Ace of Hearts

Chapter 2: The Tale

Ellice's POV

It was after two long years when I finally said yes to Avellon. Even back then, he was an exceptional writer, scientist, and historian by profession. We got married, we had a daughter, and we settled down in Valencia in the hopes of building a happy family. And I thought it was as simple as that.

Well, so much for having high hopes.

We named our daughter Avellice. Avellice Parestine. And in honor of her first birthday, Avellon showed me a magnificent laboratory built in the basement of our mansion back in Valencia. It was simply splendid, complete with every equipment a mad scientist would've killed for. From the tiniest liquid dropper, to the massive machinery designed for dissecting specimens larger than a human being. And I have to say that even I was quite impressed.

I was really happy at first. With his new and improved working place, Avellon was able to expand his scope of research and observation. More of his compilations were published as well, and with that, money came in easily. But he never lacked the time and attention to spend for his family. We still raised Avellice together; watched her stand up and walk her first few steps on her own, taught her how to hold a pencil properly and saw her draw her first rough strokes, and even heard her say her own name for the very first time. She called herself Alice back then, and through the years, the nickname stuck to her. Those were, perhaps, the happiest days of my life.

Like everything else, those days were too good to last. The night after Alice turned eleven, she started manifesting signs of the magic that dwelled within her. The first time it happened was when the kitchen knife suddenly burned bright gold and flew towards her with such force that the tip buried itself on the wall next to her ear. And as time passes with more of these strange occurences, I noticed that it reacted to metal -- or rather, weapons that were made out of metal, and the older it is, the greater it is attracted to her.

A few months later, I told Avellon about it. And that, was how I comitted the biggest mistake that split my life into halves. My husband went completely berserk about it, ultimately seeing our daughter as if she was merely a guinea pig for his stupid scientific experiments that aimed to discover the origins of her magic power.

Ever since then, Avellon was never the same. Add that to Alice's growing fear of her father, I could totally see the oncoming downfall of our once-blissful family. I even resorted to locking her up in her room just to keep her away from her own father, who would haunt the poor girl everywhere holding a pair of chain-linked handcuffs and a syringe filled with a dangerous dose of sedatives.

I tried talking him out of it, but the Avellon I once knew was already too far gone into the depths of madness, leaving me with this wild, knowledge-greedy man I can hardly touch, let alone understand.

Meanwhile, Avellice was getting desperate. She gradually lost control of her magic. Especially when she got utterly upset about something, which, to my dismay, happened quite often. She started questioning me about her being imprisoned in her room for the longest time, and worse yet, she started asking me about what happened to her father.

I managed to hold off my husband for two long years, protecting Alice with all my might. But I knew that it was only a matter of time before Avellon draws his last card and does something drastic just to get rid of me. And true enough, he kicked me out of the house when our daughter was thirteen.

I fled out of Valencia and into the outskirts of Magnolia, eager to forget everything that had happened and regard them as something no more than a bad dream. But, try as I might, I can't sleep a wink in the night as image upon image of the horrible things Avellon might be doing to Alice at that exact moment flashed across my wild imagination. And so, I initiated a request to retrieve her and sent it to every wizarding guild available, knowing that if I myself do not possess enough power to overthrow my own husband, then perhaps someone else does.

It's been three years since then, but I can't really say that I moved on as long as my dear Avellice isn't here in my arms.

She turned sixteen last week.

My little daughter... turned sweet sixteen.

I wonder how she looks like after all these years.