Ophelia’s Backstory Part 3

Ophelia's footsteps treaded through the fresh, dewy grass as she took a few deep breaths. She trailed her finger along the pristine white column and exhaled. Her eyes averted to her sister, Rosa, who smirked at her while leaning her back against the pitch black column. She looked rather stunning; Ophelia had to admit. The Mani girl; Rosa's assistant, must have done very well with her makeup and cosmetics.

Very soon, a large horn blared. Shira winked at Ophelia with a curious twinkle in her eye. Ophelia smiled faintly back, wanting to focus more on the ceremony than a simple wink. She turned her head to face the sky in front of her. Blue, tainted with clouds, and bright. Perfect for the ceremony.

A very tall woman, about in her 20's with blonde and and brown eyes walked out of the building. She had a stern type of glare in her eyes, someone not to mess with, perhaps. She fixed her glare upon Rosa, who shuddered. "I'm Aoi Hiroshima. I'll be making sure you do everything right and how you must do it. So, now, Mani and Shira, step back!" She ordered. Since this Aoi woman seemed hard to argue against, the two assistants stepped back obediently, their heads bowed down respectfully. "Alright, good."

Aoi stepped towards the two sisters, raising her eyebrow as she inspected their features. Ophelia almost gulped, feeling intense. This woman was a bit too much; her glare, her pouting lips. She picked on her fingers as she wrinkled her nose, disgusted by something or someone. Aoi eyed Rosa.

"Alright, you must be Ophelia," Aoi said abruptly. Ophelia flinched, suddenly realizing she was calling her name. With this, she nodded to show that she was listening. "I'm going to tie those two feathers on your wrist. Believe me, they're strong, to be honest. Won't let you fall down," She stated, and Ophelia nodded slightly, unknowing of what exactly was going to happen. Could a feather really hold?

"Okay," She muttered under her breath, insignificantly. Aoi raised her eyebrow again but said no more. She walked over and tugged on the feathers and quickly wrapped it around Ophelia's wrist. She winced, since it was so tight. She swore her blood pressure would most likely fail her if it kept on for more than an hour. "Ouch!" She couldn't help herself from flinching.

"Well, do you want to become a demi-goddess or not?" Aoi glared, and Ophelia sighed. She really had no choice. With this, Aoi tied the other side of the feather onto the opposite wrist. Ophelia winced once again, but said no more. "Alright. The magic in the feather should levitate you up…alright. Your sister, up next," She stated bluntly.

Mind racing with so many thoughts, Ophelia calmed herself down. She felt her feet lift off the ground in just a few seconds. Luckily, the magic had most likely worked, because she hadn't been lifted up too high. She was at least floating aside the middle of the white column, which was about twenty feet in the air. Yeah, the columns were tall.

She could hear from below, Rosa snarling at Aoi. It was probably because she was being cuffed by chains, instead of feathers. Ophelia couldn't even imagine that happening to her. Sounded pretty terrible, if you thought about it. Taking her mind off of it, Ophelia breathed in and out, calming herself once again. Her heart beat fast and hard, her ears pumping with resignation. She could barely even hear her sister zoom up right next to her in a flash, groaning with either pain or annoyance. Either way, their ceremony was about to begin.

"Alright! Are you two fine up there?" Aoi's voice shouted from down. Ophelia was quick to respond, just wanting very terribly to get to the point of this ceremony.

"Yes?" She said, more of a question than a statement. Ophelia could hear her chatting with the two assistants, but then, everything was silent. That was when Ophelia realized she had no idea what would even happen. Would it just be…granted to her? Just like that? Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy? Or was it more…complex? Well, a majestic voice that came from no where interrupted her curious and nervous thoughts.

"I may not be your birth mother, as I am Rosa's, but since the roles have strangely been switched, I will perform the ceremonial rituals on you, Ophelia. Would you…like to know what will…happen?" The beautiful voice continued on, and Ophelia's mouth gaped. This was…Utukushi, the goddess of Light. Rosa's birth mother, but not Ophelia's. It was wonderful, and Ophelia's heart lifted. Then, she answered the goddess' simple question.

"N-no," She stammered. "I think I'm alright. Just tell me what to do and I will do as you say, my lady," She responded respectfully. A small laugh was heard from the sky. Was this great goddess laughing about Ophelia's response? Well, whatever way, it didn't matter much and it was about time to begin.

"Alright then…just close your eyes, please, dear," Utukushi's voice held a soothing tone, at least trying to calm down Ophelia's racing mind and beating heart. "Please, be aware there will be pain. Much of it," She warned, and Ophelia nodded, hoping the goddess could see her even though Ophelia could not.

So Ophelia closed her wide-open eyes, and exhaled. She thought about her sister, her dreams. This was her dream. It was going to become true. Right here, right now. She would become immortal; powerful. Even more powerful than now. However, this wasn't the point, the point was to get her powers and use them for good, no matter what. It was the sole purpose of her life; become the Headmistress of the Light Academia, lead a good life, perhaps even marry, have a child. You know, live the life better than she could even imagine.

As she zoned out, something disturbed her thinking. She heard a scream. Thinking in her mind that perhaps she was too nervous and just hearing things, she kept her eyes shut. However, the screams continued on and on. "Help! HELP, OPHELIA!" With this, Ophelia pushed aside all of Utukushi's comments and opened her eyes quickly, adjusting to the now-damp and musty air. She quickly searched around and finally saw Shira in the air, back arched, clutching her heart. She seemed in pain. "Help! HELP!" She pleaded.

Ophelia gasped. "Shira, are you—what's happening?!" She screeched, and Shira was too muffled in sobs and snot to even reply to her question. Then, instead of Shira responding, Utukushi's warm voice answered sweetly.

"This is part of the ceremony. Kill a friend, turn into a demigoddess. It's the only way. Taking a life from one gives us, the goddesses, enough power to give you much while also maintaining our power level," She said calmly. "You'll have to kill Shira to get what you want most. And remember, you did say you didn't want to know what would happen in this…strange ritual, didn't you? You should've said 'yes'…"

Despite the fact that the graceful goddess of all Light Utukushi was speaking to her, Ophelia bottled up with anger and exploded with fury. "I get it now! YOU MADE ME BOND WITH SHIRA SO I COULD JUST KILL HER LATER?! WHO DOES THAT! IF TAKING A LIFE GIVES ME POWER, I'M NOT DOING IT. I-'M—I'M SORRY!" Ophelia yelled, tears welling up in her eyes. Shira, the once-smiling redhead, smiled faintly while floating the same.

"Please. I want you to become a demigoddess. Your dream. I'll let you kill me," She whispered faintly, and Ophelia started to cry and fight back, against the chain-like feathers. "Just kill me," She smiled, and Ophelia burst out in tears.

"No! Never! You—you—told me to love myself. You told me I was beautiful. Today, even though we just met, you helped me understand some things about life," Ophelia whispered back. Shira shook her head but still smiled. "P-please! I don't want you to die!" Shira shook her head again.

"It's—it's fine. I really do want you to succeed. My life is nothing as much precious as yours, Ophelia," As Shira whispered this, suddenly she was dropped and falling down. Utukushi must have…made that happen. "I—I wish you to have a good life. Become that demigoddess, the headmistress of the Light, too…" And those were the last words Shira ever spoke to Ophelia, as she fell to the ground thirty feet below. Shira was…dead now. But…Ophelia would become a demigoddess.

"Shira…" She whispered to no one. She felt both anger, sadness, and happiness in her heart. However, wasn't it just part of the process…the whole thing. Shira had…sacrificed herself for…her. "Fine. Fine. I'll never let this happen again, though!" She growled, and that sweet laugh erupted again.

"Yes, yes. Goodbye for now, lovely Ophelia flower. May we meet again," Utukushi's voice faced away and now Ophelia floated back to the ground. She stumbled onto the dewy grass and sobbed, hating all that had happened. By "there will be pain", Utukushi had meant…emotional pain. And it sure had impacted her. Ophelia's shoulders shook as she cried, but felt a hand touch her shoulder, softly. She turned her head to see her sister, Rosa. Her eyes were tinted with a hint of sadness.

"I know," She said, and with that, they both understood each other. Ophelia suspected that Mani's life had been taken away, much like how Shira had…died. The pain. The sadness. The fury. But…the only upside was that they now were…demigoddesses. For life. Forever.

A few months later, everyone respected the two sisters. They were given gifts of all sorts, friendship, and kindness. Ophelia had become the headmistress of the Light Academia, forgetting about Shira's death. She was too overwhelmed with tasks and such of the sort. Her sister, Rosa, had become the Dark Academia headmistress. Ophelia had married a man named Sunto, and had a girl. Unfortunately, Ophelia's life was so chaotic that she had to give away that daughter, to a woman with similar features to Ophelia's daughter. However, she had great hope that her daughter would soon arrive to the Light Academia…or the opposite school.

That girl's name was Yami. Yami Hoshikiri.