Far away from the direct eyes of the Pce, there was a peaceful forest. The forest was near the outer vige of Wyverndale but not so near that people would know what was going on in that seemingly peaceful forest.


    There was a covenstead in that forest and because of that, the forest was also a home to a coven of witches. That coven consisted of a total of 13 witches. Among them, 12 were the members while one of them was the leader of the coven, also known by the term High Priestess.


    The witches called their coven as ''The Mystic Coven''. And their High Priestess''s name was Tabitha. She was well-respected by all the members of her coven and also by other covens who knew of her several good deeds and how powerful she was.


    These witches considered themselves as the servants of the nature and dedicated themselves in serving the God''s beautiful creations.


    Almost every coven, including the Mystic Coven, had spiritual connection with the nature and they drew their powers from positive energy of the nature itself. They believed that every life was important and never did anything to intentionally harm the living beings that roamed on Earth.


    Themunity of witches and wizards were very respectable in all of the Kingdoms. They would often be invited from Frostford to other Kingdoms to ward off the evil lurking there. And some covens would settle in the ces they had been invited to, so that they could look after the people who needed their protection.


    Originally, the Mystic Coven hade to Wyverndale a long time ago, before Lillian was married off to King Dragomir. Lillian''s father, King Savaric, had sent a coven of his trusted witches to Wyverndale beforehand and had asked them to look after Lillian in any way they could.


    After all, King Savaric was a father and he was about to send his daughter to the Kingdom which was previously his enemy. He just could not send her there alone and wanted some of his own people, who were powerful enough, to look out for her. Of course, Savaric did this without the knowledge of Dragomir or Lillian.


    Tabitha was not just a witch but she was also a very tactical person. As soon as the coven arrived at Wyverndale, she nned that five of the witches under her coven would disguise themselves as the subject of Wyverndale and get inside the Pce as maids.


    However, the remaining 8 witches, including Tabitha, were not a part of this n because she wanted them to be able to move freely without any bounds of the Pce.


    Among the five of the witches, only two of them were selected as the maids inside the Pce because there were enough maids and servants already inside the Pce.


    So the 11 of the witches settled on the vige which was the closest to the Pce. They took on jobs like grain suppliers, clothes suppliers, healers, etc. so that they could still visit the Pce from time to time even though they were outsiders.


    The two witches who were selected were Agnes and Esther.


    The two of them would frequently report to Tabitha about what was happening inside the Pce and how Lillian was doing in her new home. And in turn, Tabitha would send messages to King Savaric stating how his daughter was doing.


    Tabitha would get message from Agnes and Esther that Lillian was getting lonely day by day and was not as cheerful as she used to be. But Tabitha did not report this to her King, not wanting to worry Lillian''s parents about their daughter''s wellbeing.


    One day, on the day that the first Prince was born, Esther asked Agnes to cover for her and then she secretly went to meet with Tabitha.


    Esther was growing very restless when she was waiting for Tabitha to arrive at their secret destination in the forest behind the Pce.


    As soon as she saw Tabitha, she fell down on her knees and began to cry. "I am sorry High Priestess. I could not look after the Queen as promised. Please forgive me."


    Tabitha felt a chill in her heart as she thought the worse. "Did something happen to the Queen?"


    Esther nodded her head and mumbled between her cries, "I think the Queen has been corrupted. I suspect that she used the forbidden magic."


    Tabitha looked around once again to make sure that no one had followed them to the forest. Use of forbidden magic was a grave crime that could be punished severely; sometimes the punishment was to take that witch''s life.


    "Do you just suspect or are you sure? You know that we cannot just use people of using forbidden magic without knowing for sure." Tabitha whispered to Esther and she demanded to know about what she saw in detail.


    Esther described what she had seen in the Queen''s room in detail, how the midwife was lying dead on the floor, how Lillian did not even had a strand of sympathy for the dead, and how Lillian''s behavior had turned cold ever since then.


    But because Esther had not witnessed Lillian using the forbidden magic, and because she did not see any reason as to why Lillian would kill a midwife who had helped her deliver her baby, she could not outright use Lillian of using dark magic.


    Tabitha just asked Esther to keep an eye on the Queen and try to find out the truth.


    Years passed and all Esther could say was that the Queen had turned into apletely different person who would punish her maids and servants for every little mistakes. She would say that Lillian was not the innocent Princess that she used to be anymore.


    And one day, a viger hade across a dead body of a woman in the river bank. And to Tabitha''s horror, it was Esther. She had scars and purple marks all over her body as if she had been tortured severely before her death.


    Agnes was furious when she came to know about the death of her coven member. In an outrage, she confronted the Queen regarding the death of Esther and imed that she had used forbidden magic to kill her.


    But Lillianshed out on Agnes and shouted to her, "I know about your little coven hiding in the vige. I don''t know why you are after me but I will destroy your coven and every other coven who will try to interfere with me."


    Lillian red at Agnes furiously and kept on screaming, "And I will sacrifice each of your family and rtives if you ever try to spread the rumor about me using the forbidden magic. If you want to live another day, get lost from here before I kill each and every one of you."


    Agnes was scared by the aura that Lillian was emitting. And she did not think that she could take her on if a fight was to break out between the two. So she left the Pce and met with the rest of the coven members. She exined how Lillian threatened to kill all of them, and that she did not even flinch while saying so.


    Esther had already died and Tabitha was sure that the Lillian that they knew was long gone. So the coven decided to retreat to the forest that they were living in now and settled there.


    Tabitha informed the King that they had been discovered by Lillian and she lied that Lillian did not need their protection anymore so they were retreating from the Pce. When in reality she was trying to protect her coven and other innocent people''s lives from the harm of Lillian. If one had already been corrupted by dark magic, then she knew that they would kill without even blinking.


    Yearster, when roaming around the outer vige to get some food supply, Agnes came across an unconscious woman who was wearing the Pce maid''s clothes. She and another witch brought her to their ce and tended to her wounds. That woman had blood all over her mouth and when they checked, her tongue was missing.


    Later on, even though that woman did not know any magic, the coven took her in to make the number of members to 13 again, making it whole. With the help of the witches, who were also natural healers, she quickly recovered. However, her voice was lost forever.


    Nheless, the coven did not give up on her. They started to teach her how to read and write so that they couldmunicate with her. She was a quick learner and the coven got to know that her name was Sibyl.


    Sibyl started picking up the incantations when the witches would practice their spells. She would watch them closely as they interested her greatly. And one day, all of the witches had gone somewhere leaving Sibyl alone at home. When she was busy cleaning the ground, their hut suddenly caught fire. She looked around to see that the wildfire was spreading throughout the forest.


    Seeing the forest burning and their home starting to burn along with it, Sybil started to panic. Even if she was to run, she knew that the fire would catch her pretty soon. As a desperate move, she faced the forest, pointed her palms towards the fire and chanted a spell in her heart. And to her surprise the wildfire started to smolder and after a while it died down.


    When all the others returned home, they found Sibyl crying on the ground. Theyter found out that Sibyl had managed to control the fire using a spell. Surprised by how she was able to perform such aplex spell in her first try, the coven went through her ancestry. And theyter found out that Sibyl''s mother was from Frostford; all along, she had a witch''s blood flowing through her.


    Ever since then, the coven actively began to teach witchcraft to Sibyl. She was also happy to learn. She remembered how powerless she felt in front of Lillian and she wanted to be able to defend herself.


    The Mystic Coven kept on protecting the nearby viges from any evil forces and dark creatures. They wanted to be useful to at least some people. And even though none of the vigers knew of their existence, they continued to do their best to keep the outer vige safe from the harm of any evil.


    With time, all of their powers had improved significantly and the coven was counted as one of the most powerful coven to ever exist. Most of them were motivated to be powerful because somewhere in their heart, they knew that they would have to protect hundreds of people from Lillian.


    Today, there was a fuss going on among the witches becausest night they had sensed a breach in the natural barrier which separates the three worlds - Heaven, Hell, and Earth.. They sensed that the gate was opened.