Epilogue
There was a dull thud as another crate of books was dropped onto the pyre.
"Remind me why we can't just use magic to do this?" One of the guards watching this complained.
His companion rolled her eyes. "Because vanished items can be re-conjured. The Council wants them erased completely from history."
Another woman shook her head. "It doesn't make any sense though. After everything they've done for all of us…"
"Orders are orders," The first woman sighed as her wings drooped, "Even when they don't make sense."
Another crate was dropped in, this one shattering more violently than the previous ones, prompting those watching to shield themselves from the flames. Unseen by the onlookers, one of the books had fallen open, as if declaring its message in defiance even as the flames consumed attempted to consume it. An unseen hand picked up the book, extinguishing the tome with some minor spellwork before vanishing with it.
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Some time later, in a hidden cottage in the forgotten corner of a small forest realm, the book, along with many others like it that had been spared the flames that day, sat in a back room, settling in for a long few years to gather dust. The book we've been following thus far, being the most accurate record, had been given something vaguely akin to a place of honor, resting atop it's brethren, still open to the pages it had fallen to when it's spine broke on the pyre.
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It all began, truly began, with the second child of Marion and Oritel; Flare, Prince of Sparks. His birth was accompanied by a resurgence of life and magic in his realm, and this was taken as a sign that he would grow to wield great power. Indeed, when the child reached a year of age and was old enough to be tested, it was discovered that he, like his older sister Daphne, had been gifted with the magic of the Dragon's Flame.
For six more years there was happiness and prosperity in Sparks. Then disaster struck.
In response to a prophecy that has since been lost, a then unknown group later revealed to be the Ancestral Witches sent an assassin, who murdered the prince in his sleep on the eve of his seventh birthday, apparently fearing a male who could wield the Dragon's Flame.
Marion and Oritel were shattered by the loss of their son and it may well have destroyed them if not for their remaining child. The ever energetic Princess Daphne withdrew from those around her, even as she was withdrawn from the public eye as a precaution in case her brother's killers struck again.
It was some months later when the royal family was visiting a neighboring realm that had been torn apart by a furious civil war that was another early whisper of the Ancestral Witches rise to power. While the royal carriage was passing the remains of a town along an infrequently traveled route to the capital – their route, along with those of other visiting dignitaries, had been placed along obscure routes for the same security concerns that preventing them from going to the capital directly – the young Princess Daphne saw something out the window.
With a cry of her brother's name bursting forth, she was off, opening and leaping through the door before her parents could react. To her confusion, her brother's attention had been attracted by her shout and upon seeing her, he fled. With her brother running away from her and her parents attempting to get her back to the carriage, Young Daphne's determination peaked, and for the first time in her life, her wings manifested.
In short order, the King and Queen had the carriage halted and were hot on their remaining child's heels. They caught up to her in the ruined husk of a burned out building, where she had cornered her prey only to collapse in tears.
Oritel and Marion were just as shocked as their daughter at the sight before them. The child before them was a painfully familiar looking young girl. Daphne could hardly be faulted for mistaking the girl for her brother, especially at a distance. The resemblance was so uncanny as to spark rumors about magical alteration to her appearance later. Indeed, this girl might well have been mistaken for the lost prince's twin.
Naturally refusing to leave the poor girl to fend for herself in a desolate town, they took the child with them to the capital. It was there that they learned of her sad history.
The Realm of Corxis had been ravaged by war for nearly a decade. During this time, certain facets of their social structure had failed. The girl was an orphan, one of thousands, and had at some point before she could remember been sent to an orphanage. The establishment was so overtaxed that like many who had shared her origins, she had never even been given a name, but instead an identification number. She had been in the orphanage cellar one night nearly a year before for reasons she could not remember. When she had awoken the next day, her entire town had been destroyed and everyone that she knew was either dead or gone.
The records system on Corxis was effectively nonexistent. This, combined with the fact that any original records had been destroyed with the orphanage and all the staff there were confirmed dead, meant that attempting to discover anything more about the girl was impossible. Even her carefully memorized number was useless, as they were assigned by each orphanage individually rather than a central system.
As such, Oritel and Marion decided upon the only course they felt they could live with. After discussing things with both the orphan girl and their own daughter Daphne, they decided to adopt the nameless child. In memory of the son she bore such a striking resemblance to, they named her Flair, and because they felt she needed one as she knew nothing of her own, decided that Flare's birthday would also be celebrated as Flair's. This later led to the interesting frequent misunderstanding on the part of many distant acquaintances who would find themselves asking in confusion if there had been a twin they had been ignorant of for seven years (A situation that was only aided when a medical examination confirmed that Flair was in fact within at least a few months of Flare's age).
Because she had no royal blood herself, Princess Flair was incapable of becoming Crown Princess Flair, as the thrones would not recognize her as a member of the royal family. Thus, Princess Daphne would remain the only heir to the Throne of Sparks until the present day, although the recent announcement of Queen Marion's pregnancy will likely change that. Regardless of her inability to form a magical contract with the heart of the realm itself, Flair was welcomed into the family with open arms and for the first time in months, Princess Daphne could be heard laughing as she raced down the palace halls – a most appropriate representation of the general change in mood that Flair had brought with her.
One more surprise awaited the royal family and it came nearly a year after Flair arrived; specifically when she set the palace kitchens on fire trying to help prepare dinner. It was not until this point that the royal family realized they had neglected to test the girl for magic. She herself had never thought to raise the issue, due to a combination of a lack of magical education in her earlier years and a misunderstanding on her part relating to her inability to join the magical contract between the royal family and the heart of the realm of Sparks.
The uncanny parallels with her male doppelganger continued, as it turned out her magic was based in fire – though obviously not the Dragon's Fire – which allowed her to feel even more of a fit with her new family as she was able to receive much of the same tutoring as her older sister with regards to their magical energies.
When Flair, Princess of Sparks reached the age of sixteen, she was enrolled in Alfea, the school her sister was set to graduate from at the end of the year. This would be the first chance Flair had to truly spend time with people outside her family since her adoption – Oritel and Marion had been extremely careful with her security, fearing that Flare's sisters might yet share his fate – and the first chance she would have to spend time away from her bodyguards, as Alfea was and yet is one of the most secure locations in all the realms.
It would also be in this first year of schooling that Flair's adventures would truly begin, and that she and her friends would be drawn together and together drawn into the conflict for the fate of the magical dimension that they would one day become famous for.
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