Beyond the Darkness (Book #1)

Chapter 24- Forced to the Ball

Her entire life of struggled couldn't compare to the last two weeks she's had. At first it started off relatively normal. Felix was patient and answered most of her questions. Julius watched him more carefully. He wasn't fooled and in all honesty, she wasn't either. Felix didn't seem to try very hard to cover up his lie.

Blue had to scrub the maroon stains out of her materess. To prevent this from happening again, she put layers of towels beneath her head before she slept. Every morning she would wake up to to see the white towels stained. She would scowl like every morning and stuffed them out of sight.

In the middle of the first week, Blue found her right iris an amber color. A solid gold. There was no longer a trace of the blue in her eye. She knew this problem couldn't be ignored any longer. She refused to wear a bandaged over her eye for the rest of her life.

Julius crammed her head full of history. The Divine's were indeed one of the first beings to walk the earth. He would say that but she could hear the twist in his words. There were more species during the time when Divine's were concurring their land. He made a point that he wasn't telling her any time soon.

Blue scanned the library for books that pre-date the War of the North. She was curious why Julius hinted that there were more species. Why would he tell her so much yet so little? She came up empty handed during her long search. There was nothing that mentioned a new species, only the common four. Fairies, Spirits, Humans, and Witches. She would only become more frustrated the longer she went empty handed. Sooner than later, she gave up that search. There was obviously nothing that could help her here and Julius had no intention of telling her.

Her training with Felix progressively became more intense. In the middle of the week he told her that they would be doing things differently. Blue never liked change but, he forced it upon her anyways. That day Blue finally realized how dangerous her situation was. He said the only way to control the power that burned inside her, was to let it free. She thought it was a stupid idea. She didn't want to do it but, Felix would have none of her subtle warnings.

He, being able to use the same power as her, broke the barrier that contained her massive power. She was engulfed in her own raging firestorm in an instant. The power lashed out and sent Felix flying across the yard. Leaving her to fend for herself in the hellish heat. The pillars of flames could be seen tainting the clouds red all over Aniellia.

The king and his son tried to pull her from burning magic that expanded over the field. However, when magic is at it's youngest, it's the most chaotic and dangerous. The inferno refused to release her until it was satisfied. The fire reached over the castle and extended it's flame like wings. Julius watched in amazement and horror while his son fought off the flames.

Blue had heard it before she felt it. It sounded like shattering of glass against the side of her skull. Her left eye began to sting and out of habit, her hand reached up to cover the pain. She felt the warm liquid run down her left cheek and this caused fear to shiver down her spine. The flames that had engulfed her no longer seemed threatening. The concerned faces looking in seemed to fade into the red blur. She unconsciously looked at her hand to find in coated in crimson. The flames around her only made it more impossible real. It whispered the truth. It told her what she saw wasn't an illusion.

It released her when she finally had enough. Her mind slipped into familiar darkness and she was left drifting through nothing. Every so often she heard someone calling but, it was never for her. They always called for the lost heiress. Makuri. Blue tried to ignore the mournful woman. She could hear the desperation in her voice. She would call out often. Telling the woman she was no Makuri but, the voice refused to leave her alone. Almost, like she couldn't hear her in the first place.