[Flashback]
Ember sat quietly but shaking as the atrocious memories that her childhood had brought her arose again. From memories such as the agonizing noise of an explosion where still the image of one of the most dear people she knew dying in his own blood, just one of many hurtful strings of her life. When her father entered the room, the first thing he could see was Ember’s eyes filled with sadness and disappointment from her mother looking blankly at the door, as if waiting for someone to arrive.
Since the death of her best friend, Ember’s life had been rough. Those around her had also ended up rejecting her. Subsequently, it is true that Ember’s actions were transformed into pure acts of cruelty to mirror how she felt. Eventually he came to the conclusion that if people die, it is only the cause of their weaknesses. For a people who evolve and grow, the primary element to the growth was none other than the power they wielded. To become strong, you must always discover the source of this power.
[End Flashback]
The young Ember took the time to breathe. She had just spent half a break looking for food in the forest, she absolutely had to make up for the lack of any sort of physical skill whatsoever. A woman of the wilderness couldn’t afford weaknesses and for this, in any area! Training always pays, she thought. The strong point of the hers were never physical, more social. She hoped her training would allow her to reach great power in other areas too.
She did a little walk through the forest and landed at the foot of a tree on which she leaned in order to rest. The thickness of the foliage filtered the rays of the sun while letting pass only a few clearings arrived just on the girl’s face. It was so peaceful and comforting that she couldn’t help but stop to take a short nap.
It was only a little later that she awoke with difficulty getting up, using the tree to support herself. She was on her way back when noise was heard from behind the trees. She glanced down to see if it was not a person intruding into the village. She approached and realized that it was in fact only a couple travelers.
One of the two people was actually a young girl she had previously met in a local town. She was wearing a jacket that looked of very poor quality. As for the man who accompanied her, it was a man from the same town. This name was not unknown to anyone in the area either. He was a bit like Ember in the sense that he enjoyed being out in the wilds more than being stuck with other people. The girl was his sibling, so that explained why he at least brought her along. You’d think that being similar would be grounds to like each other but the man despised Ember with a passion.
The man had his arms extended towards him, positioning his hands so as to form a triangle, the palms of his hands forward. His expression had changed. His gaze expressed the anger and coldness he felt towards Ember, he looked her him in a similar way to a predator stalking his prey relentlessly. As if he was ready to rush to his body and shred it into thousands of small pieces of pulp. This way of looking was as if he was making fun of her, that he had achieved his goal by trapping her in a way that only he could know.
Ember was curious as well. She knew that he was a magician of some sorts but he never used his magic on her in the town. Just his passive aggressiveness had caused her to avoid him in the past. Now, with no credible witnesses to defend her, she was paralyzed by whatever the man had done to her. Her limbs felt like they were clamped together by some invisible force. She struggled, knowing that if she couldn’t break free this was going to be just the beginning.
His laughter began and resounded like that of a demon having accomplished a new crime. He was watching Ember being barely a few meters from him totally under his control and helpless. Even the girl next to him giggled, slowly being corrupted by her bad influence. Ember relived the worst moments of her existence in just a few moments except that these would be made even more excruciating than the first time.
Salt water trickled down her cheeks. Fear and worry could be clearly seen on her face, strained by the stress caused by the man’s abrogative torture. Her defenses were broken. The trust in these people gradually disappeared under the shock of fear. “Why can’t I move, someone help,” she thought as she stood motionless. Everything was blurry and dark now. A series of images mixed in her mind. She was no longer herself. Excruciating pain came to give her huge migraines, at the same time preventing her from thinking properly.
As the breath was squeezed from her lungs and mental magic was played on her. It caused Ember to start to hallucinate. The boy and girl laughed and walked away, leaving her to slowly recover in the cold dirt. Ember coughed but the hallucinations didn’t stop. Her fears faced her, like never before. She saw herself as a prisoner, tied by what seemed to be a solid bond. She saw people coming to attack them. She leapt up, pulled out her dagger and started stabbing at all the phantoms she saw. Each attack that hit its mark made the phantoms fade from her mind. She even rolled on the ground, reacting to the sensation of something attacking her and making her dodge out of the way. The roll did more harm than good, only serving to injure her arm that she landed on. God, being a poorly skilled acrobat was painful. It was this very pain that brought her back, at least partially, to her senses.
“You’re not real! None of you are!” she shouted in her delirium. She fought hard to bring her mental state back to normal, then finally regained her composure. “I have to avoid them in the future. Who knows what they’ll do to me next time,” she thought. Being an outsider was tough.
The hubbub of the a crowd quickly approached her position. All the screaming and shouting alerted them that something was probably wrong. Though when they realized that it was just that outsider girl, the worries seemed to vanish. Her knees rested on hard ground, while her hands rested on her head, finally containing a terrible headache. I was alone, petrified by loneliness. The light of the suns blinded my vision. I was still on my knees and the pain made me wince. I could now hear the indescribable words of the crowd’s jeering.
Ember ran away to a secluded part of the forest. She wanted to repeatedly shout obscenities at all the people who had wronged her. Feelings were hurtful, remorse appeared to the mind, humiliation appeared, fear and sadness now crushed her will to go back. She put up with it all for a chance at some food, but they didn’t ever accept her as one of their own, not when she was so weak.
“Are you okay,” asked a voice from behind her. Ember straightened up, certainly preparing to attack the stranger, her hand ready to draw her knife again, though she doubted she would actually be able to cause any harm with it. She was still very much unskilled with any sort of blade. The little girl had a lot of fight in her, it had to be admitted. Her expression as well as her look had changed wickedly. These pupils seemed even colder than before, she did not have this kind of desperation without reason.
“Calm yourself. I’m just passing through. Don’t let them get to you.”
“Can you help me?” Ember asked desperately, “I just want to get back home. I’m lost…”
“Poor girl, you’ll get into trouble by accepting help from strangers in the forest. Grow strong, find your way on your own. Or gather enough money to buy reliable help. That which comes free always comes at a price.” There was some shuffling, faster than Ember could track with her ears alone. She sought to at least see the source of the voice but she couldn’t catch up.
Then the voice vanished. Ember was left having no idea who in the world it had been, nor did she have any intention of following the advice she’d been given. “I’ll show you,” she muttered, “I’ll show all of you.” She spent the remainder of the day rooted to the spot, plotting how she would exact her revenge for all the humiliation she’d suffered.
