(From Violett)
Out of all the people I have met in my life, Julius is the one I love the most. I love him from the bottom of my heart, though I am not sure when I started to feel that way. We were born with a few months of difference. I am the older one, of course. Apparently, my mother knew the queen, so we spent a lot of time in our infancy together. I love how manly and brave he grew up to be, despite being afraid of snails and frogs when we were young. I love how smart he is, and I love showing him that I am just as smart as he is, if not more. I love that he is a bit brazen and childish when we are alone. He is the one for me, and I am the one for him. That's why, I would never let anyone take him away from me.
From the very first day that we got into the Academy, the daughters of noble families flock towards him, so I had to make sure they all knew that he was MINE. The majority needed nothing more than a glance to learn their places. A few stubborn ones, I had to break down more thoroughly, but in time they even began to follow me obediently. But one among them would turn out to be especially problematic...
—You! Are you the one who keeps getting too close to my fiance? Who do you think you are? —I said to the girl as I cornered her.
—M-my name is Eva Snyder, my lady! —she replied, obviously not understanding what I had asked.
I chuckled. She was shaking. She gave me the impression of a cute little lamb. She was petite and, in all honesty, looked a bit malnourished, but she still looked pretty enough. Her skin was almost as pale as the snow, her long hair was golden, and the iris of her eyes was of a bright blue. I wouldn't have minded having her as my pet, but I needed to tell her to stay away from what was MINE.
Her surname sounded familiar to me, but I couldn't remember where I had heard it. It wasn't any of the noble families, so she had to be either daughter of a rich merchant, or very talented to get into the Academy. It didn't matter.
—Listen very well, Eva. Stay away from MY fiance, and we won't have any problem. Do you understand?
—Y-yes, my lady!
It's what she said, sounding too scared to be lying. Yet she continued to be seen near MY Julius. The girls that I had already broken heard my opinions on her, and acted on their own. They stole her books, threw ink at her dress, and some even outright intimidated her. Those tactics were beyond me, but I would be lying if I said I didn't get a sense of satisfaction from seeing her squirm.
—Lady Violett, why haven't you squashed that fly —my most loyal attendant said to me. She had been at my side since I had been a baby, so it was rather surprising to see her questioning my decisions. But it was not entirely unrequited.
—In a way, I feel pity for her. No matter how much I hold my strength, I feel like she would break
like glass if I dared to even touch her.
—That shouldn't be a problem for you, my lady. Nothing you do could be considered a crime.
—Heh, you are as cold as always, aren't you, Iridia?
I would come to regret not hearing her advice. Shortly after, a sickness started spreading through the campus. Calliope's curse, the phantom plague. Everyone knew how terrible that disease could become, a massive pandemy of it had struck our nation when I was only five years old. We all had lost loved ones at that time. So it was rather surprising when Eva found a cure for it, revealing to everyone that she could use Divine magic. She was the envoy of Enki, the prophesied savior of those masked freaks of his church, the saintess that would save our world.
The attention of everyone focused on who until then had been another faceless student. The bullying that she was suffering was noticed by those with a strong sense of justice, who jumped to defend her. And that included Julius. He ignored that she had stolen the only memento I had from my mother, the seed of the Ygdrassil, and took it on himself to personally protect her.
Julius has already been distancing himself from me, acting cold and refusing my invitations. We had grown apart through the years, but until then, we still had an amicable relationship, or so I thought. Now, however, I could clearly see actual disdain in his eyes. No matter what I did, he continued getting further away from me. And closer to the saintess...
I saw him smiling at her. How long has it been since I had seen him smile at me? How dare she?! How dare she steal what was MINE?!
The mirror in front of me looked completely black, and from it, a dark liquid started to pour. I tried to get away from it, but it quickly covered all of the floor and I sank on it. What would have been a puddle seemingly had transformed into a deep ocean of black waters. It was cold, freezing me down to my bones, but it felt comfortably numb.
—You didn't do anything wrong —I heard someone whisper, using my own voice as theirs—, you could never do anything wrong.
—He belongs to you —another followed—, you must take him by any means necessary.
—Destroy her, ruin her reputation, send thugs after her, erase her.
I felt sinking deeper and deeper, and the whispers continued to increase until all I could hear was a continuous and meaningless murmur.
—Violett! —I suddenly heard a voice clearly through all the noise. It sounded so familiar, but it took me way too many seconds to recognize it.
—Mo... mother?
I started to remember who I truly was. I was Violett Dragonroot, yes, but nothing I had seen had happened yet. I was still only five years old. I felt like my hand was being pulled, as if it had been caught with a thread. In an instant I was being pulled at neck breaking speed. No, rather than being pulled, it felt more like the ocean was being pushed away from me. I got to the surface and gasped for air. The one that was pulling me was... a little girl?
—Gotcha! —she said with a big grin on her face.
Her bright red pupils were the first thing that caught my attention, followed by her long silvery white hair that flowed almost as if it was a stylized cloud. Her skin was darker than mine, almost pitch black, but she had white marks through her body. The ones on her face almost make it look like her skull was exposed, giving her a grim look despite her cheerful attitude. She was standing on a rather small boat that somewhat resembles a crocodile. Her hands were holding a scythe, which she was using to fish me out of that black ocean.
—Who? —I tried to ask, but I still felt too weak and cold to speak properly.
—Don't waste your energy, mi niña, I'll bring you up in a second.
She said, but at the very moment she was about to grab me, I felt something pull me back into the deep of the ocean. The string that was still attached to my hand also tensed, as if that girl was trying to reel me in.
—Hang on! —I thought the little girl said from the surface.
I grabbed that invisible thread with all of my strength, as I instinctively felt that whatever was pulling me under didn't have the best intentions. But I also felt like something... or someone was calling me. Against my better judgment, I looked back. I could only see darkness, but the moment I looked into the abyss, I lost all the strength I had, physical and mentally. I let go of the thread and started sinking, unable to even think of trying to swim.
A giant eye opened in front of me, looking straight at me. The next thing I knew, I was in the middle of a forest. It was raining pretty hard, but I was completely dry. The droplets went straight to me.
—Is this a hologram? —I said, remembering a weird word that my mother had once said.
I heard a baby crying through the noise of the rain, and I walked towards the source of the sound. I came to a pyramidal building, decorated with what seemed to be statues of feathered snakes. The baby was under the portico, safe from the rain. She was about a year old, with very short light pink hair. Her skin was almost as pale as porcelain. She had a small horn on her forehead, right over her right eye. I couldn't touch her either, my hand went through her when I tried, but she stopped crying, and looked straight to me with her golden pupils.
The door behind me suddenly opened, and a young woman peaked through it. She had black long black hair, and her eyes seemed to be black as well. Her attire was white, and not in the best condition. She reminded me of an illustration I had seen a long time ago, of a priestess of ancient Minoan. She was lacking several gold ornaments, though.
That woman's face illuminated once she recognized that what was in front of her was a baby. She picked her up with utmost care, and hugged her softly. She took a moment to try to look through the rain, maybe looking for whoever had left the baby at their door.
—Don't worry, you are safe now —she said in a warm voice—, we'll take care of you.
—Mneme, what is it now? —another woman said from inside of the building.
—Our goddess has blessed us with a new member of our family, Eri —the first woman said, turning back and crossing the entrance.
—Well, thank our goddess for another mouth to feed —the second woman replied with obvious sarcastic intent.
I felt compelled to follow them into the building before the door was closed, but after crossing the threshold I instead found myself in the middle of a busy market street. There were all sorts of stalls and stores, with people coming and going in all directions, selling their products or trying to bargain for a better price. The sound should have been deafening, but I could only hear it as a distant murmur, almost as if I was underwater. But then, I heard one voice that was as clear as if it was right next to me.
—Are you hurt? Are you hungry? Do you want water?
The voice came from my left, in an alleyway that seemed too dark for how illuminated the rest of the market. As I approached it, I found two people there. One was an adult, covered in rags and bandages, but through the tears and gaps between them I could see a very emancipated body. There was barely anything covering their bones, only a skin that seemed to be made of obsidian.
The person in front of them was a little girl, who seemed to be four or five years old. She was wearing a miniature version of the same clothes that the priestess from before was wearing. Her hair was light pink, and there was a horn coming from her forehead. That was the same girl I had just seen as a baby.
—Get away, child —the sickly adult said in a rough and strained voice.
—Why? You look like you need help.
—Do I, huh? I suppose I do. Those clothes... you are from the temple of Lilith, aren't you?
—Yes! That's my home.
—Hmmm. Then I suppose... I can get some help from you, child.
The girl nodded, expectantly.
—I was cursed by your goddess. I don't blame her, I made some bad stuff, I deserve this. I just want... in my last moments, to ask for forgiveness. I think I paid enough for my crimes in this life, you know. Heh... I must really be a goner, if I am asking for the final rites to such a young priestess...
—I am sure that our goddess has already forgiven you —the girl said, grabbing that person's hands.
—Hey, let go! Do you want to get cursed too?! —they said in an alarmed tone, trying to let go, but they didn't have enough strength left in their body.
Just then, there was a light coming from her tiny hands, bright enough to call the attention of people in the market, who started to enter the alleyway and approach the little girl. From the crowd, several priestesses appeared, one of them sweeping the little girl in her arms and hugging her.
—Cali! There you are! Do you have any idea how worried we were? —she said.
—I am sorry, Mneme...
—It is fine, I am not angry —she said, kissing the girl's forehead, before she realized everyone around them was looking at them, and the person in front of them, with shocked expressions.
—T-they were that outlaw that was cursed by Lilith, right? —someone said.
—Yeah, yeah, I just saw them yesterday. I saw their skin, there is no way... —someone else added.
The person that looked like they were on the verge of death just a moment ago, unable to even get a little girl to let go of their hands, was now standing on their own. Bandages fell to the floor, revealing that their skin had returned to normal, and their body no longer looked emancipated. Their face was still covered, they were too focused on their hands to even consider looking at the rest of their body.
—Huh, what exactly did you do? —Mneme asked the girl in her arms.
—I healed them! —she replied proudly.
—That little girl lifted the curse?
—She must be a saintess!
The crowd went insane, which actually scared the girl a little bit.
—Did I do something wrong?
—No, you did something great. You are someone great, our saintess, Caliope!