Magical Despair

Burns

When I woke up my head was throbbing and hurting. I felt my hands were bonded but I could still lift them. My legs were numb to the point I couldn't move them.

"So you woke up." I heard someone say.

The room was dark so I couldn't make out the figure, "What happened?"

"You walked towards the fire like a fly and got burned. What did you expect to happen when you walk to a ticking time bomb!?"

She sounded angry at me but I couldn't quite make out where I knew her voice from, "Where's Kara?" I asked ignoring her clear anger towards me.

"Kara." She sighed, "You asked me about her before rushing in the building you damn lunatic."

Hearing that I now knew she was Nissa, but she wasn't telling me about Kara, "Just tell me where Kara is."

"While the building was up in flames she'd gone to the training grounds with Rune... she was never in the building."

So I rushed in for nothing. I'm now burned all over for the sake of people I don't even know... I don't care for playing the hero as long as it's for those I care about. But to know I did it for people, I don't know anything about... people that have me here as a slave... It made me hate myself a little.

I pushed myself up on the bed, trying to move my legs, "At least she's alright." I say.

She scoffs turning on a candle to set it beside the bed I was in, "You caused quite the impression to those you got out." she mentioned and sat beside me, "I'm sorry for screaming... I... I've been working here for many years... I've seen plenty of 'accidents' happening." she enunciated the word and looked at me.

Did she mean what I thought, "Was the fire one of those 'accidents'?"

She nodded and sighed, "The prince... He's... He's what you'd call special. Even way back when I first came he was so special."

"Special?" I asked.

"Of course, he's the crown prince, one day to be king. And great magical abilities to match... How can he not be special... Oh, that's right... He sets fire's whenever he's annoyed."

Hearing that I pushed myself to it up straight, "He started it?!"

"Shush." she told me, "and yes. It's not the first time a building burns down... It's just the first time it's the main building." she pulled something out of her pocket setting it on the bed, "this slipped from your pocket... So you know magic?"

"No... It was given to me. Can I do magic with it?" I say it's best if she doesn't know it's Kara's, and if I can learn what it's for then better.

"Well, it's purple powder... You could summon lightning with it or poison. You can't tell the difference between them unless you use them yourself."

"What if it's poison and I try using it as lightning?" my question made her chuckle and I raised a brow, "what would happen?"

"Exactly what happened to me... It blows up in your face. I used water that should have been ice... It caught fire and hurt anyone near... You try that... and it'll hurt anyone around if you pick the wrong one."

She was quiet a second, "Hide it, if anyone sees you with it they might think you have bad intentions... Especially if they can prove it's poison."

I was hesitating to say anything, I didn't know what to say. Why would Rune give this to Kara, much less want to teach her how to use it?

"Be careful Hana, the secrets the castle and the royal family hold are secrets they don't want out. They have eyes on you now, your so called 'heroic' act has them curious about you." she got up and placed a hand in her pocket again, taking out another small bottle, the powder in it white, "You can have this, I have no use for it anyway."

When I went to grab it I saw all the bandages in my hands, my legs were under the covers, "How... How bad was I injured?"

She placed the bottle in my hand, "You won't be working for a month. Even all the potions we've used to patch you up aren't anywhere near enough to heal you. It's going to take a long long time before you're completely healed"

Nissa walked back beside the bed and grabbed the bottle that was still there, pulling the covers off so I could see my bandaged-up legs, but of the very bulky with the number of rags they had tied, "They're broken. The impact of the blast sent you back, your legs softened your fall."

She grabbed the bottle in my hand and placed them both in a small pocket of the dress I had on hand. Nissa stood up straight pulling the covers back on and walking to the door, "Get some rest. It's late, I'm going to sleep."

When she closed the door behind her I looked around the room. It was empty aside from this bed. So this room was just for me... For the time being. Noticing the window I could see it was pitch black out, no wonder Nissa needed to turn on the candle. I just thought I'd been locked up or something when I couldn't move.

I turned and blew the candle out, leaning back on the bed and closing my eyes to try and fall asleep. But excessive knocking on the door didn't let me sleep.

Wait... Knocking?