I listen attentively as Katherine tells me the story of her father, Shaman Terranostra. She says:

Twenty years ago Âme Kingdom invaded the small island country Ouroboros. King Barthalamos wanted the natural resources so that he could make his rich country even richer. At the time my mom was there doing research on the local plants. For shelter she stayed in a village with the Yugalla tribe. That’s how she met my father Shaman Terranostra. He was the village healer and wise man. As he and my mother spent more time together they became more and more interested in each other’s worlds and before long they fell in love.

But their love didn’t last long because of Barthalamos. He and his army constantly fought with the Yugallans in little skirmishes. However, the Yugallans always had the advantage because of their familiarity with the environment. Ouroboros is almost entirely rain forest with little dry land. My mom told me that there are monsters in the water that are so dangerous that it’s practically unheard of for someone to fall into the water and make it back out alive. The Yugallan people themselves navigate on top of the water by riding giant snakes called Marsh Skippers. Without the Marsh Skippers, the Aimé army was at a huge disadvantage because they only had slow moving canoes. The Yugallans eventually punctured holes into all of their canoes and left the Aimé soldiers stranded. They figured that King Barthalamos and his men would eventually run out of supplies and be forced to leave the country. In fact, that’s exactly what happened, but not before they made one final attack on the Yugallan people.

It happened at night while nobody expected it. Somehow a large group of Aimé soldiers snuck into the village. Nobody knows how they got in. The people were caught off guard and defenseless.

The soldiers were ruthless, massacring men and women alike. So my father ran out into the center of the village and cast a powerful spell called “Pacifism.” The Pacifism spell makes it impossible for anyone under its effect to take aggressive actions. Shaman Terranostra blanketed the entire village under the spell. By doing so he allowed all of the villagers and my mother to escape the soldiers. My father, however, had to remain standing in place to keep the spell going. As soon as everyone escaped, he released the spell and was immediately captured.

They brought him back here to Âme Kingdom. Barthalamos scapegoated him as the reason for why his invasion failed. He said that my father was a heretic and a savage, and that he used some sort of evil foreign magic. That’s a complete lie! My mother told me that Shaman Terranostra was a grandmaster of Life, Support, and Plant Magic – the same magic disciplines that I’m learning now. Anyhow, Bathalamos had him taken into the Magali town square to make a big spectacle out of his execution. My father died here alone, far away from his homeland. But the worst part is that everyone believes the king’s stories about Shaman Terranostra being some sort of savage boogeyman. Whenever someone speaks badly about him, it hurts me and my mother so much, but we hold our tongues for fear of also being declared heretics and executed. That’s why I didn’t want to tell you about my father. I bet you also think he was a bad man, don’t you?

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I shake my head. “Of course not. Any man who would sacrifice his life for the love of his friends and his woman is a good man in my eyes. Besides, I’m from Winterspring not Âme Kingdom. I don’t have to listen to a darn thing King Barthalamos says.”

Tears form in the corners of Katherine’s eyes. She lets herself fall forward throwing her arms around me. I catch her in my arms and run the fingers of my right hand through her hair lovingly. “Not only was your father a good man Katheirne, but he must have also been a singularly powerful mage to cast Pacifism on an entire village. Pacifism is the kind of spell that overrides free will. Such spells are incredibly difficult to hold on a single person even for a few seconds. He did it on an entire group of soldiers long enough for the Yugallans to organize their escape. I can hardly even imagine such insane magic power. And you know what Katherine, I think that you’ve inherited his power.”

Katherine looks up at my face misty eyed. “You really think so?”

“I know so. I didn’t tell you before because I didn’t want you to get cocky, but I’ve never even heard of someone advancing through the ranks of magic as fast as you have. Now that I know your father was Shaman Terranostra, I understand everything. Just remind me to never get on your bad side.”

Katherine buries her head in my chest and squeezes me tightly. “You won’t Master.”

I run my fingers through her hair some more and sniff its lavender scent. “Thank you for telling me about your father Katherine. Now let’s go see Master Simon. Hopefully, he also has something good to tell me.”