Coming to the center of the island, they came across of all kinds of houses. Unlike those traditional wood or brick houses, these buildings seemed like the wall as if they had just grown out of the ground, fusing the body of the house together with the ground.
“Sister Ashes, the house at the most northern end is Lady Tilly’s palace, I will take the Captain with me to complete the delivery, you don’t need to come along for this, it would be for the best if you first went to go see the Lady,” the little girl waved in the direction of the path.
Ashes nodded, and said goodbye to the two, quickly following the path to the North. Along the way she saw a lot of familiar faces, they all either bowed in greeting or waved at her with a smile. The homeland of the witches, the word grew brighter and brighter within Ashes’ heart, filling her whole body with strength.
The founder of the homeland was Tilly Wimbledon, the Queen of Witches.
And contrary to the Royal Palace, her spacious house had no guards in it, and there were also no locks on the doors. Allowing Ashes to walk through the vestibule, and directly step into the hall, only to see a familiar back in front of her.
She quietly walked on tiptoe to behind her counterpart and blindfolding the gray-haired woman’s eyes with her hands.
“I perceived you as soon as you reached the door,” the other laughed. “Do not forget how I picked you out of the crowd to begin with.”
The extraordinary had the ability to sense the magic in others, and between two extraordinaries this feeling was even stronger. This was because their magic was connected with one another, like an invisible fetter, firmly connecting Tilly and her together.
“I’m back,” Ashes said softly.
“En,” Tilly replied cheerfully, “Welcome home.”
For a moment, the two of them enjoyed the warm atmosphere, until Ashes’ attention was drawn to a bunch of jewel-like gadgets in front of her, curiously she asked, “What are these?”
“Come,” Tilly patted the place next to her body, “I’ll show you something interesting.”
Ashes followed her suggestion and sat cross-legged next to Tilly, seeing how she put a white silk glove over her hand, which had a crystal ruby embedded on the back of the hand.
“This is… a tracking Stone?”
Tilly didn’t give her an answer. Instead, she just smiled and reached into the open air, suddenly, a flash of lightning jump from her fingertips, hitting the ground, issuing a crackling sound, followed by smoke rising from the ground, finally leaving behind a palm-sized black mark.
Ashes couldn’t believe her eyes, “You have a new ability…”
Tilly Wimbledon was an extraordinary, her magic was only usable on herself, manifesting in her unsurpassed intelligence, making it impossible for her to have her magic manifest like typical witches’ abilities would. The lightning flash just now meant that she now possessed a whole new ability, something which should have been impossible. A witch could never have two kinds of primary abilities, this was common sense that all witches were aware of.
Tilly took the glove off and handed it to Ashes, “It is not that I have a new ability, rather it is because of this stone.” She smiled, “It has the power to change how your magic works, and make your magic to even show an effect totally opposite to your current one.”
When Ashes rubbed the jewel on top of the glove, she became shocked to her core; she immediately knew that Tilly hadn’t lied to her, which meant that from now on, non-combat witches would also have the ability to fight, significantly enhancing the witches’ ability to resist the against enemy. “How many of these stones do we have?”
“There’s only one,” it seemed that Tilly already understood Ashes thought process, “in addition, it’s also not that easy to use. You have to accept magic as something that actually exist; then you have to fill the stone with this magic and only then you can release it.”
For a long time Ashes painstakingly meditative wished for it, but no trace of light could be seen.
“Do you believe me now?” Tilly said teasingly, “We extraordinary have it better than others, we can sense magic, for other witches it is much more challenging, it’s taking our imagination and comprehension to its limits. As a matter of fact, I have already tested a lot of witches, but only two to three out of one hundred were able to comprehend it and release the lightning early enough.
“Are you mocking me for being slow-witted?” Ashes took off the glove and threw it to the side.
“Pretty much,” Tilly raised her eyebrow, “At that time, I merely used…”
To stop her, Ashes kissed her, only permitting her to croon for a bit… when they finally separated, the latter took in a long breath, “Well, not so stupid after all.”
