I changed my name from Alura, daughter of Ántonin of Bel Delvala when I was fourteen, and seldom allowed people to use my birth name - Nell, when I met him at the age of twenty, was one of the few exceptions. Norwyn told me changing it would give me a chance to start over, a way to be free from the burdens I endured as a child. But my past followed me, all the way up until now. His lesson to me - to run away from who I am - is one of the teachings I regret following most.
"""
They left Delvala that same day. On the next, Light Spinner woke up in her office; her sleep had become so irregular that she'd dozed off working on the Spell. She gave a massive yawn and went to her bathroom to shower.
Micah's arms were still warm around her. His voice, whispering in her ear - You'll always have me as your friend, Light Spinner - kept haunting her. But her pain was too deep for Micah, a young teenager with an idealistic mind, to heal. No - the only way was to have the Spell on her side. If it succeeded, she would never be hurt again. Everything would be perfect, and people would be proven wrong about her. She could handle such power.
She entered her bathroom, sitting down to apply her makeup. Her glance shifted, and she dropped her brush, her figure wide-eyed in the mirror. In the glass was a felinetta toddler with mismatched eyes, one of the cat-humans that lived in Tropicilas. Her long, gray-brown hair was ruffled, and her ears flattened as she sobbed loudly. Light Spinner hardly dared to breathe. A future vision.
Another thought occurred to her, almost in passing. Micah must have had one too. He was serious about what he saw - or thought he saw - in Delvala.
Who was this felinetta? Would Light Spinner save her from the Horde with her newly-found powers? Would she train another tiny Tropicil sorceress?
Or... She reached out toward the mirror timidly, but when she did, the vision swirled away. Will it be my fault she's crying?
Another day passed; today was the day she would present her plan to the Guild. Light Spinner entered her office to check the forecast, as Mystacor sometimes had blizzards in the winter. The cauldron shimmered before Light Spinner's eyes, but when she gazed into it, an eerie image glared up at her.
A metal mask, carved in the image of a female face, flashed in the light. Empty white slits peered at her with morbid amusement, shifting with the wearer's eye movements. Light Spinner trembled as a gloved hand reached up to remove it, and she crushed her eyes shut so as not to see what lay beneath...but somehow she didn't need to in order to know who the woman was.
Sweating, she backed away from the cauldron. Shadows oozed from the sides, whisking the curtains shut and slamming the door. Black mist coiled around Light Spinner's feet, clammy hands viced around her elbows, and metal pressed itself to her ear. And through the horrid whispers that filled her ears, a woman with a familiar voice spoke.
"Insolent child."
Light Spinner screamed, and her light fired on its own As the dark magic seceded, she dropped to her knees, gasping. My voice. It was my voice speaking.
Her body knocked back and forth. The woman couldn't be her. Trembling rocked her to her core, and her legs stopped working for a few moments. Get a bloody hold of yourself before you soil your dress. You're such a coward.
Future visions were not set in stone; surely this was only one possible outcome. Light Spinner dug her fingernails into her still-stinging arms, chills seizing her from head to toe. The pain was an anchor to reality. I am not a monster. I am a victim, I have been lied to, and I'm trying to save Etheria. I am in control, and I'm the one the dark magic should fear.
I will present my plan to the Guild. I will continue things normally. I am no monster. But before she left, she took the sample of the Black Garnet she kept so secret and placed it in the pocket of her dress. It was her only warmth, for she could not tell these things to Micah and worry her apprentice.
Her cauldron hissed, and she turned toward it. Someone's trying to contact me. She accepted the message timidly, willing her body to stop shaking.
"Light Spinner!" Angella's formal tone sounded hopelessly relieved. "The Horde...they have taken the Black Garnet."
No. We're out of time for half-measures. Now the Rebellion was down a whole runestone. A whole princess. "I will come to your Rebellion soon," she said firmly. "I am presenting my plan to the Guild of Sorcerers today."
"Has the Horde attacked your kingdom, too?" Angella looked on the verge of tears, her violet eyes misty as she spoke.
You have so much to learn about war, my queen. We both do. "No - not yet. Stay hidden until my plan works. I promise, Your Majesty - we'll send backup soon."
"I do hope so," Angella said softly. "Thank you, Light Spinner. I don't know what the Rebellion would do without you."
Light Spinner smiled from behind her veil. "Goodbye, my queen."
When they arrived at the Great Hall, Light Spinner gazed up at the darkening sky. There was an eclipse today; the brightest moon of Claritas would be overshadowed by its more magical counterparts, Sacramentum and Argenti. The Spell had to be cast before the eclipse ended, or there simply wouldn't be enough magic moondust renewed to chain the corruption. And we're out of time. The Black Garnet is in the hands of the Horde now.
Micah took her hands. "I know they'll listen to your plan. Go in there and knock 'em dead. I believe in you."
He pulled her head down, pressing it to his. Micah still loves you. He'll always love you. It was a moment of relief in the midst of her neurotic, panicked state. When she pulled away, he grinned. "Good luck!" he called as she stepped into the Great Hall.
Light Spinner kept her journal out as she made her way into the Lunarium. This meeting had been called specifically so the Guild could discuss what to do about the Horde. Now was her chance to prove herself. They had allowed her to teach them her discoveries in illusionary arts; perhaps they would grant her this hearing too.
She inhaled deeply as she entered. Her peers' eyes, for the first time, chilled her. She stepped up to the cauldron, and Norwyn permitted her to have the floor immediately, much to her surprise.
Light Spinner pushed aside the desire to smack him across the face. Stop acting like a child. You must stay focused, clear-headed. "I am glad we're finally discussing this issue, only after one of the mighty five kingdoms has fallen," she said smoothly. The eclipse overshadowed her face, blocking out her faint glow. "We can no longer stand by while the Horde continues to conquer more and more of the free territory. The princesses have been unable to stop them, and now they have taken a runestone: the Black Garnet."
Submerging her hand in the magical water, Light Spinner cast an image of the Black Garnet chained by the Horde, its Scorpion guards chained up and injured. Even Festinia looked appalled, and a smile touched Light Spinner's lips. She'd gotten the upper hand by knowing about the Garnet's capture before everyone else.
"We may not have runestones, but there is a way we can become powerful enough to stand against the Horde." She tapped the water, and the emblem of the Spell appeared. Her bones trembled with desire at the four-point diamond, and she barely recognized her own voice. "Cast the Spell of Obtainment, and take power for ourselves!"
Norwyn moved up to the cauldron. "What you propose is forbidden, Light Spinner," he said, the harsh tone causing heat to burn Light Spinner's cheeks. "The Spell of Obtainment leeches power, turning the caster into a magical parasite - before it inevitably kills them!"
She dug her fingernails into her skin. Lies. You know there was a survivor. She and Norwyn had had their tossups over the years, but this was the first time a tiny part of her fantasized about snapping off his horns. "But I've modified the Spell. Emeth Auctor was a wicked fool on his own, not even needing the Spell to drive him mad. He never tried to chain the corruption. The Spell's power is not dark; the byproduct is. And then the Three Moons of Enchantment come into alignment tonight - think of the good we'll do - "
"Enough," Arvina interrupted. "You have gone too far this time. How did you even find the procedure for the Spell? Norwyn - "
Norwyn gazed at Arvina with a warning look in his eyes, and she backed down. Ah. That's a confirmation. He turned back to Light Spinner. "There can be no good from this," he said firmly.
Fury roiled in her chest, and she slammed her hands on the cauldron. "So we do nothing?"
Norwyn was unfazed by her outburst, as was usual. "The princesses will settle the problem," he said, breaking her location spell. "Etheria will take care of itself, as it has always done, without resorting to twisted spells."
Light Spinner's hair rustled, and she forced herself not to panic. The princesses haven't settled the problem, you idiot! "You know I'm right!" she shouted. "If we don't fight, if we don't become stronger, we won't have a planet to protect!"
Every face that had once been shocked into listening was now stone-cold. Norwyn spoke calmly. "Be satisfied with what you have, Light Spinner. Some power is not meant for you."
Her fingernails dug into the scrapes on her wrists, and she bit her tongue. "You're all blind," she spat, and left the room in fury.
"""
You wanted me to be a quiet ocean of goodness and servitude, Mother, and it is a noble goal. But I'm tired of the world trying to stop me, slapping my hand away for the tools I was given. I'm sick of my loved ones leaving me because the approval of my oppressors is worth more to them, as was true with Nell. I'm weary of having a father who's a coward. I must have a breakthrough, or I will go insane from sorrow. There are too many cracks in my vase.
"""
Light Spinner laid on the bed in the guest bedroom of the Great Hall, staring blankly upward, tears dripping down her face and her nose running behind her veil. He would not stay gone forever, she knew. And knew well she did, for after a half-hour he entered the room, exhausted and appearing older than his sixty-four years. They stared at each other: Light Spinner glaring out from a face smeared with black, and Norwyn with weary lines beneath those endlessly deep eyes that she had once trusted as a child.
She had envisioned this confrontation as her fists colliding with his face again and again, or perhaps her bringing herself to tell him she hated him. But the words wouldn't come. She shuddered and turned to the wall, speaking through a stuffy nose. "I don't want to talk with you."
"Light Spinner, I can explain - "
She scowled. "Stop lying. You can't, and we both know it. There are some things that can't be healed."
She stood and turned around, breathing heavily, igniting her light, but she didn't have the will to fire it at the old satyr. "It was you who blamed me for all my problems with my father. You hid the Spell-scroll from me. When Ántonin died, you never told me he died of a broken heart because he couldn't have me. Because you hid me from him and never told me he was there, waiting for me with open arms."
"I was trying to protect you from him!" Was that...desperation in his tone? Good, Light Spinner thought, a bitter smile gracing her veiled lips. I'm finally getting through to him. "I wanted to reunite you two, but I was...I was..."
A long pause. "Afraid," Light Spinner finished for him. "You were afraid. Afraid that you couldn't control me, that you would have to defend me from him if he was lying. Which he never would - my real father had a temper, and he hurt me, but he would never lie. And there is nothing worse in this world than a father who does deceive and refuses to defend his own daughter."
Norwyn winced. Light Spinner chuckled, the breath in her lungs cauterizing. "Believe me, I know what your fear does. I've been a victim of it ever since I came to Mystacor."
He stepped forward, but she lit more plasma in her hand. "I am not afraid, Norwyn. Not of myself, and not of you."
His calm demeanor melted before her eyes; it felt so good. Norwyn sputtered out his next words. "Light Spinner...please. We can come back from this. We can be a family - you, me, Micah, and Castaspella. We can reconcile if you just wait and don't rush into things that will kill you!"
I have to get him to leave. If I agree, he'll never let me out of his sights again. Her fists cooled. "Fine then," she lied, sitting on the bed and wiping mascara off her face. "We'll compromise. I will give up the Spell."
Norwyn's shoulders visibly relaxed, and she curled her lip in disgust from behind her veil. "But in return, we will never speak again. I am no longer your daughter. I am Light Spinner, daughter of Ántonin of Bel Delvala, and you are Norwyn, the coward who attempted to steal another man's child. We will interact as fellow Guild members only until the day you die, nothing more and nothing less."
For the first time in all her sixteen years at Mystacor, the satyr's eyes were distraught. "Where will you go without me, Light Spinner? Who will be there for you when we part ways? You need me to help you, or the world will destroy you. I could not stand it if you were assaulted or killed - I love you."
Believe me, you old goat...you won't have to worry about that in twelve hours. Light Spinner scowled. "I'll get by on my own. Just as I always have." She turned to the wall. How will I tell Micah he won't see his sister again until he's an adult? I'm done allowing Norwyn to enter my house, and that would include with her. She swallowed the wobble in her voice. "Leave, Norwyn. And don't ever speak about me as your daughter again."
A long pause. Norwyn sighed sadly, turning to the door. "I accept your terms. Goodbye, Light Spinner."
The door shut, and she grinned from beneath her veil. Light Spinner had successfully manipulated the old satyr into leaving her for good - playing on his fear for his life and reputation for her own benefit. This was the final blockade to the Spell, and she had pulled it off perfectly.
Sitting down in front of the mirror, she unzipped her makeup bag and reapplied her eyeshadow. I will help Angella save Etheria. I will be the person I was born to be. A hero.
Now the only problem was how exactly she would cast the Spell without his help, just as she'd decided to do.
Micah was playing in the courtyard with the other students when his eyes caught Light Spinner's form rustling through the hallway. He climbed through one of the open windows, rushing to catch up. "What did they say?"
"They refuse to lend me their strength to do what must be done," Light Spinner growled. "They never listen to me! After everything I've done, I still haven't earned their trust!"
She halted, balling her fist, gazing at it as if she hated the power she already possessed. Micah frowned, having never seen her so angry. "Norwyn and those fools don't care about magic," she snapped. "They just want to hold the rest of us back!" She ignited her hand, shooting a blast of light five feet from where Casta and her friend were playing.
Micah's heart pounded. She could have killed my sister. She could have hit Castaspella. He waited for Light Spinner to back down and apologize, but the hungry look in her eyes never dissolved.
He shoved his hands in his pockets, his voice coming out in a stammer. "Then...then go back and make them understand! The Horde will destroy Etheria if we don't stop them!"
Light Spinner stared at her statue with narrowed eyes, gripping her Guild badge. He'd seen Emeths Arvina and Festinia exiting the Lunarium long before Light Spinner did - she had detoured somewhere. Micah wanted to force her to tell him, but how would he even do it?
I can't force her. That's part of respect - letting her decide what she wants to share.
But what if she is dangerous? She's not the same as she was when I first met her. She needs a doctor, a therapist, anyone but me. I can't fix her problems. I'm just a kid.
Before he could take her by the shoulders and calm her, she turned. "If you want to help Etheria," she said, her voice determined, "there is another way I can make my plan work."
And though the feverish glint in her eyes made Micah's hair stand up on end, he pushed his worries down. This was Light Spinner. She was good, and wise, and knew what she was doing. Whatever she was hiding from him, she was not what the Guild believed she was, and if Micah was the only one who saw it...so be it.
He nodded, his stomach cold. "I'm ready."
