Natasha's POV:
The room was silent for a while, my teacher seemed unable to find the right words, in that silence her expression darkened as if she remembered a bad moment, it only lasted a few moments until Carla started to speak.
- We don't have all your time, could you get to the point already?
Like a bucket of cold water, Carla's comment hit my teacher bringing her back to reality, although at first she seemed to want to respond to Carla's comment, she took a deep breath and after exhaling a huge sigh she began to speak.
- Thanks junkie, I really need to calm down here.
- …As long as you understand.
With a slight snort she raised her head as if she were looking up.
"Carla is unexpectedly cute"
- I have requested this meeting for 2 matters of utmost importance, the first is to declare that Dolla, the shadow witch has passed away.
My teacher and the other witches were silent at such news, although not all of them seemed sad, some like my teacher and Carla had especially deep expressions of pain in their expressions.
- I guess it was obvious that something happened with that idiot… since yesterday I can't keep anything in that space in my shadow that Dolla gave me for my rare materials, and she would never miss a meeting of the wild beast.
- … Dolla's absence was really felt, she was the one who stopped those two idiots when they got too hot.
Carla and Cathelaya's comments resonate in the room that had fallen silent. Carla hugged that strange bag that after a closer look was shaped like a teddy bear while Cathelaya rubbed her forehead as if she was tired of hearing the news. After a brief silence, my teacher continues.
- Sadly we don't have time to mourn Dolla's death, although she sacrificed herself, she told us a key piece of information that I wanted to share with you.
At her words, the tension in the room became harsh. Some witches couldn't help but hold their breath as my teacher gave the news.
- Demonic swords have returned to earth.
At the news, the witches began to panic, some of them contorted their faces in terror while others seemed strangely ecstatic at the thought, especially Emily.
- Hehehehehe, finally something interesting will happen again after so long!
- Demonic swords?
Even though the whole world went into chaos, I kept wondering what those swords were.
-We witches call the 7 swords that angels give to their heroes in times of crisis "demonic swords."
-…Huh? But wouldn't they be angelic swords instead?
-Would you call a weapon made especially to kill you an "angelic sword"?
-…I guess not.
Thanks to Carla's explanation, the doubts in my mind had finally dissipated. As my teacher tried to calm the other witches down, the discussion got heated as the other witches took in the situation.
- G-girls, calm down, we have to get organized to fight the heroes.
- Get organized, you say? And what good would that do us? Dolla was one of the strongest witches in direct combat between us, if she lost, we're lost.
- Can't we just hide?
- Of course I can't do that, everyone knows where my damn house is!
- Just move!
- I would never give up my reality anchor!
The discussion between my teacher and the 2 witches who were a similar age to my teacher had gotten heated. Their conversation, however, had left me with a huge question in the middle.
- Hey, Carla, what is a reality anchor?
Carla turned to look at me in surprise as she tried to read my reaction as if to find out if I was really joking. After a few moments she sighed as she looked down.
- I really can't understand what you're thinking... Has that wild beast really not taught you anything?
- ... She has taught me many things, like reading. Now I can even read difficult words.
I puffed out my chest with pride as she just looked at me even more astonished than before. Finally she sighed again and carefully stroked my head.
- You really have it hard with a teacher like that little girl. If you ever want to practice your witch powers, you can always come to my door, understood?
- Witch powers? But I don't need to practice that kind of thing, right now I can easily control the stems of flowers.
An even heavier sigh came out of Carla's throat.
A regretful wave of hostility emanated from her towards my teacher who was still arguing with the other witches.
- Listen little one… oh first of all what is your name?
- Natasha
- Well then Natasha, the powers that are granted to us witches are much more complex than you think. Even if you say that you already handle your powers perfectly, it is likely that you are only limiting yourself. For example, I don't know exactly what your power is, but have you ever tried to control something other than the stems?
- Something other than the stems?... no?
- That is exactly the problem! To give you a clearer example, at first my power was only to magically produce some material that I wanted to create. Although that might seem enough, eventually I realized that when I found materials that I had not created, I could magically unlock the… what would I call them?… call them "recipes".
- Recipes?
- Yes, the recipes I got gave me a step-by-step guide directly in my head on how to create new concoctions or potions that I could use in different ways. Thanks to this, I became much more powerful than I was just by getting free materials.
- … I think I understand?
- Don't worry about the details, the important thing now is that you must discover the potential of your power for yourself. If you need a place to do it, you can come to my door whenever you want.
- … Understood
I nodded at Carla's proposal. At this she softened her expression a lot while slowly stroking my head.
- You remind me a lot of mom…
- Did you say something?
- N-no, I was just wondering what reality anchors are.
- Didn't I tell you? Reality anchors are the access points that witches have to enter the dimension we are in right now.
- Huh?... so they are something like doors?
- Yes, I suppose you've seen the door that's on the other side of the hallway at the end, right?
I nodded at her question.
- That door is the link that witches have with reality, that's why depending on who opens the door, it will take you to a different place depending on where your reality anchor is.
- So that's why when my teacher went through it, a town appeared that I had never seen before.
- That's right, but the special thing about these doors is that each witch chooses at the beginning what object becomes her anchor. Some girls who didn't know that chose objects too big to carry and that's why they are tied to one place. At least that was the case with Dolla.
- The shadow witch?
Carla's expression suddenly turns melancholic. She looks into the void, lost in her thoughts.
- You know? Dolla of all the things she could choose as an anchor, she chose a huge full length mirror, how would you get something like that out of a swamp? I really couldn't help but laugh when I heard about it...
A small silence reigned for a few seconds as she reorganized her thoughts. A strange expression painted her face.
- Dolla was a very good friend to your teacher and I. There were times when she would invite us to her house in reality to live together without us knowing. Before we knew it she would practically lock us in her house so we would get along better with each other, but her attempts never bore fruit, after all I can't even see your teacher in paint.
Before I realized what I was doing, I had raised my hand to Carla's face who was sitting next to me to catch the tears that began to flow from her eyes. Realizing this, she panicked and wiped her tears on her sleeves as she tried to hide her face, but it didn't seem like she was going to stop.
- Huh? How strange... they won't stop flowing... Did I accidentally spray myself with pepper spray again?
I panicked as I watched Carla try to compose herself, but instead her voice became more and more diffuse. Without any more clues I tried to comfort her with the best method that dad taught me. Quickly and stealthily I got into her arms until I was sitting on her lap. A silly voice came out of Carla who was now a handkerchief of tears.
- W-what are you doing?
- My dad once told me that the best way to stop feeling sad is to hug something cute.
- Pfff hahahah...
Despite her laughter, she wrapped her arms around me very carefully while letting her chin rest on my head.
- Then I'll take you at your word.
The strength of her hug strengthened while I could still feel from time to time the tears that fell on my head. With my hands I gently caressed hers until she had finally calmed down a little.