Entry 80: The ritual for Sister Willow

by Hayley Thomas

Dear diary,

The rain had not let us go for two days. It pressed down like a weight, soaking through boots and cloaks, muting even the sound of our voices. By the end of the first day, a fog rolled in—cold and colorless—turning the world into a blur of wet branches and pale shadows. We stopped trying to speak after that. Silence suited the gloom better.

So when the trees finally broke into a clearing that evening, a knot of relief untied itself in my chest. But it was a short-lived thing. Relief soured into suspicion the moment my eyes caught the shrine.

The hilltop altar of Sister Willow should have been weathered, moss-stained, half-forgotten. Instead, it gleamed with unsettling care. Freshly scrubbed stone. Offerings bowls placed just so. Someone had been here, not long ago.

“No one,” Gael murmured, scanning the clearing. His knuckles brushed the hilt of his sword, though his voice stayed hushed.

“No one we can see,” I answered.

We climbed. At the summit, the truth of my dreams waited for me: four bowls, a tablet etched with words I already knew. My pulse stumbled. The ritual was real. The order of sacrifice had already been written in my sleep.

My hands moved almost of their own accord—flint sparking flame, candles one by one breathing to life. My dagger’s weight felt heavier than usual as I lifted it.

But the last candle had scarcely burned upright when the forest screamed. A sound not born of throat or beast, but of something older and crueler. Roots ripped free from the soil as a massive oak wrenched itself upright, the bark of its trunk splitting into a maw bristling with jagged teeth.

“Blood first,” I hissed. Before Gael could protest, I caught his wrist and sliced clean across his palm, his blood hissing as it struck the offering bowl.

Alistan, ever too brave, roared and threw himself against the oak, steel flashing. But the forest had more to show us. From the shadows stepped a night hag, her grin sharp enough to wound.

“You thief!” she shrieked, her voice like rust tearing through silk. “You dare take my shrine!”

The oak’s branches lashed, scattering seeds that thudded into the soil and sprouted at once into clawing, twisted forms. We were suddenly swallowed in enemies. Roots snared at our legs. Magic crackled from the hag, each spell a whip meant to drive me back from the bowls.

But the dream burned clear in me. I pressed on, knife flashing, blood after blood given in the order the vision demanded. My companions fought, bled, shouted—they kept the world from collapsing in while I forced the ritual to its end.
Liliana’s blood marked the final offering. The air itself tore, spiraling into mist and light. The portal yawned wide before me.

I did not hesitate. I should have. I should have stayed, driven steel beside them, carved through roots and hag both. But fear gnawed that the gateway would seal shut. So I stepped through alone, my last glimpse of them swallowed by battle cries and the crushing dark.

Now, standing on the other side, guilt gnaws sharp as any blade. I left them. Abandoned them to fight without me. Yet—my breath steadies—they are capable. Fiercely so. Perhaps they did not need me.

Perhaps.

Luke must have thought the same thing I did, because his boots landed on the strange soil right behind mine. Together we stood in a forest that felt wrong in ways I couldn’t name at first glance. The air was thick with perfume—flowers blossoming in impossible colors, their scents so sweet they bordered on suffocating. A purple mist curled low along the ground, and above us stretched a sky of pure black. No stars. No moon. Nothing at all.

The silence was alive. I realized it with a shudder as I caught the skitter and hum of countless insects—wings thrumming, legs clicking—as they darted from flower to flower.

To our right, a cabin had been carved into the hollow trunk of a gargantuan tree. Its door was shut, but something about it pulsed with invitation, or warning.

We had only a heartbeat to drink in this alien world before the portal behind us rippled again. Relief nearly unstrung me when Gael, Alistan, and Liliana stumbled through. They were bruised, bloodied, breathless—but they were here. Alive. I wanted to demand if they were hurt, to press my hands to their wounds, but the chance never came.

The mist moved.

Out of it stepped a creature both grotesque and beautiful, towering above us. Its body was a warped marriage of man and insect—chitin gleaming, limbs too long, wings vast and shimmering like stained glass. Eyes burned crimson, brighter than embers.
It spoke, its voice a low reverberation that seemed to crawl under my skin. A sage of Sister Willow.

“I came for her,” I answered, my throat tight, my hand still wrapped around the dagger at my side.

It studied me for a long, dreadful moment. Then: Did you follow the dream? Are these your persona?

The question struck like a blow, for it echoed the dream’s truth too closely. “Yes,” I forced out. “They are the animals from my vision.”

The sage beckoned with a clawed hand.

Gael swallowed but did not hesitate. He stepped forward first, chin high. The creature leaned close, its stinger flashing quicker than breath. It sank into his skin. I flinched as I saw the ink bleed from his owl tattoo, the lines fading, the symbol unmade. Then Gael was gone.

“Gael!” Luke’s voice cracked, his sword half-raised.

The mothman’s glowing eyes slid back to us. He lives. The dream has returned him to the other side of the portal.

For a heartbeat, no one moved. My heart hammered. And yet—the truth in its tone felt ironclad. Slowly, one by one, my companions stepped forward to face the same fate. Each vanished, leaving the air colder and thinner.

Only Liliana remained when her turn came. The mothman’s stinger pierced her skin, her tattoo dissolving into nothing—yet she stayed. Solid. Unyielding.

Much as she had been in the dream. Much as she always was.

The sage’s head tilted, almost approving. Then its claw swept toward the cabin door carved in the massive tree. Inside waits a gift. But beware—acceptance carries a price. You must return to Sister Willow the greatest gift the gods have given you.
Its wings shifted, sending eddies of the violet mist swirling around us. The words hung heavy in my chest, too weighty for the silence that followed.

The mothman’s words clung to me, heavy as chains. The greatest gift the gods have given you. I thought I knew what it meant—what else could it be?—but that certainty didn’t slow my hand. Nothing would stop me, not here, not after all we had bled to reach this place.

The cabin’s door groaned open, and within lay the offering. A spirit board, its surface carved with curling sigils and letters that seemed to writhe in the dim light. Sister Willow’s gift.

My fingers hovered for only a breath before I closed them around the board. The wood was cold. Alive, somehow, as though it pulsed faintly beneath my grip. The instant I accepted it as mine, the pact sealed.

The world lurched.

The purple mists, the black sky, the insect-choked forest—all of it tore away. In the next blink we stood once more upon the shrine’s hill, the air wet with the familiar scent of earth and rain.

I exhaled, a shiver running through me, and turned to the others. “Thank you,” I said quietly, the words tasting small compared to what they had risked. “I would never have managed this alone.”

Gael only gave me a flat look, but there was no reproach in it. Luke brushed his sleeve across his brow, muttering something about owing him a drink. Even Liliana’s silence felt steadying, an anchor in the storm of everything we had just endured.

There was nothing left to keep us at the shrine. No answers. No safety. Only the weight of what I now carried.

Luke lifted his hand, silver sparks already dancing between his fingers. “Wolf’s Rest, then?” he asked.

I nodded.

The portal blossomed before us, spilling light across the hill. And just like that, the promise of warm beds and the fragile illusion of comfort pulled us forward, back toward home.

Continue reading...

Entry one: The trials

Entry two: The bramble

Entry 3: Rosebloom

Entry 4: Hearts and Dreams

Entry 5: of ghosts and wolves

Entry 6: Hillfield and Deals with Fae

Entry 7: mysteries and pastries

Entry 8: The scarecrow ruse
6th of Lug, 121 Year of the Tree

Entry 9: A betrayal of satyrs
7th of Lug, 121 year of the Tree

Entry 10: The fate of twins
8th of Lug, 121 year of the Tree

Entry 11: Cursed twins
10th of Lug, 121 year of the Tree

Entry 12: Loss and despair
11th of Lug, 121 year of the Tree

Hayley's rules to being a Witch

Entry 13: the price of safety
12th of Lug, 121 year of the Tree

Entry 14: A golden cage and fiery tower
13th of Lug, 121 year of the Tree

Entry 15: A trial by fire
14th of Lug, 121 year of the Tree

Entry 16: Keralon
15th of Lug, 121 year of the Tree

Letter to Luke 1

Letter to Luke 2

Letter to Luke 3

Letter to Luke 4

Letter to Luke 5

Letter to Luke 6

Entry 17: I shall wear midnight
1st of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 18: peace in our time
2nd of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 19: Caern Fussil falls
3rd of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 20: I see fire
4th of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 21: Cultists twarted
10th of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 22: Ravensfield
14th of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 23: The Hollow Hill Horror
15th of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 24: Burn your village
16th of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 25: Ravensfield burns
17th of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 26: There will be blood!
21st of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 27: A happy reunion
22nd of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 28: The embassy ball
23rd of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 29: The fate of Robert Talespinner
24th of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 30: A royal summons
28th of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 31: of Dogville and Geese
29th of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 32: A boggle named Pim
30th of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 33: A deal broken
1st of Aran, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 34: The cost of doing what is right
2nd of Aran, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 35: A dish best served cold
9th of Aran, 126 Era of the Tree

entry 36: Cornu returns?
10th of Aran, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 37: A letter from Amarra
11th of Aran, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 38: The case of the (not) missing villagers
14th of Aran, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 39: A curse broken
15th of Aran, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 40: Into the Lorewood
18th of Aran, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 41: Cabin in the Woods
19th of Aran, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 42: Myrdin and Anaya
20th of Aran, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 43: Into the Immerglade
21st of Aran, 127 Era of the Tree

Entry 44: A tale as old as time
22nd of Aran, 127 Era of the Tree

Entry 45: The truth
23rd of Aran, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 46: Luke's Ordeal
24th of Aran, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 47: The festival
26th of Aran, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 48: Trouble at the Cathedral
2nd of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 49: Quinn's court
4th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 50: onwards to Latebra Velora
5th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 51: Where is my cow?
6th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 52: Here be dragons
7th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 53: Dragon hoard with a side of scarabs
8th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 54: Leave the basilisks alone
9th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 55: Return to Ravensfield
10th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 56: The needs of the many...
11th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 57: Dreams of Sister Willow
12th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 58: wetlands be wet
13th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 59: Baron Perenolde
14th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 60: Talebra Velora and the lady Morenthene
15th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 61: Cypria
16th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 62: Dragon takes Knight
17th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 63: Return to Talebra Velora
18th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 64: Your presence is “requested”
19th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 65: I stand alone
20th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 66: A day of normalcy
21th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 67: Into the Neverhold
22nd of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 68: The Warg King

Entry 69: Chased by birds

Entry 70: Whitewail

Entry 71: Nimmerhold

Entry 72: The menagerie
29th of Gobu, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 73: To the library!
30th of Gobu, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 74: The people's tournament
First of Mannan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 75: Nimmerhold party
First of Mannan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 76, The return home
Second of Mannan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 77: A week of peace
10th of Mannan

Entry 78: The tomb of the First King
11th of Mannon, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 79: I had a dream
12th of Mannon, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 80: The ritual for Sister Willow
14th of Mannon, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 81: Trouble at the Briar Ring
15th of Mannon, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 82: My day as a crocodile
21st of Mannon, 128 Era of the Tree

The return of the twins (Entry 83)
22nd of Mannon, 128 Era of the Tree

Earth and Sky (Entry 84)
26th of Mannon, 128 Era of the Tree

Wolf's Rest betrayed (entry 85)
30th of Mannon

The end of a chapter (entry 86)
first of Edon, 128 Era of the Tree

On the road (Entry 87)
second of Edon, 128 Era of the Tree

The Red Knight (Entry 88)
7th of Edon, 128 Era of the Tree

Dear uncle… (Entry 89)
8th of Edon, 128 Era of the Tree

Cut the bridge (Entry 90)
10th of Edon, 128 Era of the Tree

Home (Entry 91)
13th of Edon, 128 Era of the Tree

A tale of two shadows (Entry 92)
16th of Edon, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 80: The ritual for Sister Willow

Continue reading...

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