The Cursed Gift | B1 [EDITING]

14 | Among the Lilacs

Six years ago...

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The sun was setting slowly in the west, casting a beautiful glow across the lilacs in the stray flower fields that were located not too far from Naporia. The very same ones from the morning of a great battle yet not a single body lay discarded on the patch of land.

Having been magically removed by the Clan Leader earlier to ensure the youngsters didn't stumble upon the jagged scene by accident.

Laying among the lilac flowers were three strange yet remarkable young witches.

Oddly dressed as a trio; Hestia in a plaid skirt, a white shirt and blouse, Ace in black slacks and a button up with suspenders whereas Alisa always wore her blue ripped jeans and her mother's old band shirt.

A shirt her mother wouldn't be caught dead in which would have to have been her human father's, at least that's what she chose to believe.

It was a piece of herself that she could touch but not truly understand. Modern natural music was forbidden which meant she would never hear that band's music but she loved to imagine she could one day.

Distinctively different tastes in clothing by the three teenagers but a friendship blossoming in silence and thriving in the shadows despite this fact among others.

Their unorthodox meetings at peculiar hours and partaking in weird activities that would surely get them in a whole lot of trouble.

"What happened here?"

"What do you mean?" Ace asked in confusion.

"Can't you feel the waves in the earth?" Alisa asked in a gentle voice as she grabbed Ace's hand and placed it on the earth under her palm.

The blonde boy only shook his head in response.

"Just focus very carefully," she instructed as she squinted her eyes.

"And you can feel the waves of sadness passing through the earth."

No matter how hard Ace tried, his magic just couldn't feel the earth's emotions. Their abilities were limited to manipulating only the magic within the earth but never the earth itself.

"You seriously can't feel that?"

"Nope," he replied, making sure to stress the second last sounding letter of the word to emphasise his point.

"What about you, Hestia?"

Alisa turned to their redhead friend who blushed the same colour as her hair when being suddenly addressed.

"Huh? Oh, hmm," Hestia said as she absentmindedly brushed her hands over the dirt.

She could definitely feel the magic within the earth's core but not these so-called 'waves of devastation' that Alisa spoke of.

With a shrug of her shoulder, she went back to the messy scrawls on her parchment.

For anybody knew, they could've been anything.

Hestia never shared her special book with anyone. The sixteen-year-old was quite secretive at times. Always nose deep in her scribbles on the parchment.

"Come on. You guys seriously don't feel the coldness of the dirt?"

"Okay, now you're just teasing us," chuckled Ace as he ruffled his blonde hair in slight embarrassment.

The brunette girl, of only twelve, frowned.

She began feeling a sense of confusion and doubt in her own abilities, choosing to brush the topic under the rug and never speak of it again.