Diary of a Witch | A Short Fan Story

˚₊ ⁺ INTRODUCTION ⁺ ₊˚

↳ Welcome to my Fan Story!

Hello lovely people of SGA, today you

will have a first taste of my writing.

Since a few days I have this scenario

stuck in my head with Howl and Sophie

making a discovery, and possibly they

embark on a new adventure (this time

without a Wicked Witch of the Waste).

Not too happy with the title I chose

because it feels a little superficial, but

oh well, let's not get hung up on that

and start with the story!

↳ Follow me into my private library, Dearest Reader. There is a story I just have to share with you!

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˚₊ ⁺ A SHORT SUMMARY ⁺ ₊˚

↳ Coming up in today's story ...

Trying to escape Sophie's cleaning agenda, Howl emerses himself in a unique book he had once won from a stranger on a night in the pub. He makes an interesting discovery. A new spell. As he dives into unraveling the secrets written behind the mysterious symbols, whatever Howl unlocks by breaking this spell will surely cause a ruckus within the magical community somwhere down the line.

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It was one of those days when Sophie was simply itching to clean the house, from the top of the attic down to the farthest corner of the basement. When Howl had inquired about this bothersome task, Sophie claimed that the last hot days of summer were perfect for giving the house one final scrub, seeing as it would dry fast and easy, before the cold moist air of the fall season would stomp down on her motivation to do anything productive. Ah, the winter blues, who doesn't know it?

Howl, rolling his eyes when the starlight-haired woman shooed him out of the drawing room, merely scoffed and turned his attention back to the book he was reading. For the wizard it was a rare boring day. There was nothing much to do. Markl had gone off somewhere in Market Chipping — probably to meet with Sophie's sister again, the two of them were head over heels for each other — hence there was no use in teaching someone who wasn't even present.

Since it was a Sunday, the shop was also closed and there were no customers asking for his attention. The King had finally ceased any attempt of pursuing the stubborn wizard. There were no spells or potions to make, either. Days like these were much disliked by the flamboyant Howl (although, ever since Sophie came into his life, he had learned to slow down his fast pace of living, he still was and always would be the same at heart.)

But his demeanour changed almost instantly the moment his eyes fell upon a strange symbol on the very last page of his book. It had faded with time, yet he could still decipher a pantegram within a swirl of circles, and words of a foreign language written in red. He knew magic when he saw it. And that right there was one of the most difficult spells he had ever seen. He had the faintest idea what it could do — or rather, why it was written in this particular book.

Howl scanned the title on the cover again, golden letters on brown leather, used and worn down from the countless hands that had picked it up.

Diary of a Witch

And ingraved on the inside was a single name.

Tanwen

Gradually, a smirk spread across his handsome features. Excitement glistened in those crystal blue irises. His body moved of its own accord, pushing past Sophie, ignoring her complaints when he walked over the freshly cleaned floorboards, and settled down at his work bench, pulling out an assortment of items, ingredients, and tools.

At last, he would find a cure for his boredom and on top of it all, he might unlock a new secret to the magic he had studied for so long.

Perhaps, Sundays weren't all that bad.

( . . . )

"Are you still poring over the same book you did this morning? I can't see what is so interesting about it."

Sophie's voice pierced through his bubble. Briefly, Howl glanced up at her, and he offered a smile.

"I'm on the verge of breaking this spell! Oh, how I wish Calcifer could see this!"

With a hint of sadness painting a shadow over his face, Howl peeked at the fireplace where there mingled a boring ordinary flame without intelligence or a repertoire of snarky remarks. He quickly painted over his saddnes with a grin.

Sophie frowned. "I still don't understand. A spell? Why would somebody put a spell on an old book?"

She glanced over his shoulder through a magnifying glass revealing several more details about the markings on the inside of the book than a mere human eye could perceive. There were too many intricate details, she could only guess how powerful of a spell it was, though there was not a single doubt in her mind that the Great Wizard Howl would be able to break it, even without Calcifer's service.

"It is quite simple, actually," Howl itted, smiling gently at the intrigue reflecting in Sophie's eyes. "This diary once belonged to a witch. She supposedly lived two hundred years ago. Many of the spells I have learned as an apprentice have in some way been influenced by her. She is said to be a mother of magic, a brilliant witch with a bright mind."

"And what does this spell have to do with it?"

"As you can imagine, people in positions of power and influence are feared in equal amounts as they are ired, meaning there were folks out and about to hunt her down. One of them was her own brother. I can only assume he was the one who cast this spell on Tanwen."

Purple sparks flew when Howl poured drops of an unidentified black liquid onto the intricate design of the spell. The red symbols glowed eerily.

"What did the spell do to her?" Apprehensive as much as she was curious, Sophie peered down at the diary as it began to shake and turn pages as though seized by a strong gust of wind. She took a cautionary step backwards, her hands gripped tightly at Howl's shoulders, who chuckled at her.

"Well, judging by the symbols I know, this spell's intended use is for locking someone in a prison dimension created withing the object or individual it has been cast upon."

A gasp ed through her lips. "You mean to tell me ... a body of flesh and blood can be turned into a prison?! That's horrible! Why would anybody do this?"

"Fear can be a great motivator." Howl heaved a saddened sigh.

He hovered over the book, cerulean eyes fixed on the glowing symbols, and he chanted words of a foreign language, a string of harsh and throaty sounds that sent a trembling shiver down Sophie's spine. There was a pit in her stomach. Perhaps, this was what Howl meant.

Magic was a medium not many people cared to understand, many ired it, many feared it, few became masters of it, and some individuals went as far as to set themselves the goal of eradicating it. The great unknown was always something mankind had feared, since the beginning of time. And hearing Howl continue his chanting made Sophie wish he would stop his endeavour of setting this ancient witch free.

But before she could voice a plea, the whole house began to shake. The diary emitted a blinding light. Instinctively, Sophie pulled Howl away from his work bench and clutched onto his arm. Usually she wasn't one to cower in fear, she had grown to be quite confident in her own skin, but magic was something she refused to temper with unless she knew exactly what she was getting herself into.

As the whole room was flooded with blinding white light, a thud reached her ears, as though a particular large and heavy sack of potatoes had been dropped on the floor.

And when everything returned to its natural state, the couple was faced with an awestriking sight.

A woman, roughly the same age as Sophie, had stumbled from the pages of the diary. Laying sprawled across the floor in a sunflower yellow dress, her auburn hair a mess on top of her head, she was pale faced and noticeably stunned at the sudden change in her surroundings. She remained staring at the ceiling as the cogs in her head gradually began to grind and put together whatever information her senses picked up on.

In the midst of her confusion, the young woman was certain of one thing only.

Someone who possessed a talented hand at magical spells had finally broken her out of this dreadful prison.

And the fact she was absolutely oblivious to how much time had ed in the real world.

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˚₊ ⁺ OUTRODUCTION ⁺ ₊˚

↳ Thank you for reading til the end!

Feel free to leave your opinions in the

comments, I'm always happy to read

through them and keep working to

improve my writing. And truth be told,

I do aspire to be a successful writer

one of these days so ... fingers crossed!

See you around! Bye bye! ♡