"You will see my bloodied corpse before you take him away from me." The demon from the void had shown her teeth once again. "Witchcraft? Do you have the

slightest idea what you're accusing me of?" she waited for them to spit their fire. I had never seen her this angry before.

"How else could that tree out in the field come about? Surely it didn't appear for no reason!" the creature that called itself my mother was scowling. "This

is heresy, you're teaching our daughter he-"

"If you call my grandson 'your daughter' ever again I will send you to Crázap Banasc!" her echoing voice lunged from every direction at once. "What is the

meaning of this? Explain your intent at once!"

"The intent," stole a voice from the back, "is to stop you from destroying our child's mind." my father's tyrannical inflection begged to be recognized.

"You have no right to teach her the things you have taught. Besides, you have the audacity to call what you do magic! That is not magic, it is a corruption

of everything this country holds dear!" he returned. My trembling frame was still hiding behind Firdevie as I waited for the storm to blow over.

"Etching metal is magic, bolt-binding is magic, healing is magic. What you do is borderline conspiratorial!" the bastard's audacity knew no bounds. "And I'm

not even getting into the 'son' thing. You're insane, and you're taking my daughter down with you."

The room fell into silence for what felt like eons, but only seconds were elapsing. In that time I somehow managed to examine my surroundings. My

grandmother's plain red dress was reminiscent of a rose to me. The walls and roof had began wearing down years ago, as a result many cracks had taken

their comfortable places in the house. Two doorways connected the living room into the kitchen and the bedroom. I wanted to escape through those doors. It

had become very clear to me that the possibility of this whole altercation just withering away had itself crumbled to dust. The lamps on the wall were white

instead of yellow that day. I assumed this was gran's doing, as she knew that I preferred the white light. They reminded me of a shining lake's surface.

Blue covering most of the aqueous body, and the blank flavor adding itself ever so sparingly to give the whole picture a serene air. I thought of the

possibility of me being a painter one day. Giving life and brilliance to a still whiteness, it sounded quite nice to me. Especially if I had the opportunity

to paint a lake.

"You're going to leave her here and you're going back to your commune" my mother's treachery brought me back to the present moment. "You can perform all

of your freakish experiments in that place, and you won't have to corrupt our daugh-"

"I am not doing that." Firdevie responded without smidgen of hesitation in her voice. "You will not take him away from me."

The worthless brute calling himself my father clenched his fists in anger. "You have no right to do this."

"I have every right to do this, you have no legal power over me." Her deliberately flat intonation refused to falter.

Finally, in his disgusting rage, the bastard attempted to hit Firdevie. She swiftly took me by the hand whisked both of us away from the attack with

unnatural speed and stillness. "Ateáin Kırena!". Many small pieces of flame accumulated within milliseconds as gran posed her hand as if

she was holding an object with both of them. The specks had now formed into a whip, ready to strike anyone who might come close to her.

"Our retribution will not end here. The conclave has now observed and recorded your actions. Do not tread further, worthless imp!" My father stepped back

with shock. Seeing him with such fear in his eyes gave me joy. It didn't feel good to admit that I was taking pleasure in someone else's suffering, but when

it came to my father I found eliminating the guilt to be very easy.

"You're nothing but a deceiver, an illusionist!" He defiantly took another step towards us. "Do you think you-" before he could finish his sentence Firdevie

landed the whip onto his chest. A small explosion engulfed the site of impact. He went flying back. My mother howled; she did not expect such

strength from the person she assumed to be a weakling. When the useless ogre landed, he let out a yelp, but that small noise quickly turned into fearful

screaming as he realized his shirt was on fire. His chest was also burning.

"Do not worry, the fire will go out quickly. He will not sustain too much damage." The younger woman was too afraid to respond properly, and so when she

finally made a sound, she let out a shriek of fear. "Let us go then, my child. We will leave these fiends behind." The whip dissipated after her command.

She firmly grasped my hand, and led me outside through the front door. The sun was about to cross the horizon, and the swathes of light emanating from the

orange masterpiece had covered the earth. Clouds weren't present. I looked back to see the tree I had created only a few minutes prior. It was my first

success. My first creation. I was leaving not only it, but also the place I was most familiar with behind. Tears started streaming down my cheeks. Firdevie

noticed almost immediately.

Her face took the shape of mercy and regret. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." She embraced me with her arms. "This was the only way dear, they attacked us.

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They wanted to make you miserable. I assure you, the place we're going allows for much more freedom. You will be happier there." Her soft words served as

an uplifting countermelody in my song of sorrow. "Wh-what about the tree? The b-books?" I managed to say in my disheveled state. "I'll never see them again,

will I?"

"Of course you will see them again, kindheart. I will call upon the conclave to help us with that. They will bring the books to the commune, and they will

protect the tree. My dear darling, I'm here for you." She embraced me slightly tighter than before. "We must leave this place now" she continued. "We will

get away from here and find a safe place to rest, and then we will find our way to the settlement, okay?" I wiped the remaining tears off my face, and

nodded. She gave me the tenderest kiss on the forehead.

"I love you." She got up and grabbed my hand gently, and we began walking at a fast pace towards the city. I was with her now. Despite all the violence

that I seen that day, I was feeling safer than ever. We embellished the stone roads again like we did in the morning.

Night was approaching. Lengthy shadows began blending into their surroundings. I watched as the bright sheet of day was torn, as the stars took their place

in the sky. The soothing cricket noises coming from the nearby bushes pushed the sounds of our steps into the background. The city lights were not too far

off in the distance, so I guessed that we would reach our destination before midnight. Not too long after our departure, we came across a small river

running through the plains. Firdevie called the name of a spell I'd never heard before as she snapped her fingers. "Inse Solnağı" she said, and with that

command a bright, floating ball the size of a fingernail came into existence in front of gran. It began following us. The light it gave off was surprisingly

brilliant, as it had lit up most of the path in front of us. While we were getting closer to the river gran stopped me with her arm, and took a glance into

the water. She guided the ball of light towards its surface. There was nothing odd that we could see. She then cupped her hands and took a sip.

"It is safe to drink, dear" she told me. "If you want to quench your thirst, do not wait while we have the opportunity." I took heed of her instructions

and drank with vigor. Although the water was nice, the cool drink didn't seem perfect to me in the relatively cold night. "Your clothing looks like it can

you warm enough, but let me know if you get cold" she said. "Thank you" I responded quietly.

"Do not thank me, son. I am your grandmother, this is what I should do. Now, hold still. We're going to cross the river.

"You'll hurt yourself!" I objected. She seemed confused at first, with her thick eyebrows bent in a charming way. "How so, youngling?" she asked.

"Your back will hurt, and your arms will be tired" I murmured. Upon hearing this, gran smiled playfully. She responded "Rüzoth, tug ankü alach." To my

surprise, a curious wind lifted me up and chucked my to the other side of the river. It blew the other way as I was landing, so my impact was soft

and balanced. The same happened with Firdevie only a few seconds later. She caressed my face. "Your grandmother is strong, don't forget that dear." I looked

at her cheerfully.

We kept heading towards the city. We encountered a few small, stone homes on the outskirts similar to the one we had left. Gran picked up a handful of

pebbles on the way. About an hour later, we had reached the inner city. Thanks to the ball of light that we had carried on our way here, the usually dark

streets were slightly illuminated. Sturdy houses and closed shops were still standing strong, but the same could not be said for the crooked pavement. Not

much had changed since my last visit. Mysterious silhouettes of the urbanites moved behind the curtains. Their chatter sounded like mockery.

"You must be unimaginably hungry and tired" said gran. "Don't worry, I know an inn that's only a few minutes away. We can get some food and rest there." I

nodded.

We reached the place she was talking about shortly. A wooden sign fixed above the door via a metal frame read "Wulf's House". Two lamps were still burning

brightly next to the entrance. We entered. The inside was warm, thanks to the fireplace that was still burning. Some tables still had plates and cups left on

them. The walls were not utterly decrepit, but they weren't in pristine condition either. Many customers had left their marks. We headed towards the

innkeeper standing behind the counter.

"What do you want?" the innkeeper asked snidely. His beard didn't hide his wary face well.

"Food and lodging" returned gran. "What do you have?"

"We've only got some roast beef and a single room to spare." He spoke flatly. "Two plates?"

"And some water." Gran reached into her pocket filled with pebbles, pulled out a handful of coins and placed them on the counter. "Will this be enough to

cover our costs?" she said. The man examined the coins with suspicion, and then looked back at Firdevie. "Melrose! Bring two plates of beef and a cup of

water. We've got stayers."

"Thank you. Ferriz, where do you want to sit?" she asked with her eyes turned to mine. I pointed at a clean table close to the window. We made our way to

it. The waiter brought our food and some utensils without much wait. Even though the meat was subpar as it had been cooked a while ago, I ate like a

monster still. "My son..." her voice was laced with pity. "From the bottom of my heart, I am sad that I left you hungry. I will give you all that you need

there. You will be happy. That is why I do this."

"I know, gran. I love you." My response seemed to ease her guilt a little bit. Seeing us finish our meal, the inn worker took us upstairs to our room for

the night. It had only one bed, but it was still warm and cozy enough to keep us from complaining. "Rest well" said the servant, before closing the door and

leaving us be.

Gran opened a closet on the right side of the chamber, and found a worn pillow and a damaged quilt. She laid them out on the floor to create a semi-bed,

and then tucked me into the better bed. I was too happy with my condition, so I didn't bother to question her. Before she laid down, she sat next to me.

"Did you count the stars in the sky as we were walking here?" she said, dropping the facade of her liveliness and adopting a tired manner of speech instead.

"Some of them" I responded.

"You know that you're much more precious than those, right?" she said. I returned the compliment with a smile. "You struggled to conjure that tree at first,

but you didn't give up. While we were making our way here you didn't complain even once. You're a warrior. That is why you're precious." She kissed me on the cheek.

"Goodnight, kindheart. May sweet dreams find you in your sleep."