Rise Midnight Child,
Rise and let your light shine
That the Evil One may fear the end of time
That your great pow'r may save our kingdom
And you will lead us over the victory line
Nova Vespera had always loved the darkness. It was a cooling balm to the harsh middays of torture others inflicted on her body and mind. She loved looking up at the stars, trying to count them and remember their names, trying to forget what happened during the daytime.
Nova's long white hair made her a walking target, and she hated letting her hair down. She tried dying her hair but somehow it would wash out within a day or so. Everywhere she went she was seen as taboo, and the only place she felt remotely near safe was at home with her parents.
But at home, Nova struggled just as much to fit in. She was the only one with white hair in her family and her whole life she had never met anyone with the same colored hair, even the elderly in the kingdom didn't have completely white hair. But everyone else had friends with the same color affinity. Though technically Nova belonged to the Red affinity, she didn't feel like she was part of the family at all.
Her mother Emily Vespera had curly red hair and the brightest green eyes like an enchanting meadow, and her father Daniel Vespera had floppy red hair and sea green eyes. Nova didn't even have green eyes. She also hadn't displayed any powers so far, that most people her age would have discovered by now.
The morning of her eighteenth birthday, Nova received her letter from the Elemental Trials Council.
Nova watched as the red-haired mailman nodded at her mother, who smiled. Her mother sifted through the letters as she hummed a merry tune. Emily used a finger to point at the fireplace and immediately a warm fire burst to life. Nova shouldn't be so surprised at the use of magical powers but it still spooked her sometimes. Fire was the main Red affinity associated power.
Emily gasped as she found Nova's letter at the back, giving it to Nova with trembling hands.
It looked like a normal letter, save for a fancy red seal with a V on the back of the letter.
To: Miss Nova Vespera,
Your presence is required at the Elemental Trials, now that you have attained the age of eighteen. The Elemental Trials have two purposes. One is to provide you with the knowledge of your elemental powers, and two is to find out your color affinity so you may be placed appropriately into society as you begin to work and take on apprenticeships. You should know this already from your school lessons. Please find attached the location of the first trial and please be punctual in arrival on the day of the Elemental Trials this year.
Sincerely,
Grandmaster of the Elemental Trials Council,
Johannes Juergen
"It's finally happening! My baby is going to the Trials!" Emily fretted over Nova, giving her extra pancakes.
Nova chewed on her pancakes as she thought about what all this meant. She hadn't thought she'd have any sort of exception, but now that the moment actually arrived, fear was snaking its way into her heart. Nova knew that her competitors would not take lightly that she was going into the Trials. It wasn't even a competition really, but somehow over the years people had made a spectacle out of the Trials. And knowing her classmates who would also be competing this year, Nova knew there would be trouble ahead for her.
The class bully Hirsch Roma would be on her tail whatever the Trial included. Nova had the misfortune of being in the same class as Hirsch since they were thirteen. Every year he bullied people but she was the one he focused on the most. His friends and his girlfriend would obviously be on his side.
"Hey, what's white in the day, white in the night and completely useless both day and night?"
"The Midnight Child!"
The kids would all point at Nova anytime Hirsch came up with jokes to put her down like that.
Nova couldn't think of anybody who would be on her side, except for her best and only friend Sindy Lou. Sindy was from the Blue affinity, but she didn't care about color affinities or elemental powers. She was the only person Nova had at school who made life bearable and didn't judge Nova based on her hair color or lack of special ability.
As Nova went outside for a training session with Sindy, her mother said to be careful. Nova kissed Emily's cheek before she ran out of the house, decked in full black gear and clothes.
It took Nova twenty minutes by bus to leave Vermilion, the capital of Chromatica where she lived. Everywhere she looked was red. Red painted shops, red cafes, red vehicles, red clothing. When she climbed onto the bus she got weird stares from Red strangers. She put a hood on to cover her hair but some white strands still glinted in the sunlight. Nova had to go closer to the No Man's Land towns for training. When Nova got off the bus to switch to the minibus, she spotted Sindy waiting for her at the bus station.
Sindy Lou, with her pixie light blue hair and impish eyes sat on a bench alone reading what was probably a romance book, her lips in a flat line. When Nova called Sindy's name, a wide smile transformed Sindy's bored look.
Sindy met Nova halfway and engulfed her in a hug.
"My Nove!" Sindy said, clasping onto Nova's back.
Nova returned the hug equally as enthusiastically.
"My Sin!"
They laughed together and headed to the sparring rooms via a short minibus trip.
Nova and Sindy had decided at the beginning of the year that before they went to the Trials they would train physically together, just to be more prepared for anything that might happen.
Their training was brutal. They found a training gym with trainers who had experiences even winning the Trials in the past. The training exercises were very difficult and rigid in terms of schedule and training the physique. After every session, Nova could feel the sweat dripping from head to toe.
That day of training was no different. Nova almost felt like the trainers were doubling up on their toughness, maybe because they knew the Trials were really coming up this time.
As Nova punched, kicked, planked, and squatted her way through the session, Sindy was by her side the whole time.
"Tell me again," Sindy told Nova.
"Red is for fire. Blue is for water. Yellow is for air and earth. Purple, Green, Orange do not have a main elemental power."
They memorized the color affinities and the elemental powers, but a thought struck Nova's mind as they walked back to the bus station to separate ways. The next time they met, they would be at the Trials for real.
"Sin, what if we don't get any of those six colors? Or what if it's a different color, I don't know like white or black?" Nova asked.
Sindy glanced at Nova's hair when Nova spoke and she said slowly, "I've never heard that happen before so I don't think it's possible."
"Then why do I have impossibly white hair?" Nova challenged.
"Maybe it was a gene thing? Like when random things happen in the DNA along generations," Sindy mused.
"Yeah, I guess maybe," Nova sighed as she put her hood back on.
Nova couldn't shake the feeling that something strange would happen during the Trials. It was a gut feeling, that wouldn't go away no matter how she tried to convince herself the same things Sindy said.
That night as Nova glanced outside her window to the blackened night with the twinkling white stars, she smiled at the stars in the sky before she drifted into sleep.
In her dreams she saw herself putting her hand into the Well of Colors. But instead of her hand coming back out with a recognized color affinity, a dozen ravens flew out of the Well.
Nova woke up past midnight with a gasp, a light film of sweat coating her pyjama shirt, and a single tear rolling down her eyes.
Nova couldn't go back to sleep again after that, just tossing and turning until day broke.