Love you so hard it hurts

She stood in an older wooden building. The best room that could be offered was her's. Still, her nose was wrinkled in disgust. As if she smelled something vile. When she was alone it didn't matter if her face mirrored her feelings. The mask could fall off. Her white dress could turn black in her mind. For her it was filth. All of it. The dark side. The light. The humans and the witches. All the same.

It had been more than two centuries since she had stood in this particular room. But the day was burned into her memory like it had been just yesterday. It was her curse. To remember everything. But it also kept her from straying from the path that she had chosen. As she waited for an attack, her mind carried her back to that day. When she had been young, fresh, and naive. When those traits had been ripped away from her.

*''I bet you can't even play cards decently, you look like you sat at your mother's breast just yesterday.'' an older witch of the light teased her as she stood at the end of the harsh wooden table. Her hand dared not to touch it, it seemed as splinters would take all of her palms if she tried.

''They do not need me in the hall anymore. I have nothing else to do. I know nothing about this place... I'll bet I can take you in one turn.'' a younger version of our disgusted sorceress. A little challenging, a bit begging for relief. Still girl-like in her features. Her cheeks rounded, rosy pink. Her face untouched by lines of years.

The three witches, sitting in the chairs around the old table, chuckled. They seemed to like an eager player so the girl was given a stool and the cards were dealt all over again. The room was darkly lit but the playing cards distributed a light on their own. The living space had a low ceiling and it was completely different from what she had seen across the road, where the celebration was set to take place. In the huge hall, decorated with a million white flowers, her friend would have her wedding. She had never been to this side of the country. Only the invitation had convinced her to come. Her youthful mind could not pass on an opportunity to observe a union of two. She was giddy and her whole body trembled invisibly. Pure joy.

Most were the same. Most experienced the celebration of a union identically to her. But most were not her. She won the cards the second she touched them. She had a wild quality about her. She knew the limits of her power. At least she thought that she did. In her life of twenty and one, she had never encountered a serious obstacle or danger. She had been sheltered and so she had no fear. No notion of it. She just sat there and when the room got darker than it already was, her hair did not prickle like it did on the other witches' skin. Foolishly idle.

At first, they thought it was the shadows and the cold room. None of them were that keen on believing that they were in danger on such a wonderful day. Their joy had robbed them of intuition. But even they caught the wretched stench that carried through the door. It was too late by then. The stairs creaked and the portal blasted open less than a second later. As the naive sorceress was picking up her winning chips, three creatures, shrouded in a dark cloud, entered. Two more followed.

She was thrown to the floor by a sudden rush of raw power. Her hands were scraped by the rough wooden table as she had tried to hold on to it. But she did not notice that. The room was dark, the ground slimy. As if it was covered in swamp water. It had not been that way just a moment ago. But her attention was yet again, elsewhere. All she could look at were the women in front of her. For the first time in her life, she saw witches of the black. Or what looked like them. She could not know. They were not supposed to have such disfigured faces.

There were huge ulcers on their foreheads, cheeks, hands. Everywhere. A dark cloud of transparent mist swirled around their figures. Their dresses were visible. Torn, like they had fought a feral beast with their bare hands. Their eyes were unfocused. Like the creatures did not see what was in front of them. Their bodies dirty, like they had been rubbed in oil. Black, dripping on the ground that they did not touch.

The young sorceress in her white dress was frozen. Her eyes wide. Shock. The others tried to get up but she just lay there. Looking. Watching. Observing? Her three companions, that had played cards happily just a few seconds ago, were almost on their feet. From the ground, she noticed how the three front creatures were shielding the two behind. One chanting, the other moving her hands, fast. Skillfully. She wanted to warn the others but no sound came out of her mouth.

The second the whites got back up and started casting, the dark one from behind made an abrupt swinging motion. The white witches stopped mid-cast. She, still on the floor, was taken by a powerful force. She threw her hands over her head, looking away for a second. Holding her face in her arms. Feeling like she was bruised on it, everywhere.

When she looked back up, she saw two things happen simultaneously. The three white witches had blood gushing from their throats. The ulcer-riddled front line of dark witches flew forward and hugged those necks with their palms. Then they leaned in, to drink. They looked like nothing more than wild animals themselves. It seemed that they only cared to sate their hunger.

They, soaked in their own blood. Her, the only one left on the light side. She knew her eyes let her terror show. She felt like they were popping out of their sockets. The two casters of spells, the witches in the back, observed her for what seemed like an eternity. Suddenly, one was right next to her. Holding her throat. She felt a breath on her face. And the next moment, she didn't.

As she opened her eyes fearfully, she got disoriented. The young woman was laying across the street from where the shitstorm was happening. The wedding planners were right next to her, they now looked at her wide-eyed. At first, they thought she was playing a prank but most saw her face. There was blood soaking from her pores. Like tiny needles had been cast in her skin and then pulled out painfully.

''What happened?!" the bride, her friend from the academy. She had terror in her eyes. Fear, from the young sorceress or whatever had done harm to her. The young witch pointed at the wooden building over the street. She could not speak, she just held her hand up in the air as blood dripped from it.

The thing that the sorceress remembered the clearest was the breath of that witch, hundreds of years ago. It did not stink. In fact, it reminded her of spring flowers. Her face hadn't been riddled with ulcers either. She had been beautiful and powerful. She knew that now.

She would encounter the mysterious woman that had grabbed her by her throat, again. The woman would become her mother-in-law. A sorceress with all the gifts of witches. The sight of future. The movement of the mist. The power of a Goddess. And when she and her son were executed years later, those gifts transferred to the white sorceress. Invisibly. Nobody knew to this day, even though it had happened a whole 142 years ago. She had kept her secrets well.

The white sorceress stood in that same room now. Where she had met her fate. It had come full circle. She was not young anymore. She was not weak. She had executed enough witches to be an expert. In fact, it was the reason she was here. To kill. Find those three ulcerous wildlings and finally get rid of them. For good. They did not deserve life. They had outlived their old mistresses by those hundred and almost fifty years.

Our witch was still wearing white. She was a widow now but nobody knew. They would banish her if they did find out. Maybe even try to take her life, too. She had gone into a union with a black magician. True, he was dead now, but she had kept his ghost close.

Her mother-in-law had transferred all of her power to the young woman. She was the only witch that did not need a partner to cast serious spells. At first, the magic had hurt her. It had almost devoured her alive. But the notion that her lover had just been executed by the white guardians kept her alive through it. She was going to bring him back and she was going to do so by taking all of their power. From darkness and light. She blamed both sides. For darks had not protected their queen and her son. And lights had swung the blade that took their lives.

So she did what she had to. She killed the dark ones and leeched the power of lights. Little by little, in such tiny quantities that they didn't even notice. The whites thought their children were born weaker because there were fewer threats to fight but really, it was because her mist worked.

A knock on the door. A strong one. A young witch in her teens burst in. The white queens' daughter. In apprenticeship under our white sorceress. Her power was weak, it had mostly been drained prior to her birth.

''They are here, mistress. They came answering to our happiness spell. They look ready to feed and they are but just a hundred meters away!'' the girl was nervous, it was clear. Her speech trembled, her voice high-pitched. It was going to be her first time seeing the poisoned witches of the dark side. The three women that our white witch had faced as a girl on her transition into adulthood.

''You go in front. I want you to see their faces up close. You need to know what your kingdom is bound to face.'' there was more behind it but shush, no one needs to know.

They walked out and she stopped at the top of the stairs as the other witches in the vicinity stood scattered around. The princess went downstairs and the sorceress, standing on top, looked in the distance. Very close, indeed. Slow. They were not scary for our powerful witch anymore. It may have been the years of experience or her vengeful soul but the dark wildlings looked pathetic to her.

She extended her arms, over the staircase, and a cloud of what looked like rusty mist, lifted from the ground, in the distance. Darker than the black cloud of the dark ones, it went fast. Much faster than the old hags with ulcers. but she made sure it would devour them just as they reached the princess. Her mist had the power to break every soul. It was feared by the darks and praised by the lights. Little did they know, it fed on both sides.

The dark witches with ulcers had no control. All they needed and knew was food. Their only goal was to kill. They did not think of the mist. Their only focus, flesh. But before they could get the satisfaction, they were swallowed by the red and their bodies disintegrated immediately. Into tiny grains, they became part of the mist. Screaming in agony with their last breaths, never willing to join. The princess was touched, too, but the cloud swirled around her. It did not touch, at least not in a way that anybody could sense.

The powerful sorceress stood on top of the stairs, feeling the additional strength flow through her. Her mist now stood, unmoving. Right at the landing of the steps. She waved her hand, dismissing, and it seemed to return to the ground as it had come. The princess was almost empty as well. Shen turned around and looked at her, in awe. Impressed, every time anew.

''Get your celebration robes on, youngling. We are going out to mark this event. It is a full moon tonight and we have done our job at this corner of the world. We can return home now.'' the smile on the girl's face grew wider. She looked to her left, at her lady in waiting. Then back at the white sorceress who nodded, approvingly. There was always more fun when more witches joined in.

The white witch touched a medallion on her neck and watched as the girls left for the next house, to get ready. She too went inside and pulled the best dress she possessed out of her heavy traveling trunk. Indeed, it was time to celebrate. She was getting away from this wretched place.

When it struck midnight, three white witches got out of a carriage next to a cornfield full of dancers and wanderers. There was a Ferris wheel on the side of the field. The two younger girls ran to it. Waiting, in a line of humans. The sorceress followed them, at a slower pace. She stopped next to an electricity box and waved for the girls to get on without her. She would watch from afar. The girls jumped in excitedly, happy to share gossip and secrets with each other.

For the first time, the witch dropped her mask in public. The medallion around her neck burned as she yanked it off. The white gold turned into void black metal immediately. The writings on it changed. She looked at the full moon and threw the medallion on the electricity box. It melted a hole in the metal immediately and fell through, to the ground. The lights in the meadow went out. The carousel, where the girls sat, stopped. They searched and found their mentor looking up. She was watching them intensely and smiling. An uneasy grin, not for her but for the girls.

Suddenly, the field was taken by a dark shadow. If night could get even blacker. But witches had a sight that noticed these things. The girls in the cart yelped as the shadow swallowed the cornfield before landing right behind the sorceress who had her lips curled up in that poisonous smile. The princess had never seen it before. She started shaking the bar, pointing behind the sorceress. But her friend stopped her and made her look at the humans. All frozen, like statues. There was a complete silence and when the girls tried yelling, nothing came out of their mouths.

The dark figure got clearer by second and it put a hand on the shoulder of the sorceress. She then turned around and looked at the man in front of her. Her husband's ghost. It was time for him to come back, in flesh. They both had waited for far too long. The electricity box next to them had melted completely now. The medallion was sitting in the middle of a puddle. Her lover kneeled down and tried picking it up but his hands went right through it. She nodded at him, encouraging, and reached out her arms.

For the first time in a long time, she chanted. She had saved all her power for this one spell. Her mist, red and beautiful, stepped up from the ground. It had all the power necessary to give life without consuming its mistress now. And, as it went higher and higher, the princess on top kicked louder and louder. The sorceress moved her hand and the girl was suddenly paralyzed. The chanting witch slowed down the mist, to prolong the torture. She then turned around once more, to face the girls.

''I want you to know that this is only slightly personal. And, I will take pleasure from taking your life as it will give me what your parents took from me. My soul.'' the mist reached the feet of the princess first. This time, her body was affected. She screamed in agony as her whole body was slowly chopped away. Her friend joined her, adding much more power and screams to the mix. The sorceress kneeled, to the ground, ignoring the sounds, and took the medallion that burned her palm. She closed her eyes and chanted as strongly as she could.

When the screaming stopped, a hand lay upon her palm. She knew it, her heart skipped a beat. Another palm wrapped around her waist and pulled her up. The medallion came with her. Their eyes met when he turned her around. For real this time. Flesh and blood. With his long black hair and that mischievous grin. He didn't take his eyes off of her. Not even when his medallion was placed in his palm. It was his symbol, what had brought his ghost here when it was time, but all he looked at now, was his lover.

''You are still wearing white. You look just like the last time I saw you. My soul.'' his smile grew. His arm wandered into her black curls. He spun her in a dance as music came from seemingly nowhere.

''How else did you want me to make sure both sides paid for what they did? I destroyed the only heir to the white throne. And I cursed her medallion long before I decided to do that. There is no coming back for that girl...'' he interrupted her with a kiss. Passionate and cruel. Real. They were both too powerful to get hurt by it.