Raella was relieved to learn that it was possible for her to mute the Telepathic Link she had with the rest of the owls.

  Once the scouts had reported the description of the strange humanoids bunkered down in a cave on the edge of the valley to the East, the channel became absolute chaos. One hundred and eighty-eight owls all began hooting and screeching about witches continuously, making strategy or communication impossible. The military efficiency the birds displayed earlier completely evaporated, but Elder Jihe took this frustrating development in stride.

  The reason he was so calm; these chumps weren’t True Witches at all. It was a fact that Elder Jihe would attempt to communicate to his new disciples later. Raella was not sure how successful that conversation would be.

  These men were Brujos. A Brujo or a Bruja (male and female, respectively) was a Shaman who contracted with Evil Spirits for personal gain–opposed to the selfless service embodied by a true Spiritual Healer. The Spanish name for authentic healers of the South American traditions was a Curandero or Curandera (male and female, respectively).

  Brujo’s used their power and influence to ensorcel and take advantage of vulnerable people who came to them seeking guidance, healing, or help. Instead of aiding them, the Brujo purposely made their sickness worse as they stole their patrons money, Chi, blood, and even their lives to advance their own Cultivation. They would tell lies about how they just needed this or that, or the person just had to do x y and z for the Brujo first–then they would be able to “cure” their victim. Often it was expensive snake oil that the client had to pay the Brujo to buy, or personal devotion and sexual favors given to the Brujo under the guise of “Healing.” Once a victim’s bank account had been fully drained, it was usually their lifesblood that came next. Desperate for help with their mind muddled by bad ceremonies–a strong and level headed person could easily find themselves “bewitched” by a Brujo. They had methods of manipulation on par with cult leaders.

  This particular group of brujeria (black magic) practitioners was well known to Clan Shenlahaafsah. Master Shen (who administered medicine to anyone) had even healed some of their core members long before Raella was born. These “Jaguar Men” were from the Malva Tribe; an infamous blight on the Amazon Jungle.

  The Malva were originally from Middle World, but made the first shallow layers of the Astral Realm in Lower World their home as their power grew. They moved between the two Planes with impunity, as the [Realm Guardian]’s of the Southern Jungle were mostly corrupt and open to bribery.

  The Amazon was a place of extremes; blinding light, and all encompassing darkness. The sound of the Rainforest at night was really a song of war, as each individual organism competed with every other for the limited Chi and nutrients available. It was not a place of open, unguarded hearts and blind altruism like California. The Jungle was a place where losing focus, even for a moment, could mean your doom.

  The Malva were exceedingly powerful by mortal standards. It was not uncommon that parents in the Southern Jungle frightened their children with stories of Demon Jaguars that would devour them in the night if they strayed from the camino dorado (the golden road of righteous action). Mostly, the Malva dealt in assassinations, and were rumored to do the dirty work of Human Cultivators that didn’t wish to get their hands bloody. The situation on Earth being what it was, if a Human Cultivator had to take care of a problem on their own–they risked exposing their identity–and that was the last thing they ever wanted to do.

  Raella’s Father spent many sleepless nights wondering if he had done the right thing by granting mercy to some of them all those years ago.

  He would have crushed them utterly, but fighting between Realms of Cultivation was one of the greatest taboo’s under Heaven, even if the weaklings aligned themselves with Demons. And so Kaekatouzen did what he could, diverting resources towards supporting the victims of their crimes whenever possible.

  Despite being the Spanish word for “witch”, Bruja’s and True Witches were not the same. A True Witch (Verdadera Hechicera) was born, not trained. They were anomalies of the Dao that neither the System nor the Heavens could fully control or understand. When a person's gross body reached lvl 6, any female on Earth had a 0.0000666…% chance of becoming a True Witch. Male Witches were rumored to exist, but they had an even rarer chance of appearing, at around 0.00000333…%

  Those statistics came from the System itself, as the information would be nigh impossible to gather normally. Her Father once told Raella that long ago, he was completing a Quest Chain from the System that had to do with a Witch that was wreaking havoc in the Faerie Realm, and the System was in such a strange mood that he managed to get it talking. It went on and on about Witches, to the point that her Father suspected the System was kind of obsessed with them. The System told Father that there were actually requirements that needed to be met to become a Witch; but they were strange, random, and the System wasn’t even aware of them before they were completed. Once the mysterious requirements were met, that person became a [Witch], and the Cultivator had no choice in the matter either. Once the process was complete, the Aura of the Cultivator expanded outwards and transformed into a unique and powerful domain, known as a “Witch’s weird.”

  Within the weird of a Witch, the System does not work at all. Many scholars suspect that the System itself is a kind of domain–one that covers the entirety of Earth’s Middle and Lower World. Somehow, the weird of a Witch has the ability to negate it.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  A Witch can still use the System if she wants, but for anyone else inside her weird, it’s as if they were a Cultivator from the pre-System Era. They can still accomplish everything they could do with the System’s help, but it was a bit like driving a car without power steering or an automatic transmission. It took much more concentration and effort. On top of that, within their weird, a Witch had supreme authority over at least one of the five elements, and they could even gain authority over more elements as they aged and grew in power. Serious trouble began when more than one Witch joined their weird with others to form a coven. That was usually a problem Heaven had to send an Angel to solve.

  Authority over a Dao is usually a very high level accomplishment that only comes through rigorous effort and a deep comprehension of the universe. Raella’s Father was a Nature God, and he only had authority over Zhen (Thunder). As one of the eight trigrams, Zhen was a subordinate concept to the five elements (Earth, Metal, Water, Wood, and Fire). These “elements” were not always literal. In truth, the element Metal was really “metalness,” Water was “waterness,” Fire was “Fireness,” and so on.

  A Witch was simply a living embodiment of Authority over their element, needing no conscious comprehension to wield within their weird. Much like a bird, a True Witch was simply born already knowing how to fly.

  Lao Tzu wrote: “One gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to the ten thousand things.”

  One and two are Yang and Yin, Yin and Yang give birth to Chi–which is three. Four is the combination of three dimensions of space, and one of time–the stage upon which creation plays. Five are the elemental transformations of physical matter, through which all things are made and unmade.

  Fortunately, a weird had some limitations, and similar properties to a vortex. They became stronger and “more established” the longer a Witch entrenched herself in one physical place. It might be an ancient forest, a swamp, a desert, or the bottom of a lake that a Witch chooses to make her home. Within that home, the Witch’s authority over her given element(s) was absolute.

  For example, if a lvl 100 Cultivator, following an Earth based path stumbled into the fully formed weird of a lvl 6 Earth Witch, all of the Cultivator's Earth Chi would instantly belong to the Witch the moment it left the boundary of his Aura as part of a technique. He would be powerless against her–scary stuff.

  “Uhhhnnnnn”

  The stirring of the stunned Puma beside Raella ripped her from her mind's Witchy wanderings.

  “You Okay, safe now.” said Raella in a soothing, maternal voice as she stroked Pifore-titu’s head.

  They were still in the cave, the fire had been rekindled, and Elder Jihe was rifling through the Malva Tribes belongings while giving Raella “The silent treatment.” He was still furious with her for charging into the cave after them while still at level 1. Even so, he maimed as many of the Jaguars as he could so Raella could get the kills to earn a few levels so she didn’t die. She was lvl 4 now. Yay!

  Tearing their throats out with her Canine jaws felt good. They turned to ash when they died though. She kept licking the prone Pifore all over, mostly to get the sulfery taste out of her mouth. The few members of the [Realm Guardian]’s family that didn’t run away were still deep in the medicine, and Elder Jihe had ordered Raella to be their sitter for the rest of the night as punishment for her recklessness. Raella thought he was mostly just mad at himself for letting some of the Jaguar’s escape. Wisteria Wutenshi was gone without a trace as well…

  It was annoying, but not a huge problem. They were relieved that these foes would be no match for Elder Jihe or her Father, but somehow that just made Elder Jihe more nervous. He thought they were missing something. Trying to take down Kaekatouzen Shenlahaafsah with this level of power was suicide, and the Malva were not that stupid.

  “Raella.’ said Elder Jihe with such seriousness it made her heart skip a beat. He rarely said her name. It was usually “Young Mistress.”

  He was behind the maestro’s altar, peering at a small, heavily warded crystal vial that he fished out of a human skin leather bag.

  “I need to go. Now. I have discovered a Gu (poison) that should be far beyond the Malva Tribe's ability to make... A Gu that could even kill Master Shen. Under no circumstances are you to leave this cave until I return.” said the owl.

  There was a small flash of light as the vial disappeared into Elder Jihe's storage ring. And with that, he flew out of the cave without so much as a sound. Koti, Vigil, and Pinep stayed behind. She knew they had been ordered to keep her there.

  The fire popped and crackled in the middle of the space for a few minutes while Raella wept silently. Pifore was licking her all over. She pretended it was her Dad. Some of the other Pumas started making frightened growls and nervous repetitive sounds. She could hear Jihe barking orders to the owls over Telepathic Link. She muted it again for the moment. Raella remembered that she was the Curandera now, and it was her responsibility to sail this nightmare of a ceremony into port. She sat up, gently pushed the traumatized [Realm Guardian] away from herself, and announced the first rule of ceremony loud enough for all to hear:

  “Focus on breath. Focus on music. Take you past all fear.”

  Then Raella began to sing.