Anathema.

Chapter 2 - The outside

Today I have decided to go to my father and ask him if we could go to the garden. I was reading a book about nature the other day and saw how pretty were these plants called 'flowers'. Of course, mother had a lot of herbs in the kitchen for medical purposes and others for a delicious soup she made from time to time, but none were flowers and I wanted to take a close look at one, also touch it if I got the chance. Although, mainly I desired to go outside because I wanted to see if I could meet the girl I saw yesterday outside my window. Whichever the reason was that I appealed to go outside for, my father denied it quickly. I looked at him in silence, with my usual emotionless face.

"Sweetheart, I love you with all my heart and soul. You know perfectly well that I would bring you whatever you desire in order to make you happy, for you and your mother are my most precious treasures and I would do anything to keep you two happy and safe. But, I just can't let you outside, no matter what. It breaks my heart, it really does, but both your mother and I have come to this decision. You have to be safe, you are no normal child, your special, Anathema, and a lot of creepy people would love to get their hands on you, my child, I will not let that happen at any costs. Nobody can know your here, otherwise they'll do anything to learn more about you and get to you. I'm sorry, but I can't accept your request." My father said, with concern and sadness clear on his tone. I could see his eyes almost wet, almost about to cry, his face was broken.

"I'm sorry, father. It was a silly thing to ask, I won't do that again. I understand that I must stay here and not go out. It's a dangerous place for a girl like me, I know. I am grateful to have you and mother to take excellent care of me. I know perfectly well that you wish for only the best for me, I will obey as always. I just wanted to see what such thing as a flower was, given the thought that I probably would never see one given the circumstances that I am in, it is all." I said with my emotionless expression, my tone of voice monotone, as usual. I hugged my father, I understood everything. In fact, I feel bad, for I know that I got him upset for such a silly matter.

After hugging, I headed to my quarters. I picked up a book that I was reading. It was a history book, about Lady Amerlie, she was one of the Sacred Gods, she was actually the leader of them, she and Lady Calissa were. Her formal title was 'Lady Amerlie the Goddess of Judgment', her partner of leadership, Lady Calissa the Goddess of Justice, was originally picked as leader of the Sacred Gods by they're previous generation Leader, the 'original' leader: Lady Amathist The Goddess of Prosperity. But, according to the book, Calissa did not want to 'rule' the Gods, for she knew that Amerlie worked far harder and was much stronger and intelligent, she thought it was more proper for her to sit at the thrown and have the title. Amerlie did not wished that, for she wasn't the one picked by the great Amathist, she did not think it was right. Amathist then declared that both of them would rule together, and lead their group to save the people who needed them and protect them. There was a theory of two brothers, they were geniuses, they had a massive debate of on the topic. One of them, Elrick Windstone, claimed that Lady Amerlie died by the hands of her apparent lover, in an act to save himself, their children, and the kingdom. While the other and younger sibling, Leo Windstone, claimed that Lady Amerlie was killed by Calissa of an act of disapproval of her way to lead the powerful Gods, and that Lady Amerlie had done quite a lot of errors during their leadership together, leaving a trial of dead people behind, and several other mistakes. According to Leo, Amerlie's lover was getting corrupted by power, since he was a Sacred God himself, and he passed a dark kind or magic within him. This debate was viral, and was present on every book that had to do with the Sacred Gods.

While enthusiasm runed throw my body and I was about to return reading were I had left off and discover how the debate ended, I heard a knocking on my bedroom door. As it opened, my eyes meet with my mother's. She had a look of worry in them. She approached me, sat down on my bed and looked at me in silence. I knew exactly what she was going to say, I waited politely so that she could began talking. She took her time, but alas, started talking. "An, dear, you know you mean the world to me, right? I love you more than anything else in the whole world. I would do anything for you to feel like a normal child. Your father told me what you have request of him. I am not upset because of your request, I am upset because I cannot do anything about this. A mother's wish is nothing more to see their child well, happy, okay and having fun, running around everywhere and talking about their new discoveries. I want you to have a normal life, and if I get the chance to make that wish come true, I'll do anything to accomplish that." She started, with concern in her tone. " My mother and sister were mages like myself and you. Back in the day when I was born, things were far much harder and cruel. In my home town, the villagers hatted our kind, they'd claimed that we were demon people and misfortune was upon us, that we were cursed and that we never did anything but bad towards them. My mother was a kind person, her dream was to make peace in the world and help as many people as she was capable of helping. I'm afraid that the villagers did not see that, they were blinded by their rage and hatred towards my family. They would always treat us as if we were worth less, did would hit us, call us by ugly names, made up jokes about us, destroy our property and make our life like garbage. One day, when I was twenty on years old, my mother was tired of everything, so she went to speak with the Lord of the village. She never came back that they. Before she left, she told us to stay home and never get out, she didn't want us to get hurt or worse. We did as she said, but days had past and she didn't return, so my sister decided that she would go look out for her. Days past, had yet to come back. I was horrified. I decided to go out and look for them, afraid of what might await for me. Before I left I hid everything valuable that was in the house, I hid them with magic and in a safe place where nobody could find them, just in case. I went looking for them, but just as I stepped outside my house people gathered around me. They made jokes of me and insulted me for a few minutes, after I decided that had heard enough I continued my way to search for my family, they stopped me and hit me on the back of my head. After I woke up, I noticed that I was tied up. I looked around and saw my mother and sister. They looked horrible, blood covered them fully, they looked as if they were tortured badly. They did the same to me a few days, that's where I got this scar." After she paused, she pulled back her hair to revile a big scar on the neck. Afterwards, she continued with her horrible experience. "After that, men took us to the surface. They kept us in the entrance of the village, mocking us that we couldn't leave. Then, a man that looked like their leader tied a nod in a tree outside the gate. After that, he ordered two men to pick up my mother; after they did, they hanged her to the rope. She died, and they just left her there. They took a sign that read 'STAY OUT YOU DIRTY WITCHES OR THIS WILL BE YOUR FATE' and put it next to my mother corpse. Then, as they were about to take my sister to be hanged as well, a man in armor came, behind him a group of knights with pretty good and fancy looking armor, they had a symbol in their houses armor, they were the kings men. They started fighting the men that tortured us, the knights killed all the bad men, until they're leader was left. A knight stepped forward with a bow and arrow, but before he shot, the man took my sister and used her as a human shield, the knight shot her by accident, and she died before my eyes. The knights finally killed the man, only leaving me as a survivor. I was devastated. The leader of them unwrapped me from the ropes, he ripped some of his cloak and put it were my wounds were, since I had little and transparent clothes, because they were wet, the knight covered me in his cloak. He sat me on the back of his horse and took me here. He let me stay in his house and heal me, giving me food and warm clothes with shelter. That man, is your father."