What followed was a battle unlike any Malefica had ever witnessed. The earth shook, the sky darkened, and their powers clashed with terrifying force.
The land twisted, trees splintered, and the air beca heavy with magic as her grandmother fought with all she had. Finally, after a long and brutal struggle, her grandmother erged victorious, though her strength was nearly spent.
As the Enchantress lay on the ground, her final words were barely more than a whisper, but the pool allowed Malefica to hear them clearly.
"I… I see the Wiccan Rule of Three in the future of your bloodline. Just as you were lost to the magic of the morning star… your daughter will be lost to the truth of noon… and her daughter will be lost to the night… the knight of order."
The Enchantress, bloodied and fading, managed a twisted smile.
"This is not a curse, Diana. It is prophecy. One will be lost to the magic of dawn, another to the truth of the zenith, and the last shall fall under the shadow of night—the knight of order."
The Enchantress coughed, blood staining her lips.
"Rember this, Diana Mana Farmozoană."
Her final words echoed in Malefica's mind as the vision faded. She stared at the pool, her breath coming in shallow gasps. Her grandmother's life had been torn apart by love, betrayal, and sacrifice. And now she knew that it was not rely her grandmother's fate but sothing woven into the destiny of her entire bloodline.
Yet, the images in the pool did not stop. They shifted again, revealing a new figure—a woman with silver hair and a stern expression, standing on a high cliff overlooking the sea. She radiated an aura of strength and purpose, and her face, though unfamiliar, tugged at Malefica's heart. This woman was her mother—Aradia, the Witch of the Noon.
Malefica could not look away.
"Mother…" she whispered, the word fragile in the air, as though fearing it might shatter the vision.
The images played out before her, showing Aradia growing up under her grandmother's watchful eye. Though Diana led the coven with fierce protection, there was always a sadness in her gaze—a sorrow that lingered in her eyes even as she held her daughter close. Aradia, strong and serious, took after her mother in so many ways but was untouched by the bitterness that Diana hid beneath her smile.
One day, the pool showed Aradia crossing paths with a young alchemist, a man with a clever smile and eyes that glinted with curiosity.
Bound by his allegiance to the Truth Association, his craft was in stark contrast to the coven's ancient magic. Their worlds should never have intersected, yet fate seed determined to draw them together. Over ti, their etings grew more frequent, their exchanges growing warr until their love blossod in secret.
His na was Lucian, and Malefica had no doubt that he was her father.
The images shifted again, showing Diana discovering their secret and descending upon Lucian in fury.
Though he proclaid his love, her grandmother was unyielding. With a final, wrathful strike, she sent him plumting from the cliffs, watching as his body disappeared into the sea.
She returned to Aradia with a cold heart, telling her daughter that Lucian had betrayed her.
Broken by grief, Aradia retreated to the temple, where Malefica now stood, and there she was kept until her despair consud her. On the day of Malefica's birth, Aradia could bear no more and took her own life. The loss hardened Diana's heart even further, and she buried her sorrow deep, taking Malefica as her own and vowing to raise her as a guardian against the fate that seed destined to claim every generation of their bloodline.
But the tragedy did not end there. Lucian returned, sohow surviving his fall and finding Aradia dead, he was transford by his sorrow into sothing twisted and malevolent.
His love had turned to fury, and his fury to hatred, driving him to the brink of insanity. His soul plunged into the abyss, consud by the abyss of his despair.
He beca a demon.
He stord the coven's stronghold in a desperate attempt to reclaim his family, but Diana faced him in a final battle, defeating him yet unable to bring herself to end his life.
Instead, she bound his broken spirit to the land, sealing him in to the earth within the borders of the coven's domain—a silent guardian-turned-demon, lingering on the lands of what would be co Evergreen City.
In her arms, Diana held the infant Malefica, her eyes dull and her spirit shattered. She forbade the coven from ever allowing the three great powers—Magic, Truth, and Order—to step upon their land, in hopes of breaking the prophecy that bound their bloodline.
She waged a bitter war against the three great powers, leaving all in terror of the na, of the witch of the dawn.
With her singular power she stopped them from coming to her lands…. Especially the order and its knights.
She could understand the logic behind it.
If Malefica never t a knight of order, she would never have to face the sa tragic fate that had befallen her grandmother and her mother.
The rule of three.
The pool's visions finally stilled, leaving Malefica alone in the silence of the temple. Her mind reeled, her heart heavy with the weight of three generations of sorrow and loss. She understood now. Her grandmother's overprotectiveness, her mother's sadness—all of it led back to the Wiccan Rule of Three.
She was the last. The prophecy lood over her like a storm on the horizon.
Malefica kept her gaze on the pool, her hands trembling and tears streaming down her cheeks. She had co here seeking answers, and now, at last, she understood. Her predecessors' choices had carved out her destiny, and now it was up to her to decide whether to follow their path or find a way to break free.
Taking a deep breath, she rose to her feet, her resolve hardening.
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