Being born a witch is a curse, a curse far worse than any disability.
Power only means that you'll be used and treated like a spare weapon.
Stability is fragile and innocence can be destroyed in seconds.
Friendship means that you'll see those you love die before your eyes.
"Hey, are you okay"?
That person gave his hand to me, his appearance suggested that he was at least slightly older than me but not by much.
His smile, it's so bright.
He had shiny black hair and violet eyes that stared straight into me like an infinite void.
The last time someone looked at me like that was when my mother was alive.
She had this strange habit, she was kind, unusually so, even to witches.
She somehow saw them as people.
Most witches were orphans, unless they were born to parents of witches, they will get sold off no matter their age.
Our supposed family was meant to be pure, a family that had no witch blood.
Every few months, she'd bring home another orphan witch—sometimes as young as six, sometimes barely older than me. They'd arrive with nothing but the clothes on their back, eyes wide like cornered animals. She clothed them, fed them and allowed them to sleep in comfortable warm beds.
They scrubbed floors, cooked means and cleaned dishes but she never really called them servants, they were more so members of our family, at least hers.
I was only particularly close with one of them, a young girl by the name of Seraphina Shaw.
She was an outcast of the renowned Shaw family, she was born from an affair between the head of the family and a servant.
She was the only friend that I ever had.
Seraphina used to always show me her family's technique, it was magical. Bursts of sound shot out from nowhere, I looked up to her.
"You know, miss Audrey? My family despised the thought of me getting their technique, yet one of my sisters taught me in secret, it felt like I was stealing a treasure from them".
My eyes lit up like gems.
"Really? Then your siblings really must be amazing"!
"They have disowned me, right now I am merely a tool at your disposal, that's why I can follow you till the ends of the Earth".
She smiled softly
"Then you'll follow me, not because you have to, but because you want to".
Even at twelve, I understood the risk. Helping witches meant opening yourself to suspicion—especially from the father. But Mother never flinched.
I loved her for that and so did Elias—our youngest brother.
"People fear what they don't understand Audrey, you have to be better than them, you hear me"? She'd tell me when I asked why she bothered. "Fear is a kind of ignorance, the kind that will take over you".
I believed her then
Our eldest brother—Adrian
He didn't
He was the eldest child of the family.
While mother's warmth filled the house like a warm shine, Adrian was the cold draft that slipped underneath. He despised the witches, a deep hatred from who knows where.
His hate was personal.
Adrian was smart, he knew not to get in the way of mother, so he created little inconveniences that slowly clawed away at the witches in the household.
Adrian would watch from the second-floor railing while Mother and the servants worked together in the garden.
"Pathetic," he'd mutter, loud enough for someone to hear. "She's wasting her time on strays."
He'd trip them while they carried laundry baskets. Knock trays from their hands and then call them "clumsy freaks" for spilling tea on the carpet.
Once, I caught him punching one of the younger ones hard enough to leave a bruise, then smirking as she bit her lip to keep from yelping.
I told Mother. She frowned at me, but not in disbelief—no, she knew it was true. She simply sighed, and said, "I'll talk to him."
But talking never changed him.
He treated them like dolls meant to be messed with, dolls made to be abused.
The head butler, Tian used to have a child, the child's name was George, Tian's wife was one of the witches that always helped him with chores. He used to be so happy and joyful while doing his job.
The child only lasted three months.
Smoke rose into the sky as Adrian stood right in front of the incinerator the very next day, a smile spread across his face.
My hands shook as my eyes widened at the thought, I knew what he did but I had no proof of his doings, the cameras had suddenly went out the moment the child was gone out of its crib.
The baby's screaming was drowned out by the crackling of the flames.
By the time I was fourteen, me and Seraphina were separated but not by choice, she was dragged away.
At home, Adrian barely spoke to mother, only exchanging small glances towards her except when it came to arguing. The day she scolded him for throwing a porcelain cup at one of the witches, he didn't yell back, he simply stared at her with dead eyes like he was planning something.
A few days later, mother had decided to take me and Elias into the city to eat out without Adrian.
Elias was pestering mother to go eat fast food the other day.
I remember the event very vividly.
The heater hummed in the car as rain trickled onto the plastic of the window. Mother hummed softly to herself, one hand on the wheel as she stared at the incoming traffic.
The music softly echoed, Elias was right beside me in the backseat staring out the window, Elias pressed his face against the foggy window, drawing smily faces on its surface.
Then—headlights in the rear view mirror. Too close, too bright.
"Some idiot is in a hurry", Mom muttered.
The entire car leaned to the left as if a wheel had completely disappeared.
Her eyes suddenly widened as she gripped onto the wheel.
"I'm losing control"!
Mother jerked the wheel to avoid colliding with the tree, but the wet road betrayed us. The world tilted—glass shattering, metal twisting, Elias' scream splitting the air—
Within a split second, we felt the impact of the car crash against a tree.
My stomach dropped.
"Mom"?
When I came back, the world smelled like gasoline.
The windshield was gone, the dashboard crumpled inward like paper. My head throbbed; something warm was trickling down my cheek.
"Sis, what happened to mom"?
Mother was still in her seat, her head twisted off her neck, a wooden branch entered straight through her head and came out the other side.
Her blood bursted like a balloon over both our faces.
Her chest moved once
Twice
Then it stopped, she immediately stopped breathing.
I couldn't move
I couldn't breathe
The rain carried her blood down over the dashboard, mixing with shards of glass before dripping onto my lap.
When the paramedics arrived, I remember one of them pulling me out, muttering something about "miracles" that we'd survived the crash. But in my mind, there was only one thought: Adrian did this.
I knew it was him, I knew it in my heart.
But this justice system
It's flawed.
There was no proof that it was orchestrated by Adrian, no meaningful evidence that allowed me to convict him.
At the funeral, Adrian stood by the casket, face solemn, voice full of false grief as he greeted relatives. When our eyes met, he gave me the faintest hint of a smile.
It was the same smile I'd seen through the rain, just before the world turned red.
When it was only the three of us.
Elias jumped towards him, his fingers clenched around Adrian's neck, aiming to kill him.
His eyes bore holes into Adrian but he barely wavered, throwing him to the ground.
Elias had a small frame, his arms were thin so he got instantly pinned to the floor.
Adrian gripped his fist and repeatedly slammed him into the ground, blood streaming down Elias' small face.
I couldn't help but just watch.
Adrian was actually going to kill him, his brows furrowed and his pupils dilated as he kept pummeling Elias into the ground.
My hands shook.
I only had one wish during that time.
I wanted to be strong, just like Seraphina.
But a witch hasn't appeared in the Mirlo family in over a millennium.
Deeming the family clear of impurities.
The air started to tense around me as mana started to rapidly fluctuate in the air, the surroundings started to shift and change.
Her technique that I had seen hundreds of times flew through my mind.
I had seen it so many times I could even call it my own.
Then a sudden burst gathered at my fingertips.
A screeching sound that shot out towards Adrian, knocking him straight into the wall.
I felt a rush of power flow through me, a sudden feeling of satisfaction went through me.
But suddenly my heart sank.
"Huh"?
I saw the damage it did to him and all I could do was flinch.....I had almost killed Adrian.
All I could do was stare at his body, his barely breathing body struggling to survive.
Even if I hated him, I felt like a monster, I wished for this yet I felt so empty.
This system is flawed, it lets injustice roam free and justice punished.
Luckily I was sent off lightly for attacking Adrian.
Shirogane
The witches in our home started to disappear one by one, until not a single trace of their essence remained except for me.
I was the only witch in the household.
Every single day, without mother.
I had no protection, no warmth to protect me from Adrian's wrath.
The mana I just gained started to disappear bit by bit, my essence started to fade from the repeated abuse.
And the food I got was barely enough for me to survive, borderline dog food.
Adrian would always force his anger onto me, for two years straight.
Everyday it felt like my skeleton was crawling out of my body.
The moment I was identified as a witch, was the moment I lost my humanity.
Laws are different for witches, even physical violence was legal.
But the moment I stared at his face, my soul started to regain its color even just by a little.
I remember his name.
Hoshimi Shirogane.