The Harvest of Souls

CHAPTER 30

ASTURIAN ISLAND

10.01.8462 - 4:45 PM

"So, what is this story about Felício?" Mila questioned as everyone returned to the library table.

"Can I start?" Vaughan questioned Marta and Nair. "I'll tell it, and if you have anything to add, interrupt me."

"The main problem is, Felício and Lélia have had a big public problem in the past, you know them both. Both have very strong tempers. The story is quite long: Lélia was younger than you are guys; when she got married, she didn't like her boyfriend very much at the time, but her parents pushed hard for her to get married. She had just finished her studies and wanted to pursue a public career. Since her youth, Lélia wanted to go to CriSPe, but her parents wanted her to take care of their company, Mottamotors, you know. The marriage would be very convenient because Alexandre's family, until then her boyfriend, was very well connected with the armed forces of Asturias and would be a way to expand Mottamotors contracts. At the time, all armed forces imported products from the Old Continent. "

Vaughan stopped to notice the astonished faces of Mila, Mário, and Scarlet.

"Yes, that's corruption, but Lélia's family has always been quite unscrupulous; that's how they built their company and kept it going even after Charlotte's Reformation. Anyway, Lélia was still young and very lost, she ended up marrying the boy. The marriage didn't go well, the boy was disturbed, possessive, and controlling, and he went so far as to attack Lélia several times. In their first year of marriage, they moved to a remote place between the borders of Tacán and Asturias, and Lélia was even more at the mercy of her husband. Lélia is one of the most powerful witches in the world, but at that age, she was still not so aware of her powers, and even tried to suppress them, as happens with many wizards with class AA powers."

"How someone with AA powers would like to suppress it?" Questioned Scarlet.

"It's complicated, Scarlet. You see, we go through this in our early twenties, the desire to be like everyone else is great, and we try not to demonstrate what we are really capable of doing," said Mila.

"Yes, this happens very often, especially in the past. The fact is, Charlotte had restricted a lot of the outside violence: on the streets, the exposed violence. But she forgot that much of the violence comes from those we trust and those we share our home with. It was still a complicated time, and we had many cases like Lélia's. She only revealed this after the marriage ended. Anyway, after a heavy fight between the two, Lélia ended up not measuring her strength and killed Alexandre. "

"She was tried on the same farm where the crime took place by a jury of Anjeamons and was found guilty, sentenced to three decades in the Ice Prisons for the murder of Alexandre. It was a huge public affair, and several women stood up to defend Lélia. Several people even appealed to Charlotte; still, she said she promptly had no power to break with the Anjeamons' expectations, that it would upset the balance of things, and that she should accept the decision. It was absurd. It was at this time that Richard and I met Lélia. She was sent to prison and spent sixteen years there. In those sixteen years, we offered support, and we ended up sincerely understanding her motives. She ended up becoming close to us, and Charlotte too, oddly enough, as well as becoming a symbol for many people. "

"In 8427, the Last War started, and the work on CriSPe became more intense, and that was when Charlotte managed to release Lélia from her sentence. She came to Asturias, and since she had a friend, Fernand, who was already working at CriSPe. Lélia came straight to Fernand and me. She wanted to join CriSPe and had some ideas to contribute to our work against the distant continent realms. I decided to accept it, and then, in the middle of a war, an internal problem arose."