Rift

Prologue 3

Prologue 3:

Ilya Elout sat huddled in the corner of the room, watching her younger brother Gabriel painting a magic circle of blood in the center of the room. It wasn't human blood, earlier today they has slaughtered some chickens and gathered their blood. They didn't want to but it was their only option. The inhabitants of the village were becoming suspicious of her, it didn't help that she had silvery white hair that she tied in twin braids that went down her shoulders. Even though it was a modern era, this part of Russia was still superstitious of witches and anything else unknown. Usually some poor soul was falsely accused of witchcraft, but their deaths would go unnoticed because of how secluded the village was. The only difference here was that Ilya was actually a witch.

Ilya and Gabriel were one year apart, Ilya being 14 and Gabriel being thirteen. The two or them had been born in a somewhat bad situation. When Ilya was born she was deathly ill, so her mother prayed for her health. Little did their mother know was that she had successfully been able to call down a goddess. This goddess had healed Ilya, resulting in Ilya's magical abilities and uncommon coloring. Then shortly after Gabriel was born their mother started teaching Ilya magic. Five years passed after that before their mother started training Gabriel in magic.

Their mother was strange. She had short dark brown hair with golden eyes. While most of the villagers found her charming and exotic, Ilya was scared of their scary, golden eyed mother. The woman spoke with an accent uncommon to Ilya and sometimes spoke in a different language. Things got a lot worse when she started teaching Ilya magic. The magic she learned was somewhat, unsettling. Soon, her step mother starting teaching Gabriel magic as well. Gabriel would get stuff wrong or cry and he would be punished, so Ilya made a deal with their mother. Gain the memory link of Baba Yaga and then she'd leave her brother alone. Soon Ilya started seeing dark things, horrible visions, it made her want to break the deal. But, it was all I'm the name of her brother.

"Is it done yet?" Ilya asked. This blood circle was the only thing that would free them, it would transport her and her brother away from the frozen waste land of persecution.

" Almost, just this last detail." He whisked his hand in a fast motion, finishing the complicated details. Earlier in the day she had tricked her step mother into teaching a mass transportation spell. Once they were done, Ilya drugged her step mother. It was only a matter of time before her mother gathered a mob to burn the two of them alive. The two of them came together at the center of the circle and began chanting. A wall of light rose around the circle, the room began to shift and shadows danced around the room. Suddenly a load knock echoed from the door. It became louder and louder until the first hole appeared. The door was being smashed with an axe until it was nothing but shreds.

"Witch kill her!" A man said. But, it was to late, the two of them were already on there way. They felt the momentum of movement, the force and acceleration of movement. A big wave of relief overcame Ilya, until she saw a pair of glowing eyes. A figure blurred figure of a human walked through the tunnel of mana. It was their mother. Her hand reached over swiftly grabbing Gabriel by the shoulder, pulling him. I broke one hand away from my brother and sent a wave of mana forcing her mother out of the tunnel. The tunnel became shaky and her brother started drifting in a different direction. All she saw was his chestnut hair and dark brown eyes before she faded into darkness.

When Ilya awoke she found herself in a forest full of trees unfamiliar to her. They weren't the usual pine trees, they had circular leaves and giant trunks. The ground was covered in a mass of bright green, she had heard stories about grass. The sun shone high above, with a warm hearing glow rather than the brutal cold. Ilya huddled in a ball on the floor. She had escaped her prison, but lost her brother on the way. She started crying and until she passed out.