Sea of Magic: The Chronicles of a Witch (Trio)

Lukas POV

     My past isn't one to be talked about. I'm not one to be talked about. I fade into the crowd, my voice unheard. I like it that way. And yet, that one incident survives in the news. My body is plastered with the remnants of my history. One look in the mirror, and I go spiraling back to that place, that time, that tragedy that befell me so many years ago.

I stand alone in my home. I stand alone in front of a covered mirror, bracing myself to look once again. I take a deep breath and rip the sheet off, and am met with burn scars running up my legs. A brand seared into my shoulder. I slowly run my fingers over the ruined tissue, barely able to feel anything from the scar tissue. Painful memories tug at my mind, but I push them away and turn. Scars litter my back, my stability breaks, and I'm thrown into a flashback.

Me and my little brother, Emil, are playing outside. Our parents watch from the deck far away. They yell to not go to far away, but we were never ones to listen. I look up and see a glowing light, Emil sees it too. I reach out, only for it to zip away, a few feet in front of us. We giggle and follow it, but it only zips away, further and further into the trees.
In a trance, I continue into the forest, unaware of the calls from my parents and the whimpers and cries and my scared, 6-year-old brother. Sounds of leaves rustling and sticks breaking fill the forest around me. I can feel Emil's tugs on my shirt as he catches up to me. Just then, I hear him scream. I whip around and am face to face with a creature I can't identify. It's large and shaggy, blood-stained teeth mere inches from my face. The creature attacks and I shield my brother, but then... blue light sears through my eyelids. I open them and see that the blue light is me. In an movement of instinct, I raise my hand. Theres a larger, transparent green hand floating next to mine. Together, we cast a spell and energy erupts from my body, striking the creature point blank. It whimpers and growls at me before sprinting away.
"Lukas..." I hear to my right. I look up and my parents are standing there, looks of fear distorting their faces. Emil runs to them, shivering in fear.
"What are you afraid of?" I ask. "The monster is gone."
"Nei..." My father pants. "Nei, Lukas, you are the monster..."
My eyes widen. I look at my hands, veins pulsing with energy. My right hand still accompanied by the green one. I turn my hands over, over, over again.
Sirens sound and I look up. My mother is on the phone with someone, tears roll down her face as she regards me with a look I've never seen before. She's saying the words witch, monster, heathen, miscreant over and over into the phone.
My father stands in front of her, arm out-stretched in a gesture of protection. Emil quivers behind them, wrapping himself in our mothers' skirt.
Lights and shouts come from behind my family, but soon, they disappear in a crowd on strangers. Anger and disgust contort their features. A net is thrown over me and I fall. The blue light and green hand disappear. I try to cast a defensive spell, but I can't. Something hard connects with the back of my head and my vision goes black.

I go in and out of consciousness as my body is jostled around. I don't know where I am. I want my mom, my dad, my brother, but I see neither of them. Suddenly, light floods the room I'm in. An ugly old man stands in to doorway.
"Witch," he sneers at me. I don't know what that word means. He flicks his hand and two more men enter the room. They grab me and lift me up. My legs flail in the air and my arms hurt where they hold me. They carry me for a long time until we're outside. A large crowd stares at me and screams. They chant, "Witch! Burn the witch! Burn the witch!" The crowd parts as the two men walk through. A large wooden pole surrounded by logs stands tall in the middle of the crowd.
I don't know whats happening, but even in my panic, my face stays steely and cold. Unnaturally calm. I'm brought to the pole and tied to it. I fight, but make no progress.
A bang sounds and I look up to the ugly man from before standing on a podium.
"Stands before you today is the youngest witch to ever be tried! Aged to only be ten years old, and yet, the most powerful witch we have seen yet!"
The crowd boos and screams and shouts. Profanities and insults flitter through the crowd. As the man starts to speak again, the crowd quiets down.
"We are gathered here, as a community, to prosecute and burn the witch, in order to protect the safety of the people, and the safety of the poor family who bore this cursed child!"
Just then, my parents come up and stand next to the man, my brother clutched in my mothers grasp.
"You poor things," the man sighs. "Please, make your testimony when you feel you can."
My father clears his throat and speaks, "My son, Lukas, has always been and strange and troubled child, but I never would had guessed he had been touched, claimed even, by the devil! Just a few days ago, he attacked our youngest!" My mother lifts Emil, who starts crying. "Our youngest was playing innocently in the woods when that monster down there came up and cast a spell on him! Luckily for us, the grace of God came down and protected him, protected us! By the time we got to our youngest's side, our eldest was glowing a deep blue, with a horrid green troll leaning over him, leering at us! It was all we could do to call the Angelic Knights of God to save us!"
The crowd makes various noises in response to my fathers words. At the mention of the AKG, the Knights rhythmically pound their spears into the ground.
I turn away from my parents, my face still unchanging.
"Look!" A man in the crowd shouts. "The child sheds no tears! No tears of remorse for what he's done to his family!"
"No tears of sadness for his betrayal!"
"No tears of fear for death!"
The chant from before starts up again, and the man on the pedestal nods. The AKG close in on me, torches held tightly in their hands.
"Burn the witch," one says to me, and they light the wood under my feet. I try to get away, but it's no use, I'm stuck to this pole. Flames encircle me, and I feel and horrible heat on my feet and legs. I scream, but my sound is drowned out by the crowd and the roar of the fire. I feel nothing but pain for what feels like an eternity until a different roar sounds from behind me. I see the green hand from before and the blue light emerges once again from my veins. The flame turns to ice, jutting out into the crowd and nearly empaling bystanders.
More screams come from the crowd as people flee. My parents are no longer at the podium, but the man looks down at me with pure malcontent and malice. He jumps down from his position and walks to the edge of my ice.
"Never before has a witch survived the stake. You truly are a monster." He hisses.
The ropes from before no longer bind my tiny body to the pole. I lift my hands and mutter words of a language I didn't know I knew and the man screams in pain. Feathers begin to protrude from his body and his limbs contort. A few moments later and the man flies away, now trapped in the body of a sparrow. I try to run, but only get so far before the Knights capture me again. They restrict my magic and hold me down as I flail and kick.
"What shall we do with him?"
"He's powerful. If we can contain him, he'd be a good slave."
Horrid laughter rings out from all around me. A Knight approaches me with a metal rod, burning red hot with the symbol of the AKG. I feel my shirt be torn from my body and the burning metal sears into my left shoulder, right above my collarbone.
I call out. For the first time, red hot tears stream down my face. My ears begin to ring and darkness fills the edges of my vision.
Before I pass out from pain, a thought filters through my mind.
'I am no longer my own person... I am branded by the Angelic Knights of God... I am a slave...'