Hearing the witches introduction of herself made Ciel's skin crawl.

Being in the presence of one of Alphyria's strongest beings had made Ciel hands tremble uncontrollably beneath the table. The nervous sweat he felt prickle the corners of his face as he sat silently, trying to calm his racing heart.

The dragon keeper did not dare to look into those bird of prey eyes that starred intensely at him from the other side of the small wooden dining table. It made sitting on the seat uncomfortable as her hawk eyes continued to pierce the soul inside of him. His deep ocean jewels had locked permanently on the floating mushrooms of his stew, not daring to look up once.

The sisters of Alphyria were beings that should never be crossed by mortal men such as himself.

Evil beings that have been around for as long as anyone has remembered even before the great King of Alphyria. The sisters who were born by magic and the first to ever use it.

Immortal beings with great psychic powers who never followed the laws the nature.

The eldest who resided in Ventus had been banished to the far sides of Azura's Islands for something she had done that nearly brought war to Alphyria again, by the royal family of Ventus so long ago that had become ancient history.

The other three sister has never been seen or heard of again and it was said they live in each continent of Alphyria, surrounded by nothing except for their powerful magic spells.

Elisaria the youngest sister of the five, had also suddenly disappeared from the sight of humans and was never seen again by mortal eyes for as long as 6 hundred years that had sparked rumours of the witch being nothing but a legend who died and returned to nature.

Yet who knew she was alive this whole time and here Ciel was face to face with the witch who cut all contact with humans so long ago.

He was terrified if she was actually going to turn him into a toad and make toad stew out of him for her next meal.

"And who are ya?" her sudden sharp voice cut Ciel's inner thoughts, bringing him back to reality.

"C-Ciel" he quickly spoke with a stutter of his shaken and startled voice.

Elisaria eyes still analysed the startled dragon keeper like a bird of prey who was choosing her next prey to feast on. Those honey eyes that made Ciel more uncomfortable than he already was. She was scanning him up and down with those narrow slits of hers while she took spoon full of her stew that dripped down the overfilled hollow of wood and back into the steaming liquid with a faint plop.

He felt like she was checking him to make sure if he was worthy of something.

"oh, ya one of her harem boys, huh?" her question sounding like a sarcasm mock.

Ciel jerked back in confusion as that sentence was blurted out so casually from Elisaria. It shook a state of puzzled look to form across the keepers face. "Excuse me?" he rosed a questionable brow. "One of her harem boys?" he emphasised the last sentence.

"Stop ya yapping and start eating" Elisaria barked, smacking the tip of her spoon on Ciel's head.

"Ow!"

"Ya stew is getting cold" Elisaria growled, beginning to dig back into her own food that she finished with the last bite. "Ungrateful prat. Not eating my food that I made personally out of the kindness of my wrinkly old heart and then speaking when he should be eating" she murmured angrily to herself as if she wanted to Ciel to hear her and feel guilty. "Waste of good stew".

Ciel sweat dropped, his nose wrinkled in annoyance. 'Who are you calling ungrateful? I didn't even do say or do anything. You're the one who's been talking the most' is what he had wanted to say but he didn't want to be turned into a frog and then stew, so he kept it to himself.

Ciel gazed down at the stew that had reduced its steam because it had cool down and still continued to think. 'Her? Harem boy? I'm not anyone's boy or in a harem. This witch is definitely delusion after spending most of her lifetime alone in this cottage'

"The only delusion person here is ya." The witch instantly said with a smack of her chapped lips startling Ciel out of his thoughts again.

"E-Excuse me?"

"Look at ya. Not even touched ya food and still bickering like a young childish fool" she spoke with a mock and her tone was full of frustration while she picked up her bowl and stood up from her seat, the chair screeching against the wooden boards as she did.

Ciel couldn't hold the built of frustration inside of him. This witch has done nothing but to scold him, smack him with a spoon, rant about the food he hasn't even got the chance to eat and calling him an ungrateful prat which he clearly was not. "I'm not a young childish fool, I'm a 22-year-old adult with a sense of dignity and morals and I'm not an ungrateful prat!'

"You haven't given me a chance to ask you anything, explain myself or speak because all you have done is wack me on the head and tell me to either drink your disgusting gloop of medicine which only the Gods know what's in it or the stew you love so dearly!".

Elisaria only stood there with the bowl in the palms of her hands as she listened without being fazed with the rants the young lad was saying, her brows drooped down to form a long-knotted brow and her eyes came down to form the blank expression she pulls all the time.

"And what do you mean Harem boy? What does that even mean anyway?"

"Ya done?" she questioned with the same blank expression and with a questionable brow rising to its peak.

Ciel was taken back at her calm yet annoyed response that he nearly fell of his chair from total dumbfounded feeling he felt. He thought he crossed the line with the witch, and he was going to be turned into a toad right about now but instead she stood there and listened for once since he has woken up.

"Y-yes"

"Good" Elisaria smacked her lips again and then to turn around back to the direction she was walking before she stopped to listen to Ciel's angry rants and complaints. "Now finish up ya stew. Ya have a lot of work to do today" she gestured her hand.

Ciel mouth opened up and nearly dropped to the floor, he was baffled and dumbfounded at her reactions.

"What?" he mumbled his question in puzzled manner, trying to comprehend what the hell is going on. How is the witch so calm and not mad for his sudden anger towards her?

Shouldn't she turn him into a horrible looking toad or something?

"Staying here and using up my resources and supplies ain't free ya know" she wagged her bony finger at the puzzled and frightened Ciel.

"Y-yes, I know that. But I don't have any money on me" said Ciel sympathetically, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

Elisaria smacked her lips, narrowing her eyes in a slit and wrinkling her nose. "I don't need ya filthy money. I need ya to fix my roof" the witch explained with an old and screechy voice, turning her long skeleton like finger towards the ceiling which Ciel followed the direction to look up at the creaking boards.

"uhhh" Ciel pulled a face, scratching his cheek with his index finger in confusion. He thought he had to repay her big time, but it seemed the witch had other simpler plans for him which he felt grateful for. "Is that all?" he questioned.

Now pointing her thumb back, she demanded another errand "I need you to pluck out all the kittle weeds from the riverbanks. Those weeds are poisoning the water supply"

"Is that-"

Elisaria cut him off without waiting for him to speak "I also need ya to kill off any Clumper jacks that ya see. Those pesky toads are eating any fairies that come near and scaring off the mushroom folks" she hissed in bitter hatred, her teeth clenching in a pit of anger at the thought of those green ugly toads that are nothing but pests which ruin anything that is beautiful. Creating disgusting oozes of gloopy green mucus of waste behind after digesting, which poisons the greenery and sending an awful aroma that poisons any creature who smells it. "And make sure ya stab them in the head and gut them out in case they have swallowed a fairy or any other harmless creature of the forest"

The dragon keeper shivered in disgust, feeling his stomach acid rise to his throat and ready to puke out whatever that was left of his food that he had eaten god knows how long ago.

He clearly wasn't the type to stab frog heads and then gut them clean out. That was just horrifying to do especially just the thought made him sick to his stomach .

Ciel blinked as he tried to contain all the information that has been thrown at him all at once. He didn't think he would get this much errands the moment he wakes up from unconsciousness and it even brings him to a theory that the witch only saved him was to get him to do all this dirty work because she couldn't do it herself or that she was lazy and just wanted a slave to do her bidding, taking the advantage of 'I have saved you and your staying here so it means you have to do what I tell you to do. Nothing comes for free'

Before the dragon keeper knew it the witch began to walk away, waddling her way to a door that was quite far from where he sat. Her brown like cloak trailing behind as she did. "Don't over work self. We don't want that wound to open up would we" was the last thing Elisaria had said before disappearing into the room which she shut behind herself.

Ciel was all alone in the small little cottage room with nothing but the creaks of wooden boards echoing in his ears as the howls of the wind blowing against the clattering windows. He looked down at his stew that was untouched and probably already cold and felt his stomach turn.

He still didn't have any appetite to eat, especially with the fresh images of Demarcus blood body and the stench of his blood that still was there, lingering in his nose.

Ciel sniffed back a tear and wiped down his face with the palms of his hands to refresh himself from the memory. The dragon keeper only prayed that he hasn't been out cold that long and that they haven't executed Demarcus yet. He needed to find a way to save him even if it means he has to sacrifice himself, he can't let an innocent dragon die again.

Not this time.

He heaved a sigh and picked up the spoon. This time he was actually going to eat up the stew before Elisaria came after his ass with a cane or potions to turn him into a toad.

As he watched the mushrooms and pieces of vegetables and herbs float on top of the cool stew Elisaria's words came back to him 'oh, ya one of her harem boys, huh?'. The orange haired keeper clenched the wooden handle of the spoon and an angry pout appeared on his face.

Like an angry little toddler, his cheeks with a heated red flush and all puffed up, he mumbled to himself with a pouty face "I'm no one's harem boy" and he dug the wooden spoon into his cold stew.

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The heavens parted away the clouds and shone down their warm rays of sun to the small cottage that rested beside a crystal blue stream. The forever sounds of wavering water splashing gently along the stream, following towards the magical green forest of Viridis and straight through before expanding into a wondrous river of water magic for the magical creatures that lived among the greenery forest they called home.

The leaves danced alongside the softened charms of the wind, twinkling their tuneless bells that rang out the melody and then to be followed by the tunes of the fairies wings that fluttered around gracefully across the woodland grounds and flying angelically upon the crystal waters of the rushing stream.

Upon the beauty of the forest sounds was the constant hammering of wood and hammer that startled every bit of flinch in the creatures.

Ciel sat upon the wooden roof of the small cottage, with small nails trapped between his lips as he hammered down the hammer made of rock onto the wooden plank and nail. With the back of his hand, Ciel wiped away the sweat on his forehead. Blue sparkling eyes still locked with the one nail that still had the audacity to be still plucked up and not go down.

The breeze blew past him, cooling him down from the heat he was feeling from the work and the sun that wouldn't stop shining down on him. It was the breeze that made his orange hair dance like the wild flames you would see in a burning forest.

It was when he came to a halt of his loud hammering when he heard the ruffles of grass and the breaking of twigs.

His ocean blue eyes quickly shifted towards the forest in front of him. He watched from the rooftop at a certain spot in the forest. Tree trunks hung down creating nothing but a dark area, making it difficult for the dragon keeper to see what was in the forest.

It was the moving of a dark shadowy figure that strolled through that finally caught Ciel's glittering eyes. Ciel squinted his eyes to get a better look, shuffling forwards from his spot but when the figure emerged from the woods and into the light, Ciel's hand had slipped from the unattached plank that he rested upon.

"Oh SHIIIT!" Ciel tumbled down the roof with a shout that rattled the forest. He tried to grasp on something, but he was a tad bit slow. With a loud crash and thud, Ciel landed on the ground on his back. Luckily for the keeper, the cottage was small, and the ground wasn't too low from the roof to kill him or sustain any injuries.

He lay their with his limbs spread apart and face staring at the blue sky filled with the roaming white clouds. His back hurt from the land but his stomach ached with pain and winced back a shout.

The sudden outburst of the door that flung open so quickly with a loud creak and ratters, startled the poor keeper.

"Who died on my lawn?" Elisaria questioned with a hiss. Her head turning side to side so quickly, looking for the sign of the dead body that died on her garden.

Ciel managed to stagger his hand up and with a painful groan he replied to the old witch "I think I almost I did"

"If ya wanna die so badly go die somewhere else. Don't ruin my beautiful garden with ya decaying corpse"

"Yes, I know. Thanks for telling me". With an aching groans and a twist of his body, Ciel managed to rise himself up into a sitting position and to rub the pain of landing on his back so hard.

"I'm not planning to die anyway"

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