Vivian watched the huddle of people, all waiting for a tale of her childhood. She shook her head, clearing it. Though this was a dream, it looked real, as she had designed it to. All of the people looked perfect, unless you examined them too closely, and their facial expressions and reactions were things one would expect of a real human.

  She sighed. Why did she do this every night? Tell... herself her own story, as if trying to remember the horrors that had passed her, every night? Yet, it worked. Each time she went through the story, the pain of losing friends grew duller and the feeling of isolation, of loneliness, was staved away.

  With a deep breath, Vivian started talking.

  I was born in the big city. I do not know what the name of the city was, for it did not exist for long enough after I was born, and I never bothered to find its name afterwards. Frankly, I do not want to know what it was called.

  My mother, Linae, was fair-haired and had light skin, along with green eyes that weren't so much piercing as simply... omniscient. Some of my earliest memories are of me trying to sneak out of the house, to find her standing in the exit method I would have used to escape. She would simply stare at me and smile until I turned around. It was a game of ours, though I never won. Not even once.

  My sister often joined me on these journeys, attempting to sneak past our mother. Even if we tried to escape in two places at once, she would be waiting at one of them, the other conveniently blocked by something. I remember that she always laughed, and her smile was infectious. We actually adopted her after she'd been abandoned in the woods. After a couple of days, she was already family. The girl didn't remember her past, but it didn't matter. We loved her, and that was enough. She didn't remember her name, either, so we gave her one, and so she became Livianna.

  My dad? I never knew him. He died, courtesy of a random Songstress who decided to annihilate half the market on the day he was there.

  This is what started my hate for the Singers. They killed my dad when I was seven, and I cannot remember his face. Or anything about him, really. But I remember the Songstress who killed him. I got revenge, eventually. So, the Singers. They were the nobles, the merchants, the tax collectors-anyone with power, basically. And the rest of us? We got left to rot in the worst districts, while they claimed the top ones.

  Now, you must understand, this city had a larger population of Singers than most did, in that time. This place had visitors from everywhere who'd heard about the benefits of living in our city, where their every whim would be cared for by the people we called 'pansies'-those who'd fallen to licking the Singers' boots.

  We refused to be pansies. Whatever we had to do, we did, just to avoid that fate. Once the Singers got their hooks into you, they never let go. We foraged in the woods and sold whatever we didn't eat in order to buy the supplies we required.

  Most of the time, we had to do without. Lantern oil? Too expensive. We could just wait for day. Bread? Too expensive. We could eat meat and berries instead.

  Regardless of all this, we were happy. It was fun, going out into the woods every day, gathering berries and fruits. After we did so, we'd play with the other children-whether their parents danced to the Singers' whims or not, their children were free of blame. Our parents recognized this, and so we joined them in their games. My sister and I would play tag and many other games.

  This peace wouldn't last, however. As we grew older, we understood what the pansies were doing, and their children did as well. We stopped playing together, our groups quickly separating. We were discriminated against, forced to pay higher prices everywhere as people stopped seeing us as little girls and started seeing us as the people they were ordered to starve until they joined the pansies.

  Soon, we grew of age. Of age for our testing. We would be tested to see if we had any proficiency in Noteweaving. Mother told us to go, for whether or not the Singers conducted this test, she wanted us to have better lives than she did. And having the aptitude would definitely do that for us. There was no guarantee that the Singers would let us go, if we managed to pass, but we would live better, whether or not they did.

  Little did we know that mother was watching the ceremony, though she was explicitly banned from it. She saw everything. The singers had us come forward, one by one. The other children spit on us, but we simply dodged, ignoring them. We'd experienced this before. Soon, it was our turn. I went up first. As the Singer touched me, he instantly proclaimed that I had the talent, and I sat back down. My sister was much of the same. When she sat down, we were both frowning. The others had taken at least a second or two before being proclaimed to have the talent. We were said to have it instantly?

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  After the ceremony was over, we ran home to Mother, who quickly told us she'd seen the entire ceremony. Grabbing us, she left our cabin, with most of our possessions, and started leaving. Leaving the city. Leaving the area. Her explanation was that before, we hadn't been old enough to travel, and she wanted to get us tested before leaving. Now, however, might be too late. In the testing, they'd found that we had incredible talent, and there would likely never be others like us. Our mother led us through dense forests, deserts, everywhere to get away. I was able to generate water, and my sister cooked the animals we caught together.

  However, we couldn't run fast enough.

  They found us, one night, huddling in the cold of a snowy mountain.

  We fought, desperately, trying not to get taken.

  There were too many.

  With our untrained power, we managed to kill five fully-fledged Singers before exhaustion. Neither of us really cared that we were ending people here. They were trying to capture us, so it was kill-or-be-captured.

  When we ran out of power, Mother stood up. The lines seemed to cower in fear of her for some reason, as wings unfurled from her back, blinding in their splendour. "I am Light. Companion of Eternity, Cleaver of Suns. YOU WILL NOT TAKE MY CHILDREN!"

  We'd heard the legends of Light. Of all the other heroes who'd partnered with Eternity as well. Mother revealed herself, and annihilated the enemies with a single blow. She turned back to us, smiling sadly.

  The legends of Light had stated her power. They'd also stated that her condition for retirement was not using her powers. Mother gave us a few last words before returning to the stars. "Find me when you grow up. I will always love you."

  Then she flew, sparkling, into the snowy sky, disappearing after naught but a moment.

  I and Livianna sat there, hugging each other, too tired to cry.

  We started moving again, the next day. We even managed to cross an ocean by stealing a sailboat. I figured out how to sing to the Wind, and she figured out Wood.

  Together, we piloted it across the ocean.

  On the other side, they were waiting. They charged, and we unleashed our power once again. I killed ten, alone, before, Livianna screamed with the power of Space. Somehow, she'd figured it out mid-battle, and I immediately understood her intentions. I returned her call with more power, Space singing back. Together, we weaved a teleport, and escaped their clutches once again. But something went wrong. Instead of teleporting somewhere else on our world, we went straight to the area between spaces. The Void. Luckily, we weren't even truly in the Void, simply someplace nearing it, yet far closer to true space, or we wouldn't be able to survive with the amount of power we could muster.

  We simply pushed outwards against its forces in order to survive, and it worked. For a time. However, we weren't the only ones out here.

  I started to weave a portal out, carefully, slowly. The notes were precise and slow as they tumbled from my mouth. Livianna was holding the bubble of power over both of us. Then one of the monsters found us. In the darkness, yellow eyes emerged. Livianna continued holding the bubble as I desperately weaved faster. The monster got closer and closer. I put the weave over Livianna, then I started covering myself, getting it over my head, then chest. Its mouth yawned wide. There was no more time, and if I teleported now, I could at least save my sister.

  I unleashed the weave, and both of us were thrown out of the void. My sister, whole, and me. Missing my arms and legs. I hadn't weaved around them in time, so they'd been left behind. We were in a jungle, the leaves above me swaying, lulling me to sleep. Livianna was staring at me, horrified, from above. I was about to close my eyes and descend into darkness, satisfied with my life, when I noticed Livianna doing something.

  She pulled a glowing drop from her head, and I instinctively understood what it was, shaking my head. I opened my mouth to tell her no, but she insisted as blood spurted out instead of words. She weaved a quick song of Healing and Space, pushing the drop of Memory she'd pulled out through it. She managed to open a portal, and I could tell this was to a different world. She activated the rest of her weave, and my arms reattached, my legs appearing in the right positions, though not yet healed. She grabbed my hand, hugging it to her chest, before standing up and walking towards the portal. As she released my hand, I used everything I had to establish a link between us.

  She smiled at me, accepting the link, connecting the both of us forever. Whether it was in another life or this one, we would be together. Then she pulled more Memory out of her head, dropping it in the weave. All this time, she was singing, adding power to the weave. Then, with a final goodbye as her memories disappeared and she stopped recognizing me, Livianna stepped through the portal.

  The Memory alone wasn't enough to heal me completely, though it was the entire memory Livianna had of this world. Me, Mother, everything. All in the Memory she'd released. Then the second burst hit. The power created by simply separating us had finished the weave. I stood, whole once again.

  I slowly touched the link in my head, thinking about if I would want to send a message right now. Then it closed, sealing shut, on Livianna's side. I sighed, knowing this to be inevitable. The link would open eventually. I watched the Memory dissipate into air. Just by being near it, I'd gotten its full worth, and understood everything within them.

  So, within my brain, I started the framework for a single drop of the purest Memory. One I'd give to Livianna the next time I saw her in person.

  As I healed enough to walk around, I looked at the sky. It started to rain, and I made a vow. Livianna, I will come for you. Mother. We will find you when we once again reach for the stars.

  Then, exhausted, mentally and physically, I trudged through the jungle. And after I find Livianna. Revenge.