( A/N: I recommend reading the prologues because if you didn't, they introduce the world, a little bit about their politics and the protagonist's situation, so you will lose it. Anyways, good reading!)
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Eight years later, Fiamma Clan
The sun was rising slowly, iluminating the twilight sky and giving it pink and orange colors. The red, orange and yellow trees gave an impression of Autumn, though it was only the normal colors of these plants, and it was currently winter.
Normally in such a southern region, there would be a strong storm around the clan and a little bit of snow acumullated during the night, but today was a very confortable climate for everyone to wake up and enjoy the rest of the day.
But it didn't include a little girl in the Fiamma Mansion, on top of the tallest moutain. She was sleeping in the last floor in a very simple room compared to the others around; it was half the size of others and a little bit bigger than a normal hotel room, with white and simple decorations and furniture, but they were of good quality. What gave life to the room was paintings directly made on the walls and ceiling; they were picturing animals and nature of all colors on walls and the night sky on the ceiling.
Right on the extreme left side of the chamber and under the night sky part of it, layed a little girl that looked like she was having a nightmare. She was trembling and moving around her bed like trying to run away from something.
Her hair were golden white like a living sun, and a small and faint white aura surrounded her, almost like a layer of mana trying to protect her. Finnaly, her eyes burst open in fear,and for a single moment they were the same type of light than her hair, iluminating the room, but she didn't notice.
This instant was barely a second, and her hair and eyes lost their strange light, showing the real color of the two: a simple reddish-brown, a common color of a normal person in the clan. Her tanned skin was soaked in sweat just like her white night gown. Whith a sigh, she got up from her single bed and went to her marble bathtub, trying to clear her mind.
She pressed a magic blue button near it, and cold water began to fill the white object. She undressed herself while looking at the body mirror next to her, examining the dark hand marks envolving all of it, slowly disappearing like an ilusion, but the burnt pain still remained.
She was tall for a eight year old girl, reaching 1.45 meters ( 4'7 feet), wich was a normal occurance in the major branch of the Fiamma clan like her. She still wasn't creating curves or anything from early puberty, but it would probably not take long; Alice told her that her mom and her sisters began to change at nine, but she didn't have that much of a hurry anyway. What she really cared was when the time would come when her nightmares would stop and if she could one day use magic someway.
There is three ways to use magic and names to differentiate the three kinds of magicians.
Sorcerers or Spellcasters were the rarest type between humans, but were the majority on other races. They were born with high mana within them, and could manifest it to the outside world in the form of spells, that interacted with the atmosphere and created things that didn't exist without the Sorcerer, like an Ice Spell on the desert without any water to help. They had a limitation to their own mana, but they could overcome it with absorption of mana of their affinity into their corpses, making it their own; it was a long and tiring process, but allowed them to grow as long as they were alive.
Wizards or Mages were the majority in humans, but other races rarely had them, because they were born with less mana within them. They learned for years how to manipulate mana around them and create their own spells, called enchantments. They could turn normal earth into fortresses to buil their own towers and make another Wizard or Sorcerer's magic into their own. Their versatility was what made them powerful, but their magic was the weakest between the three types.
Witchers or Warlocks were the rarest between all species because of their caracteristics. Witchers were people that made a magical contract ( a contract were the less powerful one receives magic from the other party in exchange of favors or obedience) with a God or a powerful magical creature; When they used the lended power from their contractor, they were the most powerful magicians, but they could use it under strict conditions made by the contractor. Other good vantage of Witchers was that they could be more than one type of magician at the same time.
Alice told her that her mother was a very powerful sorcerer of Fire magic and the only one in her generation to have Sun affinity, and she controlled it's magic almost in the same mastery as her Fire magic. She also told that Helena was born with flame-like hair but as soon as her mother died, her hair became like a comoner's one, and no one could feel any trace of mana on her since then. Having mana was a condition to be a sorcerer and a wizard, so her only hope was to become a witcher. However, finding a magical creature or a god to make a contract with her was as easy as finding a needle on a haystack.
'Maybe if I was a magician, I would not have to suffer these nightmares...'
She entered the bathtub slowly, while trying to remember what happened on her bad dream. They started four years ago, and Alice tought they were just simple nightmares and told the girl that everything would be fine; however, they started to become more frequent and make strange hand dark marks on her body that would disappear soon after she woke up.
Helena knows that someone is responsible to make her have them, and was almost certain that her older brother was involved in this, but could't exactly prove that he was responsible for several reasons, not even prove that her nightmares had a magical cause, as the hand marks soon vanished.
Another reason that made her believe it was her brother behind everything was the memory that remained: the voice that talked with her. It seemed to toy with her, and even if she didn't remember what it said, she knew it was tormenting her in the nightmare someway, just for the pleasure of it.
'It is exactly what he likes to do with me...'
Her toughts and her bath were interrupted with a knock on the door, followed by a feminine and mature voice:
- Miss Helena, it is me, Alice. May I come in?
- Yes! - the double doors opened and closed fast and swiftly, while footsteps echoed in the silent chamber.
Helena streched her neck to look behind her, seeing the blonde and white woman in a white dress with golden flames enbroydered on her skirt. Her old brooch of golden flames was still on her left chess and contrasting with her emerald-like eyes; her expression was cold as ice like usual, but if you looked closely, her eyes softened slitly seeing the little girl in front of her.
- Miss, you decided to start bathing without me? You know it is my job to take care of it.
Helena made a funny grumpy face while pounting
- I said a million times already, stop calling me miss! And I am doing eight years today, I am old enough to take a bath alone!
Alice slitly smiled sideways with her reaction, while reaching a nearby hair comb, ignoring her plea to drop formalities and do everything alone.
- Well, it is good to start slowly. Let me at least take care of your hair. Remember that the last time you tried it alone, it became a bird's nest?
Helena stoped bathing herself and pounted even higher while crossing her arms.
During the passing of time after Iruna's death, she continued to be a Housekeeper, wich was equal to a butler; all of this while raising and educating Helena in almost every mental discipline, becoming her nanny and teacher, wich was the reason of her changing attires.
She decided to do it not only to fulfill her promise to her friend, but also to avoid manipulation and abuse from other tutors sent by ill-intentioned people, like Helena's brother and father.
She slowly brushed Helena's hair, almost like a massage that slowly relaxed her tensed muscles. She started to dry Helena's hair and after some time in peacefull silence, the woman spoke up.
- Did you sleep well, little miss?
Helena hesitated, looking at the place were before was the dark hand marks. She knew that Alice would understand if she told about the growing appearence of the nightmares and the truth about them being more dangerous than they seemed, but... she couldn't say it out loud.
She couldn't admit that she was so weak and needed help. Pride woud not allow it. So she lied.
- Yes, like a baby! -she smilled brightly, hoping that her nanny wouldn't notice.
But she did, just pretended not to. Her past as a spy and assassin were more than enough to develop her perception to not notice such an obvious lie.
Alice was a person that didn't pry further in other people's business unless it was extremely necessary. So she just tried to reassure the kid and make her know that she could talk about things when she was ready.
- Alright. Just know that I really care about you and want to make you happy...
'Shit, she noticed I lied!'
-...which is why I helped to organize your birthday party and was the major organizer this year.
Helena never had a birthday party again since she became three, so she barely remembered how it was. Alice and her always spent this day alone toguether doing something fun, so she was very confused as to what her nanny meant. Did her father finnaly aknowleged her and would give her the same amount of attention as her brother? She was kind of excited on this possibility.
The girl was still trying to process her thoughts and the sudden information, her haystile as a built-in baid was finished with a red ribbon, and when she was going to grab a gowel and ask more, something unnusual for her happened.
A golden and oval portal the size of a man was open in the middle of the room, and Alice entered it for a split second. Soon, she came back with a red and fresh dress, pants and numerous packages that seemed like gifts, one of them looked like it a long and black case, all toguether on the ground.
-Happy birthday, Miss Helena!