Her Heart, His obsession

12. A Healer's Pain

Alexandra came from a noble family in Arkansas. She lived in Arkansas until she turned 16 and got one of the highest score in the annual challenge that was like an entrance exam for all healers to become a member of the society. A score that was only topped by Athena two years before her.

Alexandra had left home at an early age because she had seen too many horrors and injustice under the rule of Dante's father " Eros" and his wife "Leona". She witnessed how all the laws were against humans and mythical creatures of weak bloodlines. as a child she was afraid to look at any one below her class let alone talk to one. And that must have been why she had fainted at hearing Dante being under the same roof as her healer coven. She had witnessed the horrors in Arkansas first hand.

She recalled severe fines and punishments for associating with the weak. Ever since she had vowed to co-operate with freedom fighters to save any human she could And Send them to neutral lands like Australia. When her family found out about her forbidden empathy for the weak they had been horrified. They had contacted her aunt to ask for support. She had recommended her to the healer society. she almost did not make it because of the strong opposition of her brother Alexander , a highly skilled commander. She had managed to run away only with the help of her aunt. Her own brother was even willing to keep her locked up to make her become an asset to the Ronas Dynasty. That was why Alexandra trusted no one. that was why she had left home at such early age and never looked back. the healers code did encourage all to finish their studies at 18 and then join in their own time when ready. But not Her, she had asked Tattiana to mentor her to finish her training in learning all secrets in witchcraft. And Tattiana had ever since been nothing but a loving older sister to her that she never had.

Despite her bad memories, there was one high class warlock in Arkansas who she had seen many heroics from. he had helped the freedom fighters alongside her. She recalled Dante's brother Demetrious who was a child at the time, saving many of her fellow fighters including herself from capture.

The first day she had met him, He was playing with his light spheres, making shapes in the sky when she had entered the military premises to help spies gain information on the activities of the royal guards and fighters. On that day Demetrious had created a diversion for the guards to lose her track and Alexandra had escaped. She was both shocked and impressed for a child to have possessed such power and also to have such courage to defy his parents' rules.

At another occasion, Alexandra had mistakenly teleported to the Ronas properties and she had been horrified to find the place sealed so tightly. on that day, she had followed her brother to locate one of the wounded spies badly hurt in the dungeons brought to Alexander. The protocol in Arkansas was that they would torment prisoners to the brink of death only to heal them and then to start all over again. that was why many healers relocated constantly to avoid being used for such purposes. When Demetrious had found her, he hid her in his chambers and had helped her get past the guards and the seals of the property. She had promised to Demetrious that she would repay him one day if Demetrious could manage to stay alive.

There were rumours of Demetrious's defiance everywhere. She had even heard Alexander, her brother talking of his concerns to Dylan, a half warlock-half werewolf, when he had come to their mansion for dinner one night. She feared Dylan with all her heart. He was heartless with no love. it made chills go down her spine when she had over heard Alexander telling her parents that Dylan was in love with her and wanted to court her when she turned 18. She was forever grateful to her aunt to help her break out before such arrangement came to be.

Dylan was the reason she had lost her sleep last night. Here she was in her bed at 4 in the morning thinking back to her nightmare. Her dream was a memory of her past when she was 16. she was having a fighting lesson with a new teacher in the special compound "The Phoenix Academy" for the education of noble bloods. One of Dylan's duties as a young 17 year old recruit was to inspect education compounds and prosecute those with teaching practice outside protocol. He had made an unexpected visit to her lesson and had attacked the trainer with the most gruesome spells. Her conviction was her lack of use of the right displays in the training chamber. There were no signs to praise the Ronas Dynasty. He had then arrested her right in front of the class and her potions master had taken over for the rest of the year.

She tried to find out what had happened to her trainer by asking Alexander. After all her brother was a 17 year old junior commander completing his senior year at the healer division so he must have known of her trainer's fate. Alexander had dismissed her request of course and had warned her to never show sympathy for traitors again or he would punish her. She considered herself lucky that her brother never caught her with helping the freedom fighters. Even when her parents had found out about her friendship with a freedom fighter, they never dared tell her brother since he was known for his extreme methods.

For first time young offenders who broke protocols, in most cases the rules stated for the offender to be sent to dungeons to witness the torment of humans and the weak mythical classes. They had to follow Nathan or Benjamin, the well known feared punishers of Arkansas and had to watch in silence as they brutally put innocent people through the most unimaginable pain. Her parents were petrified for the possibility of her to be sentenced to such punishment if she was ever arrested. such punishment could cause such trauma that the person could become depressed and isolated for weeks or months. She was their only daughter so they had to send her away to occupy her enough to stay away from rule breakers. Little did they expect for her to be one day fighting alongside her healer coven against Dante. there was no going back now.

She slowly got up from bed and made her way to the great dining hall they had created yesterday. She could occupy herself by making breakfast and decorating and furnishing the rooms further. After all, they expected many innocents to be rescued from today and be brought to Valera as their first stop before hopefully sending them to neutral territories if it was safe enough. The thought made her smile.

Athena's POV

I was too tired to stay awake any longer after Dante had demonstrated his powers to me. I instantly went to sleep and only opened my eyes when Alexandra sent me the morning summon calls. That made me aware, it was time for breakfast. I dressed up and was ready to leave until I realised there was a red cloak neatly folded on my desk for me to wear. I knew it was Alexandra's work. She was the most considerate member of the group.

I wore the cloak and as i teleported to the dining hall i thought about how i was going to tell my fellow healers about my little conversation with Dante last night.

That horrific castle Dante had managed to pull out of the depths of the earth was now out in the open again.

This only meant one thing for now.

We needed more recruits.