Snow Witch'S Journey
Silver Compass

The hunter opened the door and was shocked when he saw the wide wound on my palm. He took me straight to the chair and brought me a bucket of warm water. It didn't hurt as much as my bones shifted, but I still couldn't help it. I clutched my right wrist hoping the pain would soon disappear.

The hunter then dipped the cloth in warm water and applied it to my wound to prevent infection. He then took another dry cloth and wrapped my hand with it.

“What happened?” He asked me while massaging my palms slowly so as not to hurt.

“I fell.”

“Are you not a witch? Why not use magic to heal your own wounds?”

“You said I can't use magic.”

“Then, how did you fall? Are you running around in the woods? I told you to be careful around you,” he said worried, like a parent worried about his own biological child.

“Stop asking questions. I can be depressed because of your questions,” reply I am not happy. “When I followed the deer trail as you told me, I tripped on this.” I took out the compass I picked up in the woods.

“This ... compass?” The man carefully observed the silver-plated compass. Then he opened the cover. “The pointer is still working and there is no rust on it. I think this compass was not long abandoned by its owner. You can have it.”

I took the compass back with my free right hand, “I don't think I need it that much. I have a map.” I put the compass back in my bag.

“Better you take it than not at all.”

“Alright,” I replied slowly.

The man crouched down then looked at me who was bowing withered. “You all right? Does it still hurt?” I was surprised because his face was softening now. I shook my head even when the pain really tormented me. “Better tomorrow you just rest.”

I nodded happily. The hunter got up and ruffled my hair. Soon after, he headed to the kitchen, bringing back warm milk for me. I don't think it's good that I linger here, that hunter helps me too often. After I finish my training, I will immediately continue my journey.

The next few days, I started my first hunt. This time, the man accompanied me. We went back to the last place I found the deer trail I followed. Unfortunately, his trail was already erased by the snow.

We had to find a new trail immediately before we got lost or a blizzard came. I began to panic when I could find no trace for nearly an hour, smoke rising from my increasingly disordered breathing.

“Tenace. The deer might still be around here, how about we split up?” said the hunter.

I don't really want to, but I don't think there's any other choice. I'm asserting.

We split up, I went left and the man went right. I opened my eyes wide to look for every little detail I could find. Scratches on tree trunks, broken twigs, feathers stuck in bushes, and the fishy smell of the urine of an animal. Unfortunately, I did not find any of those clues. I also took a deep breath.

“Hei.”

I heard a voice in my bag, but I'm not sure. Maybe it was the sound of the hunter or someone else in the forest. “Who?” I screamed around. I'm getting ready to point my stick if something bad happens. This forest was completely silent, as if there were no signs of living things. I could only hear the twigs rubbing against each other and the beating of my heart that was getting excited.

“I'm here, stupid!” The voice came back from my bag. The voice of a man who I think is of the same age as Edras.

I realized that the sound was coming from the compass I found. “Talkable compass!?” dengapku.

“Indeed why if a compass can speak?” The compass spoke even though it had no mouth.

“Can you really talk?” I'm ascertaining.

“Then, who are you talking to?” he threw my question.

My mother once said that there are some magic artifacts that have their own consciousness. In fact, there were artifacts capable of making a mess on their own. But I still can't believe I saw it in person.

“Are you one of those magic artifacts that can speak?”

“Ya, there you go.”

I may not be panicking anymore, but I'm a little confused and more curious about the compass. “How can you talk even if you don't have a mouth?” I flipped through that compass.

“Of course magic, stupid girl! You're a witch, you should understand something like this,” blemish that compass.

“How did you know I was a witch?” i gasp.

“So that's it,” my head is like the head of a woodpecker. “Then, why didn't you speak that time?”

“I'm not interested in talking to anyone else. I just talked to my owner. In other words, I'll talk when my owner, you, is not around anyone else.”

“Why?”

“Trauma past,” answer quickly.

I stared at the compass needle pointing north. I didn't think a compass as big as my hand had a sad story of its own.

“Why shut up? Don't you have a job to do?” the shock distracts me from the sadness.

“You're right, but the thing is, I lost track of my quarry and I couldn't find any other clues.”

“Then I can help you. I'm not like other compasses that always point north, but I point at the thing you want the most,” he said filled with a tone of arrogance.

“Pointing the thing I want the most?”

“Yes, hold me tight and imagine what you want most. Focus on your desires as if there is nothing else you care about in this world, then the pointer needle will show you the way.”

Without a second thought, I followed what the compass said. I can't go back empty-handed, completing this task means proving that I'm better equipped than ever.

I closed my eyes and began to imagine. At first I imagined my mother coming to hug me, then I quickly changed. A shadow of a deer was created in the darkness of my mind. When I opened my eyes again, the needle pointed east.

“What works?” ask me to the compass.

“If you don't believe it, just follow the pointing needle.”

After walking for 30 minutes, the compass was correct, I found a stag sharpening its horns on a tree trunk. “You're right! I found the deer!”

“Of course!”

I then made a beacon from my wand to tell my location to the hunter. As I waited for him to come, I took the time to talk to my compass while watching the deer.

“Magic compass, thank you for helping me.”

The compass was momentarily silent, then said, “No problem, it is my duty to help my owner. By the way, my name is Aeron.”

“My name is Nivalis. So, don't call me a stupid girl again,” I scowl back at her.

The hunter appeared, his arrival surprised me and almost made the deer alert. “You found it?” His breath was breathless, for sure he ran as soon as I fired my magic.

“Iya.” I can't tell him if I find that deer with a magic compass that can talk. I put my compass back in my bag the moment the man came.

“Good work,” he said happy. He rubbed my head before handing me a bow and arrows.

Before, I had been taught the basics of how to shoot by him, so I understood what to do. The hunter helped me steer it more precisely, straightened my arm, puffed my chest and held my breath while positioning my arrow on the target.

I was told not to rush, be patient as if the world was moving very slowly. My arrow had locked onto the target, I released it and the arrow shot very quickly, hitting the heart of the deer that killed him instantly.

For some reason, it felt different to killing the Vulcoliak. There was a heartless and sad feeling that pierced through my heart like an arrow piercing through the heart of a deer. I know that hunting is like this, but I'm still naive about it. If I want to survive, I have to throw this feeling away, that's what the hunter taught me.

“Are you okay?” ask the man who noticed my anxiety.

“Sorry.”

“Tak what. Because it's the first time, so I can understand you. Someday, you will get used to it. You'll always be dealing with this kind of thing in the wild, hunting or hunting. Understand?”

I nodded like a scolded child. “In this way, am I ready?” I looked up into the man's eyes.

Then, I saw something I had never seen before, the smile of that man. “Now you're better prepared than anything.”