'Just a little further!' The scrawny Eight-year-old girl chanted in her head, cheering herself past her limit. Her little legs already ached, and her lungs burned as she sprinted past every part of the forest that was familiar to her. Behind her was the large scary tower she called home. But she kept her eyes trained ahead where a cliff was coming in view. It would be a small fall if she did not make the jump to the other side. She had failed many times before, but she grew another inch and she had been secretly training. She was sure she could make it this time.
'I can do this; I will do this!' Her eyes squinted in pure determination as she was hitting her mark. She timed it out perfectly in her head as she reached closer to the end.
'Now!' She instructed as she put all her strength into her legs and leaped into the air. She refused to close her eyes in fear, she would see this through. She stretched out her right leg and held her breath.
The feel of her feet harshly hitting the other side was the sweetest feeling she could recall in her short life. She lost her footing and fell forward and tumbled roughly into the dirt. She was not bothered though; no amount of pain could ruin this moment. She rolled onto her back and looked to the sky as she panted loudly.
When she caught her breath and howled into the air and laughed. "I did it! Ha-ha! I am the fastest person alive!!! I almost flew!! I know it!"
As if in response to her boasting a nearby doe that had watched the whole thing, huffed unimpressed. But she could not ruin the girl's fun and she giggled with glee
"Ariel!!!!!" the name pierced the air and the girl sat up quickly. "Oh no...I lost track of time!" and just like that, her triumphant moment had passed, as the sun began to rise. She stood to her feet and took the sight of herself in. She was a mess. Her knees were scraped, she had dirt all over her dress, and her auburn hair was a knotted disaster. Greta was going to put her in the dark room for sure.
"Ariel!" The shout was coming closer. "I'm coming Miss Greta!" she replied, she knew it would be better to go to her than the other way around. She tried to fix herself as best as she could but it was no use. When she met the teacher near the well-kept garden that separated the forest from her home she knew there was no fixing the damage she caused. Greta was a tall imposing woman, and she was the closest thing to a mother the little girl had.
"Ariel!" She gasped as she took in the sight of her. "You.... you look ... OH, my goddess! You look like a little savage!" The closer Ariel got to the older Sorceress the angrier she got. "I told you, you are not to go into the woods! Only wild animals play in the woods! You are not a wild animal now, are you?!"
"No ma'am." She said softly looking at her feet once she was close enough.
"What are you then?"
"I am a student of the Magic Order," She recited. "I am training to be a civilized Sorceress just like my mother was."
"And do you think this is how Sorceresses of the Magic Order act?"
"NO ma'am."
Greta let out an exhausted sigh and bent down to one knee as she wiped some dirt off of her nose. "NO, it's not. I remember when I first brought you to our doors as a little baby. You were so beautiful. So many people warned me that you would be too wild when you got older. That your blood was tainted by wolves. I was not sure what to do, but when I held you close to my heart, I knew that we had a duty to the Goddess to raise you right. I know behind all that dirt and grass is a proper young lady who will make the Order proud." She gently held the little one's cheek in her hand. The child soaked in the much-wanted affection and leaned into the touch. "I'm Sorry Miss Greta."
"What do you want to be Ariel. A wild animal that rolls in the mud? Or a powerful Sorceress?"
"A powerful sorceress like you!" she answered earnestly. "I promise I won't ever do it again! I can be a good girl! I am a good girl!"
"Good! I will still have to punish you, however. NO food for the rest of the day and you are to spend a week in the reflection room."
Ariel's eyes widened in fear, a whole week in the dark room terrified her. She hated the dark and Greta knew it. But she had been bad so she needed to be punished or else she would turn into a wild animal. "Yes Ma'am," she said with her head low.
"Good girl," the older woman said as she pushed the child forward.
The room of reflection, as Greta put it was a pitch-black room. If one were to put their hand up to their face, they would still be unable to see it. Ariel used to be able to see in the dark but after a few months, she lost the ability and she does not know why. Sometimes she thinks it was all in her head, there was no way a girl who had not yet manifested her magic could see in the dark.
The girl tucked her legs in close as she lay on the cold floor, she was trying to be brave and not cry. She felt her cheeks become damp as rebellious tears cascaded down her face. Once she felt one tear, she could not stop the rest and she sobbed loudly in the room. She knew no one would be able to hear her. In this room, she was completely alone. She swatted at her neck as it tingled a little. It was the spot where her strange birthmark sat. Sometimes it would irritate her but today it felt different. She could not explain it but it was enough to help take her mind off her fear of the dark for only a moment.
'Who is that?' she heard a voice in her head call out. It sounded like a young boy's, perhaps someone close to her age.
"Huh?" She asked, feeling a little foolish for answering a voice in her head.
'I said who is that?! Where are you hiding! If that's you Rowan playing a trick I will beat you up!' The voice threatened.
"I don't know who that is and I am not hiding! Oh no... are you a spirit?!" Her voice shook in fear, she was not sure how one got rid of a spirit.
'No! I'm a wolf! Are you a spirit?'
"No! I'm a sorceress and wolves don't talk!"
'Not an actual wolf stupid! I'm a shifter!'
"Don't call me stupid!" She felt her face heat up, how dare the intruder in her head be so rude. "I am a lady and future sorceress! You should learn your manners!"
'Hah! Well, I'm the future Alpha of the Daimos pack! So I don't have to be polite! You have to respect me!'
"Whats an Alpha?"
'It's a leader of other Shifters.'
"But not yet?"
'No'
"Then I guess I don't have respect you then!" She could feel the boy's temper begin to flare and despite her fear, she felt herself smile proudly.
'If you were here I would make you regret that!' he threatened. 'Where are you anyway?'
"I'm in the room of reflection."
'Where is that?'
"It's a special room in the Magic tower, where I live."
'What's so special about it?'
There was a long pause, Ariel did not want to answer but she could feel the boy grow impatient. Even though he made her mad she did not want to lose what little company she had.
"It's a room of complete darkness. No one is supposed to hear you and you can't hear anyone outside of it. "
'That sounds horrible, why would you want to be in there?'
Her eyes begin to water again as she thought of her situation. She sat up and hugged her knees. "I don't," she finally confessed after another long pause. "I am being punished for being bad."
'What did you do?'
"I...I was playing outside in the woods. I'm not allowed out there and I got my dress ruined."
'That's it?'
She glared at the arrogant voice, "What do you mean? I am a lady, not an animal."
'We all play in the woods in Daimos. Why not come here?'
"I don't even know where that is. Besides, I don't want to play in the woods anymore. I want to be a good girl."
The boy scoffed and she was not sure how she knew but she was sure he was rolling his eyes, it seemed the longer they talked the stronger their connection got. 'Fine, be a Good girl,' he mocked. She felt him start to fade away and her heart began to race. She would rather fight with an imaginary kid than be alone in the room.
"Wait! Please," her voice trembled as her fear began to rise. "I...I don't want to be alone. Please stay just a little longer?"
'What's your name?' the voice asked.
"Ariel. What's yours?"
'Jarek.'
"It's nice to meet you."
The boy paused, she could feel his confusion. He took a long moment before responding. She was almost afraid he had left after all.
'It's nice to meet you too.'
She sighed in relief and the two continued to talk for a couple of hours. He told her things about his home and she told him about the city of Thealinos, where she lived. Once she got past his blunt demeanor she found the boy was actually really nice. She wondered if all boys were as crass as he was. She had also confessed to him he is the first boy she had ever talked to, something about that seemed to make the boy happy but he did not voice it. She also told him about her strange birthmark, she knew she was grasping at anything, but she desperately wanted the boy to keep talking to her. This seemed to catch his attention.
'Is it on your neck?' he asked
She perked up and nodded. She was about to say yes, but he seemed to know she had nodded.
'I have one on my neck too! But I wasn't born with it. It appeared when I was three.'
"What does yours look like?"
'It's like a half-circle, almost like the moon with these neat designs on the inside.'
"Mine too! Do you know what it means?!"
'Not yet. But my dad thinks he does. He wants to make sure before he tells me, he said after I have my first shift he will know.'
"Will you let me know when you find out?"
'Sure. But if you find out before me, you gotta tell me.'
"I will. I pinky promise."
'Pinky promise?'
"Yeah, it's where you lock pinkies and make a promise. I guess... we can't really do that."
'I'll hold up mine, you hold up yours.'
Ariel held up her pinky in the air and they both made their promise to let the other know what the mark meant, should they find out first.
Soon the boy was called away by his father, and Ariel was left alone in the dark once again. The conversation repeated in her head. She had so many questions but found it hard to concentrate to find any answers as her eyes grew heavy. The stubborn, rude, boy had helped her face the dark room. As she began to drift off she wondered if she would actually hear her new friend's voice again, she hoped so.
The week went by faster than Ariel thought it would. She was not able to contact Jarek as much as she had wanted, but every now and again he managed to reach out to her. In the room she lost all track of time, she wondered if he was talking to her around bedtime. She did not think to ask him before he said good-by, however long ago that was. A bright light intruded on her thoughts as the door cracked open. Ariel covered her eyes as she slowly adjusted to the brightness. Was it time for food already? Usually, Greta would crack the door only enough to give her some food but the door widened more, hinting that her sentence was up.
"You can come out now," Greta instructed. Ariel squinted into the light as she slowly crawled out of the room. Greta gently helped her to her feet and tried to dust off the dirt from her dress. "You will need a bath before bed," she surmised. "Did you learn your lesson?"
Ariel looked to her feet and nodded her head, "yes ma'am. I won't act like a wild animal ever again. I promise."
A smile tugged at Greta's lips as she patted the young girl's back. "That's my good girl. Now go upstairs and wash up. Tomorrow we have a new girl coming and I want you to be the one to greet her."
The magic tower did not get a lot of students. Most of the girls Ariel had met, had already either married off to a husband chosen by the Order or had made their vows to the Sisterhood. If they joined the sisterhood then they would learn powerful spells to protect the kingdom Autheria. If a new girl was coming then there was a chance she would be close to her age. Greta said she was looking for a promising Sorceress' to join Ariel in the tower. So this girl would already have manifested her power.
"Will she sleep in my room with me?" Ariel asked.
"Of course. If all goes well you will both take your vows. Together. But you can't greet her looking like this. So wash up real good," She ordered. Ariel beamed brightly and almost started running up the stairs, but the sound of Greta clearing her throat stopped the girl. She straightened her back and went up the steps like a lady.
When she reached the floor her room was in she placed her hand on the wall and activated the magic that rested inside the tower. When the tower was constructed they placed runestones inside this allowed the tower to have running hot water and light, and rooms with special purposes such as the room of reflection. The hall lit with a light helping put Ariel's mind at ease. She had enough of dark spaces. She could feel the walls hum between her fingers, sometimes she swore the tower was alive. The tower was not the only room in Authirea that had these abilities. In fact, the city she lived in had many modern homes that were blessed with these conveniences. All of the King's palaces naturally had the best rune stones pulsing magic through their walls. It was just another sign of how blessed Ariel was to live in the city with real civilized people instead of the wild things in other parts of the world.
Ariel walked into her snug little room and felt comforted just from the sight of her bed that sat by the window. She loved that little window, whenever caught in a storm she would sit by the seal and watch the rain pelt the glass. There were two empty beds in the room, they were reserved for the girls that might join Ariel's coven when she is older. A coven was the three girls that would take their vows to the Sisterhood together, they would be each other's closest allies in the world. To the other far corner behind a curtain, for modesties sake was a spot to change clothes and take a bath. Ariel went to the tub that hid there, over the tub was a pump that was stuck inside the wall. She ran her fingers over the pump and felt the magic surge to life again. Water began to funnel from the wall through the pump and into the tub. The water was always just the perfect temperature.
Once it was filled she undressed and submerged her body in the water's warm embrace.
'What are you doing?'
Ariel quickly covered herself and blushed madly at the sound of Jarek's voice in her head once again.
"I'm taking a bath, go away!"
The boy seemed rightfully shamed by this but hesitated before leaving, 'I didn't mean to overhear before but I heard that lady say something about vows. What are those?'
"If I tell you will go away? This is very inappropriate!"
'I will.'
"The vows are something we take to dedicate our lives to the Sister hood and our kingdom. We don't learn any spells till we take our vows, and we cant marry once we take them."
'Why would you want to do that?'
"My mother was a Sister of the Order. And I want to make her proud."
'Wouldnt you rather play outside?'
"Thats for wolves. Not for ladies."
'Arnt you a wolf though?'
"What makes you think that?!"
'I don't know, I can just tell.'
"Well you are wrong. I am not. I'm a proper lady. Now go, I will talk to you later."
The boy nodded and left at that. Something about the conversation unnerved her. How dare he accuse her of being anything like a shifter. It was fine for him and all but she had a purpose in this world. She would not be put off course. She did wonder how he was able to tell she was a hybrid though. Just how deep did their connection go?