Five years ago.the year solia VII 7th.

She was underwater.the water bubbled around her,she could see the air coming out from her lungs.yet she felt okay.she wanted to sink.she just wanted to disappear.the water filled and filled and filled her lungs-

Lucia woke with a gasp.

She looked at the time.5:23 A.M.

She groaned,and looked outside.

The vita flag waved under the pre-dawn sky.the courtyard was empty.

A red and gold flag under a deep blue sky.she sighed,and pulled her own pale blue hair into a knot.

"Hail vita,the life-giver,the bringer of spring,of life in solia,the merciful one..."

she prayed halfheartedly,her attention already checking the small dome placed on her desk that recorded her praying and sent it to the High Priest,ensuring she prayed every day.the jewel embedded to the dome flashed green.good.she finished the prayer,and threw open the closet.the Healer's outfits were all the same.long-sleeved black dress coming to her knees,white stockings.black mary jane shoes.she put those on,and splashed some water to her face.she looked around her room.

A small bed at the corner.a desk for studying medical texts and controlling her vita strings.a rug.

She didn't honestly felt like having breakfast early,so she sat on the rug,fully intent on practising her strings.she focused.

golden strands of light wove around her fingertips.she smiled softly,playing with them,making pretty patterns from it.drawing on the wall.

Vita strings.a 'gift' from vita,their god,the priests said.she didn't believe it.others,with their meager strings and 'gifts' believed it ferverently,but...her power was quite strong.possibly stronger than the entire healers combined.she had enough thrumming in her veins to know that those weren't a gift-they tended to mess her body from within if she did not use it frequently.if she did not let it out time to time.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

What kind of a god gives out gifts that eats the bearer from within?

She had been fashioning a dagger with the strings.the priests strictly forbade them from using the strings other than healing purposes,saying it was for their own 'safety',but who cares?she finished the handle.she was making the blade.just a bit more sharpness-

The door opened.lucia hastily shoved the dagger to the desk drawer.olivia stood in the doorway,her blonde pigtails swinging from running.she raised an eyebrow at her awkward position.

"What have you been doing?it's almost 6,you know.time for breakfast."she asked.lucia smiled smally.

"...right,i was just....going out.can you wait for me?"

Olivia nodded,and shut the door.giving her some privacy.it was the rules,after all.Do not go inside the other healer's room.Minimize seeing the other healer's room.respect each other's privacy.

What shit.

Well,the rules helped her currently,anyway.she pulled the dagger out from the drawer.she stared at it.

She should dismantle it.turn it back to strings and thin air.but.butbutbutbut-

Something told her to shove it deep within her dress pocket.she fashioned a hilt,and put it inside.she opened the door,and smiled at olivia.she smiled too.

"Let's go!i heard they are giving out some apple pie too,my favorite..."olivia talked on,laughing and walking to the breakfast hall.lucia followed her,smiling softly.they crossed the courtyard.lucia saw the Soliders training across the courtyard.wielding weapons.coating the iron with their vita,which were called layers,unlike their strings.more liquidlike.and more diluted then theirs.she turned away,the shoes clicking.

The High Priest Solia VII.he claimed he had a vision from the vita itself,saying they were going to attack noxida,and conquer death,once and for all.'schools' were made,to train both healers and soliders.anyone who had the 'vita gifts' were forced to participate.everyone accepted,believing firmly that it was all for the greater good.those who had weak vita gifts were trained as soliders,coating the vita to the weapons and hunting down the noxidians.those who had stronger vita gifts and who could manipulate it were trained as healers.the 'strings' didn't exactly help that much in normal everyday injuries,but it was the only thing that countered the injuries made by nox.or rather,Death's residue.when hurt,or contaminated by it and untreated,nox eroded the things around it.when on soil,the soil turned pure white,and black and blue flowers bloomed.and black trees with long white leaves.only those.anything else were impossible to grow.when nox was within a human-she shivered,pushing the memory away.her attention snapped to the breakfast hall.olivia was already within,squealing as she got a generous helping of apple pie.lucia bitterly smiled.

Before the war started,she lived near an apple grove.she had made apple cakes,sweetened apples,apple salad-and of course,apple pie.that was before that fanatic priest claimed starting a war.and now-she was stuck here,all adrift in a sea of smiling and praying faces.everyone prayed,everyone so thankful for this opportunity to participate in the greater good.

Only she missed her apple grove.

That made her want to die sometimes.