Alitia: Welcome to Millenia

XXVI: Secrets Shared

When everyone was back in the main room of the dorm, Carys pointed accusingly at Sylvia. "Alright, Sylvia! I want answers!" she exclaimed.

"Answers?" Luce echoed. "What are you talking about?"

"The two people who attacked us in that storeroom seemed to know her. For crying out loud, one of them called her their little sister!" Carys cried out. "I want to know what that's about!"

Helena looked to Sylvia, pain and betrayal in her eyes. "Sylvia... There has to be an explanation for this, right? Tell us what's going on," she begged.

"Come to think of it, our enemy has been targeting her this whole time, haven't they?" S.M. murmured. "Even before we all got together, Luce and her father were called in because someone was after Sylvia."

"Yeah. Professor Ogun was friends with Lianna and wanted her help with taking care of whoever was causing such a stir," Luce confirmed. "I knew from the start Sylvia had something to do with it all, but I never expected this."

"Can you tell us what's happening?" Tanith asked softly.

Sylvia looked around at everyone else before her eyes settled on her shoes guiltily. "I... I don't know if it's such a good idea... Do you really want to hear about it all...?" she questioned.

"Of course we do. This involves us too. We can't just let you suffer like this. It's not right. Plus, he's after us on top of going after you. There's no reason for you to keep it in any longer," S.M. told her. "Open up to us. We're here to listen."

Sylvia glanced at her friends one more time before taking in a deep breath. She let it out slowly. "Alright... Where am I supposed to start here?" she murmured.

"What about you take it from the very beginning?" Sophia suggested. She put one hand on Sylvia's from her place beside the energy mage. "We're listening."

Sylvia nodded. "Alright... To start this story, we go back about five hundred years to the royal family of my planet. Hiloft was a flourishing land, and the royal family was loved by the people. Everyone was happy... Well, we thought everyone was happy. There was a particular mage who wasn't quite so happy... His name was Samuel Thanatos. He hated the way things were being run, so he gathered a resistance force and marched on the capital."

"What was he even trying to accomplish?" Sophia questioned.

"He wanted to rule over the world in the place of the royals... After a long and bitter battle, Samuel lost. He continued to try and take over Hiloft many times over his lifetime, but he failed each time. His anger with my ancestors only grew, and in the end... He cast a curse on them that persists to this very day," Sylvia went on.

"A curse..." Helena repeated, looking down at her feet. "Wait. I thought curses couldn't sustain themselves very easily without a powerful source behind them."

"They lose strength over time to keep people from suffering under them eternally unless they are renewed or powered by a an immense magical force," Tanith explained. "The only powers that are really able to keep a curse going for a long time would be Moonlight and Starlight. I'd say they last around five hundred years or so."

"Samuel had been given power by the Keeper of Moonlight from that time period. I didn't even realize it was possible, but that's how the story goes," Sylvia shrugged. "The curse stated that everyone with the blood of the royals who had been cursed was doomed to practice dark magic."

"But you don't practice dark magic. You're an enchantress," S.M. frowned.

"That's the second part... If we don't follow up in learning dark magic, we have very little energy consistently. It's hard to explain, but it doesn't work out well for us either way. If we work on dark magic, then we slowly lose ourselves to the curse and are doomed to be slaves to the ones who cast it. If we follow light magic instead, we slowly lose our energy and will eventually die prematurely," Sylvia said, staring at her feet. "I... I chose the latter."