Prologue

"Neijiro..." A soft voice calls out.

"Neijiro!!!" The voice then grew ever so slightly louder.

"NEI-JI-RO!♪"

That's when I could suddenly feel a soft bonk on the top of my head. I peeled my eyes open to see my little sister, Yura, hovering over me with a goofy look on her face. I just rolled my eyes at her as I sat up on the back of our house, watching the clouds from up above.

"Mama's gonna make us some porridge and tea for dinner!" She said with a sweet smile on her face, her beautiful blonde, almost white hair flowing around her.
I pursed my lips and gave a slight nod.

"Hey, is father still gone...?" I asked her, feeling a bit tense.

"Eh...I don't know...I think so..." She replies, her arms crossed behind her. "He might still be trying to grab some fresh firewood for tomorrow night for our school's campfire."

"But, isn't our school going to be hosting it?" She nodded.

"Yeah, but Father wanted to help out just 'cause, at least, that's what he told us, remember?"
I grinned at her as we headed inside, the smell of dinner making our mouths water and stomachs grumble.

"MAMA!!!" Yura giggled. "FOOD!!!" I shouted and decided to follow along with her. She then turned to face me, her golden yellow eyes glowing and hands clenched into tight fists. "MAMA'S FOOD!!!" Yura sang. "MAMA!!!"

Mother froze and for some odd reason, the area around us turned cold as an eerie silence pierced the once-giddy air.

Then, out of nowhere, Father flung the door open with wood planks hung over his shoulders and Mother snapped her face over to his direction and smiled despite the creepy feeling from just a bit ago.

Yura, being as young as she is, didn't seem to notice it, but I did.

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As the sun began to set and we had all finished up our food, I watched as my sister hurried over to the bathroom crying about needing to pee as I just stood there in the middle of our kitchen staring into the space around me. Just outside, I could overhear our parents whispering something to each other.

Curious, I quietly went over to peek outside and about fell backward onto my bottom as my mother's left eye began to glow pitch black and father's skin became riddled with glowing dark purple lines, almost like veins but different...like the stem on a thorny rose. Mother then fell hard onto her hands and knees, panting, clearly in pain as father tried to keep each other calm.

"Honey, we-we can't...not anymore...not like this..." She almost sobbed. "It...hurts...and-and...the children..." But Father hushed her.

"You KNOW what would happen to them if we let everything loose, right? YOU KNOW!" He almost yelled.

"HONEY, they're...asleep..." Mother said, trying to hold back tears.

Pressing a hand to her black eye, she slowly tried to get back onto her feet.
Father then began to chant something that I couldn't quite make out and the weird marks on their faces and bodies quickly vanished as they both fell backward, panting and in pain.

Realizing that I had just seen something that I most likely wasn't supposed to see, I hurried myself into bed right next to my sister. Their footsteps were quiet but sent shivers down my spine as they clicked the door shut.

"Don't worry! He'll be fine for a while. He's only 10 right now! Give him some time! Give US more time! Yura's only 8, even if it's too late for Neijiro, we still have Yura!"
Father whispered, but mother was on the brink of full-on sobbing.

"No... no more... no more...not anymore...please!" She begged.

...I couldn't sleep that night.

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"YURA!!! COME PLAY WITH US!!!" Some little girls at school shouted.

Yura followed the two girls as they all giggled amongst themselves and I just watched, my arms at the back of my neck as I just walked around in a circle. That's when I could feel something thump hard into the center of my back.

I glanced down and noticed that it was a pebble and two raggedy-looking boys were standing just a bit ways away from it, laughing at me. Brighton Brightwell and Daniel Fox are famous for being the big bullies at school and having similar last names and parents who are childhood friends. Xavier then flicked his wrist and the pebble floated up into the air again and this time, it hit me square in the nose.

"Pfffttt-HAH!!!" Billy laughed, sounding like a crazed goose. Ignoring them, I attempted to walk over to where the girls and my sister were currently playing, but they weren't done quite yet, to my dismay.

This time, Billy had used his magic to create a hard ball of mud and leaves and then gave it a whirl as it hit me square in the back of my head. Grunting, this time, it had hurt quite a bit compared to the other two hits. "WHOOPSIE-DOOPSIE!" Xavier said, pretending to be all guilty.

"That was an OOPSIE!" Xavier repeated, acting all innocent with his hands pressing at his cheeks. I furrowed my eyebrows and bit my bottom lip. Yura glanced over and saw the two boys teasing me and let out a growl.

"NEIJIRO, you needa WATCH out! Wouldn't wanna LOSE your cool, RIGHT?!" Billy snorted.

I just took a deep breath, closed my eyes and pointed at Xavier, the oldest of the two. I snapped my fingers, which then caused him to go flying through the air, though not too dangerously, and hit the ground flat on his face. Gasping at this, Billy rushed over to help him up. As I and some of the other kids began to burst out laughing,

Yura hurried over with a worried look on her face, but she was beaten by an adult, our father, in fac,t as he was now standing over me. He didn't even have to say anything, all he had to do was stand there and I just hung my head and walked myself home.

---

Not too soon after, once we had headed home, Yura, father and I were alone as mother was busy trying to explain the situation to the school's teachers. Sitting at the kitchen table, I tried to avoid the disappointed look on my father's face as he walked over to me, arms over his chest. Yura was quietly watching us from inside of the bathroom, her face peeking out from behind the door.

"Neijiro..." He said, his voice low but fairly harsh.

"You know the rules..." I just continued to ignore him. "You don't use magic at school unless it's for educational purposes."

Again, I refused to speak to him. Licking his bottom lip, he proceeded to lift a hand in the air as if ready to hit me out of frustration until Mother entered the home. Sensing the cold air between us two and Yura's nervousness, she walked between us.

"It's done, over! No more needing to argue! What's been done is done!" She blurted out, trying to stop the situation from getting any worse.

Father sighed and lowered his hand as he walked away and over to the bedroom. He then froze in the hallway and glanced over at Yura from the corners of his eyes.

"Eavesdropping isn't very polite, Yura." Her back tensed at this as she gave a quick nod and shut the door behind her.

Clenching my fists onto my lap, Mother gave me a worried look and took a deep breath. This wasn't all too rare for us. My father and I seldom got along. Nobody knew why and if they did, they surely wouldn't be telling us.

___

The next few days were rough for us. Father refused to speak to me, let alone look in my general direction.. Mother was stressed out over everything and Yura was confused and just there in the middle of the kitchen like a nervous little puppy. Frustrated and irritated at my father for ignoring me, I just decided to do the same though I knew that it wouldn't mean anything to him; it usually never did.

"Umm..." Yura began to murmur, her voice quiet and soft.

"Neijiro...we should get ready for schoo-"

"You aren't going to school..." Father muttered under his breath.

Eyes wide, I turned to him, my hands clenched into tight fists at my hips.

"You attacked your classmates...you've been banned from ever going back."

"FATHER-" Yura yelped but I just ignored her and rushed over to him.

"We CAN'T be kicked out! This is our village's ONLY school! In fact, it is one of the ONLY schools EVER around these parts of the world!" Father ignored me. "You KNOW tha-"

"Then, maybe, next time, you shouldn't be attacking other kids. You need to set a good example for your sister." His words bit into me like a venomous snake. Mother, sensing the brutal atmosphere, rushed over to try and console me by patting me on the shoulder but, I just ignored her, eyes boring holes into my father's cold, harsh eyes.

"...You know those boys and their parents..." I grumbled. "They're nothing but trouble. They've even hurt Yura in the past and their parents always work all the time due to money and never use their free time to discipline them." I just shifted my eyes to glare at the ground as if I were to use it to let out some steam.

"Educational purposes only," Father said, his tone rough and hard.

"Self-defense is important too..." I said as I turned on my heels ready to leave the house.

"Then, you shouldn't have used magic-"

"THEY shouldn't be HARASSING us like this! TH-THROWING rocks at us, calling Yura a "freak" and letting their BARN dogs loose and scaring her! EVERYONE knows that she hates dogs!!!"

Father pressed a hand to the bridge of his nose and glanced over at Mother, who just gave us all a sad look.

"Yura's a freak...?! WHY...?! Where does that even COME from...?!"

Father and mother, ever so briefly, got this guilty look on their faces, but they quickly switched them off.

"Listen, what they did wasn't alright, I know, but...I can't have you stirring up trouble for us." His voice was calm but he was forcing it to hide his anger. "I don't know why you have to be so...physical. Can't you talk to someone at school? Anyone?"

"I've TRIED, you know that...but, it never works. It can't work if there isn't any real proof. Rocks, as small as they may be hurt a damn lot but, they aren't heavy enough to leave marks which is why they use them."

"We have magic, right? We can't just let it all sit inside of us untouched. I just-"

"WE DON'T hurt-" Father stopped himself and let out a loud and long frustrated sigh.

"KAZZ, just...drop it! He's a kid! He still has room to learn! Just-" Mother tried to stop us both but out of nowhere, I turned around again and stomped back over to him.

"THEN, why don't you guys stop hiding secrets from me? That would help! Or, maybe teach me some NEW SPELLS! It's been a whole year now! Yura's allowed to but I CAN'T? And what's that thing you were talking about a few days ago?" Father and Mother's eyes widened and they just stared at each other in shock.

"NEIJIRO...?!" Yura gasped, her jaw dropped. I refused to stop.

"WHAT about me turning 15...?!"

Father, eyes on fire now, stomped over to me and grabbed me by the shoulders and gave me a slight shove.

"WHAT did you just say...?! DID you eavesdrop on us...?!"

"KAZZ!!!" Mother gasped as Yura turned around to try and hide from the scene.

"...I did..." I said without any guilt in my voice.

"Honey, look-"

"Don't tell him..." Father warned.

Mother nodded at this and turned her attention over to Yura. Walking over to her, she gently reached down to grab her hands and gave them a loving squeeze. "Yura, my dear, why don't we go pick apples? Doesn't that sound rather tasty...?!"

Yura, ignoring Mother, let out a shaky breath.

"Mother...what is he talking about...?! What is Neijiro talking about...?! And, why does it scare me...?"

Mother quickly dropped her daughter's hands and pressed them against her heart. Whatever it was, the guilt was wearing her down. "Yura-"

Then, out of seemingly nowhere, there was a loud whistling sound followed by some others right after. Glancing at each other, Mother and Father hurried outside as we both just watched. Looking out the windows, we saw that some of the villagers were inspecting something on the ground, though we were too far away to see what they were looking at.

"MAMA, what's that...?!" A boy asked excitedly. "Shouldn't we stay inside?" A woman asked, fear in her voice.

"NEIJIRO, YURA!!!" Father yelled as he turned back around and ran for the house.

That's when it happened. There was a loud BOOM and both Yura and I were sent flying backward. She let out an ear-piercing shriek as the back of her head and body slammed violently against the walls behind us and I was sent flying into the lamp nearby, the ceramic vase shattering, causing pain to echo throughout my body.

"MOTHER!!!" Yura cried out.

Then, there was another whistling sound. Despite being injured, I hurried to try and shield her with my body as our house began to fall apart. As the shards of our house began to fly all over the place, I used one of my magic spells to create a giant bubble to shield us from any sort of danger. Right in front of our eyes, Father lay, arms and legs sprawled out like a raggedy doll. Part of his face had been severely burned and he was missing his entire right leg. Mother though was nowhere to be found. The only thing we could see was a small piece of cloth from the dress that she had been wearing floating down to our eye level.

Shaking from both fear and pain, I quickly realized that Yura was out cold and that her head was bleeding. "SHIT!" I screamed. "NEIJIRO!!!" ...It was my mother. Glad I moved my head around to look for her and my jaw dropped once I saw it. Just like father, part of her face had been scorched and someone had slashed her across the back. I wanted to get up and help her but I couldn't just leave my sister alone.

"MOTHER, I'M RIGHT HERE!!!" I screamed.

Turning around, eyes full of tears, she gave me a small smile. "Neijiro-" But, within the blink of an eye, some weird snake-looking creature popped out of the ground in front of her and sprang up, wrapping itself tightly around her throat. I then just watched as it seemingly snapped her neck, killing her before going back down into the ground and as she fell, right behind her was a small boy, slightly younger than me.

He had shaggy hair and a messy night robe that was stained with blood and mud. A crazed look filled his eyes as he slowly walked over in our direction. The villagers' screams and cries were awful, so bad that just hearing them made me want to vomit. I felt sick to my stomach.

"King Akiyo's gonna be glad to see you both!" He sang.

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"Neijiro!" My father had said that after Yura's birth. "It's your baby sister!" He had this goofy grin on his face and I just looked around, too young to understand what had just happened. The only thing I could see and hear was a small pink blob crying and my mother humming a song.

"It's a baby, OUR baby!" Mother said with an exhausted smile. She then lowered the child to give me a better look and as if it were some kind of magic, she reached over with her small hands and bopped me gently on the nose.

"A baby...?!" I repeated, still trying to understand it all.

"Yes, a little girl! You're a big brother now, Neijiro! Aren't you excited? You're gonna have a buddy to be with forever and ever!"

The child then stopped crying and gave a sweet coo as she kept on playing with my nose.
Reaching a hand over to touch her, her hand reached over to gently squeeze my pinkie and she began knawing on it. Shivers went down my spine at the weird sensation of gums chewing at my finger.

Father just chuckled at this. "I think that she already likes you!"

I just bit my bottom lip trying to stay calm as she just kept on chewing as if I were actually a piece of edible meat.

"Honey, what should we name her...?" He asked her.

Mother looked out the window and thought for a moment before turning to face me. "Neijiro...what do you think?" "A name...?!"

A name...?! As a child, I've never named anything before but, the name "Yura" came to mind. I never understood why but...I just...LIKED it! So, with a small smile, I turned to my parents.

"I

think

that

she

should

be

named

"̸̭̼̘͆̅̊̂̍̈́̾͜Ý̸̐̇̽̆͑̎̕ͅų̵͔͈͖̣͂͌͌̾̕ȑ̴͙̂̈́̑͛̐̈́̒̕ä̵̢̛̺̼̤̹̝̘͎̉ͅ!̸̛͓͕̮̓͑͆̔̀"̵̗͇̼̦̱̯̙̓͌͝"

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I let out a blood-curdling scream as the boy, kneeling right before me, my sister tossed lazily over his shoulders, began to press the point of a small blade into my upper right shoulder, digging it in as violently as possible.

"It's a shame that you couldn't go with us. You're gonna miss the fun!!" He said, his eyes glowing.

"Yura..." I groaned. He then lifted the knife into the air and slashed me across the back. I bit my bottom lip so tightly that I could taste blood as hot tears streamed down my face. Shaking his head, he sighed and began to walk off with my sister.
"Wh-why are you hurting us...? Aren’t you a magic user?" I tried to ask.

The boy stopped and gave me a wink. "You'll learn soon enough. You're still just a no-nothing kiddo!"

I wanted to spit at him. He's younger than me and yet, he's calling me a kiddo...?! I felt insulted, though, I also had the urge to kill him. "Who's King...Akiyo...?!"

Again, the boy just turned to me and pressed a finger to his lips. "It's a secret!" He gave a small wink and a flick of the wrist, trying to play with me, mock me.

Despite being in excruciating pain, I tried to crawl over to him to save my sister but I was too slow and there were flames everywhere. I just watched as he walked off and hopped into a carriage with 7 other people, men dressed in fancy getups, silvery and shiny with giant weapons bigger than their bodies held at their hips.

"Give...my sister...back..." I gasped out, reaching out a hand as if to magically bring her over.
But, it wasn't going to do anything for me. I could feel my head and body going numb as my head rolled around like a drunk man and found myself passing out, the last image ever being that of my father and I arguing, my mother and Yura both being scared and deeply worried.
Guilt filled me to the brim as I was now unable to apologize to them all, to tell Father that, despite our disagreements, I still loved him and that to Mother, I was sorry for getting kicked out of school and Yura for causing her to also be tossed out too.
I was a burden, a big old slug stuck on their backs...

And...

Broken. No longer a family. No longer anything anymore...