Author's note: This is the only chapter that is in first person so expect the future chapters to be third person.
"Clang," it sounded as the plate shattered into pieces on the marble floor as Anthea stared in utter shock.
"Well, you gave and done it," I said with a smirk at her as she unstiffened.
She looked up at me for a second and whined, "Mum's going to kill me for breaking her vase."
The vase was given to her as a wedding gift by her best friend and now that it's broken, Anthea was about to get into a load of trouble. I could not suppress the smile that was forming on the edge of my lips as I watched her clean up the mess.
"Maybe, you should try using magic in repairing it," I noted while trying not to laugh.
She glared up at me and responded, "I can't even do anything with the amount of mana I have and yet you expect me to-," she stopped as she saw the broken pieces form slowly into the vase it was before. No scratches, no nothing.
"Shh, don't worry. A thing as simple as this is definitely fixable," I assured her with a wave of my hand.
"What was that," she asked with confusion, still not aware of the basic properties of mana.
I shrugged and replied casually, "It's something you will learn once you get into the academy."
"But, I haven't even awakened my element yet, what if I don't get in," she said with worried eyes.
I knew that this had been a source of trouble for her but it was a rather silly worry as most kids in our family awaken their elements later compared to the average mage.
"You are only 10 years old Anthea, you will get your awakening in a few years like Edmund and I," I said reassuringly.
She still looked unsure but she looked at me with grateful eyes. As the youngest child of the Vermillion family, and the direct family at that, she has a lot of pressure from the higher ups to awaken as fast as possible. I went through the same thing as she did and the day I awoke my magic, my parents were moved to tears by it. They thought I would be a leer, a person with no elemental affinity. I awoke the same day as Edmund and theories started spreading about a genetic mutation in the Vermillion blood. Healers flocked in and out to confirm if the rumours were two but they found nothing.
Edmund and I carved out our own paths, him with mercury and me with steel. Again, the higher ups weren't that surprised with the results as the Vermillion family had been interbreeding with other families causing new elements to form. The pure-bloodness of the Vermillion family was gone and the higher ups were in despair. They thought the glory of the family was gone, the elements stolen.
As I pondered over this, I scanned Anthea's room around me. It was like a doll house painted with pastel pink with lots of stuffed animals surrounding the vast circular room. They came in all sizes, sitting and lying lifelessly. In the middle of the room stood a gigantic sized king bed, just perfect for a little girl.
Anthea looked at me with annoyance and asked, "what?"
I realized I was smiling unconsciously and replied quickly, "Nothing just marveling at your room."
"There's nothing to look at," she snapped.
"Well, no need to be rude, you were the one who asked me to come," I said and then added, "so what was the thing you wanted to show me?"
"Oh, just a letter from Edmund," she answered nonchalantly.
My eyes bulged and then I blurted, "he wrote to you but not me?" I finished with an exclamation.
Anthea giggled and said playfully, "I guess he just likes me more than he likes you."
"What kind of favoritism is that," I said unbelievably as I held out my hand, "well let me read it."
"Here," she said while taking out a red envelope encased with fancy writing on the top.
I took it out and started reading:
To my beautiful sister,
These days have been rather hectic for me, as I indulge in the activities that would provide the chances for the betterment of myself. The tension I have felt in the preparation for my provisional exam has left me suffering and in desperate need of a companion. How blasphemous it was for me to hear Professor Adams tell me the lack of endowment I possessed when I attempted a sacrificial move to protect the treasure that was rightfully mine! That old crook had me feeling all sorts of things. On the other hand, Caleb and Bobby provided a training course with me to help me prepare. Even though we are all in the same year, they had the exam before I did. As you can already tell from the numerous blabberings of our mother, I am attempting to take this exam the 4th fucking time! I just think of all the unfair attempts by the professors in sabotaging my tests. They sure feel envy in me as the direct heir of the Vermillion family. A person like me was born to be a great mage yet that asinine Professor Adams called me a Dotation. Oh, I am just so mad. I am reeled in but resolute in passing the exam for the 4th and last time. I will not be a laughingstock and bring shame to the family. Tell Antione that we will once again be equals and show him how unfair and unjust my exams were compared to his.
Moving on, I just want to say the amount of pain I feel when imagining your angelic face in my dreams. I feel so lonely without-
"What," I said with surprise as Anthea took the letter from me.
"No need to read the rest, it was just him being weird," she replied with a sigh while rolling her eyes.
"So basically, you called me here just for that," I said with a hint of annoyance.
"Yeah, he wanted you to read it so why not," she replied with a shrug.
I shook my head in disbelief at the contents of the letter as I started walking towards the door.
Suddenly I felt a tug at my shirt as I heard her say with a pleading voice, "Don't go… I'm lonely without Mum…"
I turned around facing those round puppy brown eyes of her, bewildered. I replied, "Uhhhh umm, Fine fine come here haha," I finished with an awkward laugh.
She smiled happily at me, those pretty eyes sparkling in my face and I felt so proud of myself.
Sometimes, I wonder about my family and how at the age of 12 I left them for school. Anthea was only 5 at the time when I left. We never really truly built a sustainable relationship with me only coming home from the winter, spring, and summer breaks. But for the past year, I finally graduated from the Royal Academy after passing the provisional exam. I had been making a mission to fill out the time we have lost, to build it from scratch.
And this was proof of my effort.
Start of Part 0 (The Prologue Arc)