Chapter One.1 - Life as a Witch

Liliya breathed in deeply of the woods, the fresh dewy air sliding easily through her nose and down her throat. She delighted in the distinctive aromas she inhaled, closing her eyes as she concentrated on heightening her already sharpened senses. As she let herself fall into a translucent veil of peaceful darkness, she focused her mind on separating each individual layer of scent from its collective existence. Once this had been achieved she slowly breathed in every scent individually, letting each one suffuse her body and spirit.

It was a beautiful form of meditation she'd learnt a long time ago from her mother, whose name was Maeve. Tragically she had died ten years ago, leaving Liliya motherless at the tender age of eight. Her death, naturally, had caused a considerable amount of disquiet amongst their Coven, particularly because not a soul could discern the cause of her death.

        As was to be expected in such a situation many lengths had been made to uncover this great mystery, but to no avail. Not even the most powerful of their Coven had been able to bring to light the mystery of Maeve’s death. Unfortunately Liliya had only been told the slightest of details and thus she had been left with a great hole inside of her, and understandably, a gnawing need for closure; something she feared she’d never attain.

        She still missed her mother, even though many years had passed, and the mystery surrounding her death only made the grieving process that much longer. Many of the memories she held of her mother and the times they had shared together were faint, but she treasured what was left of each one, no matter how small. At first this task had been difficult; the agony of her mother’s death had still been so strong, but it was a little easier now.

She could remember Maeve's long dark red hair and her cool blue eyes; the way her alabaster-like skin had used to glow translucently under the sun. Liliya smiled at the memory, her fingertips brushing lightly through the red-golden strands of her own hair, still slightly damp from the shower she’d had before she’d left home that morning. Her mother had really been a beautiful woman.

She remembered moments as a child where she had just gazed up at her lovingly with the same admiration she had for the God and the Goddess. She had and still did look up to her mother so much; she was undoubtedly the most amazing person she’d ever known. There were still times where she couldn’t help but ponder Maeve’s death in anger. Why had such a wonderful person been torn from her existence? Where was the justification? Her mother had never done anything to hurt anyone!

        Liliya breathed in slowly again, trying to calm herself down, blinking any tears away. Her mother's death had impacted negatively upon so many people’s lives in so many different ways but she had to keep reminding herself that maybe it was meant to be. This was an especially hard thing to convince herself of. This was her mother; her mother. How could that be meant to be?

No matter how hard she tried, at certain moments she couldn't help but think such thoughts, even as a witch. As part of her studies she had learned that there were much more important matters at work, things that the majority of the human race would never get a glimpse of. It was possibly this piece of knowledge that had helped her work through her mother’s death the most. Death was always a shock but somehow if it had a reason behind it, acceptance was a slightly easier thing to come by.

Liliya gazed up at the cool blue sky, letting her saddened eyes linger dreamily on the sun rising behind the white elegance of the clouds. It always confounded her that  even though ten years had passed since her mother's death, at times she still felt the pain of it as freshly as if it had happened only a day before.