Prologue:
The little 6-year-old girl hugged her knees to her chest as the rain poured down on her in unrelenting icy sheets. How long she sat huddled underneath the shop's tattered awning she wasn't sure. Her mother's words kept replaying in her mind-" I cannot bear to look at that thing. I want her gone tonight or Maker help me, I'll toss her out myself!" Although she hadn't been able to watch the tears streaming down her mother's weathered cheeks, she heard them clearly enough. She'd been sitting in her tiny bedroom, listening at the door as she had been for the last several hours. But it wasn't until those words hit her that she'd decided to run.
It had all started the previous day. She'd been playing out in the bright afternoon sunshine with her friends around the alienage. She'd been kicking dust up from the streets and watching the clouds form around them. Such a simple game, and so fun. The little boy she'd had a bit of a crush on had reached for her, inviting her to go over to the local bakers and look through the window at the vast display of sweets. However, just as he touched her skin a massive jolt went through the both of them and his mousy brown hair was suddenly standing on end. His eyes widened and he took a step away from her, terror written all over his face. He burst out into tears, screamed- " Witch!" and ran back toward his home located on the other side of the alienage. It hadn't taken long for the news to spread throughout the alienage. It was rare indeed for an elf to possess magical abilites, yet here she was. The little girl ran straight home to tell her mother what had occurred, but just as she stepped into their run-down old two-bedroom home she looked up at her mother and realized she already knew.
" Momma—"
" Is it true what that Rendyn boy is telling everyone? That you're a mage?" The look on her mother's face startled her. It was a mix of horror and disgust. She'd never looked at her this way before…
" I'm not sure, I just—" The girl was trying to explain that it had happened so fast when her mother's face seemed to break with the fury she felt, her eyes wild and frightening.
" TELL ME!"
" Momma, what's wrong?" The little girl was sobbing helplessly now and reached up to try and comfort her mother from whatever was making her feel this way. But it happened again, and the bolt of electricity shot from her fingertips and smashed a vase off the counter top close by.
After that her mother was screaming louder than she'd ever done before and choked, guttural sobs overtook her as she began hurling anything she could find at her horrified daughter. The little girl ran to her bedroom, locked herself in and had remained there for several minutes, still listening to her mother's devastated howling. The front door had opened and suddenly she heard her father's voice. He spoke in his authoritative way as he attempted to calm his wife, but she was inconsolable. Their voices were low and muffled and the little girl was straining to hear when in an abrupt change, her father was suddenly roaring in anger, his voice shaking the entire house. She wondered how long it would take before her sister and brother heard the news and hated her too…
The little girl remained this way for an entire day before she decided to run. She'd overheard her parents talking about the Templar's and how slow they were to respond to their request. But she couldn't remain in this house anymore. Her mother and father despised her, and she didn't wish to cause them any more pain. So she opened up her bedroom window and lowered herself carefully to the ground just two feet down. Night had fallen, and she was penniless and hungry. But she was numb with the pain of losing her family and didn't care where her feet led her or what dangers she might encounter.
The girl had made it out of the alienage gates somehow and found herself in a part of the city she'd never been to. She'd never set foot outside the alienage before. That's when the rain began to fall. At first it was just a cool drizzle and then without warning it had shifted into a downpour. Her ragged, dusty brown dress clung to her skin uncomfortably as she bolted for the safety of the awning. She was shivering and desperate as the tears streaked silently down her cheeks, creating warm paths as they fell. She never saw the man as he approached her silently until he was standing before her with his hand outstretched for her.
That was the moment that had her life forever.