Chapter Text
Another day on the boiling isles, bustling with life and magic at every corner of the Titan. Loud and lively, witches and creatures carried on about their day on the tightly woven streets of Bonesborough. In one such narrow street, there was a humble bakery, run by a humble baker; the daughter of the previous owner, who was the daughter of the owner who came before.
A family affair of sugary treats and soft breads.
And as the mouthwatering smells of freshly baked pastries enticed passing witches, ghouls and goblins to wander in for a delicious snack, this was not what had drawn the young Golden Guard to such a quaint establishment.
No, the Golden Guard was motivation driven: he rarely indulged in something as decadent as a local bakery. He had been instead following rumors of wild witches, scourges as they be, and he had heard whispers about the bakery in question.
The hanging wooden sign clung neatly above the windows, ornate golden letters on violet background spelling out "The Oracle Bakery”, framed with little swirls of gold and various sigils of moths, crystal balls and one Eye, distinctly bigger and more centred than all other decorations. The sign hung still, as the day had been one of calm weather, no winds howling through the passages of Bonesborough to shake up signs such as the one of the bakery. It didn't stay still for long - The Golden Guard lacked both tact and patience, slamming the door of the bakery open with such might that the windows shook and the sign jumped on the chains from which it hung.
Inside, at the counter, was a witch, who if she was startled by the loud entrance, then she had tried her best not to show it; Though it seemed like her arms may have been a bit more tense than what would be expected from someone who was lazily lounging on the counter just moments before. The Golden Guards gaze, hidden behind his mask, was instantly on her, cold and calculating (not that she could tell).
"Goodness me!" She finally exclaimed, a smile replacing her somewhat surprised face from before. "To what do I owe the pleasure of having the Golden Guard visit my little bakery?"
Hunter (which was the Golden Guards name, but he was seldom called by it) steeled his face into a scowl despite it being hidden.
"There have been reports of wild witches in this area." He spoke in a tone of voice which was too serious for a boy his age "Rumors that they have been hiding in shops here. Rumors that wild witch Midnight has been seen in this neighbourhood." He had taken slow, deliberate steps towards the counter where the baker was, stopping only when he was right in front and forcing her to look up at him from where she was so casually resting.
" You wouldn't happen to know anything about these rumors, now would you?"
"Me?!" She gasped, hands clutching at her chest "Why, Golden Guard, I am just a humble baker!" She finally stood up straight, showing that she was taller than the teen in front of her. "And Midnight, they are a scoundrel that keeps sabotaging and evading the Emperor's Coven at every step! How scary to think that someone who can make an embarrassment of The Emperor's best witches could be in the same neighbourhood as me!"
Despite the mask, anyone could see the growing annoyance that was surely etched into Hunter's face at this point. The Baker could have sworn she heard his eye twitch under there. "Somehow…I feel like I am being mocked." He muttered under his breath, but if the Baker had heard him she didn't make any comment on it.
Instead, she continued "And in any case, I have my sigil right here-" she carefully unbuttoned her cuff and flashed her wrist to the boy, a bright purple sigil proudly sitting on her skin and showing her allegiance to the branch of oracle magic "-getting involved with wild witches would do me more harm than good. They're dangerous , after all!"
The Golden Guard seemed to deliberate on her words for a moment, the gears turning in his head as he kept his eyes fixed on the sigil decorating her wrist. "That better be true, for your sake.” He finally spoke, his voice holding a threatening edge, as if he were trying to scare her into submission. “I will be keeping my eyes on this area."
But the Baker showed no heed to any threats, instead buttoning up her cuff and heading to the display case with a bright smile "Oh, that's wonderful news, Golden Guard! I'll feel so much safer knowing the eyes of the Emperor are watching over us through you!" She chimed happily as she took out a plate of treats from the display case - ones which Hunter did not recognize. "Here, on the house!" She smiled warmly as she packed the pastries into a -very cutely decorated- box, the name of the bakery printed in the same lettering as on the sign outside "As a thank you!"
Hunter, who rarely was offered such kindness, felt incredibly awkward at the gift she was now holding out to him behind the counter "I uh, oh no, it's alright, I'm…" he swallowed, eyes darting to the door as he contemplated just rushing out "...I'm simply doing my duty, citizen."
But The Baker doubled down "Oh no, I insist! You work so hard to keep us safe, you deserve it!" She pushed the box into the teens hands "And these are special! A human recipe, can you believe it?!" She winked cheekily "I came across a human recipe book! Scones, I believe they're called!"
Finally yielding, Hunter accepted the box and adjusted his grip on it to make carrying it more comfortable "A human recipe? Huh, wow. Thank you, I think?" taken aback by her gift, he was already heading towards the door.
"Hey, wait a minute." He seemed to have awakened out of his stupor "Where did you find a human recipe book, anyway?!"
The Baker hummed "Now you can't expect me to spill heavily guarded industry secrets, Golden Guard. What if my baking rivals overheard?" She sighed dramatically "Nope, can't even whisper it to you!"
The Golden Guard frowned, but chose to accept that answer - for now. Instead, he moved the box under his arm and used his free hands to point to his eyes, before swiftly pointing it in her direction "I'll be keeping my eye on you."
"Thank you so much for your service!" She exclaimed fondly once more, causing the Golden Guard to slightly stumble over the door sill at the praise.
The Fortuna family, even before the coven system was in place, were gifted specifically in the branch of magic doing with any kind of divination and foresight. Guidance from spirits, tarot, astrology, palm reading, bone reading, if it was a type of divination, there was a Fortuna who specialised in it. Even chresmomancy, defined by the ravings of lunatics, was no stranger to them. Especially common in those who looked too far and into too many branches of possible futures, which would be enough to drive any oracle mad.
And after the coven system was implemented by Emperor Belos, it was no surprise to see the members of the family unanimously take on the sigil of Oracle magic. Among them was the current matriarch, Isabella Fortuna.
Most considered it a midlife crisis, a witch who came from a clan of famous oracles turning to baking cakes instead. But Isabella claimed later to her family that she was just so tired of "knowing everyone's business before even they did". So it was that the matriarch gave up a lavish oracle lifestyle and replaced it by baking cakes and pastries, establishing the Oracle Bakery. Her beloved, a witch talented in construction magic named Waine, had built her kitchen, enchanted it to work by itself if so his beloved willed it. Her children worked with her in the bakery. They loved their mother and didn't mind being there for her as she worked a much less glamorous job than that of an esteemed Oracle.
Isabella Fortuna had children young, and naturally they were both gifted oracles. The older, a girl, was named Ursula, the younger was a boy, named Magnus. As the witchlings grew, they left their mothers' nest, both finding success, happiness and building a life worth living.
Ursula, however, came back from a lavish career after the birth of her first child. Like her mother before her, she went to work in the bakery, that way she could have a schedule where she could dedicate more time to her growing family. Eventually she took over Isabella as owner, letting her mother enjoy a nice and well deserved retirement.
And after her first child, a boy named Sitrie, would come another, a girl named Stella, and then there was her last and littlest one, another girl, Selena. The three would grow and get their sigils, and out of the three only one took on the path of an Oracle; Sitrie followed the path of Abominations and Stella set on the path of Beast Keeping. And Ursula was proud of all three of her children for picking a path that would make them happy, even if it didn't follow tradition.
The littlest one, she picked the sigil of an Oracle, yet she never really followed the calling. Instead, she just stayed put in what she knew growing up, working at the bakery, and just living a peaceful life. Eventually taking over when Sitrie and Stella offered their mother to take care of her and let her retire early.
So the littlest one, Selena Fortuna, took over the Oracle Bakery.
But stories are one thing, and things that are so are another. And so it would be that in fact, Selena Fortuna, the youngest of Ursula's children, had a bit more of an...extraordinary life than she'd let others believe.
"It's safe now." Selena spoke in a soft tone, gently knocking on the door that led to the kitchen "I'm coming in." Opening the door just enough for her to fit through it, she hastily closed it behind her. Inside were two cloaked figures, one sitting on the kitchen island whilst the other leaned against the sink. Selena frowned "Don't! Sit! Where I cook!" She hastily shooshed the seated figure off.
"S-sorry, I wasn't thinking straight." They muttered
"Damn right you weren't thinking straight!" she huffed and puffed "The Golden Guard had better not seen you, either of you! He had been grilling me out there over wild witches!" She nervously pulled on her hair "Ohhh this isn't good! This really isn't good! What if he suspects anything?!"
The one who was leaning against the sink spoke next "We're really sorry. I saw him from far away, but I don't think he noticed us. We ran in here on instinct, wasn't even thinking. I definitely didn't expect him to actually come in here, of all places."
"Yeah!" The other witch, Leila, chimed in "Asra said he knew you from Hexside and that you were cool with witches like us. If we knew the Golden Guard was gonna come here, we never would have asked you to hide us! We're super, duper sorry!"
A long, loud sigh escaped Selena and she leaned against the wall, her arms crossed "This is so stressful, my hair is really gonna turn grey!" She whined "Asra, the bakery is out of commission while the Golden Guard is around."
"Man, that sucks." Asra groaned “
"I know, but no more wild witch activity here. Someone was too careless and either let it slip or let themselves be seen."
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll send a crow around.”
Leila kept fidgeting her hands "You're right, you're right. It's dangerous. We…we should leave as soon as possible too." She made to move towards the exit, only to let out a scared little yelp as a violet claw swiftly pressed on the door with a loud ‘thud’, cutting off her access to it. The young wild witch turned to the baker who was leaning on the wall near the door; The claw extended from her, the spiritual entity connected to the ring she wore. An interesting trinket, and obviously her main magical conduct (as was typical of the Oracle Coven), it was a silver band that wrapped around her finger, its ends taking the shape of hands that were holding a small crystal ball.
" Not through the main entrance." Selena hissed and quickly summoned the spirit's claw back into the gem of her ring "The Golden Guard may still be lurking."
"R…right."
Selena turned around and faced the kitchen island, opening one of the cabinets "Asra, help me move these." She said as she kneeled down and started taking out the pots and pans that were in there. Asra was quickly at her side, taking them from her hands and arranging them to the best of his ability so they don't topple over. When it was cleaned out, with a stronger hit to its underside, Selena was able to remove the one shelf as well, safely placing it outside against the side of the counter. Once more using her ring, the clawed hand sprung back to life and phased through the wooden bottom of the cleaned out cabinet. It took a little effort, but soon the bottom moved, a cloud of dust rising with it as the hand manoeuvred the fake bottom so that Salem could safely take it out.
"Okay, a bit dusty but still looks go-OOOH GOD!" She let out a scream and threw herself back and onto the floor, as a giant moth flew up and out of the newly revealed secret passage.
"Are you okay?!" Asra quickly helped her sit back up.
"Ugh, moths! They give me the heebie-jeebies!" Selena felt an unpleasant shiver travelling all the way up her spine. Asra, meanwhile, couldn't help but snicker.
"Wait, I thought you used moths for divination, what do you mean you're scared of them?" He hid his laugh behind his hand.
"I didn't chose to have moths be a form of divination I'm good at. It is an unlucky coincidence because the fates chose to mock me ." She punched Asra's shoulders "And I'm not scared of them, I just…don't like how they move, is all!"
Whilst her school buddy didn't comment, it was obvious from the smirk on his face and the roll of his eye that he didn't quite believe her.
Knowing this conversation would go nowhere, she chose to change the subject " ANYWAY ." She cleared her throat " This leads to the alley behind Morton's elixir shop. Grandpa built this so he could sneak in and steal smooches from Gran or whatever it is grossly romantic couples do." Selena explained, rolling her eyes at the last part "Follow the tunnel to the iron door, it leads into the sewer. The first manhole right above gets you there." She stood up and dusted off her hands, moving aside for Asra to crouch down and take a look inside. Indeed, it was a secret passage, able to fit most, leading down into a dusty tunnel via a sturdy looking ladder.
"We really owe you one, moth queen ." He couldn't stop himself from making at least one more jab "Come on, Leila, ladies first!"
Leila shuddered "You go first! I don't wanna have a face full of cobwebs."
"You big baby." Asra teased and rolled his eyes, but still crawled in and soon he was out of sight completely. Leila followed soon after.
"Thank you." She smiled as best as she could before ducking in and disappearing from view, and Selena let out an audible breath through her nose as her gaze softened.
"Don't worry about it." The witch smiled and stuck her head inside the cabinet, looking down the opening down at the two. Asra already had a simple light spell active, the orb being the only light in the dim tunnel, as he helped Leila off the ladder. "When you get to the iron door, make sure you close it! It has a glamour spell on it that makes it invisible from inside the sewer, but it works only if it's closed!"
"Yeah, yeah, close the door, hide the tunnel, I got it!" Asra waved her off, as if he heard this same spiel more than once before.
"Oh and Asra!" Selena called out, causing both to look up back at her "Stop corrupting the youth, you bum!" She laughed.
Asra returned a smirk of his own "Only after you apologise for corrupting me first, loser!"
"Oh you know you liked it!"
Night was slowly setting on Bonesborough, day giving way to twilight.
And if you were to come by the Oracle Bakery, you never would have assumed that it housed wild witches that same day, nor that the Golden Guard had paid it a visit earlier. Instead, you'd just see Selena, tired and yawning, bidding goodbye to the last customer of the day before she closed the door and flipped the little note from "open" to "closed". The witch hummed softly, a random melody stuck in her head, and gave the shop one last look over. The chairs and tables were all in their designated place, the counter was wiped clean and the display case was emptied out of all leftover pastries. Satisfied, she gave a single nod, and made her way towards the ladders that led to the second floor.
The shop was small; it used to be a one-floor building at the time gran Isabella first bought it. But by the time her sister, Stella, was born, grandpa added on another floor that made a fully functional little apartment. However there was no room to install stairs, so ladders it was.
She climbed up and unlocked the hatch with an old and worn down key, pushing open the hatch and climbing up. Breathing in, there was an instant sense of ease washing over her. Once she closed the hatch and made sure she locked it, Selena let out a deep, exhausted sigh.
Stressful. Today was just stressful .
But the witch wasn't about to let a snag or two get in her way. She still had a busy night ahead of her, after all. Getting to her feet, Selena paced around her little apartment absentmindedly, her fingers working on the pesky buttons of her cuffs.
"Let's see…I'll just have to be careful about leaving tonight, then. No big deal." She muttered to herself nervously. She paced up to the huge circular stained glass window - it was done in golds and purples, showing a simplified silhuete of an open eye - that was above the main entrance and carefully scanned the street below. She couldn't see anyone around, but just because she didn't see them doesn't mean there weren't guards there. Frowning, she saw the street lights right outside were…unnaturally devoid of moths. As if hiding, and telling her to do the same.
Selena didn't have to like the creepy little critters, but she knew when they were sending a message. She just opted to…overlook them, sometimes.
Thanking that the stained glass kept her apartment at least somewhat private, she moved to the back of the room, where the little kitchenette was located, separated by half-walls and an arched doorway from the rest of the living area. Her fingers pulled at the cuffs and gently ran up and down her now bare wrist, feeling the sigil that was placed there. Its magic was reacting to the pulse of her heart. Selena looked at the sigil with tired eyes, lips twitching as she felt its presence.
Disgusting.
Her eyes steeled over, turning into a gaze filled with resentment. The fingers which traced the sigil were no longer gentle, but instead pinching at the skin, pulling until it stung. Selena’s lips twitched, teeth just barely starting to grit as she bore the pain.
And as she pulled, pulled, pulled , the skin stretched, stretched, stretched , until it could not stretch no more.
Instead, something quite…peculiar happened. A very thin layer of skin turned translucent as it separated from her wrist, following her fingers that continued pulling. It was completely transparent for a few seconds, before turning white, peeling off inch by inch until there was a piece of leathery fabric tightly held between her thumb and index finger.
And on the very frail looking material, the Oracle sigil shone brightly for around five seconds, before fluttering to darkness like the last flickers of a beating heart.
The sigil ran on her own magic heartbeat, afterall.
And now, her wrist was bare of it, the only clue it was ever even there was her skin turning red and sore.
Selena folded the thin material with gentle and precise hands, before storing it inside a little vial she held attached to her belt. After she placed the vial back into its little leather compartment on her belt, she turned her attention to her wrist once more, inspecting the damage.
It was a small price to pay, really .
Selena held up her hand, summoning the spirit from the ring once again. This time, it came out fully, a glowing violet mummy, like most oracle spirits were, their bandages hanging loosely off of their head, the way they fell resembling long hair. And the spirit, ever obedient, came out with something held tightly in their clawed hands. The witch gently touched the back of their knuckles, and the hands turned, presenting her with their gift.
She took it from the spirit and smiled. It honestly was a small price to pay.
Selena put on the elegant mask the spirit kept safe for her, tendrils of magic wrapping around her as soon as it was secure on her face and turning to cloth, covering her in a brand new set of clothes and a heavy cloak. The witch exhaled shakily as she finally felt safe, feeling secure, now that each part of her was completely obscured and hidden from everyone.
After all, how could the wild witch vigilante Midnight wreck havoc on the emperor's coven if she were nothing but a common oracle?