The water barrier in front of me held back my father, causing him to back up in anger.

"What is the meaning of this?! As your husband and the head of this household, I command you to give me the boy!" he demanded.

Green light flashed around his hands as he gathered his own magical energy. I watched in dismay as the very floorboards of the house twisted up and broke apart. The wood from the floor began to seemingly stretch upwards, it was as if they had grown a mind of their own.

'Is this Rolim's magic? Mother must be using water magic, while he uses wood.' I thought, assessing the situation.

"Do you really want to do this, Rolim? You know that my magical power is greater than yours." my mother said, her tone calm.

As she said this, the barrier of water began to move, shifting into several smaller spheres. These spheres of water then morphed into what looked like long spikes. These water spikes suddenly frosted over, turning into spears of ice.

The spears of ice pointed towards my father as they began to surround him from all directions.

Rolim clearly didn't like his odds, so he snorted as he released his magic. The wooden floorboards began to stop moving, but Rolim had already destroyed half of the room by this point. Looking down, you could even see the first floor of the house through the hole he had created.

I watched as my father turned to leave the room, throwing the wooden door off its hinges with his magic.

'Wow, he's so dramatic! Isn't this his house as well? How can he destroy it so willy-nilly?" I thought to myself, dumbfounded by my father's antics.

Rolim turned to address my mother before he left, "This isn't over, wench. You'll regret disobeying me." he spat out.

My mother said nothing though, and she just watched him as he left. She only released her magic after she was sure he had left the house.

The ice spears abruptly turned to water and dropped to the floor with a splash, and my mother turned to face me with concern showing on her features.

"Are you alright, my love? Don't worry, your bastard father is gone." She smiled reassuringly.

I smiled back at her, genuinely happy that my mother was so strong.

"Rolim won't be able to get you while I'm here, he knows he's no match for me!" she laughed, reaching down to pick me up from the cradle.

My mother took me with her out of the room, taking me down the hallway into a much smaller guest room.

This room was more plain than the last one, but it had the added benefit of not having a giant hole in the floor.

I was put down on the bed as my mother made sure to secure the room. She locked the windows before going over to the front door and casting some sort of magic on it. I watched her with great interest as I saw green light flash from her hands, causing a thick layer of ice to surround the door.

'That would have been helpful earlier.' I inwardly remarked.

After my mother deemed the room secure she climbed back into bed with me, scooping me up into her arms.

For the next hour or so she sang me different Elvish hymns and songs. I didn't want to fall asleep and let my guard down, but it was impossible with such beautiful melodies coming from my mother's lips.

As I drifted to sleep, I was mesmerized by my mother's delicate voice.

***

I opened my eyes to the sound of my mother coughing violently.

Looking up I saw that she appeared to be choking on something!

However, I quickly realized that I couldn't breathe either. It was almost like something thick had wormed its way into my lungs. My mother held me tighter as she struggled to fight off whatever nauseous stink was filling the room.

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It burned my throat like acid, and I could feel consciousness leaving me once again.

I looked over to the room's window, and my heart skipped a beat when I saw a figure dressed in all black creep through it.

'Through the window?!' I realized, feeling my consciousness slipping faster.

My mother's coughing increased in intensity, and she became unable to hold up her magical barrier on the door. I watched on in dismay as I saw the ice covering the door abruptly begin to melt, turning into a large puddle on the door.

The last thing I saw before I blacked out was the door to the room opening, and another black figure walking in.

***

When I regained my consciousness I had no idea how much time had passed.

My throat burned like I had just drunk something scalding, and my eyes were still watery. I immediately realized that I was being carried, and judging by their rough voice I knew it was a man.

"Thank the Goddess, we were able to get the job done quickly." the man said, his voice sounding like he had been smoking his entire life.

"Can you believe it brother? This is the first time we've had to steal a baby!" I heard from another man's voice, this one much higher pitched.

The man carrying me laughed, "Whatever pays the bills." he replied.

The other brother let out a cackle, "We even got to see the legendary 'Ice Witch.' She's even more beautiful in person!" he remarked.

'The Ice Witch? He must be talking about my mother.' I thought, but the man's next words caused my blood to turn cold.

"I really wish we could have had some more fun with her! I've never had such a beauty." they continued, their tone sinister.

"You heard the Baron's orders. We were not to touch the woman." said the brother carrying me.

The other brother spat on the ground, "The pay better be worth it."

They both said nothing after that, and I stayed still as I pondered what my next moves should be.

I had little confidence that I could fight both of them, or even one of them for that matter. The most I had ever used my powers on were books and pillows, and myself occasionally.

I likely weighed less than fifteen pounds though, so I doubted I could do anything significant to a grown adult. I resolved to just stay quiet and observe the situation. The best bet would be to wait until an opportunity to escape presented itself.

The two brothers continued their march, and judging by the surrounding sounds we must have been travelling through a forest.

After ten or so minutes passed the brothers came to a stop. I couldn't see where we were, but I heard a familiar voice come from ahead.

"Excellent work! I figured there would be no issue once I lowered the wards." Rolim said, his voice sinister.

The brother holding me spoke up, his raspy voice sending shivers down my spine, "We always get the job done. Now then, the matter regarding our pay."

Rolim laughed, "Don't worry, don't worry! I will have your reward sent to you soon."

"What the f*ck do you mean, soon?! Who do you take us for?" shouted the other brother.

I could hear the sound of a sword leaving its scabbard, putting me on edge.

The man carrying me then set me down on the ground before stepping forward to stand next to his brother.

"That wasn't the deal. You said we would receive payment upon delivering the baby." he said.

I heard Rolim chuckle darkly, "Don't make this harder than it needs to be. You were able to catch my wife off guard in her sleep, but you do not have the same luxury with me."

I looked across from the brothers and saw that green energy was radiating from my father's position. Rolim held out his hands, and the brother with the rough voice abruptly tripped and fell to the ground.

I quickly crawled away from his position, seeing that thick vines and tree roots were now wrapping around the man's legs.

The brother who had drawn his sword saw this and charged Rolim.

"You f*cker!" he yelled, green light surrounding his arms as his blade became engulfed in fire.

The light from the flame flickered against the darkness, illuminating the shadows of the trees around them.

Rolim raised a hand at the charging man, sending a tree branch towards his position. The wood from the tree stretched at least a dozen feet as it pierced straight towards the man's head.

The man paid no heed to this though, and simply sliced at the branch with his sword. I watched as the sword cleanly cut through the wood, charring it in the process.

He then jumped over a series of vines that were aimed at his legs, flipping in the air directly towards Rolim's position. At this point he was less than a few meters away, and almost in striking distance.

Suddenly, a vine pierced the man's back, protruding out from his chest.

Rolim had landed a fatal blow on him while he was still in mid-air!

The brother coughed out blood as his limbs sagged to the side, lifeless.

All of this happened in less than ten seconds, and in that time the other brother had only just now freed himself from the vines trapping his legs.

"NOO! Brother! I'll kill you!" The man screamed, his eyes bloodshot with rage.

I crawled away from the man just in time, for he was now standing up and releasing his own magical energy. I knew that I should probably be running away right now, but I was far too immersed in the fight to think clearly.

I watched as green light poured from the man's entire body as the very dirt itself began to rise from the ground. The dirt quickly formed around the man's legs before rising until he was covered entirely from head to toe.

It was as if the man was making a suit of armor from the soil around him!

The dirt continued to accumulate until the man had become a towering, mud-like figure.

The man let out a thundering roar as he rushed Rolim's position, smashing down several vines and trees that shot out to block his path.

His advance was clearly slowing down though, and before he could even get close his figure became obscured by scores of vines and wooden tendrils.

Rolim had a devilish grin on his lips as he clenched his hand into a fist, causing the ball of vines surrounding the man to squeeze tighter.

Sickening crunches could be heard after a few seconds, and I looked on in horror as I saw blood begin to seep through the thick layer of vines.

Rolim released his magic, causing the now-lifeless man to fall down to the ground with a thud. His entire corpse was mangled beyond recognition as it bled into the dirt below.

I looked up in terror as I saw that my father was now focused on me.

"Now then, it's time to get this over with." he said, walking towards my position.

I activated my powers, floating towards the sky in an attempt to escape to the treetops.

Rolim was clearly expecting this though, and I was forcibly halted as I felt a wooden tendril wrap around my body. The bark from the wood was rough as it dug into my soft skin, and I instantly realized that I had no hope of escaping.

I watched helplessly as Rolim brought me towards him with his vines. He held me in front of him as he smirked.

"No need to be so afraid, my son. You are making a valuable sacrifice for our household. I'm sure the church will take good care of you, you're blessed by the Goddess after all." he said, smiling darkly.

As I watched Rolim's hand approach me, I started to get flashbacks of my past life.

I saw images of my mother's disfigured corpse on the kitchen floor, and my father's chilling smile towards the camera before he blew himself up. I also saw flashes of my new mother, images of her smiling at me with love—with kindness.

At that moment I was just thinking that I didn't want to lose another mother, and that I needed to protect her from this twisted freak.

I felt my brain tingle as my power activated, and I directed 100% of it towards Rolim.

Rolim suddenly shrieked in horror as he was sent flying through the air, slamming roughly against a tree that was several meters away.

His body snapped backwards like a foldable chair as he impacted against the tree, breaking his spine completely.

To my own shock, Rolim impacted it with enough force that he smashed through the tree entirely!

The tree toppled to the side as he slammed into another one ten paces behind it. At this point his body had slowed down significantly, but he still bent the last tree sideways with the remaining force.

Rolim's vines were promptly released from my body, dropping down to the ground uselessly.

'Holy sh*t!' I thought, my mouth agape as I floated in the air.