Present Day

Azura

Alexei and I, we’re a different breed, one that is alive to fight the battles of tyrants, not to achieve dreams. Seeing Alexei once again reminded me of the trials we have both faced for our magic. In my world, magic is a reflection of your life. The color, the type, the level, all of it reflects who you are. 

For normal people like my father and Milo, magic serves as a tool to better their lives. Magic helps them achieve their goals, whether it’s Milo’s enchantment magic for his experiments or my father’s persuasive spells to help him establish power. Their magic’s color reflects their souls, my father’s a blistering red and Milo’s a quiet teal. Those gifted with this magic live wonderful lives and achieve dreams no commoner could ever have the chance of realizing. 

Alexei and I, we don’t get to live that life. Our magic comes from our pain, one that can never dissipate. Our magic feeds off of our sorrow, sinking into our skin and leaking into our shattered hearts. 

All Alexei had ever known was abandonment and shadows. 1107 years ago, Alexei was born the ninth child to two poor farmers who could not afford another mouth to feed. The first person to abandon him was his mother, just after his 100th birthday. She took him to the river and placed him in a basket, watching as he drifted down with the current. After two days of floating in the river, he was discovered by an elfin fisherman, one who loved Alexei more than he loved the water. Alexei spent the next couple hundred years with him, learning how to fish but also how to love.

However, the fisherman had fallen into debt with the local Lord. Trying to pay the lord back, Alexei attempted to steal jewelry from the Lady of the Manor but was caught. In one last sacrifice, the fisherman took the fall, attempting to give Alexei a better life. Unable to stop the Lord’s wrath, Alexei was forced to watch as the fisherman, his found father, lost his head. That was the second person to abandon him. Unsure what to do with a nephilim child, the Lord took him in as a servant, and Alexei became invisible. He was no longer Alexei, the beloved son of the local fisherman, but Boy, nameless and faceless, an object and nothing else.

Life for Boy was one filled with pain. Boy was malnourished and scarred from years of abuse, cursed to never speak. Boy lived in a barn and slept on a pile of hay like some kind of livestock. However, the Lord’s life was one filled with extravagance and luxury, one funded on the backs of the peasants of his land. The Lord was a star with a glow that shined so brightly that it was blinding. But justice would soon come. This star, no matter how bright it may be, could not face the sun. The Lord got cocky. He decided to challenge the king, my father, for the throne.

Little did he know that the sun had hidden a black hole in its cloak, one that had no desires other than blood. One whose body told a story of their sins and whose mind was shattered beyond repair: Nyx, the extinguisher of light, born of chaos and despair. The Lord was devoured just like the others, his head placed on a pike just like that fisherman from long ago. My father thought this fight was a waste of resources until he discovered Boy. Boy, who was broken and beautiful, shattered like his precious black hole. Boy who could slip in and out of shadows like it was nothing. Boy became known as Icarus, the one who flew too close to the sun. He became the second black hole, a story parents tell little kids to keep them inside at night. Nyx and Icarus, devils reincarnated, shedding crystal tears in the night. 

My magic came from my blood, a remembrance of all I had lost over the years. Nothing more, nothing less. A sad story, but not one for the history books.

After sneaking back into the silence box, I chained myself up to the wall and gazed out at the sun rising in the East through the barred window, Milo’s voice still echoing through my head. I could never get over the beauty of a sunrise, the oranges and yellows lighting up the sky. It reminded me that today was a new day and that things could always change, including my relationship with him. Life was a story, one that was constantly being rewritten.

A few moments later, two guards marched in.

“By order of Emperor Frederick the Great, we are to bring you to the royal carriage to depart for the Harvest ball,” they stated.

Within minutes, I was unchained and guided to the ridiculous pumpkin-covered carriage, blood congealed on my forehead and hair a mess. Thankfully, I was given time on the way to change into a beautiful orange dress which reminded me of the sunrise earlier. The guards opened the door and I entered the carriage, sitting down next to my two dolled-up sisters, my father opposite me. 

“Darling, you look awful! However did you forsake your appearance like this!” my father said, “Thankfully for you, I got one of the maids to grab me a cosmetic kit, so dearest Azura, please freshen yourself up. I can’t have the 10th emperor see you like this.”

I ran a brush through my hair and wiped off the congealed blood, but I couldn’t disguise the dark circles that plagued my under eyes. All those late nights had taken a toll on my health. Once I had finished, I gave the cosmetic kit back to my father. 

“Darling, you look so much better. Honestly, when you first walked in here, I thought you were one of those damned undead that keep plaguing the 9th empire,” my father said.

That snake. He made me like this. 

I looked out the window and watched the fields of grain pass below us, blowing in the wind like a golden ocean. Their tall stalks floated like waves across the plains, a sight both calming and beautiful. It wasn’t long before I fell asleep. I was safe to sleep undisturbed for now, plus I needed to be well-rested for tomorrow. My father wouldn't hurt me when he needed me to fight his battles.

I woke up as we hit the ground, my head viciously knocked against the headboard. As I looked out the window, I marveled at the sheer amount of decorations in the emperor's palace. The walls were covered in butter-yellow squash flowers perennially in full bloom, and pumpkins and squash adorned the plaza. There was no doubt about it. I was in the 10th empire, the land of harvest.