Witch of The Burning Mountain

A knife pierced through his heart and he felt a sharp pain, as if it would tear apart his entire body. The world turned black for a moment, and when he regained his sight, a beautiful woman came into view.

A small delicate face, long wavy hair the color of mahogany, her eyes shedding tears as she held the handle of that knife piercing his chest.

"Forgive me," she said in between sobs. "This all happened because of me. Wait for me. No matter what happens, I will come to you. We will meet again..."

Those words rang in his head as the man tossed and turned in his sleep. Despite knowing it was a dream, anxiety filled him as the woman started to disappear from his vision.

"We will meet again...wait for me...'' the distant voice repeated until it faded. The silence that followed brought him another wave of pain.

"No. Don't go...who are you...?"

The man woke up with a jolt. He sat up in bed with his hand pressing against the left side of his chest as his red eyes searched around his bed. His strong muscular body was covered with cold sweat, causing his dark night robe to cling onto his muscles. Even though he was no longer in the dream, it was as if he could still feel the knife piercing his heart.

'Why am I having this dream again?'

Just then, the door swung open and a young servant entered, gasping for air as if he had run towards his master as fast as he could. His silver hair looked unkempt and his pointed ears twitched nervously.

"S-Sire, I heard your voice. Is there something wrong?"

The red-eyed man glared at the servant who dared intrude into the King's chamber without permission. "One day you will lose your ears, Erlos." His voice was cold and full of warning.

"I..I was just worried, Sire," he immediately went towards the table, "I will get you water."

Unknown to them, strange white energy enveloped that cold man's body, and before he could react, he disappeared from his royal chamber.

Silence filled the chamber, and only the sound of the young servant pouring water into glass could be heard.

'Why is he not saying anything or threatening to kill me?' With a doubtful face, the servant turned to look at the bed and found it empty.

He frowned, "Argghh! Not again. Where did he go this time?"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the continent, in a human kingdom far away...

"Today make sure that either that witch dies or leaves our kingdom."

"She has caused enough harm to us for so many years. It's enough now."

"Let's just kill her today and get rid of her."

"Even the king has sent a troop of soldiers so we can burn this entire mountain and not leave a single inch of land to let that witch hide."

In the dark night under the moonlight, people were walking with the lamps and torches in their hands inside the woods in the mountain.

The entire mountain was surrounded by people from all sides. They poured the cans of oil everywhere and the high up areas where no one could reach or more like scared to reach, the arrows dipped in oil and burned with fire were shot in all the directions.

"Today is the last day for that witch. Just die here."

Soon after, the entire mountain caught fire and the flames were trying to reach higher and higher. Birds, mostly scavengers could be seen flying everywhere as their homes caught fire.

"I am sure that witch must be dead by now. She had no place to go."

People started to celebrate their achievement, not knowing what was happening in the deepest part of the mountain.

Somewhere near the peak of the haunted mountain, a sharp light flashed, like a zap of lightning amidst the black smoke. The light took on a huge oval shape like a portal and a red-eyed man in a black robe stepped out of it. He seemed to be shocked when he looked around.

"What is this place? Who dares summon me here?" His voice was cold and his expression looked angry as his red eyes looked fierce due to the reflection of fire flames in them. "Why is this place burning?"

The moment he took a step forward, he stumbled upon something.

"What's this creature?" he mumbled and kneeled down to look at it.

He saw a frail injured body curled into a ball, surrounded by the burnt wood logs. He simply observed it for a moment carrying no sympathy in his eyes.

"Doesn't concern me," and closed his eyes to teleport, "I need to return."

In a moment he opened his eyes, only to see himself in the same place.

"Why am I still here?" Seems like this place is not good. I need to try it from somewhere else."

He was about to step ahead, crossing that body but the bottom hem of his long robe was caught in something, making him stop. Clenching his fist angrily, he turned back only to see that the bruised body had caught the hem of his robe in its hand.

"What? Aren't you dead?" He commented indifferently and tried to pull back his robe to free it but he simply could not.

"You are about to die then die peacefully. Don't suffer in my hands. You don't know what I can make you suffer with."

Still, that body didn't let go of his robe. The strength in that weak body amused him. He was the most powerful one that everyone feared but this frail body, what kind of power it had to overpower him.

He kneeled down and checked it closely. Its clothes were burned only leaving a minimum at the required places that he could guess it was a female.

Her face was covered with long dark hair. He moved his hand to check the face but the moment he touched it, he realized something.

'Human? How can a human have any powers?'

He didn't know why his cold heart suddenly ached for her, but he decided to take her with him.

When he was ready to lift that frail body in his arms, only then did the small delicate hand gripping his robe let go. He lifted that body which weighed nothing, not bothered by the ash and dirt that clung to him when he did so.

Once more, he closed his eyes and focused, hoping that this time he could leave this forest.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself inside a lavishly decorated room large enough to be a mansion in itself. He sighed relief as he finally returned and then looked at that charred body.

"Were you the one who summoned me there?"

There was no reply from that unconscious little human. He put it on his canopy bed and covered her with the blanket as almost nothing of her clothes remained intact. He then pulled the rope string next to the bed which was the bell meant to call his servant.

It did not even take a minute for the door to open and a young man with pointed ears and silver hair entered the bedchamber.

"Sire, you are back. Where did you-"

The words that the young servant was about to say were stuck in his throat when he saw something-no, someone lying in the middle of the King's bed.

"Call a physician, Erlos," the red-eyed man ordered.

Before the servant could say anything, he heard his master add, "A human one and make sure to get two lady servants as well."

"A human, sire?" Erlos' pointed ears twitched as he eyed the charcoal-like body in the middle of the King's bed once more.

This young elf, Erlos, would normally snoop around to satisfy his curiosity, but seeing his master's serious face, he did not dare ask anything. He simply bowed and left, hurrying to execute the orders of the King.

It only took minutes for Erlos to return with a young man in white robes clumsily following behind him with a leather satchel filled with bottles. The young man was cowering, his body trembling in fear, which was the complete opposite to the two female palace servants accompanying him.

"Sire, the physician is here," Erlos announced, gesturing towards the human.

A pair of red eyes scanned that young physician and saw him freeze under his gaze.

Realizing that the man's attention was on him, the physician almost broke his body bowing like a wooden toy. "Y-Your Majesty, King Harry , you called for this lowly subject?"

Harry nodded and motioned towards his bed as he commanded, "Heal that human."

Only then did the physician have the chance to look around. He eyed the large canopy bed and realized someone was lying there over the thick white quilt. Even without coming closer, he could see that the person was suffering from heavy injuries. He gulped.

"Y-Your Majesty, your servant has brought the wrong person. I am not an actual physician but a poison master," he then looked at the servant with an accusing gaze, "I-I told him but he still dragged me here forcefully."

Harry glared at Erlos, who only blinked at him with an expression that oozed with innocence, "He is the only human physician around, Sire."

Harry moved his gaze from his servant back towards that poison master. The human immediately closed his mouth. The look in that fiery pair of red eyes was enough to make that physician shiver in a cold sweat.

To ease the situation, Erlos asked the physician with an awkward smile, "But you know how to heal, right?"

The poison master felt that if he shook his head, something terrible would happen so he could only nod with reluctance. "Yes, but my speciality is poisons..."

Erlos let out an awkward laugh and said, "Then you are a physician." He then whispered to that young human. "If you want to keep your head on your shoulder, just heal her. That man there won't hesitate to choose violence."

The physician gulped as he glanced at the red-eyed man who was still staring at him with a dispassionate gaze, as if thinking how violently he was going to punish him.

"I...I will start with the treatment."

In order to keep his body intact, the human 'physician' went towards the bed and the two lady servants followed him.

Harry looked at Erlos. "Once they finish, let me know," and stepped out of his bed-chamber.

Once the King left, the long-eared servant went towards the bed. He was curious to know who was the person important enough that his king personally brought and even put on his own bed. He approached and was about to peek over the shoulder of a lady servant when he felt someone pull him back.

"What are you doing, you shameless wolf?!" The other lady servant pushed him away and closed the curtains covering the bed in his face but he managed to see enough before he was kicked out.

'F-Female? The King brought a female to his bedchamber?! The absolute celibate man this universe could ever have, brought a female to his own chamber?' Erlos' eyes lit up with the realization.'

"How is the human girl? Will she survive?" Erlos asked the human physician who was busy mixing some herbs on the table.

The poison master grumbled, "Shouldn't I be the one asking you if I will survive if something bad happens to her?" He continued to pour the contents of the bottles in his satchel towards a mixing bowl. "Her body is not terribly charred but she seemed to be suffocated due to inhaling smoke for a long time and probably caused damage to her lungs. I do not know how effective my medicine will be on her. She is already fortunate to remain alive at this point. She will live though it will take time for her to heal."

It took a long time for the two female servants to clean the human girl. Afterwards, the poison master started his treatment. The female servants kept going in and out of the room to bring the required things for the girl lying on the bed.

They made her wear a fresh pair of clothes and also changed the mattress cover on the bed which was stained with ash, mud and blood.

Once he was done, the poison master went towards the bored elf who was sitting on a chair with his back facing the bed. "It's done. I already gave instructions to the maidservants on how to continue the treatment, as well as the list of ingredients for the herbal paste they need to use on her burns."

The elf servant looked at the pale human covered in sweat and handed him a heavy silk pouch.

The man in white robes opened it and found it filled with silver coins. "Thank you so much, kind sir!"

Contrary to how he looked when he arrived, he left with a large grin on his face over his reward. 'From now on, I am a physician!'

The news of the King bringing a female with him had spread across the palace like a wildfire.

Meanwhile, Harry was staying in his study, passing time by perusing the stack of documents on the side of his desk. With his good hearing sense, he could clearly hear the gossip going around. He tried not to listen to anything but he was starting to feel annoyed.

"Erlos," he called. His voice was so loud that even a dead-drunk man would wake up from his deep sleep.

Soon after, the long-eared servant entered the study. "Sire, what happened?"

The way Harry called for him, he was sure something terrible must have happened.

"Empty the entire place around my study. Not a single soul around."

His pointed ears twitched. He could guess why the red-eyed man was in a sour mood, as well as the reason for the order.

"But sire, you want me to tell everyone to leave the palace itself, then who will work?" the elf asked with wide eyes.

"Then tie something to shut those chattering mouths," Harry ordered.

"Yes, sire." The young servant left with an obedient expression. But the moment he stepped out of the study, Erlos smiled playfully. "What do you think is easier? To shut hundreds of mouths or to ignore a single person?"

A heavy book hit the back of his head, causing him to almost smack face first on the floor. Erlos rubbed his head with a hand. 'Oops, I forgot he can hear me.'

Erlos scurried away before another item was thrown his way. The man he was serving was a devil afterall.

Soon after, the entire place surrounding the study was vacated. The servants had to leave their work midway and were instructed to continue it once their devil king left the study.

Once everything around him turned silent, Harry leaned back into the chair and closed his eyes. He could control himself from hearing others but when his mind was restless and thinking about something, he had trouble stopping it and needed everyone around him to be quiet.

He was thinking about that frail body that he brought back with him. There were several questions that bothered him, like why he suddenly teleported to that burning forest, how that unconscious body possessed a strength that shouldn't belong to a girl, much less a human girl, and why he could not use his powers to return to the palace until he picked her up.

Realizing that thinking about them would not yield him answers, he closed his eyes. He was tired after using teleport magic as the distance was quite substantial. He didn't know where the exact place was, but from how it exhausted his powers, it was somewhere beyond his kingdom or maybe the continent because when he teleported to that place, there was nighttime while in his own kingdom, it was a day time. Not long after, he fell asleep in his chair.