As Christmas – or the “Witch Games” that were apparently held here each and every year – fast-approached, I sat in a wooden cabin in a Phantasian forest, looking down at my ghostly tail protruding from under my Victorian-style dress. Although perhaps the tail and dress didn’t belong to me? Would it be more appropriate to say that they were those of Vera Dickens – my kinkind – the supernatural entity I had created which was now serving as my body? As I stared at the see-through wisp replacing my legs, I dwelled on the fact that I still could not figure out how to use Vera’s time-travel powers.
I was running out of time to learn as the Witch Games approached. At first, I figured when Lady Kuro told me I had to be ready in time for the tournament, that she wanted me to fight in the Witch Games. But that wasn’t the reason she had summoned me here at-all. Apparently, the competition would be too dangerous for an inexperienced demon like myself. Or like Vera, I suppose. In fact, apparently, many kinkind warriors had joined the last games and even ended up losing their lives. No, Lady Kuro wanted me to be ready for December the twenty-fifth because she knew that, just as had happened last year, some witch named Sumire and her familiars Katherine and Kitty Genet would be participating in the Witch Games. Sumire was apparently a regular contestant who had seen much success in the games. But most concerning of all was that she was apparently Kuro’s greatest enemy. If I could have Vera’s powers mastered, or at the very least, learned by the time the Witch Games rolled around, then Kuro and I would be able to strike Sumire where it hurt while she was busy with the contest and none the wiser!
Old King Hamlet – a stupidly-named human residence just outside the forest. Although demons were not usually allowed into the hamlet, Sumire had used her status as a celebrity to become acquainted with many of the village’s residents, including the two witch police-officers tasked with protecting Old King Hamlet – the devil Vladimir Chekhov and the minotaur and most-recent Witch Games champion Marissa Keane. Usually, when Kuro sent familiars to the hamlet to investigate and gather info on Sumire – for reasons Kuro wouldn’t tell me – Vladimir, Marissa or Sumire herself would quickly fight and defeat them. Kuro told me one of her ex-familiars, a Cyclops, was living in Old King Hamlet and that I should avoid him at all costs. Was the mission risky? A wee bit. Could I die if Sumire or one of her cop allies found me out? To be sure, to be sure… Was that still a preferable alternative to going back to Dublin and taking part in my school’s Christmas play? Feck yes!
“How be thy training going?” Lady Kuro asked me, as she appeared out of nowhere from one of her black holes.
“I still can’t figure out how to time-travel,” I sighed, trying to find a comfortable sitting position in a rocking chair as my wispy lower-half phased through it, “but at-least I’ve got the transforming thing down, eh?”
“Thee wilt mast’r ‘t eventually,” Lady Kuro reassured me, “or maybe thee already has't? ‘Tis hard to sayeth when time-travel be involv’d.”
I let out a small chuckle as I took a deep breath and turned back to my original form. Gone were Vera’s silver hair, Victorian-style brown dress and ghostly tail as I welcomed back my usual red hair, school uniform, black tights and shoes… with the legs that those clothing items would entail to boot! Lady Kuro was right. If I did eventually master time-travel, it wouldn’t matter when. I could just go back to the twenty-fifth whenever I wanted! The way I originally planned it, Vera could time-travel one day forwards or backwards twice within the span of twenty-four hours. I imagined her using that ability to go back in time to do something she forgot to do the previous day and then going straight back to the present when she was done, or that she’d use it to check the next day’s weather and then report back to the present. But there was nothing stopping Vera from using that ability to travel backwards twice in a row, waiting a day and then travelling back another two days, rinse and repeat until she reached her intended destination. When I explained this to Lady Kuro, she nodded and flashed me a really toothy grin, reminding me that despite her appearance, this succubus wasn’t human.
“That would taketh a while though, would not ‘t? For each two days thee wend back, thee would has't to waiteth one day, thus meaning thee wilt has't, in effect, only gone back one day and agedeth anoth’r.”
I just shrugged off Lady Kuro’s statement, telling her that it was worth it to miss the last week of school and the entire holiday season. Besides, I figured it would be fine if all we were doing anyways was going to some small town and asking about that Sumire chick. Kuro told me that she understood, before pointing in the corner of the room as another black hole opened up there. Without a word, Lady Kuro walked over to her portal, stepping one foot after the other into it and beckoning me to follow. As I did so and let my entire body get enveloped by it, the wooden surroundings broke away to reveal a familiar black void, which in turn faded out to reveal an empty dirt path with what appeared to be a half-constructed guard station beside it. Not far from where we had materialized, there was a thick line drawn in the dust and mud.
“This doth be Phantasia’s bord’r with the human realm,” Kuro explained, pointing downwards at the line in the dirt. “If ever thou wisheth to exeunt Phantasia, crossing this bord’rline wilt taketh thee to Texas in America.”
I decided not to question Lady Kuro’s unusual use of the word “exeunt”, since I had gotten the gist of what she said and I knew that her Shakespearean speech-pattern was just for show anyway. I told her that I had no plans to leave until Boxing Day at the earliest. Lady Kuro just smiled as she assured me that if I ever changed my mind, I was free to leave whenever I wanted, as she had another familiar who could take my place, even if he wasn’t quite as useful as Vera Dickens. Lady Kuro sure had covered all of her bases… her plan seemed completely flawless, provided that no other demons got in my way in Old King Hamlet! But, of-course, things were never going to be that easy, and I was a complete eejit for ever daring to think otherwise…