The stars stretched out like a thousand little minds, burning with false intensity and lacking heart as I danced through the lake. The moon shone with blood as it dripped onto the veil of the night, each drop a symphony twisting to a tune unheard.
Each step a hunt like no other, as things hidden in the darkest minds became my prey, and their wails shaped a choir.
The Lake was red, the blood of a thousand blackhearts in a still valley made of wounds. It was wondrous.
Pale fire burst into being, a ring of it lit into reality around the lake along with a new presence, a new creature. Yet something I knew very well as a hand rose from within the lake of Cursed and afflicted blood, untainted as it reached out from within.
I was dancing, my feet moving to the rhythm of fading nights in twirls and circles. Yet it was as if planned that reaching out to the grasping hand, fit into the movements like a puzzle piece. The soft skin, rough with effort as I Pulled them from the depths.
A young girl burst from the liquid, into my arms as I placed them into the dance as my partner, one hand in hers while my other wrapped around her waist as I twisted us both into a twirl.
Drops of blood running through golden blond hair like liquid gems crowning her, a simple honest dress draped upon her stained with every moment of toil, of trial, of tears, and of passion. The skirts of it fluttered in a mirror of her soul as I twirled her into place, before pulling her closer.
Pressing her into me as I held her in my arms, she was all but a part of me, her Blue eyes glittering with sun and star as we danced in quiet circles.
My voice was the thunder of the rising sun, the quiet pulse of a collapsing heart, as I spoke to her with the song of choice. "This will have consequences."
"I know." She said her eyes burning with fervency as she pulled me closer, eyes glowing as her soul shined through.
"There's no coming back from this." I warned, even as she nodded before I could even finish and spoke once more. "I know." with a voice like molten gold.
"Very Well." I Said the finality sending ripples through the lake as I pulled her even closer. She refused to look aways as the moon churned above, the drip of blood turning into a raging river as she drew closer, our faces mere inches apart.
The world cracked, stars wailing and earth shaking as the girl with golden hair and ever so bright blue eyes Burst Into pale Flame.
Yet she did not burn, She did not scream, no she smiled with the shake of heart rending devotion. "I'm yours." She announced with warmth and softness, like liquid silver reflecting the sun.
"Your mine." I Announced as the world turned into inferno as the girl pulled white flame into herself as she sacrificed everything she was, everything she could have been, Everything she already was.
A smile shined on her face even as a cloak of pale fire encased her, peeling away the fragile shell of her body. Showing the shine within, a light that made the sun seem dim as the radiance of her soul was covered in fire.
Heat baked the lake, red steam misting around my feet as the flame pulled into the light of her being. As it was tugged, and pulled, wrestled into the fundamentals of her everything. Becoming more and more as it gathered to the extent it became solid.
Then the inferno of fire so white it made all other colors seem dirty in comparison flickered away, Like someone had turned off the light even as the red moon leered down with its baleful light.
In the center stood the girl, her skin aglow as it struggled to hold the shine within, the light that tried to burn away every impurity, the light of everything within. Her eyes were alight with a literal shine as her blue eyes tried to contain the expanse of the sky.
My hand pulled her as close as I pulled us back into the dance, fervent heat causing the lake to boil with her every step, clouds of bloody tainted mist trailing her every movement.
My being writhed with tendrils of intention, curling around her and woven into the very concept of her. Tendrils of greed, of passion, and of the sure certainty that she was all mine. Her every Smile, Her Tears, Her Breathe, Every Inch of Her Mad Mind, even the Eternal, Endless Skies hidden behind the glint in her eyes.
All of it Mine, All For Me
For once I woke not to a cool needle in my heart, full of pain and panic. That I had to look at the doodles, check my pockets, and unhinge the door. That escape was my sole solace, my sole truth as even family was ripped from my being.
No, for once I woke with nothing less than a furnace of comfort and charm in my chest. Phantom Blue eyes staring deep at everything that made me, of strange ghostly ties pulled something so very cherished to the depths of my being.
Nestling it deep in the very core of everything that made up me.
It was almost completely overwhelming, as my arms twitched with a nevertheless energy insisting I needed to pull it even closer.
I felt like I was breathing fire as I exhaled the molten emotions from my lungs, gasping the chilly morning air down like I would ignite if I didn't. A hand clutched to my chest as an agonizing absence clawed its way into me, all while feeling like I was filled to bursting with Presence.
It was such a struggle that I didn't notice the Pale Fire flickering over my bed, and my walls. Tongues of stumbling ivory licking at everything from my carpet, to the ceiling and even the side table.
All of it bathed in pure white fire.
I almost screamed, but before I could truly react the fire died out. Fading away like smoke in a bottle before fear could truly rise.
Except it hadn't, all of its whispers hadn't left.
Some of it had coalesced into my palm without my notice, before cooling like metal dropped into a barrel of water. Leaving behind a small cylinder silver in color yet made of things far more precious than gold.
Someone, somewhere had made a sacrifice in my name, in my image, and for their and my own benefit. They had given me something I could scarcely comprehend, something they hadn't even known they had, and in return they had been given something just as valuable.
I don't know How I knew it, but I did so deep it curled around my bones.
That was the Problem with Esoteric Magic. Namely that it was in fact esoteric, hard to understand with strange rules that required deep knowledge of the underlying principles of magic to even begin learning.
Even the Most common form of Esoteric magic, Light attuned magic, was rare enough that only a scarce hundred or so mages existed in Sorcier, the land where magic was the most common.
Most rarely dared to ever touch upon them, not of fear, but because they were simply so difficult to comprehend ever for people that held the needed attribute to use them.
I for one hadn't thought it was possible for someone else to trigger my magic by making a sacrifice to me. It was scary to even think about, even if it had given me this object of such worth. The Silver of someone's soul forged into a tool for me and only me.
It made my hand tremble with both Fear and Greed.
"Sophia! It's time to get up." The call snapped my attention away from the shard of such worth it made this entire mansion look cheap in comparison. I looked around my room only to notice that there was a tiny splinter of golden light breaking through my curtain.
Ah, I needed to get dressed.
Today was a big day for me, mostly because it was my birthday and I was turning Nine. Both a good thing and a Bad thing in some ways.
After the Kidnapping I had taken a look at myself and decided to make some changes. Mostly in that Before I had remembered what I had been before being Sophia, I had just been drifting through life.
Admittedly most eight year olds didn't really have a goal in life, But I had been little more than a bookish, heavily depressed child. I had no friends because of my reputation. My only hobby was reading as many books as possible to drown out reality with fantasy, and no interests otherwise.
I could Sew, I knew my etiquette, was middling in all of my studies, and had no other skills to speak of.
So I set out to change that, Female knights were quite common in Sorcier and arranged Marriages were uncommon for any but the highest nobility. My father was an Earl and while he was also the Prime Minister He'd managed to allow us our own choices for marriage.
As a result of this it was fairly easy to acquire a tutor in using a weapon. To Be honest I always like the idea of being a weapon master who could pick up any random weapon and use it like they'd been born with it in hand.
As a result I requested tutoring in several kinds of weapons. Admittedly that had been a far harder sell, than just learning swordsmanship especially because they needed to find a teacher who were skilled in more than one kind of pointy implement.
But eventually I'd secure training in using axes, swords, spears, and bows.
Well to be more specific they found someone who could train me in them all, but first I had to prove that I was actually going to dedicate myself, so for now I was only learning how to use a sword.
Starting today, followed by the fact I was going to be tutored in furthering my own magic, because as it turns out having really strong magic regardless of type was very dangerous. I 'd learned that after nearly wrecking the dining room in the midst of a PTSD Episode.
Speaking of, I was quite proud to say it had been several months since I'd had any episodes, regarding Both My PTSD and the finicky veil of reality.
Well disregarding the very short one that had triggered when one of the Maids- Adeline - had been escorting her around a couple of days ago.
Seeing Adeline had become a bit more common too, common enough that I could actually remember her name! Because apparently my memory sucks.
Disregarding my current tangent, I Was nine now, with all the good and the bad. The Bad primarily being that I was now expected to Show up for tea parties, and other social events for aristocrats.
Thankfully my current shunned state meant that I would likely only have to attend maybe two gatherings at all this year. One being the young Prince Geordo and Alan's birthday celebration, the other a small party at my own estate that my Father was throwing.
Both of which would be happening much later on the calendar being several months off.
Otherwise, not much could be said, leaving me now that I had slipped on a pair of pants and a shirt, to go meet my new Swordsmanship teacher!
This had not gone the way I expected, I thought blankly as my tutor walked away muttering to himself.
He was a fairly broad man with reddish hair, practically bulging with muscle. He'd introduced himself as Ser Broadspin. He was a Landed Knight, and apparently he wouldn't be teaching me.
Instead he'd focused on how thin I was, and diet requirements as well as how to exercise and other things. Essentially he'd measured me, shoved me through a couple basic exercises and then walked off muttering to himself about training plans.
Hopefully My magic tutor would be better?