The Pure Ones

Chapter One

My heart throbbed painfully as I stepped upon the platform, my chained hands wet from sweat and my eyes red from crying. All I could think about was that any second, my head would be separated from my body, the thought made my stomach churn.

"Mother, Father, everyone, please forgive me" I whispered to myself.

...

"Alistair! Alistair!" I heard a voice call out to me as I laid on the grass of our farm daydreaming. My eyes shot open and I immediately squinted trying to adjust my eyes to the blazing sun. I looked to my right and was met with the intense furious eyes of my mother, I jerked back with surprise. She complained about me laying out in the fields and ordered me to come inside for lunch, I got up and obediently trailed behind her, her black waist length hair swayed each time there was a blow of wind.

Our cottage finally came into view, a small building built with brown bricks, she opened the front door and let me through first before closing it behind her. My twin sister Alysia sat on the dining table with her meal in front of her.

"Oh, there you are Ali, where have you been?" she asked.

"I was just outside"

"Well mother made some rice; it tastes great I promise"

"Rice?!" I complained.

"Yes, and I do not want to see a single grain left on that plate when you are through!" my mother yelled at me.

I reluctantly sat down and picked up my spoon, I stared at my plate and the rice unappealingly stared back at me as I forced myself to eat, which was particularly hard to do because my mother's blue eyes burned a hole through me. All three of us looked nearly identical with our fair skin, straight long black hair and blue eyes, we ate in silence before our front door came flying open.

"Patrick!" Alysia cheered as she ran to embrace her cousin, he was only a few years older than us and shared our similar features. I wanted to run up to meet him too but my mother's glare made me continue to eat in silence. Soon my other cousin came in, I was so exited to see them, as soon as I finished my meal I went to join them.

"How are you princess?" my cousin Edith teased as she ruffled my hair. I flared up "I AM NOT A PRINCESS! I AM A BOY!"

"My apologies princess!" she said as she ran away giggling. I had earned a couple of nicknames over the years because of my unusually long hair and my soft, somewhat feminine features, but that nickname in particular always sparked my temper.

I played around in the small living room with my cousins while my mother cleaned up. Patrick asked me to fetch him a cup that was across the room, with my ability to move objects with my mind I handed it to him.

"NO MAGIC!" my mother screamed at us and we all swiftly apologized. My mother had nearly forbidden us from using magic but we still rebelled against her from time to time.

The story goes that our kind were gifted with magic centuries ago from a large precious rock that crashed into our town. We were called "Pure Bloods" or "Pure Ones". Some of us had the power to manipulate the weather, some to tame and control beasts and some even had the great power of manipulating time, there were almost no limits to what we could do. No matter what we looked like or where we came from, we all shared the same distinctive features, hair as dark as the night and eyes so uniquely blue that they would becharm whoever stared for too long.

There were times when our kind were a force to be reckoned with, a powerful independent state, our adherence to strict rules was one of the things that kept us safe and strong for so long. But as ideas and beliefs clashed among us, we began to eat ourselves from the inside until we were reduced to nothing. And as the years went by, we were hunted into near extinction by the kingdom on grounds of sorcery and witchcraft. We were forced into hiding, concealing our abilities just to stay safe, and so the small number of pure ones that remained settled on a small farm, married and bore children. We were all that remained of our race, my sister, parents, cousins, uncle, aunt and grandmother. It was an inexplicable feeling, knowing that you were the only ones left, but my family was the most important thing to me in the entire world and I would protect them and what we had no matter what.