In a distant past, within a realm of numerous islands stretching to the edge of the earth, an unconquerable creature known as the Kraken terrorized all four Seas.

Every time the beast started murdering innocents, heroes arose, giving their lives in order to destroy it, granting the people of the Great Archipelago a few years of peace. 

Sadly, the Kraken would always return as its immortal nature appeared impossible to tame. 

That was until the last Kraken Slayer, Yalena, used a spell that seemingly killed the monster for good.

But she disappeared soon after, leaving behind two daughters, one of which bore ominous marks on her body, leading everyone to believe she had been cursed because of her mother’s deeds. 

Growing up hearing about her mother’s heroic adventures, the young Talia found her desire to be a hero at odds with everyone treating her as a monster. Some say it was how people treated her that forced her to become so resourceful. Others say it was her mother’s blood running through her veins.

This is the story of how a girl who was feared and hated had to embrace her darkness in order to fulfill her aspirations. 

***

“Come on, come on, come on,” Talia bit her lower lip. 

She waited in trepidation as the sun's rays ever-so-slowly touched the waking hour carved into her hut's wall. Talia fidgeted with the wide bracelets that covered her wrists. When the light finally reached the dim rune, making it glow brightly and vibrate, she shot out of her bed faster than a Flashscale. 

It was time.

***

It was time to change the guard in front of the cursed girl’s hut. 

Two brutish guards walked shoulder to shoulder, chests puffed up with pride, tall like obelisks, rejoicing that they got to guard the twiggy teen. 

“I can’t believe the Elders finally came to their senses,” one of them said. 

“The spawn must be bawling her eyes out,” the other laughed raucously.  

From behind them, a groan escaped a third guard’s throat, snapping the other guards’ heads back.  

“Do you have a problem over there?” One of the brutes growled.

“She’s a kid without a mother and a father, a Keikikahi, an orphan.”

“Keikikahi? The Kraken is her father,” the other guard halted and barked. “She’s a demon, a monster. The Elders waited far too long to bar her from taking the Initiation Test!”

“Why?” The other rebuked, gritting his teeth as he scrutinized the bigger guard with disgust. “Why do we worry about a girl whose biggest obsession is to become a Water Rider and slay monsters?”

“Monsters cheat and lie, of course,” the other gurgled. “What if she becomes a monster like her father, the Kraken?” 

“She's the blood of the Hākai Pō, the Kraken Slayer, not the Kraken’s damn child!” 

“Whatever she is, we’re not about to find out. She’s never getting Initiated,” the brutish guard waved dismissively and started walking back toward the cursed girl’s isolated hut. 

The kinder guard let his head hang low and ambled toward the post. 

Maybe I could give her a break? If I station myself by her window – I could even let her escape. 

Arriving at the old decrepit hut the Elders had decided to keep the girl in, the kind guard skipped the niceties with the two that were stationed in the front and went directly to the only window on the small hut, where a third gloomy guard stood post.

Oh, shit, the man thought.

“Mataku,” the guard sighed. “I’m here to—”

“I’m not leaving my post. I’m guarding the spawn myself,” a deep-voiced guard wrapped head to toe in his cloak replied. 

The kind guard tried to play nice. “Hey, man, it’s ok. I bet you’re tired and—”

“I said I’m not leaving my post. This monster shall never level up.”  

“Whatever,” the kind guard replied, his good intentions abandoned already. He knew Mataku hated the girl with all his being, and there was no way to convince him to leave his post. 

“Any movement?” The kind guard asked before walking back to her hut, peering into the window. 

“No,” Mataku replied with a scornful voice. “She's been lying still in bed since dawn.”

“Mind if I take a look?” the other replied, confused. 

It seemed unreal that the girl wouldn't try escaping.

Mataku stepped away from the window and let the guard take a look through the wooden bars. 

She's actually sleeping, the guard thought, looking at the girl lying in a fetal position under the covers. 

He looked at the auburn hair peeking out and shook his head, relieved he didn’t have to look into her penetrating eyes. 

Most islanders turned their heads away when she passed, refusing to peer into the teenage girl's deep yet resplendent blue eyes. The two blue circles seemed to emanate light. Most took that as a sign that she was indeed possessed by the malicious Kraken, which had two sapphire-like, glowing blue eyes. 

It was, however, only the second most feared feature of hers. 

The cursed girl, whose sixteenth birthday was today, had shown Mana control beyond her years and even beyond her prodigy of a sister. 

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At sixteen, one would normally unlock the ability to produce Mana, allowing them to be tested by the Water Riders. This evaluation would determine if their Primary Mana Channel had developed sufficiently to join their ranks. The power of one's Primary Mana Channel typically correlated closely with the control they could exert while practicing Cantrips. And among all candidates, none had demonstrated a more chilling mastery of Mana control than the cursed girl.

This was the main reason she was being barred from taking the test: people feared her powers and, possibly, the retribution for having treated her so poorly over the years. 

Even the kind guard shuddered at the thought of what she might become if, once Initiated, she went down the wrong path.

She could become a monster more fearsome than the Kraken itself, as her current talent overshadowed even her mother’s. And since Yalena, her mother, had been the last, perhaps the only one, to kill the Kraken, it wasn’t unthinkable to fear that her daughter had the chops to become one of the strongest warriors ever. That, though, made even the kind guard think twice about helping the girl. 

Maybe it’s for the best, the man told himself, looking at Mataku. Maybe Initiating her is too dangerous.  

The guard exhaled and looked up at Mataku with a defeated expression.

“If she wakes up or starts stuff, just... don’t hurt her, Mataku. She’s not a monster.” 

“Whatever, get lost,” Mataku replied wearily.

For a moment, the guard looked strangely at the other man, thinking he had heard his voice crack, but he just shook his head.

I didn’t sleep enough, clearly.

***

“I heard something coming from the forest,” Mataku told the two brutish guards once the sun hung high in the sky. 

Even after a full night of guarding the accursed hut, he was still alert and diligent. “The Initiation is about to start. We should check whether the son of the traitor might be coming to try and help her.”

The brutish guards’ disgust showed on their faces and they internally praised Mataku's thoroughness. 

Indeed, on the entire island, no one hated that girl quite as much as that young man. 

Mataku was the oldest son of the Head Elder, and even though he didn't have any talent that allowed him to leave the Island of Solara, he took his duties incredibly seriously. The most important of which was, clearly, to hate and surveil the cursed girl. That’s why it hadn't been a surprise when he had refused to give up the post after the end of the night shift—he really wanted to make sure she wouldn't be Initiated.

He was beyond reproach when it came to guarding the girl, which was why no one questioned his current proposal. 

“Go check,” the guard nodded. “I'll stand by the window to make sure she doesn't move. Hopefully, no Water Rider will stumble upon this part of the island.”

What they were doing wouldn't be seen favorably by the Water Riders—but no one on the island cared. The Kraken had devastated the place when, for the first time, it had gone outside the Deep Belt. The death toll had been so high and sudden that it left a permanent scar, both physical and spiritual, on the whole island. 

They couldn't take any chances and allow its spawn to grow strong enough to do the same. 

“Yes,” Mataku nodded, still covered in his cloak.

The guard watched Mataku walk toward the forest with a decisive stride and smiled to himself.

With the guards around, there was no way for the Kraken's spawn to reach the opposite side of the island where the Initiation would occur.

They had made it. 

They had finally managed to restrain her.

***

The cloaked guard, once deep into the island's forest, brought a hand to the hood that fully covered his face, and pulled it down, revealing the face of a girl instead of Mataku's. 

Two resplendent blue eyes caught the light of the sun through the foliage, shining like sapphires. 

She shed the cloak, letting it fall to the ground, and smiled. 

“That was easier than I thought,” Talia smirked. 

Her escape had been the result of meticulous planning and preparation that had begun months ago.

She had had to plan it down to the finest details, the most important of which had been to have Mataku guard her window. If anyone else had been stationed there, her whole plot might have failed. Luckily enough, though, she had provoked the young man so much in the past six months that he had taken it upon himself to guard her window. 

And that had made all the difference. 

So, that morning, as the sun's blades had slowly touched the waking hour carved into her hut's wall, Talia had waited with trepidation. She had fidgeted with the wide bracelets covering her wrists, her heart racing. When the light had finally reached the dim rune, making it glow brightly and vibrate, she had shot out of her bed faster than a Flashscale.

It had been time.

Talia had crept to the window, carefully removing the bars she had painstakingly unscrewed over the past week. She had spotted Mataku standing with his back to the hut, his body wrapped in a thick cloak. 

“Pss, Mataku,” Talia had whispered after removing the bars.

As soon as the man had turned, Talia, hanging halfway outside the window, had swiftly put a hand over his mouth. In the same fluid motion, she had scratched his cheek with the needle of a Stillfish she had carefully hidden in her palm. The young man's body had immediately gone limp, and Talia had used all her strength to pull him in through the window. 

With a grunt of effort, she had managed to lay him down on her bed in a fetal position.

Talia had then carefully arranged some hair around Mataku's head - hair she had cut from her own head the previous year and saved for in case she had ever needed a wig. 

She had looked at the man's wide, paralyzed eyes and had been almost tempted to taunt him, but instead had simply covered his face with the blanket.

Just then, she heard a shout from the front of the hut. “Hey, Mataku! Shift change!”

Moving quickly, Talia had grabbed the detached window bars and had jumped out of the window while simultaneously donning a cloak identical to Mataku's. She had screwed two long nails into the hut’s wall, which she had then used to hastily hang the wooden bars back in place. 

Just as she had finished, she pulled the hood of the cloak over her head, completely obscuring her face.

“Mataku,” the guard sighed. “I’m here to—”

“I’m not leaving my post. I’m guarding the spawn myself,” Talia had replied, perfectly imitating Mataku's voice - something she had practiced tirelessly for months. She had known Mataku's hatred for her would make her next words entirely believable. 

The guard had tried to play nice. “Hey, man, it’s ok. I bet you’re tired and—”

“I said I’m not leaving my post. This monster shall never level up,” Talia had grunted back, keeping close to the window to maintain the illusion.

Then, after a few more exchanges, the man had given up and left. 

Everything had gone according to plan. 

Talia had chosen Mataku as her target months ago, knowing the boy had been thin and her exact height; he was a little short for a guy but still on the tall side for a girl.  

Furthermore, she had spied on multiple gatherings of guards and Elders, piecing together their plans for today. This had given her all the time she had needed to prepare and perfect her impression of Mataku.

For the next two hours, Talia had stood vigil by the window, her heart pounding with every passing minute. She had known the Stillfish's poison would keep Mataku stunned for half a day since he wasn't Initiated, but she had kept worrying that something might go wrong at any moment.

Finally, when she had been sure the time was right, she had made her move. 

Talia had told the other guards she had heard something in the forest, convincing them to let her investigate while they had watched the hut. Once out of sight, she had made her escape into the dense forest.

Now, standing amidst the trees, Talia felt a surge of adrenaline. 

She had done it. 

She had taken the first step toward proving to everyone that she wasn't a monster, that her wrist marks meant nothing.

Talia knew who she was—or at least, what she would be after being Initiated. 

Not a monster. 

A hero.

Just like her mother.