The Stargazing Witch & The Dungeon Planet
Side Chapter Espoiramissa 3: The Desired Witch

Side Chapter Espoiramissa 3: The Desired Witch

The last two years were the longest years of Esporimissa’s long existence.

It had never wanted much; it never needed much. 

It came into the world and made its place in the everlasting universe. 

It had formed its world to its liking, a place full of danger and many deadly creatures. 

Then a single human showed up and changed their view. 

(“ Oh my Celestira, how you make this so complicated for me ”)

Esporiamissa wanted to watch Ceella grow, soar to even greater heights, face danger and prevail. 

It didn’t care if Ceella died in the process; a star could only burn bright if it had fuel to burn.

It didn't.

But that had changed a few times. The first change was simply believing Ceella belonged to it to wanting Ceela to belong to it.

Esporiamissa considered all life on its surface to be its own. That included those that had adapted to its world and become one with it. Though Ceella was the only ever true case of that, most died not long after making their wanted or unwanted journey along Esporiamissa soil.

At some point, after watching Ceella grow and grow, its desire for her became stronger. 

So it offered Ceella a deal. At the time, it seemed like the perfect solution.

Ceella would get to try and succeed in getting her revenge and making her wishes happen, while Esporiamissa would be guaranteed its eternal servant by the end, as it saw no way it would lose this bet. 

Ceella would get to fight strong foes, learn to rely on Esporiamissa's power, and by then, when she had grown as beautifully as she could, she would belong to Esporiamissa.

However, the fun was over. 

Her Witch was being torn apart beyond the seams.

Esporiamissa wasn’t even close to being the first Dungeon Planet or being on that level that had created a Witch; many had before it, which was where it had gotten the idea from. But how these beings treated their contactees varied greatly. Some made simple contracts in exchange for basic wishes; the being would gain eyes, knowledge, or a useful tool. Some treated their Witches more preciously, as if they were part of a collection. 

Esporiamissa didn’t know what basket it would fall under, but now, finding Ceella, it knew it fell under the latter category.

Maybe from the beginning, Esporiamissa held a certain level of fondness for Ceella. [Primal Guardian Lord] was a Vocation Esporiamissa had carefully selected. It covered for Ceella’s weakness and enhanced her strengths, or what Esporiamissa saw as her strengths. Though Ceella never experienced all the benefits of the Vocation, only the bare minimum influence, even that was immense. Objectively, comparing [Primal Guardian Lord] and [Stargazer], [Primal Guardian Lord] was superior in every possible way. 

The idea of general human servants wasn’t unappealing for Esporiamissa, but they also didn’t feel required. It already had specialised monsters created for certain tasks, so going around adding some humans to that list ‘just because’ didn’t feel needed. 

However, its emotions had become mixed and complicated.

Ceella had been facing creatures that were beyond her scope.

While initially it had been a fun show and a delight for Esporiamissa. It had gotten out of hand.

Ceella’s one-woman war against an organisation pushed her abilities to the edge, which was perfect for growth, but now she was simply collapsing. Not even because she couldn't handle it, but because of external factors that interrupted that growth.

The fight with the projection was glorious; it was a fight against a being that truly pushed Ceella to its limits, but then the ending happened.

The damage Ceella received shouldn’t be anything major, but she was left with permanent pain.

This was when Esporiamissa first began feeling worried.

(“ You have dancing along a line that even I am worried you might fall from ”)

Esporiamissa learned that it didn’t have enough knowledge on how to heal souls. While it could remove the pain once the deal was complete, the fact that Ceella was still feeling pain long after it should’ve healed was deeply concerning for it. But it held back these concerns, as all it really meant was that it would be sooner rather than later when the deal would be completed.

But that hope was reliant on nothing else disastrous happening to her. 

(“ The fact that those arrows even exist is an attack on Existence’s efforts ”)

That first arrow that had brought Ceella down had done damage that Esporiamissa had never even realised.

Then the second created wounds so deadly that surviving was ludicrous. 

But somehow Ceella did survive. Esporiamissa believed that Ceella didn’t even know how close she was to losing her life. That second arrow, on her already damaged soul, would’ve been fatal, but she somehow managed to stitch herself together. 

That incident was the last straw. 

(“ Varias you will pay for harming what is mine ”)

Esporiamissa knew who was to blame for Ceella’s most recent wound. 

Varias was the being that interfered and had the Black Arrow teleport directly into Ceella. It was the pest that harmed what was Esporiamissa’s.

Behind Ceella’s back, Esporiamissa was looking into Varias and where to find it. All these beings that weren’t from the humans’ side of Existence were meant to limit their influence until a certain point, but how they were able to extend said influence depended on the type of being they were. Dungeons were the simplest, with full unrestricted influence over what was within their domain and having the standard ability to grant abilities, which some use to expand their impact on the world.

Some used deals and artefacts to play around with the world; the projection that originally hurt Ceella was one such example. However, Varias didn’t help that way; if it did, Esporiamissa would’ve felt it warned Ceella, but that was also likely why Varias didn’t do the required method.

But there was nothing Esporiamissa could do about it now; it had already happened, and Varias couldn't be punished for such action as there was no one to punish him.

The system of minimal interference was, at its heart, mostly an honour system.

It might sound silly in human terms, an honour system for beings far more mighty than anything human could reach, but there was really nothing to control them, so honour was the only rule. For the same reason, though, none of these beings cared to do anything to humanity; at most, a few liked to mess with humans or make deals with them. 

The rest were quite happy to continue existing until Existence was ready for them. 

Esporiamissa had already let the rest of the beings that actively traverse this side of Existence know what happened. Its anger was pure, and the rest learned of that. Anyway, dealing with Varias had to be delayed for another time. The rest of the beings that needed to know did know, and if they dealt with it first, Esporiamissa wouldn’t mind.

(“ …Ceella… ”)

But now the situation was still so tricky for Esporiamissa. Recounting everything that came before this moment was painful, it reminded Esporiamissa of its failings. 

(“ Ceella… why couldn’t you just give up? ”)

Now, Ceella had travelled through the border to the other side of Existence to find a cure for her own predicament. Espr didn’t know exactly what Ceella was thinking or feeling, maybe before the injuries, but now they only had a vague understanding of Ceella’s intent and some of their surface ideas. 

(“ I’m not even confident I can bring you home from this dead world ”)

Esporiamissa knew Ceella’s confidence that somehow Esporiamissa would drag back her body to complete the deal. This wasn’t out of some sort of self-preservation hypnosis for Ceella to justify putting herself in danger; no, she just genuinely believed that Esporiamissa would do whatever was necessary to complete their deal for its own benefit.

(“ This world shouldn’t even exist, but by the logic of this side of Existence, a world like this would eventually exist ”)

Esporiamissa didn’t know what this world was exactly until Ceella went through it. Esporiamissa didn’t have the power to know everything, especially for worlds on the opposite side of Existence from where it currently resided. If it did, it would’ve made a stronger effort to stop Ceella. 

Originally, it just thought it was a Dungeon that tried a different approach by keeping its original body on one side to maintain its power, but no, instead, the core was simply one of the anchors that kept a dead world floating.

(“ …”)

Esporiamissa watched as Ceella burned bright, her soul crying in pain but still pushing forward.

(“ You were supposed to return to me, healthy, and the reborn, but now I don’t even know if you will return at all ”)

Esporiamissa's voice shook.

(“ The fact, you made me, feel this way, infuriates me ”)

Ceella continued to fight as the world around her crumbled.

(“ No matter what ”)

Ceella continued to move despite the wounds.

(“ I will ensure that you are mine ”)

Ceella continued to reach for her own salvation.

(“ No matter what it takes. My darling Witch, Cel ”)