Once upon a time at a land far, far away there was a river claimed by Death. It was the river where all souls arrive upon the end of their life. They wander on its shore waiting for the Boat Man to come from them. Once the Boat Man arrives, he demands a silver coin for his service. If a soul fails to provide that ticket, it's excluded from embarking on the boat and traveling to the underworld. According to the legend all those poor souls were damned to wander upon its shores till someone found their body and offered them a silver coin. It was only then and not a moment before that they could travel Death's river down to the underworld and find peace at last.

Generations lived and died without ever questioning the power of Death's river. Empires rose and fell to their demise yet none dared to dispute its power. New Gods showed up demanding to be worshiped by the natives but none ever claimed Death's river. The natives knew better than that. They may have been providing offerings to the New Gods but the next of kin never said goodbye to their ancestors without offering them a silver coin.

Time passed by at its shores. New tribes showed up. Others stayed paying their respects to the native tribe and its birthright to the Death's River while the disrespectuful ones were lost into oblivion. Years turned into decades and decades turned into centuries. When centuries turned into millenniums, a new tribe arrived; a tribe that had never heard of its power before and enslaved the tribes that have been living there for ages.

The native tribe had a saying,

"Fear not the one who is full. Fear the hungry ones. No matter what they demand, they will never be full."

They were right. The new tribe was so greedy that no matter what they were taking from the natives, it was never enough. So once they learned about Death's silver coins, they demanded that every silver coin was brought to them. The natives had no other option but hand them those in order to protect the living. Deep down they knew that their ancestors were no more allowed to move on to the underworld yet they hoped that wrath would spare their lives and the lives of their children.

Souls kept gathering on the River's shores one after the other till no mercy was left but only Death River's wrath for generations of disrespect. It was then when the unthinkable happened and the Death River flooded the slaves' corps by turning itself into a swamp. The new tribe moved back and returned only to collect from the slaves. People gave birth to children only to watch them die shortly after and a new wish was on the lips of the people whenever they first saw a newly born.

"May this one live."

No one could ever really tell which one was destined to live and which one was destined to die but for the witches who lived at the swamp's shores. No slave was willing to accept them as equal parts of their society, for that they had to live outside their villages. Witches may have been known for their witchcraft yet they can tell people's weaknesses better than anyone else.

They can wait patiently in silence and exile till the time of people's need. They can offer their services without judgment if you are willing to pay the price as long as you are sincere to them. They know before head if you despise them or you are disrespectful in their absence. There is nothing like being offensive to a witch and show up to her doorstep asking for her service. She will drag you down on your knees and none can stop her. She will stop only when she's convinced of your remorse and your heartfelt, new found respect for every witch who has ever walked upon earth.

Time after time the slaves learned to respect the witches living next to the swamp and were willing to offer the price they were asked for to get their wish granted. You may think that slaves struggling for their lives at the borders of life and death would desire nothing more than a safe and prosperous life. You couldn't be further from the truth especially since those witches could grand you your darkest desires. People were more than willing to pay any price in order to put a curse upon anyone who they wanted to suffer.