PARABELLUM: XXV ── BLOODLINE

Betrayal is history's greatest sin.

A whole village lit up with scorching flames, houses, villagers, and King's men were all caressed by the hotness of heat, bodies burning and turning into ash. A particular stench, rotting, and offensive to the nostrils seemed to engulf the place like oxygen. Screams of despair and suffering came omnidirectional, the village was scorching red, seemingly turning into Hell's purgatory. The sky roared above a single witch, she stood in the middle of the village, jet streams of fire piercing out through her skin unto the surrounding surface. She turned, twirled, and burned everything and everyone around her, her dress skirt twirling upon her every sharp move making it look like a dance. Lethal and deadly.

Two words, a dangerous combination, a woman.

Her name was Hayek, Witch of The Afterlife.

Her fury fueled her up as if she were an empty vessel waiting to be filled, waiting to be harnessed. She screamed as she released yet another jet stream of fire and continued to burn the whole circumference. The King's men were dead. Bodies were reduced to ash by a witch, homes turned to dust, leaving no evidence of what it once was. Thunder rolled above the powerful witch, cutting her off, and only then did she realize that it was only her suffering left, only her screaming. The betrayal was paid with blood, broken promises paid with her heart.

In the end, everything was lost.

She ceased to punish, arms falling limp to her sides, knees buckled making her fall, she knelt before chaos seemingly out of energy. Hayek stared at the village as it continued to burn, a place she used to protect and call home. Oh, if only she had known. If only she foresaw the impending doom that would fall on her people, and all because a man's pride was feeling threatened.

But first, let me catch you up on how one of the most powerful witches to exist was ruined by a single man.

It happened during the Dark Ages, the year 1520.

The village was about to be blessed with another child when something ominous occurred. The sky, which moments ago was a beautiful shade of aqua blue with faint scattered clouds, turned red in a matter of seconds. A solar eclipse was taking place at the exact same moment as the Celts woman was giving birth to her child. For the Celtic tribe, an eclipse at the moment of birth meant reincarnation, but not just any type of reincarnation. A solar eclipse during birth means that the soul occupying the infant's body is a God or Goddess, depending on the gender.

Sometimes a solar eclipse was a blessing and other times a curse, it all varies if the eclipse is predicted or not.

In this case, it wasn't.

And so a powerful, pure-blooded (despite being conceived by mortals) witch was born that day, her soul is ruled by the Crow Goddess, Morrigan. The Crow Goddess was well worshiped and treated with the utmost respect for she was known to be volatile and quite deadly, she was associated with war and death. She was known to be the Queen of phantoms, demons, shape-shifters, and witches.

Despite belonging to the darkness, Hayek grew up to be selfless, kind, and sensitive. Her powers were definitely a gift of the Crow Goddess herself, Hayek could see beyond the naked eye, she took care of the living as well as the dead. She used her powers to protect her village, her people, and the Celtic tribe grew to love her and respect her. She was their Dark Angel, a gift sent from death itself, a savior.

Eventually, word spread all over Ireland and Great Britain, the news about a powerful witch spread like wildfire across the villages until reaching the King's ears. The small Celtic Tribe located in Delphi had never caught people's attention, to foreigners the Celts were viewed as salvages due to their primitive ways of living. Nonetheless, the Celts continued to live happily, independent of the King's rule and ways of the kingdom, the only person who could rule them was their witch. Hayek was technically worshiped by her tribe, they adored her, and she adored them. Being the Witch of the Afterlife brought her many gifts and limitations ceased to be relevant, but of course, in that era men were the only creature allow to hold that much power, and when they found out it was a woman who ran that Tribe the Irish King felt threatened. Greed was the sin that tasted the sweetest, the want was addictive and those with a weak mind often felt prisoners to its clutches. Hayek was chosen for a reason, her life hadn't yet begun, the Crow Goddess allowed her to live in a fantasy where things will always be at peace, and she would always be with her family and her Tribe until she ceases to exist.

Right there, that's the catch!

A talented witch, like Hayek, will never cease to exist. She's destined to die and reborn, die and reborn, until eventually, she meets her other half, and no, not a romantic half. But that's a story for another time.

Inside the marble walls of the Irish Palace, a scandalously tall man walked down the large hall that led to the throne room, soldiers were positioned omnidirectionally, caging the man as the Protocol required. The man was a nobody, but he walked as if he owned the place, his strides were long and slow, making it seem like he was not in a hurry to get to the throne room. After all, the man had no idea why he was dragged out of his cell to meet the Irish King, but whatever the reason, the man knew they were desperate to take action.

The commander pushed open the doors to the throne room, this time only he and the man entered the room and stopped in the middle before their king. "My king, we have him, sir." The commander spoke in a thick Irish accent.

The King looked at him with greedy eyes, the inmate was dressed in rags, his whole look was unkempt and filthy, his hair and beard had become one mass of hair, only his eyes and nose were visible. "Julius Mena, the Italian." The commander gestured at the inmate beside him.

"Accused of robbery, bribery, and entering Irish territory illegally, his sentence is twenty years." Julius didn't move a muscle, his gaze was fixated on the King. "His profile matches who we are looking for, he is perfect for the mission, My King."

This is where Hayek's life began, not with her directly, but by an outside force. A beautiful, foreign stranger engulfed by a mysterious aura that will soon become Hayek's oxygen.

"Are you a spy, boy?" The king asked him.

Julius breathed in slowly and calmly shook his head.

"He strikes me more of a marauder, sir." The commander gave his input. "We caught him with jewels."

The King analyzed the quiet man, he noticed his calm demeanor, which made him come out as confident. "Spy, scavenger, marauder, whichever the term he goes by. It means, he knows what he's doing, his prowess for deceit is what we need." The commander nodded, agreeing. "Give him a bath, prepare him for the mission. I want this man spotless!"

"And if I refuse?" An Italian accent filled the throne room, the King stared at him with surprise.

The commander let out an indignant whimper, he raised his hand ready to strike the man, but the King raised his hand, stopping him with one gesture. "Name your price, Italian."

"Revoke my sentence, I want my freedom back. Non-negotiable."

The commander looked at him with disgust, how dare a raider demand something from their King, it was unacceptable and insulting. The King nodded.

"Alright, Italian, you get your pardon and beloved freedom." The King granted. "If, and only if, you accomplish the mission."

Julius became curious but held his tongue, he was going to find out later. "And if I fail? What happens then?"

The eyes of the King darken. "You better pray to God you don't get to find out." His dark green eyes turned to the commander and gave him a nod. "Take him."

Julius Mena was intentionally wounded and thrown into the river near Delphi, Hayek visited the place regularly and as predicted, she came across an unconscious Julius on the banks of the river. Hayek noticed the unusual-looking man, bewitched by his strange beauty, she used her powers to heal the man's stab wound before carrying him back to the Tribe. And that's how it began, the downfall of everything, Hayek took care of him until he eventually regained consciousness. Julius was a prowess liar, he created a fake background story, how he was attacked and was then left to die outside a pub, Hayek felt strongly for the man and kindly offered him a place to stay in her tribe. As predicted, things escalated between them, Julius learned more about her story and how her powers originated, somewhere along the way things started to get hazy for Julius.

The line between truth and lie blurred. The Italian man felt genuinely for her, he saw only good and selflessness, Hayek was powerful indeed, but she was prudent about it. And that's when all became clear to Julius, sadly it was already too late when he realized it, three months passed in a blink of an eye. That was the time the King had given Julius to seduce the witch and destroy her in the only way that you can destroy a woman, by taking away her virtue and then killing her. It was unknown to Julius when he had decided to drop the mission and just run away with Hayek, but before he even got to talk about leaving the Tribe to her, something happened.

"Look," Hayek pointed at the cloud of smoke coming from the near distance. "There's a fire."

Julius stood beside her, noticing something she didn't. "It's coming from the Tribe."

"What?" Hayek gasped, her gaze darting from Julius to the giant cloud of black smoke.

"It's coming from the tribe," Julius said, this time firmly.

But when she arrived, it was too late, the humble homes were already being devoured by the merciless fire, and the people... oh, her people. The King's men had slaughtered them all in cold blood, Hayek stumbled into the village to see the soldiers tossing the corpses into the fire, an inhuman scream erupted from Hayek's vocal cords which gain the attention of the soldiers immediately. A black mist pierced through the skin of her palms as she drove them outwardly, the mist obediently shot out of her palms and pierced through each soldier, they tried to defend themselves with their swords, but it was in vain. After all, you can't combat something liquid with something solid. When the black mist pierced their skin, their life force was taken, leaving behind their corpses covered in black veins and misty white eyes.

Julius stood behind her, eyes wide and mouth agape, he stared at her for what she was, a monster and a witch. Hayek walked towards her burning tribe, her home, fat tears streaming down her face as she scanned the area in defeat. Her knees kiss the black earth beneath her, sobs racked her body as she stared at the burning corpses in front of her.

"I am so sorry, Hayek." A voice full of remorse resonated from behind her, Hayek didn't bother to look at him, in her heart she already knew why he was asking for forgiveness.

Hayek whimpered, her fingers dug on the earth as she leaned forward and buried her forehead on the earth, and mourn. Her home, her family, her people, Hayek lost everything that day, including herself. That day Hayek had died and Bloodline was reborn, after taking Julius's life in punishment and as a reminder that love destroys everything, she went after the King and his people.

Each time she killed someone, she became stronger and more powerful, she became close to unstoppable until her counterpart appeared, the Witch of Life. Bloodline had claimed too many souls, making her impossible to kill, but the Witch of Life, a Walker, used part of her life force to create a magical gem capable of imprisoning Bloodline's life force along with all the souls she had taken. A personal hell, only for her.

For centuries, Hayek remained dead, her consciousness lurked in the darkness. She tried reaching out and manipulating people into finding her grave and reviving her, but she was weak and therefore her voice was but a faint whisper. So faint, one could easily brush it off as easily as dust off their pants. All hope was lost for quite a while until one man, so desperate to save humanity, and who had lost everything, welcomed her in his mind.

A favor for a favor, a harmless deal with the devil, and that's how Bloodline was back. After all, her fate consisted in dying and being reborn for eternity, or at least that's what she believed.

For only death could kill life, and only life could kill death, an endless cycle we call The Circle of Life.

🇭 🇴 🇱 🇦

Are we ready for
Act Two?