Magic could do wonders but couldn't go against the law of nature. Just like technology.
Soon enough, I was going deeper into the lake, swimming through the various algae.
I didn't lose concentration, making sure I held my breath just right. Then I pushed myself to my feet and used my hands to push what came into view.
I squinted my eyes to see in the water without hurting them. Far ahead, I could begin to see the entrance of a cave. Inside, we could see a faint light coming out, signaling the presence of Annerula.
I was thrilled, greatly relieved, and happy. If I wasn't under water, I would have jumped around to show my excitement.
I used even more force to push faster into the water, diving more and more.
I could feel the pressure around me, and the air in my lungs was thinning out. Soon, I would be out of breath and die of suffocation if I didn't hurry up.
I swam faster, almost angrily, and soon I was at the entrance of the cave. It was still under water, I had to swim up into the land, in the inner part.
When I arrived in the inner pool, I clung to a rock, which hissed me up to the dry land. Then I took out my clothes to not die of cold. My body would naturally adjust itself to the temperature. And anyway, my crystal ball emanated enough heat to warm me up.
I looked around, observing the intricateness of the inner walls of the rocky cave.
It was long and vast, presenting an enormous, wide space. And from little holes, which led to unknown places, escaped strange lights.
Strange because they seemed to come from the daylights, but it was actually still into the night.
From when I plunged down, after the sunset, and now, it only took around seven minutes. And maybe even less.
The lights illuminated the cave, allowing us to see inside. And in the middle, where all the lights pointed, stood two beautiful flowers of a deep blue night color.
I observed it from afar, contemplating and marveling at its beauty.
I think nobody on earth deserves to be compared to this particular flower.
When men said you were as beautiful as a flower, they didn't mean this one. And if they did, it's because they never actually saw it with their real eyes.
It wasn't comparable to anything else and couldn't be described with human words.
The details I had known of it failed to convey how bizarre and incredible it looked.
'It's like...some kind of alien flower.'
I slowly advanced, like I was afraid that an inanimate object would walk on its own two feet and run away. I looked ridiculous.
Anyway, I continued to walk towards it step by step, as slowly as it could get. And while I was doing so, my heart beat faster and faster.
I was excited.
After years of searching the whole country and trying out every possible avenue, I was finally there.
But I was eight years too late.
'Oh mother, if only it had bloomed eight years sooner...'
I still remember as clearly as the day when the only doctor, who flinched under my perpetual pleas, came to have a sole consultation with my mother.
It was the end of December, and I had only recently discovered my magic attributes, making me unable to use them yet.
My mother's health had gradually worsened and was now in a critical state. To help her, I went to beg my father to help, and he accepted on the condition that I undergo my successor's training.
Only, my mother refused, saying that she preferred to die than see her child go through such suffering.
She referred to it as the devil's work. And she was right; it is.
Having no choice against my stubborn mother, I had to search for another solution.
That's when I went for the first time into the outer world—in the city.
One morning, I got up and ran as far as my feet could get me in the research of a doctor.
I asked every doctor around, but without money, nobody wanted to help.
Or at least, that was true until I found a young man at the border of the city known for his voluntary seclusion.
Then every day, without fail, I went to beg him at his doorstep.
And on the sixth day, with the blessing of God, he finally accepted.
That day was the happiest day of my life.
I was just so relieved. I could save my dear mother.
Later, as promised , he came to our house and diagnosed my mother: she had been lacking in vitality since childbirth, the same disease as her sister, and had needed to recuperate using different medicinal plants, good nutrition, and enough rest. All the things we never had.
But that was before her health complicated.
Now, she needed more than just those. She needed either the help of a grand archimage, who are as numerous as none, or she had to eat a mysterious legendary plant known as Annerula.
To save my mother from her imminent death, my six-year-old self had two simple but impossible options. The first one was out of reach, taking into account our nonexistent savings, and the second seemed to be only a dream.
But I still searched for it. I searched again and again and again.
Unfortunately, my mother didn't wait for me to find it.
One day, after my extirpation, my brother came to me crying with a flower in his hands.
"Georgia, look, I found the Annerula. Look. Look, it's it. Please make Mother come back. Please."
My heart skipped a beat. Come back? Who? Why?
Come on, it was really a cruel joke.
Or a misunderstanding.
After all, my brother was young and wasn't the best at communication.
But why was he crying, though? Why?
"What do you mean, come back?" I practically screamed at my brother.
I was shivering, taken by fear. I felt like fainting. My breath got stuck in my lungs, enabling me to breathe correctly.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, Ricardo?? ANSWER ME!"
"She-she, Georgia, she isn't waking up. I tried. I promise, I tried. But she wouldn't. She wouldn't."
"Help me wake her up, Georgia. Please."
As soon as I heard him, everything shut down. I could see nothing anymore; everything was dark.
I don't know how I went from the garden to my mother's chamber. Maybe I ran or crawled. I don't know, but somehow I found myself at her side, crying in the cold arms of my now gone mother.
"You promised you wouldn't leave, mother. You were lying. You lied to me. Waaah!" I cried as I screamed, my voice breaking.
That was the day I lost my mother, and also the day me and my twin became motherless.
From then on, I, as a conscious adult soul, had to take responsibility for my frail and sickly brother.