The familiar feeling of the aura rushing through my body surprised me. Normally, I had to make an effort to activate it during practice.

The girl whose wrist I held tried to pull it free, but it was futile. With my the mana enhancing my body, I had the strength of someone twice my size. Something deep inside me wanted to squeeze even harder, to hurt this girl. The fear on her face made me feel… proud. It made me feel powerful and that it was right for them to be afraid. These feeling terrified me, most of all when I realized that I was smiling. I pulled my hand away in a panic, causing the girl to fall flat on her bottom. Then I heard the voices. Everyone around me had been trying to convince me to let her go. The most distressed voice of all was Ham’s. He seemed genuinely worried, not for the girl, but for me.

While everyone, including Veria, went to go check on the girl, Ham approached me, speaking in a quiet yet stern voice. “What just happened.”

“I-I don’t know.”

“The look on your face… it was the same as my father’s when he…” Ham spoke, his voice trailing as his eyes turned distant.

Looking around my body, I realized that the aura had not faded yet. Pressing my hand to my chest, I turned it off and felt the aura dissipate. Looking over at the crowd surrounding the girl that I had injured, I saw her arm and the distinct hand marked bruising on her wrist where I had grabbed her. She had tear stains running down her face. With all the anger gone from my mind, the sight of her purpled skin and tears caused guilt to well up inside of my chest. I wanted to help her.

“Please move.” I spoke softly from both embarrassment and guilt. The other kids moved out of the way, some afraid and others curious.

If I could heal Astrid after she was stabbed, I’m sure I could heal a simple bruise. Reactivating my aura, I rushed to the girls side. She recoiled and tried to run away, but Ham caught her and whispered in her ear. I didn’t know what he said, but it was enough that she decided to stay. Gently, I laid my hands on her wound like I had done to Astrid before and felt the spirits move around us. I could see them, but they were incredibly hazy and faded enough that they were almost invisible. Like before, the spirits gathered towards my hands and flowed through them and into the bruise. Pulling my hands away, I could see or rather couldn’t see the bruise anymore. And unlike when I had healed Astrid, I still had the strength to stand back up.

Veria pulled the girl up from the ground and helped her dust off her skirt.

“Why do you always have to be picking fights.” Veria chastised the girl as she brushed the dirt off her back.

The girl frowned, then turned her head with a puzzled expression before sighing and stepping towards me.

Extending her hand, the girl spoke to me. “I’m Clementine Evane.” She turned her head and started blushing. “I’m sorry, and I hope we can be friends.”

I paused for a moment, shocked. Why was she suddenly acting so different.

Veria stepped in, wrapping an arm around the girl. “Clem and I hang out sometimes. She’s not a bad person. She just has to act like that in front of her brother.”

That’s right, there was a boy with her before, but he wasn’t here anymore. Had he run when my aura activated?

Clem ducked her head sheepishly, playing with her hands. “My father is only a baron, so he told me to make friends with Veria to help the family.” She raised her head and stared at with an intense look in her eyes. “My parents keep telling me that we’re better than everyone else and that we should show it. If I don’t, then Byron tells on me and I get in trouble. I hope you’ll forgive me.”

“I should be sorry too.” I replied, meeting her gaze. “I shouldn’t have hurt you like that.”

“Friends?” Clem asked with a glint in her eyes.

I nodded and was immediately assaulted by her as she tackled me with a hug.

“There is one thing I’d like to ask.” She spoke, looking up at me with sparkling eyes. “How can you already use magic?”

“I don’t know.” I immediately replied, explaining. “I saw someone who needed help and told myself that I needed to help them and it just happened.”

Clementine let go of me and stood straight, stroking her chin with a puzzled look on her face.

“We can help.” A familiar voice echoed through my head. It was just like when I had healed Astrid. “You can help them activate their potential. Place your hand upon their chests and find their source.”

“Hey Veria, can I try something on you?” I immediately asked, turning to my newly adopted sister.

“What does something mean?” She asked warily.

“Just come here.”

She strolled over to my side and watched as I activated my aura. Without another word, I laid my hand on her chest. She jumped for a moment, startled. Probing with my aura, I found something similar to the door that I had felt when I activated my aura. The difference between the two was while mine was an open door, ready for anything to pass through, hers was hardly open at all. As I examined this door, I felt a spirit pass through my hand and colliding with Veria’s door, opening it completely.

The feeling must have been painful since Veria lurched backwards, clutching at where my hand had been a moment ago. She must be experiencing something similar to what I had when I first activated my aura. That burning feeling as the mana passed through your body for the first time. After a moment, she settled down and a black mist started to emanate from her eyes. I watched her wiggle around for a moment before pausing and staring at her hands.

“I’m a mage… I’m a sorcerer!” She shouted to the sky.

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“How did you do that?” Clem almost begged with stars in her eyes.

I grabbed the girl’s shoulders and stood her up straight and did the same thing to her, placing my hand on her chest and probing through her body, searching for that door and found that it was in a similar situation to Veria’s. Like before, a spirit rushed through my hand and forced open the door, causing her to stagger back and, moments later, a black mist started flowing through her eyes.

The two new sorcerers embraced each other and started to celebrate by dancing around on the grass.

As I watched the two girls make an embarrassment of themselves, a young boy approached me, just a couple of years younger than I was.

“Can you help me too?” He mumbled sheepishly.

I nodded my head and placed my hand on his chest. Probing through his body, I noticed that something was wrong. I found the door almost immediately, but it was different from Veria’s and Clem’s. If theirs were barely open, then this door was shut, locked and wrapped in chains. There was no way that something like this was natural. Like before, I could feel a spirit pass through my hand and into the boy’s body. This one, however, was followed by hundreds more as they all worked together to smash the door until every blockage gave way and the door opened. The boy didn’t react, though. When I opened the two girls’ doors, I could feel some power seeping through them. This boy’s door was completely empty, void of anything.

“Did… did it work?”

“I’m not sure.” I replied, puzzled. “Give it time and it should work.”

The boy beamed at me and ran off to the rest of the kids in the group who all approached me with the same request. I would have done the same for all of them, but breaking through all of the blockages in the boy had taken a lot of mana.

“Next time.” I spoke, hoping to not discourage any of them. Though, to my surprise, they all seemed to get excited at my words.

We all spent the next few minutes playing in the grass until the voice of Licilia caught my attention. She seemed to be distressed.

“Veri! Jaime! We need to go!” She cried out.

This caught Veria’s attention, causing her to pop her head up from her hiding spot like a startled gopher.

The both of us ran over to the woman who crouched down and hugged the both of us.

“What’s wrong, mom?” Veria asked, upset that she had to give up her hiding spot.

“Something bad happened, and we need to go home now.”

“What happened?”

“I can’t say it yet. Your father will tell you when it’s safe.”

Grabbing both our hands, Licilia ran us back to the road where the carriage was waiting. Everyone else was already waiting inside, each with a grim expression covering their face.

“What happened, dad?” Veria asked as she settled into her seat.

Pert remained silent until everyone had climbed inside and the carriage had started moving.

“The crown princess has been assassinated.”

╚╩╩╩╝ Prince Malcolm Kiech ╚╩╩╩╝

I watched in silent horror as four royal knights carried the body of my sister on a long palanquin into the grand hall, resting it on a large table. She was exactly how I had remembered her from just days ago. Today was supposed to be her birthday.

My father slowly approached her body and stared down at her face. “It’s her.” He spoke in a low, tired voice. “What was the cause of death?”

One of the royal guards stepped forward and explained the situation. How the owner of an inn located in Renae entered a resident’s room after they had not answered the door and found her lying face down on the bed with a knife in her back. She was dressed to go riding, so she must have been readying to come back home, but someone attacked her in her room before she could leave. The soldiers were immediately notified that someone had been killed. Anyone suspicious nearby was apprehended and brought in for questioning, but all had been found innocent. There was one individual who had managed to evade capture and the royal guard was currently searching for them.

Slowly, I approached the palanquin. I was barely tall enough to see into it, but I knew from what I saw that it really was Faria. Everything was the same from how I’d seen her.

“Just how did she get out of the castle unnoticed?” My father asked angrily. “She should have had guards with her!”

I wanted to tell them, wanted to say that it was my fault and that I had let her go, but I couldn’t break the promise I had made with her. Whatever she was doing was important enough for her to throw away her life.

Looking around the room, my father and I were the only ones that looked sad because of this. The rest of my siblings, my mother and even the royal guard all looked indifferent.

“Double the search efforts!” My father shouted. “Whoever did this will regret it for the short time they have left.”

Cautiously, I skirted the palanquin to where my father was standing and placed my hand atop his. My father, the king, looked down at me with sorrow and powerlessness in his eyes. After meeting eyes for a moment, he closed his and sucked in a deep breath.

“Everyone needs to leave.” He spoke loudly. “Everyone.”

Slowly, everyone left the room. Before the guards could close the doors, my father ordered them to not allow anyone into this room and that it was to be guarded at all times.

My siblings left and started going about their day as if nothing had happened whatsoever. What angered me the most, however, was the half smile on Olivia’s face as she walked by Faria’s body.

Fuming, I went to my room and slammed the door, locking it behind me. I wanted nothing to do with my horrible family. If they wanted something from me, they could bite my foot.

As I paced around my room, a soft mrrp came from one corner as Bella trotted in from the darkness. I definitely welcomed her presence and crouched down as the cat leapt on my lap and started to purr. Finally letting go, I started to cry as I held the cat close. As I stroked the cat, something caught against my finger. Feeling around where my finger had caught, I felt a string and picked up the cat, examining where I had felt the string to find a tiny sack tied around the cat.

Untying the string from Bella, I took the sack and opened it, dropping the contents into my hand. It was a piece of tightly folded paper and a plain ring with a tiny blue gem set in it. I quickly unfolded the note.

Mal, if you’re reading this, then I’ve most likely died. I knew this was going to happen, and I wanted to prepare you for it, but there’s no real way to prepare for something like this. I promised you a storage ring before, so I’ll include it here. There’s a lot I have to explain, and I won’t be able to explain them now, so please use the ring. I put some things in the ring that will help you understand. It will only work for you, so don’t worry about anyone else getting into it. I can’t say any more, so please move quickly. You know I love you. -Faria Jeannette Kiech

I slid the ring on my finger and examined it closely. After a moment of focusing on the ring, I could see its contents. It was like I was seeing two images at the same time. One was my room, while the other was a white void with a couple of objects floating around. One of these was a small slip of paper. Focusing on this paper, I watched as it transformed into a purple energy and faded as it appeared in my hand.

The truth is in the palm of your hand.

I immediately recognized what she was trying to tell me. I had to get to Faria’s body again. She must have written something on her hand.

Slowly, I crept through my door. Quietly closing the door behind me, I activated the invisibility ring and started towards the grand hall. There were more guards roaming the halls than usual, so I had to act more carefully, but the invisibility kept me from their sights.

Approaching the door to the grand hall, as I grabbed onto the handle to open it, the door swung open and I came face to chest with my father. I managed to duck out of the way in time to not collide with him and dashed through the door before he could close it.

The room was eerily quiet.

Cautiously, I approached the palanquin where Faria lay silent. I crept over to her body and grabbed at her arms, examining her palms in the darkness, but nothing was there. Nothing was there! What happened to the scar from our last night together, when she carved “family” into her hand.