Dorthea and Ivette went deeper into the castle and as they approached the council hall more and more battle witches stood on guard. Ivette wasn't stopped once in her track and Dorthea was tired of watching the amount of disrespect she was receiving..
Eventually, they made it to the entrance to the hall. Two large doors made of gold, wood and intricate patterns of red and blue flowers. At the centre was an emblem of a wolf in the centre of a golden ring. Ivette stepped forward and placed her hand on the wolf emblem. She stated her name and with a red flash; the doors slid open without a sound..
There was darkness, and that was all that they could see. It was a gateway to an artificial dimension made for the council by the first witches of the coven. They both stepped forward and disappeared within the darkness.
With that, the doors slid themselves shut and two battle witches appeared by the doors with golden spears and heavy gold armour.
All the high witches had gathered. The council meeting was starting and couldn't be interrupted.
******
Dorthea and Ivette landed safely within the artificial dimension. They were standing on cobblestone and around them were 11 seats, each on their own pedestal and a unique design. 10 of the seats had figures sitting on them. A single-seat was placed on a pedestal much higher than the rest. The woman sitting on it was staring down at Ivette and Dorthea, who had just got themselves stabilized. Ivette bowed to the figure and headed for her own seat that had a beautiful design of several books by its legs and a pen and paper emblem on its pedestal. Dorthea just stood there as the 11 high witches watched her.
"Long time no see Dorthea."
"I greet the grand witch Herlinda with my soul."
Dorthe got onto one knee and placed her right fist above her heart. The grand witch Herlinda was in view at that moment, and her face was definitely one that didn't look happy. Dorthea didn't dare speak up against the grand witch, even if she insulted her family.
Herlinda was a stunningly beautiful witch with crimson red eyes and fair white skin. She was wearing a hat that was like a starry sky with constant movements on it. Her attire was a blue sundress with a golden brooch. It wasn't tight but made her extremely sexy.
Dorthea remained silent as all the witches in the room eyed her. Herlinda then spoke in an extremely sweet voice that was dripping in honey.
"I make a report on what I believe may be a threat to the coven."
"Are you sure of that?"
"Yes, grand witch...I was sitting on a tree stump within the dark forest much earlier, peacefully absorbing the moonlight. When I had felt a very powerful oppressive aura struck me and my devil blood."
At the mention of devil blood, every witch present seemed to flinch with the grand witch simply narrowing her eyes.
"Continue..."
"The aura had pressured my heart to a stop and my devil blood to a rage. I then met an angel who walked into my clearing with a very powerful sword in his hand. He claimed that he was lost, and I called him out for telling me a lie. But he simply bent the truth, and my devil blood tried to break the restraints of his aura in anger. It failed, and it only made the angel more defensive...Then two more angels stepped out into my clearing as well..."
"Was their aura just as powerful?"
"No...It was much worse...especially the girl holding a bow...She was holding a divine artefact, no, she was holding something far stronger than a divine artefact, I believe it was a mythical artefact. They restricted my body in movement, while I was slowly losing my mind...they also affected my devil blood as it was immediately silenced and I lost my magic completely. Thankfully, they passed by quickly and I had to spend an hour recovering while trying to reinforce my mind with mental magic."
At the memory of it, Dorthea moved her hands to her auburn hair and clenched it tightly in her fists. She seemed to have lost a fragment of her sanity as she repeatedly mouthed unexplainable words.
The grand witch frowned, and the high witches talked in inaudible whispers. They knew Dorthea to possess the blood of Krion...an Archdevil who had once gifted his blood to the third grand witch. Unfortunately, Dorthea wasn't able to activate her blood and was denied the position of a High witch. The Archdevil's blood seemed to live independently from Dorthea and was considered extremely powerful. Just as powerful as the current grand witch's blood, but she had gained her own power by herself.
Just the fact that it was silenced by those three angels and the connection between the blood and Dorthea's body was something that couldn't be ignored. Magic for witches was a side effect of signing a contract with a devil and the connection of the devil's blood with the witch's body. If a witch lost her magic, it meant the devil's blood had lost connection with the body.
Something very dangerous to the coven.
Herlinda placed her fingers on her chin and silently thought to herself. She was definitely sure that it wasn't the elf king or the dragon king who hadn't come to the dark forest in the last thousand years. They were the only ones who had the authority to call for help from the gods. But going by what Dorthea told her these angels were definitely not working for either.
{Could the dark elves finally be moving? I doubt it...}
Herlinda contemplated for a while before deciding.
"Did they do anything physical to you? like slaps or punches..."
"No."
"They just left you be after oppressing you that much...almost implies they did it effortlessly."
At this Dorthea went silent and all the high witches frowned. The grand witch was now sure that these were people they didn't need to anger.
"Deena..."
"Yes, grand witch."
"I will need you to make sure that our information network's reinforced so we can be sure of where they are. I doubt such powerful individuals would come to this world and live quietly. We don't need to know what their goal really is...we just need to make sure we avoid them at all costs."
"With all respect grand witch...what's to say that Dorthea isn't simply exaggerating the story of who these angels could be..."
"Dorthea..."
"Yes, grand witch?"
"What do you have to say to defend yourself?"
"I swear on the name of Archdevil Krion to whom I share blood and contract, that I am telling everything as it happened to me."
Herlinda turned to the High witch Deena and in her sweet honey voice, she said.
"Is that good enough for you?"
"I will start as soon as this council meeting ends, grand witch."
The grand witch nodded after hearing this and with a wave of her hand all sound silenced immediately. A paper was in the hands of each High witch.
"Now... even though this news is troubling, we still have a coven to run. We will deal with the angels matter after we are sure the coven can continue to thrive as we have this far, is that fine?"
"Yes, grand witch!"
Every High witch in the hall replied in unison, and together they reviewed the papers and matters of the coven discussed and agreed upon.
To Dorthea's surprise, she had received a paper as well, and her opinion asked more than once.
The coven was going to make sure it survived.
*********