Uh, I'll warn you immediately, there's a big timeskip from the prologue.
Chapter 1.
Sparks.
The little light faltered, then became slightly stronger, just to vanish the following moment.
- I can't, exclaimed the little girl.
- Just concentrate, you can do it, just reach in your Soul, and shape your magic like you want it to, kindly repeat her grandmother for the unaccounted time.
The kid seemed confused, earning a sigh from the elderly woman, who simply smiled and crouched despite her aching knees.
- Look, I can learn you magic, but you don't have to do like me, you have your own gift, and when you'll be ready, she tapped lightly on the child's nose, eliciting a giggle from her, the wrapping will for sure uncover something beautiful, so keep trying, I know you can do it.
She looked happily around, before focusing again at the woman.
- Thank you, grandma.
She smiled back.
- Oh, I'd do everything for you Amelia, said Zoe as she felt a lone tear form in one eye.
- You're crying.
- No, I'm just a bit too happy, she explained softly.
The look of confusion quickly made place to an excited one, as the little girl looked back in front of her, focusing on something that was inexistent, yet she seemed to hold it between her hands as if it was real.
"I can do it!"
She believed she could.
"Just… appear."
Her train of thought kept evolving in this direction.
"Please… just a tiny something…"
As her brow furrowed and her mouth opened as she panted from the effort, a small light began to gently pulse, a bit stronger then earlier.
Amelia relaxed, watching the light in amazement.
- I did it, she whispered in her squeaky voice.
Then, it vanished once more.
The kid's face completely fell.
- What!
She let herself fall backward on the ground, the lush, healthy green herb helping to break her fall somewhat, there was just so much of it.
- It's like a pillow, she softly said, using a finger to fool around with a blade of grass, flipping it up and down, watching the small green point always rising back up.
She smiled.
- A big green pillow, hihi.
Her auburn hairs, curls rolling everywhere, blocked her vision.
- FFFFFFFHHH, she blew them away from her face, and smiled again when a bird landed near to her, chirping happily.
She slowly got up, and advanced, lowly talking to the bird.
- Here, come here, birdy, hey, she called out calmly, tapping her knees as if bellowing a dog.
To her surprise, the bird turned and chirped directly at her. She stopped advancing, curious. Generally birds were either scared or shrilled some ear wrecking noise at her as a warning, sometimes the two at the same time.
So why was this one so calm?
Taking a good look, she saw it was a young dove, giving back her own curious glare at the human.
- Hey, little bird, come here, I just want to talk, she called out once more.
As Amelia took another step further, the bird hopped slightly in her direction.
- I'm Amelia, she said, I want to be your friend, okay?
To her amazement, the bird, which had straightened upon hearing her name, took flight, executing some acrobatics, before gracefully landing on her shoulder, cooing softly as it rubbed its small head against her cheek, the young girl not noticing, as the bird happily looked at her, the eyes suddenly flashing a pure bright white, whiter than its own feathers. It simply looked back, and gently pecked her on the cheek, getting a little jump from the girl, as the beak was a bit cold against her warm skin. She pet it lightly, and the animal cooed once more.
- You're funny, she giggled at the docile creature.
As she pet it, she saw a shadow cast by something behind her. Before she could react, the girl yelped in surprise as two hands took her up in the air.
- Heeeello there, my little sweety, said a low voice.
- Oh dear, just let her go Zach, replied a somewhat rude, but still kind one.
Amelia was spun around.
Only to see, or more feel, as she was being spun around, something missing.
- Birdy!
- What, asked her father, the ultimate look of confusion on his face making her mother burst with laughter.
Looking around, he put his daughter back on the ground. As soon as her feet touched the grass, the dove plunged to her shoulder from a nearby tree, to her mom's amusement of Zachary's jump in a weird chain reaction.
- *snickers* Wow, just wow, you get scared by a little bird barely young enough to fly, she mocked him.
As the mage went to retort, the bird began to chirp and shrill angrily at Marla, much to everyone's shared surprise, as if it was actually vexed by her remark.
- What a peculiar guest, murmured the elderly woman on the porch of the house.
She never had revealed her secret to anyone, not knowing what to do of it. She did not possess a magical ability that could be used in a physical manner, but rather one that came from a far away heritage. She knew that, even before humanity's potential for magic had been unlocked, a branch of the family had a past in relation to druids, even if at the time they were more normal persons than magicians, maybe it was the origin of her gift?
She could understand animals.
And this bird was much fun to listen to.
- Me, barely young enough to fly?! I've lived for longer than any of my kind has and to this day I have more then thirty years for your information, miss! I know my behavior isn't normal amongst others like me, but am I to blame? No! So if you would be so kind as to stop bothering me, I'd like to stay on your daughter's shoulder, much kinder than you thank god, it rapidly chirped before turning away, pouting because of the statement Marla had falsely made.
"Definitely peculiar," thought Zoe as a smile crept up at the strong willed animal's words, trying not to begin laughing at her own daughter in the most un-ceremonial manner, and even less without a reason they'd understand.
Then she frowned, its voice was clearly lower then any dove's, nearly a baritone. And this flash of white she caught merely minutes ago. What was really this bird?
- Look, now he's angry, exclaimed the child, petting her new friend in vain, trying to make it cheer up.
- It, corrected her father, we don't know if it's a boy or a girl.
- I know anatomy enough to know it's a boy, intervened the woman, getting the others' attention.
- Thanks peeps, muttered the bird, unaware that one of the humans could understand him
The mage's glare was saying everything, since when did she knew how to identify an animal's gender? Whatever, it must be true, she was rarely wrong after all.
- If you say so, agreed the man, still crossing his arms the way he always did when thinking, a shoulder higher, the other lower, swinging slowly from side to side.
- What an interesting bunch of fellas I stumbled upon, muttered the bird to himself.
Everyone stood silent, except for Marla, who proposed going inside the house.
Everyone followed, except for Amelia, who still wished to know what her own magical ability would be like.
As the dove landed a few feet away, calmly observing the small human, he had the surprise to see a light appearing after a few moments.
"And a family of wizards, lucky me I just found a family of wizards," happily thought the animal, watching intently the child focusing.
- C'mon, c'mon, Amelia pleaded through her gritted teeth, just work…
Suddenly, someone came behind her.
- Oh, look who's there, said the person behind her.
- What you want Dan, irritably asked the girl.
- Nothing, he answered with sufficiency, just wondered if I could help you.
Turning around, letting the light dissipate, Amelia found a boy barely older than her, wearing robes from an expensive tailor, indicating his status to everyone.
He smiled a toothy grin, one of his "bad-idea" expressions, as the girl called it, making his crimson red eyes glimmer with malice behind them.
- Maybe I could help you with that, he said, snapping two fingers together.
Immediately, small lights, similar to the one she had summoned, but red, appeared. It didn't took long for the young sorceress to guess the intentions of the boy.
- You wouldn't, she hissed.
His glare became ice cold, freezing her as the lights expanded, becoming full-fledged flames flying around her in a mad saraband, like dancers suddenly gone insane.
- Are you so sure of it, he said as a flame barely grazed her uncovered arm, leaving a burnt mark on it.
She yelped from the sensation, and her sudden movement of recoil only sent her near more.
Next to them, the bird was panicking, he couldn't do anything as his new friend was getting bullied by this brat in robes.
As if the word had came to them at the same time, both animal and human looked at said robes, then the flames.
At the same time, the touch of the magic flame was like something just found its place in her mind, as she reached to her magic, someone else doing so too, helping her.
Dan squinted suspiciously at Amelia.
- You're planning somethin.
She smiled, and focused, instead of a flame of her own, she was surprised when one, then two, three and more and more stopped moving, in a few moment, all had became eerily calm.
She smiled even more, feeling her power dividing in small tendrils, each slowly taking over one flame, Dan's power unconsciously fighting for control, but it was too weak, the boy lost without even knowing it.
- Uh, she seemed to be scared for him, you know it's not safe playing with fire, right?
Her smile returned, a bit sadistic.
- Watch out, murmured the child as the flames suddenly turned a sapphire blue, and flew at their creator.
In a movement of panic, the boy swept his hand in front of him, making the fire vanish. As he looked with a shocked expression at the mage in front of him, his face rapidly turned into a snarl.
- HOW DARE YOU, he screamed, YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT! ! !
In a fit of anger, not thinking of any of the possible consequences, the child extended his arms, and a curtain of flaming magic appeared, plunging towards Amelia.
In panic, the connexion with the someone cut, and she called forth her power with all the fear and will she had in her young mind.
It felt as if something exploded under her cranium.
Suddenly, all the flames fizzled out as they abut on an invisible obstacle, obstacle which fast became visible.
To the amazement of the girl and the bird, and horror of the young boy, a sizzling wall of energy formed, protecting the girl.
Sparks of energy were flowing straight from the human's hands, keeping the shield up as they tied with each other, attracted and arching like bolts of electricity to the next one. The wall stayed until she lowered her hands, looking with an ecstatic expression as one single spark floated down, crackling with like a miniature bolt of lightning and hovered above her cupped hands.
- It's, stuttered Dan, it's not f-finished.
With that, he ran away, but neither human nor bird noticed, as they watched the small ball of energy crackling and illuminating their face.
With a loud *bang*, the door opened, and the three adults came out.
- Amelia, my dear, what happened, quickly asked Zoe, fearing something bad had happened. We heard some loud noise, what was that?
As she did not react in the slightest, Marla and Zach exchanged a glance, before they went around, only for their eyes to widen in shock.
- Wow, whispered the mage.
The woman said nothing, eyes wet, but the pride she showed was visible for the whole world to see. She was clearly proud of her daughter.
As the grandmother advanced carefully, the bird chirped.
- It's… beautiful…
His eyes suddenly turned white once more in that same flash, again seen only by her.
In a slow motion, Amelia turned to Zoe, who gasped at the sight.
In her hands, the ball of energy crackled yet again, and was sent flying around, the bird joyfully trying to keep track of it as he unexpectedly began to fly to its side. Everyone smiled.
Amelia called back the spark, and the dove perched itself back on her shoulder, rubbing his head lovingly against her cheek, letting out, along a sigh of contentment, one thoughtful chirp.
- I think I will stay around for a while, he decided.
As everyone calmly, yet excitedly looked at the spark, it trembled, and suddenly began to expand with a small "bang", creating a fading white bluish glow that kept expanding at incredible speed, even passing trough matter.
Amelia, who had closed her eyes, opened them, the sapphire of her irises sparkling like a calm, undisturbed lake by a clear summer day. A smile plastered on her face, she looked at everyone.
- A fancy magic for a fancy special girl, said Marla with a thoughtful smirk.
- A fancy shield, mom, it was a shield, then it became this glowy thing, corrected her daughter.
As she quickly turned around to look at her dad, her curls rolling once more all over her face, until she blew them away…
Only to get even more hairs in her face.
- I think this calls for a hairdressing session, declared the woman, her amusement making the sunset orange of her eyes lighten up.
- Will you do me the four braids, excitedly asked Amelia, stars in her eyes.
She smiled even more when the sorceress answered with a more than cheerful "yes".
She took her mother off guard by grabbing her hand, running inside, as everyone followed.
Meanwhile, the bird perched himself on top of a nearby tree, intended to stay in the surroundings for some time.
"It surely would be best of me to keep an eye on the girl," thought the animal.
As everything went calm, he decided to take a nap, the extreme emotions of earlier having tired him completely, his mind slipping to the world of dreams with one last thought.
This… promised to be oh so fun.
*Somewhere, a shadow, darker then the darkest of moonless nights shudders as the pale white glow reach it, powerful enough to disturb its dark silhouette.
Time is beginning to lack for them, they have to take action, have to find it, before she becomes too powerful.
… or maybe.*
(Those who read chapter 15 of NT, "Nightmares of a rotten past", knows who this is. They are striving for something… be careful, everyone, who knows what they truly wants...)