight movement of his left foot inching slowly from behind the tree. A blinding flash of light was all he allowed himself to see before he slid quickly behind the tree once more and instinctively ducked, marginally being missed by the searing light that ate away at a large portion of his tree and had set it ablaze.

Under cover of shade, he maintained his lowered position and made haste to another large tree close by before just before the current one crumbled under its own weight and collapsed with a heavy crash. A subsequent crack of deafening thunder followed the flash of lightning that had just moments ago caused his distress. This was their target, an ageing woman in her late sixties. She was a powerful witch who has shown the ability to manipulate the weather to some degree. Squad B had been assigned the task of retrieving her for experimental and breeding purposes for her abilities, alive if possible, dead if not. Out of the corners of his eyes, he noticed something that got his heart racing slightly. A thin fog was rolling in from the west, no doubt the conjurations of a cornered witch. He knew that this fog would only obscure their vision further and give the woman the chance she needed to escape if allowed to run its course. Their plan needed a little more time to take full effect. "Sniper Two, train your scope in the space where the blazing tree was just standing and fire a shot at the count of three." Exactly three seconds later the muffled sound of a sniper bullet being discharged made a distinct sound in the night air. The special bullet had flown past the tree that was on fire and tore a clean hole through two trees afterwards before being halted by the third.

The squad leader had been maintaining visuals on the witch and noted that she had flinched in fear not when the shot was fired, but when the bullet had hit the third tree. His little ploy was starting to bear fruit. He would be his snipers' eyes if they could not locate their target. From the angle that the bullet had hit the tree, he was able to pinpoint exactly where Sniper Two was, and he could clearly see the witch making a mad dash towards a different tree further away from the clearing. The squad leader looked again at the fog rolling in. They needed to act fast. "Sniper One were you following?" "Affirmative Sir." "Lower altitude and approach my position. Sniper Two, shift your scope five feet...six feet to the right and twenty-three centimetres up. Count to three and fire." Just as before, three seconds elapsed, and the same muffled sound came. This time the bullet connected with the tree right next to the one that the old witch had decided to hide behind, a little too close for comfort. The leader had purposely misled the shot for two reasons. The first was because he wished to attempt capture alive before they resorted to lethality. The second was to make the witch fully aware of the position she was in. This was no joke. She was fully within their grasp and it was her decision how she would be taken, on her own two feet or in a body bag. Their government gave them the authority to kill with impunity, so these men thought nothing of murdering the old lady should she prove more trouble than she was worth.

Maintaining his position behind the tree, the squad leader cleared his throat and began to project his voice. "This is your last chance to surrender. Step into the middle of the clearing and get on your knees and I promise you won't be harmed." "Liar! All you humans are the same! You hunt us down like common animals for your own sick amusement. I won't be taken. You will learn why I am called the Weather Witch!" The squad leader barked orders at the men scattered around the clearing just as the fog picked up its pace and fully covered the entire area. The wind that had moments ago been stagnant picked up velocity and whipped at their faces from every direction. The first flash of light in the distance marked the witch's retaliation. She was now on the offensive and none of them was safe. They had not killed her when they had the chance and now she had the upper hand in her element. Using the violent crack of thunder that followed the lightning the squad leader and the rest of the team abandoned their posts in all the noise to allow for silent movement, all except Sniper Two and Sniper One who now dashed towards where the squad leader had just been. Everyone's position had changed, and they had all gotten much closer to the other edge of the clearing than they had just been. They were inching closer and closer to the woman's position and would soon be upon her if all went smoothly.

The woman kept firing bolt after bolt of lightning into the mixture of fog and darkness, uncertain of where the men were, or even how many there were. Tree after tree crashed loudly to the ground, parts of the forest were ablaze, and the noise and madness only increased with the concurrent claps of thunder. The men used the woman's reckless abandon to their advantage and made their way ever closer until all but three had a clear shot at her. The squad leader gave a visual cue to one of his subordinates and the man quickly received the message, aiming his gun menacingly at the woman and calling from his lone position in their formation. "Surrender.! We have you surrounded!" Startled at the closeness of his voice the witch flung her hand in its direction and a bolt of pale white lightning swallowed the space in a flash. She expected there to be screams of agony before a complete death, but no such sound was heard. "That's checkmate old lady. Don't make things any worse for yourself." Somehow her power had been thwarted, but desperation and fear clouded her judgment and she refused to be taken like a docile sheep. Gray clouds formed quickly in the dark sky overhead and thunder rolled in succession. Heavy crashes of lightning fell from the heavens and covered the forest with a brilliance of white flames. No one was safe, not even the witch who seemed to have tossed her hope to come out of this alive. A few of the bolts of lightning that were on the mark to kill a few of the soldiers were stopped short by an invisible force much like the first had been, but as the onslaught continued whatever force was protecting them had lost its power.

The first scream of the night was singing in tortured beauty, one of the soldiers managing that and nothing more before he fell to the ground a burning crisp. Seeing this, the woman cackled, turning her sights to everyone else and readying her spell for quick work of the rest. A muffled shot could be heard from the distance followed by the second scream of the night, this time belonging to the only female present. It was all she had managed as the sniper bullet shot by Sniper One had pierced her through the left lung. The shock felt from the pain distorted her features as the life left her eyes and she fell to the ground. The fog cleared just as the rain began to fall. It was over. The mission was a success either way, but the squad leader was displeased with the outcome. He had initially planned to take the woman back as a living hostage, but because of one slip up their sniper had had to do what needed to be done. There was a sound like footsteps approaching them at a run. None of the men seemed to be on guard at the sound, indicating that this was a friendly. The new face, a young boy who looked to be in his mid-teens, broke the clearing and came closer to the group. "I-I'm s-s-s-s..." He could not find the words. His entire body was shaking like the leaves under the wind's ministrations. This was the young witch who had been assigned to Squad B to act as their magical aid. This was the young boy whose shielding ability had protected them all from the ravages of the lightning up until it had not. This was the young boy whose scream marked the third and final for the night as the squad leader grabbed him by the neck with large hands and applied pressure. "You had one f***ing job." The screams were soul-wrenching and wasted as the squad leader snapped the boy's neck with a practiced ease. The men retrieved the woman's carcass, wrapped it in the body bag that they had come prepared with and left the scene without delay, the boy's body left unceremoniously behind with glossy eyes reflecting the dark soul of his killer.

This marked the second mission of the newly formed organization, Team A having undertaken theirs in a different time and setting while Team C would later complete the third. The story would continue again in the early twentieth century, life through the eyes of a special young witch as one who was newly indoctrinated after years upon years of trial, error and mostly successes by the organization known as W.I.T.C.H.
✧Improvidus, Apto quod Victum✧
Stam: 3, Agi: 3, Str: 4, Con: 7, Arc: 7, Acc: 6
W.I.T.C.H
W.I.T.C.H Chronicles #2 - Early 20th Century


Seven. She was only seven years old when they had found her, killed her mother right in front of her innocent little eyes, and spirited her away to this hell on earth. It was a massive, uninviting cityscape offset by the contrasting greenery and clear blue waters of the island on which it was situated. Her very first memory of the place was being collared with an unnatural-looking black device and routinely manhandled and thrown into a large, empty dimly lit room along with a group of other witches in a similar situation. They had been left there for days with food and water being brought to them on a moderate basis, though never more than the bare minimum that they could all share and survive off. None of them had ever been told what the collar around their necks did, but the special seven-year-old somehow knew instinctively not to touch it. A few of the others were not so lucky. Being young kids, naturally, they would soon come to take note of the discomforting weight resting around their neck and subsequently attempt to remove it. The seven-year-old had not been fast enough in her objection to such an act as the brave young boy touched, pulled, and fell to the ground in writhing agony that seemed to last for an eternity before he stopped moving. Stupid with fear and puerile ignorance, a few of the others attributed the collar as the source of the painful death without pausing to wonder why. The seven-year old's protests fell on deaf ears as the panic kicked in and the fear-ridden few repeated the first's mistake and died in much the same fashion. It was a horror that she would never forget.

And it was so her story continued. The dead bodies of the impulsive children remained in the room for what felt like days; the time could not be ascertained by any of them as there were no windows or source of natural light, but the girl somehow was able to tell just how much time was passing. In all, it was six days that they had all been in the room with nothing to do but sleep, eat the occasional meal, pass bodily excretion, and wait in relentless fear at what was to come. Only eleven children remained including her, the other nine having died in the manner that they did. The ones that remained had become wiser in the short time they had been there and witnessed the tragedy, none of them making the attempt themselves. The girl got to her feet seconds before the door opened for the first time in six whole days, and in rushed an army of big scary men with scarier looking guns aimed at each of them. The last to enter was a shady-looking man with his arms folded behind his back and a look of pompous authority to him. He eyed each of them with a sinister grin, the silence growing more discomforting as the seconds passed. Finally, he spoke. "Such promising young souls. I never expected to see so many of you still alive. It gives me such joy to see what each of you are capable of in the days to come." After the short speech the man turned and retreated through the only doors in the room. Once he was out of sight the soldiers, still pointing their guns at everyone, angrily ushered the children towards the door in single file and marched them from the room.

They were led to separate rooms in pairs, given fresh clothes, shown to the bathrooms and left to their own devices for the rest of that day. The rooms were all similar in appearance complete with two large beds, two dressers, two bathrooms, etc. Given the odd number, one of the children had to remain in solitude, and this was none other than the seven-year-old who knew. As soon as she had been shown into the room she allowed herself to relax, knowing that she was safe for the time being. There was no time wasted entering the bathroom and helping herself to a well needed shower. For this she took her time, scrubbing away the grime and filth of the last few days in captivity. Once she was finished she donned one of the small blue dresses that was in her size and sat on the edge of the bed. The girl was shivering something fierce, and not from the temperature of the room. She was afraid. The fear was gnawing away at her psyche and reducing her to a shuddering mess. Ever since she had learned the ability of speech and had been able to understand her mother had always taught her of her heritage; that she was descended from a line of witches with powerful psychic abilities that only grew more and more powerful with each generation. When she had shown her first sign of 'knowing' without knowing her mother had been so proud. Her mother had started her training thus, teaching her how to simply allow her magic to speak to her rather than trying to use it as one would. Her mother had described it to her with a saying. "We do not wield our magic. Our magic wields us." Each day the truth to those words took on a fuller meaning as she would suddenly find herself knowing things she shouldn't have known, topics she had never studied, people she had never met. It all just came to her as naturally as taking a breath.

Ever since her powers had first manifested her mother had warned her of the danger that she was born into. Being a witch in these times meant you were in constant danger from those who did not understand or simply wanted to use you. Her mother had told her everything, and she had known her mother's every word to be true, though she had never understood why until now. Now her mother was dead, and she was here in this strange place, still a way away from completing her training. What was she to do? She knew that if the collars were not a factor some of the other witches might have enough raw magical talents to stand a fighting chance of escaping, but with the instant death sentence literally gripping them by the necks they were only weak little children who could not hope to stand up to the soldiers she had seen before. There was nothing she could do for now, and so she resigned herself to sleep, crawling further onto the bed and slipping under the sheet. The bed was so comfortable, far homelier than any bed she had ever slept on before. The room was quite welcoming, and it felt like she had lived there her entire life. So why was she crying?

The next day came all too quickly, her room door being flung open without ceremony and a raucous voice rousing her from her dreams. She was ordered to get up immediately and follow him for their first test. The girl did not even bother looking for shoes to wear, hurrying to do as the man commanded before she displeased him. It was a long and quiet walk to where they were heading, but the presence of the other children all having gone through the same thing she had now maintaining that same silence as they all followed made the silence more bearable. They finally reached a different building than the one they had been in not long ago, this one's exterior more spacious than the room that had been their jail upon first arrival. It was set like an obstacle course of sorts. There was a man with a militant stance in the center of the room watching them enter single file. They were made to form a line horizontally before him and stand there quietly until they were addressed. The man kept up the uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, causing all the children to start fidgeting and passing nervous glances back and forth among themselves. When the man cleared his throat, it was the most obnoxious and startling sound any of them had ever heard in their very short lives. "Welcome to your first day of W.I.T.C.H training. I'll then start the session by having each of you tell me from your left to right what magic you specialize in. Go." Silence. The girl that started the line from where the man had indicated was so pale, her eyes wide open and her entire body visibly shaking like a leaf. Steely eyes glared menacingly into hers. "Go..." His tone had actually gotten lower than before, but somehow the threat was as evident as a giant pink circle on the face of a tiny white dot.

I can control the weather." She had such a tiny voice that made it so difficult to hear a thing she said, but the instructor seemed satisfied and moved to the next person in line. There was variety in all the abilities named along the line before they got to her, all active abilities that sounded as if they could be wielded and cast to create devastating results. Her nerves were starting to get the best of her the closer it was to be her turn, and when it was finally time for her to state her magical specialty she took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment before opening them once more and looking directly into the stony eyes. "I see things." The man's left eyebrow raised in question. "What kinds of things." "All kinds of things." She was being purposely vague, waiting for him to ask her something specific that he wanted to know, but no such question came. Instead he made some kind of signal and one of the men that had been lining the walls at the ends of the room as if standing guard raised his gun and took aim at her head. The girl quickly chimed in with frantic demonstrations. "Your name is Ichabod Omar Levitt but no one ever calls you by it. The last two men and three women who made the mistake of doing so died at your hands. That soldier," she pointed "is the one who has been stealing and selling army secrets. And..." she choked as this latest revelation hit her. "And?" The man, interest now piqued, wanted to know what else this little girl had to say. "And...three, no four of us aren't leaving this room alive today." She sobbed as a single tear fell from her eye. The room fell into a deathly silence. The man cracked the first smile she had seen since they had entered the room. "Remarkable. Everything is as you've said. Just one thing." He turned to face the man that she had pointed at in accusation. "I've had my suspicions for months but no proof, then this little witch shows up and names you, a man she has never met, as the one committing a crime she shouldn't even know about. I'd say I have my proof. Men?" Two of the soldiers silently followed the order without question, aiming their guns at the offender and pulling the trigger. His death was violent and swift, but not before he had managed to raise his own weapon and start to fire in the general direction of their leader. The man did not move a muscle, but all the children save for the girl started screaming and diving out of the way.

The aftermath was two deaths; the soldier who had been accused and one of the boys in the group who had been clipped by a stray shot from the man in his final seconds of life. "Reform the line." The man was all business. No move was made to remove the two dead bodies from the room, and between the dead and the icy glare that they all received, the children found themselves more afraid of the living than the dead, reforming the line as instructed while making every attempt to not notice the dead body of the young boy. Six of the remaining children had started crying while the others were simply too afraid to find their tears. They hadn't even gotten to him yet to hear what his magic entailed. Now there were only three people after the girl with the insight. "I can make illusions." The man moved on to the next, and then the next. Once they had all stated what they could do, the man nodded once, looking them over once more before saying a word. "Very good. Positions three and ten please step forward." They looked among themselves nervously once more before the third and tenth in line took a few steps out in line and waited. "We won't be needing your services. You're free to join your parents." But their parents were all... The gunfire was deafening, more so than it had been the first time. The two that had stepped forward were killed with such sickening impunity, it was enough to make one weep tears of blood. "You may go back to your rooms. Tomorrow we start your real training." They were ushered out of the room by the soldiers in much the same manner that they had been brought here. She could almost feel the man's eyes glued to her as she left the room, wanting nothing more than to take a long shower to scrub away the splatters of blood that bathed her.

In the end, four had died, just as the girl had predicted.
✧Improvidus, Apto quod Victum✧
Stam: 3, Agi: 3, Str: 4, Con: 7, Arc: 7, Acc: 6
W.I.T.C.H
W.I.T.C.H Chronicles #3 - Early 20th Century


Seven years passed by in a blur of militant training sessions and missions, cruel indifference, varying degrees of abuse and colourful captivity. Over these seven eventful years, only three of the ten children had managed to survive. The first was Misty, The Tempest, the girl all those years ago who had proclaimed the ability to control the weather. Her power has made her an asset to the organization as a combat specialist when dealing with larger scale missions that required a certain level of violent aggress. The second was Sibyl, The Oracle, the girl all those years ago who had proclaimed the ability to know things. To be specific, it was learned that she has manifested one of the eight clair senses, namely Claircognizance, which gives her foresight, insight, and perception beyond what can be called natural means. Her power has effectively made her the eyes and ears of their organization, her information always accurate and forthcoming. The third was Autumn, The Phantasia, the boy all those years ago who had proclaimed the ability to create illusions. His power has made him suitable for any mission due to its adaptable nature. The three had made a solemn vow years ago that they would always stick together, having become the closest of friends brought together by circumstance.

Much has changed within the organization since those many years ago. There were no longer three teams, but one single unit headed by the witches. The three witches were all used in tandem on missions and the result was always devastating and brought home victory. They were young, but their experiences and rigorous training have shaped them into hardened individuals who no longer shied away from death and blood or committing murderous or torturous acts. It had been a part of their indoctrination to take lives or torture information out of people, wherein Sibyl's case despite already having the information she was still required to break her target and have them speak it themselves. This was no life for children, but it was the only one they knew. Though in charge of carrying out missions effectively, they were still burdened by the presence of the collars fastened around their necks. There seemed to be no escaping their fate. This, their latest mission, had them out in the field with five of the W.I.T.C.H's best soldiers as their guns. That rule had remained where the witches would be untrained in the use of anything but the use of their magic, and in cases where their magic either wasn't fast enough or wouldn't be enough, the soldiers would take over and fight with the human contraptions. "Three hostiles closing in from behind us. One of them plans to throw a grenade." Misty had ample time to prepare with the information, conjuring a heavy breeze inside the building that picked up velocity enough to become almost blunt as soon as the man threw the grenade. The force of the wind knocked the offending weapon back onto the three and effectively put an end to them in one explosion before they even knew what was happening.

This mission was one of extraction where they had been sent to a foreign country to free one of their own from the clutches of the enemy. From the intel they had received the woman was on a secret mission to this country as a spy to gather state secrets and expose the kakistocracy for what it truly was, giving America the leverage it needed to rally the other countries against them. She had made a single mistake that had allowed them to capture her and hold her prisoner, where they then proceeded to administer all manner of torture and brutality to loosen her tongue and force her to speak against her own. Due to the sensitive nature of the mission, they had sent in their best, and privy to some of the country's secrets they had discovered a somewhat similar program to W.I.T.C.H that spoke to the use of witches as a means of magical force against enemies. The duty of the team was to search and rescue as well as seek and destroy. Currently, they were in a large underground complex that seemed endless to traverse on foot. Some pathways continued for miles with corners and bends sparsely located at irregular distances apart. It seemed when this place was being built there had either been no specific blueprint in mind, else the construction was done on purpose to deter trespassers. Luckily the team had their own gps device in the form of a young girl with magical abilities that allowed her to know things she shouldn't, such as the right bends and turns to take to arrive where they needed to be. Sibyl voiced the directions that they needed to take while two of the soldiers led the way, her two friends flanked her, and the other three covered the rear. The formation made it much easier to react quickly to her warnings of incoming danger when she made them. "Stop." No one took a false step, all coming to a halt as a unit. "There's some kind of booby trap up ahead but I don't know what it is." She closed her eyes and tried to focus on it.

There was nothing forthcoming pertaining to the nature of the trap, but she was able to glean that it was activated by motion via heat signatures close to it. She signalled to one of the soldiers to get his attention, drawing it to his gun, and then to the spot that she knew controlled the deployment of the trap. The man nodded his understanding without a word and reached for his holstered gun, firing off a few silenced rounds to heat the metal some, then tossing it where she had indicated. As soon as it came close to the general area a sound like a machine whirring to life buzzed just before the gun was sprayed by the fierce flames of several flamethrowers that spat from the walls. The blaze persisted for two minutes before they died down and stopped completely, making it safe for them to keep going. There were several such traps of varying natures as they continued, but each had been narrowly avoided or falsely deployed, leaving the team completely unharmed by what could have been many swift deaths. The absence of enemy combatants was not lost on any of them, but they were all so content in the power of Sibyl's magic that no one truly felt any fear of the unknown, their belief in her ability absolute. It had yet to fail them and they had no reason to believe that it would anytime soon.

Before long they came upon a door with the chatter of multiple voices on the other end. "How many?" The question was, of course, directed at Sibyl. The girl was usually quick with responses to simple questions such as those, but for some reason, she was having a hard time finding the answer. She closed her eyes and tried willing the answer to come, but it would not. "Sibyl? Is something wrong?" The girl's eyes widened in fear as she looked at Misty, and the other girl caught on quickly and gave a warning stare in Autumn's direction. "What's the holdup?" one of the soldiers asked. They were all looking directly at Sibyl, expecting a response to the initial question. "Just give her a second." Her friends were trying to stick up for her, but all three knew what was happening. Sibyl's power was not working. The girl was at a loss for words, this being the first time she had ever been left feeling so 'blind'. How many times had she asked for this unpredictable knowledge to be gone? Now that it had abandoned her she was left feeling empty. Worst still it chose this very moment to abandon her. The look on her face was enough to warn her friends that they had to think of something fast or the numbers behind the door would be the least of their problems. Having never had to really 'think' about anything before, Sibyl was finding it difficult to come up with a plan of action. Autumn chimed in with one of his own. "Misty can you create a storm inside there from out here?" His plan involved the use of Misty causing confusion as rain and lightning struck the inside of the unfamiliar room, causing chaos for everyone in. She nodded and got to work, feeling the weather patterns through her magic and shifting them to her whim.

Before long the rumbling of thunder and the steady sound of heavy rainfall could be heard coming through from the other side. The wind sounded as if it was tearing the place apart, which was what they had wanted. But one thing was completely off. Suddenly they could not hear any voices. Where there had been a constant chatter moments ago they were now met with the absence of human sounds. There were no screams, no shouts to evacuate, nothing. As odd as it was they still had a mission to do, and it seemed they would have to complete their task without Sibyl's help. She had just become no more than a liability to the team and they all knew it. Without her power she was useless. And having had no combat training whatsoever she couldn't even defend herself in a fight or wield a gun properly. The soldiers knew it too, as the looks on their faces spoke much louder than any word ever could. "Stay here Sibyl. We'll handle it from here." This would be the first time they were going in blind and it was not something any of them were looking forward to. But they all had a job to do. Misty, her concentration never faltering, fired a powerful bolt of lightning from her hand that ripped the door off its hinges and sent it careening into the room. This was the signal the guns needed to take the lead and enter the room first, ready to fire at hostiles they encountered. They spread into a loose formation in search of any sign of life with Misty and Autumn taking up the rear. The storm started to slow and died down completely once the last of them were in the room and realization dawned on them. One of the guns was the first to see it. A recording device of some kind still buzzing with the faded chatter they had heard before. It had all been a trap.

The wretched scream from outside the room had everyone's blood pumping in their ears. A beastly roar became prevalent, having the two witches fearing for their friend whom they had left just outside the room. Sibyl was slowly inching her way around the corner until she met the space where the door had been, slowly backing away with her eyes fixed on something ahead as she made her way deeper into the room. "What is it Sibyl? What do you see?" Misty's question wasn't meant as what she saw physically, thinking that she was having a vision of some sort. So, it was only when Sibyl pointed outside the door that everyone became alert, taking a look for themselves. Just outside the door and making its way closer and closer to the room was a large animal of some kind that was black as pitch, with menacing white eyes that seemed to look through one's soul. It was snarling, massive dribbles of saliva falling from its rows upon rows of dangerously sharp-looking teeth. It was on all fours and still would tower over everyone there. "What is that thing?! That was the question of the evening. Nothing in their intel had warned them of a beast such as this that looked like it came from inside of a child's imagination. They had been prepared to combat enemy witches if necessary, but not the likes of this. "Someone shoot that thing! Don't let it get in here." The soldiers needed no further telling, opening fire out the door at the creature. They had not expected it to be so fast. As soon as they started shooting it had stopped its creeping and sprang into action, dashing away with speed unheard of for something that size. It was quick, using evasive maneuvers while getting closer. Misty discharged powerful electrical currents one after the other that arced out of the room, but each one was avoided by the thing. They were boxed into a room and were only managing to last this long because the creature could not pass through the narrow doorway without walking straight into their attacks. They couldn't keep this up forever though.

"Everyone stop attacking. I have a plan." They were hesitant, but they all stopped firing and waited. Any second the monster would be upon them. No. It was already there. The thing poked its head through the door and started looking around with those soulless eyes, searching for what was right there in the open. "It can't see, hear or smell us. When it comes further in we need to get the hell out of here. I can't keep this up for long. It's almost like its resisting my magic somehow." They needed no further telling. As soon as the thing was completely in the room they started making their way around it and towards the door. The last to exit was Autumn, who was suddenly awash with cold sweat. It seemed the effort to keep the beast at a loss was taxing. The thing was still in the room and they were almost around the first corner when Autumn's hold over the illusion fell and the beast perked up, noticing their retreat. "Run!" They ran. Not knowing what manner of creature this was they were ill-prepared to fight it. Worst still, they were making twists and turns around random corners, uncertain of where they were headed. Sibyl's insight had yet to return, and she was starting to wonder if it would be a permanent thing. The beast was gaining, being much faster than they were. Soon it would rip them to shreds. This was getting them nowhere. Now that it seemed they were all goners the soldiers spun and opened fire, several of the bullets tearing through the thing. She felt it before it happened, all the pain and death that would come to pass. Her screams were drowned out by the screams of the men as they were ripped apart by the beast. Her friends had to drag her along as she whimpered in pain, creating as much distance as they could between themselves and the beast that was now feasting on its prey. The soldiers were dead, but that had been just the distraction that was needed for them to escape from the beast.

They stumbled upon a door like the one they had encountered before, and Misty raised her hand ready to blast the thing much like she had done the first, but Autumn placed a hand on hers indicating that she should wait. He tested the door and with a stroke of luck, it was unlocked. They helped Sibyl inside where they locked the door behind them. This looked to be enough to buy them some time to figure out their next course of action. They could not attempt to make it back to the boat that they come here on without the target they had been sent to retrieve or the soldiers waiting would surely kill them. Likewise, they had no idea how to deal with the monster that was waiting for them outside, as even the bullets seemed to do little by the way of slowing it down before it had killed the men. First thing was first though. They had to figure out what was wrong with Sibyl who was still shaking like a leaf. They set her down on a couch in the otherwise lightly furnished room and sat next to her. "Sibyl are you alright? You're starting to scare me. First, you lose your powers then you start screaming out of nowhere when those soldiers were being attacked." Intense eyes watched her quietly, waiting for her to gather herself and give a satisfactory explanation as to what the hell was going on. In all their seven years together, this was the first time they have known the girl to ever behave this way. Sibyl was shaking like a determined leaf in a violent storm. "I-I... The pain." Her eyes closed of their own accord, the tears spilling forth without her consent. "The death. I can... I can feel it. The fear, the anxiety. It's too much" Neither Misty nor Autumn knew what she was talking about, but they could deduce that it had something to do with what had taken place just moments before Sibyl had begun writhing in pain.

It was at that moment that a thought came to Autumn as he touched her arm lightly, causing her to flinch somewhat. "I think I've heard of this. You’re a psychic right? My mother used to teach me a lot about different kinds of witches and their abilities before she was killed. I think your powers might be getting stronger." Sibyl had been listening with renewed interest, fighting through the pain to push herself into an upright sitting position. "What do you mean?" "My mother told me that psychics usually only ever develop one of the eight clair senses in a lifetime, just like you have your claircognizance. I think it's possible that you might be developing another ability. Tell me" he adjusted his seating position, so he was completely facing her, "everything you experienced when the soldiers were dying." Sibyl thought about how to put it into words to accurately describe the sensation but settled on keeping it as simple as it actually felt. "I could somehow feel their distress before it happened. It's like I knew there would be pain and death before it happened, but not in the way I usually know. It was like a small tingling all over at first, then I started feeling everything. The beast ripping them apart, the men's fear drowning me, the beast's hunger; everything." She had no idea what was happening, but if Autumn was to be believed, and she had no reason to doubt his words, then she had lost her simple foreknowledge of events and gained this, a true curse, where she was to be burdened with the feeling of death around her. It was vomit-inducing. "Hmm... I don't think you've lost your cognizance. I think your new power is just suppressing the other to develop itself. You shouldn't try to fight it." It was easier said than done. The pain had subsided, but why did she still feel so unnerved? When she stood her friends were right there to catch her in case she suddenly fell, but she smiled a small smile to let them know she was alright and ready to keep moving. They still had to get out of here and complete their mission or it wouldn't matter what powers any of them developed.

"We have to find a way to take out the big guy waiting for us out there. It's so fast. If I could get a clean shot at it with my lightning I'm sure I could finish it off." Both her friends became lost in deep conversation as was their wont whenever she was otherwise indisposed. They were the ones who usually planned the battle tactics that revolved around her visions whereas she had never really felt the need to think, her abilities doing all the thinking for her. Now that she had lost the ability that did all the work she was little more than a normal human girl, a liability, someone who did not belong with the group that she was currently with. Maybe now she could live an actual life free of being hunted by people who wished to exploit her. Heaving a very deep sigh, she started exploring the room, taking note of the many files strewn and stacked on and along the floor and shelves. During her aimless touching and viewing of the many files, flipping through pages without really seeing anything therein, a sudden feeling took over her body. She tensed at the sensation that her mind was being invaded by something altogether foreign, dropping the latest held file to the ground and alerting her friends to her blank stare off into space. They were at her sides in no time at all, shaking her and calling out her name to get her attention. She snapped out of whatever trance she had been in that didn't seem to last any time at all and slumped to the ground while being supported by her friends. "I'm really starting to get worried, Sibyl. Don't tell me you had one of those feelings again?" Sibyl looked deep into Autumn's eyes, her own glassy and distant before she shook her head resignedly. "This time it was different. I started seeing things. I've never been able to see things before. Like visions or something." They sat her down properly and did the same next to her, acutely aware that their friend outside would not remain sated for long and would soon resume its hunt for them. "Describe it to me." Sibyl closed her eyes and tried to remember against her own nature, always opting not to think too hard about any information her powers gleaned her. "Well... I think I know the beast's name. Or at least who it used to be. It was a person, a woman that was taken and used as an experiment for an inexperienced witch's curse. She's had years of hexes and potions hurled at her and that thing out there is the result." It was all starting to make some sense now. She had wondered how it was that they had been forewarned of the presence of other witches in this place and ever since arriving they had yet to encounter even one. Their abilities did not lie in direct combat like W.I.T.C.H's witches, but rather in experimentation that contrived of creating abominations such as these.

Sibyl jumped to her feet, startling her friends at the sudden show of strength. "I know how to defeat it!" Misty's eyes widened but she remained silent, knowing better than to question Sibyl when she asserted knowing something. It would seem her cognizance was again working full force after having allowed room for her other abilities to manifest. Now she seemed ready to get back in the game, her small frame sprinting towards a high cabinet in a far corner of the room. "A little help?" It took them a second, but they noticed what she was asking for and made to assist. They both applied energy into lifting her off the ground so she could reach the cupboard, and from there she relinquished a vial. It had a clear liquid that looked to be nothing more than water, but her friends remained quiet and left her to her own devices. "Now if only... Ah!" Hopping down without ceremony, she made her way two cupboards down along the lower, more reachable ones, opened it and retrieved what looked like a syringe. She was no doctor, and she did not know how she knew or cared for that matter, but she knew that "this will put an end to our troubles." She used the syringe to extract the liquid and held it at the ready. "You guys need to distract her long enough for me to inject her with this in one of her legs. It works like a temporary antidote to the curse that will knock her out and cause her to change back into a human. That's the only time she's vulnerable." Her two friends exchanged curious glances at each other before breaking into full-on grins. "Our girl is back!" Sibyl rolled her eyes but spared them a small smile anyway. "Gooo! Get into positions. She's done eating and on her way right now. I'll tell you when to blast down the door Misty. Do it just like you did the last time." Of course she was referring to the first door where all their problems had started.

Misty took up her position roughly three yards in a direct path from the door, crackles of electricity generating from her fingertips in anticipation of being released. Autumn was further into the room ready to cast his illusions just like before to distract the beast while it was down, which should give Sibyl the chance she needed to inject the thing. "Now!" There was no need to be told twice. Without pomp and circumstance, Misty let loose with all she had, a potent discharge of lightning leaving her fingertips and tearing the door clean off its hinges, taking sections of the stone wall with it. A distorted yelp alerted them to the beast being caught unawares by the sudden violence as the blunt force of the door sent it flying and the burning destruction of the constant lightning kept it down. "Keep it up. Autumn?" He did his part next as a fail-safe, casting the illusion that would make the creature lose its sense of sight, smell, and hearing, just as a precaution as Sibyl approached quickly. She knew this would work. She was almost upon the monstrosity now and made a small signal to Misty to let up, and as soon as she did so Sibyl fell to the ground and stabbed the syringe into the black beast's leg and pumped the clear liquid in. Once through she flung herself backwards and out of the way as the thing thrashed and raged about. She was not fast enough even though she saw it coming, and as soon as the front paw connected with her she was sent flying backward into the wall, a collision that left her winded as she faded into unconsciousness.
✧Improvidus, Apto quod Victum✧
Stam: 3, Agi: 3, Str: 4, Con: 7, Arc: 7, Acc: 6
W.I.T.C.H
W.I.T.C.H Chronicles #4 - Early 20th Century


Her eyes fluttered open to blurred faces and familiar surroundings. There was also the hint of decay mixed in with the smell of fresh blood. Blinking twice, she raised herself vertically from the couch and peered into the eyes of her friends. "What...? Sorry." She had been about to ask what happened, but as was her wont, she knew. She also knew without asking that what she was smelling was none other than the death of the woman that had once been a monster. Her eyes made a direct motion to look at the deceased's form lying under the cover of a few sheets, knowing that her friends had had no choice but to ensure she would not wake from the temporary solution and cause trouble for them later down the line. Sibyl acknowledged this with a nod and stood to her feet. It was time they put an end to this once and for all. Leaving the room behind, they continued with renewed determination to see their mission through to the end. With Sibyl's guidance and her powers now back in full throttle, the path was clear and remained safe, and before long they were before a door like the last two that had been sources of all their troubles. Sibyl wasted no time opening the door and stepping through into a room much like the last two had been, but she knew there was something different about this one. Crossing to the other end without pause, she pressed against the wall and it seemed to move along with her exertion, caving in on itself at the localized area. A low rumbling sound followed like stone rubbing against stone in one smooth motion, then before they knew it a path had opened before them that descended into the darkness. Sibyl led the way and the others followed.

Everyone stopped suddenly, mouths open and eyes wide with wonder. One moment they had been walking down a flight of stairs in total darkness, boxed in by concrete on all sides, then the next they were outside, outside in the open complete with clear dark skies, stars, a half moon, and a large building some distance away from their point of exit. All these were not the reason for their dumbstruck countenance, however. Just ahead, bodies as black as the looming darkness and pairs of eyes a sinister white were two of the creatures like the one they had struggled to defeat earlier. They had barely managed to escape from the first with their lives and now here they were faced with two of the same. No. Not the same. These two were slightly larger than the first, and both male as Sibyl suddenly knew. One thing that had her questioning everything was why she had not sensed their presence as she had gotten closer. It was beginning to baffle to greatly. Why was her power behaving so erratically? While she was so lost in her own thoughts, she had failed to notice the wind starting to pick up speed. It grew stronger and stronger by the second until it was a powerful gale that blew in one direction, and yet somehow, they were not being hurled about like so much paperweight. The wind was skirting around them and only seeming to affect the creatures and everything beyond. It was at this display of precision and control that Sibyl started to note that Misty was standing as stiff as a board, perfect concentration evident on her face in the form of creases between her brows. The large creatures struggled against the wind, their attempt at forward movement greatly obstructed by the relentless wind. Yet they never gave up trying to challenge the force of the wind. "We have to get back to safety! Let Misty handle this!" Sibyl could do nothing but nod, in awe at how powerful the wind was becoming. It was getting stronger and stronger still, to the point where the creatures were starting to be pushed back as they dug their paws into the earth beneath. Sibyl and Autumn made it back the few steps that put them back into the dark tunnel they had just left, from where they stood and watched from relative safety as Misty handled the creatures her way.

Somewhere during the entire ordeal, the sky had become impossibly dark and a heavy shower of rain had already begun to fall spontaneously, and the creatures, Misty, the ground and everything else was already thoroughly soaked. A sudden flash of lightning punctuated by an immediate roar of thunder impacted one of the creatures. This was unlike any of the other lightning strikes that Misty had ever conjured. This one had all the righteous fury of the heavens behind it, the sound produced when it had crashed into the creature a sound like bones shattering mixed with an unconstrained explosion, which was exactly what it had been. The creature had been blown apart by the full force of the lightning, most of its flesh being vaporized. Even as the lightning had been impressive there was still one creature remaining. The assumption could have been made that this one would be dispatched much like the first, but when the current temperature within the vicinity started to drop dramatically, Autumn and Sibyl found themselves shivering uncontrollably. It seemed to be getting lower and lower by the second. The torrential rains only seemed to fall heavier still, the wind picking up even more force as the time passed by, and the temperature was so low now that they could see their breaths misting before their eyes. Sibyl's eyes widened in shock just then, her foresight suddenly kicking in to warn her of what was to come. "We have to go deeper in!" She didn't wait for Autumn to ask questions or try to understand her warning, tugging him along as she moved to drive the urgency of the situation home. They made good headway to outrun whatever it was that Sibyl had sensed, and she remained further in for a while longer until she was sure they had outlasted whatever it was that she had sensed. Her magic was behaving weird and she needed to know why. The creatures catching her unawares, the extreme vagueness of their surroundings and situation. It was starting to grate on her sure sense of self when it came to the one thing she could do.

Upon returning the spot where they had just been, both Sibyl and Autumn were stunned at what they were seeing. The entire ground was frozen over and drops of rain had long been shattered along the ground as they fell, forming even smaller crystals. The trees beyond and the entire area were covered with a thin sheet of ice. But the most interesting thing that they saw was the creature. It was frozen solid in one place by a thick enough sheet of ice, its mouth open and standing on its hind legs. It looked angry and surprised at the same time, glaring at Misty. There was no way it could have been expecting the cold snap, nor could it have defended against it. Their shock morphed into concern when they noticed that the weather conditions were only getting worse with Misty smack in the center of it all. The girl was just standing there as if in a trance as she was soaked through to the bone by the falling rain and the storm raged about her. Trees were uprooted by the gale, the same wind with its inconstant rhythm shattering the frozen creature into large shards that were carried away in the mayhem. "She can't control it!" Her voice was almost lost in the cacophony of sounds. Sibyl pulled away from the tunnel that was quickly losing its safe status and attempted to force her way through the wind and rain. Autumn made the attempt to hold her back, but once she turned to him with a look that spoke volumes louder than any word ever could, he released her. What was to be a short journey to her friend who was not far from the opening became a daunting task. Once the distance was finally crossed, Sibyl reached a hand forward and latched it onto Misty's shoulder, passing her by only to turn back and look her in the eyes. She had been right. The girl seemed to be in a trance-like state and unable to break free. Several things happened once Sibyl truly started to look into her friend's eyes. The emotions that the girl felt, she could feel them all. The sadness, the angst, the anger, the pain, the loss, hatred... All of it. She was reliving the girl's experience of being taken by W.I.T.C.H all those years ago. It had been every bit as tragic as her experience if not more so. Both her mother and father had been alive at the time. The first to go had been her father who had tried to protect his family from the sudden danger that had landed at their door. His powers had been great, but the highly trained soldiers had been armed with research and a battle tactic so concise that there was little margin for error. Her mother had been summarily cut down much the same as her father after kissing her and telling her how much she was loved. There was a vague memory of an older woman up there in age. She too had been a master of weather magic that seemed to run in Misty's family. The vagueness developed in clarity the longer Sibyl and Misty remained in their trance, and it was then that they both saw images of a woman in a forest surrounded by danger.

It was like they were standing in the shoes of the older woman, aware of the evil lurking in the shadows and yet powerless to truly to banish it. There were guns, men, threats. The sound of a muffled shot and a bullet hitting a tree close by. The retreat deeper into the forest. The fog, the blind attempt at lashing out at the unseen enemy, the flames, the resignation, the final display of power, the death of one of her would-be captors, and finally, the everlasting darkness. "Grandmother!" The dwam ended abruptly and Sibyl was violently flung backwards by the sheer influx of raw, unbridled emotions contained in that one word. Autumn was beside them in a heartbeat, the weather having returned to normal. "What just happened?" Misty was on her knees, tears welling in her eyes for the woman she had loved more than her own parents and who had shown her the same love in return. "They killed her. W.I.T.C.H killed my grandmother. They...I didn't know. I-I thought she was still alive out there somewhere. I saw..." She was barely making any sense, unable to restrain her emotions. Sibyl, picking herself up off the floor, shared her friend's confusion and anger at the situation as if the woman had been close to her as well. "W.I.T.C.H is nothing more than a band of thugs and murderers!" Autumn looked between his two friends more confused than he had been before he had asked the initial question. "Anyone care to fill me in on what's going on?" They both looked at him at him at the same time with an eerily expressionless visage. The explanation came in as much detail as they could manage. Misty's loss of control had been caused by the stressful situation they had been in and the desire to protect her friends. The trance had come about when she was suddenly hit by the memory of how helpless she had been when her parents had been killed right in front of her and her solemn vow with her friends to always protect each other. Her power itself seemed to have been growing as well, just as Sibyl's. Apparently, when Sibyl had touched Misty she too had fallen into a trance where she had become suddenly overwhelmed by the sudden influx of emotions within the memory that had been at the forefront of Misty's thoughts. Her clairsentience and clairtangency had overlapped in such a way that she was able to see and experience that memory as if she had been living it, and her claircognizance had revealed to them both something that had been in neither of their memories but was simply a knowledge branched from a similar circumstance. The starting era of W.I.T.C.H had spelled the death of Misty's grandmother all those years ago in that dark, cold forest.

There was still an unanswered mystery that needed to be solved pertaining to the entire ordeal. Just how was it that Sibyl had been able to see a memory belonging to Misty? It was true that she was a powerful psychic, but for something of that magnitude required power beyond anything she had ever displayed. It was as if her three powers had been working in tandem, especially at the point where she had been able to conjure a new memory that neither her nor Misty had ever experienced themselves. It was as if she had gleaned from the memories of the W.I.T.C.H agents within the memory and thus been able to incorporate the memory into something that Misty had always known. It was all rather confusing, and the attempt at an explanation was a group of fourteen-year old's' best attempt at understanding the hows and whys. With renewed confidence and the determination to get back and get some answers as to the kind of organization they had been working for all these years, albeit against their own will, they wasted no time in completing the task that they had been sent here to do. With Sibyl's powers surprising them at each turn and her accurate predictions paired with Misty's increase in control and fatality, they were a force to be reckoned with. In short order, they had found and rescued the agent they had been to rescue, found the three witches that were part of the enemy program and disposed of them without trouble as well as their experiments, failed and otherwise, and returned to the boat that was still waiting for them. It was a little past dawn when they managed to accomplish all this, and they were on their way back to the place that had been home for seven years.
✧Improvidus, Apto quod Victum✧
Stam: 3, Agi: 3, Str: 4, Con: 7, Arc: 7, Acc: 6
W.I.T.C.H
W.I.T.C.H Chronicles #5 - Early 20th Century


"...are getting too powerful. You saw what that girl, Misty, did. Her powers are far more potent than her grandmother's or parents ever were and she's developing them so quickly at such a young age. And let's not forget our little golden girl Sibyl. If left unchecked her magic could be our undoing." The man with the serious candor and tone that had been the witches' teacher now voiced his concern at their growth. The man at the other end of the table placed a domino down with one side matching the side of the one it was meant to succeed in the chain. Both men seemed barely invested in the game that they were currently playing, the conversation the true reason behind their meeting. "Is it true that she actually managed to see and show her friend a vision? An honest to goodness vision of her grandmother's death?" "As far as the reports say, yes." The sinister man with the wicked grin tutted, "Are you slipping on me, Ichabod? You're usually so keen on these things. I believed your exact words to me were... Oh, what was it? Yes! 'She's just a glorified fortune-teller. She'll be useful for a time, then she'll have outstayed her welcome.'" The man had adopted Ichabod's flat expression and tone in mockery at the verbatim recount of his words. A light chuckle riddled with underlying derision resonated from a place just above his chest. He was making fun of the man, and yet the stoic soldier simply made his next move in the game, demeanor never once faltering. "It would seem so... I'll have to reevaluate our current circumstances. Do we really need all three?" The sinister man waved a hand through the air at that latest remark. "You really do need to lighten up sometime. Have you forgotten the unfashionably amoral collars they each wear? The instant they think to use their powers against us they die."

The stoic man was not amused. "Haven't you noticed? Sibyl can use her powers with impunity. She doesn't have an active power like the others that can be used against any of us in the conventional sense, but that doesn't make it any less dangerous than the others. If anything, that makes her far more dangerous than they are." The other man saw the sense in this and truly thought about it while making his next play. The girl's power had been a boon to their operation, one that he would not wish to lose if it could be helped. But his companion was right of course, as he usually was about these things. The dramatic sigh that escaped his parted lips was a testament to the loss that he would almost feel when they did what must be done. Almost. "I hate it when you're right. I suppose we must? You're aware she'll see us coming. Why she might be in on our conversation right now. How do you propose to kill someone who's always several chess moves ahead?" At that question the other man simply smiled a wicked smile as if he had been waiting for it to be asked. "Just leave the particulars to me. Keep providing the resources and I'll keep providing the results." With a shrug at that latest remark the sinister man seemed content with what was said and made his next move. The game continued in silence, neither side saying another word.

She woke into a sitting position from her slumber with a start, awash with cold sweat and gasping for air. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the dark and her ears to silence, listening and looking for any signs of life inside the room. It had only been a dream. Heaving a sigh of relief, she shook her head once and smiled faintly. "Get it together Sibyl. You're even scaring yourself now," she whispered into the darkness. Sliding from the bed, she surefootedly made her way to the bathroom in the dark, not even so much as turning on the lights to see where she was going. Her psychic abilities had been growing with each passing day. Ever since their latest mission, she found that she could somewhat control the way her other two powers affected her and that her cognizance was like another limb, or a third eye so to speak. She did not need to think about its use, just as she did not need to think about seeing with her eyes or hearing with her ears or feeling with her skin. It was something natural and she had come to accept it for what it was. Discovery was a powerful thing, as when she came to this realization she found that her power led her in such a way that she never knew possible. Never a false step, never a missed opportunity, never a need to worry. It had been a silent vow made to herself upon her return that she would always 'listen' and dance to her magic's tune, preferring this to the alternative that she had had to face when she had lost it briefly during the last mission. She never wanted to experience that level of helplessness ever again.

So, within the darkness she stayed, honing her senses through the use her powers without thinking. She opened the faucet and caught the cool water in her palms, splashing it against her face once, repeating twice more and then turning off the flow of water. Moving again in the dark she found the towel on the rack and dried her face, her thoughts suddenly going back to the dream she had just woken from. It started coming back to her instantly, but then as if by some unseen force the dream became shrouded in an inky black. Strange. Rather than think about it, she left her cognizance to work, and as she had suspected it would it zoned in yet again on the dream she had woken from, trying to bring her thoughts back to the details therein. Again, she was met with impenetrable darkness. She started to walk around the bathroom, still in the pitch black. She knew where the shower was, pausing her steps right next to it and running her fingers along the edge. She knew where the toilet was, closing the seat and taking a seat. She made her way back to the sink and stared at the glass that she knew was there even though she could see no reflection looking back at her. Again, she directed her thoughts to the dream and again she was met with more of the same as before. Something was wrong. She left the bathroom and made her way back into the bedroom and crossed to the closet, finding something a bit more substantial to wear than the thin piece of garment she was currently in. Slipping on a pair of comfortable shoes she moved to the door to open it but stopped short just as she heard the faintest of sounds. She had been hearing that sound for seven years and could never forget it even if she tried. It was the sound of a gun being cocked and primed for use. Right outside her door? That was what had her reevaluating her situation. She found it exceedingly odd that she had not been warned about what was happening by her magic. No, that wasn't right. If she really thought about it, her ability was constantly warning her now that it had been warning her, and yet she could not seem to fully grasp the fact that it had. Each time the thought struck her it was fleeting, vanishing as soon as it had been present.

What in the world was happening? There was no time for this. She could hear the faintest of footsteps approaching her door and knew she had to act fast. What she did notice for a fact was that she was still able to maneuver properly in the darkness and that she might be able to use that to her advantage. Lucky for her the structure of the room was also in her favor with the light switch being directly above her bed. In design, the room had not been made with the thought in mind that strangers would ever intrude on the occupant for whatever reason, so no great thought was given into whether to have the light switch close at hand for the denizen or not. She ran toward the bed quietly and arranged the sheet and pillows in such a way as to give the appearance that she was still fast asleep underneath then ran back to the wall. Eyes closed and heart racing, she sidled against it some feet away from the door. The doors had no locks, which made sense with them being prisoners, so she knew they would have no need to violently kick the door in. It was becoming increasingly clear to her that those on the other end of the door did not have any good intentions for her. The specific number was somewhere at the back of her mind, but like with her dream and the forewarning that she would be having visitors, she could not remember. She judged it to be around two or three. At the sound of the door being opened she held her breath and pressed herself further onto the wall, eyes closed, and every attempt being made to still her beating heart. They were faint, but she heard footsteps that were intermingled and indistinguishable, making it unclear to her how many of them there actually were. The attempt was still being made to retain the numbers in her mind as her power gave her the answer, but something was blocking her memory even as she remembered it. Luckily, she was not stupid. Very large men with very large guns quietly sneaking into your room during the wee hours of the night would never start to mean they wanted to have a tea party. These men were out for blood this night; her blood. If she was to die she was not about to make it easy for them. Once they were in, four in total, she kept to the wall and inched her way towards the door in the darkness. She had been on missions with these men and knew how they operated. They no doubt wore night vision lenses that would allow them some sight in the darkness. In all honesty despite the situation, she felt somewhat offended by their small numbers. If they had been sent to Autumn's or Misty's room, there would have probably been a small army.

The thought of her friends snapped her back to attention. If they were here in the room planning to do what she thought they wanted to do, did that mean they were after her friends too? Would they be subjected to the same surprise visit from murderous intruders? At the door and about to make her exit, she felt the murderous intent rolling off the man that pointed his pistol at her pillow she had amateurishly placed. The moment he pulled the trigger she sprinted from the room as silently as she could. They really were out to kill her. But why? It wasn't working. She couldn't hold onto anything in her mind and the sense of danger she felt only increased with each step she took through the fortress that had been her home for years. If they were planning to dispose of her then no doubt they had found potential replacements for her already, and her friends were believed to be in the same boat as well. Sibyl only hoped she got to them in time to warn them, so they could attempt an escape like they had never before. The large hallways were as familiar to her as the patterns in the palm of her hands, having been exposed to them for so long. She hadn't been lucky enough to walk down each to see where they lead, as she was still a prisoner through and through, but her ability had given her all the insight she would ever need to make her way to any location if she ever truly needed to. This was one of those times. In the face of the harsh reality that she had been thrust in she only just realized that none of them had ever been allowed to enter or so much as know where each other’s rooms were located. She always assumed it had been to lessen the chances of an insurrection occurring, or simply to keep them in isolation to dissuade disobedience conjured by involvement with a crowd. Whatever the reason it had proven most effective in the upkeep of the paranoia and presence of ever-watchful eyes probing into every move they made. She navigated the space that would take her to Autumn's room while steering clear of the soldiers from which she felt even the slightest of hostile intent. Before long she made it to the boy's room but was unable to make her presence known because of the single guard standing vigilantly watching. How was she going to get past him?

Heart racing and beads of sweat standing at attention on her forehead, Sibyl was truly at a loss. This guard had no hostile intent towards her or any of her friends, but the rules were clear. Outside of meeting for missions, training and otherwise scheduled gatherings the witches were not to have contact with each other, especially unsupervised. Sibyl closed her eyes and actually tried calling to her powers to give her the answer. She desperately needed to get to him now, so they could get to Misty quickly, but her usual insight was not as forthcoming as it once was, and this time as she tried she could actually feel the dark fog burdening her mind and clouding her senses. The harder she tried the denser and more persistent it became, as if... The truth dawned on her just as it faded. A witch. She had believed for so long that they were the only three witches left within the entire organization, the others having been killed, but how wrong she had been. This was a place that made a point of using the witches they hated so much to carry out their own clandestine misdeeds, so it would stand to reason that they would have gone and done with others as they had done to them all those years ago. One of those witches was the cause of her inability to use her power effectively. She was the target. Her power was not being blocked per se, but any information gleaned through its use became fleeting, forgotten seconds after conception. How did she fight against a form of magic that confounded her own? Did it though? A thought struck her and was as fleeting as the rest, but it stuck long enough for her to consider the possibility. Her cognizance was the only one of her abilities known by W.I.T.C.H, her other two that had formed remaining untold not through active secrecy but due to lack of necessity or probing by the organization. They seemed to work well enough when she considered that she could still sense and feel the emotions of the soldiers roaming about. She believed that if she attempted to release the reigns on her tangency then the same results would also be achieved. But how would either of the two help her bypass the guard or distract him long enough for her to slip by? It was hopeless.

Sibyl tried focusing as hard as she could on Autumn. His face, his voice, his presence. She could feel her first ability working to tell her what she needed to know, but nothing stuck. That was when it happened. One second she was hiding along the bend in the hallway and the next she was standing there in complete darkness, nothing but moonlight gleaming through a high window. There was a figure lying in the large bed snoring softly. Upon closer inspection, she saw that it was none other than Autumn contentedly asleep. But...how? As soon as she had the thought she gasped a quiet breath and found herself standing back in the hallway, eyes wide open and scanning her surroundings. If the nature of her magic had not been known to her she would have believed she was simply losing her mind and that none of what just happened had happened, but she knew better than to doubt her psychic heritage. The only thought on her mind was, if she could do that again then maybe she could alert him to their current predicament and have him handle the guard at his door. Repeating what she had done before, she thought hard about her friend and before long she was there in his room just as before standing next to his bed looking at his face. "Autumn." Her own voice surprised her. There was an unnatural echo that resounded within the room after her utterance, the kind one hears at the edge of their hearing when speaking down a vacant well. Autumn wake up." He was fast asleep. Having a nice dream, no doubt. Sibyl angrily reached towards him to drag the sheet from his body but found her hand passing right through. Amazed, she reached for the sheet much slower a second time, receiving the same result. She tried poking his face and her hand passed right through as if she were nothing more than a specter. She found that she knew what was happening now, and not because of her cognizance that was still being suppressed, but because this ability was one that her mother had possessed. She had questioned her mother about it so many times that she knew all the ins and outs. This clairvoyance was an ability that would allow her to gain visual knowledge of anything she thought of, Autumn being this case in point. Her mother had taught her that verbal interaction was possible with this psychic connection, but discipline and focus were necessary.

Having never had to really actively use one of her abilities before, she was finding this somewhat difficult to do, but her need to communicate became desperation, one that gave sound to her voice with the final call and roused Autumn from his sleep as she yelled Autumn!" The boy jumped from the bed with a start, eyes wide as he scanned the darkness. "Must've been having a nightmare. Ugh, and the sleep was getting good too." Sighing heavily he made to lay back down and continue his sleep, but again Sibyl spoke. "There's no time for sleep. You have to wake up." He froze, hearing the voice in his ears but unable to see or sense anyone in the room. The voice itself, though slightly distorted, was very familiar, however. "Sibyl?" "We have to hurry and get to Misty before they do. I'm outside waiting. The guard..." The voice faded into nothing as her concentration lapsed. The guard at the door had spotted her and was heading in her direction. She turned to make a dash for it but was not fast enough. The hand that caught her by the bicep had a firm, almost punishing grip. "Now what do we have here? You witches are nothin' but trouble. C'mon, back to your room." He started dragging her away from Autumn's room, her struggles almost unnoticed for all the difference it made. It was when the man released her and started chasing after a doppelganger of her while yelling "get back here!" that she physically relaxed some. Autumn materialized at her side and stared as if he was just now seeing her for the first time. "I didn't get a chance to wash my face..." "Neither did I. How did you do that?" He was referring to her being in his room and not there of course. She reached for his hand by the wrist and started pulling him into the direction of Misty's room, explaining everything to him along the way. The men who were trying to kill her, the haze blocking her cognizance, the manifestation of her mother's ability, everything.

"Amazing! You're probably one of the most powerful psychics out there. And you're only fourteen! Why would they be trying to kill you when you're only getting more and more useful each day?" Useful was not the most appropriate word for the situation they were currently in, but Sibyl kept her silence. "Now what happened back on the last mission makes more sense. I was still wondering how you were able to experience those visions as if you were there. It was your clairvoyance putting you smack dab in the middle of it all. So that makes what? Four? You have four of the eight clair senses. If you keep this up, you'll have all eight. Can you imagine the sensory overload?" A glance in the girl's direction had him biting his lips. "Sorry. I talk a lot when I don't get enough sleep. Maybe you'll remember that when we get out this mess. If we get out of this mess..." Sibyl stopped walking abruptly and dragged Autumn backward by the collar as he passed her without noticing. "We're here. Stop talking for a second and do something about that guard." Autumn made all the necessary mental preparations needed to use his ability, but then paused just as Sibyl touched him on the shoulder and turned him to face her with eyes wide open. "Wait a minute. You used your powers on a soldier and you're still alive. H-how?" Her voicing of that one truth had him rethinking everything. It had become second-nature for them to avoid using their abilities against the soldiers, accidentally or otherwise, as they knew that the collars around their necks were still very much active and ready to eliminate them should they slip. But Autumn had only moments ago used his power, though not one of a physical nature, on a guard. "I- Hmm... I don't know. I saw him dragging you away and didn't really think about it." Sibyl mused at this. "So you made him see that image of me slipping out of his hands and running away? Shouldn't that count as using your power against him?" Autumn's eyes widened, as seemed to be a recurring thing between the two. "You saw that?" She nodded. "You shouldn't have been able to see the illusion unless I wanted you to, which I didn't." Sibyl wondered. "I don't like it but you're our only chance to get past this guard. Can you do what you did before?" Autumn said not a word as he looked at the guard standing at the door and readied himself to act.

The boy visualized Sibyl running down the corridor past the guard with a determined look. The likeness to the actual person was eerily accurate, and the guard, seeing the young psychic run by, called after her and started to give chase. "Did you see that?" A nod. "But... how? You shouldn't be able to see it." "We can think about that later. Let's go before we're caught out in the open." No further prompting was needed. Quick and careful steps brought them to the door where they let themselves in, thankful this once that the doors always remained unlocked.
✧Improvidus, Apto quod Victum✧
Stam: 3, Agi: 3, Str: 4, Con: 7, Arc: 7, Acc: 6
W.I.T.C.H
W.I.T.C.H Chronicles #6 - Early 20th Century


Autumn saw it first, using his entire body weight to push himself and Sibyl to the ground, just marginally avoiding being struck by the pale white light. Another bolt of lightning was upon them, Sibyl being the first to act this time by rolling along the ground just out of each of the arc that struck the floor where she had just been lying prostrate from the first unceremonious landing. She dragged Autumn and made a mad dash for the wardrobe and pressed them between it and the wall in a meager attempt at evasion. "Misty what the hell?!" The booming sound of delayed thunder mixed with the strike of the lightning against the hardwood that managed to keep them protected, albeit slightly, drowned out his words. "I won't be killed without a fight! Stop hiding and fight me like men you cowards!" "What? Misty, it's us!" Another crack of white light. It was important to note that the room was bathed in darkness with only a hint of moonlight shining through, much like it had been in Autumn's room. It was because of Autumn's keen attention that they had managed to escape the first strike that was being prepared to strike them down the second they had entered. Once again Sibyl had been warned but had not remembered the warning. "She thinks we're the soldiers sent to kill her. We have to do something." "No duh?" His irritation was shining through as he tried coming up with a plan of action. Misty had always been believed to be the most powerful of the three, which the other two never once doubted. Her powers were as devastating and absolute as the girl who wielded them. "I've got it!" Again a crack of lightning overlapped by the sound of thunder rang through at his utterance as if on a timer.

They both ran out from behind the wardrobe and stood out in the open with their hands up and their palms facing her. "It's okay Misty. We're not here to hurt you." "Liars!" The final crack of lightning tore through the space between them at the speed of light and struck Autumn and Sibyl directly, their screams short as their lifeless bodies crumpled to the ground. Misty took tentative steps towards the two charred bodies illuminated by moonlight and noticed the smaller frames for the first time and a mess of blonde hair that belonged to Sibyl. It was the faces not fully burned that she noticed before she truly broke into tears, kneeling and stroking both their faces softly. "What have I...?" The light within the room was turned on and all the shadows receded in fright. Misty stood to her full height ready to react but was stunned when she saw the visage of her two dead friends standing near her bed, Sibyl with her hand on the light switch. She looked back to the bodies on the ground and saw only empty space. The truth had been revealed to her through facsimile conjured by Autumn's power. She ran to them both and all three embraced as if they had just gone through an ordeal. "Gee finally. Thought we were about to end up like those copies back there. Next time you should at least..." "Guys now is not the time. The soldiers heard all the commotion and are on their way here as we speak. We have to move!" She was the first to make it back to the door, but then she stopped just short of touching the knob and pulled herself away. "They're already here." The room suddenly fell deathly silent. Misty was the first to act, facing the door and gathering the electricity as was her wont. The resulting arc of lightning was calamitous, its very power shaking the ground beneath them as it literally tore the door and the surrounding wall apart and seared the soldiers beyond with magnificent ease. There was nothing they could have done. "My turn. Follow me."

They all exited the room closely with Autumn, sticking close as he instructed. While Sibyl offered up the directions, Autumn kept up the illusion that made them unseen by those they passed, and Misty was ready to strike if the need arose. The discussion was quickly had among them. The fact that she had not struck out against the soldiers directly, but had only hit them as collateral meant that she had not met the conditions required for the collar to claim her life. If they functioned with similar accidental displays of her destructive power, they just might have a chance. As for Autumn. They discussed briefly along the way the nature of his power and the way he had managed to use it against the soldiers all night. His magic was getting stronger just as his other two friends'. Where his illusions had only ever been visible to those he targeted, others were able to see them now. Not only that, but his illusions could never affect the sense of touch before, but Misty had so evidently touched both their corpses in her room and described how real it all felt. That got Autumn thinking to the point where he tried something he had never done before. When they had come across a lone soldier walking briskly along the hallway he had created an exact likeness of the man completed with the large gun he carried and had him fire at the other. It had been something to behold. The bullets pierced the man's body and had killed him, just like that. They were all suddenly reevaluating just which of them was more powerful. They were almost to the large double doors that marked the exit from the building that would lead them out into the massive courtyard when it happened. Autumn's illusion that made them invisible to anyone who saw them faded without reason.

"If we continue the three guards at the door will see us. Stop and make a left here." They were quite used to Sibyl talking as if she knew it all, which was all thanks to her abilities. The thoughts suddenly came to her in a rush and she had to admit, it was somewhat overwhelming. It had felt like a great weight had been lifted from her mind just now and her cognizance had started filling her in on everything that it had been trying to warn her of before now. She knew everything, and she explained to her friends as they hid. "I'm so sorry I dragged you guys into this. They would have let you live if I hadn't sought you out." The dream that she had thought was only a dream had been anything but. She had been present for the conversation in psychic form and knew that they meant to kill her, thinking that she was becoming too powerful to control for long. "They have a witch with the ability to mentally block another witch's abilities. It's why I was having such a hard time knowing what was happening. I think she can only block one power at a time though. My other psychic abilities were working just fine and she seemed only interested in barring my cognizance." She explained why her power had suddenly returned to her. It was because the witch had now set her sights on Autumn after realizing what it was that he had been doing. She was barring the use of his power and rendering him ineffective in the way that he had been this entire time, but in doing so she had freed Sibyl's most useful ability. "She can only block one witch's power at a time, so we still have a chance. It might be harder to get past the guards without your illusions Autumn, but we can manage." Sibyl focused. She channeled her magic as she had before when she had desperately needed to contact Autumn. It worked easier this time around; it seemed she was learning, and she wasted no time enacting her ploy. "This way guys. I found a secret passage." The voice could be heard by the three guards loud and clear from somewhere off to the right passageway. They were literally about to chase ghosts that they thought were their little escapees. The door was now vacant, and they had to move fast. She prompted her friends at the most opportune moment to make a dash for it, and before long had pushed through the door and were now outside the building within the massive courtyard.

The gates to leave the compound were located at best a hundred-ish yards away, but there snipers lining the outposts that dotted the entire courtyard. "I've got it covered." Misty closed her eyes and began to visualize the dark cumulonimbus clouds, and before long the skies bent to her will, casting a great shadow over the land. Lightning danced through the crowds that were full almost to bursting point and the thunder rolled menacingly, as if in open challenge. Visibility had become significantly lower, but it would not be enough. She focused on the fog rolling in from the east, thick and concealing. It was a high fog that spanned the top of the outposts and covered the entire courtyard. An eerie zephyr blew through the haze. "I never get bored of seeing you in action Misty." The girl's smile went unnoticed. They all held hands to stay together with Sibyl leading the way through the mist. She knew exactly what direction they needed to be going. They were more than halfway there when the darkness returned in her mind and she came to an abrupt halt, the others doing the same. "It's the witch..." They knew what she meant, especially in Autumn's case as he felt the weight pinning his magic suddenly lifting. "Can you thin the fog enough for us to see?" Misty did just that and Autumn continued where he had been cut off before, keeping them invisible to any onlookers. They could see ahead of them and Sibyl still had the general direction in mind, so it was easy enough to make it to the gate. Misty wasted no time blasting the thing away, alerting the guards to a presence, but not their presence. They were frantically stumbling around in the fog and the fact that there was no one there. "Thicker fog." Autumn said this to indicate that he could feel the darkness weighing in once more. Misty adjusted the fog just as before and Sibyl's senses led them on and away from the immediate danger.

They were out on the island, further away from the compound than they had ever been allowed, and without others nearby watching them closely. Even though they were running for their lives and had yet to find a means by which to leave the island, they had to appreciate how truly beautiful the scenery was. Though they admired, however, they could not stop. Sibyl was acutely aware of the fact that they were basically criminals who had just escaped from a high-security prison. They would be hunted and routinely killed, else subjected to some other extreme that would serve to break them. She had only just started to taste what freedom could be like and did not wish to ever be placed under subjugation ever again. "We have to keep going." No one had any objections, and so they trekked on in the dark with Sibyl leading the way. Hours passed by slowly and by this time they had made it halfway through the forest into a clearing where they had decided to sleep for the night on the grassy ground. It was nothing compared to the soft beds they had grown used to in their captivity, but something about being away from their captors afforded them one of the best nights of sleep they've had in a long time. All three slept, Misty and Autumn having dreamless experiences while Sibyl's was anything but.

She felt as if she was floating above the ground, now back in the compound that they had just barely managed to escape from with their lives. She was descending several floors beneath where their rooms had been until she encountered a dimly lit room with a large table in the center occupied on two ends by two figures that she had seen before. One she knew from continued exposure to the rigorous training he had put them all through and his cruel nature, the other only through that first physical encounter during her first day here and stray feelings here and there ever since. The two were having a conversation over a card game that she was not familiar with, her presence unknown to them. She floated there in the room listening. "...escaped Ichabod. What, pray tell, do you propose we do about it?" The other man smirked a wicked smirk, looking across the table at his companion. "I really do wish you'd stop calling me by that name. In any event, things are going just as expected. I knew young Sibyl would play right into my trap like the good little puppet she is. She's always been so predictable. Her powers are wasted on her." She had no idea what he meant by 'trap' in this instance. She and her friends managed to escape, though not yet from the island. "During their last mission, I had trackers installed into their collars that allow me to know their exact location no matter where they go. The project had been a success. Though we lost three of our experimental witches during the process we were still able to mass produce the Behemoths with all our resources and the power of the other witches at our disposal." That was when she saw the other figure standing in the room from the darkness, a girl that couldn't possibly be older than ten years old with long black hair, equally black eyes and deathly pale skin. She was, in turn, looking right at Sibyl where she floated in psychic form. "Did you hear all that Sibyl?" A gasp escaped her lips, and apparently, the three figures in the room heard it quite clearly, as the sinister man whose name she did not know looked as if he had just seen a ghost as he started looking around for the source of the sound. They knew she was there so there was no point in remaining silent. "Why are you doing this to us? We've done everything you've asked of us. We were good." The man, Ichabod, laughed loudly, the heaviest sound she had ever heard coming from him in all these years. "That you were. You especially were the most precocious little thing I'd ever met. You knew things you shouldn't, helped expose secrets and lies that would've otherwise gone undiscovered, and were instrumental in the deaths of many of our enemies. It pains me to say this, but you simply know too much. I see how much stronger your power has gotten. Why you've even managed to discover a past event like that time we had Misty's grandmother killed. It was then I knew you had to go." Sibyl was at a loss for words. The man had lost his mind. "That last mission you had us do. We were no more than guinea pigs, weren't we? You used us to test the power of your monsters, your Behemoths. We were never supposed to make it out alive were we?"

The questions were not being asked for answer's sake, but simply as affirmation for what she already knew to be the truth. The man only laughed again without a care. "And she does it again. It is as you say, though even I couldn't have suspected that Misty would have grown so powerful in such a short time. I had thought I knew the extent of her powers, but she outclasses her grandmother in every way. I wish to keep her on as one of my puppets." The other man in the room had remained quiet during the entire exchange, but spoke up now, his upset clearly expressed. "Why have I not gotten this report? A secret experiment? Witches creating beasts? Using Sibyl and her friends as lab rats? Explain yourself, Ichabod!" The gun materialized from nowhere and the resounding shot spooked even Sibyl who had seen it coming. The man with the questions laid face down in a pool of his own blood from where he had been shot in the forehead. He had been dead before he hit the table. "I told you to stop calling me that. Now, where were we? Oh yes. I just want to thank you for your years of service soldier. It's tough decisions like these that makes me the only one capable of taking the lead. I'd wake up now if I were you. And tell young Misty I'll see her soon." With that the man got up and walked out of the room without another word. The dark girl who had yet to utter a single word or take her eyes off Sibyl followed closely behind him like a shadow, only now breaking eye contact. The second she did so Sibyl realized something important. The girl had been blocking aspects of her cognizance that had been trying to warn her of the impending danger that was quickly approaching her and her friends where they slept. She closed her mystic eyes and opened her human ones, jumping from where she lay on the ground and shouting her friends' name in earnest. "Misty! Autumn! Wake up! We have to go now before it's too late." They slowly opened their eyes, and once her urgent words registered they were on their feet and running for their lives.

The first roar of the night signaled how close behind them the creatures were. "It can't be..." Sibyl explained all that she had learned to her friends as they ran. Ichabod's scheme, his using them to test his new superpower, the dark girl who was able to block their magic, the man's interest in Misty and her powerful abilities, all of it. "Well isn't that just fantastic?! How many of those things are chasing us?" Sibyl thought of the numbers for a second and had a vague answer. "Way more than we can handle. We have to keep moving as fast as we can." And so they kept up their pace, tearing through the forest at breakneck speeds. Their endurance was owed mostly to the training sessions they had been put through during their time in captivity as well as the rush of adrenaline that coursed through their bodies. The cloying fear played a role as well. "Misty do you think you could do to them what you did to the others?" A valid question, but Sibyl was already a step ahead with her retort. "We shouldn't chance it with so many of them." They ran and ran and ran, but they could not keep this up for much longer. Sibyl was the first to notice a large cavern in the wall of a mountain up ahead, pointing and directing everyone's attention and efforts towards it. "When we get through are you able to use one of your illusions to block the entrance?" Autumn gave reluctant confirmation that he could try but he was uncertain if it would work. It was the best they had now so none of them complained. Once they broke through the cave they stopped running and Autumn turned and got to work. All three could see nothing but hard stone where none had been before, barring their exit where they had just entered. The growling and the snarling became muffled and distant even though they knew the beasts were right outside the illusory wall. The scratching and pounding sounds marked the beasts' attempt at breaking through, but through the impracticality of a mountain wall being destroyed by such attempts, they knew they were safe for the time being.

"That won't work forever. The girl could see me in my psychic form and I'm sure she can see through your illusions as well. We have to find a way to get off this island before we're completely overwhelmed by all our enemies trying to kill us." And so while Autumn kept up his focus to sustain the physical illusion, they all discussed ways in which they could go about making the attempt. One thing was clear. They were running out of time.
✧Improvidus, Apto quod Victum✧
Stam: 3, Agi: 3, Str: 4, Con: 7, Arc: 7, Acc: 6
W.I.T.C.H
W.I.T.C.H Chronicles #7 - Early 20th Century


Things had gone from zero to one hundred in less time than any of them could have anticipated they would. One minute they were discussing a plan of action on how best to deal with their inhuman offenders when Sibyl had been alerted to the arrival of a battalion of soldiers congregating on their location. It was discovered that this cave had been man-made and that there was another point of entry further in, which was the current location of soldiers who were now carefully making their way in to accost them. On one end were highly trained soldiers with an assortment of deadly weapons and on the other end were beasts of lore. Either option was suicide. "If we could only get these damn collars off we could rely on Misty to clear out the soldiers without having to worry." The discussion had been had where the collars were concerned. The tracking devices in them were a dead giveaway to their position and the only thing protecting the soldiers from Misty's wrath. Their only option at this point was to venture deeper into the cave away from their enemies. As was the norm, Sibyl led the way through the unknown, guiding them all with her ability to know. Her serendipity knew no bounds. Before long they came upon a room hidden behind a section of stone that opened for them as soon as Sibyl touched a segment. Within the room, they came across what looked to be a lab of some kind that dealt in electronics. What truly caught their eyes were the legions of devices like the collars around their necks strewn about the place. "This is where they make the collars. Guys. I know how to get these things off." Sibyl quickly rushed toward one of the tables in the far corner and felt around in the mess until she found what she was searching for. It was a plastic card with nothing distinctive about it. She held it to her friends, her excitement barely contained. "This is how we'll get these things off." Autumn's and Sibyl's expressions changed the moment what happened next happened.

"My powers are off again." "The beasts are coming." They said these concurrently. Sibyl was quick to act, waving the plastic card near the back of Misty's collar. There was a moment of deafening silence followed by a startling beep that had their hearts racing. The collar fell from around Misty's neck and onto the ground with a light thud. "Yes! We can do this!" His optimism was becoming more and more contagious with every positive thing he said. Sibyl repeated the action near his collar and then her own and garnered the same results as the first time. They were finally free of the accursed things that had made their lives others' for so long. Where Autumn felt glee and optimism at their freedom Sibyl felt grief and resentment towards those that had subjected them to this life. The tears stung her eyes and fell against her attempts at restraint. It was Misty who understood best how Sibyl felt and gathered her in a tight embrace to try and console her some. "It's alright now Sibyl. We'll escape and you'll be free to live your life how you want to." Their heartfelt moment was cut short at the sound of teeming footsteps getting closer. They all left the room with renewed resolve to escape. Now that the collars were gone and they had tasted the second signs of freedom between leaving the compound and this moment, they were determined to not be stopped by the wickedness that pursued them.

They treated this like any other mission they had been on before, guided by Sibyl's power when it was not being suppressed, Autumn's cunning mind and illusory magic when also not being suppressed, and Misty's destructive abilities that it seemed could not be suppressed. They were heading towards the oncoming din, ready to meet them head-on with Misty leading the way. "Here they come." The lightning was at her fingertips barely being contained, and at the first sign of a shadow bending the corner she let loose with all she had, the silent light tearing a clear path through the dank air of the cave and crashing into the first few men that turned the bend. A gun discharged as if by reflex but thankfully none of them had been hit. Misty kept up the assault as Sibyl used her clairvoyant abilities while moving to keep tabs on the beasts who were quickly gaining ground as they flooded into the cave. The soldiers had had a head start, which was why they were here first. Most of them had remained at the entrance of the cave and had sent in a smaller team to capture the three from within. None of them had been the wiser to the fact that they had relieved themselves of the collars and were now able to attack without fear. When Misty had taken care of the final man on the small team they kept going without incident. They shortly made it back to the area where they had been before they had veered off course to the other exit after learning of the soldiers' arrival. With Misty's power untethered they had less fear than they did before, now standing a fighting chance against the army. The snarls and growls came in short order, alerting them to the presence of the beasts who were not far away from their current position. They would rather take their chances with humans than magical creatures any day. They ran with all the might they could until they could see the other entrance, and just beyond the silhouettes of the soldiers in wait. Autumn's powers were still out of commission, so they could not simply walk by the men as they had before. Misty summoned a powerful wind that howled through the cave past them and towards the men in a rush as if the cave was exhaling. A few were knocked off their feet by the unexpected wind while the others that were made of sturdier stuff opened fire without proper aim. A few of the bullets were knocked off course following the force of the oncoming wind, but a few were to close for comfort. Misty followed through with lightning just as before that tore through their vests and flesh like so much paper, killing the men without discretion. All the death was finally starting to take a toll on Sibyl as she started to slow and missed a step, falling to one knee and gaining a shallow bruise in the process. Autumn was there to catch her before she fell the rest of the way as Misty kept her focus on the men. "Are you alright?" Sibyl nodded, getting back to her feet and willing her way through the pain and emotions of the soldiers as they were killed. "Don't worry about me just keep going." Her words were strained but they had no time to truly worry or they'd end up dead. To the front, they had bloodthirsty soldiers and to the rear, they had bloodthirsty beasts.

When they finally made it out of the cave they noticed two things. The first was that they had exited near the edge of a high cliff, and the second was that they were quickly being flanked from two sides by groups of soldiers along the edge of the cave. There was a third thing that made itself known after a very short moment. The growls were growing louder, signaling the arrival of the Behemoths. They all remembered the massive inky back creatures with glowing white eyes. How could they forget? An encounter with the numbers that Sibyl suspected would spell the end for them, especially with all the soldiers and their weapons. "Take my hands and jump over the edge when I say." They both looked at Misty, Sibyl catching on to what she was about to attempt while Autumn puzzled at the sense in jumping to their deaths. He did not question her, however, after noticing that Sibyl had not protested. They both did as instructed and held hands in a chain with Misty in the centre. Once she yelled "jump!" they all did just that and began the plummet to their demise. Autumn's and Sibyl's screams intermingled into one soul-wrenching echo that mixed with the spray of bullets being fired at their descent. Misty was the only vision of calm among them as she focused intensely on the task at hand, summoning the power of the wind in an updraft beneath them. Again, Sibyl felt a familiar feeling and knew that they would be alright, her screams no longer accompanying Autumn's. They still landed quite heavily and rolled forward after the fall, but they were otherwise safe for the time being. Autumn's heart was on fire as he fell back to the ground awash with sweat. "I can't do this anymore." Sibyl used her foot to push his leg. "There's no time for this. We're close to the dock area. We can use a boat to get away from the island. Come on." She ran through the trees in the direction of the docks while the others followed, Autumn taking up the rear. They ran like never before, freedom becoming more of a reality by the second where it had been nothing more than a dream for the longest time. They were almost there when the first shots rang out. Sibyl had not noticed it until just now, but the same darkness as before was weighing against her senses, blocking her ability to know. She had not felt when the invasive presence had taken hold, which was what caused the tragedy that befell them. Autumn's screams threatened to rip her heart right out of her chest as they stopped running to look back at the boy now on the floor clutching his leg tightly. The blood pouring from the wound was vomit-inducing not because of its nature, but because of Autumn's pain and despair that she felt with his scream. The tears fell of their own accord as she tried running back to him and was stopped by Misty who looked close to tears herself. She pointed to the trees and brought Sibyl's attention to the soldiers rushing out in far greater numbers than they had seen back at the cave.

Sibyl pulled away from Misty and made it to Autumn, kneeling by his side and gathering him in a tight embrace, ready to die too if that was their fate. Autumn's screams had become heavy whimpers as the pain in his throbbed and his tears mixed with the sweat. "Autumn I..." She choked. "It's okay Sibyl. I've always felt the same. Which is why you must do as I say right now. Live. You must live for me. Promise me you won't let what happens here today ruin your chance at freedom. Be who you were meant to be. Do it...for me..." His voice had gotten weaker and he was losing blood fast, but he was determined to get to his feet for his final stand. "Misty, get her out of here. I'll handle this." Misty was there in a flash, pulling at Sibyl's arms as she reluctantly relinquished her hold of Autumn's shirt. The Phantasia gathered his remaining physical, mental and magical strength and conjured a beast the likes of which had been the devising of the men that hunted them like common animals. This beast was much larger than the numbers they had seen combined, standing at heights that looked as if it would touch the clouds, dwarfing all in its presence. Its great roar shook the air itself and the chaos ensued. Gunfire and explosions followed by screams of terror and death were the last things Sibyl heard as she half ran and was half dragged from the scene. Autumn looked back just as she was finally out of sight and smiled. "I love you, Sibyl Day." He felt the familiar weight pressing on his mind and his magical abilities being blocked after minutes of his final display of power. He closed his eyes, content with the fact that he had managed to buy his friends sometime.

Fresh tears fell from her eyes as she ran, the docks and the large boats now in sight. She had felt the weight lifting from her mind, which only meant one thing. Autumn had been left back there, powerless and alone. She could not feel his death, and even with her power back she was unable to sense whether he was alive or dead. She took his lack of presence in her mind to mean there was no longer a presence to be felt. He was dead. "Misty..." "I know..." No words were needed to express how they both felt, and they pressed on so as not to make Autumn's sacrifice be in vain. There were no guards at the docks as Sibyl could sense, and they both made it quickly onto one of the boats. "I've never navigated one of these things before, but I should be able to with a little time." She spoke of her claircognizance and its penchant to reveal things unknown to her. In very little time she would know the basics of how to manipulate the vessel and use it to escape, but very little time was more than they had. The familiar snarls of the black beasts had Sibyl shaking in fear of what she gathered from Misty's thoughts just as she felt the dark weight pressing against her power of cognizance. "You can't. I can't lose you too." Misty looked at her friend with the saddest smile there had ever been on any human face. Her eyes shone with determination to stay her course, which made Sibyl finally break down in loud sobs and wet tears. Misty invaded her friend's personal space and gathered her in what was to be their final embrace, holding her for as long as she could. The growls and running steps were getting closer. "It's as Autumn said. You must live Sibyl. You deserve all the happiness in the world after everything you've been through. Swear to me you'll never give up hope. Always remember that we'll be watching you, Sibyl. You're a powerful psychic who only grows stronger by the day. We will meet again." With that said Misty stood to her full height and exited the boat, the first sign of the beasts breaking the shadows cast by the trees and making it out into the open.

The skies were already heavy with gray clouds with persistent streaks of lightning and the hungry rolls of thunder marking their eagerness for release. The wind moved as if dancing a wild, uncertain dance. The waves crashed against the docks as if wishing to take part in the beautiful mayhem that the girl was about to unleash. The first bolt of lightning struck the land near where she stood, followed by several more in concert striking along the path the beasts were taking to get to her. They struck a few of them head-on, causing the others to skirt around their dead friends while others tumbled and fell. The maelstrom was as beautiful as it was deadly. The lightning struck in rapid succession of each other until it was almost impossible to distinguish between bolts. At one point there were at least ten bolts striking simultaneously. The color was no longer merely the pale white that they had always been, but some took on purple or green shades. Some looked like brilliant gashes of white flame turning orange before fading. Others formed such shapes the likes of which had never been seen before in the space of lightning and its uncontrolled nature. At the center of this storm of wonder was one lone figure who displayed her ministrations over the weather with such determination and will to protect someone close to her. She was the image of wild beauty. The winds pushed against the boat that Sibyl was in, signaling her need to go. Sibyl used what knowledge she had gleaned earlier and started up the mechanics of the machine. When it roared to life she decided her course and propelled the boat forward. The winds at its tail assisted with the speed and before she knew it the island was becoming a distant memory behind her. The last thing she saw of the place was the small figure in the distance walking further into the chaos of her own making, the storm raging out of control as she made to bring the wicked place below the sea. Waves tumbled over each other to get to the island while the lightning spread in anger, striking at every exposed area of the island. Trees were uprooted by tornadoes that raged. Firestorms formed and persisted in the heavy rain mixed with shards of icy stone. The Tempest truly had been the most powerful of them all.
✧Improvidus, Apto quod Victum✧
Stam: 3, Agi: 3, Str: 4, Con: 7, Arc: 7, Acc: 6
W.I.T.C.H
One Misty Autumn Day - Early 20th Century


Months became years, yet she still found herself plagued by the nightmares of a time past that had marked her darkest days. Two whole years and she still could not escape the pain of the tragedy that had been her life in captivity and the deaths of the people closest to her. Attempts at living a normal life proved more difficult than she had thought, though she never shied away from the challenge of it. The everyday life that she knew in the past where she would be required to either undergo severe training regiments or undertake missions of a clandestine nature was no more. Now her greatest struggle was dealing with the mundane characters of a normal life. The snobbish, the stupid, the brilliant, the homeless, the selfish, the cruel. The normal. No amount of evil she had witnessed by the normal man in her new world compared to the evil she had witnessed during her time on the island she now dubbed The Ich in a morbid attempt at humour concerning the name of the evil figure that headed the place.

It was no easy task, yet she managed it just as she managed everything else in life. Magic. Her magical insight into all things made it easy for her to learn what it took to be classified as just any other person in this normal world. Where she had first arrived by boat and had slipped away from the scene like a thief in the night and lived on the street after, stealing what she needed and finding abandoned buildings and the like that she used as a shelter. Two years later she had an apartment that she called her own and a source of income. The money came from her job as a dancer for a rundown club that was into using young girls as their main attraction. Each night she dolled up and went to the dreadful place to be touched inappropriately by ugly older men who smelled of sweat and booze. Each night she subjected herself to visual scrutiny as the same men ogled her slight form covered with nothing but the thin fabric that covered only her midsection and upper thighs. Everything else was on display. Each night she reminded herself that she had to do what she could to make it through life. She could not live as a thief her entire life, nor could she subject herself to this form of torture each night. This, as could have been said about her thieving ways, was only a stepping stone to a more natural way of life.

Soon after her job each night she found that she was satisfied. Not with the place or the job itself, and not with the creepy men that she was subjected to endure, but because of the dancing itself. There was something altogether freeing about moving her body to her own rhythm that appealed to her greatly. Said freedom was what she had been wanting her entire life. While she danced there was no one else, and she was quite good at it too. She had never gotten the chance to develop any talents besides her magical ones, so soon after she had learned the basics through visual and psychic means she had honed the skill and loved every second of it. Dancing to the beat of her own heart became something that she did regularly when there was no music to be heard. She would simply begin the steady steps that marked the release of all physical restraints. Nothing bothered her when she was dancing. No thoughts could break through the facade she wrapped herself tightly within. She could simply dance the night away.

Then the harsh reality would come crashing down. Sudden memories of her friends and their untimely demise would plague her. She would remember Misty's promise to her that they would meet again and utter a single word, "liar," each time the memory came to her before breaking into silent tears. Their deaths weighed heavily on her heart and she couldn't help but feel responsible for it all. She always blamed herself, believing it all to be her fault. If she had only stayed away from their rooms that night and accepted her fate quietly she would have been the one to die while they lived on. They would still be in captivity, or they would have found their own opportune moment to escape, but they would still be alive. She was to blame for it all. She was the monster that dragged good people into situations they had no business being part of. People died around her, and she knew it. She felt it each and every day.

Years passed by in a flash and she continued to do as she had promised her friends she would. She survived and tried at a normal life. She had discarded her given name and had instead called herself Misty Autumn Day, a name that was the mixture of the two people who gave her the hope to live each day. Years passed by and she still could not feel them, but she remembered them as powerful figures in her mind until overtime her psychic powers had taken hold, those emotions and personality traits that were theirs mixing with hers in such a way as to warp her into a far less introverted and quiet version of herself. She had Misty's steely resolve and Autumn's tendency to talk the days away. She became a force to be reckoned with. Her words were rarely ever restrained, and she told all the truths as she saw them. She never allowed others to walk over her and she was never shy when it came to the more dangerous aspects of mundane life. She tried anything and everything, gaining a liking for alcoholic beverages of any kind though she was a lightweight.

Autumn was her favorite season. It wasn't too cold, and it wasn't too hot. The leaves turned beautiful shades of colours before they fell and covered the ground with their subtle beauty. But the normal wasn't all that endeared her to the season. Fall was the time where her psychic abilities afforded her the strangest and most euphoric sensations. It was the time where she found herself able to commune with her mother through a shared connection. She didn't know whether it was because of her strong feelings for the woman who had raised her or because of their mutual abilities, but she always liked speaking to the woman and telling her of all her experiences. Of course, she had tried contacting her friends in this way as well, but she could not feel their presence as she could her mother's. She always preferred to assume this was because they were alive out there somewhere and were looking for her. The thought brought her comfort when she felt like giving up.

Ultimately, her time was spent dancing to gain money, dancing for recreation, dancing for freedom, experiencing said freedom in other ways, speaking to her dead mother and trying to find her friends despite her better sense. Her one-man seances were held in secret and no one had ever been the wiser to her heritage as a witch. She never revealed what she could do to anyone, though her more adopted talkativeness made it hard for her to retain the information that she gleaned through her abilities, often blurting things out that she shouldn't know. This was only ever done when in the presence of others, especially when the things she saw directly or inadvertently pertained to them in some way. She would always receive those strange looks from others until she laughed and explained it away as 'just kidding' or something of the like. It was never just kidding, however, when her predictions came to pass. More than once she had had to leave her home in search of others as the years went by due to her inability to retain the information she gathered. More than once she had been branded witch whether in whisper or open revile.

True to her nature, she either found trouble wherever she went, or it found her. It was all two sides of the same coin with her. Her claircognizance led her and she followed like a puppet on strings being led by its master. Uncertain steps led her to a glass shop not far from the place she had made her latest home. She could sense the tragedy behind the door before she had opened it. She had seen the pool of blood saturating the carpet before she noticed the man lying within it. He was not dead. Using a nearby payphone she was quick to call the authorities before leaving the scene. She wished there was more she could have done to help the man, but she had done all she could and knew that, had she stayed, she would have been suspected of foul play. She had made a point of visiting the man every day during his long sleep while he recovered, always a face in the crowd. There was something about him that she felt through her ability that made her believe he needed to live. There was death every day, but his had not been as final as it should have been. There was a reason.

Upon his waking she had stopped her daily visits. She was no longer a face in the crowd, nor did she let herself meddle in his life any further. Once he had woken she had vanished without him being the wiser. She surmised that the greater the distance between him and herself the safer he would be and the greater his chances of accomplishing whatever it was that he needed to do. Her abilities had told her that it would be something important and life-changing, but it had not afforded her the specifics. She found that she was alright with that. Her power was never vague without reason, and whenever the time came the vagueness lifted and all was revealed. It was just a matter of her trusting it and letting it guide her as it had to her new life. Everything continued as it had before. She danced, she ate, she slept, and she communed with the dead; no longer only her mother.

Many spirits visited her as her powers grew further. It was an odd sensation, being able to commune with the dead, but she was never afraid of what they had to say, nor could they harm her. The violence that had been visited upon them in life was what drove her to use her powers in such a way to aid others. She assisted the authorities in solving cases that had otherwise gone cold without convictions or suspects. She gave families closure whenever she could, being the voice of their dead relatives. People suspected what she was, but no one spoke the word. It was easier to keep an eye on her while she helped rather than openly accost her and risk a hex. It wasn't long before paranoia ran rampant and she was forced to leave her life behind yet again when a mob of drunk men decided on a witch hunt. She had seen them coming, and by the time they had made it to her doorstep, she had been long gone.

Never once resenting the people that feared what she was, she lived her life free of hate or fear from then on. She continued to help where she could, only this time to keep what she did an even bigger secret than before. She did not like having to hide who she was and what she could do, but she understood why it needed to be done. The world was ready to move on from the danger of people who looked, sounded and behaved like regular humans, but had powers at their disposal the likes of which could end entire generations if left unchecked. She knew this better than any, having been a part of the W.I.T.C.H program that used promising young witches as part of their militia. Magic was a dangerous thing in a world such as this. People had the right to fear.

Distinct flashes of thought woke her one night from a dreamless sleep, the best she had had in years. She saw images of a familiar face with good intentions setting to work on something marvellous. She saw images of the same familiar face distorted in pain and angst. Again, she saw that same familiar face smiling with true happiness. Her waking had not been in vain. That night she left her home for the final time, never again to return for altogether different reasons than the many times she had left her homes before. She was led to the man through her psychic abilities that she has learned to embrace as an extension of herself rather than a mere magic trait. It was her conscience and her closest companion, like a living, breathing person that steered her in the right direction.

Arriving at the scene, she wasted no time in offering her aid. She never once revealed to the man that she had been there during his near-death experience, nor did she ever reveal her knowledge of Katharine The Wicked. She expended magical talents she had not known she had and assisted with the building of the place that was to become a sanctuary for others like herself who wished to live a life away from the scrutiny of those who did not understand or simply did not wish to. The Godmother. It was a fitting name for its purpose. She felt truly safe for the first time in her life. At the tender age of nineteen when young adults start to discover who they are and their raison d'être. She felt safe around Erik. His kindness and welcoming nature had made him one of those persons she felt she could open herself up to an extent.

Years passed by and their family grew larger and larger still. There were people from all walks of life who wished to join them and were welcomed to be themselves. As for her, she had decided to continue dancing, now in a less dirty environment where her dancing was the main attraction and not what she looked like. Over the years several things changed about her. Her personality kept changing further. She became more confrontational and loud, unwilling to sit by and let things simply be. She was more of a tomboy than she had ever been. That was not all. Though her magic lay mostly with her psychic abilities, she had taught herself a simple trick that allowed her to add an extra flair to her dancing. All her life experiences have shaped her into the woman she is today. She loves her new family and would never trade them for anything.
✧Improvidus, Apto quod Victum✧
Stam: 3, Agi: 3, Str: 4, Con: 7, Arc: 7, Acc: 6
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