We ended eating and Lily told me if I wanted to go for a walk. I accepted and we got out of the house and headed to the lake it had in the front part of it.

“I see you’re fine of your leg now right?”

“Yes, the doctor came, did some stuff and now I’m fully recovered”.

“I’m glad I don’t have to carry you around anymore”.

“Oh Really? Because I thought you were really happy to have my body so close to yours”.

I got blushed and didn’t know what to answer while Lily just smiled because she enjoyed teasing me around.

We kept walking for a while until we reached one big rock that was beside the lake.

“Shall we sit?” Lily asked me and I agreed with an affirmative movement of my head.

“The view certainly is beautiful ain’t it?”

“It’s my favorite part of the house. I just love sitting here and think about life”, she said while looking at the lake, just spacing out.

She looked beautiful. More beautiful than anyone that I had met.

She, then, looked at me with her dark green eyes. Her gaze was strong, penetrating I would say. We looked at each other for a while. Normally I would have looked somewhere else because of my shyness but that time was different. I couldn’t stop watching her eyes, they were almost hypnotizing.

Only guided by instinct, our face came closer and closer each time. My heart raced really fast and my hands were trembling.

Right when our lips almost touched each other, she quitted and I lost my balance and almost fell.

“What happened?” I asked.

“I… can’t”, she replied.

“Why?”

“I… have one goal in my mind and romantic stuff would only distract me”.

“Does it have something to be with the wish you have?”

She doubted a bit before telling me, probably wondering if it was ok to tell me.

“Yes”.

“Would you mind telling me? I mean, you’ve helped me a lot and I’ve helped you too, yet I don’t know much about you”.

“I want to save my brother, something awful happened to him and I want to save him”.

I was about to ask for details but she started telling the story by herself…

X       X       X

“Andreas look at this!”

I was showing him the amulet I made for him.

“Wow! It is a beautiful necklace Lilinda!”

“I want you to have it! It’s a good-luck amulet I made for you now that you entered the Academia”

“Really? Is it for me? Thank you! You’re the best sister Lilinda!”

“Hehe I know!”

Right after we finished that small chat, the deep voice of my father calling my brother’s name appeared from nowhere and I remember I got a bit scared.

“What is it father?” said my brother.

“Come over here! I need to tell you something.”

I came downstairs with my brother and saw something awful: a lot of injured persons were gathered in the hall. The place looked depressing and had such a sad aura that, as I entered the room, my mood completely changed.

In the center of the room there was a sword, even blacker than coal and that had imprinted a lot weird symbols I’d never seen before.

It rapidly got my attention and I couldn’t stop watching it. A lot of people were literally dying in the hall but I just didn’t care, the sword was the only thing in my mind.

I started focusing more and more on the sword that nobody dared to watch, my mind was turning blank when suddenly: “Lily stop!”

I came to my senses again and found myself right in the front of the sword with my hand in the air as if I was about to touch it.

“You shouldn’t be here, get out!” I remember my dad saying.

I did what he said, but the curiosity was just too much to just leave the place, so I stayed outside of the room trying to peek from the almost closed door.

“Look Andreas, this is what the demon did to us. We were able to seal him in the sword but many of my men died and some others are probably gonna share the same fate. I need you to protect the ones still alive; your mother, your sister, and all the residents of Galdric. Promise me you won’t let anyone touch this sword, because if it happens, the demon will be liberated.”

“I promise I won’t let anyone touch it father.”

“Follow me, I’ll show you where I’m going to save it.”

My dad grabbed the sword with a special fabric that allowed him to take it without any problem. Then, he left the hall with my brother and went to the armory where we saved all the weapons and artifacts that were used to seal demons or spirits.

The Draserch Family is well known for being a group of powerful exorcists that have kept the peace in the city from Necromancers and Mages for decades. So the armory was where we saved the artifacts that sealed the spirits.

With the curiosity of every seven-year old, I followed them to the armory and saw where they put the sword. They saved it in a room of the armory that I had never seen before. It was under the floor and the only way to enter there was by opening a hidden door that led to the stairs, with a key that my dad saved in a secret location.

I didn’t know anything of that until that moment and I would have preferred not to know.

After seeing that, I ran to my room hoping they didn’t notice I followed them.

I tried to sleep but I couldn’t. As the night advanced, the curiosity I felt earlier slowly turned into fear. I tried my best to close my eyes and stop thinking about that but I couldn’t, I was really scared.

In the moment I was more scared I heard footsteps, very silent footsteps that each time felt closer and closer.

Then I heard how the door of my room got open. I hid in my sheets while trembling in fear. I just stayed there while hoping for everything to be ok when... the sheets were removed and I felt a big hand shutting my mouth making it impossible for me to say a word.

I tried to scream as I hard as I could but I couldn’t say anything, I don’t remember if it was because of the hand shutting me or because my voice just didn’t come out.

“Shh shh shh shh. Everything’s gonna be alright, don’t worry. Just listen to me ok? We just want something and I know you can tell us.  But first I need you to stay calm.”

The guy had a strangely relaxing voice and somehow made me calm down.

“Good girl. Now, listen to me. What we want is the sword your father brought home today. That’s all. If you tell us where it is, we won’t have to make any harm to your family ok?”

Do you imagine what would it be for a seven year old to hear such words? I obviously did what they told me and led them to the armory.

When we got downstairs there was other guy in the hall. They were both wearing black coats that hid their faces and had something like a mage staff.

I got really scared because I’d never seen mages in my life and they’re really evil people, if you can call them like that.

I took them to the armory, which was also hidden, and opened the secret door that led to the special room where the sword was saved. When we entered, the other guy beat me and let me on the floor without a chance to do anything.

“What are you doing? You didn’t have to beat her!”

“Meh, she’s useless now. Let’s focus on the sword.”

The second guy then walked towards the sword with a greedy look in his eyes.

“Look man, I’m sorry but… I need this sword more than the boss.”

After saying that, he beat the first guy and let him unconscious. He didn’t even get the chance to response.

 The other guy grabbed the sword with his bare hands and what I heard later was pure agony.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

A very frightening scream came from his mouth as the demon started to consume his body.

He immediately dropped the sword and started to writhe very violently from one place to another. He screamed and cried at the same time while I was just there standing still without doing anything.

In the time when it seemed he was suffering the most, an enormous flame appeared and started to incinerate his body.

His screams just continued until the moment he was almost completely burned. He then started to laugh loudly until his body turned into ashes.

“No…t, go…od.”

A sinister voice appeared out of nowhere and the only thing I could do was scream.

The flames remained and made some kind of a silhouette.

I saw how that silhouette looked at me and what I felt later was the worst experience in my life.

I felt how something entered my body slowly; it felt like an eternity for me.

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Then, the insides of my body started to warm up. It first felt like when you drink coffee or hot chocolate. I started to feel warm and cozy, but the temperature just keep rising. It started to feel really hot, and then hotter than that, and then hotter. It wasn’t stopping, I was burning from the inside and every time it felt worse than that.

“HEELP ME PLEASE!! IT’S BURNING! HELP ME, HELP ME, HELP ME, HELP ME, HELP ME!!! AHHHHHH!! AAAAAAH! I’M BURNING INSIDE!! HELP ME!!! SOMEONE PLEASE!”

I was sad that I was going to die there but, at some moment, I started to think and just suffered.

My memories are a bit confused during this part but I remember hearing a voice: “Don’t… her… Take me ins…”

And the next thing I remember was watching my brother screaming and trying to endure his pain.

Demons attack people and make them suffer a lot. If they can resist then they’ll use their bodies as containers to keep living, if not, they burn their bodies to death.

I recovered my conscience and got fully aware of what was happening.

“Brother!”

“Lily! I need you to do something! Promise me that buah…”

At that moment he vomited but continued talking.

“…promise me you’ll do it!”

“I promise!”

“Seal me within the sword. I’ll try to control the demon and reduce his power so you can do it!”

I didn’t know how to react. Seal my brother in the sword? Like a demon? That was insane, and asking a little seven-year old girl to do that was just too crazy.

 “Seal me fast before I lost conscience and the demon controls me!”

“But…”

“You’ve watched me and dad doing it, JUST DO IT!”

I started to cry inconsolably but still, somehow, got the courage to do it.

I remembered the ritual song my father taught me as a child and sang it.

“O’, demon, whose laments in this world thou left, thy actions art not justified, and thy punishment thou will get.”

I saw my brother’s face with a doubt expression on mine as if I was expecting him to just reject the idea and find another solution but he was smiling. Out of all the expressions he could have had, he smiled.

With no intention from him to stop I grabbed the sword and kept with the sealing.

“Within this sword I seal…”

A sudden scream interrupted me.

I looked up and saw my brother turning into a demon.

He had always been very strong and brave but that time was different. It was the first time I had ever saw my brother’s face of agony.

I stood still without knowing what to do while he was turning into something very gross.

His eyes turned black, his nails grew, his voice change, and a horn came out of his head.

He was vomiting blood when he tried to tell me to finish.

“E…nd…t...sealing…”

I remember those words as if they were imprinted in my mind. Those were the last words he said to me.

I took a deep breath, gathered the bravery enough to finish and finally said the words.

“Within this sword I seal thou.”

I remember my brother crying really hard. That idiot, he didn’t even pretend everything was ok for her sister… Although, now that I’ve grown I realized that there’s nothing to blame him for, he was just twelve.

X       X       X

She, instead of having a sad look in her eyes, had a determined face that told me she was really serious about wanting to save her brother.

“So, that’s my story”.

“Now that you’ve told me yours I feel like I need to tell you the truth about me too”.

“But you said that you only did this for fun”.

“Yeah, I lied. The truth is that I…”

I thought about how to explain my situation without making a scandal for a second and then answered.

“… am not from here as you know. I come from a far away land that you would never imagine it existed. I appeared here in Galdric without knowing a thing about this place. I was scared and I didn’t know what to do until I heard of the Castle of Stoigom. “If you defeat the 100 levels you’ll get your wish granted”, that’s what I heard and that’s why I’m trying to do all of this now”.

“That’s why you were crying about your family later…”

“Don’t mention that! It’s embarrassing…”

“Hehe. Hey, what about making a promise with me?”

“What kind of promise?”

“We will both become the first ones in defeating the castle and we’ll see our loved ones again ok?”

“Hmm…” I said with a happy tone, “…ok. We’ll do it”.

“Well we need a way to seal this pact and I know one”.

“What is it?”.

“Come a bit closer and I’ll tell”.

Right when I was getting closer to her, she putted her head closer too and kissed me in the lips very fast. I got very blushed and she just laughed in a mockingly way.

“That was your first kiss right? Haha”.

“Yes”. I responded while looking down to the floor.

She kept making fun of me and I surprised her by giving her a proper kiss in the mouth.

Fortunately she reacted very well and I enjoyed every second of it.

“Well that was better…” she said with a bit nervous voice.

“So, now our pact is made. Let’s make get to the top of the castle!”

“Yes!”

After that we kept talking for a while until she mentioned something about the ring I had.

I forgot about it but in the very beginning of the game the developers gave us a ring which was a “special item” only given to the beta testers. I was wearing it because it was something nice and not so many people were going to have it.

“I suppose that ring reminds you about your family”.

I couldn’t tell her what it was so I simply agreed.

“It’s nice, may I see it?”

“Sure”.

I agreed and slowly removed it from my hand.

I gave it to her and she smiled.

She kept looking at it with a lot of curiousness from one side to another. Slowly turning it around and appreciating the nice-looking ring. It had a metallic grey color and had inscriptions all over it.

Lilly looked and me and opened her mouth to tell me something.

I didn’t understand.

She moved her lips and started talking but I didn’t understand. The words she pronounced were just incomprehensible for me. It was as completely different language.

I didn’t react. I didn’t say a word. Lilly seemed to be looking if I was ok but again, I didn’t understand.

I rapidly moved my hand to the front and opened it like a sign of me wanting to get back the ring.

She looked at me with a confused gaze but gave it to me.

I putted it back in my ring finger and instantly understood Lily who was asking me if I was ok. But I knew she was smarter than that and I knew she wouldn’t believe that I just spaced out, so what I did was pretending to faint and falling on the floor. It was the best way out.

She ran for help and they took me to the bed in my room. I heard Mr. Draserch telling everyone that I was exhausted and I just couldn’t stand the fatigue, which wouldn’t have surprised if it actually happened.

When everyone left I opened my eyes a bit to see if everyone was out of the room and then fully opened them.

I sat in the bed and stared at the ring without saying anything.

I just heard the crickets’ characteristic sound and a couple of nocturnal animals or monsters.

Everything was in peace until I heard a voice.

“I assume you have a lot of questions”, said the familiar voice of a girl.

“I do. Haven’t seen you in a while Liv”.

“It’s been a time, yes”.

I changed my tone and asked her what was everything of this.

“Who are you?”, “Where am I?” and, “Is this really a game?” were my questions.

“First, I’m sorry but I’m something beyond your understanding. Let’s just say I’m a bored girl that wants to watch and interesting story and you’re very interesting. Second, you are in Galdric, a country of a magic world you don’t know. And third I think you already know the answer but you’re not sure, so I’ll let you prove it by yourself.”

“I’ve learned something interesting today. I hope I can find other “players” in the academy and ask them what they know.”

“Trust me, you will. By the way, you got your first kiss today, how was it like?”

I forgot that something so incredible happened to me. I got blushed and answered with sincerity.

“Very nice”.