"Your daughter has shown nothing but absolute disregard for our culture and tradition Meredith! You ought to teach her the right thing. It is a law that all descendants of the Sphinx must and will take the golden yoke and join the Academy Arc! But your brat child refused to attend the ceremony for the golden yoke, meaning that cannot join the Academy Arc and that is utter nonsense!", I listened silently as the Royal Magi yelled at my mother. She was a short and petite woman. I could not see her face because of the red hood draped over her head. Her arms were thin and very wrinkled. Her olive skin had turned dark brown from her many years in the red sun and her voice sounded more like a raspy croak. I was so distracted by the sight unfolding before me that I missed a step and clumsily tumbled down the stairs. Talk about an entrance. The room fell silent as all three Mahi and my mother turned to look at me. I heard a disapproving humph come from my mother. I looked up at them shamefully and was completely taken aback by the look of horror upon their faces. "Oh goodness! She looks an awful lot like Darynem!" Another magi exclaimed
I gathered the train of my dress and all three Magi took a cautious step back… away from me?
Even the Magi couldn't accept me?
My mother's voice sliced through the tense silence. "This is my daughter Mildred. The doctors told me at her birth that she had a rare genetic disease that causes her to lose pigment in her skin and eyes ", she said curtly. Oh, how many times I've had to explain this to every new person I've met.
The first Magi cleared her throat before speaking. " Well, she certainly cannot be a Darynem since she is your daughter, however it does feel uncomfortable to be only inches away from a being that is a spitting image of the despicable creatures that haunt our existence. She looks nothing like you!" She glared at me as she spoke to my mother. I began to feel my temper rise within me. I had had enough of this unfair treatment. And who was she to speak about when she looked no different from a hedgehog. Before I could speak a word, the last Magi who had been silent until now, finally spoke. "Come child", her baritone voice took me aback. "We have come to give you your golden yoke. Now come, come here, let us begin ".
I brushed off the dust from the front of my dress and walked as confidently as I could to her, deliberately avoiding eye contact with the hedgehog Magi.
With movement like a flash of lightning. The Magi's fingernails darkened and elongated and before I could process what was happening, she plunged her black claws into my chest. I felt her grip around my heart. My eyes widened in horror at the sheer pain that seized my body. From the corner of my eyes, I could see my mother calmly standing there, hands clasped in front of her. Why weren't they trying to save me? The Magi grabbed me by my chin and stared into my eyes. I felt like she was peeking into my soul. I felt the metallic taste of blood in my mouth and I slowly welcomed the sleep. Why did I have to die this way? Why would mother lie to me?
I knew that I was different but did she hate me this much to have me executed by the Royal Magi? Why? Would dad want this too? No… my father would never. Suddenly I was back in the spring fields for my 7th birthday. At Red Lake Park. He gave me a piggyback around the lake as I screamed at the top of my lungs. "Happy birthday princess", he yelled with a big smile on his face. " I love you daddy!", I exclaimed. "And I love you more my princess". His voice echoed in my mind as I slipped into the darkness.
I felt cold, so cold. My feet sunk into a thick layer of… snow?
Where was I? Am I dead? Death feels so cold. All around me is darkness. I can't see anything. My hands quickly reached for my chest where I had been impaled… there was nothing there…
Her skies were pitch black and cloudless, there was nothing in the vast space, the wind howled out in the horizon. I felt so cold…until I didn't. A raging hot circle of fire began around me sprouting out of the ice-cold ground. Then before me appeared the three Magi like a hologram. The one who plunged her fist into me stepped forward as fast as lightning again and held me by the neck. This woman really was strong for her age. She plunged her fist into my chest again! How many times was it possible to die? I never knew that I could die even in death! But this time it felt different. It felt cold. So icy cold. I felt like my entire body was freezing slowly around her fist in my chest. Though her fist felt hot. And looked like a boxing red hot iron, the cold of my body subdued her. I saw a vision. Like a dance between a red flame and an icy blue flame. And anytime I felt the burning sensation in my chest as I hung up in the air, the red flame would overpower the blue. Until I regained control of my mind and with all the mental effort that I could master through my agonizing pain. I overpowered the red flame. And extinguished it completely.
I felt my body collapse into the frozen snow and the Magi who attacked me was hunched over in pain. Howling. The other two Magi rushed over to her to help her. As they lifted her off the ground, a golden ring was fastened around her neck…. that should be. the golden yoke!
The two Magi glances at me in what looked like shock and …. Horror?
"What have you done! You insolent child!", the hedgehog Magi shrilled.
The Magi with the golden yoke began to cough out blood. I noted that even though they were in holographic form, blood did spew into the white snow. Which meant that this place must be real. The three Magi disappeared from before as I lay in the snow. The memory of my father and me at the Red lake came back to me and I embraced it. Welcoming the darkness once more.