There was a part of Terra that feared this darker side to her. It started off as a voice in her head. The voice would always repeat the same things over and over. Let them burn as the voice would whisper in Terra’s ears. She, unlike her grandmother, named this darker side Dark Terra. Terra saw no reason to give this voice its own name. It was just darkness stuck within her.  

Over time, the voice grew louder. Started speaking more and more. Whenever Terra would go out to protect her city. Let them burn Dark Terra would tell her. Kill them all. Sure Terra would choke people near to death with her powers, but she never thought about killing them. Hearing their screams and the smell of burning flesh, the thought pained the young witch.

After years of dealing with this voice, Terra had had enough of her. They made an agreement. Terra, with a little extra help of Dark Terra, would perform the spell to give Dark Terra a body of her own. The two would be happy and Terra would be rid of her darker self.

    Terra stared at the bubbling green liquid, nose scrunching at the smell of rotten foods. “Are we sure this right?” Terra looked back at the spellbook, reading over the spell once more.

    ‘Yes, now continue weakling.’ Dark Terra’s voice echoed in Terra’s head. She was angry with the hesitation that Terra had and the fact that the woman was referring to the spellbook. If she was a true witch, the girl wouldn’t need this old book.

    Terra rolled her eyes before continuing with the spell. “Blood,” She picked up a knife and swiped the sharp edge across the palm of her hand. “From the host.” She hovered her hand over the bubbling pot, watching as droplets fell into it. She recited the spell while stirring the liquid altogether. “And now we drink.” She ladled some of the liquid into a small cup. Her stomach began to turn. Just the smell of the liquid made her sick to her stomach. A small part of her was beginning to regret this decision.

    ‘Drink it!’

Terra flinched at the words. Taking a deep breath, the girl brought the cup to her mouth and took a sip from it. She was met with unfamiliar and contrasting tastes causing her to cough it back up into the cup.

‘You idiot!’

“I’m sorry, you try holding that down.” Terra snapped at her darker half. She would have rather drank some of her grandmother’s homemade vegan remedies than have to go through that again. Terra rubbed her face while staring at the wooden floors of her bedroom. There was no way she was going to go through that again.

A sudden cry of pain escaped from Terra’s lips. She gripped her head as she curled up to the floor. Her head was pounding and her stomach was churning. Why was she feeling this pain? Was this because of the potion? Terra knew she should’ve waited for her grandmother. Maybe the woman would’ve helped her with everything. Tried to help her with Dark Terra.

    “Finally,” Terra’s eyes widen as she heard the voice. Was Dark Terra taking over her body? Was she going to- “Look at me, child.”

    Terra turned her head to the side to see a pair of bare feet. She slowly looked up and it was like she was looking in a mirror. All she could see was herself. It wasn’t herself though. The eyes gave that away. There were orange tints to the hazel eyes. Darkness to them.

    Dark Terra smiled at her confused host before she walked to Terra’s closet. She was in desperate need of some clothes. Something that was a little darker for herself. “You should’ve thought twice about giving me my own body.” She told Terra while getting dressed. “After all, you need my help to perform certain spells.”

    “I’m still powerful. You were stuck in my body.”

    “Think of all the times that I took over though. I’m the stronger one.” Dark Terra looked herself in a mirror before glaring at her old host. “You are nothing. Just a pathetic witch. Such disgrace to the bloodline.”

    “You take that back!” Terra flicked her wrists. A faint orange glow appeared around them. She could feel the magic awaken in her blood and flowing through her body. “I’m just as strong as you.”

    Dark Terra smirked to herself before flicking her wrists as well. “I truly love a challenge.”

    A fire erupted from Dark Terra’s hands and an orange ball went flying towards Terra. Terra brought her hands up in front of her, stopping the fire from getting too close to her. She stared at the fire with wide eyes before pushing it back to Dark Terra. The fire only disappeared from the air with a wave from Dark Terra’s hands.

    Terra brought her hand up and jerked it to the left. Pictures fell from the wall and Dark Terra grunted as she got back to her feet.

    “Is that the best you can do?” Dark Terra asked before her eyes glowed a bright orange. Strong winds mixed with fire started blowing in Terra’s bedroom. The winds whipped both the girl's hair around their faces.

Terra began to crouch down and protect her face from streams of fire that would whip towards her. This was something that she had never seen before. Not even from her grandmother.

“You see what I mean?!” Terra heard Dark Terra loudly cackle. “You are nothing but a weak, pathetic, disgrace.”

Terra felt the room suddenly calm down. Hair wasn’t whipping around anymore. She couldn’t feel the heat of the fire either. The girl carefully lifted her head up to see Dark Terra holding the spellbook. The leatherbound book that was tearing at the spine. The book that has been in her family for centuries.

“You put that down!” Terra heard herself yell at her darker persona.

Dark Terra only shrugged before setting fire to the book and letting it fall to the floor. “A true witch doesn’t need some musty old book to help her.” The girl burst into flames and disappeared from the bedroom.

    Terra held herself on her bed. Tears were streaming down her face as she stared at the ashes on her floor. The book that has been passed down for centuries. Something that was entrusted to her-

    “Terra!?”

    Terra quickly wiped the tears off her face. She jumped off her bed and hurried to the door. “What is it grandma?”

    “You need to come down here!”

    Terra ran her hand through her hair before looking back at the ashes. “Coming!” She closed the door behind her before she headed down the stairs. With every step she took, the stairs squeaked with her presence. She could hear the tv playing in the living room. “What’s wro-”

    The news was playing on the tv, showing their city in ruins. Fires were scattered everywhere with people running in all sorts of directions. “There is this-” the news reporter looked over her shoulder before looking back at the camera. “This demon destroying the city-” The tv was muted and Terra looked back to her grandmother.

A look of disappointment was on her grandmother’s face. “I told you to not mess with dark magic like that.”

“It was becoming too much. Hearing her voice constantly.”

“You should’ve come to me then. I know how to control these things.”

“And what do you know grandma?” Terra snapped at the elderly. “Made me some tea? Prescribed more herbal scents? Your herbal ways grandma, it doesn’t work! You call yourself a witch? When was the last time you used your magic?”

There was a stinging sensation on Terra’s cheek. She held her cheek while staring at her grandma in shock. “What the hell?”

Terra’s grandmother only stared at her before she shuffled into the kitchen. “There is always a way to undo these things. You’ll just need to beat this witch at her own game.”

“She burned the book grandma,” Terra admitted in defeat, dropping her hand to the side. She refused to meet the stare of her grandmother. “What am I supposed to do without it?”

“The book is used to help beginners. When you would head out at night to protect the streets of our city, you never needed that book.”

Terra looked to meet the warm hazel eyes of her grandmother. Constantly hearing Dark Terra made her think otherwise. After the little fight they had, it really did make Terra think twice about being a witch.

“Terra, you are a strong young woman. You are no disgrace to this bloodline. You made a hasty decision in a time where you were desperate. Any witch in your place would’ve done the same.”

“What are you saying?” Terra asked her grandmother.

“Go out there, protect your city, and beat that witch bitch.”

    Dark Terra wandered the streets. They were scattered with small fires and debris. People were nowhere to be found in the streets. The only sound she could hear was the crackling of the fires. It’s her city now. No one stopped her from all the destruction or from taking over. And where was Terra? Most likely hiding in her grandmother’s cabin like the little coward Dark Terra believed her to be.

“Hey!”

    Dark Terra looked away from her reflection. Before her was Terra, and this was the one excitement she was looking for. “Back for more?” She flicked her wrists and an orange glow appeared before fading away. “Want to see what else you’re not capable of?”

    Terra flicked her wrists feeling the magic flow through her again. “You’re going back to where you belong.” She sent her hand flying forward, sending concrete and wood panels towards Dark Terra.

    Dark Terra raised a single hand, stopping all the debris that was flying towards her. Her eyes glowed before she raised both her hands. The earth around Terra started to shake before rising up around her. Dark Terra quickly brought her hands together resulting in the earth to crush Terra.

    “That the best you can do?” Dark Terra looked behind her. “Up here!” Dark Terra glared at the figure that was standing on a pile of debris.

    Terra smirked at the angry Dark Terra before disappearing in some smoke and appearing right in front of Dark Terra with a few feet separating them. She clenched her hands into fists before throwing some stones to the ground.

    Dark Terra stared at the stones before letting out a shrill of laughter. “You honestly think these can beat someone like me? You’re just as pathetic as I thought you were.”

    Terra only smirked before snapping her fingers. The stones broke apart and shadow vines came from them and wrapped themselves around the arms and wrists of Dark Terra.

    Dark Terra began to struggle against them, but with every protest, the vines grew stronger against her and began pulling her towards the stone.

    “Enough!” Dark Terra exploded and fire was set on the flames and traveled back to the stones before turning them into ash. Dark Terra’s eyes glowed orange again and sudden burst of wind came out of nowhere. Her hands became covered with fire. Dark Terra raised her hands before bringing them down to the street.

    Terra felt the ground beneath her start to shake. She brought herself to the street to prevent herself from falling. From where Dark Terra was, a sudden crack filled with fire began to form. It separated the two sides of the street before slowly pulling away from each other.

    “Rise, my sisters,” Terra heard Dark Terra yell over the howling of the wind. “Take back what was once ours.”

    Terra only watched with shock as decayed bodies crawled from the flames. Some of the undead witches were missing skin on their faces, hands, and other various body parts. All of them shared the same look though. A lust for revenge upon those that killed them.

    Terra urgently created flames in her hands before smaller flames jumped from her hands and onto the ground. “You’re not the only one who can create an army.” From the smaller flames bodies created themselves, slowly forming the legs, then the torso, the arms, and shoulders, before finishing with the neck and faces. “Go, protect your home.” Terra told the warriors.

    The warriors and undead witches ran towards each other, fighting each other to leave Terra to fight Dark Terra. The two both disappeared from the scene, both with the idea of somewhere private to finish this once and for all.

    Terra began to gasp for air behind her hiding spot. She quickly placed her hand over her mouth when she heard the light tip tap of Dark Terra’s bare feet. Part of her wondered if this darker side could smell fear.

    ‘No,” Terra thought to herself, shaking her head. ‘This ends now!’

    She rolled out of her hiding spot before sending shards of glass towards Dark Terra.

The darker persona raised a hand to stop the shards before they fell to the ground, breaking into smaller pieces. She proceeded to create circular movements with her right hand, creating a ring of fire after so many movements.

“This ends once and for all.” Dark Terra announced before letting the circle of fire go around her and her previous host. The two stood before each other, each of them waiting for the other to make the first move.

Terra raised her hands and sent flames whipping towards Dark Terra. The persona dodged the flames by ducking down and sent her own flame whip towards Terra.

A sudden gasp came from Terra as she smelled burnt flesh and fabric mixed. She had a quick glance of her torso, seeing the long burn mark before lifting her eyes up and glaring at her darker self. This ends now. Dark Terra will face the true power of Terra.

Terra flicked her wrists once more. She brought her hand forward like she was gripping Dark Terra’s throat. She could hear gasping noises come from Dark Terra. Nothing would stop her though. She would show Dark Terra what she was capable of. She sent Dark Terra flying in a wall, breaking the circle of fire around them.

There was a loud thud as Dark Terra’s body made contact with the wall. The evil witch was disoriented as Terra fished something from her pocket. All she heard was a snap of Terra’s fingers and felt something wrap itself around her arms, wrists, legs, and ankles. Slowly she was dragged across the dusty floor.

“I could’ve killed you,” Terra spoke as Dark Terra was slowly dragged towards her forever prison. “But I am nothing like you. I held back the urges to kill even when you were with me. So I am the stronger one here.”

Before Dark Terra could say anything to her old host, she was brought into a never-ending darkness.

The stone closed itself up before the inscription, Honorian language as Terra was taught by her grandmother, light up with an orange glow. Terra picked up the stone and tossed it a few times in her hand. “I am no disgrace to the bloodline that survived the witch trials. I am worthy of being called a witch.”