Another year has come and gone.  It is now at the end of spring and school just got out for summer break.  Middle school hasn't been hard overall, and I wonder what I will learn in high school.  My mom actually forced me to take swordsmanship classes in my last year of middle school.  That was my fault though since I opted out of it in the first and second year.  It was strange being in a group with lots of people younger than me.  Truthfully, I knew full well that I wasn't cut out for swordsmanship, but I didn't have a choice.  

Even if I didn't want to join, Ellie and mom both pushed me into the class.  The councilor wouldn't have cared at all if I did nothing, but it may be because he is terrified of me.  I guess that's fine since I'm scared of disobeying mom.

The swordsmanship class was simple because it went over basics.  I say basics, but it is much harder to do than magic for me.  My strong suits include thinking, ignoring, and eating.  This does not translate to being accomplished at swordsmanship...

During my first couple classes the teacher showed us a simple sword technique.  It wasn't to use, but to understand that we could do that if we tried.  Ellie grew tired of my fits of being ill suited for armed combat.  She insisted that I learn at least simple techniques so I wouldn't be defenseless to close combat. I wanted to yell at her, "ISN'T THAT WHAT MAGIC IS FOR."  For obvious reasons, I did not.  If I can't understand this, I guess that mom won't let me go on an adventure.

I didn't have the drive to learn this like I do for enchanting.  My entire semester was easy except for this one class.  Mom at least allowed me to go back and see the orphans when I was angry at not getting it.  They were my solace since Rose and Kylie made fun of me for not being able to understand it.  Usually I would read a fairy tale to the children, or I would play a game with them.  

Their joy was fun to watch, them learning from interactions.  Within this year the two little thieves activated their magic, and they pulled pranks rather than stealing.  I mean... as far as I know.  

My enchanting prowess improved by leaps and bounds.  Teacher is superb at what he does and can articulate what he wants to say well.  It is too bad he is pursuing other studies now, like culinary flavors.  I will never get over that episode of exotic flavors, but at least he makes good food sometimes.

Nature and water magic both increased to advanced level during this year, so I increasingly bored during classes.  When dad gets back, I will ask him to explain the concept for creating fire that glides and doesn’t burn things.  I think it has to do with depriving oxygen around the substance, but it is a cool idea and intrigues me to no end.

My stupid void magic is only beginner level 3 now…  I want to get better at it, but only having telepathy as a magic makes it so slow.  Interestingly, the students I’m tutoring started to warm up to me.  I’m not sure why, but maybe the increased exposure to me made them open up.

Both Reina and Alva headed to high school, so I wasn't able to see them as much.  I got in a laugh when Rose and Kylie ended up getting their periods.  When I asked mom, it seems that girls’ periods in this world for long-lived species is kind of strange.  I guess it wasn't in the biology book that dad gave me, and I feel stupid for not asking more and just thinking everything is the same.

It seems that periods are unique here; the woman will experience them monthly until they are between 21 to 25 years old.  Then comes the strange part, the woman will gain the ability to control when they restart their cycles.  So after the initial period is over at 25, the female can start and stop their period, which is fascinating to me.  Not infinitely, but they can cause their menstruation to stop until wanted twice.  After the second pause and start is over, they will continue to have periods until menopause.

It is actually interesting that the system gives them control over this in the early twenties.  It is a screw you to the girl initially, but allows the girl to have a natural form of birth control until needed.  I feel bad for the humans since they have no control over their menstruation at all.

I will need to look into the biology more closely from now on since some things that have a similar term may function differently.  There is a book that shows how classes affect you, but it will wait.

This year was rough on me physically.  I wanted to just send ice magic into the dummies or bind them with plants to pull them apart or destroy them with fire. The urge to do any of these was high, and the frustration hit a level I'm not used to.  My coordination got none better, and I swore to myself that I would get decent enough to parry a sword.

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Then again, today mom said I was doing something important.  I'm not sure what it is, but from the tone of her voice it is serious.

I headed to find mom in her room since she wanted me to meet up there.  When I got there, she was standing outside of the room in black clothes.  We match.  This is most likely Ellie's doing.  Before I could think more, mom said in a fairly monotone voice, "Ally, today is the day you learn a very underestimated lesson.  Follow me."

That is out of place, mom hasn't been this serious around me... ever.  What will happen that is causing her to be cold?  I can't figure out what she would be so calculated about right now.  My mind could only go to training, but since when has mom ever been like this during my training.

I quietly followed behind her until we arrived in front of a door sealed via magic binding.  It was a door I had never seen before in this house, how did I miss it?  Was it invisible?

Mom unlocked the door, and it slowly creaked open, allowing for a dimly lit stairway to come into view.  The area was rather dusty, but not completely disregarded so it was somewhat clean.  The stairs didn't creak, but at the bottom of the stairway was something I had never seen.  It was a dungeon.  Only one cell had anyone in it, and the person was a bald, human, middle-aged man.  He seemed battered with his face being bruised and his arms having linear cuts.  With his mouth gagged, and him chained to the wall.

When I saw all of this, I just stared at him for a while, trying to put things together.  Was mom going to torture him?  Was mom going to question him?

Mom interrupted my thoughts by putting her hand on my shoulder.  She spoke with a calm tone, "Today will be very hard on you Ally.  It is hard on everyone the first time."

While I was running those sentences through my mind again trying to find meaning, Mom opened the cell door and with sharp accuracy sent an ice shard into his abdomen.  Through his shirt I saw the blood streak showing her magic penetrated his skin.  She froze his arm against the wall and spoke to me, "Ally, first lesson of torture is that you don't use it to get answers.  You use it to punish those who should be punished."

She grabbed his hand that wasn't frozen and took out her sword.  With a flash, his hand disappeared.  He was screaming through the gag, so he must fully feel the pain.  My mind wasn't thinking fast enough, so I asked in a panic, "Mom, what did he do that you are torturing him?"

She responded as she tossed the hand, "He was the head of a slaving organization.  He is guilty of rape, murder, race trafficking, and conspiracy against the Demon Empire.  His sentence is death and he will be used as a lesson for you."

She froze his cut hand in ice to stop the bleeding before freezing the other arm and handing me the sword.  I hesitated, so she said, "Ally, this is a lesson.  The world is not always good.  There are people who deserve death, who deserve pain, who deserve something more in the mortal world before they die.  He is one.  The justice system here allows for punishment for death sentences.  It varies severity with convicted accounts.  They are all recorded to keep the punisher from going too far though.  In this case, it is almost no limits."

Thinking about it, she was right.  Everything he had done goes against everything I had learned in this life and my past life.  The only difference is that in this life I am expected to hand out judgments.  I steeled myself before grabbing the sword and swinging down on his hand.  It came off cleanly and the sword must have a wind enchantment because it needed little pressure to separate the hand.

After I did that, mom formed a water snake and sent it to his genitals.  She froze the snake there and pulled back, tearing sounded off as they ripped off.  I couldn't feel remorse for it, but I guessed that this would not be the end of it.  Since she said today would be hard on me... I am most likely going to be the one to kill him.

Mom spoke up, "Ally, you decide how he shall die.  Do you want him to die quickly, maybe slowly?  It is all up to you now; this will be your first kill.  It is the tradition of our households to do this."

I tightened my grip on the sword and decided to make the kill fast, I would cut his throat.  It was less because I was being merciful, but I'm not sure I would be able to handle a slow death right now.  I didn't take out the gag at all.... mostly because I didn't want to hear his voice.  I believe my mom on what he did and hearing him would make me sick.

His muffled screams are more than enough.  I slashed the sword and saw his head completely decapitate, my aim must have been wrong.  Seeing his head off to the side made me want to vomit.  It wasn't sympathy, or anything else.  Death, I caused a death....  I am queasy; my mind seemed to focus on the fact I killed someone rather than the person I killed.

Before I had a panic attack, mom led me by hand up the stairs and back to my room.  She hugged me and softly said, "Ally, I'm sorry you had to go through that, but hopefully it will help you in the future."  

I wasn't sure if it would, but my nauseousness made me want to lie down.  It took a while before I could think clearly and feel somewhat better.  Ellie came in with my meal, but I only sampled the food.  I wonder if this will come in useful in the future, I hope I don't have to kill again, but it makes sense to kill someone before it happens.  This isn't my old world this is another world.  Being at this position means that I will have to kill again....

I hugged Misty tighter and stayed in my thoughts for many hours before I forced myself to do anything.  It is one thing to talk about killing and another to kill someone in reality, no matter how horrible the person was.