When the Blood Guards suspect a girl of being a witch, they strip her and check her body for scars. During the reign of the Sister Queens, witches proudly displayed the scars they had forged, symbols of their power. They wore jeweled rings and silk clothes, flaunting their wealth and status, and, above all, their magic. Now those same scars have become proof that they have been marked.
The last time Luna saw a witch’s scars was two years ago, when the Witch Queen was murdered. They were killed in their beds, and the blood of their council ran through the streets. The Blood Guards seized control of the city and began their purge.
At sunset, a crowd gathered in the mist-shrouded city center, their eyes burning with anger. Luna stood among them. The people thirsted for revenge as eagerly as they thirsted for a glass of rich red wine.
Seagulls screamed overhead as the old witch struggled up the steps to the purification platform. Unlike those who had followed her, the old woman neither wept nor begged for mercy. She faced her fate bravely.
The Blood Guards stared her down, mercilessly tearing open one sleeve of her shirt to reveal the evidence of her guilt: patterned scars flowed down her left arm, etched into her golden skin like delicate white lace.
Luna couldn’t help thinking they were beautiful. The scars had once symbolized status and superiority, but now they were unmistakable marks that made the old woman easy prey for witch hunters. That was why Luna never deliberately hurt herself. She couldn’t let them discover the scars on her own body.
It's a beautiful and wonderful story. It would be great if it could be finished.