The drunk man shifted side-to-side as he scowled at the pair. "Get girl. Ain't no business of yours."

His words were slow but surprisingly not slurred. Perhaps he wasn't as drunk as he seemed. She would have to be careful not to show off too much.

She silently began to call up the wind but right away she could feel that while she could still manipulate it just fine, she didn't have the power she would need to knock a fully grown man down, even a drunk one. Still, that gave her another idea and she quickly shifted elements.

"You get," Ember said. "Go home and sleep it off."

The man grew red in the face and his eye burned with fury. "Now listen here you little brat-"

She snorted. "I rather be a brat than some sloppy drunk. You're pathetic."

The man's face grew even redder and he roared as he lurched forward in a blind rage. As he did, Ember had the earth raise up, just a little, right in front of his feet. He tripped, falling to the ground just managing to splay out his hands so he didn't smash his head in.

Ember smirked at the sight.

"Y-you-" the man stuttered out as he tried to climb to his feet but as soon as he tried to push himself up, the ground shifted under him and he found himself splayed on the ground like a dried-up starfish.

Ember looked over him with satisfaction.

The man glared at her and tried to get up again. Once again, the ground shifted and he was eating dirt. Over and over, he tried to get to his feet and each time he fumbled down again.

"What's going on?" The man yelled, and this time his anger was tinged with fear. Ember could almost see his brain struggling to piece things together. Then his eye narrowed as he looked at her. "You're doing this?"

Ember's grin widened. "What could a little brat like me do?"

She took a step forward. The man looked so pathetic, like a bug waiting to be squashed. Though her body was weak, Seedlings had a natural boost in strength. It should be enough to break a leg. She took another step forward.

Suddenly, she was yanked backwards. She turned, glaring, only to pause. Patricia was looking at her with desperate eyes.

"We should run."

Ember frowned then looked back at the drunk. What had she been about to do? She shuddered and then nodded at Patricia. They both turned and ran.

The two girls weaved between houses until they had run to the east end of the village. Patricia climbed over a worn-down wooden fence, waving for Ember to follow her. Ember looked around, realizing they were right outside the east side of the woods. She wasn't too worried, most of the dangerous animals stayed deeper in the woods but she still kept an eye out just in case. She climbed over the fence and noticed they were near an abandoned shack. A place many people avoided due to rumors that it was haunted. Every time someone tried to knock the shack down something would happen so everyone had agreed to just leave it alone.

Patricia seemed to know the area well, and led them through some nearby trees that clustered together by a boulder. The area looked like a dead end but Patricia dropped to the ground and started crawling in between the tree and rock. Ember watched in surprise before cautiously following her.

What she expected to be a hole between the brush ended up being a small tunnel. It made her pause, but Ember's curiosity got the best of her and she climbed inside. The spot was tight and most adults would have had a hard time entering. As Ember crawled deeper into the tunnel it began to open up until it led into a large cave.

Ember's eyes widened in surprise. The cave was an underground spring. A small hole at the top of the cave brought in a ray of light, preventing the area from being completely dark. It shown down on the pond as water trickled down from several rocks making a modest waterfall.

Suddenly, light flooded the cave. Ember twisted around to see that Patricia had lit a lantern. One that must have been tucked away in the cave. The girl gave her a shy smile before moving the lantern near a blanket by the spring. She sat down and looked at Ember expectantly. Ember decided to join her.

"This is my secret place," Patricia said as soon as Ember settled down beside her.

"It's beautiful."

The girl flushed in pleasure before looking down at her lap. "I'm sorry."

"Why?" Ember asked, confused.

"My father. I-I didn't mean to get you in trouble."

Ember put her hands on her hips. "Do I look like I was in trouble?"

The girl smiled. "You were really brave." Then her lips twisted up. She peeked up at Ember and then back down.

"What is it?" Ember asked.

"How did you do that?" Patricia asked.

"Do what?" Ember asked. She had an idea what the girl was asking but she had no intention of telling her that she was a Seedling. Honestly, what she had done back there could have ended up bringing her a lot of unneeded attention and right now she wanted to avoid Lord Felis's attention as much as possible. It would already be difficult enough getting her family away from the Lord.

"You kept making father fall down," Patricia said, peeking up at her again.

"He was drunk," Ember said flatly, meeting Patricia's eyes. "That's why he kept falling."

"Oh," the girl said, curling in on herself.

They fell into silence. Ember felt guilty. It was clear Patricia didn't believe her and Ember had no reason to tell her, but that wasn't the reason she felt guilty. Seeing Patricia again was like being doused in cold water.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Growing up, she hadn't been particularly close with the girl. Honestly, no one had been besides the pitying glances. A few people tried being nice to Patricia but whenever they did her father would fly into a rage and Patricia would get the worse of it. Eventually, everyone stopped trying.

Lord Felis could have stopped it or at least the guards but the noble didn't get the guards involve except when it would affect him and his land. An abused little girl and her drunken father weren't in his purview. The only one who had ever helped was Priest Octorin but there was only so much he could do. Sadly, in this world, child protections were sorely lacking when it involved family. While a child was seen as protected from outsiders. Children were considered their family's property until they had proven their maturity or were married. Children with individual rights only came into play within the nobility and even then it depended on who was doing the abusing.

Ember had only come to know Patricia in her prisoner life. Back then, Ember had been chained to Lord Felis and she came to know Patricia when a noble had visited Goros. The noble had seen Patricia doing chores and had requested that Lord Felis get her for him. At that time, Patricia had blossomed into a beauty. Lord Felis had been trying to cement a trade deal with the man and so jumped at the opportunity.

Patricia's father had happily sold her to the man. At first glance, it could have been seen as an escape from her abusive father but the month the noble had stayed there had shown that he was a man of sadistic tastes and Patricia was his favorite.

Ember only had one conversation with Patricia during that time but it had left an impression. Then six months later she heard the woman was dead. The worst part was that during her tyrant life she didn't even look for her. She had simply abandoned her to her fate. Would she had even thought to look for her this time around?

She knew the answer. The guilt thickened inside her.

"I'm cursed," she blurted out, pointing to her eye.

The girl blinked and looked at Ember's eye. She gave her a small smile.

"I'm bad luck," Patricia said, her smiled widening.

Ember couldn't help it. She started to laugh. Two rejects bonding over being bad luck. Of course, Ember was sure that Patricia wasn't bad luck. It was probably just something her father told her in drunken fits. Still, she felt a comradery between them. Maybe that was the reason she had been so affected by Patricia's death in her prisoner life. The both of them had been trapped. Commoners left to the mercy of twisted powerful men. At least Ember had a father who loved and cared for her the best that he could.

I don't want to leave her behind.

"Do you want to be a Seedling?" Ember abruptly asked the girl.

Patricia blinked and then looked down at her lap. "That's impossible."

"There's the Choosing."

Patricia frowned. "I won't get picked."

Ember didn't argue with that. After all she already knew the result of the Choosing. "Even so, do you want to be a Seedling?"

The girl bit her lip and then nodded her head vehemently "I do. I read about them."

Ember blinked in surprise. "You can read?"

Patricia smiled at her shyly and nodded. "My aunt taught me before father stopped her from visiting me."

Ember looked at the girl thoughtfully. "What if you get the chance and Akashic doesn't choose you? People might be cruel to you. You'll be treated even worse than you are now."

Patricia's face scrunched up in worry but then she shrugged. "I would still want to try."

"Okay," Ember said, decided. "I'll see if I'll give you a chance but don't blame me if it doesn't work."

Patricia looked at her with wide eyes. "What?"

"I said I'm going to give you a chance but I can't promise it'll work. Make sure to read as much as you can until the Choosing. Maybe try to get stronger too." She frowned. "No. There's no way you'll get stronger in time. Just focus on reading and developing your mind."

"Develop my mind?" Patricia asked, confused.

"Learn things and read." Ember nodded her head. "Oh! And pick the Akashic Order. Don't ever promise to work with Lord Felis. He's horrible."

Patricia eyes grew even wider and she looked around as if she expected Lord Felis to pop up from the ground. "You can't say that about a noble."

"I can say it here," Ember said. "It's your secret place."

Patricia calmed down at those words. She gave another shy smile to Ember. "It's our secret place."

Ember felt a wave of emotion go through her. It was a silly feeling but she couldn't help it.

"I'm going to save you this time," Ember said firmly.

"What?" Patricia asked confused.

"Even if you don't get chosen, I'll figure something out. But remember, if you do get chosen, pick the Akashic Order."

"I promise!" Patricia said, her voice trembling but filled with conviction.

"Good. I have to go find my brother."

"Oh, um..." Patricia looked at the ground before mumbling. "Will you come back?"

Ember smiled. "Not today."

"Oh," her shoulders drooped.

"But I can come again another day."

Patricia brightened at that. "Okay."

Ember walked back to the tunnel. She waved. "I'll see you later, Patricia, and remember what I said. Read and learn as much as you can."

With one last wave, Ember scrambled into the tunnel and hurried away. It took her a while to get back to town. On the way, Ember couldn't help wondering if she had made the right choice. Honestly, it wasn't a perfect plan that she had in mind.

She knew she was the person destined to be picked for the Choosing. She had been picked in both her prisoner and tyrant life. In her tyrant life, she had declined the Choosing since she already had her ability. She knew if she went up, they would find out she had one and then she would have to deal with Lord Felis.

So, she had withdrawn. To her surprise, her brother had been picked instead. It had been a disaster. Akashic didn't give him an ability to the disappointment of the whole town. Due to royal law, the Akashic Order weren't allowed to pick another person for the Choosing. It was a way to help regulate the Akashic Order. One pick from the designated villages was allowed whether the Akashic Tree blessed them or not.

This ended up with some of the townspeople resenting her brother but the one who was the harshest on her brother was himself. Back then Ember had thought it was her brother's sad fate but later on she realized that there were ways to tip the scales in a person's favor to help them gain an ability. Akashic's blessings were determined though the physical, mind, and soul. So, if one had a strong body or a developed mind there was a better likelihood of them gaining an ability.

Her brother, while active, didn't have a strong body due to their poor lifestyle. He also wasn't one for studying. Things changed when he was older but at ten-years-old, he wasn't in a position to have the requirements to gain an ability. On top of that, Akashic only blesses a person once so there was no way to try again later in life.

Knowing what she did, she would make sure to give her brother the opportunity to become a Seedling. For now though, she had other things to focus on.

She had reached town and with a little more hunting she found her brother. Rowan was playing a game of marbles with several other boys when she grabbed his arm and started dragging him away.

"Hey!" Her brother struggled to get away but she wasn't allowing it. "What are you doing?"

She dragged him until she found a somewhat secluded place. Only then did she let him go.

Rowan glared at her. "What was that for? And how the hell are you so strong?"

"You shouldn't cuss," Ember said.

He rolled his eyes. "If you're going to talk about nothing then just leave me alone."

"I have an opportunity for you."

"What are you even saying," Rowan said, squinting at her. "Did that curse mess up your head?"

"Just listen." Ember slapped her hands on her brother's shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes. "Let's save Mom and Dad."