If Lazulei was anything to go by, she had been doing things wrong for more decades than she cared to remember. All this time spent helping her masters grind these skies into a fine, marketable dust. Enough was enough. The Hidden Witch wasn’t scared to do what she thought was right.

  It’s time I step beyond the High Coven. We were never more than an extension of Madam Silver’s will, anyway. I need to find a new path. My own will. And that starts today. The humble residents of Prophet’s Peak will not come to harm on my watch no matter who stands in my way. I make this oath as a respectable witch.

  “Turn back, scum. I won’t ask you again.” The man before me dressed in black rags had a shapely face and was remarkably well kempt. His eyes reminded me of the pillar of mana rising from Lazulei’s spring. I can’t say I have ever met a pirate quite like him, “You will not bring harm to this temple.”

  He smirked, letting out a bold laugh as he drew his sword. It left an entrancing golden trail as he brought its point toward the sky, “And neither will you.”

  All ten of his men started glowing gold and spoke in unison, “May the Saint’s grace guide us home.”

  What does the Saint have to do with this?! Is this an incantation? I have to stop it, fast. But is slaughter the answer? Dammit, I don’t know what to do.

  Their Captain didn’t let my deliberation go to waste and withdrew a book from his coat, “The demon will bear its mask as champion of the people, the force through which civilization prospers. But let not the false shepherd claim you too. Through thine own eyes will you realize as the beauty of these skies wither, so too do its people.”

  Mana gathered like a golden flower around him and the quartz it touched fell from the sky.

  This doesn’t make any sense. Holy mana shouldn’t be able to dispel my earth—no, why haven’t they dispersed? Just what is this magic?

  It was simple. The Quartz Witch could launch her thousand stone daggers and be done with it, but something was telling her not to.

  Let not the false shepherd claim you too…

  Quartz was frozen in place, stuck in her mind. The absolute worst place to be in battle, but she couldn’t help it. She did not believe in the Final Sky’s rhetoric, but his words were not only reasonable, but resonant somewhere deep.

  “Hah.” With newfound fervor the captain sheathed his blade before taking a single step forward, “You would pillage this holy place yet don’t even have the nerve to stand against those you trample? This is going to be easy. Boys, get on it.”

  Wait… Me? Pillage this place? That man is almost speaking like they’re the ones defending this place. Not me…

  In that moment Quartz realized how these people saw her. A simple marauder like the rest. Like Madam Silver.

  No… I-I’ve changed. I’m trying to change!

  “Bringer of ruin,” His crew altogether used her silence to perform a haunting chant that shook Quartz to her core, “May the imminent tides carry you to brighter shores.”

  “In the name of the Saint,” Their captain continued, “The earth yields to the sky.”

  Every last one of my daggers blew away on the wind.

  What—

  “Userper of the sky’s beauty!” The Captain shouted as his golden flower bloomed. I have to stop him. No matter how powerful I may be, faltering like this is an easy way to die. No more excuses. Stop this chant. “Bear the weight of your own—guh." He coughed up blood.

  I had no choice. I had to. The crew gasped in astonishment as a new spear of quartz impaled their captain through the chest. It missed his lung by a finger’s width.

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  “Shores, no!!” A couple of his men ran up to cradle him like a newborn babe, tears falling from their eyes. Feeling their emotions so palpable moved Quartz, but it changed nothing. She had to stop these invaders.

  “Leave this place now, pirate scum.” Quartz’ voice was gentle yet firm, “I won’t tell you again. No one is desecrating this place on my watch.”

  “Noooo!!!” A young man cried.

  “How could you do this?!” an even younger man whose future at a glance seemed quite bright cried in succession.

  Did they hear me… Do I have to repeat myself? “Ahem. Pirate scum—”

  “We need a minute, okay?!” a red-haired man with hopeful eyes shouted into my soul.

  “Yeah, will you fu—”

  “Boys…” They’re captain drew attention from each and every one of them with his raspy last words, “Don’t forget me, but don’t carry on for me… Carry on for her…”

  What the hell are these people talking about, “I am not playing games here.” I leveled a quartz blade to the captain’s throat and he turned to me with a smile.

  “Dear witch, heed my words… It doesn’t have to end this way.” He coughed up blood into one of his trusted men’s hands. “We can join hands. Cough cough. You and I.”

  This man… What does he mean?

  “Begone, woeful harlot!” His crew’s collective chant forced a wave of holy mana my way. It didn’t hurt my feelings, per se, but I did indeed feel a disturbance in the aether which rippled through my quartz.

  They didn’t fall, no, but my final blow missed by a hair’s breadth through no fault of my own. As if to mock my efforts, the captain only laughed further as he watched a spear’s point sink into the earth before his snout.

  “It’s no use, witch. Don’t you see?” She did not see, believe it or not.

  “Perish now, invader!” Another spear simply fizzled out as it should have gored his gizzard.

  I don’t understand what’s happening.

  “Silly, silly little witch.” Pushing himself up on an elbow, the bloody mess of a captain righted himself, “Don’t you see that this is the Saint’s will at work? You will never harm me, and I shall never harm you. This is fate unfolding before our eyes.”

  ___

  This pirate could be nothing less than a madman, but he claims to bend to the Saint’s will. Just who is she?

  The only thing Quartz knew was that the Saint worked with the Hidden Witch.

  Hang on… Is this her ally? But what could they want with a rock like this?

  Quartz’ mind raced as she tried to figure out the connection, but it just didn’t arrive. These pirates appeared weirdly religious in her eyes, but they wouldn’t be the first to attempt to forcibly take Prophet’s Peak from Earth Vein.

  Enough of this nonsense, Quartz thought. Her voice grew cold, “What is your relation to the Hidden Witch. How does the Saint play into this?”

  “Oh, my, little witch—” The captain froze as my blade drew a meager drop of blood from his neck, “Okay, okay. Just relax. We’re all friends here."

  “Are we?!” I shouted, for some reason more emotionally than I meant.

  “Yeah, Captain.” One of his men butted in, “She’s the enemy, right? How many years has she been defiling this place? She has to go—”

  “Two weeks!” I blurted out, in spite of my own best judgment, “I was stationed here hardly two weeks ago after assisting the Hidden Witch in the restoration of Lazulei.”

  Silence ensued among their ranks until the captain stood up, dripping blood, and threw his arms around what I assumed to be his first mate with the big fists, “Fantastic. I don’t know what Lazulei is yet, but something tells me I should respect such a feat. Witch… I don’t know you, but let’s put an end to this bloodshed.”

  He pleaded perhaps in desperation as my quartz blade pressed against his neck, but that didn’t feel quite right.

  I don’t get this fellow. Any other pirate, I would just remove their head and be done with it. But him? I’m not so sure at this point. It’s maddening. Who is he?

  “You killed Skyfall.” I spat, “Why should I show you mercy?”

  His genial expression didn’t change as I accused him of murder.

  “No, actually.” A bitter laugh left his lips, a stark change in mood from his previous demeanor, “It was actually your friend Skyfall who may have killed six of my men. Regardless, she will surely awake at dawn.”

  “Lies!” I could feel her mana no matter where it was on the island, and there was no trace. Swaying my emotions was just another tactic, but he had finally shown his true colors. This debate was over. “Perish now at the hands of the Quartzen Cirrus.”

  The island trembled as I unleashed my ultimate witchcraft. The shores shriveled to dust and mana closed in on them like a jagged crystal dome.

  This is over—wait… what did he do?!

  My quartz spears were perfect and unconcerned with lack of force from their holy magics, barreled into each of their necks. Only in the last moment did they dissipate into an inexplicable golden powder. Naturally, their captain only laughed, as if it was what he expected.

  “The Saint does not wish for us to quarrel, don’t you see?”

  “Enough of your nonsense.” I raised another volley of spears and a most unexpected voice cried out.

  “Wait, please stop!” Sheffield ran out the door and threw himself to the ground between us just as I decided to agitate the ground they stood on, “Please, Madam Quartz, reconsider! These men are not enemies of Prophet’s Peak!”

  “I have tested their intentions, priest. Let me do my work.” I raised my hand to sever twelve heads at once with my witchcraft, but their loudmouthed captain just couldn’t shut himself up.

  “Sheffield… Is that really you?” Next time I swore to destroy the pirates before it comes to debate.