Agatha had walked down the cliff to the side of the forest by her hut, the beach on the opposite side of them. 

Ina slowly followed behind her until they reached a large willow tree. There was a sound of running water coming from somewhere, but Ina's body was in so much pain she couldn't figure out where she heard the sound from.

The willow tree was huge, the leaves covering the whole front of the tree down the floor, making it impossible to see anything behind it. The tree seemed to be leaning against a large wall of rock that led up to a cliff, the ground around it full of smaller rocks and a tiny stream flowing through them, probably why some rocks had a bit of moss on top of them.

Agatha walked up to the curtain of leaves from the willow tree, motioning for Ina to come with her. 

She did her best to follow the woman, but her body still felt pain filling every one of her limbs. 

Letting Ina pass through, Agatha followed behind her into the large area inside that the tree covered. The tree was embedded into the cliff, a small trickle of water falling into a deep pool at the bottom, one that trickled water out and created the stream she had seen outside. On some of the ledges of the tree stood burned down candles, Agatha raising her hand, which promptly made the candles become brand new, all of them lit up and allowing Ina to see properly.

"Take that bucket and get some water out. I'll do the same with mine," the woman said. 

Ina nodded slowly before dropping the bucket in her hands into the well-like area under the tree. 

"What is this place?" Ina asked with the little energy she had.

"Water from the tree of magic. There is a tree in Igna...do you know what Igna is?" the woman asked.

Ina shook her head, the woman pushing her hair back before pulling both the buckets in the Well area out.

"Hm...where should I start..." the woman mumbled, squatting down and making two more buckets appear out of nowhere. 

"How about I start from the beginning? My name is Agatha. I used to be known as the original Elder Witch, and in our small Witch Kingdom, the Queen of Witches," she said.

Ina let her body rest against a rock, Agatha grabbing the next buckets and putting two more in their place.

Ina felt more pain rise up inside of her, but wanted to hear Agatha. She needed to know more, and her desire for knowledge was greater than a little ache here and there. Or so she thought. What was she getting herself into was the main question. 

"I won't go into too much detail about my life, but let us say I was married to the Last Warlock King. He was a good man but had some bad habits. I had two sons with him and all was happy until the dark magic he used finally took over his body. Some warlocks, when using evil magic, get taken over by madness if not taken care of when being taken over. He never told me something was wrong so he ended up becoming someone so unknown to me and his son's. I hid his sons and at some point, Merla came along. Merla was my personal servant and helped my husband overcome the pain he was going through while at the last stage of the evil taking over. My husband...Sung-jun became a shell of his former self. He had been so kind but he suddenly started creating a slave hierarchy and I had no say in the matter. At some point, even his own son's tried to rebel against him but failed. After Sung-jun finally had all the witches enslaved that he possibly could have, Merla asked me to do something, but I just couldn't. That was my husband after all," Agatha said, her voice a lot shyer and softer than it had been before.

She grabbed the last two buckets and placed them on the floor next to her. She slowly made a vile appear out of thin air, the color of it being purple, undoing the lid before pouring it into the well. Ina huffed, the pain in her body becoming greater than before. 

The well was large, and not very deep, Agatha walked over to Ina and pulled her hair up before tying it into a messy bun with some rope.

"Here take your clothes off and get into the Well, it will help with the pain," she said. 

Ina nodded, slowly doing as told, with each movement of her body the pain became more agonizingly strong.

Agatha asked Ina to sit near the ledge of the well, Ina dipped her legs slowly which immediately felt cooler, like a wave of relief was cleansing the pain she had felt only moments ago. She sat down as quickly as she could, feeling the water reach up to her ribs, when she sat, a small groan of happiness escaped her lips.

She let the cool water soak her body slowly before leaning forward and letting her arms and shoulders feel the same coolness.

"Merla soon became infuriated with me. I had rescued her from a human village at age 3 and had taught her so much. She was a great apprentice, but she always let her emotions get in the way of spells," she sighed. 

Using her hands, Agatha grabbed some of the water and poured it onto Ina's head.

The purple water seemed to glisten as Agatha touched it, Ina feeling the burning sensation resurface at the pit of her stomach.

"Merla shortly after became pregnant of a human. The man was later murdered when Merla created the first uprising of humans against Warlocks. Merla was furious, and I could not stop the events that would follow. I mean... I could have, but I knew better. I had seen her fate. I was not supposed to meddle in what Merla created and did. She murdered millions of innocent warlocks and men. She was angry. Angry at the world for taking her one true love. After giving birth, she hid her child in a human's home and returned to battle, but unknown to her, someone took the child, and killed it," Agatha continued. 

She made a cup appear in front of Ina, Agatha took it and filled it with some water before handing it to her.

"This water cleanses all impurities, makes all evil disappear, and will help that burning feeling you have inside," she said, handing the cup to Ina for her to drink. 

Ina took the cup quicker than a fish took to the water, Agatha smiling before sighing heavily.

"Merla then killed my husband, waging a war on the Warlocks until every last one of them was dead, killing my sons along with them and sealing away her only chance of a better life. She then moved to Igna, a previously reinstated Witch Village I had run away into hiding, and planted the seed of Magic, one she stole from me, and used the tree to create a large barrier around Igna. I ran and had myself get cursed after meddling in the life of a human. I should have known better than to try and change destiny. Merla. Merla seeks peace but she is not to get any if she continues to live this way. She took my son's wives and I have no idea if they are still even alive. I don't know if my son's had kids, and as their grandmother, I failed to protect them. No longer I say, no longer will I idle by. I will neglect no longer the duties of a queen. I may be a fallen Elder, but I know one thing. A storm is coming to Igna. Before I died in my first life I got a vision. What Merla doesn't know is that the child that was killed was reborn. The child my husband sent to be killed was reborn. He knew so too. He knew what would come of that child. The child was reborn into you," Agatha said, Ina's eyes closing completely. 

She had fallen asleep as Agatha spoke, the words dancing on her tongue like fairies in the wind becoming a whispering of nothing in Ina's ears.

"And you have the key to end this."

◇

Ina woke up to being in a bathroom, a white towel around her chest, and covering the rest of her body. The water she was in was clear, Ina turned to look next to her only to find her brother also in a bath like her, but the water he was in a purple spackling mess. Agatha sat next to him taking a large gulp of a cup before leaning forward.

Ina blushed hard as she saw Agatha kiss her brother, Agatha used this method to help Jungha drink the same water she had given Ina.

"FIVE SECONDS! FIVE SECONDS AND YOU'RE AT IT AGAIN DEFILING THIS POOR KID AGATHA! BACK THE FUCK UP!" Ina heard from behind her, from the corner of her eyes catching Casper walking in with some robes in his arm.

"I'm helping him drink Xiumin, don't make me out to be a villain if you don't know what I'm doing," Agatha muttered angrily, wiping her lips before turning over to Ina who simply went wide-eyed, blushing harder than before as she turned away.

Agatha smiled sadly. 

"Morning silly," Agatha said softly, Ina turning to look at her and bowing her head slowly.

A large gasp soon interrupted them, Jungha coming awake as he pulled his body forward in the tub.

"I thought I died!" he squealed out, the other three pausing before bursting into a fit of laughter. 

"Welcome back Jungha, you had us all worried there," Casper chuckled.

"How long have I been out?" he asked worriedly.

"Speaking of, wouldn't mom and dad be worried?" Ina asked looking over at Casper. 

"Calm your tits Ina, how about you explain Agatha? It is one of your abilities."

"In this place, you both have been out two days and two nights-"

Both Ina and Jungha gasped at her words, interrupting Agatha as they stood up in the bath.

Both Casper and Agatha grabbed their heads and sat them back down, Agatha sighing at them before adding, "but this is my realm. In the human world, it wouldn't be more than an hour. Calm down will you and rest up."

Ina and Jungha huffed out an air of relief, Agatha smiling at them while Casper tried his best not to laugh.

"The only reason she does that is to reach the age of Magical Maturity," Casper giggled from the corner of the room, Agatha closed her eyes as she grabbed an empty bucket, one of the ones she and Ina had filled with water, and throwing it at Casper's head.

"Shut it you low-level demon," she hissed, Casper laughing hard at her reaction.

"Is that true?" Ina asked, Agatha, sighing once again.

"25. When a witch turns 25 we have fully developed all the skills needed to create magic. For the Warlocks and Wizards, it is at the age of 20. If a witch, warlock, or wizard has not been able to master or merge with their magic by the age of Magical Maturity, one of two things happens. Either their magic starts becoming reckless and unstable until they can fully absorb it, or they lose all magical abilities in general. Tell me Ina, Jungha, how old are you two?" Agatha asked. 

"I'm 19. Ina is 22," Jungha answered.

"Both young. But you, you're closer to the age of Magical Maturity. I can do this," Agatha smirked to herself, using her index finger to ask them to stand up. 

"Since Ina is still three years away, I can't do the same. I'd destroy your body if I tried. But you. Jungha. If you're willing to, I can fully get you to Magical Maturity. Since you're a humis it won't be as.... Complicated as it would be if you were a full wizard or warlock," she said, Casper walking over to hand Ina and Jungha both bathrobes. 

"No, why would you do that? He's already weak from this whole.... Awakening thing-a-ma-bob," Ina answered quickly. 

"If Jungha wants to have any chance at not dragging you down then this is important," Agatha responded. 

"Let me put it this way, Jungha, you will never in your life reach the same level of magic your sister shall someday reach. However, I'm giving you a chance, a chance to be at her level just for a moment. You'll be able to be at her same level for a single year, but as she grows stronger she shall surpass your magical abilities. I foresee pain otherwise," Agatha added. 

"I accept!" "No!"

Jungha and Ina looked angrily at each other. 

"Are you batshit crazy?' Ina yelled at him.

"You will die if you keep up with this pain!"

"No, I won't! I'm sick of being weak Ina, let me do this! I want to be able to protect you!" Jungha responded. 

"I promise to make it as painless as Witchilbly possible," Agatha answered.

"No, I still think it's a bad idea," Ina mumbled.

"How about I let you watch me do my way- I mean help your brother," Agatha smirked.

Casper rolled his eyes, walking over to help Ina out of the tub.

"Your clothes are cleaned and on my bed. Casper, guide her out. Jungha, let's go prep you," Agatha smiled, Ina's eyes going wide. 

"Oh sheesh, don't look at me like that, I'm just going to feed him. Come eat when you are done getting dressed," she giggled, Ina letting a small breath leave her body.

◇

Ina finally walked out to the dining area, Jungha eating peacefully as two more plates sat on the other seats, Agatha sipping on some tea while looking at Ina, following her with her gaze until she reached a seat.

"Hungry?" Casper asked, Ina nodding slowly before getting on her seat. 

"I'll let you know, Jugnha already went through the transformation," Agatha said nonchalantly.

Ina's eyes widened once again, Jungha taking a long sip from some tea he also had, Agatha smiling as he gave a large gasp after drinking.

'"Both XiuXiu and I made it out to be scary, hu?" Agatha giggled.

"It wasn't so bad," Jungha smiled as he drank more tea.

"I meant to tell you Magical Maturity can easily be achieved if it is done after awakening your magic, many witches go through this path since it is less painful, but since you need to be a certain age, it would be harder on your body," Casper added, Ina letting out a large breath of air.

"Don't do me like that," she said, relieved. 

"But, I must ask you to leave now," Agatha said sluggishly, getting out of her chair only to fall, Casper running to catch her before she hit the floor. 

Her body seemed like a feather in his hands, Jungha got up next, helping Casper stand her upright as much as possible.

"Take me to my room, I just need some rest," Agatha smiled, Casper nodding before leading her away, Ina continuing to eat slowly as Jugnha stood there, his expression full of worry.

It took Casper only a couple minutes before coming back out, Ina and Jungha now standing next to one another. 

"She asked me to tell you she hopes you do well in the adventure to come. She will look over you from here. Agatha hasn't used this much magic since her last life. We should head out," Casper said, Jungha's face still looking worried.

"Trust me, kid, she just needs sleep. She'll be back to her old self in two days tops. Now let's head home," Casper said, Ina nodding before both of them grabbed Jungha by his shoulders and dragged him out, the sound of snoring heard as they closed the door behind them. 

"Now, to get you two home. We need to decide our next course of action, and I'm betting Agatha already knows what that's going to be," Casper sighed.

In Agatha's room, a loud sneeze could be heard, Agatha groaned at herself as she whispered, "Stupid Xiumin," a small smile slipping as she went back to sleep. 

"A storm is coming, and Ina holds the key."

°˖✧♡✧˖° 

🐨Bonus of the week. I wrote this at like... 6am. Excuse any misspellings, typos, and bad grammar.

I hope you enjoy!!

Mama KoalaBeaw
~♔~