Requiem for an Unpublished Novel

Origin

' "I was brought up outside the magical world, by carers, very nice people." Mine and the boy's gazes crossed. "I'm sorry..." ' * (Chapter 17 Unicorn). Being the offspring of wizards, they did not possess magic themselves, but earned respect in some circles for their help to the 'headmaster' during the struggle with her father, which saved many lives. 'Despite their inferiority, from the magical community's point of view, my steps always behaved with dignity, even being alongside its powerful and influential representatives. ... All of this made me feel proud of them. Yeah... and they got me as a reward... a strange reward, to be honest. ... They raised me as if I were their real child, though the fact that I was adopted had never been hidden. For that, I was sincerely grateful to them.' (Chapter 1 Two wizards). "And I don't know my biological family..." (Chapter 17 Unicorn). Thus, it becomes clear in which direction, despite the genes, the arrows of the moral compass of the heroine will point.

What about the genes? The 'headmaster' more or less clearly told only about the girl's father: almost immediately after birth, he murdered the entire family of her mother, including the mother, and thought she died in this mess too; a year and a half later, he himself was annihilated by a little boy. About who the mother and her family were, why he killed them, how it happened that she was born, whether he wanted her dead too, the 'old wizard' did not say a word. She had to get this information herself. The 'headmaster', as promised, helped the girl by providing, along with other additional literature, a book called 'Prophecies of the Ancient World'. In it, in the section 'The Ancient East', according to the date and place of death of her family, she found the text of a prophecy fulfilled on that day, given several millennia ago to their ancestor. In the files of newspapers stored in the school library, she also found an article about discovery in the forest near a certain village of a settlement that had never been there and all the inhabitants of which were killed, "every last baby". Herewith, the dead were called 'ancients' and the suspect in the atrocity was called her father, while acknowledging the unknown motive. The biography of the family, written by one of its members in the Middle Ages, nevertheless, with the genealogical tree the branches of which reach our days, found her by itself, while she was wandering in the fog of time - through the section of the historical book, following the advice of a wise librarian who said that 'books like to be found on their own - so they would reveal more' (Chapter 3 Wand). She saw her name in it. The father, however, was not there. Much later, in the fifth year, telling her story to the 'army', she would hear from its 'fighters' that her father "did it... after they refused to align with him. A great tragedy... Especially for our house. Her family members were their last representatives. They were believed to have unique knowledge and magic. Now all this is irretrievably lost." And that "In truth, there were ugly stories surrounding them. They were also fervent proponents of blood status. There was time, they were even accused of using dark magic... I haven't heard this theory of their murder before, nor that they still existed in his time... If so, then it's just surprising that they refused him." In turn, the heroine would say that 'ancients' were just "Several wizarding families relocated here from the east in the second half of the eleventh century. They remained loyal to their ancient culture and traditions, hence, basically, the name. They might have had some secret knowledge, but I haven't found a single book with their teachings in the school library, not in any of the sections." And "You know, while I was seeking a book about the magic of the 'ancients', I came across a book about ancient magic. I'm sure it will be much more useful." (Chapter 17 Unicorn).

Her scepticism of such grandiloquence was not born out of thin air. The biography of her family was hardly as impressive as the name they gave themselves and the adornment of the book they wrote about themselves. And something immediately caught the girl's eye: 'Now, in the rays of light, it could be seen. Dense brown cover made of thick leather of good quality, braided patterns in the corners and in the centre - of gold embossed. Inside, it was also richly decorated, this was evident from the design of the tree. Overall, it didn't look much different from many of the old books in the library except for one thing - there was no indication that anyone had ever read it.' (Chapter 3 Wand). Later, she realised that her family fell for the same bait as the author of their biography - decorations: "You can ... invent any grand name for yourself, kill all the witnesses of your origin, but this will not change the truth - you will never cease to be who you were born." (Chapter 24 Father). And what it led them to: "You became their fate. You became the cause of their apostasy, and you also carried out the sentence prescribed for it." (Chapter 26 Battle). This human weakness (strength?) caused her the most pain when she walked through the ruins of the 'school' past the dead bodies: 'All these heroes of legends and paintings... With what ecstasy people read about them, fantasising about being in their place, dreaming of becoming them. ... There is nothing sublime about death, it is sickeningly empty. Only the words of the romantics describing it are sublime. But someone who has witnessed it once will never wish to see it again. Heroism is a side effect of facing evil. There is no need to strive for it, it should not be allowed.' (Chapter 26 Battle).