[Luca's Tale]
A young boy, with hair the color of cotton candy and eyes that shone in the brightest of purity, sat on a bench as he read a dusty, worn out book. The summer was needlessly hot and there were flies buzzing about but still he managed to get through over 30 pages in one sitting.
"Luca!" cried a familiar voice. Luca looked up from his book for the first time and caught a glimpse of a golden haired girl waving at him from afar.
"Ouch!" the same girl exclaimed. While dashing towards Luca, the girl tripped on a rock and fell on her knees. Luca quickly placed his book aside and hurried towards the girl.
"You have to be more careful, Lorena," he frowned. Despite his dear older sister being one of the top mages in the country, she was quite the airhead.
His sister chuckled softly. They were eight years apart in age and yet sometimes it feels like he's the older one of the two.
"Oh! Guess what? I found another book for you!" said Lorena as she stood back up, brushing some dust off her dress. She walked past Luca who stared at her with admiration. Ever since their parents passed away, it had always been a struggle to gather funds for anything aside from daily necessities.
While Lorena is dubbed the brightest amongst the current generation's mages, the both of them are still commoners. There was a great disparity between a noble mage and a commoner mage, even if the latter was more talented. Every day Lorena would face mockery and isolation from her teammates. Instead of being discouraged however, Lorena continued to work hard to prove her worth.
"I'm sure they'll recognize my worth someday," she would always tell her younger brother. Luca, being the slight realist doubted his sister a little. But because he admired her a lot, he simply nodded and offered an encouraging smile. One day, they'll surely acknowledge her hard work even if she is a commoner.
"Lorena, I told you to spend the money on yourself," he sighed. Lorena pouted and stuck out her tongue at her younger brother.
"Nonsense! I have everything I need. Why shouldn't I spend it on my dear little brother?"
"But-"
"No! I won't hear it anymore. I saw you eyeing this book last month and I know you've been studying hard to make sure you pass the selection ceremony in a few years."
Luca sighed. His sister was only observant when it came to matters of her little brother. Reluctantly, he accepted the book at his sister's insistence. He glanced at the bright red leather cover and ran his hand over the silver colored title. It was a book on magic theory and it looked newer than the current book he was reading. He had been reading the older book from cover to cover for months, but no matter how much he had memorized the words, it was still an outdated book that contained things that were most likely disputed a while back. This new book however, was the latest edition and could greatly further his studies.
"Alright, I'll accept it for now. But next time, please buy something for yourself."
Lorena beamed but, didn't comment on his statement.
"What do you want for dinner?" she asked, quickly changing the subject "I'm starving."
"How about some beef stew?" Luca suggested. He wouldn't usually suggest meat for dinner as it was terribly expensive, but since his sister did go out of her way to buy him a new book, he would use the money he scraped up from selling foraged materials to buy some decent quality meat.
"This is why you're the best younger brother!" Lorena squealed happily.
Luca smiled softly and quietly wished in his heart that these happy days would never end.
Unfortunately, that wish did not come to pass.
It was a cold December morning and at the crack of dawn, a loud banging was heard from the front entrance. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Luca groggily got up to answer.
It's been half a year since he was accepted as an apprentice in the holy mages ministry and today was supposed to be the first day of their winter break. Just like his sister, he worked hard and quickly rose up in rankings. Being one of the few commoners with such high achievements meant he was met with a ton of hatred. He didn't mind it though since he believed that if his sister could get through it, so could he.
"May I help you?" he yawned behind a closed door.
"Is there a Luca Grayson here?" a gruff voice called out.
"Yes, wait a moment." Luca replied. He opened the door to reveal a burly man wearing a white robe.
The man spared no time for introductions or whatnot. He took out a faded piece of paper and read out its contents.
"Lorena Grayson's body has been identified as one of the casualties in a recent expedition. Please collect her remains from the church as soon as possib..."
Luca felt lightheaded. The burly man's words felt so far away and distant, almost like they weren't real. He couldn't comprehend what was going on. His sister was dead?! How could this happen? She may have been an airhead but, she was not incompetent in the slightest. It was impossible for her to be careless in the battlefield, much less a simple research expedition.
"Sir?" the burly man interrupted his thoughts.
"Ah. Yes, I- I will collect..." his voice trailed off. He didn't want to finish his sentence. He could not acknowledge it. Surely it must be some kind of mistake.
After thanking the man, Luca sat down and tried to collect his hazy thoughts.
How did this happen? She was his only family member left.
NO! Surely this was a mistake after all.
Luca slapped his cheeks and got ready.
Yes, surely it's all a mistake. He would go marching into that church and confidently tell them they made a mistake.
Unfortunately, it wasn't.
Lorena Grayson laid on the cold floor of the church with a simple white tarp covering half of her body.
To say it was a gruesome sight was an understatement. Her body was so badly mangled and she was so thin that he was afraid if he touched her, she would disappear into ash. If it wasn't for the fact that her face was fairly untouched, he would denied that it was his sister at all.
What happened to her? How could his precious Lorena ended up in this state?
"She was attacked by Scarlet Wolves," a solemn priest appeared from behind of Luca. It was as if he read his mind. Or perhaps the questions were all too obvious on his face.
Scarlet Wolves?
Those creatures are indeed vicious and while they usually eat forest animals, it is said they also won't hesitate to attack humans as food.
However, something doesn't feel right.
They were fairly easy to avoid since one could easily set up a barrier around their camping grounds to prevent those nocturnal hunters from picking up their scent. In a subjugation team, the barrier mages would absolutely prohibit anyone from going out of the barrier at night.
His sister was also not a fool to have wandered away from her team's campsite without reason.
"I'm sorry for your loss, young man. Life is indeed a flicker of a candle. This is your sister's keepsake. I'm sure she wanted you to have this," the priest handed him a wooden box.
Luca nodded in silence as his hands moved to accept it. He didn't even realise what he was doing at the moment as he opened the box and saw his sister's pendant in it. It was a pink stone with a hole drilled at the top for a chain to loop through it.
He was the one who found the stone near a river one day so he decided to turn it into a necklace for his sister's birthday.
"This is be my good luck charm!" she cried happily when she received it. Ever since then, she's been taking it with her everywhere.
"Hah! Some good luck it turned out to be," Luca clutched the pendant with a strained voice.
After arranging the details of the burial with the priest, Luca stepped outside of the church.
As he was walking away, two voices could be heard quietly whispering to each other.
"Hey, hey! I think they found her. What do we do? We're gonna get in trouble!"
"Quiet! Why did you even call me out here? What did we do wrong anyways? It's not like we killed her directly."
Luca's blood ran cold. Even though they didn't state a name, he just knew it was related to his suspicions. As Luca slowly stepped closer towards them, he could make out two figures who were dressed in a similar uniform as the expedition teamâ the very same expedition team his sister was on.
"But what if the ministry found out? We'll get expelled!" the shorter mage covered his mouth as if he was going to be sick.
"There's no evidence against us anyways. Besides, we didn't lay a finger on her. Just because I threw her pendant a little too far into the lake. She didn't have to spend the night searching for that cheap trash," the taller mage shrugged.
"But you were the one who closed the barrier before she got back! You were in charge of the barrier security. They could trace it back to you!"
"I said keep it down! Listen, I was tired from our previous fight and I didn't realise our campsite was so near those wolves' den. Since she's always showing off all the time, she should have known better right? She got what she deserved. It's not my fauâ"
SMACK!
Before the mage could finish his sentence, a heavy punch landed on his face.
Luca couldn't bear to hear him continue spewing his bullshit any longer.
"EEEEE!" the smaller mage shrieked as he fell to the floor in terror. He recognised the pink hair of the man beating his friend to a pulp. It was none other than the younger brother of Lorena Grayson.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please listen to me!"
Coincidentally, it started to rain at that very moment, drowning out the screams of both the terrified mages.
As the tall mage tried to shield himself with defense magic, Luca grabbed him by the throat. He didn't care for explanations, all he wanted was to see this man pay with his blood.
How could they kill his sister who wanted nothing more but to help others around her?
How could they call themselves holy mages with their disgusting ways of thinking and looking down on others?
And most of all, how could he forgive himself for not recognising how badly his sister became ostracised?
He knew they would never accept her as a commoner and yet he never urged her to quit. As his sister looked more and more ragged, all he did was keep his mouth shut because in truth... he wanted to work together with Lorena as soon he was able to go on expeditions too. It was a stupid wish that made him look away from the warning signs.
It was because he was a selfish brotherâ no, could he even call himself a brother? He could have prevented his sister's death. It was as much his fault as the mages that drove her to her death.
As hot tears flowed down his cheeks, Luca felt a burst of energy coming from his neck.
"Stop this, Luca. This isn't what your sister would have wanted."
All of a sudden, a small tiny fairy appeared in between Luca and the mage. The tiny fairy stretched out her arms and looked at Luca with sorrow in her eyes.
"She loved you more than anything in the world. You never forced her to stayâ she also wanted to keep doing her job so she could one day work with you. It was her dream just as much as yours."
"It... was?"
He blinked, his vision getting blurry from the rain. He didn't understand what this tiny creature is saying and how she knew what his sister would have wanted but, he felt like he could trust her words. It was almost as if his sister was conveying the words to him herself.
He dropped the mage who was coughing from being nearly choked to death and bawled like a child.
"It's alright now. I promise I'll care of you from now on," the fairy patted his head as she smiled kindly.
And that was how Luca and Sylvia met for the first time.
ââ
The two mages who were indirectly responsible for Lorena's death were quietly expelled from their jobs after being 'coerced' by Sylvia and Luca to confess their crimes. In actual fact, their bullying had been going on for years and years. Sometimes they would pull mean pranks on her like throwing her clothes into the river or scattering her belongings around the forest. They even starved Lorena from food from time to time hence why she looked so thin. This time though, they went too extreme and the reason?
Because the two mages overheard their supervisor recommending Lorena to be ranked up the following week. Overcome with petty jealousy and rage, they claimed they only wanted to scare her a little so that she might want to quit her job. They didn't expect it to lead to her death in the end.
The expulsion left a bitter taste in the mouth. Just because one of the mages was the son of a prominent Count, their crimes weren't publicised.
"They're already filled with regret, yes? Besides, they'll never be able to work with the church or mages ever again. This is more than enough punishment," said one of the elders during the trial.
"If this was a noble killed, they would have been sent to jail!" Sylvia screamed angrily in Luca's head.
Luca was quiet during the announcement of their expulsion.
That very same night, he left the holy mages dorm rooms and never stepped foot near their grounds ever again.
âââ
Author's note:
I'm sorry! I took wayyy too long to update this :') In all honesty, I couldn't log in at one point and I ended up forgetting about my Wattpad account. In any case, I can't believe this story is almost 3 years old and I barely got into Season 2 ugh. I really need to pick up the pace ( T - T) also happy (early) new year! I hope 2023 will bring much joy to all of you!