The morning dawned cold and clear, a hint of a summer's breeze upon the air. Marilina Amell and her mother Revka strode into the markets together, hand in hand.

"Momma!" Marilina cried, holding up a silken dress of royal blue from the stands, one that shimmered and sparkled when the sun touched it. "Look at how pretty!"

"It'd look cute on you." Her mother laughed, touching it and feeling how smooth the fabric felt under her fingers. She looked around, obviously nervous about something. In the distance, a man in heavy platemail stood, staring at her. He nodded solemnly at her, and she bowed her head in response. This was happening. This was how it was going to end.

Mara would hate her for the rest of her life for this.

"Momma?" Mara tugged on her sleeve, and Revka looked down at her, swallowing thickly when she saw the innocence in her daughter's bright blue eyes. "Are you okay?"

Revka smiled and nodded. Oh, her sweet little child. So young, and yet so compassionate and loving to everyone and everything. If only she could understand what was about to happen. Then maybe, just maybe it wouldn't hurt so much.

She knelt down beside her daughter, firmly placing a hand on either of her shoulders and meeting her eyes, tears welling in them. "Listen to me, little sweetheart. You are my special little girl, and you were born to do great things. I love you with all my heart. There are... there are going to be some things, things that are going to happen in the next few days. Things that are going to be difficult, things that you're not going to understand. I just want you to know that, no matter how it may look, no matter how you may feel, I only had you in my heart and that you mother loves you and always will."

"Momma?" Mara asked, quirking her head to the side. "What's wrong? What's happening?" And as she spoke, more of those men in armour approached. There were a dozen, two dozen of them, all set with grim, expressionless faces. Revka closed her eyes, tears streaming down her face, and hugged her daughter one last time, kissing her again and again.

A moment later, the men were upon them, and they pried mother and daughter from one another. Mara screamed the whole way as they carried her away into her future, and Revka collapsed, broken.

She had given her daughter one last chance at life. Now it was up to her to do something with it.

Twelve Years Later

Mara lay on her bed in the middle of the dormitory, eyes blood shot and open wide. The years since hadn't been kind to her. Her hair was long, thick and black, her eyes a dark blue, and a hideous scar across her throat.

Her mother's inaction all those years ago had sent her to the Circle of Magi, a prison for mages. It was here she had been raised an educated for so many years, and, despite hating the cage in which she was kept, had quickly grown into a compassionate and loving young woman that her mother could have been incredibly proud of. Among her peers she was well now well known as being the kind, intelligent and empathetic one of the Circle, always available to sit and talk with, willing to listen and give a reassuring smile.

But tonight she had nothing to smile over. She knew what was coming. She could hear the feet of metal boots scuffling on the stone bricks of the floor. Dragging, scratching, coming closer.

It was happening again.

They were coming for her in the middle of the night, as they always did. They grabbed her from her bed, and pulled her along with them, kicking and screaming herself hoarse the whole of the way. Everyone else in the dormitory heard her, even though they pretended not to. They simply pulled their blankets over their heads, and prayed that their turn would not come.

Mara was only sixteen summers old when they dragged her away for the Harrowing, and her life would never be the same.

The Templars threw her into the middle of the floor, and she landed with a thud, crashing to

the ground like a doll. She coughed hard, her voice hoarse and in agony with how she had screamed the whole of the way up here. For a brief moment, she lay there, frozen. Trembles travelled from her legs and fluttered up her neck. This had to be a nightmare! That had to be it. Any minute now, she would awaken in her bed, relief calming her frantic pulse because she would not be facing this.

Then she opened her eyes and glanced up. This was real. So, so very real.

Seven templars stood in a half circle, surrounding her, closing her in. Their faces were impassive, and each expression seemed to have been etched from stone as if a sculptor erased any warmth from his creation. To the side, Irving peered down at her from behind eyes that flashed with emotion but cleared the next instant. Seven templars. Mara tensed. Irving taught her everything she knew of magic, which wasn't a lot. Healing and creation magic flowed within her and grasping it was easier than other forms. She had always been better at making shoes and reading than magic.

That was why she was here. Because of magic. Because she could focus it into energy, to create and destroy at will. And that scared the rest of the world.

"W-w-what am I doing here?" Mara asked, wide eyes pleading with Irving as she stood. They both knew the answer. She just didn't want to hear it. She wanted to pretend, if only for a moment, that they had stolen her from bed just for a friendly chat.

Irving gave a heavy sigh, twisting the knife in her heart. "You know what this is, child." His voice was heavy, an edge of darkness to his tone. His brows wrinkled and his lips flattened together. She knew the Grand Enchanter well enough to know he was not happy.

"No." Her voice was barely above a whisper as she felt he cold steel of a Templar's gauntlet clamped on her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. "No, no, no." She shook her head in rapid movements, left to right. Her eyes bulged and her lips shook. "Don't make me do this. Please." She begged. If this happened, she wouldn't see the sunrise. She wouldn't survive this. "Please, don't make me do this."

He shook his head sadly, the whole of his body language cut off and restrained, grim. "You have to." And she knew that too. Every last mage did this, eventually. Every last one that survived, that is. The students who didn't would come back days later with the tranquil brand on their foreheads, emotion gone from their voices. They were lifeless, monotone husks.

"Please."

The templar who was standing next to Irving, the Knight-Commander Greagoir, stepped forward towards her. Mara swallowed hard, and stepped forward as well. All of the templars had swords. She couldn't fight, couldn't resist. She wouldn't survive this, there was no way she could, but she would also be cut down in moments if she refused.

For a moment, she felt the need to feel angry at the templars for this, to feel the heat lick at her skin as she was forced through this, but she couldn't find it in her. They were only doing what was best for her, and for everyone.

Even if that meant a trial she couldn't possibly survive.

Someone, something, haunted her dreams. A woman, watching her from afar, in the distance. Mutely staring, watching, waiting. When she had told the Templars, they knew what it was. A demon. Waiting for it's chance to claim her, to take and twist her mind into an abomination of it's own will. They had tried again and again to defeat it, to drive this mysterious woman away, to no avail.

This was her final chance. They were here to send her into the Fade, the dream world of magic and nightmares, to confront her demon herself.

And there was no second chance if she failed.

Irving bowed his head, and approached her. Mara closed her eyes, and hung her head. A moment later his fingers were on her forehead, hot and burning from magic.

And then she was slipping away, back and away, into her dreams. For a moment, the world rushed up to meet her, and then there was darkness.

Eventually, Mara's awoke with an awful headache and memories swirling around in her head, somehow finding the strength to pry her eyes open. There was a dull, ringing pain that fille dher head, throbbing and stinging.

The sky above her was a sickly green, almost yellow, evil and menacing. The landscape was made of floating islands and twisted trees.

This was the Fade. Home of demons and nightmares.

Mara stood on her feet, desperately trying to steady herself. "I can do this." She whispered words she didn't believe to encourage herself. "I can do this." Taking a shuttering breath, she stood up fully.

Something was watching her. The demon was watching her, eyes boring into the back of her neck. When she turned, no one and nothing was behind her. But still it watched, still it's eyes were locked on her. Se could feel it's gaze, and she shivered under it.

She walked along the broken and crumbling pathways, following from where she felt it's gaze. As she reached it's vigil, the gaze shifted, now on the horizon again. Like a cat stalking it's prey. She was being teased, tested. She sighed, taking another shuttering breath, and followed it where it guided. Wherever it would choose to confront her, Mara had to follow.

"Well now..." A voice crawled within her head, eerie and slow, tone dripping with an eagerness and amusement. "What have we here?"

The demon. That was obviously to whom the voice belonged, what else could it be? Her hunter, the one she was here to confront, inside of her head to taunt her further.

"You know who I am." Mara murmured, wringing her hands together nervously. "I think the better question is who are you, demon?" The words sounded bolder than she felt. The world may have locked her away because magic was such a powerful tool, but she had little control or willpower over it. She knew more of gardening and making shoes, the only magic she knew was to mend wounds and create life from a dead bush. When faced with something as powerful as a demon…

It chuckled as she followed it's gaze and voice, deep and ominous. "I do know who you are, little one. But as to what I am… I am not the one that you've come for. Were I the one that hunted you… you would already be mine."

Mara shrugged off it's words, a knot of terror in her chest that she tried desperately not to show. Demons were clever, and to listen too closely to what it said was death. Instead she clenched her hands, gritted herself, and continued on.

"You don't believe me." It chuckled again. "You will. I am Despair, the one that is there when all hope and faith leave you. I am the one you turn to when there is nothing and no one left to protect you."

True to it's words, flashes of old repressed memories arose as it spoke, that slow voice that dragged like nails across concrete dragging up the most painful memories of her life. Being dragged away from momma, screaming as she does nothing to stop it, won't even look at me. Momma! Momma! Save me!

But she does nothing. Betrayed, forgotten, abandoned. Waking up screaming, with hot flashes of memories from my old life. I tore our whole family apart, and this is all of my punishment.

See how easily you could be mine?

Mara collapsed onto the ground beneath her, clutching desperately at the broken stones of the road beneath her soles. Sweat had furrowed on her brow, and tears welled in her eyes as desperation took her.

As she fell, gasping and breathing hard and fast, she felt a hand laid on her shoulder, warm and comforting. She looked over her shoulder with wide eyes full of fear, and there stood a woman cloaked in blue, shimmering in the eerie glow of the Fade. The woman's eyes were understanding and loving, and she wrapped Mara in her arms, curling her in warmth.

"Who-?" Mara began, but was quickly hushed by the woman holding her closer.

"Hush." She whispered, laying her forehead on Mara's. Mara let out a sigh of contentment, now warm and loved. Whatever was happening, whatever was wrong, it was all going to work out, surely.

"My name is Faith." She whispered in a warm voice that was as sweet as a peach. "I'm the one that's been watching over you."

Mara looked up, pushing the woman away as best she could, though was still in her arms. "You're the one I'm here for." She rasped, her voice quiet and terrified. "You're the one that's been haunting my dreams."

"Yes." She admitted, meeting Mara's eyes with her own, bright and beautiful. "I've been… watching over you. Making sure that these other demons don't claim you like they do so many others."

Ordinarily, Mara wouldn't have believed such a story, knowing how easy of a lie that could be, but something in this woman's eyes, in her voice, an aura of sincerity that made her utterly believe this spirit.

"Why?" Mara whispered quietly. "Why me, specifically?" Mages were constantly being possessed by demons that took their minds, better men and women than her. Why would this spirit watch over her specifically?

"Because you are… unique." She whispered, enveloping Mara in her arms once more. "You are special. I know it, and your mother knew it."

"Don't talk about my mother." Mara hissed, trying to be angry even with the aura of love that surrounded the spirit. Her mother had abandoned her, never even making an effort to save her. And now she was in this prison across an ocean, in another country.

"She loved you." Faith murmured, and the voiced was enough to soothe Mara's seething anger. "You don't know what sacrifices she made for you. And she knew that you are special, that you were made to do great things. She gave up everything so that you could have a chance to do what you were meant to do, and I see the same in you. So I've watched over you, all of your life. Someone as unique as you deserves better than to be twisted and corrupted into some spawn of a demon."

"Thank you." She whispered, in awe that someone had taken so much effort to protect her. She didn't believe it's words of her being special, she was just no one. How could someone so plain, so awful at everything, change the world? But that anyone in the world cared that much for her made her smile.

"Now, listen to me." Faith said, pulling Mara back again to meet her eyes. "In the next few days, things are going to change, and you are going to be scared. But don't fight it, follow the change. You can't do anything for the world locked up here in this tower, and the change that's coming is going to set you free. Do you understand?"

Mara nodded. She didn't quite know why she was agreeing, but there was just something about this woman that made her believe her. Mara could assume the perspective of other people, an exceptionally gifted empath only further aided by her magic, and there was no hint of guile in this woman. Nothing but sincerity and wanting the best for her.

"Good." Faith smiled. "And when you get back, tell your Templars that you killed me, or they might kill you for having interacted with a spirit and survived. They don't take chances, and I don't want all of my work protecting you to have gone to waste, okay?"

Mara nodded again, and then she felt the whole of the world slipping away again.