"YESSSS!!!"
Aurora's voice cut through the night air as she stood at the edge of the skyscraper roof, city lights sprawling beneath her like a sea of scattered stars.
She was smiling, bright, unrestrained, and almost disbelieving.
She had said yes.
To her. To the Heretical Witch she had only ever heard about in whispers and forbidden records, the one she never thought she would meet, let alone stand beside.
Charlotte flinched slightly at the sudden outburst.
As much as she wanted to refuse the situation outright, Aurora's expression—pure, unfiltered joy—was disarming in a way no spell could defend against.
Charlotte exhaled, rubbing the back of her neck.
"You're really accepting that easily?"
Aurora nodded immediately, still grinning like she couldn't contain it. That was enough.
Charlotte gave up.
"…Fine."
With a quiet gesture, she extended her hand.
"Then it's decided. You're part of my coven."
The moment Aurora took her hand, the space around them warped. The air bent unnaturally, like reality itself had lost its balance. A ripple of distortion swallowed them both whole, and in an instant, the world folded inward.
Space magic.
A hole opened beneath them, not downward, but elsewhere entirely. They fell through nothing. Aurora had never truly existed outside the controlled world of the Witching Hour. She was twenty-two, though time had stopped mattering long ago when she was sealed under Absolute Ice. Raised under tradition. Bound by her family's beliefs. Taught that the world had rules carved into its foundation. And yet, the world beneath them witches was nothing like what she had been told.
The moment that hole swallowed them both, they were no longer above the city. They were within it. Aurora staggered slightly as her footing returned to solid ground. The air felt heavier. Louder. Alive in a way the Witching Hour never was. Car horns echoed in the distance. Lights flickered across endless buildings. People moved without magic, without awareness of anything hidden beyond their measly lives.
Barebloods.
So many of them. She instinctively stepped a little closer to Charlotte without realizing it.
"…There are so many of them," she murmured.
Charlotte glanced sideways.
"You'll get used to it."
Aurora wasn't sure if that was reassuring or terrifying. New York stretched endlessly around them. Aurora walked beside Charlotte slowly, almost like a tourist afraid that moving too fast might break her. Her eyes kept drifting upward, tracing the impossible height of buildings, the motion of the world that didn't rely on mana. She had expected secrecy. Hidden barriers. Ancient gates.
Instead, Charlotte stopped in front of a brightly lit storefront.
Aurora blinked.
"…You're joking."
This wasn't a coven hall. This was a fast food chain. Charlotte opened the door without hesitation.
"What? Did you really think we would go to my place without eating? Let's eat first. I'm sure you're starving. I know I am." Charlotte exclaims, smiling.
Aurora hesitated for only a moment before following. Inside, warmth hit immediately. The smell of food. Simple, greasy, and unmistakably real. It wrapped around her senses.
Aurora froze slightly at the threshold. This place had no magic. No wards. No sacred structure. Bareblood's way of living truly baffled her. Have they no fear of an attack from magical creatures?
Charlotte walked to the counter and ordered for both of them like it was the most normal thing in the world. Aurora sat down carefully, still trying to process everything. When the food arrived, she stared at it for a moment longer than she should have. Then she took a bite.
Everything stopped.
"…Ah…"
Her eyes widened slightly. Then another bite. Then another. Tears welled in her eyes before she even realized it.
"…This is… good…"
It wasn't just flavor. It was normality. Something she had never been allowed to have. Something she didn't need permission to experience. She swallowed again, slower this time.
"…I didn't know food could taste like this."
Charlotte watched her quietly from across the table.
"You've been eating like a prisoner."
Aurora paused.
"…I was a prisoner."
She said it lightly, but the words lingered longer than intended.
Charlotte didn't respond. She didn't need to.
After a while, once Aurora had slowed down, Charlotte leaned back slightly.
"Now that you're part of my coven," she said, "you need a mark."
Aurora tilted her head.
"…Mark?"
She understood covens. Every witch did. But not like this.
Charlotte nodded.
"It's something I created. Display Mark."
"It places a tattoo on your body. It does nothing by itself." She raised a hand slightly.
"But when mana flows through it, it projects our coven symbol, a bunch of gibberish runes, and an eye, above the caster. It looks cool, so don't blame me."
"A bit flashy. But, I'd prefer it that way."
Aurora's eyes lit up instantly. "So I get one?"
Charlotte blinked.
"…You're excited about it?"
"Yes."
"…Of course you are."
Charlotte sighed softly.
"Where do you want it placed?"
Aurora didn't hesitate.
"Here," She pointed to her chest.
A brief silence followed. Charlotte coughed into her drink.
"…Your chest?"
"Yes."
"…You're sure?"
Aurora nodded again, completely serious.
Charlotte looked away slightly.
"…Fine. If that's what you want."
The mark was placed without pain.
Just a quiet pulse of mana beneath her skin. Aurora immediately pressed a hand over it, as if confirming it was real.
"…I love it," she said softly.
Charlotte exhaled through her nose, somewhere between resignation and amusement. After they finished eating, Aurora hesitated.
"…Ms. Charlotte."
"Yes?"
"…Can I ask something strange?"
Charlotte raised a brow.
"That depends."
Aurora took a breath.
"…Are you a lesbian?"
Charlotte immediately choked on her drink.
"—!"
Later, far from the fast food chain, the Witching Hour was in chaos. A vast roundtable filled the chamber, occupied by figures whose names carried weight across centuries.
Edith Panthera lounged casually with her legs on the table while Persephone Raven scolded her under her breath. Across from them, Mistress Mildred Rossi watched in silence, clearly exhausted by everyone present.
On the other side sat the supernaturals. Since the Great Convergence, they had been acknowledged as structured societies rather than beasts. Lucien D'Arcel represented the vampires. Rurik Vann stood for the werebeings. Aeris Lyth represented the fae.
All of them seemed young.
All of them were anything but that.
"The calamity broke containment?" Lucien asked sharply. "That shouldn't be possible. The Welsch's Absolute Ice is supposed to be unbreakable." The chamber erupted into an argument immediately.
Persephone rubbed her temples.
"…Of course it's that Heretic," she muttered.
And yet, beneath her frustration, there was something else.
Interest.
Because breaking Absolute Ice isn't just possible. That spell that Charlotte had used was new magic. Something worth studying. Something dangerous.
Back at the table, Charlotte finally spoke again.
"I'm not a woman."
Aurora froze mid-thought.
"…Huh?"
Charlotte leaned back slightly.
"I'm a man."
Silence.
"…Don't tell anyone. I'm only trusting you this since you'll be one of my coven daughters."
Aurora stared at her. That wasn't possible. Men didn't use magic. They couldn't. That was the law. That was nature. That was everything she had ever been taught.
And yet. Charlotte existed.
"Alter Ego," Charlotte said calmly, raising a hand.
"Dispel"
A flicker of mana. Her face shifted. For a brief moment, she was not Charlotte. She was a man. Sharp features. Real presence. Something undeniably different.
Then—
"Alter Ego - Charlotte." She returned to her usual form.
Aurora's mind went completely still.
Alter Ego. A spell meant to assume another form, long since forbidden in most teachings, since it can make you forget who you truly are. Charlotte had just been using it to blend with the witches and supernaturals of the Witching Hour.
Aurora slowly leaned back in her chair.
"…This is… impossible…"
Charlotte watched her reaction quietly.
"You okay?"
Aurora nodded slowly.
"…I think my world just broke a little."
"That's normal," Charlotte said flatly.
The rest of the meal passed in silence for Aurora. Not uncomfortable. Just heavy. At some point, they left.
Bringing her back to Charlotte's place, a simple door that looked like a pantry stood inside what appeared to be an ordinary home.
Charlotte opened it.
Closed it.
Then mana flowed.
And reality shifted.
A hidden world unfolded beyond. A vast cavern stretched beneath them, yet above it was an impossible night sky. A moon hung overhead without source or explanation. Stars shimmered across a ceiling that should not exist.
Aurora stepped inside slowly.
"…This is inside your house?"
"More or less." Charlotte walked forward and sat on the couch at the center of the space.
Then she turned slightly.
"…Welcome to my coven."
She dispelled her illusion once more.
And for the first time, she didn't hide.
"Ask whatever you want," he says in his manly voice.