Disclaimer: I do not own Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic.
I.
Lumière was a lucky child. She would fully admit it if someone asked her (but since no one did, she didn't have to answer). She was a normal young girl of the tender age of seven. Pretty blond hair and blue eyes made her very distinctive in their small village. Her parents had wondered at first about her hair color. She had gotten the eyes from her mother, but neither of them had blond hair.
Her mother was a simple herbalist. She urged her daughter to learn more about her job and let her help during collecting the herbs. But unlike her mother the job didn't interest her so much. Sure, she knew how to cure most simple diseases and could help wounded people heal faster, but she couldn't imagine, that her future would be filled with herbs and patients.
Her father's job was more exciting for her. As far as you could call it a job. The man was a former soldier for their minor country and had fought in the last war. He had come back more or less unharmed physically and scarred forever mentally.
Lumière loved her family a lot. She had bothered her father so long until he relented and taught her swordsmanship. Though... her father was a strict trainer. He was normally very easy-going and soft. So much that her mother was always complained about him being too laid-back.
But at training...
''Lumière! Widen your stance!'' he barked out. ''Don't hunch your shoulders. And for Solomon's sake, hit harder! You're never going to attain anything with those weak hits of yours.''
That was pretty much the way her lessons went with her dad. In the evening she would come home exhausted and sweaty just to repeat that the next day again.
In the morning her mother would teach her to read the old Torran language and writing. Also medical knowledge. Sometimes the woman would despair at the blond's lack of interest, but Lumière still learned to make her mother happy.
About four years ago, a neighbor village had been completely destroyed by some people. Her family had been very worried, but Lumière had been to young to understand anything.
But... Maybe the little girl was not completely normal. Around the time the neighbor village had gotten destroyed, she had started to hear voices. Simple voices, that would sometimes talk to her, tell her about long forgotten countries and teach her songs in other languages. It wasn't that odd to see her conversing with thin air, but somehow no one asked her about that. It seemed that something was preventing them to.
''Lumière, could you help me today to gather some herbs? This season seems to be plagued with many diseases,'' her mother asked her one day. Lumière was now eight.
''Sure, kaa-san,'' the girl agreed easily. Not that her mother would have let her go. The older woman was very stubborn. Something that Lumière had inhered from her.
Also, her name had been given her by her mother. It meant 'light' in an old forgotten language, which the herbalist knew bits and pieces of. Lumière loved her name and she wouldn't change it for anything in the world.
But she didn't really hate a lot of things. Sure, she couldn't really stand vegetable, but never had she felt, that she deeply hated something or someone. Her father had called her jokingly his bundle of love because of that. In response she had smiled at him and hugged him tightly around the neck. Very tightly. After that her mother had scolded her, she shouldn't make her revenge so obvious. It had to longer lasting.
Her family was awesome.
So her mother and her went into the forest near the village and started to gather the needed greens. The basked was almost full when the voices urged her to go.
(Run, get away!)
(You have to go!)
(Get your mother and run! It's dangerous here!)
Abruptly the blonde's head whipped around. The voices had never sounded so panicked. Her eyes searched for her mother. They had to go!
Not even understanding why, the young girl quickly ran to her mother.
''Kaa-san, we have to go. It's dangerous here!'' Lumière grabbed her mother's wrist.
''Wait, Lumière. Why should we run?'' The older woman couldn't understand her daughter's sudden panic.
''They told me!'' the blonds pulled even stronger on her mother's arm. ''It's dangerous here. We have to run!''
The mother still didn't know, why her daughter wanted to get away, but heeded her request anyway. It had to be dangerous. It was the first time she had seen her child like that.
And it was the right decision.
Just as the pair crossed the border between forest and plain land, something shot out of the ground. The ground shook wildly, so that both mother and daughter lost their footing and stumbled to the ground.
Lumière felt her mother curling around her, protecting her from anything falling down on them. For the first time she felt truly frightened. What was happening? The voices, that were normally so calm and peaceful were now hushing in panicked whispers, too fast and too many for her to catch any of them.
When the shaking slowly ebbed out her mother moved from her spot. The light haired girl beneath her crawled out to look at their surroundings. What she saw was not, what she had expected.
A tall tower stood before them. So high, that they couldn't see the end of it. Clouds were hiding the top. Thick, green veins were adorning the building beautifully and it seemed that there was an entrance.
Two big columns stood on each side of the portal. Every of them had animal symbols and two kinds of stone birds were perching on the top of them. The building spoke of very skillful architecture and careful work. Ornaments were gracing the walls and captivated the blond girl's mind in seconds.
The whispers only intensified at the view of this tower. It was almost too much. She clutched her head.
'Stop it,' she told them.
It only got louder.
''Stop it!''
''STOP! IT HURTS!'' she finally screamed out, successfully scaring her mother.
But fortunately the whispers died down.
''Lumière, is everything alright? Hurry, let's go home.''
Taking a deep breath, the blond girl looked at her mother. The normally so neatly bound, black hair of hers was ruined, and the beige dress her mother wore sported several ripped places and specks of mud and dirt.
''...Yes, I'm okay... Let's go home, kaa-san,'' she replied slowly. Her heart was still pumping fast and a certain amount of adrenaline and excitement were still in her system. She had to calm down. It worried her mother.
Taking the hand of the older woman, they hurried home.
''Dear! Lumière! You are okay!'' the voice of her father greeted them as soon as they came home. ''Did you get hurt? I was so worried when the earthquake began. Were you there when that weird tower appeared? What happened there?''
It didn't seem, that the blubbering of her father was going to stop, so Lumière took the time to look at the tower. It was high enough to be seen from their village.
The young girl didn't really understand, what was going on. The usual voices and whispers had gone quiet after her outburst and didn't talk to her now. The only thing she knew, that this wasn't natural and scared her parents.
She disliked this.
In the end her mother coaxed her to bed, but the blonde couldn't sleep. Excitement and unease were curling around in her stomach and didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. Her routine was broken and didn't have a chance of being restored.
Normally the voices would tell her a good night story for her to sleep or her mother would sing to her in the ancient language, her name came from. Today it was quiet.
Lumière didn't know how long she lay there, but after a while she could hear here parents talk.
''...dangerous...It...'' She couldn't fully understand, what they were saying.
''...Leave...Let...here.'''
''...Maybe...''
Under the faint hushes of her parents, she fell into a fitful sleep.
The day those people came, Lumière's illusion of a peaceful life fell apart. The 5th dungeon had risen.
Tell me your thoughts.
Wish you a nice day.
-Yuki
