Once upon a time, in a place far away and at the same time very near, kinda like the universe next door... where some wondrous events happened. Let me tell you how it all began.
In a shop in an alley in one of the neighborhoods of the Scarlet Empire Capital lived a young witch. It was not a dirty alley, there were no papers thrown away, there was not the faintest smell of urine, and there were no animal gifts on the floor. In addition, the walls were completely free of graffitis and the floor tiles were impeccably white.
Undoubtedly, there was not the slightest trace of dust or cobwebs in this alley but, if there had been, surely the dust would have been very bright and the cobwebs would have been polished thoroughly. After all, in this alley had suddenly appeared a new shop almost a month ago. A shop that was the property of a witch obsessed with cleanliness.
At first glance the store had only three floors, it was built of red bricks with a white archway under which there was a beautiful oak door. It also had very clean windows in the storefront, with what looked like a clear and transparent glass, but which gave the impression of extreme hardness. Inside the storefront, all kinds of strange objects of the most varied types were showcased properly but mainly there were books.
But not the type of books you have on your house. Oh, no! These were entirely something else .
These were mysterious books of strange origins with various bindings and written in many different languages. In the spaces between the books were also other miscellaneous items: old parchments, some jars and bottles of rare shapes that contained colorful liquids, dried herbs and fresh flowers, candles of colorful wax, bones of small animals and even a human skull.
Everything was artistically arranged to please the eye. On the third floor of the facade there was a balcony that if we were there would have allowed us to appreciate a wide view of the alley. And on the second floor, there was a large sign made of wrought metal. The sign advertised in beautiful and well-outlined gothic letters:
"Witch Zanthia´s Little Shop of Horrors: Forbidden books, wandering nightmares and other horrors at bargain prices."
In front of the store and on a white stone bench there was a black cat, who was upside down taking lethargically the only ray of sunlight that filtered through the neighboring buildings and at the same time, he was giving himself a morning tongue bath. The animal behaved like a pasha in his kingdom but his eyes denoted an unusual intelligence. It was definitely a very majestic cat.
At that moment, the door of the store opened and an attractive young woman with a somewhat childish face came out from inside the shop. She had a very sophisticated apparel.
She was clad in a beautiful low-cut dress of black velvet, elegantly decorated with stars and moons of brilliant gold. She also wore high-heeled shoes and a pointed hat that, obviously, were both black too. The hat had stars and moons in the same style as the dress but the shoes did not have any.
The dress, evidently made to measure by a first-class dressmaker and made with specially selected materials, had slits on each side that allowed her owner to exhibit the long and beautiful legs of which she was so proud. At least, if that was what she wanted to do. However, when it would be necessary, the magic dress had the ability to close the slits automatically to protect her from the cold or from prying eyes.
The attire was completed by a semitransparent veil that protected her beautiful face, so carefully made-up in a gothic style, and a silver choker that hung from her fine neck with several pendants.
Incongruously, the young girl had two objects in her hands that broke the spell of her beauty. In her left hand, she carried an old broom, made of straw so used that it had lost the original yellow color and now it was grey. It would make anyone think of it like an old general that had fought too many battles and now an imminent and younger replacement was needed.
In her right hand, the young woman carried a bowl of pink porcelain with the smell of food. She putted the bowl in front of the cat and said excitedly:
"Little Sun, Shadow, time to eat! This time I prepared for you a delicious meal worthy of a pasha."
The black cat, who was lying down lethargically, enjoying the sun's rays, first opened one eye and then another before rising majestically. He carefully inspected the aroma and appearance of the contents of the bowl .
For a moment it looked like he was actually having some doubts about the convenience of ingesting it, before finally deciding to try it. The witch waited anxiously for the verdict. The cat's tongue inserted a mouthful into his small feline mouth and then chewed a couple of times.
"PUAJJJ! This is horrible. Are you trying to kill me, human? " complained the now ashen faced cat as he spat out the food.
"Do not say that! How could you, Little Sun? I did my best!" the witch replied, on the verge of tears, while cleaning at super speed with her old broom all the food spit out by the cat until the floor was spotless again.
"Really, human, really? Is this your best effort? " said the black cat incredulously.
"Do not be so ungrateful, Little Sun, I'm sure my hours of hard work brought good results," yelled the outraged witch while taking a spoon out of nowhere and filling it with the food of the bowl at full speed.
"Here, Shadow, try this and tell him how much he's wrong," she added, then she suddenly put the spoon into the shade under the bench. Strangely, it submerged below the floor level as if the shade were a bottomless pit.
"PUAJJJ! The system has just informed me that I have been poisoned, " a high-pitched voice complained.
A gray pussycat materialized in the shade under the bench, spitting leftovers and staggering as if she were seriously ill.
"I told you so," said the black cat, nodding solemnly.
"Whaaat? How? But I am sure that all the ingredients of the food are of the healing type. That's impossible! "said Zanthia, still in the mode of total denial, as she frantically cleaned up the food spit with her old broom.
"Luckily you decided to put a witchcraft shop and not a restaurant! But if I were you, human, I would first look for someone to teach me how to cook before trying to prepare those alchemical potions for your clients. That is, if we had actual clients to attend to, in the first place," the black cat continued to scold her, while the gray pussycat also nodded emphatically.
"That's right... in a month that we opened the store we only had five customers. I do not understand why this is so…" recognized the witch with a sad expression in her face.
The cats exchanged a knowing look and then sighed. Zanthia did not noticed it because she was still talking with a gloomy mood.
"The Capital of the Scarlet Empire has many thousands of inhabitants. I did not think that we would lack customers. It is true that the store is in a dark alley in a remote neighborhood and not many people go by around here but still ... at least the few customers who came before should have talked about the store with some acquaintance."
"Maybe you should stop offering them those candies when they enter the store. People cannot recommend us if they die poisoned, " said Little Sun while Shadow nodded again.
"That can't be. Could it really be that my food is poison? "
"Zanthia, did you ever taste the food? I mean, without you having activated first your resistance to poison. "
"Mmm ... No."
Zanthia took one of the pendants that hung from the silver choker and yanked it off, and then put it on the bench. A message flashed before Zanthia's eyes.
[SYSTEM: Lost equipment. Resistance to poison drops by 90%. Be careful!]
The gray pussycat took the opportunity to grab the pendant and put it next to her collar. Immediately, she acquired a better aspect. Zanthia grimaced in disgust.
"I still don't believe that my meals are poison. I'm going to prove you two, that you are so wrong!"
Before the eyes of the cats, the witch served herself several tablespoons of food. She chewed slowly a couple of times before swallowing a mouthful. Her eyes widened in surprise. A message just flickered before her eyes.
[SYSTEM: Warning! The consumption of this food has caused an unexpected effect. New State: POISONED. Friendly advice: look for an urgent antidote or you will die within an hour.]
Zanthia almost swallowed another mouthful in surprise. It really was poison. Apparently, even someone with the enormous constitution and resistance of a witch needed the antidote in less than an hour to be able to continue living.
The mystery of the missing clients was solved. No doubt the whole neighborhood was aware that whoever entered Zanthia´s little shop was dead meat. No wonder nobody came to the store anymore.
"PUAJJ!" The witch lifted her veil, her face quickly changing colors from white to blue, then gray and finally black.
She spat out the food and stood up wobbly. The black cat sighed as he repeatedly moved his head in horizontal motions and the gray pussycat promptly took off the pendant of her necklace to offer it to the young witch with her paw. Zanthia grabbed it and put it on her choker.
[SYSTEM: Equipment obtained. Resistance to poison increases by 90%. Unknown poison neutralized. Some symptoms will persist for a while but your life is no longer in danger.]
Already recovered, Zanthia began to clean the spat food with the old straw broom while crying inconsolably.
"Human, it's not that bad ..." said Little Sun.
"Do not cry anymore, Zanthia," Shadow tried to confort her.
"I really thought I cooked well. Now I finally understand why everyone in the family always looked at me in such a weird way when I offered to cook. "
"You had to find out sooner or later, " said the black cat, "look at the positive side, now we know why the clients did not return to the shop. You just have to stop giving food to those who come in the future and everything will be fine. "
"Okay, for the well- being and success of the store, I'll have to stop the old witchcraft tradition of offering sweets to make people fat ..." vowed the young lady.
"Good decision." The cats celebrated with joy. Zanthia smiled.
[SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT: the security of the area has increased by 25%. The neighborhood's reputation will slowly rise to normal levels.]
Zanthia frowned again. In her opinion, the system was exaggerating. She chose to ignore the announcement to focus on more important things.
"But how will I attract customers if it's not with free candies?" she asked the cats, "the system gave me the mission to get twenty customers to improve the store and we still have fifteen more to get, "
[SYSTEM: Mission in progress: Attend to 20 clients to earn a reward. There are 15 customers left. Work hard! Reward: free improvement to the shop. Additional mission: A client must be completely satisfied to earn a special reward. Good luck with that!]
Zanthia sighed. She looked at Shadow and Little Sun with pleading eyes.
"Leave that to us," the cats replied, exchanging a resolute look and nodding at each other.
"Very well, Little Sun, Shadow, I leave it in your capable hands, I mean, in your capable paws," said Zanthia while making the typical thumbs-up gesture.
"Very soon you will have customers again! Enter the store and patiently prepare everything to receive them."
The cats answered the witch with their own gesture of thumbs up and then they started running at full speed towards the exit of the alley in search of clients. Zanthia cleaned the floor and the bench until they were shiny before opening the oak door to enter the store with the bowl and the old broom.
*¡DING DING DING!*
The magical bell that announced the entrance of people to the store resounded three times. Zanthia looked at it. This powerful item had been the very first reward the young woman managed to get from the system. The musical sound not only would let her owner know whenever new customers entering the store, but it was also one of the methods of defense of the shop that warned about possible hostile intruders. In the event of an aggression, this magical bell was able to launch a devastating sonic attack.
The shop looked small from the outside, but once inside, it was actually very spacious. In fact, it was one of those works of magical architecture constructed in non-Euclidean geometry. A top notch architectural design!
Yeah, a design like this could be accurately described like the last scream of the fashion muse in the arquitecture circles of the multiverse. Literally, because the muse that originally researched this technology accessed for error an eldritch dimension and had a close encounter with one tentacular horror from outer space . The only thing left of her was a horrible scream.
Anyway, her good deed was not forgotten and now the best arquitechts stoled ... cough, borrowed her amzagin work to construct magic buildings that continued beyond the primary plane to take full advantage of all the available space in other dimensions. Confused yet? Well, that's non-euclidean for you! Just be grateful for all the extra space and very careful while using the doors.
Despite the large size of the ground floor, numerous shelves full of books and miscellaneous objects crowded the place. Zanthia advanced until she was behind a grey-lead counter. On the top of it, there was a large bowl full of candies.
"I should also remove this from the counter lest some customer take one of these again. Oh, but first I'd better throw this food away, not ... this poison, into the trash and then I'll wash the bowl until it's clean."
Zanthia went down a corridor to the kitchen and set to work. With her obsession with cleanliness, she made sure that not even the tiniest trace of the food was left in the bowl, before leaving it to dry. She took an ashtray from a shelf and opened a window. Then she began to smoke a cigarette with a dreamy air as she thought about future clients. Zanthia used to ramble that way very often.
In his mind, she pictured a tall, dark man, with an austere face and a dominant air. He was well-dressed in formal clothes. She imagined him entering the store, willing to buy every last item just to make her smile. Then, he would take her in his firm arms and ...
"Nyaa, I'm already acting like my mother. Better stop thinking about those things, Zanthia, and get to work hard, maybe you should create an alchemical potion or something," with blushing cheeks, the young witch scolded herself.
Then she started looking for something more productive for her to do. But she was a bit indecisive on what to do.
"No, not a potion, I could kill someone. Something safer. Maybe it would be better if today I just rub some nice trinkets to put in the storefront. I think I saw some explosives somewhere in the deposit... "
Zanthia left the kitchen to go to the store's warehouse. It was full of piles of things in a precarious balance and that threatened to collapse at any moment. She selected one of those piles and began to stir all the things that were there while she kept rambling to herself.
"A Book of Abjuration for Beginning Magicians, no, too easy to get. Magical arcs for elves, no, too typical of elves, if they were magical arcs made by dwarves that would attract a lot more attention," grumbled the young witch as she discarded the objects one by one.
"An Invocation Book for Advanced Necromancers, no, too boring and wasn't there a Conjuration Book for Expert Demonologists in this stack before? I do not see it here ... " Zanthia continued stirring the things of the pile, "Anyway, let's see what else there is ... "
"A goblin skull, a male voodoo doll with pins stuck in the groin ... this brings back some funny memories, hehe!"
"What else? Mmm… some candles made of ogre's ears wax , several bottles with a sign that says 'exclusive and delicious herbs for the best quality condiments', no, wait, I was wrong, it says 'exclusive and delicious herbs for the best quality poisonings'. Eehh…What a curious thing! They have the same bottle and the label of the same color, so many years using those bottles and I had never realized it before now. Ahhh, here it is ... "
The witch grabbed a wooden box full of dynamite and lifted it with a satisfied air. Then she vigorously rubbed the long and colored tubes full of explosives with a cloth. While she was entertained in her task her mind started wandering again.
A tall blond woman with a cheerful countenance, long legs like hers, and the air of a woman of the world, was pictured in her mind. She wore a red velvet dress even more revealing than her own low-cut dress. She imagined the woman entering the store, willing to buy every last item just to make her smile. Then, she would take her in her soft arms and ...
"Did you feed the Ardsheall today? "said a critical voice, interrupting her daydreaming. Zanthia, with flushing rosy cheeks, stopped rubbing the long red tube of dynamite to turn to see the owner of the voice.
And the owner of the voice turned out to be a white cat who looked at her with an inquisitive air. Strange thing, the cat had dark glasses. Without a doubt, it was a disturbing vision. What kind of person, no, cat, wears dark glasses inside a building? Worse yet, what kind of cat wears dark glasses when she is reading a book?
Now, of course, if the cat wore regular glasses prescribed by a licensed ophthalmologist, that would be totally normal. But, for the future despair of the potential ophthalmologists who were going to meet her, it was clear that this cat, in particular, wore dark glasses inside the building just for fashion, and of course, they were of a very expensive brand.
"Ahhh ... so here it was the 'Conjuration for Expert Demonologists'. You had it, Moon! " Zanthia exclaimed with an improved mood, "Phew! What a relief! For a minute I suspected that the book had come alive and had run away, hehe, I already pictured myself chasing it all over the store…"
"Do not be ridiculous, Zanthia. There's no way that happens ..." the cat denied emphatically.
"Well, it would not be the first time in the month. In fact, it would be the fifth, " insisted the young witch.
"I mean, the magic grimoires do not run, the bastards fly away, everyone knows that." said the white cat, closing the book with a paw and raising her glasses with the other before giving the witch another critical look.
Then she kept talking, "You have to talk in the proper way, lest clients think that a certain human is a beginner witch. Regarding the Ardsheall, it's time to carry the food to the cell. Did you do it already or you still didn't?"
"Well, run or fly, it would not have happened if a certain feline had not passed through the salt guards and untied the iron chains to grab the 'Book of Dimensional Fishing' and thus binge on the sacred winged tuna, " replied Zanthia with a smile.
"Ahem ... Do not get distracted ... nyaa, I asked if you already fed the Ardsheall!" the white cat quickly changed the subject.
"No, I think not. Hey! Today I discovered that my food is considered poison for the system. Did you know about it, Moon? "
"No, I did not know," the pussycat lied and continued, "Although that explains why a creature like the Ardsheall likes your food so much in the first place."
"Unfortunately, I already throw out all the food into the garbage. So we are gonna have to feed it with something else today. Either way, the Ardsheall is already too fat. Mmm, I have the feeling of forgetting something ... "
At that moment, a musical sound was heard thrice.
*¡DING DING DING!*
"Ahh! Clients! I wonder what kind of customers will be the ones who entered the store? "