Undead City- Altraud
Inside the central white grave.
Arya looked at Arthur's hand as she recalled his explanation about innate affinities, but the more she thought, the more confused she became.
< Force wave> skill did not fit in the undead innate affinity, but what bothered her more was that, when Arthur used the attack, she did not see any green hue emerging from his body, it was different.
" Teacher, what about
"
"A person awakens Special Affinity when they experience intense emotions, emotions strong enough to crush one's soul. I awakened my ability in a war. I was tired of all the bloodshed and wanted to force them to stop the war, force them to stop killing my people, force them to retreat, That's when I awakened Force magic Affinity" Arthur smiled as he explained.
As she listened, Arya recalled her past.......
It happened 3 years ago when Arya was still a 5-year-old.
Inside the vampire territory, there were four main clans. Victoria being a daughter of one of such clans lived a life of luxury with all the wealth and fame she had right from her birth, but her soul always longed for adventure. She hated sitting still. She always wished to roam the world, and she did. She explored many minor dungeons and two major dungeons. She participated in, and made notable contributions to the 'War of Giants'.
During her time in the war, she fell in love with Veld.
20 years later, after travelling a lot more of the world, she married him.
A couple of years later they gave birth to a deep blue-haired and blood-red-eyed girl and named her Arya.
Arya grew up in a dark place, a very dark one, but her mother was always present with her, she was her source of light. No one came to play with her, but she at least had her mother. She was never allowed to leave her dark cavern but still, she had warmth, or so she thought, until that day.
It was a particularly dark day, rain poured down from the sky making a pitter-patter sound, and thunder rumbled in the distance. Normally, Arya was very welcoming to such dark days. It was only during such days that she was allowed to roam in the corridors, something she very much enjoyed, but that day she felt uneasy. For the first time in her life, she was not enjoying the dark weather.
After growing tired from roaming around the corridor she walked back. During her return, she found a beautiful red flower. Thinking that her mom would like the flower, she plucked it and rushed towards her room, but as she neared the room her uneasiness increased, and her heart thumped loudly, growing in intensity with her each step. Discarding the feeling, she approached the door but stopped when she heard loud wailing sounds coming from inside the room.
"Why? Why are you here? Did you come to mock me one last time before I die? go away"
Upon hearing the noise, Arya peeked into the room through the gaps in the door and saw a woman with a wrinkled face and deep blue hair, a few strands of which had turned white- her mother, Victoria, screaming and throwing her pillow at a man standing in front of her.
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The man did not show any response, opting to just stand still like a rock. Infuriated by the silence, Victoria continued her verbal spat,
"I wanted to explore more, I wanted to enjoy my life, but look at me, I have been suffering, unable to even walk for 5 years now" Arya watched as tears streamed down from her eyes, she wanted to comfort her mother, but her legs refused to move.
Fear gripped her heart, fear that the only person who was always with her was going to disappear, fear that she would be all alone, but her next words turned Arya's life upside down.
"I am like this because I gave birth to your daughter. I am dying because of her. I wish she didn't exist, I wish I killed her when she was still in my womb"
Arya observed as Victoria's voice grew weak her sobbing slowed, and her breathing reduced until
"I wish I never Marri-" she couldn't complete her sentence, as before she could death claimed her. She finally laid her back down on the bed and rested in peace, forever.
Arya sat on the ground, her legs limp. The red flower she brought with her fell to the ground, Rain was still falling outside, and thunder still rumbling, but Arya didn't listen to any sound, she couldn't. A single sentence repeated in her mind.
"I wish you didn't exist"
"I wish you didn't exist"
"I wish you didn't exist"
She desperately tried to close her ears but the voice didn't stop
"I wish you didn't exist "
"I wish you disappear"
The words repeated, again and again, and again. Large tear drops fell from her eyes as she desperately shook her head, 'p-ple-please s-stop', she pleaded but the voices did not go away, only growing in intensity until she could hear nothing else.
"I wish you disappear"
"I wish you disappear"
She smashed her head on the ground and bit her tongue until it bled, Blood flowed down her eyes and ears but nothing changed.
She was just a 5-year-old, and she did not know how to handle such emotions. The voices grew unbearable, until, 'I wish I could disappear' she thought to herself and passed out.......
"Hey, are you listening" Arya snapped out of her thoughts upon hearing Arthur's voice.
Smiling at the sky she asked "That affinity, you awakened it because of your intense emotions, right" She looked directly towards him and spoke,
"Don't worry, your wish will be fulfilled"
Laughing at the girl's attempt at cheering him up, Arthur slowly raised his arm and patted her head, but the next second his arms froze as he observed her left hand.
Arya's left hand was emitting a Hue that was different from her normal blood-red Hue. It was a ghostly black colour, and the area of her hand around the Hue appeared distorted like it was disappearing.
"How? When?" He stuttered, unable to comprehend how such a small kid had such strong emotions to awaken a special affinity.
"It's nothing great, I just desperately wanted to fulfil my mother's dying wish " She tried to brush it off, but Arthur was able to spot the deep sorrow that was hidden in her emotionless eyes. Sighing he just continued to pat her head.
"Anyway, it looks related to ghosts"
" It's called Spectral magic"
Arthur nodded his head upon hearing the name,
"Do you have any spectral magic skills? " He asked, curious, but Arya just shook her head in denial.
"I am trying to develop a skill, but it's not going well", she said in a despondent voice.
"You can get one in a Major dungeon, but you are too weak, for now, Continue practising and grow strong, you can then choose a team of your own and enter a dungeon, Now follow me"
Arya nodded at his suggestion and followed him, as they both exited the grave.
*************************
Undead city-Altraud
Inside the grave with a blue roof.
Maya looked around the grave with a predatory gleam in her eyes. There were books everywhere around her, the whole grave was filled with neatly arranged books. It was a veritable library and she wanted to read every one of those books.
The topic of the books ranged from common children's rhymes to books like
The birth of undead,
The War of Giants,
Major and minor dungeons,
the dungeon epics and overseers,
The life of a hero,
Nightmare vampire king Louis,
Monster Encyclopaedia, and many more
Maya looked at each of these books with shining eyes but just couldn't pick one.
She looked around and saw many small newborn skeletons, each one holding a book of around their size and walking wobbly towards an attendant at the corner of the grave. Smiling at the spectacle she too walked with them, while also helping a few tiny skeletons to carry their books.