CH77- Theras Perspective

“I’m sorry aunt Vivi. I’ll try harder.” Thera said, hanging onto the inside of sleeves for a cloak far too big for her. Usually, she was unhappy to have been given something so large just so she would be able to grow into it, but at the present she was grateful, it helped hide the tears that had begun forming in her eyes.

“Don’t be sorry, just do better. We need all the warriors we can get, you need to improve.” Her aunt Vividus, the great life spirit, spoke down to her with a voice filled with disappointment. “The fact you haven’t gained a single level in the years since I’ve seen you just goes to show you haven’t tried hard enough.”

She wanted to argue, hours out of every day she was out there, trying her hardest to use her earth magic, but that wouldn’t matter to her aunt, only results did. Instead, she stayed silent and took it until she was told to try again.

She did as she’d been instructed a thousand times. She felt the mana within her and moved it to her will. That alone felt difficult. Her mana felt too thick to be moved, it was like fighting against an ocean of sludge, and when she tried to explain it to any of the teachers her mom had gotten her none of them understood, they all thought it was in her head or that she was making it up as an excuse for her failings.

She hated all of them for it. For not even trying to understand what she was fighting against just to try and make her magic work, but she could never say it. Even if she hated them she needed help if she was ever going to succeed.

Once she finally got her magic moving she went on to the next step, forcing it out of her to act on the world around her, and here, as always, she failed. No matter what she did, no matter how hard she pushed, she couldn’t make it leave her body, and nobody could tell her how she was failing. Well that wasn’t entirely true. Every single teacher she’d been with had some sort of idea or theory where she was going wrong, but the ones with ideas never suggested anything that worked, and she downright despised the ones that would say they had theories. Any that had a theory was likely to view her as a failed experiment that needed to be studied so that future ones could be a success. Just like-

“Are you even trying?” Vividus asked in exasperation. “You’re barely moving your mana, and it’s not like there’s anything holding it back, gods know your charm doesn’t have any issues leaking out.”

She didn’t need to hear that again, Vivdus was right, only gods could know how long she had spent praying to Anailia or any other that might be listening to reverse her situation. Let her charm be locked within her, trapped forever, and the earth magic to come out unending. Her life would be infinitely better. Unfortunately the gods or fate or whatever decided these things felt horribly unkind.

<God what a bitch.>

Thera jumped with a start and looked around. She was sure she just heard someone, but it was just her and her aunt in the training yard.

“Did you hear that?” She asked Vividus.

“What child?” She said, looking annoyed. Well as annoyed as a void of white could look. Deciphering some of the great spirits’ emotions was never easy, but Thera felt she had more than enough practice with their negative ones to get it right.

Of course, she couldn’t say what she had actually just heard. Her mother wouldn’t like her using that kind of language, and she certainly knew who it was being addressed to. Telling the person in question wouldn’t do her any favours, so instead she muttered that she must have misheard.

Her aunt said something about making things up and avoiding training, and she got back to practice before things could get too bad. After another hour of it her mother came out to get her.

“How did that all go?” Pelenia asked with a forced smile, caring for Vividus only slightly more than her daughter did.

“Terrible. It’s shocking that Abrus’s child could have such a poor understanding of her element. For the life of me, I wouldn’t believe such a thing could be possible if I wasn’t forced to witness it.”

<God Pelenia, how could you leave your daughter with someone like this?>

The voice again. She looked around but she was still the only one who noticed it.

“Nobody is forcing you to see anything.” The queen said, letting the smile fall from her face. “You wanted to see if you could try from an angle that others missed, but it seems like she’s just going over the same things as always.”

“Hmmph. She needs more practice if she can’t do it. Honestly, her other lessons are a distraction from getting her to actually accomplish this. At the very least she should come back after and continue.”

“Viv, she’s six. I know you don’t have any idea about raising children but it will be late after that, she’ll need to sleep.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Pff, you mortals. How do you all get away with wasting a third of the day like that every day? It isn’t even a sure thing she truly needs it. Let her go a week without so we can see how strong her heritage really is.”

“Absolutely not.” She picked Thera up and started walking away. “You can practice with her more tomorrow if she’s up to it, for now she has dance lessons.”