The Rebirth of Balance

*Part 1 of “The Chaotic Witch” series*

The country was peaceful. Calm and serenity ruled here and it had been so for a hundred years. It is said that the land was protected from chaos by a spell, put in place by a powerful witch 500 years ago. Since then, no witch has been known. No scent of power, not a rustling of magic. The wise townspeople said that the protection spell was so powerful that it nullified any power that existed at the time, and blocked any power that could arise now.

In a land that was blessed and cursed with magic, just over 500 years ago, nothing sparkled with the light or darkness of witchery. Before, there were covens where wise witches trained and guided young novices just coming into their magic, hoping to keep them from going into the dark. Many succeeded but there were those that strayed from the path and were seduced by the darkness. Because even though the path of light was filled with power, the darkness’ chaos seduced many. In order to gain magic within the light, one must follow certain rules. Rules that for some, proved to be difficult to follow. And for those who rejected the rules, the power that came without ordinances was way too tempting to ignore. The dark ones were shunned by the light witches and had left the covens to form their own covens, full of power and chaos.

One day an army of dark witches rose against the light and a magical war ensued. The war lasted many years, leaving death and destruction in its wake. The dark witches wanted to rule over all of the covens and train the novices in the dark arts. The light witches knew that this was dangerous and fought with all their power to stop this; they knew that this would upset the balance and chaos would rule the land. So, they fought for many years to keep the dark ones at bay.

While the war was being fought, a lone powerful witch emerged. Still very young, but she was the most powerful witch to ever rise. She was perfectly balanced in light and darkness, in peace and chaos and sought a spell that will end this war and allow the people to live in peace. No one understood the spell, nor the power it took to enact it. But it took every single ounce of her life force to will it so.

She paid the price and the moment her last breath gave out; a blanket of magic spilled out of her body and reached the four corners of the land. Every single witch lost their magic, dark as well as light. That stopped the war immediately. Many of the dark witches had used their magic to do forbidden things such as lengthen their lives and had eternal youth. In the moment the magic was gone, many withered and died.

Those who followed the dark that survived, had found themselves without power and retrieved from civilization in shame, ready to live out the rest of their days in exile. The others returned to their lives and learned to live without magic. For many it was hard, but they survived on the hope that their future generation would inherit the magic and can learn from their mistakes. But as child was born and wise ones died and no other child bore magic.

The circle of life continued and without the magic, the stories of the great war between light and dark became legend. The old ways of magic were forgotten and life continued. The knowledge of the wise was lost in time and the chaos was forgotten. The land thrived and prospered in peace, never knowing the beauty of light, nor the dangers of the dark. Until the day she was born.

It was a quiet night in the village, which is normal. But this night there seemed to be an eerie calm. It was too quiet. No crickets could be heard, no owls hooting, the animals in the barn were quiet, though not asleep. Even the sounds of the nearby creek were silenced, it was as if the world had been silenced. As if the world was waiting. This is because on this night, 500 years ago the protection spell was cast and despite the sacrifice of that powerful witch, the spell was not eternal. But of course, no one knew; no one remembered.

The moon was large and looming, shining brightly with a strange reddish hue. If the witches were still around, they would say it was a blood moon. They would say that this moon is an omen signifying the beginning of the end. The people of the land looked up at the sky with unease at the sight of the beautiful moon. No one had ever seen a moon as such. The people in the land were simple folk who didn't care for much other than the simple pleasures in life and taking care of the land, the animals and having food for their people. The sight of this rare moon didn't really mean much to them, other than a small concern of how it would affect their crops. But they all felt a sensation of foreboding. It was, perhaps, this feeling that kept the people home that night, kept them quiet.

Lucinda let out a bloodcurdling scream that ripped through the silence of the night, startling all who were near enough to hear it. Her water broke; the baby was coming. Michael ran out the small humble cabin in search for the midwife. He was thankful Lucinda's sister; Helga was there to help her. Lucinda knew the baby was coming soon and had called for her sister that morning. She didn't expect it to come so quickly, she assumed she still had a few days.

The pain was excruciating, it was as if her body was being torn in two. The baby was coming, and it was coming now. Helga held Lucinda's hand as another contraction hit her like a ton of bricks. She had barely had time to catch her breath. Barely had time to move from where her water broke, while clearing the dishes from the kitchen table. Helga helped her get to the bed and turned to put a pot of water to boil. She had barely reached the kitchen sink when she heard Lucinda scream again, and turned to help her sister.

Suddenly the door slammed open and a gust of wind blew into the home with a force that knocked down everything in its wake and blew out all the light. Helga stopped in the middle of the room, startled by the sound of the force of the door, expecting Michael to come running in but no one was there. She thought her mind was playing tricks on her but she could've sworn that the wind was sparkling with lights and at the same time swirled with smoke and it entered the home with a woosh and curled around the room as if looking for something. Then it found Lucinda and slammed into her, leaving her temporarily gasping for air.

Lucinda was startled by the force of the door and surprised to find the doorway empty and the room dark. Then she felt a different pain this time, something slammed into her chest and left her gasping for air. She threw her head back and gasped and gasped for air but she couldn't get any air into her lungs. It was as if something was pushing its way through her nose and mouth. But there was nothing there. Then, as quickly as it came the pain was gone and there was only silence and darkness.

The moon shone brightest in this moment and the light came in through the windows. Lucinda was sitting up on the bed, propped up by pillows. She looked different in that moment, she looked like she was glowing. "Lucinda?” Helga said tentatively as she walked towards her sister. Lucinda had been looking away from her, towards the window. Helga gasped, startled as her sister turned to look at her, as if in a trance, faintly glowing and bathed in a reddish moonlight; with her eyes as white as snow.

"We're here!” came the frantic sound of Michael as her ran into the house with the midwife in tow. He had the look of a crazed man and the midwife looked like she had been dragged out of her home reluctantly, not understanding the rush. After all, once the water broke the birthing took time. But Michael was so insistent, that she stopped explaining that to him and grabbed her things and followed him.

Michael's arrival with the midwife, knocked Lucinda out of her trance and she blinked. Then all of a sudden, she was engulfed by another contraction and let out a scream far more violent than the others had been. This time, the pain was too much; it overwhelmed her and she passed out.

Her scream sparked Helga and the midwife into action. Helga ran to find something to wake her sister back up and the midwife grabbed her bag and ran to Lucinda's side. “The baby's coming!” she yelled as she got to the bed and started to pull up Lucinda's dress. She could see that Lucinda was completely dilated and could see the head of the baby. She was amazed at how fast this child was coming into the world.

Helga was able to rouse Lucinda back and when the midwife saw that Lucinda was awake and alert, she told her “On the next one, give a big push! You're almost done!" And with that Lucinda felt the contraction, she clenched her teeth with determination and gave one mighty push and the baby fell into the midwife's arms.

The child was silent in the midwife's arms as she cut the umbilical cord and began to inspect and clean the baby, then all of a sudden, the room got dark as a cloud passed over the moon and blocked the little bit of light that was left in the room. In the darkness, the sound of the first cry of a baby was heard, immediately followed by a load crack of lightning and rolling thunder, just as the sky burst and rain began pouring, the sound echoing on the roof.

Michael was able to get a fire going and light entered the room. The midwife moved closer to the light to continue inspecting the baby and found it was absolutely perfect. "It's a perfectly healthy baby girl!” she exclaimed happily as she wrapped the baby in a cloth and moved towards the bed to give her to her mother.

Lucinda took her newborn baby girl in her arms for the first time, and marveled at her beauty. The baby was still screaming at the top of her lungs and she instinctively knew it was time to breastfeed her. She placed her near her bosom and the child immediately latched on. Michael came over and watched adoringly, stroking Lucinda's hair with one hand and the baby's cheek with the other. "What shall we name her, dear?” he asked Lucinda.

Lucinda thought for a second and then the name came to her. “Her name is Hope.”