Ziel took the cup, and took a nice long sip, the tea was relaxing, just what she needed the most. Ferwyn said nothing, he knew what was going on, and he knew why she was upset, he wanted her to blow off some steam before she learns of her origin and her powers. After longs moments of silence, Ferwyn finally decided to break the ice. “Ziel, I need to tell you something very important. Something, that will explain why everything happened as it did so far. Please, you must understand, that we did all of this as a precaution, to protect you. Your parents…”, Ziel suddenly lifted her tilted head and her eyes widened with excitement. “You knew my parents? What were they like?”, Ferwyn smiled kindly, “They were kind people. And you have to understand they did everything for you. They would be very proud of you.” Ziel started crying, but these were tears of joy, after so long, she finally learned something of her parents. “Please, tell me, what happened to them! Were they… were they killed?”, the smile on Ferwyn’s face disappeared. The thoughts ‘I knew it! I knew they didn’t just abandon me!’ were rushin through Ziel’s mind, she was relieved and furious at the same time. ‘Who could have done this? And why? What did my parents do?’ Ziel started feeling odd. She had a kind of static feeling on her skin. Her hands suddenly felt really warm, she got scared.
“You don’t have to worry about anything anymore.” Ferwyn looked deep into Ziel’s eyes, her eyes were watery, she was ready to burst into tears. He just smiled. That helped Ziel. She was feeling safe, for the first time in her life, she felt secure and not alone. “Thank you. For everything.” She put the tea cup down on the table. Her hands were cooler and back to a normal temperature, she was often scared because of this. She never understood what, or why it happened, but she was too scared to ever ask the monks about it.
Ferwyn took a book from underneath his couch, it was a small and thin book with leather binding, the only inscription on it was Aguilla. “This, my dear, is yours, to be specific it’s your family’s. In this book is what and who you really are. I took the liberty to keep it safe, and to hand it to you when the time was right.” As she extended her arms, she felt something in the air. Like a jolt of lightning, though she didn’t understand it, she knew ‘what’ it felt like. It felt familiar. As soon as she felt it, the feeling dissipated. When she had the book in her hands, it felt warm to the touch, unusually warm. But it also felt like a part of her, it felt like home. She decided to read the book later on, and put the book away in her bag. “I was meaning to ask… why am I so precious? Why is everyone protecting me. I believe I would be able to fend for myself. I just don’t understand, why was locked away for so long… why was I a prisoner?” As her anger was boiling, the air around her was getting hotter as well, as if the moisture just evaporated from the air and it became dry as a bone. Ferwyn felt this, and he knew why this was happening. He had to act fast, or she will be found. “Listen, Ziel, you need to calm down. You still haven’t learned how to control it, and this might prove problematic. But don’t make any rash decisions, or you might kill us both.”, ‘Kill us both? How? By getting angry?’, “All my life I have been told to do things. Never! Never have I once had the freedom of deciding for myself. And now when I am free, you won’t take that away from me. Nobody will!” Ferwyn was getting nervous, visibly nervous. “Please Ziel, I understand how you feel…”, “You don’t understand anything!” Ziel jumped up suddenly. “Do you have any idea, any idea at all what it felt like being alone for so long. Being locked away, like some kind of ferocious animal?!” She felt her blood boiling. She also felt some kind of static in the air around her, she felt that the air was getting warm around her, a very pleasant feeling she had not felt for a long time. “Please Ziel, calm down, you will bring them to us…”, Ziel started screaming: “What? Who? Stop with the secrets! I want to know the truth, now! No more secrets! NO, MORE, LIES!” As she screamed the last word her hands started glowing with a faint ember-like light. The air around her was shivering, and it felt hot, as if her hands were on fire. As soon as she started panicking, all of that disappeared.
“Ferwyn, what… what was that? What happened to me? What did I do?”, Ferwyn approached her slowly, and took her hands, they now felt body-warm to the touch. He was sure that he can talk to her now. “My dear, this is why you need to control your anger, you aren’t all that human you believe to be. You have elven blood and…” Ferwyn hesitated, he wasn’t sure if he should tell her, what if she goes berserk again? “I am half elven, yes, and half what? Who, no, what were my parents? And why did I have to hide for so long?” Ferwyn looked her deep in the eyes, let out a sigh, and continued. “And you are half dragon…” Ziel started laughing hysterically. “You mean to tell me that one of my parents was a dragon, a dragon?! That’s impossible!”, Ferwyn kept an eye contact with her. “Not quite, it is rather very possible that one of them was a dragon, obviously disguised as a human. You still have much to learn about magic my dear…”, Ziel was stunned, “Magic? Are you saying I have to do something with…?”, she looked at her hands, turning them around slowly. ‘Am I able to do magic?’, her mind was rushed with similar thoughts. “Yes, you have a rare gift, you can’t just use magic but you are magic. With proper training you could be able to learn how to wield unimaginable powers.”, Ziel lifted her head, her eyes were wide open, teary, “Do you really think I want that? I wanted a normal life. Someone to love. A family. I don’t want this…”
There was a sudden jolt of lightning, Ziel felt it before something appeared out of thin air and out of precaution took a step back. With a sudden flash of light, three masked and hooded figures appeared. One of them was holding something in his hand, it seemed like a severed head. Ziel quickly looked at what the figure was holding, and screamed in agony. “DANIEL! NO! Why?! He didn’t do anything!” The figure in the middle looked around and pointed at Ziel. “You. Come with us. We need you.” His voice was very deep and with just a hint of a metallic tone. The sockets on the mask seemed to glow and faint smoke was coming out of them. Before Ziel could even begin to fathom what was going on, Ferwyn jumped in front of her and with a swift hand movement and a quick chant he casted a kind of spell…
The next moment she remembered was that they were somewhere in the woods, on the open. The three figures surrounding her and Ferwyn. “I am sorry, I tried.” Whispered Ferwyn softly. They were back-to-back. He was murmuring something. One of the three figures seemed to notice this and unsheathed his dagger while starting to run towards Ferwyn. It was too late, he has already cast the spell. He turned towards Ziel, and said with a soft voice: “I am so sorry! You need to survive.” And everything vanished in a flash of light. All she could hear was a scream disappearing somewhere in the distance. She was suddenly somewhere in the open, besides a a road, at a crossroad.
… Magic has a price…
By Dejan Vicai
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