CHAPTER 3: THE MOODY MAGE

Meanwhile.............

Kyra stood on a rock at the edge of the dense Slarap woods south of the capital of Seppora, Elwyrm. Who was she and how did she get here? Well, it all began 10 years ago....

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"Your great power will bring you great suffering, but you will also do great things", these words kept ringing in Kyra's. She had been told those words by her dying mother. She didn't want to do anything aside from having her parents with her again and being back home with them working on the farms. Kyra was originally from the realm of Garnia across the sea to the north of Seppora an also predominantly human realm with arable land and resources. Seppora's Imperium had rallied it's force in a bid to annex Garnia because they felt that the human realms should be under one central rule. This sparked a conflict and Garnia was invaded and forced to be vassal to Seppora due to the war reaching a tipping point and forcing the king of Garnia to surrender. The Imperium Guard stationed there soon had free rein to treat the people of Garnia how they pleased.

Kyra came from a family of mages. Mages are people that are born with the ability to do magic. The power can be passed on by birth so it wasn't uncommon to see whole bloodlines of mages. In fact one of the seven great houses of the Imperium, Eribor is a noble bloodline of powerful mages. When she was 8, her village which was closer to the shores was hit by the invading Imperium Guards and it was a near wipeout. On that fateful day she was out in the fields helping out her parents when they heard screams coming from the direction of the shores. Garnia's tiny navy had failed to stem the invasion of Garnian land and the Imperium Guard soldiers of Seppora were on them wrecking havoc. "Get into the house and hide in the cellar, both of you" her father grunted as four fully equipped Imperium Guard soldiers entered into the farm with orders to secure it and capture it's inhabitants dead or alive for the purpose of using the food supplies to resupply while pushing their advance. In reality Garnia could offer little military resistance to Seppora because of its small size and being an island realm split in half by the sea and which it's population were subsistent farmers and fishermen, they weren't really in need of a standing army and the army they gathered was fodder compared to the one Seppora's Imperium had at their disposal.

As Kyra ran into the house with her mom, they watched through the cracks on the door as her father tried to fight off the soldiers with his magic. His eyes glowed a bright green as he waved his hand and conjured sharp vines from the soil which impaled two of the soldiers. He conjured another vine which wrapped around the neck of another soldier snapping it and killing him then he flung the the body at the other soldier. By this time more soldiers had come numbering about a dozen. Kyra's father's eyes glowed a fiery red as he conjured fire and blasted them but a few who were left standing lunged at him and fatally wounded him. He tried to to retaliate and another soldier blindsided him and impaled him with a lance from behind. As Kyra's mother saw this she screamed in grief and rushed outside to aid her wounded husband, "There's a child in the house" one of the soldiers said as he saw little Kyra who was watching in terror as the carnage unfolded around her.

"Stay away from her", screamed Kyra's mother, her eye glowing a light blue as she conjured balls of water with an exploding effect and send it at the soldier who was about to go and claim the girl and it sent him flying. "Kill that damn bitch" yelled one of the soldiers to his comrades as they saw their fellow blown to bits by her attack. By then more soldiers had surrounded her. Kyra's mother put up a good fight but is overpowered by the soldiers one of whom runs into her with his sword. She coughs up some blood and turns around to look at Kyra who stand there in should begins to weep. "No!!! Mother!!!" she yells as she rushes towards her dying mother. One of the soldiers is about to grab her and take her to the ships as a captive but what happens next shocks everyone there present.

"LEAVE US ALONE!!!" screamed Kyra as her eyes glowed a violet hue and all around her sharp ice envelopes and freezes every soldier in and around the farm. "Mother, mother, please stay..." begged Kyra. "I..... don't have much time left..... Kyra dear", "You.... showed.... your true power today and I.... couldn't be more proud....", "I'm sure....your father....would be too". "Mother please", said Kyra, tears streaming down her face as she held on to the dying woman. A tear streamed down her face too.

"Your great power.....will bring.....you great suffering.....but you will also do......great things...." said the woman, she holds her little girl's head up, caressing her hair, and the light began to dim in her eyes as her hand slowly fell of the crying child's face. This moment broke Kyra like it would anyone. She sat there crying on her mother's corpse for several hours until a detachment of Sepporan soldiers found her bound her and put her on a ship to be transported to Seppora.

On the ship to Seppora, she was fed once a day, was under the foul smelling cabin of the shop only brought up once a day in the morning to relieve herself which was the only time she saw daylight. She was among the around 300 women and children captured in the fighting and taken to Seppora to be sold. 6 weeks later they docked at the northern port of Seppora and were made to walk for hundreds of miles inland before getting to a place called Zolem where they were to be auctioned off. She was sold for a price of 2 pieces of gold since she was young and could work for many years. The family who bought her took her home and when they got to their home, they began preparing a red hot iron brand for her. She saw this and started panicking. She became very scared when two of the older brothers pinned her down and the brand came down on her skin, "ARRGHHH...!!!" she screamed and her eyes suddenly glowed bright red as the embers which they had used to heat the brand exploded into flames killing the whole family except her and that was how she was able to escape slavery. She got adopted by a kind old lady who was also a seer and saw the destiny of the child. This child would bring hope to the hopeless. No one knew of her roots except the old lady she fondly called "Ma".

Kyra grew up with Ma but would fall in and out of depression due to her troubled childhood. She was a mage of immense power but she didn't unleash her magic again till she was about 16. On that day she saw a young girl of about her age getting molested by some Imperium Guard soldiers who were on duty in the village where she lived. "What are you doing? Leave her alone" said Kyra as she approaches the guards. "What are you going to do about it little girl?" asks one of the guards, "Maybe she wants some too" replied the other laughing. "Come on girl, I know you do" said the first guard. "Leave her alone, she's not your damn toy, you damn bastards". "What did you say girl?" asked the first guard, "I will kill you here and now and nothing will happen you little piece of shit...".

She managed to get them off the other girl and she scurried away but now she was in deep trouble because she couldn't possibly defend herself against two men, more so Imperium Guard soldiers. One of them draws his dagger and walks up to her and corners her. He puts one hand on the wall and places the tip of the dagger on her chin. "So what's it gonna be you little shit....?", "You pooped on my party and now you have to give me the pleasure you made me miss out on".

He begins to unbuckle her dress around her bust. "What are you doing?", "Stop it....." she protests, he reinforces his grip on the dagger and it's tip presses harder under her chin. He had exposed her breasts by now and began fondling it. "Please stop....", "Come on girl, don act like you're not enjoying it too...." he retorts with a wry smirk across is face. "Hey come check this out Raine, hers are bigger and softer...." he calls out to his buddy. His buddy comes over and begins to fondle her too. "Stop, stop, I said stop this instant!!!" says Kyra as her eyes glow white and she pushes them away with a blast of wind. She quickly runs home in shame with the soldiers cursing and swearing at her, and cries profusely for hours till Ma came and comforted her.

Now the day she became a true rebel was when because of her self defense the soldiers came looking for her in Ma's small house but she was away and when they couldn't find her, they murdered Ma. Kyra came back home and saw Ma dying and as she was about taking her last breaths she told her "Follow your heart, it will lead you to freedom and peace", after which she passed away. Ma was the only person who loved and treated her like right, she knew it was those soldiers and they were going to pay in blood.....

With eyes glowing bright red due to her activation of her magic and her anger and hate clearly visible she conjured a fire so hot it was blue rather than yellow. Enveloped in this awesome spectacle she stormed the barracks and burned anyone who dared stand in her way to fine smooth ashes. She got to the mess where one of the men who molested her the other day was drinking some booze and he knew it was over when he saw the magic fire burning blue with a girl inside. "You are Raine, where is your buddy?" Kyla said. "Y....y...you j...just missed him, he's been redeployed, he left for the village of Tartum a few hours ago" replied Raine wetting himself. "What's his name?" asked Kyra. "Balo Fer, I warned him but he wanted vengeance, he could have let it go...." BOOM!!!, Kyra sent his head flying from his body with a powerful blast. "I will send him to meet you in the underworld soon you bastard....."

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And that was how she set off to Tartum and she was going for blood. She also found it easy, murdering other Imperium guards she met along the way. She was going to purge the world of this injustice. Now she was at the mouth of the Slarap woods. She was going to end the man that took away her happiness, Balo Fer.