As soon as the door closed, she cast a pair of spells on the room and turned to Wolfe with a questioning look.
“Alright, spill. You probably have a lot of questions by now.”
Wolfe considered where to start. “The first two are related, so I’ll ask them at once. What is happening to all the extra Witches that don’t return to the city, and why is the entire first-year spell book combat oriented?”
Professor Ashcroft sighed and motioned for him to take a seat. “The first thing you should know is that the war history you know is a lie.
We didn’t win the war against the Magi, and neither did the mundane armies of the humans.
Nobody won the war. Nobody.
When the Magi were down to their last circle of Archmage Elders, they set a barrier in the mountains at the center of this continent and began casting Grand Magic. Their final vengeance destroyed the world, themselves included, and sunk the entire continent to our southwest into the ocean, wiping out the strongest remaining human nations and creating the Demon Sea.
The previous damage from the war was all something the Witches of the time could deal with. Our Nature Magic coated the battlefields as fast as they were created. The bombs didn’t destroy the world.
In the aftermath of their final spell, over ninety percent of the world’s population died, and the Elders of the Covens damaged their very bloodlines using forbidden magic in their efforts to keep the world together and end the cataclysm.
That was your next query, wasn’t it? Why are the Witches getting weaker?”
Wolfe nodded, and the Professor continued.
“To say that the mundane humans were upset with the outcome was an understatement. A few sided with the Witches and entered the cities, but the rest built their own nations in the North and East—places where Witches are as forbidden as Magi. We aren’t currently considered to be at war with them, but it’s not an easy peace, and the conflicts for habitable land are neverending.
That brings us to your first question. The Witches choose to explore, settle new areas or join the Coven Guard and defend our territories. Morgana Coven occupies the very southernmost point of the Continent, with Sylvan and Myrrh Covens to our north, but most of the land is still unclaimed wilderness, only partially recovered and still full of monsters, mutants and undead left over from the Cataclysm.
Especially the Frozen Wastes of the mountain range in the center of the continent, closest to where the final spell of the war was cast. Very little lives there, other than monsters, and the lingering curses from the war still hold powerful effects that keep anyone from staying there too long.
That’s why so few of the witches return to the cities. The commoners of the Fortress Cities don’t know because there is an enchantment on the city walls preventing anyone from telling another person about the state of things outside the city.
Even if they wanted, those who ventured outside the walls couldn’t warn anyone, so like Cassie’s Grandmother, they prepare the promising ones for the Academy, and if they make it through the first year, we tell them the reality.”
That was a lot to take in.
“So, realistically, how much do the Witches currently hold?” Wolfe asked.
“The three largest Covens hold nearly half the continent, in a rim around the Frozen Wastes of the central mountains, which are still too dangerous for anyone to claim. We are close to the center of Witch territory and near the ocean, so it is safe enough for your Witches to go out hunting.
They’re skilled enough that the pressure to join the Coven Guard after graduation will be strong, but you might be able to influence them into another course. I am sure you understand that you personally can never return to the city and that you will never be considered an equal citizen by the Coven, right?”
Wolfe was well aware of that fact, and it made working for the Coven even less appealing.
“I hear a lot about these wilderness missions, but what’s the point? To prepare them for danger?” Wolfe asked.
“Mostly to gather resources. There are too many of them for us to stock every single thing that a growing Witch might desire. Obviously, many of them are needed for potions, but for Witches to use most elemental magic, the inscription needs reagents to activate. When you get through the first section of the spell book, you will see that everything needs an increasingly specific focus or reagent. Armour and raw bolts of Elemental energy are all a Witch can manage with a generic focus, even after centuries of mixed breeding.” Professor Ashcroft replied with a sad look on her face.
Wolfe shook his head. “We practiced [Flame Strike] without anything.”
“Yes, I saw. With a Fire Elemental Familiar and a Demon Familiar who is skilled with Fire Magic. The other Witches in the training room all had pockets full of Talismans or a wand to manage the same thing.”
Christa was going to be livid when she got to that part of the book. But Wolfe realized that he should work on Talismans for his Witches before they started falling behind.
“When do the Witches start making Talismans?” He asked, and Professor Ashcroft stopped her cleaning to smile at him.
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After the end of the first term wilderness mission, but since you have the capability, you can start early if you like. A Familiar is considered part of a Witch by law, so nobody will stop you from helping them.
That is the biggest advantage of having a Demon Familiar. They know things.
Now help me finish this. The rest of the failures should all be safe to mix and dispose of.”
Wolfe started pouring the failed potions into the disposal, and one final question came to his mind. “What actually started the war? Since the rest of what I learned in school was wrong, perhaps you can tell me what was so dangerous about the Magi that they had to be eliminated.”
Professor Ashcroft shushed him and shook her head. “That question must never be asked. Even I don’t know the full answer, but before the war, the Magi were hermits. They lived in their Clans, built cities of magic and rarely took visitors. Then something changed.
What exactly that was is likely lost to history or so heavily cursed that those who know can’t tell anyone about it, but when the war started, the entire world went to war at the same time, with every other force on the planet allied against the Magi.
At the start, the Demons were neutral, and very few of them existed in this world, except as Familiars to the Witches. But by the end, they had defected to the Magi side, and that is why they are shunned by everyone else. You can try asking one of the Demonic Familiars, but the process of summoning locks away their memories, assuming that they existed before the summoning, as they insist, and weren’t created by the spell as most Familiars are.”