So I decided to make this a five part prologue instead of a four part, because I couldn't find a seamless way to incorporate her first years in Clover into this chapter. But the next chapter will be much more wholesome and not as dark. Thank you for the follows, favorites, and the kind reviews! I love reading them and it makes my heart happy to see I've grabbing peoples' attentions and interest. Kallsi appreciates it too, she's just not gonna say it just yet. Enjoy the chapter!

It snowed that night. The castle was chilly, the Apostles themselves feeling a little sleepy from the cold. The amount of them guarding(or trapping me, which I believe is a better term for it) lessened as the night dragged on. Of course they did. My wedding was to be the next day, now that I'm of age. Their master, while a callous murderer, didn't believe in forcing himself on a child, and was a very patient man. He waited twelve years, what's another night?

But each minute that got us closer to that horrid ceremony, each minute I had to spend staring at that disgusting white dress set up in my room, just made my stomach churn. It also made the Apostles much easier going, less alert. What person in their sane mind would run from a marriage to their master?

"Belzeb."

I hear his chuckle in the back of my head as lightning crackles around my fingers. It makes me smile as I lift my hand, concentrating the black streaked lightning into my palm before sending it at the door. I wanted the explosion, I wanted them to hear. I wanted to watch the look on their faces as I escaped what fate they had dealt for me.

The door buckles, wood and iron flying as the Apostles outside fly into the wall across the hall. They're unconscious as I step outside it, my heart hammering into my chest as I turn on my heel and start down the hall. Each step away from that cell of a room felt so liberating, a weight taken off my shoulders as I got closer to my freedom.

Kallsi, we have to run. Or they'll catch us and the plan will fail.

"I was getting there," I promise, picking up my pace as I traced the halls I had memorized like the back of my pale hand. A few Apostles nearly caught me, their yells alerting the others. My grimoire came out of the satchel on my hip, flipping to a page as I turned to face them.

"Ice Creation Magic: Jotunn's Hunting Trap!"

Creaking echoed through the halls as a good chunk of their forces became trapped on all sides by a cage, bars leading up to a flat platform that fell over them and teetered before coming to a still. They yelled and cursed at me, which I replied with a smile before turning around and gathering more lightning in my hand to launch at the massive doors trapping me behind the walls. The explosion as it hit rocked the walls, nearly tripping me as more wood and iron flew around us. Embers scattered in the snow and on the stone floor; flurries rushed past my face as I launched myself into the outside world.

Hysterical laughter escapes my lips as I stand for a moment to catch myself, my chest heaving. I run my fingers through my loose hair, pushing it from my face as I look over my shoulder at the apostles slowly freeing themselves. I need to move, I need to make this freedom my everyday life. I need to flee before Dante realizes I'm free.

I think you'll be just fine. Those words echo in my mind as I start to run again, my feet crunching the fresh snow underneath as I race towards the castle gates, towards the strong mana zone. If I can get there, I'll be free. I can go to Clover Kingdom, I can make a new life there, far away from the horrors that happen here. I'll never have to come back here; I can forget this place exists.

I wonder what the ocean looks like. I've heard that you can see the ocean in the Clover Kingdom, though it's nowhere near as pretty as it would be in the Heart Kingdom. I want to go there too, and the Diamond Kingdom! I want to see what the world has to offer, I want to taste new foods, I want to live life the way that I want to, and decide my own fate. Heh, maybe I'll have a stupid fairy tale romance. That would be nice.

"Lady Solanis, please come back!" I hear an Apostle yell as I get through the gate. I nearly slip on a sheet of ice, windmilling my arms as I regain my balance. Lightning courses through my body, channeling down to my feet so I can walk across the slippery death trap with minimal issues. "Lady Solanis! Your husband will be angry!"

"He's not my husband, and he never will be!" I yell back, icicles forming above my head and sharpening to fine points. I hear one yell to scatter as they go flying towards my pursuers. I hear screams of pain, the sound of pierced flesh preceding it as I shudder. I don't want to kill anyone, I just want to get away. I'm not them; I'm not a killer.

The cat and mouse game continues, getting closer and closer each time as I get further out of the town, and closer to the border of the strong mana zone. My icicles, costing minimal mana and being the quickest thing I can summon without thinking, can only do so much when I don't want to use them lethally. I can see the border between Spade and the strong mana zone: I can nearly taste the freedom it's whispering of. I can feel the mana buzzing around me from here, and gods it feels so good. I feel so much stronger, it coursing through my body and spurring me faster and closer to it.

Then something behind me explodes, knocking me off my feet and sending me rolling across the snow. I can only hear the ringing in my ears, my head swimming as my vision splits. The Apostles were getting closer, smoke coming from one's hand. Right, one had Combustion Magic.

They're standing around me, talking. I can't hear what they're saying, still deafened from the explosion. I can feel tears in my eyes as I try to stagger to my feet. I drop to one knee, a tear rolling down my cheek. I grit my teeth, forcing myself up anyway as the ringing ebbs away.

Kallsi, easy. Easy! You just were blown up-

"I'm not going back," I growl, my voice thick and breathless. The Apostles sigh, shaking their heads. They're looking at me with pity, as if I don't have a choice. I haven't had a choice in twelve fucking years. I haven't tasted true freedom in twelve years, I haven't felt so liberated until stepping out into this icy hellscape of the Spade Kingdom. "I'll-I-you'll have to take my cold dead body back."

"Lady Kallsi, please," one tries to reason with me, talking to me as if I were the same six year old child waking from another nightmare. "You need to come home. It's where you belong."

"Belong?" I scoff, nearly hysterical. I can't stop the laughter bubbling from my lips, the bands on my wrists growing in size. "Anywhere that monster exists is not somewhere I belong. You are all mindless sheep, blind to his cruelty for the sake of power. People like you-" The bands bleed up to my elbows and the knuckles of each hand, the webbing bright with lightning sparking over them. "People like you, are ones I hate more than anything."

They take a few steps back as the lightning discharges around me, sending them flying away from me in different directions. I take a few wobbly steps back as the bands shrink down to normal size, feeling dizzy from the surge of power before turning and continuing to the border. I couldn't stop shivering, the cold sinking into my bones as I came up to the cliff, looking either way for a place to cross without having to plunge into the waters below. My heart sinks, as the realization dawns on me.

I'm going to die for the freedom I so desperately wanted. Fate is so cruel. And all I can do is stand here and laugh, holding my head as I sob.

Kal, you need to jump.

"I won't make it," I whimper, using the heels of my hands to wipe my eyes. "I can't swim."

I'll make sure we make it. Jump, right now.

"If we die, I'm glad you were my friend."

Just jump!

I obey, feeling fingers brush against my back as I leap off the edge. The wind rushes past my ears, a shrill scream as I try to keep my body as straight as possible. I plummet into the dark, frozen waters below, kicking hard to push myself back up. The current was so much stronger than I expected as I broke through with a gasp, the cold forcing the air out of my lungs. My hair was plastered to my face as I struggled to stay up.

Relax, Kallsi. Struggling will wear you out. Focus on staying calm, and staying afloat.

Easier said than done. Gods, this is so cold it hurts. I just want to sleep. Why can't I sleep? No, keep going. Relax yourself, but not too much. If I fall asleep now, I'll die. I can't die, not yet.

I don't know how far downstream we went, before I pulled myself up onto a shore and plopped down on my back. My breath comes out in short pants, frozen mist hanging in the air as I drape an arm over my eyes. My body feels so heavy, my clothes so soaked, my bones are freezing. And despite this, I'm alive. I'm alive, and free. I'm safe.

We aren't completely out of the woods yet, Kallsi. We're still close enough to the border that they can sense us. I know you want to rest, but we need to move.

"Right," I pant, dropping my arm from over my eyes and pushing myself up to a sitting position. I take a second before getting up to my feet, my legs shaking under the weight of my soaked clothes and exhaustion from the river's current. I turn to face the rock cliff in front of me, my grimoire floating out of its satchel as I fight to keep my eyes open.

"It'll be okay, Kallsi," Belzeb pipes up, having manifested on his usual spot on my shoulder as ice creaks and groans under my feet, easing me up the cliff. "Once we get into the zone, it'll be too screwy for them to actually track us."

"I know," I assure, jumping off the ice pillar that brought me to the top of the cliff. There was more snow, as far as the eye could see. And the mountains looked so jagged, so intimidating. Even just standing on the very skirt of the zone, my entire body buzzed with the sensation of being overflowed with mana. It actually hurt-a lot.

"Oh yes, I forget humans can't adjust their bodies the way elves and devils could."

"Gee, vote of confidence there, Bel," I groan, shaking my head. "So what do I do then?"

"Well, every chance is a learning opportunity if you use it! I'm gonna teach you how to use mana skin."

"You'd best be glad I love you," I sigh softly, but can't help but to smile as he pokes my cheek with his nubby claw. I place my hand up so he can jump into my palm, where he was enveloped in an aura of yellow mana. He throws his hands up as if to say ta da.

"Okay, you look very pretty, how do I do it?"

"Oh, right. Um. I can just kinda do it without thinking at this point. So, um, how did they teach me this.."

I take a deep breath, my eye twitching as he mutters to himself. He paces back and forth across my hand before tapping his nubby claw into his other hand. He turns to me and holds a single dulled finger up.

"So you're going to focus on a point on your body, and imagine mana spreading out of it to envelope you! That's honestly the best instruction I can remember…"

"It's more than I got from the Triad, so I appreciate it," I assure, closing my eyes as I take a breath. I use the bands on my wrist as a focal point, imagining icy blue streams of mana slipping over my skin and hugging me as if it were a second layer. The cold dissipated, my body feeling warm with the painful buzzing leaving me.

"You're amazing, Kallsi! It took me forever to learn that!"

"I know you're lying to make me feel better, and it's working," I chuckle, easing him back onto my shoulder as I start my trek forward. "Now, let's get out of this hellscape."

"Onward to Clover!"

Onward to freedom.