Cruden Tale (Awakening Spin Off)

November 27th

My name is Leyanne Cruden, I have graced these lands for what feels like an eternity, although compared to humans I guess I have lived that. I have persevered through some of the worst and best decades and now I find myself in present day, the 2020's. I keep this journal wherever I go to record my thoughts and feelings, my memories, so that my mind can let go of the mundane yet never lose a way to reminisce because I have lived hundreds of lifetimes. I hope that one day all that remains of me are these memories and I would have finally found peace in death, although it seems unlikely.

I have practised in the magical arts since my birth to my mortal mother and always known I was different. I was born with a knowledge she never possessed and abilities that terrified her, terrified people around me.

My father was non-existent, a travelling high priest known as a Dru wit, but in modern times you refer to them as druids. Little is known about them, where they came from, or to why he chose to bear a child with a mortal human. What my purpose may have been in his design for me as a child, for along the way I have yet to find it.

I am alone.

Only one of my kind it seems and although I have travelled near and far in an effort to find others like me or even remnants of the druids, I find nothing but fakes and mimics. People who want to be what I am, who convince themselves they have gifts and powers, but when faced with someone like me they soon pale in comparison. Even among the immortal breeds, I stand out as something else.

Witchcraft is a dying art and those of you who still possess power have lost the knowledge to harness it in any meaningful way. Very few true witches of great power remain. So I have been forced to dampen what I do and limit it to appear as human as possible while I navigate this modern world.

The beings you were once so afraid of now hide in the shadows and the cracks out of sight. You have no idea what dwells in your world with your little fairy stories and movies about dark monsters you think stemmed from bedtime stories and folklore. I know better, I can see all that would rip your little world apart, yet I am untouchable. Nothing can harm me; I have been graced with a power that so far is unmatched in any realm of this little planet that I can't even find a way to commit my own suicide.

I have researched the lineage of my father and find nothing to point me in any direction that may be of help. Conspiracy theorists believed they were of another planet, who stopped by to grace us with knowledge and ideology, but I find nothing to back this up. My powers seem to follow witchcraft in many ways, but then I also have other gifts which no witch has ever harnessed through no amount of conjuring or spell work. I don't know what I am.

Here, now, walking among you in a small southern town in the United States of America; I have travelled from my birthplace in the highlands of Scotland many times, I have travelled the world and always find myself back here as though being tugged by an unseen force of destiny. My gut tells me that somehow, the something I have been looking for all this time is manifesting in the warmer climates and southern accents around me. My powers brought me across the sea yet I'm still searching for where I am supposed to go. I cannot shake the sense that I have missed that detail any time I have left these shores and gone elsewhere.

I'm staying in a small guesthouse run by a family called the Clairmont's. I have been here before, almost 200 years ago when this land was farmed by the Clairmont's of olde; I find it amusing to see the similarity in the faces that greet me now. How their genetics pass down reused features and colouring as though giving familiar comfort to those reborn into their new lives. My kind believe you will always return to something connected to you no matter how many lives you live.

I often wonder if I resemble the man who never stayed to lay eyes upon me and burdened me with this eternal life on a lost path. I know I never looked much like my mother or other clan members of my family name. I never knew him, saw him, or have evidence beyond my mother's brief tales.

I reached an age of maturity along the way; I cannot say when I stopped ageing as I am not sure. I don't know if it was something I did to myself or something I was destined to always be. I look young, yet old enough to be a mother. I guess you humans would put me at thirty or thereabouts. I'm tall and slender and have dark hair that hangs down my back with light curling of the ends. I am of ivory skin and dark brown eyes with green flecks that dance like a ring of fire around my pupils.

I am neither beautiful, nor ugly. I'm average, considering the abilities I possess. I have a plainness that suits my longing to blend into my surroundings. Maybe I could have changed how I look if I was so inclined, but maybe I am meant to stay invisible and unmemorable as the druids faces seem to have been in artworks across the globe. Either way, I gain enough male attention on my travels, yet not so much as to be a hindrance. I prefer it this way.

I have a darkness inside of me that translates to humans as sexuality, if only they had the sense to take it as a warning to steer clear instead of flocking to me with hopes of amour.

I can wither plants and trees with a look, I can bring about a tornado with a glare. I can heal but I can also take life away if I see fit and I have a heart that can do either without remorse. I have no idea which path they would consider me to be on, light or dark, as I do not even know myself if I'm someone you would call good or evil.

I don't kill unless I have to, I heal when I feel compelled. I do nothing unless I feel like it. Emotions are not my strong point and up until now I have been happy with my solitary lifestyle. Taking on tasks from immortals when I feel it benefits the peace and sanctuary of our secret lives.

Don't get me wrong, I am no sweet innocent virgin. I have had companions in my past who taught me a lot about love and pain and loss. Those who followed me and did as I asked, teaching me about seductive persuasion.

I have never needed to form stronger bonds other than physical with men for what would be the point? Anyone who links a life to me soon withers and dies over the years and I am left alone once more. My last lover died some 30 years ago, and I have grown bored of watching it. He had grown old and tiresome and although he confessed to love me, I felt nothing but relief when I walked away.

I left him when he no longer appealed to me and years later when I learned of his death, I felt no sadness for his passing. I know I'm cold and unlikeable but that's what fate gave me. I can't push myself to have emotions I don't think I possess and if I ever did, then they are so far in my past that I no longer remember them.

I think there is maybe a part of me that is broken inside and what I see around me of love and happiness never seems to touch me. Maybe this is how I am meant to be for when my purpose reveals itself maybe I need to be the one with a foot on each side of dark and light to be able to do what needs to be done.

Maybe I was created to be this way so when the hard decision hits, I'll be the one who can make it.

The breeze lifted the layers of my lightweight tunic dress up in a swirling motion from my legging-clad thighs, twisting them in an uncomfortable way which irritated me. Always one to dress the part of ancient witch, with layers and jewellery surrounding my naturally slender frame and yet it can be inconvenient when travelling to different climates. I push them down in annoyed flicks, with my eyes closed and facing the sun, trying to remain focused. Listening intently to the sounds of my companion ravens in the nearby trees.

The feathery friends are always a constant in my travels, my protection, my companions, but yet today something is notably different among their crony calls. Pulling me towards them with intrigue. A new voice among them stands out like a sore thumb to my trained and observant ear. A shrill, high-pitched chatter among the ramblings and insults of my birds.

Jangling the bangles on my right arm I send out a gentle vibration across the ground and towards them, my eyes remaining tight shut as I visualise among them the single bird which dares to encroach upon my brood without invitation. Cutting through black feathers, raven claws, leaves, and beaks, my mind's eye comes to rest on a surprising sight. A white as snow raven with blood red eyes and a beak the colour of ivory, standing proud in the centre of my flying hierarchy; the little bold ingrate.

"So, our new addition is somewhat of a sign, maybe a warning?" I mumble under my breath, somewhat amused by this invasion.

Now it has my attention fully I beckon him to come to me, smirking that someone would dare attempt this kind of infiltration. Opening my eyes and twisting my fingers in midair I cast a magical net and pull him close with ease. The bird has no resistance to my power of persuasion and flies to my hand immediately. A good sign that he is not enchanted and has free will that can be tugged by gentle spells like mine. His eyes narrow upon my face and the deep darkness of my eyes, with the look of an intelligent animal. Appraising me as I do so him.

'What do we have here?' I smile with sweetness and turn my hand to admire the pure angelic colour of this new animal before my eyes. Finding beauty in nature and it's flawless design.

'Do you have a secret, little bird?' Smoothing down the birds silky plumage with my free hand I focus on the memories it holds and its purpose for its arrival. I probe with some light insight and find nothing but shadow within its mind. As though it's thoughtless, but I know that is never true in any living creature.

'Someone is protecting you from me, aren't they?' I smirk. Not at all phased by the realisation that this little animal is a spy and meagre attempts have been made to stop magical interventions. 'At least they didn't try to hide you.... I wonder what they imagine I'm doing that is worth spying on?' I laugh to myself out loud, plucking a feather from his breast with my fingertips in a quick jerk motion, sending the bird on its way with the jolt. A simple downy feather left behind that's as soft as clouds.

I watch him for a second, sensing no danger or foreboding even if he was laced in witchcraft but there's no aura or residue that sets off my natural alarm bells. A white witch sent him, no doubt, and the irony of his colouring is not lost on me. Symbolic of a peace flag.

'So friend or foe, you have a sense of humour!' I chuckle aloud, knowing now that ears are most definitely listening as my new white friend has nestled back among my brood. They are protesting of course but on their best behaviour while I am around.

'There is one thing you should know about me... I'm not someone you should get on the wrong side of, there are no protection spells or rituals on the face of this earth which would save you from me.' With a smile and turning full circle of the wooded area around me, in the small forest, I again close my eyes holding the feather between my fingers to channel its source. My other hand finding the tiny glass urn around my neck among my layers of necklaces to draw power from it. It contains a potion I myself concocted for this kind of insight and I feel it warm up with my magical touch.

My thoughts race across the grass strewn forest floor to the south, my mind like a running animal tripping over fallen logs and snapping twigs in its haste to get to its destination now that it's on a roll. Heart pounding in my ears as I gain speed and vision flies, throwing me on a rollercoaster journey to this raven's source. I cross roads, rivers, land, and highways, at a rate of light before my mind halts abruptly on a cottage hidden in the depth of the darkest part of a forest and meet the face of a long ago seen friend. As though my movie mind on fast forward is suddenly stilled to pause.

'Cora?' I utter aloud, thus breaking the enchantment immediately, snapping the bond and I'm once again standing alone in the secluded wood where I already dwelled. I recognised the other woman instantly, yet it made no sense that she would be spying on me.

How far had my mind run? Maybe fifty miles or so? Cora was a fool to think I did not have that kind of reach, she should know better, but when did she come and settle in these parts? Her presence here made no sense at all. Cora is a Norse witch, a Volva, and she doesn't belong on these shores.

Irritated by this new turn of events my inner trepidation arises in ways it has not done for centuries. Not since the witch clearing back home in the 1500's. A black time in my past when my entire coven that I spent years amassing was wiped out by those religious zealots and their fear of mine.

What had they called me? Nicneven, Queen of Emphale. Oh those stupid mortals with their stupid stories. A legend of a Scottish witch that still can be found in the folklores and history books, if somewhat embellished.

I lost a stronghold of a hundred witches across the island in the months that followed. Heard every scream as they were tortured and burned. The one and only time in my life I felt any real depth of emotion for the loss of life and it fuelled a rage which burned in me for five hundred years. A hatred I never knew I could possess that took my senses for a time.

Plagues, curses, and wars, as I sent human kinsmen into death as payback for what they had done to my followers and sisters. I was distracted on my own path and had not been able to protect them when it mattered and that guilt was a heavy price. Sending me on a true path of darkness that had almost claimed me to the dark warlock side before Rinny drew me back from the shadows and set me back upon my neutral path. She saved my soul from the underworld should it ever leave this body.

Turning over Cora's face in my mind I know she couldn't make any real contact at this distance with her abilities, or lack of. A haunting from afar could only give me a visual to whom had sent the raven and I know if Cora wanted to talk she would never have sent the bird at all. Someone else had to be behind this conjuring for it to reach a fifty mile journey and still work.

Cora is a witch with limited skills, much like the rest of the weak among the mortals, it makes no sense that she would be spying on my movements this way. Cora is considered a safe haven for witches across my lands, she never gets involved in the politics between immortals and she most definitely never strays into my business.

That gut feeling I have, always lingering with me, coming here, is only proving to be right. Something is askew in the atmosphere and good boring witches like Cora are picking up on it too. All flocking to this quaint little Ohio location. She obviously doesn't know what's going on, hence her need to have me followed but the fact a lowly wand wielder could sense it from across the waters speaks volumes about the powerful disruption centred here.

Pulling my phone from my pocket I bring up the name Rinny on my contacts and press call. It's answered almost immediately.

'Leyanne? I presume you want something?' Rinny's sweet voice drips with sarcasm on the other end so many miles away. She would be classed as my closest friend in reality, if I allowed myself such things and emotions. She has loyalty anyway and has stuck with me for the longest time among all of my acquaintances.

'Are you implying that is the only time I call?' I smile, absent-mindedly twisting my hair, oblivious to the scattering of mini flowers beneath my feet escalating into full bloom around me until one catches my eye. Nature always thrives at speed when I am not focused. It's mildly annoying to always bloom a garden at my feet when my mind is elsewhere.

'Yes.... Now, what is it? I'm rather busy.' Rinny sounded bored already, she has known me for too many decades in this friendship of sorts with trust built on years of codependency when it comes to favours. We both have an impatient and non-affectionate way about us and never try to impress the other before asking for one.

'I have stumbled upon something that interests me, I would really appreciate you sending me some personal items and such to make my stay a little more homely.' I admire my nails, looking for ragged edges and finding none before kicking away the long stems that are trying to twist around my shoes merrily. Sounding indifferent as is my normal mode of communication.

'You mean send my minions to pack up your apothecary room and ship them to the sweet U.S of A? Really? What could possibly be so intriguing over there this time?' Rinny sighed down the phone, shifting around and making noise, indicating she is at her desk. Rinny likes to moonlight as a writer of fantasy fiction in the human world, hilarious to me considering her life is in reality everything she puts in her books.

'I love your quaint little title for my necessities, Rin! We all can't be good little shape shifters with no interest in brews and potions can we?' I sighed at her, not in the mood for bickering today. 'Okay yes, I want my things, my grimoire's and maybe some of my clothes. If I have to stay in this god forsaken hell hole then I can at least make it comfy.' Noticing the flowers beneath my feet are growing bigger, I roll my eyes and stamp them out, crushing them back into the grass from which they are sprouting.

Letting go of my hair and instead hold out my hand to admire the large stone ring on my finger which catches the sunlight perfectly. It's blue crackled depths of glass, such a pretty trinket made even more so by linking it to the soul of a lost friend at the request of my shape shifting helper.

'So, you're going to be there for a while then, huh?' Rinny is intrigued, knowing I travel constantly, only touching home for brief short stays before heading out into the elusive quest for purpose over and over. Never before have I shown an interest in setting down a more permanent stay in one place that was not home, so I understand her intrigue.

'I will be here as long as I feel I need too, so don't pack light. I just spent some weeks with a pack of lycanthrope and their problems so it's time to get back to my own. I have a feeling that Newark is a place I am supposed to be right now. Cora has been following me with a white raven.'

'Cora? Isn't she some damned little wild witch from east of the Rhine? She has barely the power to grow a fungus let alone trail the mighty Leyanne.' Rinny snorted, unconcealed dislike for any other witches in my domain. Her cute loyal love for me shining through.

'Shut up, you're showing your age, Rinny dear. They don't refer to those parts as East of the Rhine anymore. It's Germany now. Not a particularly magical name but it suits the modern humans, I guess.'

'I am well aware, darling, but habits die hard when you pass a thousand years old, luvvie. I don't know why they have to keep changing things when our old ways and names were perfectly fine.'

'Cora leaving the shores of safety to trail after me are a most definite sign that something is centering where I am. My skin is almost crawling with the buzz I feel around me and the energy in this place is heavy. Newark is meant to be some centre of earth point of interest from tribal rituals or some nonsense and for the first time I can actually taste it.' I point out, shivering slightly even though I am not cold but this place has felt eerie since I got here.

'Nonsense? Says the witch!' Rinny laughed at my exclamation. Always amused when I debunk anything of supernatural origin as though I am a non-believer.

'As I have mentioned many a time, darling girl, most rituals and brews practiced by our modern kin are far disengaged from reality. They lost touch with the crafts and they were lost in legends, myths, and inventions. Most covens couldn't cast a realistic protection spell if their lives depended on it. Older kin are in hiding and most teachings are flawed, embellished, and those who have a modicum of skill and left-over magic only do so by fluke. They have no idea how much their own lack of knowledge hinders them.' My own impatience at this touchy subject is showing, it's one topic which leaves a sour taste in my mouth. The world is losing it's abilities and the immortals are becoming fewer. Soon I may be the only one left among a human race.

'You used to teach them, Leyanne, maybe that was your purpose all along?' We both sigh unanimously at her reminder of something I will never do again.

'Look how that turned out? All my students wiped out over years of witch hunts and killings, those left in hiding too afraid to seek me out and even more terrified to pass down any real knowledge. The ones like Cora I have helped along the way, have only the basic of skills. Magick is dying and so is the art form of spell conjuring.'

'You have been flailing all these years, looking for something that might not even exist. Your purpose was maybe just that. To enlighten those with gifts and help those hiding in the darkest cracks.' Rinny's tone is almost that of pleading, a soft warmth creeping in that is rarely ever evident. Hints that true feelings run between us after all. Sometimes I sense her genuine care for me and wonder if I reciprocate it or I just find her useful and familiar.

'Help those in the darkness? Are you insane....? You may be one of those dark creatures, Rinny, but I would not help any of them come to the light and walk freely among the mortals. Do you not remember the last time they ran free in the human world? They should stay in their lanes.' I shudder at the memories of the world torn up by immortals at war with one another with humans dying in droves at their hands. The gods sent down chaos and played with lives and did nothing to intervene.

'They had no limits, no repercussions. You could police it this time, you're more powerful with every year you live upon this earth.'

'And what of those in the light? Those who are equally afraid to show true form? How will they react to me bringing the monsters out to play?' She's making me tense, irritation evident in my voice at this over argued topic. Rinny's undying loyalty to my kind always at the forefront of everything despite no longer walking in the darkness with them.

'You know how this works.... light and dark, an equal balance to keep things in check.' She reminds me, throwing my own words about balance back at me.

'Things are in check now, with immortals hiding from mortals, and witches powers held at bay. Maybe my purpose is to ensure all supernatural stays dampened down until man completely eradicates all of us with breeding. Maybe that is all of our destinies, to eventually disappear.' Even if my gut says otherwise and keeps leading me on wild goose hunts.

'You don't believe that any more than I do, you would not still be hunting for your purpose in this life if you did. You would be kicking it back and enjoying immortality with hot young human men and eternal youth.' Rinny breaks the tension with a childish giggle, a laugh that always endears her to me. So out of place for a creature who once fed on human souls and creeped in the dankest of places. Rinny's journey to being what she is now has been long and arduous.

'Maybe I got bored of doing that, besides, I always found the Lychans to be a far more enjoyable race of young men. They may bite but they definitely have more stamina.' My voice is low and laden with a smutty hoarseness, reminding me of my last few weeks dealing with that furry kind. Living with them and figuring out how to break through a magical fog and overthrow a power hungry Lychan is enough to keep me away form them for a while despite my words. The smell is still lingering around me despite multiple baths and cute as some of them were, Lychans can be excessively needy with the whole mate for life thing.

'You're making me feel physically sick. Those wet dog smelling beasts! There is nothing of this earth which would push me in the direction of a Lychan as a lover.' Rinny snorted in outrage. Her repulsion and anger most venomous when it pertains to her mortal enemy. Rinny is a species snob.

'Oh come on, Rinny, they're practically your cousins are they not? One of them was actually a wolf shifter cross.... Probably related to you. Latino girl named Meadow. Does it ring a bell?' I tease her, knowing how to press her buttons, laughing at her reaction. Enjoying her riled up energy after the stuffy few days of boredom here.

'Changing form is our only similarity, but I am far beyond the skills of some mutt with big teeth. I'm a wolf shifter and not some ugly vile creature with a thirst for violence that can't control their lust.' She sulks and I can imagine her little pouty face. All cute and chubby and looking like an extra from a manga comic.

'I love how your hatred of the Lycanthrope never wavers; you love them almost as much as you love the Angelics. Of which there were twin crosses too. You really should visit the valley where the Santo pack dwell, such an interesting mix of lychans.'

'Pahh, don't talk to me of those self-righteous glowing freaks. Humans being dumb enough to mistake them as angels has only inflated their stupid egos. I hope they all drop form the sky like dead flies.'

I'm the one to giggle this time, at her aggressive and immature response. The Angelics are commonly mistaken by humans as some godly guardians, with their white skin and hair and impressive wings. They tend to hide in mountains and high places to avoid all human contact but on occasion when they have been seen, the mortals think it's a biblical event. Rinny had her heart broken by a shifter who had chosen an Angelic girl who could fly, over her, so it is still a raw subject even after two hundred years.

'Well as fun as this is, stirring up all of your old trauma, darling, I have actual things to be getting on with. Call me when everything is ready to ship, I am off in search of a more permanent abode. The Clairmont's guest house is too twee for any long-term settling and they are too nosey for me to really get my groove on.' I adjust my clothes absentmindedly, somehow readying myself to end the call. I don't do small chat often as I see no point in it and she has nothing worth listening too in terms of gossip in her life. I have no interest in others.

'What are you going to do about Cora?' Rinny cuts into my thoughts once more, stopping my goodbye from progressing.

'Let her come to me. I don't think she's working alone. The witch only has the ability to watch and spy, if she wants anything more insightful then she will need to come face me and then I'll see how I feel. Maybe I will have use for any coven sisters she's collected along the way if I set up a home here for a while.' I click my fingers at my ravens to get them moving. Letting them know I'm leaving.

'I would say stay safe, Leyanne, but we both know the only ones in danger are the people who cross your path..... Instead I shall say have fun.' Rinny smiles down the phone, that hint of darkness in her always simmering, probably the reason we two women connected in the first place. She doesn't abhor my cold heart and I find her more interesting than moral high grounders.

'The moon is fullest tonight, do not forget your ritual, Rinny, it's all that keeps your darkest demons at bay.' The friendly reminder is also that of a warning, my tone serious. I do not have the energy nor inclination to have to claw that girl back from the other side once more and sort her out like I had to once before. She was a beast to deal with.

'I never skip it, a wise witch saved me from myself and her advice is followed to the letter.' Her own tone softens and that warmth is back once more. The genuine thanks for what I have done for her.

'Goodbye, sister.' This is how she likes to end our chats, the term that pleases her. It makes her feel like she has family in this world which has bene a cold dark place for her for centuries.

'Goodbye.' Her voice holds affection and softness.

I hang up the phone and slide it back into the pocket of my tunic, twisting my long pendants together and fiddling with the bangles and charms I always surrounded myself with as I think thing through. I watch the forest around me and let the pieces settle into a somewhat haphazard placement. The wind is lower now but the sun still high and the temperature is of a late summer. I can feel the presence of many a fallen soul around me here yet none that stand out prouder than the rest. Nothing of interest is here and I'm already bored.

With a throw of my dark hair over my shoulder, a kick of my shoe to stomp out the foliage trying to bind to my legs, I head back towards the main road and the search for an abode while I stay here.