1 Before The Storm

I have always thought about fairways of dying and one of aunt Alcina trips to the market was not one of them, 2 hours had elapsed and she was still weaving her way through the crowd from stall to stall. Me walking was simply unobliging it was my sheer will and mental strife against my body, one more purchase she gives me to hold and I swear I was going to fall sideways, but then I knew we needed to stock in as much as possible, merchants coming in from the inner city was a rarity, what we grew here, in the outskirts was not enough, the soils were grey and barren and livestock was impossible to keep because of the scarcity of vegetation.

The woman at the next stall scrunched her nose with aversion as we approached her, and I took a wild guess that she was probably from the Fyn clan who ruled over these lands, and she was clearly showing her particular distaste to us. I interiorly smiled at her discomfort, devils I thought. Our lives were trivial and simply unimportant to them, we were not supposed to be here, they could wipe us all from existence but I guess we were just so inconsequential that it really did not matter.

According to the stories mother usually shares before bedtime a 600 years ago the Fyn clan being one of the most powerful clans fought and subjugated smaller clans and in their expedition of increasing their territory and power they used powerful spells that stripped their enemies of magic, spells that could only be derived from ancient dark magic, they were known to kill their enemies ruthlessly, they were tyrannical and unforgiving and a fragment of people that managed to survive those escapades were driven to the borders of the city. The Fyn kingdom was divided by two walls, one secluding the inner city from us and one keeping us in so there was no where to run, each entrance heavily guarded.

There were only two instances when Fyns spared us a moment's notice; when they came out to sell us whatever it is they did not need and when they wanted reap havoc for their own amusement, the latter usually when high lords or royal guards made trips around the outskirts, picking women to indulge their selves with and slaves to wash their floors. Killing whoever opposed and since the merchants were here, then they were probably making their rounds too.

"Look alive Circe" my aunt said giving me a nudge forward I could have sworn I was losing vision in one of my eyes from all the walking we have done.

"One more stall and I am going to pass out right here"

"And be trampled to death we would not want that now, would we? let's just exchanged the clothing Kira and I made for shillings and we will be on our way"

Kira, my mother, and Alcina were tailors, they were one in a few availed in the outskirts, father who died from an abrupt illness ten years ago when I was nine, of whom I barely have a recollection of. He had left enough money for mother and Alcina to kick start their clothing business. Father, who had been a doctor traveled the outskirts treating the sick expecting nothing in return once in a while letting me tag along.

Trudging forward with only mental strength down the muddy path that soiled the hem of my dress I sighed with relief as our little cottage came into view. Mother in her beauty busied herself hanging washed clothing out front. I have always somewhat figured I was the odd one out of the two women I lived with. They both had beautiful golden hair that spilled down shoulder length, hazel eyes, and high cheekbones they could easily pass as twins if it were not the difference in their age, height, and body structure, they were simply breathtaking, their features were prominent and alluring as opposed to my charcoal black hair that was cut short right above my shoulders, plump round face, dull black almond-shaped eyes which I got from my father since he was from the eastern clans and my features more exaggerated, mother always spoke of how much I looked like him.

"Mother where did you last place the ointment? I am sure my feet I covered in blisters" I said as I sighed past her heading into the house

"Oh Gods can you stop exaggerating, we barely got enough material because you could not stop whining" Alcina retorted

"Cut her some slack you have been out since dawn, and you know she does not possess as much stamina as you, you kill my poor frail child" mother said in a rather teasing than defensive tone.

"Stop with the sarcasm" I snapped back

"Watch your tone young lady" mother said

"But then unlike us, she cannot replenish her energy with magic, so be careful with her" this time she said in a much serious tone.

I stuck my tongue out to Alcina and went out to get my bathwater ready by the fire.

Even though our ancestors were stripped of their magic abilities their offspring possessed little compared to what the Fyn had, it was enough to move a pebble, unlike the Fyn who could move a boulder in contrast. Magic was divided into 4 compartments it is either you were a fire type which simply means you could produce fire at will and manipulate it at sight or a water type of which they could not materialize water at will but rather manipulate everything in liquid form or you were a healer like mother and Alcina although they can't do grand things like heal other people's open wounds or replenish other people's energy like a Fyn would easily do, the only thing they were capable of is self-healing and energy replenishing and lastly, you could be and air type which is also pretty much self-explanatory as they manipulated air. Even among the Fyn, there are tiers and ranks, the powerful and the weak. And there were "the royals" who in addition to the power granted by the Gods they had also drunk from the devil's cup they were powerful beyond human comprehension, mother told me that her grandfather head from his great grandmother than one royal could set 1000 men alight during the war and their power paralleled that of the Gods.

Everyone in the village we lived in possessed a little ounce of magic even though some did not know specifically know what type they were, they were still capable of the basics like moving around small objects, then there was me, a complete muggle. Mother has tried consoling me on many accounts that my magic will manifest once I was a bit older but we all knew that was not the case.

"Maybe the Gods overlooked you when they were magic gifting because you are so short" Albert the neighbor's kid usually says when he is out to bully me.

But then it never really got me, I was content with what I had and pretty much grateful for it. I was happy.