CHAPTER FIFTEEN

*LONG CHAPTER*

***

"You useless child"

The man kicked the little girl again, causing her to roll across the floor.

"I'm sorry father"

"Please forgive me"

She tried to crawl away from him, only to have a kick land directly on her back.

"What did I tell you"

"Do you want to be locked up in the dungeon again or would you rather be whipped instead.

The girl visibly shuddered at the thought of being whipped, her eyes filled with tears that threatened to trail down her cheeks.

"I'll be good father"

"Please..."

She didn't manage to finish her pleas before she felt another kick land on her body.

"Your mother had one duty"

He kicked her again.

"All I wanted from her was a child with abilities"

He didn't pause his actions even once while he spoke.

"Instead she birthed a talentless child"

At this point, the girl no longer counted the hits and simply resigned herself to her father's anger.

"Why couldn't you even inherit the abilities of your pagan mother then at least you will be a bit more useful"

The man's eyes contained rage that bordered complete madness.

"Father please"

She screamed out in pain but he ignored her pleas. The girl looked no older than ten and yet she was made to suffer such aggression from the one she called father.

A trail of crimson blood appeared beside her lips but he didn't care enough to notice, the girl could only crouch in a corner and use her hands to shield her head. The pained screams escaped her lips despite how hard she tried to stop them. Her father kicked her again and again till she felt dizzy.

"Your magic power is useless to me if you can't control it"

He said in between heavy pants.

"Yet you still dare to avoid experiments"

He pulled her up by her hair and stared at her scarred face.

"Next time when the mages come to get you, you will follow them obediently"

His voice was emotionless and his eyes cold, he held no pity towards his own child. In his eyes, he saw a failed experiment rather than a daughter he was meant to care for.

"Do you understand?"

He grew impatient when he didn't receive an immediate reply.

"Answer me"

He tugged her hair causing her to cry out in pain.

"Yes father"

The girl's face morphed in pain, tears endlessly streaked down her cheeks and she could barely even speak, yet her father remained unfazed.

"Good"

He coldly replied before tossing her away.

"The mages will come for you soon and you are to..."

He was interrupted by a sudden knock on the door.

"Patriarch"

A voice called out.

"I thought I asked not to be disturbed"

His voice held a tinge of annoyance.

"It's the tower head my lord"

The voice replied.

"What could that old man possibly want"

He mumbled.

"Tell the old geezer that I'll be right there"

"Yes Patriarch"

The voice answered respectfully and no further words were exchanged after that.

Alexander Circe coldly stared at the child in front of him. Among all his children, she was the only one born from a pagan mother, he had done many things to revive the power of Circe and she was the fruit of those failed endeavours.

"I would prefer it if you would simply obey the orders given to you from now on as it is becoming rather tiring for me to intervene during such occurrences"

Alexander proceeded to smooth out his disheveled hair and arrange his clothes.

"I must warn you that I truly hate tiring things"

His gaze remained indifferent as he spoke.

"So let's do our best to avoid things that I hate or your punishments could become much worse than what they already are"

Those were the last words he said to her before he left the room.

The girl could hear the sound of the door being locked and the slowly fading footsteps, her body ached all over and she felt dizzy. She looked around the room through her blurry eyes, the room was completely bare without anything remotely resembling furniture. She had spent most of her life in this room, shunned by everyone and forced to participate in gruesome experiments day after day. She looked around the room for one last time before her consciousness slowly drifted away.

For a split second, she saw her mother's face, white hair that closely resembled hers, azure eyes that had completely lost their shine and a smile that seemed more sad than happy. Her mother was a woman who lived in misery robbed of her freedom and forced to birth a child for the man who caged her, the girl didn't have many memories of her mother but she had never forgotten the face of the woman who loved her despite all the misery she was put through for the sake of her birth.

The girl instinctively tried to reach out, however, the pool of darkness overtook her before she could reach her mother's arms and she finally lost consciousness.

The Circe family had been steadily losing their magic talents, the magic abilities in their blood was slowly fading away to the point that only a few descendants were born with any connection to magic energy. The family were still able to keep their dire situation a secret because of the talented mages that still existed within the family, however, the birth of such mages became increasingly rare leading Circe to the point of desperation. The people of the continent were made to believe that the five families still possessed the blessing of Lumos, very few knew that the general public were being deceived so losing their special abilities would place Circe in a very difficult position. The family no longer possessed the blessing of magic but they still had more talent that most mages on the continent so most people assumed that the blessing in their blood simply thinned rather than disappeared.

In order to retain their position as one of the leading families on the continent, Circe became obsessed with finding a way to recover their magic talents. They began engaging in secret experiments to achieve their goal and they were more than willing to use unconventional methods. With each passing generation of Circe mages, their methods grew more erratic and millions lost their lives to cruel experiments. They had crossed the borders of insanity in search of power but it was all for naught as they were still steadily losing whatever superiority they had over normal rogue mages.

In an effort to hang on to their title as the holders of the greatest magic force on Demidera, Circe established the magic tower as a means to bring powerful mages and undiscovered talents under one organisation that they could control by granting entry to all talented individuals regardless of background. However, their plan was flipped on its head when the magic tower succeeded in gaining independence, effectively escaping the control of the Circe family by becoming a neutral ground for all mages.

After their failed venture, the circe family gave up on the tower and focused on their experiments instead, resorting to even more cruel methods and eventually dabbling in dark magic. The scars all over the girl's body were as a result of such experiments. There were all kinds of scars on her arms, legs and even her face wasn't spared. She was never given the option of refusal as any signs of defiance would only lead to punishments that were just as cruel as the experiments she was forced to go through.

The girl was an offspring of the Alexander Circe and a priestess of a pagan religion, the Circe family had secretly captured the priestess and hid her from the reaches of the church of light since pagans were usually executed immediately after being discovered by the church. The white haired priestess had a special ability that incited greed from power-hungry Circe. The priestess could manipulate magic energy in a unique way to perform powerful healing magic that was unlike anything that currently existed on the continent and the Circe family forced her to bear an offspring with their bloodline along with hers in hopes of producing a child with superior magic talents. Their plan had succeeded and a child was born but it was soon discovered that the priestess was unable to birth another due to an illness.

Soon after, a colossal wave of excitement spread across the mages of Circe, the girl had been tested for magic abilities and they were able to detect massive amounts of magic power in her. She was praised as the saviour who would redeem the honour of Circe and worshipped by all those who truly believed that she would be the light of hope whose destiny was to lead the family into a new era. However, as time progressed, the girl failed to feel any connection to magic energy. Mages were always born with a certain level of magic power in their bodies but they were unable to utilize it until they tapped into their connection to magic energy since a mage was required to manipulate their own magic power as well as the magic energy in the air to successfully cast even the most basic spells. Magic power capacity was something that would continue to grow depending on talent along with frequency of magic energy interactions. The girl may have been born with an unusually large magic power capacity but it would ultimately be useless as she could neither control it nor could she manipulate the magic energy in the air.

As the years passed by, she exceeded the age range were mages usually established their connection to magic energy with no changes in magic energy control. Circe grew impatient and began searching for other ways to forcefully stimulate her magic power, however, all their ideas ended in failure.

Very rarely did a person born with magic power not awaken it but it wasn't entirely impossible as such cases did exist. Once a mage exceeded the age of six without being able to feel their connection to magic energy then it was most likely that they were one of those unfortunate cases who never awakened despite being born with the ability to do so.

By the time she was nine years old, the girl was abandoned and relegated to the position of a mere test subject by the family who once worshipped her as their saviour. She was locked up in a hidden part of the mansion and subjected to all kinds of experiments almost daily. Within a year, scars marred her once smooth skin as a result of the cruelty she was made to go through but none of the scars on her body could ever compare to the scars on her soul. Her tears were ignored, her pleas were left unanswered and her screams of pain helplessly silenced until she lost her will to fight back.

"Young lady"

The girl heard a voice echo in the darkness, it took her a while to realise but she could clearly tell who the voice belonged to.

"Young lady"

The voice echoed again, however, it sounded a bit different this time. The person speaking seemed to be on the verge of tears causing her voice to crack a little.

"Nora"

The girl slowly opened her eyes, the pain made her feel like her body was a single hit away from falling apart.

"Nora don't cry"

Her blurred vision cleared up to see a pair of honey coloured eyes filled with unshed tears.

"I'm sorry young lady"

Nora felt her heart shatter as she stared at the young girl who was in pain yet still struggling to speak. The tears trailed down her cheeks despite trying to hold them in but she rushed to wipe them away before they reached her chin.

"Don't cry Nora, it isn't your fault"

"I was the one who made father angry by trying to run away from the mages so please don't cry"

The girl tried to sit up, however, the pain that came with each of her movements stopped her from doing so.

"It will never be your fault young lady"

"You're only a child, the adults are the ones to blame"

Nora carefully helped her up and slowly place her back against the wall so she could sit upright.

"Why didn't the healers come"

Nora bit her lip, she felt angry but most of all she hated the fact that she was too helpless to save an innocent child who was being sacrificed for the an ambition she could barely understand.

"Their only job is to prevent me from dying so they won't come unless my injuries are life threatening"

The girl spoke so casually of things a normal child her age should never have to go through almost as if it was completely normal for her to be treated in such a way.

"Where were you today, you didn't come in the morning like you usually do"

The girl asked.

"I had to leave the mansion for a bit"

Nora replied in a shaky voice as she tried to hide her trembling hands.

"So you saw the city?"

"Yes"

Nora nodded.

"How is it like"

The girl asked curiously.

"The city is really busy and there are a lot of visitors since the harvest festival is almost here"

"I would really love to city someday"

The girl closed her eyes and imagined the sight of the city in her mind. The warmth of the sun and the voices of other people created by her imagination made her smile.

"One day you will"

Nora spoke with a sad smile on her lips.

"I'm sure father wouldn't allow that"

Before the conversation could go any further, the girl suddenly coughed and a trail of fresh blood appeared on the side of her lips.

"Young lady"

Nora screamed.

"I'm alright Nora"

"No, you are not"

Nora quickly rummage underneath her apron and emerged with a vial of blue liquid in her hand.

"Drink it, it's a potion"

"I bought a few vials in the city, it isn't of the best quality but it's the highest quality I could afford"

"You can't Nora"

The girl shook her head adamantly.

"What if you get in trouble"

"It doesn't matter, I'm willing to accept the consequences so all you need to do is get better"

"But but..."

The girl tried to retort but Nora interrupted her before she could.

"Don't worry about me and just drink it, the only thing I regret is not being able to be of more help to you"

"Nora..."

Tears welled up in her eyes.

"I'll find a way, I promise"

"So you have to promise me that you'll stay alive until you can explore the city as much as you want, can you promise me that?"

"Yes"

"Good"

Nora smiled.

"So let's start by drinking this okay?"

"Okay"

The girl nodded.

It had only been three months since Nora started working as a maid for the Circe family and only a month since she started taking care of the girl. She had heard rumours about a hidden child in the Circe mansion but she never believed them until a maid mysteriously disappeared and she was chosen to take on her duties. At first, she thought her task was to look after one of the children of the Patriarch and happily accepted her new duties, however, it didn't take long for her to realise the true nature of the task. She was assigned to watch over the child from the very same rumours she didn't believe, a child that had already lost the spark of innocence in her eyes after being subjected to inhumane treatment. A kind and innocent girl who was only a child with a scarred soul whose very existence was dismissed as a mistake. The previous maids who took care of her and the other staff in the mansion tried to overlook the cruelty but Nora was unable to, she had slowly grown attached to the girl over time and it made her realise that she was only an innocent child who deserved to see the sun just like any other. Nora swore in her heart that she would find a way to help the girl, it seemed impossible to achieve but she refused to be like the others who simply turned away.

...

"I have something for you"

Nora dug her hands into her pockets and took out a small bag before handing it to the girl.

"What's that"

The girl asked.

"See for yourself"

Nora watched with a gentle smile on her lips as the girl slowly opened the bag.

"What are these"

The girl stared at the contents of the bag in confusion, she took out one of the small yellow balls in the bag and placed it on her palm.

"They are sun fruits"

Nora answered.

"Sun fruits?"

The girl looked at the small fruit like it was a natural wonder.

"You should try one, they taste really good"

Nora chuckled.

"Okay"

The girl was a bit sceptical but decided to try one anyways.

"They are sweet Nora"

A smile filled with childlike innocence broke out on her face immediately she ate one of the fruits.

"I have never tasted anything like this before"

"I knew you would like them"

Nora replied with a smile of her own.

"Thank you Nora"

"You're welcome young lady"

The girl dropped her smile and frowned slightly.

"You don't have to call me that anymore"

"What's the matter young lady?"

Nora asked, wondering the reason for the sudden frown.

"It's Kharis, my name is Kharis so don't call me young lady anymore"

Kharis looked at Nora expectantly as she waited for her reply.

"Alright then, little Kharis"

Nora chuckled.