Here's how Jayde's life came to be.

Jayde was born to royalty of the Freehold clan.

Her father, Za'thul was leader of the Freehold clan when he married her mother, Shyenho. Shyenho was the first daughter of the leader of the Stargaze clan.

Both the Freehold clan and Stargaze clan were prominent clans in the lower realm. But even then, the Stargaze clan objected their marriage because Shyenho had been bethrothed to a Gold rank mage of a powerful clan in the mid realm.

Her bethrothal to that mage would gaurantee a rise in status of the Stargaze clan; but Shyenho chose her lover over power.

The Stargaze clan in the end had to pay a huge price to break the bethrothal.

Za'thul and Shyenho had high expectations for their first born child, with both of them being Silver ranks they naturally assumed that their first child would be the same. When Jayde was born she was treated as a precious treasure — the newest Freehold Clan princess — the whole clan celebrated for days.

Many high-ranked officials and clan leaders visited the Freehold Estate laden with valuable gifts for the latest addition to the Freehold clan they aimed to try to negotiate to betroth their sons to the Freehold's new heiress. Even clan leaders from some of the lesser noble houses in the Mid-Realm lowered themselves to send representatives to the Freehold Estate to snap up the newly born Freehold princess.

Za'thul being the cunning leader that he was, had decided to wait for Jayde's official magical reading which was carried out on children when they were three years old before betrothing his daughter. He believed that with his and Shyenho's talents, his daughter would be a genius, a peer among peers and he was looking to tie the Freehold clan to one of the more powerful Mid Realm clans.

Za'thul had engaged the services of the High Mage of the Mages Guild to do Jayde's reading. On Doha a child's Reading Day was the most important event for any person living in Doha. The reading day was also the day that determined a child's whole future! Hence its importance.

Many important guests were invited to attend Jayde's Reading Day, which was rare in the Lower Realm as most families kept their children's Reading Day private, mostly this to prevent embarrassing a noble family should their child potential turn out to be mediocre.

All signs pointed to an auspicious reading on young Jayde's Reading Day. There were hundreds of guest all dressed up, even the Emperor and Empress of the Acica Kingdom were present. The Freehold Clan members were brimming with excitement, the chance of Jayde being tied to a high ranking noble family from the Mid Realm was high, such a betrothal would propel the Freehold clan to First Ranked Clan of the Lower Realm. As a

First Ranked Clan, even the Emperor of Acica would have to treat them with the utmost respect.

High Mage Saunders was adorned in his official royal navy blue robes. The silver thread glyphs decorating his robe designated his position as High Mage.

His silver Life Disk around his neck was displayed prominently. One the surface of the disk one could make out, the red flame for fire, a blue water drop for water and a yellow three knot for metal — these three symbols showcased his rare triple faceted magic.

Straightening out his robes and flickering off some invisible dust of his shoulders, he climbed the stairs of the Pavilion that had been built specially for Jayde's Reading Day.

Standing in front of this prominent crowd, High Mage Saunders was enjoying himself — performing such an auspicious reading for the Freehold clan — the awe and respect the people were showing him fed his inflated ego.

Standing in front of him young Jayde was dressed in a newly made silver dress made out of rare spidersilk. The dress was embroidered with lilies made out a gold-dust thread.

With her shiny long black hair curled into beautiful ringlets. Rosy cheeks, pink lips, pale ivory skin, her amber eyes shining bright with joy, she was an adorable sight.

All the guests could see that she would grow up to be an absolutely stunning young lady — not that there was any doubt as both her mother and father were renowned for their good looks. Jayde's mother was considered the number one beauty in Lower-Realm and Jayde was showing signs that she would definitely take after her mother, her father's amber eyes added a touch of etherealness to her face.

Amber eyes were rare in all the realms, the Freehold Clan boasted that they had dragon blood running through their veins, and it was rumored that those family members who had amber eyes had stronger dragon blood. Amber eyes in the Freehold Clan was considered a sign of strength, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, if a male child had amber eyes, he was automatically declared the future clan leader.

Jayde and her father were the only known members of the Freehold clan alive who had amber eyes. It had been generations since amber eyes had shown up in the Freehold Clan. Jayde eyes were slightly different from her father's as her eyes were circled with a dark line around the iris, making her amber eyes all the more striking.

Welcoming the guests to Jayde's Reading Day, High Mage Saunders gave a small speech, before he started the reading. Holding a magical crystal globe in front of the young Jayde, he directed her to place her small hands onto the crystal, he then injected his own spiritual Qi into the glass globe.

Once his Qi was injected into the magic crystal globe, the globe would reveal Jayde's potential and elemental affinity, but to his consternation no matter how much Qi he pumped, the crystal refused to change color.

Slightly embarrassed he called for another crystal. High Mage Saunders assumed the crystal he had been giving was faulty, but even after changing crystals the new crystal still did not change.

High Mage Saunders stared at Jayde with disbelieving eyes, never would he have imagined in his life that something like this could have happened. With cold sweat dripping down his back he was distressed that he would be the one announcing Jayde's Reading.

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What upset him the most was that after he made his announcement, he would forever be tied to this aberrant, everyone would overlook all his achievements because of this child. He really regretted that he had taken on this task, but no medicine in the world can cure regret.

If he had been one of the crowd, then what he was about to announce would have filled him with glee, after his announcement the Freehold clan wouldn't be able to hold their heads up again in public.

High Mage Saunders had quite a sadistic streak, and he enjoyed nothing more than bringing pain and embarrassment to those around him, but now due to this freak, he was going to be one of those embarrassed.

Looking at the crowd in front of him, High Mage Saunders cleared his throat.

"She's a Null!" he announced loudly.

After High Mage Saunders announcement, pure pandemonium broke out. Most people had never heard of a null before, the guests were confused, while those in the know such as Jayde's parents were horrified.

How could they, being so outstanding produce something as aberrant as a null. Nulls were people without any magic. In Doha even the lowest slave had magic. The only creatures in Doha that were magic-free were the lowly beasts.

"Y...y-ou must be mistaken," Za'thul shouted out, stuttering for the first time in his life. High Mage Saunder announcement was a disaster. If High Mage Saunders was correct, this would be the most embarrassing event in the Freehold clan's history.

How could their daughter be lower than a slave, a beast, could you even consider her to be a human? Who had ever heard of a magic-free human?

"Clan Leader Za'thul, I have confirmed it twice, you saw that I even used multiple crystals, there is no mistake, your daughter is a null," said High Mage Saunders coldly.

High Mage Saunders then went on to clarify: "Your daughter has no magic ability whatsoever, she is the first magic-free ‹human› born since ancient times," High Mage Saunders stressed human, as though he doubted Jayde was human.

The guests were shocked; then everyone started whispering, the ladies snickering behind their hands, while some of the men were smirking, delighted with the catastrophe befalling the Freehold Clan.

Elder Ebi, Za'thul's third uncle realized that Freehold Clan needed to act quickly. Apologizing he sent all guests home. After everything had quietened down, the elders called an urgent meeting with Za'thul.

After hours of heated debate, the elders decided that Za'thul would discard Shyenho as his main wife, she would be found guilty of adultery. Unfortunately, Jayde being a null had been made public, and the news would have spread far and wide that getting rid of the child quietly was no longer an option for the clan. They needed to come up with a solution that would remove any taint of this aberration.

To explain away the color of Jayde's eyes, they would tell everyone that Shyenho had weaved a spell on Jayde when she was born changing her eye color to hide her adultery and that Za'thul had discovered this after investigating the matter. Za'thul would rather live with the humiliation of everyone

knowing that his wife had cheated on him, than having an abomination like Jayde as his daughter.

Shyenho was quickly tried and found guilty; even the Starglaze Clan refused to interfere, they did not want to be associated with an aberrant like

Jayde. After being found guilty, the Freehold Clan followed family law. Shyenho was sentenced to death by public stoning.

To lay this matter to rest as quickly as possible, on the third day after Jayde's Reading Day, Shyenho was dragged through the streets of Arvia, where she was beaten and stoned to death. Her name, as well as Jayde's, was removed from both the Freehold and Starglaze Clan ancestral records.

Up until the day of her mother's execution, Jayde had no idea what was going on. She had been dragged away after High Mage Saunders announcement and locked up in her room. No matter how loud she screamed and cried, no one tendered to her.

On the day of her mother's execution, Jayde was made to watch as her mother was stoned to death. Her father had already arranged for one of the elders to cast a spell on her to change her beautiful amber eyes to black, as well as to make slight changes to her face to remove any similarity to him. Her beautiful clothes were confiscated, and she was dressed in the rough tunic uniform of the Freehold Clan's slaves.

Shocked and confused Jayde tried to call out to her father, she was desperately seeking comfort from her parent. As she ran up to her father, he brutally beat her, shouting at her to get away, calling her a bastard, and many other words that she did not understand.

After being kicked and punched a number times, her small body was filled with pain, blood dripped from her mouth, and she had numerous cuts on her body. One of the maids roughly pulled her away and told her to stay away from the family members, that she was a slave and should be obedient.

Her small body trembled as she watched her beautiful mother dragged through the streets of Arvia, while the crowd jeered and threw rotten vegetables and stones at her. Jayde struggled to break free of the slave who was holding her.

Finally, Jayde managing to escape and ran up to mother, not understanding what was going on. All she wanted was for her mother to hug her like she did in the past, and tell her that everything was going to alright, but instead of embracing her, her mother's eyes were filled with bone-chilling hatred, it was like she was looking at a monster.

"Get away from me, you ugly monster, you are an abomination, you are not my child!" her mother screamed.

With her hands tied, all Shyenho could do was try to kick her daughter.

"Give me back my daughter you bitch!" Shyenho howled.

Struggling hard against the ropes, Shyenho tried her hardest to get to Jayde, her greatest desire at that moment was to strangle this child, tear her to pieces, eat her flesh and drink her blood.

In the time that she was imprisoned Shyenho had come to the conclusion that Jayde was a changeling, that someone must have swapped out her real daughter with this demon child.

Exhausted and with her strength and magic suppressed, Shyenho collapsed, still muttering all the time for Jayde to give her daughter back. The guards dragging Shyenho through the streets had lost patience watching the drama and pulled her away.

In a final burst of strength, Shyenho shouted at Jayde.

"You have killed me, you murderous bitch!! You have killed me."

That was the last time Jayde ever saw her mother, but her last words were branded onto her mind, and for years to come, they would replay in her dreams.

4

After Shyenho execution, Jayde was thrown into the slave pits. The slave pits of the Freehold clan were the worst place in the Freehold Estates to be assigned to.

If it weren't for Old Man Zhek, Jayde would have perished within a couple of days of arriving.

Old Man Zhek, took Jayde under his wing and tried his best to protect her. He taught her how to survive, where to steal the best food, how to hide from the guards and fellow slaves.

For eight years Old Man Zhek guarded Jayde, but life was hard in the pits, and when Jayde was eleven years old, Old Man Zhek passed away, leaving Jayde all alone. For two years Jayde struggled to survive on her own.

But fate was a fickle bitch, and she had one last joke to play on Jayde.

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