The girl in my vision had black hair and brown eyes.
She couldn't have been older than five. And she was resisting. Thrashing against the hands holding her down with everything her small body could manage.
They forced her mouth open. A vial of blood was pressed between her lips. She gagged. Choked. Tried to spit it out.
They made her swallow every drop.
The reaction was instant.
Her body seized. The mana around her erupted in a wave of terrifying black. But it wasn't attacking outward. It was attacking her. Her own mana was burning her body from the inside.
Then a man spoke. Calm. Measured.
"The vessel isn't prepared yet. Block her mana core before we lose it."
I looked at him. His face carried nothing. No panic. No guilt. Not a shred of emotion while watching a child get torn apart from within.
And something in my gut told me he was her father.
My eyes drifted back to the girl. Black hair soaked with sweat. Brown eyes that weren't brown anymore.
