Chapter twenty eight

   P.O.V.   Cynthia Blackthorn

          I was very quiet when I was young, very shy even though I was a member of one of the eldritch families I wasn't as outgoing or active as the other children. It got to a point that even my own family started to forget I existed, I was like a shadow that nobody noticed. This didn't last for long, kids being kids noticed that I was always silent and terminally shy, they noticed I had darker looks and never fit in with them, they sensed a perfect target. I was mocked, made fun of, and even beat up because I was an easy target. My own family didn't help me, they told me that I was embarrassing the name of the Blackthorn family by being so weak. They told me that if I won't stand up for myself they wouldn't help me. One day I was surrounded by my usual tormentors,

           "My mama said that you were trash that didn't deserve the blackthorn family name."

           "Of course , look at her she is scrawny and ugly and doesn't even know how to talk properly."

          "I heard that she is so quiet because she is stupid and her head is empty."

          "....... I am not stupid......"

          "Look who finally decided to speak with us , what do you think you're too special to talk with us . We'll show you exactly how special you are."

         Then they pushed me down and started hitting me while laughing as if enjoying a wonderful game. I just curled up and tried my best to bear the pain and not sob out loud , they get a lot worse if I they heard me cry. I waited for them to get tired and leave but today was different. A small blur came out of nowhere and slammed into one of the girls. It was a blond girl that was younger than us but she somehow fought off five older kids by herself. She was beat up multiple times and by the end she looked terrible but she never stayed down and fought on. In the end she was too much of a bother for the bullies to pick on, they wanted a soft target and this girl was just too much trouble.

          She turned towards me and offered me a hand to help me up. She smiled at me, her lips were bleeding, one of her eyes was already swelling shut, her blond hair was a mess, and her cloth were in tatters , but she didn't seem to care. All she was focusing on was helping me up and wiping off my tears slowly with her torn off sleeve. To me her smile was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my entire life.

          "Hello, my name is Lidia and I just moved here, will you be my friend?"

          *    *    *

         Years passed and slowly with the help of Lidia I came out of my shell. I still was very quiet but now I didn't have a problem with speaking out when I needed to. Over the years I grew close with the amazing girl known as Lidia and I saw that she was such a selfless person. Whenever she saw someone being bullied she never turned a blind eye like everybody else. Her motto was ' what would saint Sophia do?' . For a few years we were thick as thieves.

          But everything changed when I turned thirteen. After my magic tests showed I had a talent for magic that hadn't been seen for hundreds of years, suddenly everybody's behavior towards me shifted. At home they were suddenly affectionate and proud of 'their little girl'. All the girls suddenly wanted to be friends. Only Lidia didn't change. She was happy for me but her attitude towards me didn't change at all. 

             A month after the test we were taken to a convent to train. All the girls in the school wanted to be my friends, but I never forgot the abuse I suffered at their hands so I kept them all at arms distance. I waited for Lidia , she was one year younger so she would be sent here next year.

      *    *    *

         When the next year came, I heard about a girl with the most abysmal talent in magic and I laughed along with the other girls. I wasn't an outcast anymore, I was the popular girl and I had slowly learned to enjoy my role. When the noobies came , we were there looking for the girl with terrible aptitude. It wasn't hard to find her. She was the one no one wanted to get close to, as if she had the plague. We surrounded the kid and started making jokes , but when she lowered the hood of her rain jacket, I was struck mute. It was Lidia who was looking at me with a look of deep disappointment in her eyes. For a moment I felt ashamed , but the shame quickly turned into anger. How dare she look down on me? I was the special one and she was the trash, and she had the nerves to look down on me? I joined in with the other girls, hurling the most vicious insults I could. She simply walked away, fighting was strictly forbidden in the convent so nobody stopped her. She never looked back once at me. That day I knew she stopped being my friend, but I didn't care. I had many friends.

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           *    *    *

         Years passed and now I was seventeen. I had matured enough to know that all my new 'friends' were fake. I was tired of all the attention and fame because they never saw me as a person, they saw me as a tool, an instrument to further their own goals. I knew I pushed away the only person that was my friend. Ironically Lidia had slowly become the second most popular girl in the convent. She might not have an aptitude for magic, but her blossoming beauty had a magic all on its own. By now I knew that I loved her deeply, but after the way I treated her she had become cordial but distant to me. I knew I was going to have to do something drastic to make up for my behavior, so I prepared a lavish meal and went to her room carrying flowers. When I got there , the only person there was her roommate. She informed me that Lidia left the convent when they were asking for volunteers to take care of an orphanage in some rural part of Britain.

          I was shocked, she was gone and with her she took my heart. I didn't even get the chance to apologize or tell her how I felt. 

          *    *    *

        After graduation I was so tired of the fawning sycophants and the unending stream of suitors that I picked an assignment that could take me the furthest away from Europe, which happened to be the position for ambassador to the mage council in Montreal. 

        I have been doing my duty for four years now, I liked it here in Montreal, everything is just so bright and happy. Today was the end of the month so I was writing my usual report to the sisterhood when one of my agents reported to me a rather alarming story about an army of demons attacking the city. Of course I rushed to the location she told me about to see what was happening with my own eyes and see if I could help in any way. By the time I got there all I saw was a group of disbanding soldiers talking excitedly. When I asked one of the soldiers what had happened, he told me a rather fanciful story about a hero coming out of thin air with his damsel and single handedly destroying the army of demons. When I asked him where this 'hero' was , he told me the captain was showing them around. If the story was even half true I had to ascertain who this new player was and write about it to the sisterhood. So I walked around the popular sights in the city hoping I would get lucky, and after walking around for hours I finally did find captain Truman. Standing next to her was the one I assume was the 'hero' and next to him in a billowy red sundress was Lidia.....,my Lidia .Before I could even think ,I was running towards them shouting Lidia's name again and again. When they finally turned towards me all I could say was,

               "Lidia is that you?"