Forgotten Magic

Chapter 2

One night, I was sitting in the alleyway, gazing at the stars peppered across the sky, when I heard footsteps. Not just one pair of footsteps too.

I sprung to my feet, gathering my cloak around me and preparing to run. There were at least three. Maybe more.

But the first hit still caught me by surprise.

It was a swift punch straight to the face that sent me stumbling back into the wall. I felt my face-nothing broken-as my other hand reached for the brick wall behind me. For what? I couldn't say

I squinted into the darkness, but it was too black to make out any details. I could tell one of them was tall and lean, with short dark hair. The others were obscured by a shadow cast by the house to my right.

I felt a hand grab me by my neck and pin me to the wall. My hands scratched at the one holding me, but my movements were too frantic to be of use.

Out of the darkness, a fist streaked towards my face...and I felt something warm trickle down my cheek.

I gritted my teeth, wanting to cry. But I didn't.

"C-cowards," I stuttered, my voice barely a fraction of what I wanted to muster. "Thar's what you are. Cowards. Only someone too frightened to make a move in broad daylight would attack under the cover of nightfall, don't you thi-" Another punch. More blood.

"If we're such cowards, then what does that make your friend?" the person hissed.

"M-my friend?" I asked, watching my world spin in front of me. "W-What does he have to do with-"

"Didn't even tell you his name, did he? Little piece of shi-"

"Please, not that kind of language," I whispered, a bit frightened, now that they had mentioned it. It had been bothering me for months. For all the time I'd known him.

"That little piece of garbage's name is Varian Habile. He's the village leader's son. And a cause for trouble."

"H-How does that...How does that exactly make him cowardly?" I asked. "And what do you have against him, now that I think about i-" Another hit. I felt faint.

"Don't you understand. He wasn't even brave enough to tell you his name. And I'm warning you, ya little twerp. Don't speak to him anymore, or you're going to have to answer to me. Is that clear?"

And that was all I heard before passing out.

The nest morning, I awoke to find the sun halfway up its ascent. It was still early enough that no one was out, so I made my way to a well.

I glanced at my reflection. I looked...well...terrible. Dry and crusty blood ran down one half of my face, also soaking its way into some of my hair. There was a fairly dark bruise on my cheek, and my head was pounding. I leaned in closer, and realized I had also scraped my face from fainting.

I reached into the well and splashed some water onto my face, cleaning up as much of the blood as I could. I was lucky the cuts had stopped bleeding. I was only left to wonder how much I had bled.

There was still an alarming red stain in my hair, as well as down my forehead, and the bruise could only fade with time. After a few minutes of thinking of how I'd hide this from the boy I now knew was called Varian, I simply pulled the hood farther down and called it alright. Little did I expect what was coming next.

I waited for what I can assume was an hour...waiting for Varian. I also kept an eye out for those...people from last night. I thought about that a lot while I waited.

They didn't seem much taller than I was. So, they were probably only two or thee years older than I was. Maybe 14 or 15.

Their voices suggested towards it as well. They weren't the lower tones of men in the village, but not as high as Varian's, or the other guys his age. So I assumed they were a bit older than me and no more. And that was assuming they hadn't pretended to use a different voice, which also seemed quite strange, now that I imagine it.

At first, I sat against the wall while I waited and thought. But when I noticed the glances people were giving me, I realized I looked like a homeless thief and got to my feet to lean against the wall instead.

To my shock, when the sun was at its height, I felt two hands grab my hood and pull it down behind me.

"Surprise!" Varian's voice cried. And then there was silence.

You see, my hair isn't an ordinary color, like brown or black or blonde. No, it was a shade of the lightest yellow, almost snow white. Which was why I hid it.

I turned around to face him, an anxious smile on my face as I pulled my hood back on. "Surprise...I...guess you think I'm weird now..."

Varian just stared at me for a moment. He then shook his head and smiled. "What? No. I think it's beautiful."

I paused. "You do?"

"Y-Yeah. I-I've never seen that before. I-I think I've read about it somewhere, but...wow."

~ ~ ~

Varian just came by. He wanted to write this next part so I'll hand the pen to him, shall I?

~ ~ ~

After I got over the shock of seeing my friend, fully, for the first time, I started taking in the rest of her. There was a faint red stain on one side of her face, a bruise on the other side, and a brighter stain through her hair.

"What happened?" I asked, unsure if I wanted to know the answer.

"What? This?" She touched the bruise with one hand. "Oh, this...this was nothing. I-It's nothing."

"N-No, tell me."

She looked at me for a moment, and said "So your name's Varian."

She gave me a heart attack just then. I felt like I'd just been punched in the face. I didn't understand how she knew. "Y-Yeah...it is..."

"I was...threatened...last night, by a group of three people. They told me who you were, that you were dangerous...and they told me not to talk to you again."

For a moment, I didn't see anything. I didn't hear anything...I just...

"They why are you still here?"

"B-Because I want to be," she answered.

"No! No, why are you still here?! Why do you want to? I-I don't understand... You-You know I'm dangerous. What are you still doing here?"

She paused. She looked almost frightened. But not quite. "I don't understand."

I thought she must have lost her mind. Don't understand? How?

"Don't understand what?" I growled. I hadn't meant to. It just came out that way.

"I...don't understand why people hate you so much."