XiaoLan Devinsky officially joined the Monastery of Magic's Academy at the age of 13. It's not long until she mastered all subjects. Many students envied her large capacity of magic powers and intelligence. Soon, she became one of the Monastery's youngest top students at the age of 15.
She hasn't even finished her second of five years of studies at the academy yet, but her power is ranked alongside her older cousins, which is in the top ten.
Then, she wondered, what's the point of all of this when she's going to graduate in three years and marry a man she never met?
She went to the only person she could in this place, David Devinsky, the Abbot's secretary. He's her father's youngest brother, and he managed to avoid marriage for two decades after he graduated. He's still single now, and she'd want to know his secret of how.
"Ah, isn't this our new prodigy?" He greeted her warmly as she opened the door to his office. David is a handsome man, with the same shade of chestnut brown hair as hers and dimples adorning his peachy cheeks when he smiles. His uniform coat is draped over his chair, and his white dress shirt hugged his figure nicely.
The young witch gently closed the door behind her, and she made her way to the chair in front of his desk. His office is rather comfy compared to the other authorities in the Monastery. Unlike them, Uncle David's office is full of decorations which he took from their hometown such little pieces of colorful stone animals, random brick-sized books about cooking, and of course, geode bowls and silverware scattered across a dresser in the corner. Her uncle is also a hard working man, and most of the time he skipped lunch at the cafeteria, and instead he'd cook instant food in his office later.
Xiao made sure the glass stain window was closed, and she pulled the curtains shut for good measure before she sat down on the chair.
"Do you need a silent spell?" Uncle David asked. His thick eyebrows lifted in amusement, but she knows if she says yes, he'd do it.
"Is there a way you can null the marriage?"
"Ah... Well, I'd need to write to the head of your family— our family — and make up an excuse for you. A prodigy such as yourself shouldn't be married off so soon." He sighed. "We, the Abbot and I, tried before with other students, but... You know we don't have a choice in this too. Usually, it depends on the family head. It only works if the family head agrees with the excuse and stops the engagement."
Basically her father has the final answer.
"Thanks for trying anyway." Xiao smiled at him nervously. "Trying is better than nothing, right?"
"Of course, but I can't promise anything. Don't get your hopes up, little one." Uncle David got up from his desk and stretched. "I'll call you in personally when the letter comes back."
The head of the Devinsky family's response letter arrived at the Monastery a week later. Her father's response was clearly a giant 'No' written in red disguised under sugarcoated words of how the Devinskies wanted the best for the first daughter of the head of the family, and becoming a professor after she graduated isn't good enough for them.
Xiao clenched her teeth in anger, and she slapped the letter on Uncle David's desk.
"Sorry." She immediately apologized for her rude behavior.
The secretary only gave her a sad smile as he patted her back. "Ah, little one. It won't be too bad. You can still come here every week."
It's not about her visiting here, it's about her freedom. She doesn't want to be her mother, who graduated from the Monastery of Magic and then straight up married to her father and started pumping babies. However, her mother and her father didn't have any children until five years after their marriage. Unfortunately, they got a daughter, so they tried again until they got a son. Xiao doesn't want to be her mother.
But, she really can't escape this fate, can she?
What's the point of her living if her life is controlled by her father? Sure, he sent her to the Monastery, but it's purely out of tradition and the fact that "men prefer educated women", and the Monastery of Magic is the best educational institution there is to send one's children to.
Xiao gritted her teeth, but she thanked her uncle nonetheless. It's not his fault that she's born in a society where she can't live her life. Her classes had already ended for the day, and she decided to go for a walk to clear her mind. Once she got out of Uncle David's office, she looked out the window saw her fellow female students in the air. The waved at her as they made their way to the next tower, their brooms holding them up in the air.
Huh, forget a walk. She needs to fly to clear her mind.
She made her way to the closet broom closet, and she took out the first broom she saw. The old thing has splinters and the straw head is missing in patches, but that's how she knows it's reliable.
Without much thought, she opened the balcony door next to the closet and took off. The sun is setting soon; Xiao keeps a constant supply of energy channeled into the broom to keep herself afloat. Her black eyes looked down at the scenery underneath her. The small oak trees became bigger and denser as she got into forest territory of the Monastery, which isn't bound by stone gates like the Main Monastery ground where people actually live.
The Monastery looks so beautiful from a far, dark stone and pointy roofs made up the five towers, and some students are out and about on their brooms too, like bees buzzing around a goth flower bush.
Before she knew it, she found herself already wandering out of the Monastery's territory. Her black eyes widened when she turned around and saw the thin, barely visible fences on the forest floor that separated the Monastery's territory from the rest of the kingdom.
Shit, she's gonna be in trouble if the guards catch her outside like this. Students are not allowed to be outside the territory, and most got in trouble for it because they didn't see the little fences which are little intentionally. If they dare to go over those little wooden fences, they'll be punished with writing the Monastery's rules a hundred times over and wash the dishes in the cafeteria after meal times for a week.
The students don't dare to walk over a barrier because they're afraid of the consequences, which is a very effective form of control, to be honest. After all, the Monastery of Magic's Academy's main purpose is to pump out obedient little witches and wizards who are loyal to the crown, and if you're born with magic, or come from a sorcerer family like the Devinskies, your parents will throw you in there for the sake of tradition.
As soon as that thought crossed her mind, she sighed.
The sun is now blazing orange behind the Monastery, and Xiao bites her lips. No guards are shouting at her yet, no fellow students are calling her out yet.
The Silverin Temple.
Her beady black eyes widened when the name crossed her mind.
She has never been there since the Monastery doesn't allow their students to explore outside their territory, and it's not like she really has any reason to. The temple isn't tourist famous or anything, but it's still a known temple in the records since she's tasked with writing an essay about it in history class.
Every 250 years, the royal family Mistichestor of Rechena will give birth to a prince with shadow powers, a form of dark magic, which naturally corrupts whoever wields it. Two centuries ago, one of those evil shadow wielder princes was born, and he raised hell to all five nations surrounding the Monastery. Unlike the evil shadow wielder princes before him, he couldn't be killed, so the five kingdoms and the Monastery sent their best mages, witches and wizards and warlocks to seal the genocidal prince. Like the evil shadow wielder princes before him, his name was erased from history.
It's said that if you go deep into the temple, you'll find the prince chained there, but once people go in, they never come out.
Perfect.
A perfect place to end her life.
.
Little does she know, the "evil shadow wielder prince" is waiting for her.