Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 135 The Witches' Gathering (First Update!)

Both Coulson and Natasha underestimated the impact of the missing prisoners. At dawn, when the guards and judges discovered their prisoners had vanished, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse; the church bells rang again, and a new round of witch hunts began.

This is why Coulson and Salomon walked down the street without being questioned, because these fanatical Puritans were hunting down women who appeared to be associated with witchcraft in their eyes and had no time to deal with outsiders—but only not now. When they could no longer find witches, suspicious outsiders would be the perfect targets for their fears.

Coulson didn't discover this until he arrived at the tavern, which was empty; the only drunkard there, under the influence of whiskey, had revealed the truth. However, Agent Coulson couldn't contact Salomon, so he hurriedly returned to the hotel (he hadn't forgotten his liquor) and urgently contacted Natasha to prepare. Regardless of whether the fanatics would shift suspicion onto them, Coulson wanted to save some innocent people.

But this morning, when the two girls who hadn't returned home all night returned to town, they only added fuel to the fire of this inexplicable collective hysteria. Ann Putman and Elizabeth Paris woke Cotton Mather and the interrogator, Matthew Hopkins, and described to them everything that had happened in the woodland clearing the previous night. However, their accounts were evasive, and they swapped out certain key details.

Indeed, Ann Putman and Elizabeth Paris had attended a witch's gathering the previous night, invited by Katzia Mason, the founder of the Salem witch's gathering. This grumpy old woman, over ninety years old but still as spry as a young man, had a withered, fierce, and ugly face. She lived in a secluded cabin in the heart of the woods and rarely interacted with the townspeople, who believed her to be insane. The old woman's invitation intrigued Ann Putman and Elizabeth Paris, who were already fed up with the town's Puritanism and loathed the black-and-white clothing. Elizabeth Paris, in particular, only feigned piety in front of her father; otherwise, they wouldn't have participated in Professor Titusa's Voodoo rituals.

Mary Walcott's "possession" symptoms didn't frighten them; instead, they made them more convinced of witchcraft. It was during this time that Katzia Mason approached them. In fact, the witch's purpose in inviting Ann Putman and Elizabeth Paris to the gathering wasn't to make the two girls witches, but to sacrifice them to those in darkness.

After receiving an invitation from the town's most mysterious old woman, Anne and Elizabeth followed her to a clearing in the woods. As they entered the forest, the full moon's light was obscured by the tangled trees, plunging everything into darkness. Eventually, only their lanterns provided any light. With the dim light, terrifying shapes emerged from the swaying shadows—grotesque and hideous shadows that didn't sway with the lantern's light but silently watched the two girls. They followed in Kazia Mason's footsteps, their steps uneven, Anne and Elizabeth holding hands tightly, afraid that if they let go, they would disappear into the woods. But the fears they were about to experience were far from over.

As they walked, a small, orange-red light appeared in the dark distance. They continued along the path, and the warm light gradually bathed the forest in a soft red glow. The firelight caused the shadows surrounding them to twist and dance, appearing even more dangerous and terrifying. Just before they reached the firelight, they saw a large tree by the roadside. The flickering light from the flames cast shadows on its twisted branches, making it look as if a giant face of an Algonquin Indian youth had sprung from the tree. He seemed to be staring into nothingness with empty eyes. The two little girls were terrified. They looked back and found themselves off the path, in a place they had never been before. The path behind them had vanished, and the only way forward was beneath their feet, leading to the firelight.

Ann Putman and Elizabeth Paris slowly approached. They found the campfire enormous, its flames flickering wildly. They heard a peculiar chanting, the words seemingly inhuman. The song was rhythmic, and the girls could feel the inhuman sounds drawing them in. Fear gripped them as they continued forward. Then they saw several dark figures surrounding the fire, where blue, purple, and orange flames danced wildly, and thick black smoke billowed into the moonlit sky. Kazia Mason stood before the fire; the eerie chanting emanated from her.

Seeing them irresistibly drawn to the campfire, Kazia Mason chanted another prayer: "I! I! Shubnigs! Black Goat of the Forest, who has given birth to countless offspring! Bless the daughters of Eve! Bless the daughters of Gorgon, Momo, and the Many-Faced Moon! Treat our sacrifices well! Great messenger, man of darkness! Bless the children you have chosen!"

Katzia Mason waved her hand, and two cloaked figures stepped forward. They were girls they didn't recognize. Both girls removed their cloaks and stood naked before the campfire, trying to cover their naked bodies with their hands, but to no avail. Katzia Mason also ordered Ann Putman and Elizabeth Paris to do the same, but the two terrified girls refused no matter what. So Katzia Mason cast a spell, causing the two girls to vomit for several minutes. What they vomited was not undigested food, but maggots.

This is real witchcraft, not a useless ritual!

Ann Putman was overjoyed and immediately agreed to do so, and she also asked Elizabeth Paris to do the same. So the two girls took off their clothes and, as Katzia Mason instructed, placed their left hands on their foreheads and grasped their right feet with their right hands.

Kazia said in a low, rumbling voice, "Are you going to give up what you hold in your hands and offer it to the people of darkness?"

The two girls replied, "Yes, I give up what I hold in my hands and offer it to the people of darkness."

Kazia drew a symbol on the dark ground with her finger, then reached her hand into the flames and pulled out a piece of charcoal that seemed harmless enough not to burn her. Kazia tossed the charcoal into the center of the symbol, then returned to her place and joined the others in chanting. Something seemed to change in the air; the temperature plummeted, and the firelight was enveloped in an unnatural halo—an indescribable color that Ann Putman couldn't adequately describe. The two naked girls suddenly looked utterly terrified, as if they had just realized that their elaborate scheme wasn't as fun and beautiful as the magical game they had imagined.

A figure slowly rose from the earth, appearing as if straight from hell. The dark being approached, wielding two burning wooden staffs. He was tall and completely naked, his eyes filled with mockery, his smile utterly deceitful. His skin was like black oil, and his proportions were grotesque. He first approached Ann Putman, touching her head. As he did so, Ann seemed to enter a state of fascination, as if she were intoxicated by the sensation. The dark being was slowly draining her soul; with this action, Ann grew pale and sickly, while Elizabeth froze in terror.

Just as the dark being was devouring souls, a tremendous, invisible force struck him, causing him to stagger back a few steps. Then, the force struck again, knocking him even further away. His two burning wooden staffs fell to the ground, and the soul-absorbing process was interrupted.

The Dark One recognized the spell—Yog-Sothoth's Fist.

He noticed a figure standing in the shadows unlit by the firelight. The dark figure chuckled mockingly, then turned and vanished into the dark woods. Ann Putman and Elizabeth Paris, just regaining their senses, screamed and ran into the forest, while the other witches immediately donned their cloaks and grabbed the clothes Ann Putman and Elizabeth Paris had left behind. They sensed an equally powerful force attacking the dark figure, and in their panic, they quickly fled the scene, leaving only the huge campfire burning in place.

When Ann Putman and Elizabeth Paris returned to town and got dressed, they immediately told the judge and the interrogator what had happened the night before. However, in their account, they claimed that they were not participants in the witches' gathering, but had simply witnessed the events while playing in the forest.

Ann Putman described in detail to the judge what they had seen in the woods: a campfire and a naked woman, black figures and smoking staffs, and the eerie, strange singing. However, since Ann Putman didn't know all the witches in town, she listed some of the town's unpopular figures, driven by her fear of witchcraft. The first accused was Sarah Goode, disliked by many because she often smoked a pipe; the second was Sarah Osborne; the third was John Plessy and his wife Mary Plessy; and the last was the real witch, Katzia Mason.

The judge immediately ordered the royal guards to be armed and to arrest the witch according to Ann Putman's confession. But apart from Katzia Mason, who managed to escape, everyone else was caught red-handed and thrown into prison.

The trial proceeded quickly, and the judge's interrogation methods were quite old-fashioned. The arrested suspects were taken from their cells to a dark room where Cotton Mather and the witch hunters would interrogate them. Each suspect was forced to sit on a wooden chair in the center of the room, their hands and feet bound, and questioned by the interrogator, Matthew Hopkins.

The judge will prepare a unique interrogation method for each of them.

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(End of this chapter)