Queen Mara is dead; the world rejoiced. Standing at the top of the world, Mara knew no rival. She was the Queen of the strongest country in this world. Luxury was abundant for me. She could eat anything, do anything, for Mara was the strongest in the world. Stepping to her window, she could hear the murmuring people talking about Queen Mara; jealousy filled the air. Sighing, she picked up my glass of wine.
The swaying of curtains, the smooth shine off of the white marble-like floor, a cluttered desk, covered with papers, pens, and ink bottles, purple sheets were strewn about the large bed; This was her room. It was a room filled with stress and work. Mara wouldn't miss this kingdom; it was corrupt. Nobles took from the weak, stealing everything, including their livelihoods; it disgusts her. Out of my window, the slums could be seen off in the horizon. This government didn't like the Queen to get involved with lower people than herself. As my mind wondered, the soft cushion of my chair started to ease my mind.
The taste of fruits rushed to my mouth, the smell of flowers wafted to my nose. I loved red wine; it was one of my only pleasures in this world. I could not trust many people in this country. Everywhere she looked, she could see the look. The look of hatred and envy. the look even her closest advisers even had, her thought process stopped dead in its track. 'My closest advisers even had the look' something felt off. The smooth liquid slid down her throat, pings of metallic started to hit Mara's tongue. Creeping from the sides of her sight, darkness soon enveloped her whole vision.
I was at peace, one of the only times she could say that in recent memories. Her childhood held nothing but loss and sadness. Coughing, vomiting, welts, blood haunts her dreams even till today. Mara's parents were the first to leave her in the plague. Then it was her siblings. After I was alone, my uncle scooped me in his arms. Everyone who was blessed by the world wasn't affected by this plague. The blessed, could change reality; the King wanted people like me.
I stood motionless, an infinite darkness lays ahead. confused I glanced around. A glitter of light started to emerge. Was this it? was this the light at the end of the tunnel Mara always heard about? She relaxed. Mara could finally rest from her relentless job as Queen. the light completely enveloped her vision.Bitter coldness filled my nose and mouth; an irritating crying started to assault my ears. My senses were in overdrive.
"It's a girl!" I could hear a man exclaim.
"Hello, Skyler," the woman warmly said to me.
Who is this woman? Long golden hair slid down her face; two horns jutted out of her skull. Her skin glittered from the sunlight. Cloth wrapped around her; it was a simple dress. Scars were scattered on the man; a forging hammer was rattling around on his belt. His hardened skin on his knuckles was cracked and bloody. Looking around, I was disoriented. This place looked to be a cabin. The technology of the house was ancient. It looked like not even electricity existed. I need to figure this situation out. The bothersome crying stopped. the look on my parents seemed concerned.
"Is there something wrong with her?" the woman asked.
A warm sensation penetrated my skin. the room became green like the world's vitality started to emit from my Man's hands. "No, she's fine," the man replied. Was that... aether? It felt so familiar. Being the Queen by military merit, it forced you to understand aether in and out. This was not aether. It was too impure to be aether.
I was being carried?
These brought me to my new room. It was simple. A chair sat in the right corner of the room. By it was my crib. Wait! my crib! I hurriedly glanced around. Trying to make sense of this situation. Was I a baby? Was the light at the end of the tunnel... the... NO! NO! I AM NOT THINKING ABOUT THAT! I panicked. After this awful day, I quickly got into a routine.
Every day my mother would fondly watch me in my crib. Every now and then, she would allow me to roam about. My mother kept a study. It was my favorite place in the house. It took many months for me to learn to read their language. This language seems to have the same structure and words as my own. My mother would notice me studying; she thought it was funny how I always read the same book. This book was one about magic. This magic seemed to be almost like an impure version of aether. The way they channeled the energy in themselves was strange. There was no communication with this energy, no converging the energies, just accepting whatever energy that was attracted to you.
My mother would take me places around the house to get me out of the crib. I was an extremely active baby. I could crawl at the mere age of 4 months. In the kitchen, the aroma of my moms cooking was just divine. The sizzling of beef, the bubbling of stew, the chopping of unions all filled my senses. This might even be better than the royal chefs back at the palace. I would usually get some time in the study after the kitchen. In the study, she mostly would let me play read, at least that's what she probably thought.
I could hear the clanging from my father's smithy could be heard in my room. It was annoying. Why did he have to hit that anvil every waking hour of the day? It took WAY too many hours of whining to get my mother to take me to the smithy. It was fascinating. I could feel every hit of the hammer. The sound which was once annoying became harmonic. It has mystical. A bright light pierced the forge illuminating everything. Magic started to flow into the sword my father was making. Grinning, he looked at me.
"what do you think Skye!"
The sword looked good. But clearly, my father knew nothing about magic. Even I could tell, and I didn't even use magic.
"This is a sword from a dark red smither!"
started to crawl back to the study. "WHAAATTTTT!!!! Does she not like my sword!!!!" I heard my dad yell. There was one book in the study which I always went back to. "Introduction to Magic" was the title. It was pretty bad. If this book was used widely, then no wonder my dad sucked at magic. Seriously who would try to force magic into themselves, people attract magic. Well, that is if magic is like aether. Forcing magic into yourself would only restrict the flow. Shaking my head, I decided to try to absorb some of this magic.
Closing my eyes, I started to concentrate. Plop plop plop. Little coloured lights started to flow towards me slowly. Staring at the lights, I was surprised. It was as warm, just like on a sunny day, comfortable. Suddenly they converged into aether. The four coloured lights started to merge into white orbs.
BANG!!!!!!!!!!
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE SKYLER BROOK POWELL!" my cold sweat started to pour down my face. My mother was horrifying when angry, annnddd she might have told me to stay out of the study. Understanding her makes her even more frightening. Even Dad is scared of her when she is mad. "Now you better behave in your crib Skye" I was a stone when picked up. If I stay still enough, she won't notice me. my mom angrily put me in my crib. "NOW DONT YOU DARE MOVE FROM THAT CRIB SKYLER!" This might not have been the first time I disobeyed that rule. Slamming the door shut the left me alone.
That excursion was useful. I could now train myself. Slowly I would gain Aether or magic or whatever this energy is. It isn't magic, whether it is aether or not yet to be known. Diving deep into where my core should be, I could feel the energy that felt like aether. Maybe higher level mages know if this is aether or not.
It was now dark. I'm not sure how many hours has past. There was one more section of the book I wanted to search through. "Awakening" This was drastically different from my world. I could already feel it was going to be. The abundance of energy in this world was enormous. When someone "awakens" it means they formed their core. I still remember the pulse of energy I emitted when I formed my core. It was weak, but stable like a rock. "while your pulse may be weak, the stability of it shows great promise to your potential Mara." my master stated.
Getting out of the crib was an easy task. After the four months I've been here I have found ways to get out of these prisons. I slowly started crawl, it only took forever to make it to the study. This book's information about magic wasn't terrible, at least. The awakening was terrifying to me. Some examples were of an explosion happening. This was not looking good for me. I might not want to try to form my core in the house. Making a perfect core under these awakening conditions could be catastrophic. I need to be careful.
"WAKKEEE UPPPP SKYEEE!!!!" My dad had way too much energy in the morning... "you wanna watch daddy work in his shop?" "Hun you know I'm taking Skye to town today. Maybe tomorrow she can watch you again. And I swear if you try to have her hammer metal again, you won't live very long" Mom stood in the door sadistically smiling. Even I was almost drenched in sweat with the pure killing intent spilling from mom. Dad, I pray for you.
Mom peacefully wandered around the house, packing our bags for the trip to town. I was curious about the town. What would the people be like? What was the currency? Mom picked me up. Birds I could hear the birds singing, the cool wind tickled my skin, and the sun gave me a warm hug, it was a beautiful day.
After a gruelling two hours, the sight of the town started to appear out of the trees. Buildings sprung from the ground as we drew nearer. The chatter of the town could be heard well away from the entrance. Two guards stood resolute at the gate.
"miss your documents," guard 1 mumbled off.
"Oh yes, here you go" Digging into her satchel mom pulled out an envelope which had a purple wax seal on it. "o-o-OH! Sorry, Miss! Please enter" guard one clumsily said. Walking into the town was exciting. There were so many people and not just humans. People with horns, different colour of skin, there were also people with pointy ears. Back in my old world, there were stories of people with these pointed ears; elves is what they were called. Sadly they were killed to extinction. Wow! There were even shorter people; these must be dwarves! My little mouth couldn't contain my excitement."Ok, Skye lets get what we need," my mother said. Pulling out a list, we started to head towards the market.
The center of the town held the market. a cobblestone fountain rested in the centre. Colourful stalls lined the edges. Glancing around I noticed no two stalls held the same inventory.
"30 bushels of wheat for two silver marks!" "one loaf of bread three copper bits!" "Exotic fruit! One silver per pound!"
I was gleaming. All this information I could get there was just so much! "Miss, would you like to buy some bread?" the merchant asked mom . "yes, I would like to buy six loaves." "That'll be one copper mark and 8 copper bits." Finishing the deal, I understood the currency. It seems that there are copper bits, then marks, then silver bits then silver marks, then gold bits then gold marks. Each are increments of ten.
There wasn't just merchants and stalls in the market. Entertainers stood in the middle next to the fountain. one person stood out in particular. A teifling, the people with the horns, was wielding fire like I've never seen be for. "Mama!" I yelled while pointing the mage. I needed to get closer to understand his flow of magic. I'm not sure how but ever since I began absorbing magic energies I started to be able to see them. Whenever I concentrated I could see the little orbs travelling through the air. "Oh so you want to go see the mage?" mother asked, I nodded profusely. The orbs of magic followed the fire in the air. I couldn't feel exactly how he was controlling this magic, however, it wasn't a constant stream of magic that was providing to the flames to keep them alive.
The mage took notice of my awestruck face. He created more flames to juggle the fire. This gave me even more insight into how this magic works. the orbs in the air started to condense into one spot. He moved them all into a single point which started to produce flames. It seemed very simple and basic. no advance manipulations, all he did was draw the fire orbs nearer to each other.
After the Fire show, I pulled mom into one last shop. It was a cartography shop. I needed to know where we were. I needed to know what this world looked like. These maps were of decent quality. the only small town that was on the map was this town. all others were major cities or the capitals of the four countries. the current country I resided in was Argyyll the capital of Argyyll lay directly east of us, its name was Itaron. the kingdom of Dûrgrimst lay north-west of Argyyll. Ghara controlled the whole desert that was south-west of us. Quenya 2nd largest only to Argyyll was on the other side of the contentment. While Dûrgrimst terrain was mostly in the mountains and Ghara was of desert, Quenya was shrouded in the great forest.
After dragging around mom we finished up the shopping list. With our carriage full we started to head towards home. When we got home the sun started to set, the rhythmic hammering could be heard a mile away, and i started to relax and fall asleep.
The passing of seasons has let me adapt to this world. My father has been wanting to train me with the sword for at least 2 years now. At the age of four, mother begrudgingly let me train. "Skye here!" my father shouted. Snatching the sword, it was familiar. In my old life, I dabbled with swordplay. "With your light build, I think a rapier will best suit you" my father contemplated.
"You will be training for at least 2 hours a day young lady. At first, you will be practising the lunge, parry and Riposte, along with the footwork!" When it came to training, my father was dead serious, even more, serious than my mother. Let's hope all my training in my past life will help. Every lunge, every step had to be corrected. I still had trouble with this body. "Perfect Skye!" my father shouted in joy. However, my muscle memory was kicking in. Lunging into the log was a numbing, tedious, and painful, but great fun.
after a few weeks later. "So Skye you ready to spar your old man?" my father asked "if you wish it, father" I replied. "Skye you really need to stop being so formal, where did you even learn all these formalities." "Your books father." Shaking his head, he lunged. We both held wooden rapiers. After every lunge and parry, my mother would worry even more. Feinting an attack, I slid underneath his legs. A loud crack emitted from our rapiers clashing. This force forced me back. the ground was harsh, full of rocks; my hands started to bleed. "Where did you learn that!" uttered. Ignoring him, I advanced quickly. Realizing my advantage was agility, I quickened my pace. More advance forms started to make my fathers easy-going face harden. He was struggling.
"I guess ill have to take this seriously" he mumbled.
It only took seconds after my father was serious, to be defeated. "Where did you learn that!" he shouted. My mother was petrified for the rest of the day. mumbling about not having a normal girl, and pleading with the gods to not be like my father. "Um.. dad I think we broke mom," I said. "No, she'll be fine, at least I hope."
Going into my room, my bed greeted me. I finally upgraded from a bed from the prison that was a crib. Sitting on my bed, I started to meditate. Feeling the energy start to restricted recently, I knew I could have developed a core by now. While it was more restricted, it didn't stop yet. My body could contain more Mana. In a couple more weeks, I needed to awaken.
"So Skye, when are we sparing again!" my father was ecstatic that i could wield rapiers to such degree only after two weeks.
"Honey! could we not talk about swords at the table!" My mother still did not want me to be a swordsman.
My parents started to have a long discussion. I needed this to end. "So Mother what did you and Father do before you settled down here," I asked. They were shocked. "U-u-um well dear we used to be adventurers." My mother stuttered. Hold the phone! They were adventurers!
"So what did you do as adventurers?"
"Well, we went dungeon diving, slayed beasts who threatened towns. protected people on their routes. soon your mother and I were in the same party. Your mother was the best archer in rank B! while I was a swordsman." he gloated.
"so what made you leave adventuring?"
They both looked at each other. sighing my father started to talk. "we were in a dungeon. It should have been easy. There was 6 of us. Your mother, me, and 2 other rank Bs and a rank A adventurer Myla she was our healer and our friend. it took a couple of hours to reach the lord's room. when we entered there was something different, you could feel it in your core. It only took 3 minutes to realize this was not a rank C lord. Our party wanted to fight on. It was the vanguard first to die, as our other B rank member perished, Myla tried to save our vanguard. But it was then, that she... she..." my father choked on his words. "Its ok honey" my mother
It's the first time I haven't seen my father gitty. Dinner ended and I went to my room. Dejected, I went to sleep. I woke up with resolve, I will awaken this week. I won't let my family get hurt. I needed to get stronger.
"Mother after breakfast may I go into the forest and pick berries?" "i guess, but you need to be back before 12. And if your not you know what'll happen." my mother threatened. i noticed the yellowing of the leaves, fall was coming. critters scurried around looking for food. I stopped by a boulder, beautiful was all I could think of.
Finding the berries was easy. However, my plan was not just to find berries. I needed a spot for me to awaken. I expect an explosion I would rather not blow up the house. Getting back to the house i gave my mother the berries and started to train.
A week had passed, today was the day. I was going to awaken. Stepping outside the fresh cool air rushed into my lungs, I was ready. sitting on top of a boulder i concentrated. The mana slowly flowed around me. I ached in pain. I pushed through the pain forcing mana into my body. Suddenly my body started to glow. I was at a breaking point. pushing one more time the mana started to vibrate around me. BUHMMM a beam of white light shot down right on top of me. i relaxed. it was time to create my core. Screaming in agony all the energy within me converged at my centre.
POV: Elain Powell
"Yes, honey you may go berry picking" Each time Skye brought me berries my heart melted. Each time it made her seem more normal. I did not want her to become an adventurer. I only wish for a safe life for Skye. Griff and I were sitting on our porch when it happened. The mana started to vibrate. It was like nothing I've ever felt, not even mid-level spells compared to it. BUHMMM A bright beam of light struck the ground. My blood curdled, I heard a scream in the woods, the same direction Skye went. While Griff and I locked eyes we bolted. Each and every step closer the mana instability grew.
We Reached the area that the light originated from and started searching. Sitting atop a boulder we found Skye. BOOOOMMM!! Griff leapt in front of me pushing me to the ground. I regret looking. the huge explosion exploded my daughter. Griff started laughing hysterically. "she already awoke" he uttered. falling to his knees his face showed all his emotions, he was lost, confused and amazed. I was perplexed, what happened to my daughter. Looking through the smoke Skye was floating, a white glow emanated from her. I was astounded.
Skye POV:
I was floating in the air. all the tension within me exploded out. I was entirely relaxed. I thought I heard my father near me. Must be my imagination. opening my ears I was horrified. my parents stood 50 ft from me, and I hovered in the centre of a 45ft crater. "Well that was a little more powerful than i imagined" i mumbled.
