“B-but I don’t know anything about being a Legacy!” she exclaimed. She had seen what Verona had turned into and how she fought. She hadn’t even flinched when the Beasties attacked. “I wouldn’t know the first thing about being one.”

Verona gave her a side-eye roll. “And I’ll teach you. Come on, let’s go out back.”

She exited through a doorway to another part of the house. Keisha chewed on her lip and followed. She maneuvered her way through the darkness until a hand reached for her arm, pulling her across the room.

“Veloce.” Keisha heard Verona say. Flash.

A bright ball of light formed in her hand. She blinked a few times until her eyesight adjusted. They were standing in a hovel with Verona in front of a wooden table with various weapons laid out in varying degrees and sizes.

Keisha stared in awe at the ball of light that floated in Verona’s hand and then at the sharp weapons of daggers, swords, and other weirdly designed weapons she couldn’t name. The only ‘weapon’ she ever held was a Nerf gun when she played with some friends.

She shook her head. “Verona, I’m not sure about this.”

Verona sucked her teeth. “Unfortunately, we don’t have time to learn the basics, but as a Legacy, you should be able to grasp common-based knowledge with ease.” She grabbed two daggers from the table. “Here.”

The cherry wood hilt of the daggers was shoved into Keisha’s hands. She gripped the edge and examined them. The dagger's blade was curved with gold around the bottom and top rim.

There was an air of familiarity, Keisha realized. She didn’t know where it came from, but so far, she held them without cutting her hand off. Whatever power a Legacy had, it gave her the appropriate knowledge to correctly hold the weapon.

“Alright, let’s go a few rounds and awaken your power.”

Verona pulled open a door from the side of the hovel that blended into the wall. Keisha followed and gripped the daggers for support.

The kick to Keisha's stomach knocked the air out of her lungs. She catapulted backward and rolled in the dirt. She grasped her chest; her daggers had fallen somewhere. She wheezed, trying to suck in as much oxygen as possible.

Verona stepped closer with her hands on her hips.

Keisha craned her neck to meet her gaze. Her throat was on fire, and her eyes were blurry with tears. The muscles in her arms and legs burned. She was sure she’d feel the pain tomorrow.

“I don’t understand…you should have awakened a fraction of your Malia even without your Stanza. A few blows, and it should have kicked in.”

A few? Keisha had lost count of how many times Verona had sent her face into the dirt. “I…I…don’t know…any of this…like you do.” She wheezed, clearing her throat—which hurt even more. “I didn’t…grow up with this stuff. I don’t know…what a Malia or Stanza even…is.”

Verona huffed. She plopped onto the ground across from Keisha.

“A Stanza is a staff that generates a Legacy’s Malia to perform incantations called Verses—and they are powered by crystal gems called Circuits. Our Malia can heal and cause damage, among other things.”

Verona pointed her finger at Keisha and drew through the air. A silver light glowed from her ring. Keisha gazed in awe as the illuminating aura floated in the air.

Once Verona was done, she pushed the power toward Keisha, and it flowed into her. Keisha backed up, scared, but in seconds the burning sensation in her chest lifted. She could breathe again.

“H-how did you do that?” Keisha asked, touching her chest. She no longer felt like she needed to vomit. “You didn’t have to say an incantation.”

“It’s called Restauro, meaning Restoration. I’ve had practice. The weaker you are as a Legacy, the weaker your Malia, and visa versa.”

The glimmer in Keisha’s eyes hadn’t faded since seeing Verona’s display of magic. She jumped to her feet with her hands in fists, pumped and excited. She was bouncing on her heels, her curls flopping in her face.

“This is so cool. I—I need to get stronger too. How did you awaken yours?”

Verona pushed herself off the ground, standing close to her– she was several inches taller than Keisha. Verona smiled and strutted away before turning back and outstretching her silver ring hand.

“Ooh.” Keisha stared at the encrusted jewel. She faintly made out etchings of Latin script around the surface. She recognized a few letters from what her papà had taught her.

A melodic chant fell past Verona’s lips that sent a shiver through Keisha’s spine. She could sense a shift around her as if the power of her Stanza had come to life:

“May the Blessed of my ancestor

Bring me strength and virtue

Let the Legacy reign true my power.”

Verona was cast in light and plated in armor from head to toe. Keisha gawked as Verona held the staff in her hand, and she stood both powerful and beautiful.

“If this were normal circumstances, you could unlock the Shikari and Legacy bloodline and inherit your Stanza. For instance, this Stanza belonged to my Father.”

Verona gripped the silver hilt of the staff. It was beautifully crafted; the silver mantel was shaped into a thick book, and it sat on top of a spherical orb, but Keisha was focused more on the sadness hidden in Verona’s eyes. She recognized it as grief from her mamma when her papà never came home that day.

“But you never knew about your duty, so you’re unable to inherit your papà’s staff.”

“Verona?” Keisha reached out her hand, hoping to comfort her, but the girl stepped out of her touch.

“And if you had lived in the Inferno without a parent, a mentor would have taught you. You could have then formed a Stanza through your bloodline, but, since that isn’t the case, we’ll have to go into town and have one forged.”

The glimmer of light around Verona faded, and the steel-plated armor turned back into her tan tunic and gray long sleeve undershirt and pants.

Keisha was reminded that they were on a time constraint, and she didn’t know who or what had her mamma.

“Do you think we have time for that? I’m exhausted from your so-called ‘training’. I’m worried about my mamma.”

Images of her mother being pulled through the portal entered her thoughts. Her throat tightened and burned, wondering where in the Inferno did the cloaked figure take her and why.

“We don’t have much of a choice, do we?” Verona said in a sharp, upturned lip. “You’re powerless. A Legacy without her Stanza is as good as dead. You need to defend yourself.”

Keisha replied with a nod.

“And if your mamma was taken, it was for a reason. She’s still alive. We just need to find her, that’s all.”

Keisha chewed her lip again. Verona was right. She couldn’t do anything but believe whoever kidnapped her mamma still wanted, needed, her alive for whatever it was.

“But we should get some sleep; reckless abandon will be our downfall, remember that.”