Tears escaped from her beautiful, purple eyes, rolling down her cheeks, and dropping them on the floor.
What an unfortunate sight, you know?
To see such a genuine girl determined to push through every single trial, only to fail due to people hating her for no reason.
It was all there was to Raena Ravenscroft.
Raena fled from the hall, her footsteps echoing in the empty corridors as tears blurred her vision. Each step felt heavier than the last as if the weight of her failures was pulling her down into the earth. The memories of the mocking laughter and cruel whispers replayed in her mind, each word cutting deeper than any blade could.
'Why? Why does it always end like this?' she thought bitterly. 'No matter how hard I try, it's never enough. I'm never enough.'
Her breath came in ragged gasps as she pushed through the heavy wooden doors of the academy, the cool night air hitting her tear-streaked face like a slap.
The stars above twinkled indifferently, uncaring of the turmoil raging within her. Raena's thoughts spiraled, the bitter taste of self-pity and self-loathing growing stronger with each step.
Is it real? Perhaps it is...
"I am... nothing! Nothing but a stupid failure..." she told herself, her voice trembling.
She has given everything, and what does she have to show for it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing! She was just a pathetic, broken girl who could not even defend herself!
The night was still, save for the distant sound of crickets and the occasional rustling of leaves. Raena's sobs echoed in the silence, her pain amplified by the solitude. She stopped abruptly, her legs giving out beneath her as she crumpled to the ground.
Hugging her knees to her chest, she let the tears flow freely, her body shaking with each sob.
"I can't do this anymore," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "I'm so tired of fighting, of trying so hard just to be knocked down again. Why does it have to be this way? Why am I always the one who suffers?"
Damn... damn this! Damn everything!
The world around her seemed to close in, the darkness suffocating her, pressing down on her chest until she could hardly breathe.
"They all hate me," she thought, despair settling in her heart like a stone.
"I'm nothing to them. Just a joke, a punching bag for their cruelty. Even the headmaster… even he didn't care. He let them do this to me. He let them ruin everything I worked for."
Suddenly, a hand grabbed her arm, pulling her roughly to her feet. Raena gasped, her tear-filled eyes widening as she found herself face-to-face with her uncle, the Professor who was never named!
His expression was a mixture of anger and disappointment, his eyes cold as he looked down at her.
"What are you doing, Raena?" he demanded, his voice low and furious. "Why did you leave the hall? You haven't fulfilled your purpose yet!"
Raena yanked her arm free, her heart pounding in her chest.
"My purpose?" she spat, her voice quivering with a mixture of fear and rage. "What purpose? To be humiliated? To be treated like dirt by everyone here? I've done everything I could, and it's never enough! I'm nothing but a failure, Uncle, and I can't take it anymore!"
Marek's eyes flashed with anger.
"You think this is about how others treat you?" he snapped, his voice rising. "Do you think I had it easy when I was in your position? Thornwood is brutal, yes, but it's supposed to be! It's meant to test you, to push you to your limits and beyond. Your grandmother didn't raise you to give up at the first sign of hardship!"
Raena's frustration boiled over, her anger seizing control.
"You talk like you know everything, like you're so much stronger than me, but you're just as much a coward as I am!" she cried, her voice cracking.
"You hide behind your secrets and your missions, never telling me the truth about anything! What's your real purpose here, Uncle? Why are you even at Thornwood? Don't you dare judge me when you're hiding things too!"
The uncle's face hardened, his gaze turning icy.
"You don't understand, Raena," he said coldly. "You're letting your emotions cloud your judgment, and that's why you keep failing. You need to learn to control yourself and harness your power, or you'll never survive!
"Shut up! You haven't even introduced your name for once!"
But Raena was beyond reasoning.
With a cry of frustration, she shoved past him and ran, her feet pounding against the earth as she fled into the night. Her thoughts were a chaotic swirl of anger, pain, and confusion, her heart a maelstrom of emotions she couldn't control.
"I don't... I don't belong here..." she thought desperately as she neared the cliffs that overlooked the academy.
I can't go home like this.
I've failed them...
I've failed everyone.
They'll never accept me now.
I just... I just want it all to end!
I want to die.
Without a second thought, Raena launched herself off the cliff, the wind rushing past her as she plummeted toward what she hoped would be the end of her suffering.
But instead of the oblivion she sought, she found herself tumbling down a steep slope, her body battered and bruised by the jagged rocks. She rolled and slid, the world spinning around her until she finally came to a stop at the bottom of the ravine.
Dazed and in pain, Raena lay there for what felt like an eternity, gasping for breath. The moonlight filtered through the trees above, casting an eerie glow on the ravine floor. As she slowly sat up, her body aching from the fall, something caught her eye—a faint, dark glow emanating from the ground nearby.
Her heart skipped a beat as she realized what it was...
The Black Rose.
Everything froze at that moment. The moonlit basked the stunning darkened petals of the rose, and it was... "Surreal..."
The very thing her grandmother had spoken of, the legendary power her family had lost generations ago.
It was here, hidden in the shadows, glowing with a dark, otherworldly light. Trembling, Raena crawled toward it, her breath hitching as she reached out with trembling fingers to touch it.
The moment her skin made contact with the petals, the rose's glow intensified, and a dark, inky energy began to spread from her fingertips up her arm.
Raena gasped, trying to pull away, but it was too late. The dark power surged through her veins, spreading like wildfire, her skin turning black as the rose's essence consumed her.
She does not know what is happening! The girl... the girl is panicking!
"No… no, please, someone help me!" Raena cried out, her voice thick with terror. But there was no one to hear her. The darkness continued to spread, wrapping around her like a suffocating shroud, the pain growing more intense with every passing second.
"KYAAAH!"
As the power overwhelmed her, Raena's vision began to fade, her body convulsing as she fought against the darkness.
"H-help..."
Her thoughts grew hazy, and just before she lost consciousness, a voice echoed in her mind, cold and mechanical.
< i n i t i a l i z i n g . . . >
< . . . . . . >
< 3 . . . >
< 2 . . . >
< 1 . . . >
And then, everything went black.