Witch Eyes

[Xyanea]

((This is an original novel I'm *trying* to work on. I'll post chapters up as I write them. I have two written thus far, so if people like one, I'll put up two and so on after that. Be warned: I'm extremely slow when it comes to writing stories. Ideas are more than welcome.))

Chapter One
No screams or cries for mercy came from young Nesha as she stood tied to a stake, a fire burning beneath her and quickly making its way up the wood pile. Her soul had already departed, leaving her empty shell of a body behind. The last thing her eyes had taken in was Saerc, the inquisitor responsible for her death; and the man she’d fallen in love with.
There was no bright light to be seen, no shining golden gates. Nesha’s spirit had simply flown into a black abyss. She could only assume this darkness, devoid of anything that might appeal to any of the five senses, was Purgatory. She was alone. Or so she thought until a voice echoed her name, shattering the silence.
“Hello? Who is there?” Nesha called out, still blind in the dark. The voice had sounded like nothing she’d ever heard. She was unable to identify even the gender of the speaker.
“You know me but do not. I have come to you in this void of nothing to speak with you quickly. You see, it is not your time to leave the living world, my dear. That is the reason you were drawn here instead of Heaven,” the voice explained. Nesha nearly gasped, as she now believed she knew who was speaking to her.
“Forgive me, my Lord, but what is it that you mean? Surely my time there is done. Was I not to be burned at the stake? Saerc…” Her throat tightened as she uttered his name.
“He is the reason your time is yet to end. Saerc needs guidance and you will be the one to give him just that. He suffers from much inner conflict due to his profession. Help him, Nesha, and thereafter you will be admitted into Heaven.”
“ I do not understand. How am I to do this duty you have entrusted me to? My body is nothing but ashes in the wind. How do I help Saerc as I am?” Nesha asked.
“You shall know soon, my child. You shall be returned to your homeland momentarily. Do not fear, for I will be watching over you. Now go-“a light broke through the blackness, blinding Nesha, “and save the soul who has lost his way.”
When Nesha’s eyes finally adapted to the light, she found herself steadily descending towards a lush, green forest. It was a beautiful sight to behold. Its trees stood tall and proud with flowers and other greenery decorating the floor. It took Nesha a moment to realize that she was going right through the branches, which remained completely undisturbed. She nearly cried out in surprise at the thought of being a ghost. How on earth would she be able to communicate with Saerc? Haunt his dreams?
She sighed as she stopped her slow fall, now hovering a few inches from the forest floor. There was a path cleared before her, leading further into the forest.
“I suppose I should follow it. I must have been placed here for a reason,” Nesha whispered to herself. She managed to get her feet to touch the ground and began walking. She didn’t have to go very far however, as a good-sized log cabin appeared in her line of vision ahead on the path. Smoke came from the chimney, telling Nesha that the owner was home. She approached the front door, unsure of what to do next. Should she knock or just fly right in? Of course, she didn’t know for sure if she could even touch the door. She had just floated right through the trees after all.
Nesha decided to forget her manners just this once and stepped right trough the door. She didn’t see anyone inside the large, multi-purpose room. There was not much furniture at all, only a bed against the left wall with a window just above it and a desk in the far right corner. A fireplace containing a small fire was located in the center of the back wall. A doorway was a few feet to the left of the fireplace. It was from that doorway that a certain inquisitor stepped, startling Nesha.
“Saerc,” she gasped before quickly covering her mouth. That did no good, as he had heard her little outburst. Unusual eyes met equally unusual eyes, her pale blue to his stormy grey and her bright green to his of the same shade. Saerc was the first to recover from the shock of their sudden reunion.
“How the bloody hell-I watched you burn at the stake! Witch, how in God’s name did you survive?!” he demanded, stomping towards Nesha. She was taken aback. He could see her? How? She was dead… wasn’t she? She must be or she wouldn’t have been able to fly through solid objects. And yet Saerc could still see her. It didn’t make any sense.
“Answer me, damn it all!” Saerc barked, grabbing Nesha’s wrists and yanking her to him. Nesha’s eyes grew wide.
“You- You can touch me,” she mumbled in disbelief. Saerc growled.
“For the love of- Enough! Cease your games and answer my question! How are you still alive?!”
“I am not. I really am just a spirit, Saerc.” He didn’t appear at all convinced. Before he lost all control of his temper, Nesha added quickly, “I can prove it! I swear to God!”
Saerc took a deep breath in attempt to calm himself. It failed, but he released her anyway. “Fine then. But if you run away, I swear I will hunt you down and-“
“Please do not threaten to burn me again,” Nesha interrupted, “as I do not think you can. Just watch. I promise not to flee.” She then began to float off the ground before flying straight through the ceiling. When she came back, Saerc looked as though his eyes would pop from their sockets. Nesha couldn’t help but giggle. “Now do you believe me? I would not lie, Saerc, and what you just saw should prove to you-“
“Witchcraft!” Saerc’s outburst cut Nesha’s statement short. “You cannot fool me! It is not because you are dead that you can fly and disappear through walls. Its witchcraft! Damn my forgetful mind, I nearly believed you!”
Nesha held back an exasperated sigh. “Why are you so convinced that I take part in witchcraft? What makes you so sure that I am a witch?”
“What else but your eyes? No normal person has eyes of two different colors as you do,” Saerc replied, his voice filled with confidence. Nesha nearly laughed aloud.
“My eyes indeed! Forgive me, but have you looked at your reflection at all in your lifetime? Your eyes are the same as mine, Saerc, with the exception of one color. I have a blue eye with my green while you possess a silver with yours. Does that make you a witch as well?”
“Confound it, woman, no it does not!” Saerc ran a hand through his golden hair. “I do not have time for this. Go bother someone else, witch, for I have another of your kind to be rid of.” He stormed past her then and walked right out the door, slamming it behind him. He obviously hadn’t thought about leaving her alone in his house, his anger clouding his better judgment.
Nesha shook her head and followed him, flying behind him. “You will not be rid of me so easily, Saerc. God has given me a duty, and it is to help you.”
Saerc stopped walking and turned to scowl at her. “Blasphemy! You merely say such a thing to try and convince me that I am wrong about you.”
“I would never say such a thing if it were not true. I honor and worship God as you do and would never speak falsely of Him. Do not question my faith, for it is even more insulting than your accusation of my taking part in witchcraft.”
“And why, may I ask, would you help me burn your own kind?” Saerc asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Was there no convincing this man that she was not a witch?
“My own kind being innocent people you declare witches with false facts,” Nesha stated stubbornly. “I already proved to you that your use of my eyes against me was wrong. You are simply too stubborn to admit I am right. That is why you walked away from me. You have no argument, so please just believe me.”
Saerc only glared at her before turning his back to her once again and continuing down the path. Nesha decided it would be better if she just followed him in silence, at least until his temper had cooled. Perhaps her words would sink in after he calmed down. For now she would try and think of a way to stop him from burning more innocent people.
She could steal his torch. Of course, Saerc was much stronger than she and could easily stop her from doing so. Putting out the fire before it grew too large might be an option, but there may not always be a nearby source of water. The only other way she could think of was to get other people to help, but she wasn’t even sure anyone else could see or hear her. This was definitely going to be much harder than Nesha had anticipated.
With her thoughts moving in several directions at once, Nesha barely noticed that she and Saerc had entered a small village. She also failed to realize two very important things; she had lost track of Saerc and none of the villagers seemed to know that Nesha was there. It took the sound of a woman’s cries to bring Nesha back to reality. She stopped and looked around, her instincts telling her that Saerc was more than likely the reason for the commotion. A crowd gathering around one spot in what appeared to be the center of the village caught both Nesha’s eyes and ears. She flew over to the back of the crowd and hovered just high enough to see over all the people. Sure enough, there was Saerc tying a young woman to a stake in the middle of a wood pile. Nesha’s heart sank for a moment before she realized that she might be able to help. She glanced around for something to use as a projectile. All she could find on a moment’s notice were some small rocks. She quickly scooped them up and returned to her position behind the crowd.
Saerc was about to start the fire to rid the town of their witch problem when something hard hit him square in the back of the head. He growled and glanced at the ground behind him. Someone had thrown a rock. He decided to ignore it and tried to light the fire again. Another stone collided with his skull. Once more the attack went without acknowledgment and he attempted to light the fire. Two rocks struck Saerc’s right shoulder this time, causing him to lose his patience. He whirled around to face the villagers, torch still in hand.
“Who is being so foolish as to throw rocks at me while I am ridding you of this vile woman?” he snarled. “Speak!”
“It came from behind everyone, sir! But when we looked, there was no one there,” a man spoke up. “The coward must have run off!”
Saerc let out an agitated sigh. “I suppose I could hunt the idiot down after my immediate job is done.” He turned back around to ignite the wood. It was gasps and cries of disbelief from the crowd that stopped him now. He heard a woman speak of a floating shovel and turned to see.
“What in-!” Saerc barely dodged the shovel as it was hurled right at him. But it hadn’t just thrown itself and Saerc could see the culprit plain as daylight. “The devil take you, Nesha! Cease your assaults, damn it!”
Nesha shook her head defiantly. She didn’t speak however, as a young man from the group asked, “My lord, who are you yelling at?”
Saerc turned his attention back to the crowd. Everyone looked at him as though he had grown multiple heads. He realized then that Nesha was telling the truth. She really had died when he burned her. Did that mean he had been mistaken about her being a witch?
Saerc was not given time to contemplate his possible error, for a woman now spoke. “Perhaps it is God trying to give us a sign. Maybe we are wrong about this girl…”
“I assure you, Madame, she is a witch,” Saerc said, switching to a more clever state of mind. It only took him a moment to think of a good explanation for Nesha’s actions. “It is not God, but the witch. She has used her unholy magic to summon a spirit. This spirit, invisible to our mortal eyes, is what prevents me from doing my duty. But perhaps another could do it in my place while I rid this town of the witch’s accomplice.”
Saerc handed the torch off to the first person to step forward, the young man who had asked who he was screaming at. He swiftly walked to Nesha then, grabbing her wrist and dragging her to a small space between two homes.
“Are you mad?!” He hissed, forcing her to face him. He had an iron grip on her shoulders now to keep her from fleeing or turning away. “How dare you embarrass me and prevent me from doing my work!”
“I told you before, it is my duty to stop you from carrying out yours. You embarrassed yourself by yelling at me in front of all those people. I warned you that I was a spirit, did I not?” Nesha replied, looking him straight in the eyes. She was not afraid of his fury, as he had already done his worst to her when he killed her.
“I did not believe you before, but now I do,” Saerc muttered, easing his grip on her. “But do not think I believe your entire story. I refuse to accept your claim that God sent you back to stop me from carrying out the church’s orders.”
“Well, until you do believe me and stop obeying the church, you are stuck with me. I cannot and will not leave until then.”
Saerc grunted. “Stay with me as long as you please. You are not the first apparition to haunt me. But I change for no one, especially not any stranger.” He released Nesha and left the space, leaving her alone to think over his words.
“Say what you will, Saerc,” Nesha whispered, “but I will never give up on you.”

[Tenyasyugan]

Uber long read but I loved it! I'm surprised you haven't continued it by how in depth you were getting into the actions and everything.

I'm guessing this is set back in the Salem Witch trials?

[Xyanea]

Yeah, lol, somewhere around that time. I'm no good with history, actually. I do have a second chapter written, I think, but I just don't have a lot of time to write anymore. Glad you liked it though! Thanks Teny!