Mass release: 12/25
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"So, you're the type to prefer honesty, rather than to hear what you wanna hear?" He purred, genuinely starting to respect the short witch.
A firm nod, "Even if it hurts, honesty is the best. Crude or not."
"I don't know if being on the edge of insanity enlightened you and your mind, or if it's something else and you've been playing everyone with the crazy show, but you are interesting, Em. I would dare to say you are the most interesting witchling in Alexandrini right now. The most dangerous student too!" He purred. "That aside, I think you shouldn't fear Simon like that, he's not the monster in this story, kid, Dior is. I don't want to make your mind or manipulate her to see what I see in that woman, but, Simon is not the problem. Sure, he's a lil troublemaker, and he's the strongest after you now, the best trained, and the Chancellor's direct pupil, but he wouldn't hate you for something she did."
He says that because he's apparently friends with him. And even if not because of Dior, he would definitely hate my guts as soon as he learns I am actually Emerald Maya Lorenzen, his master's daughter, and the one who murdered my own mother, he will hate me. If my dad does, why would he not? There's no hope in getting close to the Circle, because even if for a miracle of heavens I befriended them, they will turn on me if they learn the truth. If they know that I am what they call a changeling, me hating it or not, that is my nature, and I might die for it. "I don't like Dior, Bhat."
"But ain't she your master?" He frowned, back to walking.
"I am a smart girl, nuts, but smart. If there is something I know how to do better than anyone, is survive. She offered me something I needed in the moment, something I still need, which is protection from those who are after my life, hunting me, and a mean to learn how to control my powers and have an opportunity to live, even if just while I'm studying here until I turn 23 years old," she confessed, since they are alone.
"She's using you, Em," he clenched his jaw.
She grinned vilely, "Believe me, it's not her that's using me."
That got him off guard, "What?"
Emerald licked her lips, "She needs me for something I cannot talk about, Bhat, but she needs me. I don't need her. Right now, I got everything I need, but I'm using her because she's still useful to me. She needs me so badly, she handed me all of her collection of grimoires, allowed me to use her kitchen-lab, to use her resources, she gave me more things than I can possibly use, and more things than it would be useful for me to tell. But you don't have to worry, Bhat, the one controlling the strings here, it's me," she smirked mischievously. "I simply make her believe what she wants."
"But… why? Why you?" He frowned confused. "I know you are special, since you have more magic that the crystals could deal with it, but, aside from that, what makes you special? Not to us, but to Dior?"
I'm my dad's daughter, a star-death changeling witch, my father hates me and is hunting me down, and according to the prophecy she talked about, I'm the only one able to kill him. "It's complicated."
"Do you know the reason?"
"I do," she nodded.
"Okay. You said you are being hunted. By who?"
After a long minute in silence, when he began to think he touched a bad topic and she wasn't going to talk about it, she sighed, "My dad."
"Your… shit. Is that why you ran?" He gasped, in dismay.
A nod, "He tried to kill me, I ran, he's still trying, I'm still running."
"Can I ask about your mom?"
"Dead," it was all she said, shutting down, a shadow falling over her face, her hands starting to shake. Breath, breath, breath, breath, breath. You are finally here, breath. They won't get you in the academy, breath. You are momentarily safe, breath. Breath, Emerald Maya Lorenzen. You're alive, so breath. She told herself, over and over again, trying to believe it.
At each second that the silence stretched further between them, he felt more uncomfortable and guilty, seeing how she was visually disturbed, doing her best to look strong, but failing with how her hands were shaking. So, when they finally got to the southeast wing of the castle, in the highest floor of the main structure aside from the eight towers, he broke the ice.
"I'm sorry for touching a wounded memory of yours, Em. I didn't want to make you sad," he tried to speak to her, carefully, but she didn't say a word, too lost in her own mind, as if reviving a nightmare. "Em?" He tried again, starting to get worried by the girl's silence. "Emerald? Emerald, kid, are you okay?" Nothing. "Emerald?" He frowned. "Emerald? Emerald?"
But she was too lost, her tricky mind bringing her back to the fuzzy memories of when she was a child, awakening at the tender of age of 7, in anger burst after she had heard the staff of her family's villa talking shit about her behind her back, calling her a demon child, a changeling, saying she would bring destruction and death. She was an innocent child, she was hurt, and she ran to her mom for refuge.
Emerald wasn't even angry at her mom, but even then, she paid the price for her changeling child's anger. She was angry at the staff who had pretended to love her in front of her and he parents, but feared her on her back, hated her, and broke her heart. Her mom hugged her, as she screamed and cry and cursed the Gods for making her that way.
'You are not a monster, my love. You are special, my sweet Emma. Mommy and daddy know your heart, and we love you. No matter what they tell you along your way, you are not a changeling, my love, you does not deserve to die just because you were born a bit more blessed by Selene and Nyx than any of them. Your eyes are the most beautiful in the world, they bloom with love and magic, not evil or death. Death witches are not evil, they are the end that gives balance to the beginning,' she told her, caressing her black hair as she cried.
'Star witches are not vile, they are the light in the dark, the ones that guide those lost, who can only count in the skies to help them find their way out of the hardships of their lives. Your blood isn't a curse, your blood is the most precious blood in the world, you can cure anything you want, and you can punish the vile not by death but by curses and sickness. It's mercy, your existence is a miracle and a sign that the Gods are still merciful for us, my love,' she told her, kissing her forehead fondly.
'Changelings is the bad name for the kids chosen by the Gods, that if hurt, loose their hope in humanity and try to protect themselves by evading anyone who tries to harm them. The Gods sent you to us to teach us that kids like you are not a curse, but a blessing, and that you can save the world if given the chance. Anyone can destroy the world, my love, but to save it? It needs something you have, a pure heart and pure intentions.'
'A love for what's true, aptitude for everything you put your mind into, and a clever mind. You are everything theirs is to be, my love. You are everything to mommy, to daddy. We'll be with you forever, no matter what happens, you can always count on us, because we are your family, friends, and we are the only people who pray for you to be better than us. For you to succeed in whatever your sweet heart desires,' she told her, hugging her tighter against her chest.
'For you to find a love as deep and intense as ours, to find your soulmate, someone who will love you like mommy and daddy love each other, who will slay the world for you if needed. Who will always be there, and won't runaway from your power, who will see your eyes and fall in love with you instead of being scared, someone who will grow with you, who will never use you and take you for granted. Someone with whom you will have your happy ending. You are everything to us, my love. Mommy love you and always will, no matter what happens. I've never been scared, mommy never regretted having you, because you are my most precious treasure.'
'Don't let anger take root into your heart, my love, that will bring you pain, it will hurt your soul, it will break your heart, and mommy doesn't want you to be like that. Mommy wants to see you shine, to see you at your best. With us you are safe, we will never hurt you. You are special, not a monster. You are not a changeling, you are an angel, you are the strongest witch that will one day walk on this earth. You are my baby girl, my precious Princess, my pretty cat. You are mommy and daddy precious gem, Emerald. Trust your heart with us, we'll never let it fall. We'll always be here for you. Always and forever,' she cried, her voice dusting into the air.
Those were her last words, as Emerald's bottled up magic exploded in a assassin awakening, and her mom imploded from inside out as she held Emerald in her arms, and her entire being scream with pain and anger, blind, and deaf to her mom's words. Her anger blinding her so much, she couldn't see, couldn't think, couldn't feel anything else other than the pain that was consuming her, she could only scream, tears of silver blood rolling down her cheeks, ears, and nose.
When she finally realized what had happened, that her mother was dead and shredded to pieces, bathing her white nightgown in red, she had another outburst that finished killing not only all the living being in the villa, or in a ratio of 5 kilometers around the house, but also all the animals. She exploded with so much more magic her small body could handle, that made her levitate from the ground and shake the structures of the entire property.
Her father, who was out in a mission of some kind, came back to find a scenario worthy of the worse horror movie in front of his eyes, there was shredded human meat and bones and organs and red blood everywhere. And when he got to his and his wife's bedroom finding her still crying and floating in the center of the room covered in blood from head to toes, and the shredded remains of his mate in their bed, he went blind.
Gerhard used his fire elemental magic solidified as whip to grab her and throw her hard to the ground, getting a painful scream out of her. Then, he got up on her and pinned her down by her neck, strangling her, all while calling her a monster, tears rolling down his eyes as he asked her why she had murdered her mother, why she had destroyed all he loved, why she was a monster, why she was born a changeling, why she had to destroy every good thing around her. His grip tightening on her neck more and more.
He yelled, saying that he should have murdered her himself, before she had turned 4 years old, that she should be executed like the monster she was. Her father told her she was a curse, she was mistake, an error, a demon in a shallow witchling body, and that he shouldn't have let her be born from the moment the oracle told him she would be a changeling. That he should have fought her mom to kill her before she killed them.
Her father, who had hugged her the night before, and told her how she was special, loved, wanted, and not a monster. How he loved her. Until he didn't, until she lost her mind and he decided she wasn't worthy of him or her mom or of living, and tried to take her life with his two hands.
Silver tears of blood were still flowing from her eyes, when she hit him and ran away, when her feet bled as she ran barefoot on the woods, and more than anything, the biggest pain was in her silver heart, that bled more and more at each step she took away from her father, into the ocean. How she had to survive ever since that day when her entire world came crashing over her.
The day she finally understood why part of her mixed kin's called the death witchlings, because once they awakened, that was all they would know, all that would stay behind wherever they went, the ultimate fate of everyone involved with her… death.
Emerald fell to her knees, screaming, and as the smoky silver tears of blood streamed down her cheeks, the walls of the Alexandrini castle shook for the first time since their foundation, as if an earthquake had just hit the gold mountains. Which was impossible.
But she wasn't supposed to be possible either, and there she was.