Above a distant field of sunflowers, just a few dreams away…

“Ahh—wait! I’m losing control!” With the single tip of my weight, I rapidly tumbled out of the sky, soaring clumsily down to the ground.

“Haha, I knew that would happen!” The witch who was hovering above me laughed hysterically at me. “You remind me of when I first started to fly myself!”

“That’s… not funny!” I said while sneaking in breaths for my words. It took a while before I returned to a stable position in the air. “Sigh…” I laid my body’s weight back, allowing me to gently float back down towards the surface. “I’m too dizzy to continue with this…”

“Alright, we can take a quick break then. It’s almost time for us to head back anyway.”

From above, her silver hair fluttered and shimmered under the moonlight, as she gracefully descended in pace with me.

The sweet scent of the flower field swept away all worries of the upcoming summer. As the trees swayed and the petals fell, the two of us lay here, with our breaths as the only proof of our existence under this vast, starry night.

“Woah, look over there!” The witch pointed up towards the sky. “It’s a bunch of night-winged finches!”

I looked toward her finger’s direction, and to my surprise, there was a small flock of tiny finches flying under the moon. It was an odd sight, as these types of finches aren’t known to travel during the spring.

“They’re quite charming… but don’t they rarely fly during this time?”

“Well… yes. But that must mean something special is coming up soon! Especially since it’s the middle of graduation season! Remember what Miss Selena told us—‘Night-winged finches only cross the skies at midnight in presence of a changing fate…’ or something along the lines of that.” In those brief moments, her eyes sparkled brighter than any comet in the sky.

“Ah, right… Graduations are soon…” I sighed deeply.

“Wait, don’t be sad… I’ll only be traveling a few cities away. And, in three years, once you also graduate, we can find each other and go to all the places we dreamed of visiting together! We can visit the magical kingdom of Astrea that every great witch in history has traveled to!”

“Will that be a promise?”

“Of course! It will be a promise just between us. She gently put her hand on my head, petting me as if I were a frail kitten. “Oh, and one more thing—” She reached into her robe’s pocket to pull out a thin, golden necklace. Attached to the end was a crescent-shaped sigil with a brilliant blue gem engraved into it.

“Is that…” My eyes reflected in the same hue as the gem.

“It’s the necklace I promised to give to you!” She took hold of my hand and placed it on my palm. “Look, I even have a matching one of my own!” She held up a similar necklace with a sigil of a star. It was engraved with a clear, glistening crystal, imprinted with the words: ‘Stella, the Starlight Witch’.

“With these, we can find each other, no matter where we are across the world!”

I looked at my necklace, to see it imprinted with ‘Luna, the Moonlight Witch’. At the sight of those words, I simply smiled and put it on.

“Thank you.” I paused for a moment thinking of something else to say, but before I could, she swiftly put her arms around me, hugging me with her warm embrace.

“Luna, please promise me…” I felt a single tear drop onto my shoulder. “Promise me that you will come find me one day.” Her hands tugged on my robe a bit tighter.

I gently held her back.

“I promise.”

We both stood under the moon and stars, united by our warmth, with only the two of us together until the end of this fading night.

“Stella…”

You truly are a remarkable person.

Just a few days later, the evening right after Stella’s graduation.

In my hand was the cup of fruit punch I took from the party table. No one seemed to notice me due to my small stature, allowing me to easily come in and swoop the prize for myself. Being proud of this achievement, I rewarded myself by taking a sweet sip of victory—

“Luna!” The fruit punch was immediately snatched from my hands.

What a wench…

“You shouldn’t be drinking this!”

I looked up to see Miss Selena holding the cup right in front of me. Instantaneously, my mood turned from slightly grumpy to a cheerful one.

“Miss Selena!” Ignoring all I’ve lost, I dug into my bag to pull out a book. “Look, look! I finished drawing the mountains you told me to!”

“Oh really? Let me take a look.” She flipped to the last page, and her eyes suddenly filled with gloom before returning to normal. “Oh, it’s great! You did really well!”

“Liar.” I pouted in spite.

Miss Selena gave out a slight sigh. “Ah, children are too clever nowadays…” She closed the book and put it back in my hands. “Come on, how about we go say farewell to Stella? You don’t want to miss her last day here, do you?”

The moment she said those lines, I realized that the time we spent together had ended too abruptly. Despite Stella and I being of the same age, she was always ahead of the curve due to her outstanding talent. She was a remarkable child—one who was naturally gifted with the ability to understand and control magic at ease.

Her existence was a love letter to magic itself.

“Hmmph. Fine. I’ll go.” I reluctantly said.

Miss Selena smiled and took hold of my hand, dragging me towards the outside of the venue.

We both walked out of the academy grounds and into the forest trail, greeted with the sight of confetti and sparkling dust scattered across the grass and air. Strings of ribbons in vibrant, pastel colors hung from the tree branches in a messy, yet elegant way.

Ahead marked the forest’s exit, where all the graduates gathered. Just up in front of us, Stella was waving back at Miss Selena and I.

“Luna! Miss Selena!” Stella yelled while smiling brightly back at us.

“Stella!” My eyes sparkled with excitement, as I saw my best friend shining under the light that weaved through the forest’s canopy.

I sprinted towards her, until a hand placed on my shoulder prevented me from moving forward. Confused, I look behind me to see Miss Selena stopping me.

Instead, she held a different expression. It wasn’t one of happiness, but rather annoyance. As I started to look a bit further behind Stella, I began to understand why.

“So, this is the little prodigy I’ve heard rumors about…”

The voice rang from the silhouette behind Stella. She seemed to be an older witch, likely in her thirties.

When she walked closer, she revealed herself under the sunlight. Her pristine, dark blue hair glistened beautifully under the radiant sun, flowing smoothly in sync with the mana in the atmosphere.

Any masterful witch would immediately recognize who she was at first glance.

“Mist,” Selena said. “You know you aren’t welcome here anymore.”

“Oh? Who made those rules?” The witch, recognized as ‘Mist’, briefly glanced at me, before turning her attention towards Stella. “Is it wrong for a witch like me to take interest in a prodigy like her? Someone of her potential only appears once every generation.”

“The academy has never disclosed any information about Stella to the public. There should be no way you would have known about her.”

Mist crossed her arms. “Well, you’ve clearly failed that task.” Her white gloves outlined the frame of her hands to near perfection. “Besides, why wouldn’t the administration notify me about her? Once witches graduate, they are taken in as an apprentice to another witch as their master. No one would object to me taking her in as an apprentice.”

“No one will give you the chance after what you’ve done in Astrea.” Selena responded with distaste in her mouth. “You know exactly why you’ve been exiled from the Magic Association and our academy.”

“It’s a bit hurtful of you to bring up the past, you know. After all, you understood why I did what I had to do.” She adjusted her dress a bit. “Let’s not waste more time on this idle talk. I’ll be taking in Stella as an apprentice for a few years.”

“I won’t let you.” Selena stepped forward, firmly standing her ground.

“So adamant…” Mist tugged on Stella’s robe. “Come on, I’ll take you as my apprentice.”

Stella swiftly pulled away from Mist’s grasp.

“No.” Stella took a few steps backward, distancing herself from Mist. Stella’s expression at that moment was filled with fear.

“It’s too loud… The wind…”

The ‘wind’ Stella’s referring to wasn’t the actual wind. She was referring to the subtle, yet piercing wails of mana flowing throughout the forest.

“Mist. Leave the academy grounds, and we can solve this issue peacefully.” Selena’s focus grew even more intense.

“Hmm…” The atmosphere was instantaneously engulfed by an immense amount of pressure. Everyone in the vicinity instantly recognized, but was too afraid to move in even the slightest. “You know, Selena. Have you ever doubted me once?” Mist readjusted her glove. “You could have stopped me that moment when the ‘incident’ happened. Yet, you never did.”

Selena’s focus grew even more intense. The air stopped flowing, the trees ceased to sway, and the leaves were no longer rustling.

“You know, I’ve heard a tale of a witch of the same generation as us. She was talented in her own way. She was the first to discover the art of pure magic. It was an art that allowed the user to directly manipulate mana in its purest form. She essentially had the potential to change the world at her fingertips. But, she threw that all away. She left her life as a witch behind, settling down to live a secluded life, abandoning all practices of magic.”

The whole venue remained silently still, in face of her monologue.

“To this day, no one has managed to replicate that same art. The magic that could single-handedly end the war between our nations, and she decided to keep it as her own little secret. Don’t you understand? We have all dedicated our whole lives to reaching those heights of magic, and I had to witness her throw it all away.”

“You’ve gone mad, Mist.” Selena put her arm in front of me. “That is never a valid reason to go and do all of this. You understand the struggles she had to endure.”

“But, you know… "

I saw Stella as she dropped to the floor, cowering as her hands covered her ears. She was crying, begging for all of the noise to stop.

“… I’m not the type to let go of an opportunity like this.”

A swift, swirling current started to circle around the venue. It was the piercing movement of mana.

“Luna! Stand back!”

A blinding flash of light covered the entirety of the forest, engulfing everything in its path. All sounds turned into muffled screams, blending into nothingness. The light briefly followed into a burst of swirling darkness, encasing me in a small void.

All I saw was the abyss. No light, no sound—nothing at all. There was only an eerie silence, lullabying me to sleep.

However, a soft whisper echoed in my mind. An unfamiliar voice, yet one I knew.

Sweet dreams, my princess.

It comforted me as my consciousness began to falter.

Rest well, for the tempest you are about to endure.

All of my memories began to scatter into pieces, vanishing as they touched the abyss. The world felt cold, and I could no longer feel a hint of anything.

At the end of it all, there was one final whisper I could hear before my mind went completely blank.

I will be waiting for you at the end of the world, Lunella.

Several years later, through the eyes of an apple merchant…

“Apples here, apples here! Come get your apples here!” I stood on the road that entered the city, waving to the travelers passing by. “Apples only for a few coppers here!”

Hours had already passed, yet no one decided to even glance at me. Large carriages would pass, casting shadows over the merchants along the road. Without letting it bother me, I adjusted my basket to fit snugly underneath my arm and continued on with the work.

Selling apples is simply one of my humble hobbies. Nowadays, I don’t necessarily make a living off of doing it, but it was one of the routines engraved into me ever since I was a little kid. On one hand, it is quite therapeutic, but on the other it makes you realize how disheartening the world is. To have a little kid forced to sell apples to have a roof to sleep under, just to be ignored by everyone who passes by you…

“Hey there.” A woman under a heavy cowl walked up to me, pointing at an apple in my basket. “You got any more of those?”

To my surprise, it was quite a question to open with—one awkward enough for me to hesitate a bit before answering.

“Yes… they came directly from the northern region of Sorena. If you want, I could give you a discount on a few apples I have in stock—”

She stopped me in my tracks and grabbed an apple directly from my basket, inspecting it carefully. She held it up towards the sunlight, eyeing it with careful intent. Shortly after, she took a bite out of it.

“Hey… that would cost—”

The apple dropped to the floor, puffing up the sand on impact. At the same moment, she reached beneath her cloak to pull out a drawing of an old woman—a picture that should have been lost to ancient times. It was a picture designed to strike immediate fear in anyone who knew even a shred of this woman’s history. And at the moment anyone reacts to this image in even the slightest way, would be immediately caught in an inescapable predicament.

“You know her, don’t you?”

I slightly gulped, knowing very well that I had no way out of this.

“Well…” I had to choose my words carefully. “… yes, I do… Why?”

The paper began to burn up in her hands, dissolving into thin air as if it never existed in the first place.

“Tell me her name. Now.”

“Why would you want to know.” I sternly said, knowing fully well she already had the answer to that question. “Get straight to the point—tell me what you are really here for…”

She looked back at me coldly, with near-empty eyes. Her silent gaze reminded me that I wasn’t in control here.

In complete silence, I reached deep into my pockets, unraveling a small, tied pouch, left unopened for an eternity. I held it out in front of me, and she immediately snatched it out of my hands.

What a brat.

“Oooh… That was easier than I expected.” She held the pouch by the knot, examining its contents intently. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a small jar and poured the contents of pouch into it. Out came a fragment of gold, which was then mixed alongside multiple other fragments of gold.

Twenty-six to be exact.

“Ahem.” I cleared my throat a bit. “Are… you going to pay for those apples?”

After a slight pause, she reached into her pocket and threw a few coins onto the ground in front of me. I stared at them blankly, attempting to make sense of what to do next.

“Now, run along. Pretend that this never happened. It’s for your own sake.” She said before walking away, with no further intention to do business. Her silhouette steadily grew smaller, blending into the bustling of the crowd.

You’ve broken the contract, haven’t you?

The voice I never wanted to hear had invaded my mind without invitation.

You know the consequences, right?

My hand flew up, reaching towards the cloaked girl’s direction, outside of my own will. It felt as I was being controlled like a puppet, with no room to make my own decision.

Come on, now. Stop her.

I slightly gulped in fear, knowing that I no longer had a choice in this matter. The contract I had broken had already begun its flurry of consequences upon me, and there was no other way to get out of it.

I stretched my hand out just a bit further, gathering all the mana I could to cast a lethal spell.

What are you waiting for? Kill her—

Time stopped for a brief second. All was silent but the chirping of the birds, and the rustling of the leaves. The once-humid heat shifted into a cool wind that flowed throughout my body. It was like all the heavy burdens in my life were lifted, granting me the freedom to soar the skies again.

It was a moment of pure tranquility…

The image of my world tilted on its side, before spiraling down into the floor. I heard the rest of my body crashing down just behind me, and my hand landed in front of me, cleanly severed cut. Chaos and panic ensued amongst the crowd, as their eyes were struck in horror at the mere sight of my body.

I knew it was an unavoidable fate.

Ahh… I understand now.

The one who dismembered me wasn’t the witch I sealed my contract with. Rather, it was that mysterious girl who never bothered to glance back at me.

At that moment, I’ve finally began to recollect the story of the witch my contractor had warned me about.

The story of the witch who once held a close relationship with a certain prodigy.

The story of the witch who dedicated her entire life to searching for the truth behind the prodigy’s disappearance.

The story of a witch who was never meant to exist in the first place.

Ah… How could I forget her name? Right… now I remember—

“Lunella, The Princess of the Howling Moon.”