1 Chapter 1 - Rags To Riches

-Celeste-

Why do most good things come at the expense of others?

If you want to expand a country, lives will be lost at war. If you want more food, you are taking away the chance of someone else having their fill. The world that we live in is full of consequences. It's down to luck if you're the one creating those repercussions or suffering because of them.

My mother told me that once, caressing my hair gently all while slowly lulling me to sleep. I don't think that she meant for me to remember that, but I did. I knew very young that I was in the part of the population who suffered because of the decisions from those in power. Some of us tried to claw our way up as far as our common birth could allow us to, but the more you climb, the larger the fall.

My mother was like that, mocked for giving her heart away to a nobleman and falling pregnant by him, getting drunk on this idea that he was going to marry her. People call my mother a fool, but she's always been kind and caring.

"Don't let other people intimidate you, Less." he mumbled under her breath all while squeezing my hand gently as we walked down our small little street. "Remember, as long as you keep your head held high, you'll get somewhere in life."

She was thrilled when I began to hunt. Every evening, whether or not I returned with game, she was always waiting there, her face beaming with pride. I had a gift for hunting, one that I used to provide for my family. Around the time that I sold my first hide was when my mother's symptoms began to get worse.

She'd begin to hallucinate, talking to imaginary fairies in the room and set out some food for them. Every morning, she was always thrilled when the bowl of soup was emptied. I bet that it was a stray dog or cat that ate it, but seeing her feel so happy that fairies came to our back door made me play along.

Eventually, one evening, I felt strangely cold. When I walked down the stairs, my eyes went wide when I saw that the front door was wide open. At first, I grabbed the fireplace poker in case it was a burglary, but when I walked outside and saw my mother's slipper by the rapid torrents of the River Bushel, I understood that her mental condition had brought her to her death.

It's been three years since that incident happened, and I'm contently living in our home ever since. I stopped hunting all together. It was much too painful to walk back through those doors only to find my mother's empty chair. I became an apprentice at the cotton mill and like a slave, I worked from the early morning to the late evening. Days went by, uneventful with a hint of predictability... all up until today.

The door to the cotton mill was kicked open loudly, and all of the other apprentices immediately jumped, scared. The men didn't look like ruffians, their uniforms said that much. There was one that looked different to the rest. The man looked around, and then his eyes fell onto me. That's when I heard my mother's name being spoken out of a completely stranger's mouth.

"Lira Freespeare."

He adjusted his gloves before walking towards me. I stepped back, snarling defensively.

"Who are you all? And how do you know my mother's name?"

The grumpy man in gray turned towards the people escorting him, then looked back down at me. His eyes looked like a blank canvas, lacking any real emotion. I think that was the first time that I felt scared. Then, he spoke those cursed five words that I've forever regretted to this day.

"You are coming with us."

They dragged me out of that mill by my hair, all while I scratched and fought back to the best of my ability. "Let go of me!" I bellowed, finally managing to bite the hand that was pulling me. The man yelped, finally letting me go and I didn't think twice about running. Suddenly, just when I thought that freedom was within my gasp, something grabbed my throat.

I couldn't breathe.

My hands reached up to touch my windpipe, only to find that nothing was there. I sputtered and coughed, the anxiety of losing my life filled my eyes with fear. All I could do was turn around, and there I saw him. The man that had seemed different from the rest, now I know why.

He was a mage. And he was using the most deadly art to slowly kill me.

When I felt the world around me spin, the harsh frustration of not being able to breathe made me feel weaker and weaker the more I fought against it. I tried to press my feet against the floor, but I soon realised that I was levitating just enough so that I couldn't touch it. Is this truly now I'm going to die? By the hand of a mage of all people? Those dogs loyal only to those pigs of nobility? Just as I felt myself about to pass out, I felt a strange release and fell to the ground, hitting my head in the process.

I knew I only had moments left until I passed out. I've done this to countless animals in the process of hunting. You make them fall asleep, then kill them respectively, so they don't have to go through any pain.

I feel like an animal right now. Trapped in my own weak body, unable to fight against something as supernatural as a mage.

"Burn it all." was the last thing I heard before darkness overcame me, and I fell into the abyss.

-End of Chapter 1-

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