It was dark. There wasn't any shed of light in this place.

An elf girl laid submerged in the darkness. Her sky-blue eyes had faded into a color of brittle of ice.

"My little Luxinna, you will accomplish great things and bring pride to our name."

That was what her father used to say. She could barely imagine how his prideful smile could twist into such a sneer of disgust. The time she wanted to make him proud--to be recognized as his daughter--was now a broken tragic memory.

It was a gravestone in the derelict of the past.

That day, inside the jade hall with the gathering elven lords, was the day she lost everything.

'May the council adjourned, and judge of spirit gathers. Five out of Seven hands raised. The sentence has passed. Luxinna Drakokia, by the council's will, for the crime of heresy, you are stripped of your inheritance and title. You shall never set a foot into Lightwell again on pain of death. You are now dead in our eyes.'

'Why? Father! What have I done?! Please...' said the ghost of twelve-year-old Luxinna.

'Silence,' said the ghostly voice of Lucian. 'No child of mine is a witch.'

...

The forest was burning.

Rem blocked another lightning bolt. Internal pain rippled through his body. Still, he gritted his teeth and cut off one of Luxinna's tentacles with a flick of his blade using all the training Scathach drilled into him.

The corrupted girl growled. Two more tentacles sprouted from her back. Rem steadied his breathing; the mutation was getting worse. They either finish this or sank like Titanic.

The cure in his hand sparkled. The fire behind him highlighted his declining stamina emptied for the final exchange.

Electricity charged the elf's tentacles before striking out at the boy.

Rem returned the fire with a conical blast of sandstorms. The clashes between the two sent the tentacles smashed into the ground in a cloud of dust and purple vapor. 

'Master, your body can't support this much overexertion,' Central cried. 'Your delirium is approaching a critical level. If you go beyond this, it won't end with a simple coma.'

Rem ignored the warning as he fought back the electrified tentacles with his conical barrier. The desperation of a man with his back against the wall dangerously pushed Rem's tolerance past its limit for a shot at survival.

Rem batted waved more bolts out of his way. His vision turned blurry, but he was able to time his charge. It was a shaky and pathetic dash, but in a small miracle, he successfully weaved past the animalistic tentacles to Luxinna. 

Rem fueled a final burst of strength to land a tackle. The blow broke Luxinna's barrier of ionized air and finally reached the elf.

But after that act, Rem's leg nearly folded as his stamina depleted. His world lost its color, and his weapon started to fade. The corrupted grinned in triumph as she plunged her talon in his shoulder. Talon pierced Rem's chainmail and drew his blood.

Luxinna crackled with glee, but she then noticed the boy's satisfied smile. His blade was sticking out of the girl's thigh. The [Desolator Blade] vanished a second later, but the wound created by an imaginary dagger remained in reality as the mark of triumph. Finally, using the strength he shouldn't have, Rem brought the bottle of cleanser down on the corrupted elf's head.

The act shattered the bottle and let the content out all over the corrupted girl.

He fainted where he stood after that final blow. His eyes closed as he passed the baton over to his matron. Hopefully, she would finish what he started.

...

This place was even darker now.

"Older Sister, you want to be a knight?" said the smiling elven girl.

What did I answer her? Why did I think about this? It should be significant, so why couldn't I remember.

The girl was asking herself these questions as the stake of darkness impaled her body.

Yes, it wasn't important now. It was not necessary anymore, not since that day.

"At least let me see Mag before I go!"

"I am sorry," said the guard. "Lady Magnolia cannot--"

"Escort her out at once," said the cold voice of her father. "She has wasted enough of my food and effort for this lifetime."

She remembered getting dragged and thrown out with nothing behind her back. The rage. The regret. The shame. What had she done to deserve this? There was no fairness or justice. Why did she even cling to this memory in the first place? Living in this painful world wasn't worth it.

A sweet voice whispered in her ear. It told her to let it go. Just burn it all. This evil world didn't deserve to exist. If those monsters refused her right to exist, then they should all suffer for their sins. She had nothing to lose anyway.

Luxinna's hand crept toward the voice, but out of nowhere, a hand clad in light caught her by the wrist.

"Whew," said a voice that was kind and wise but incredibly sad. "Right in the nick of time."

...

Cytortia couldn't take it anymore. She bought all the time she could, but the Paracis finally wrestled all the authority over the area from her.

Rem fainted on the floor like a broken doll and left a rabid Luxinna for the goddess.

On the waterfall, the Paracis flexed its control over the massive natural Mana. An accountable number of tentacles emerged from the ground and the toxic spring like a curtain of hell. Every limb dripped with the purple toxin. Meanwhile, the monster's maw glowed red with an energy blast aiming directly at the goddess.

With tears in her eyes, the young goddess mustered her courage to stare at the face of death.

Thankfully for her, death was forced to take the vacation.

...

The darkness screamed as it burned from Satholia's presence. Slowly, the queen of Center Force helped the elf up from the nightmare.

"Who are you?" The elf looked blankly at the white entity.

"I am Satholia. Nice to meet you," she smiled warmly. " I come to get you out of here."

"Why?" The elf looked confused as she stared back to the ground dejectedly.

Luxinna tearfully tucked herself into a ball. Her voice wearied from loss and betrayal. She couldn't hold onto anything--a black-hole of wishes that would never clam too.

"Everyone betrayed me?" Luxinna cried. "My sister walked out on me. My father tried to get me executed. Everyone threw me away ever since I got these powers. Now I got to watch powerlessly as my father and sister burnt everything else. What do I have to live for at this point?"

"Are you sure you have nothing?"

"Stop it with the pep talk. I already have enough loss this entire life. I don't want to fight anymore! Get out!" 

Satholia bent down and hugged the lashing elf.

"What you saw is a heavily edited illusion. Trust me, Luxinna, the world is not as bad as you think it is?"

The elf slowly broke down on the shoulder of the embodiment of all good this world had to offer.

"What should I do now?" The girl closed her eyes tight as tears trickled down. "Why I am even doing this?"

"Because you haven't given up," the goddess gave her a sad yet understanding smile. "Here, let me show you the real deal."

Satholia's eyes turned red as she cast her spell, showing the elf the hope that defined her.

The world turned into a rainbow milky-way.

...

A vibrant image coalesced.

It was a nine years old Luxinna and her sister Magnolia. The two children sat under a massive tree, The Evergreen. Around them, elves children were playing tag among the green grasses of the Paradise of Light. Massive cedar-city surrounded the little paradise, separated by a ring of pure, sparkling water. Butterflies fluttered above the two elves children looking up at the open sky.

"Sis, you want to be a knight?" Said the girl with lilac color eyes, her head cocked in confusion. "But aren't you the heiress?"

"Come on, Mag," the young Luxinna laughed. "Do you think I can succeed father? You must know I hate that office. My place is right here, looking at the skies and playing with everyone in the sun. Hey, do you remember the stories Eva told us? The one about the adventuring knight rescuing a princess from a dragon. Maybe I will be that knight someday. How cool do you think I will look, Mag?"

"Father said those stories are ridiculous, sis." Magnolia interrupted at the starry eyes Luxinna with a deadly serious one. "But I agree, if you take over, it will be the death of us."

"That's why I will be a knight," Luxinna yelled toward the sky. "Just wait for my Awakening. My magic will be so awesome even Dragons and Vampires will tremble in my wake! One day, I will even save the entire world!"

The young Magnolia smiled thinly as she look-up at the sister who never lost her optimism.

"Hey sis, if I am in danger, would you come to save me too." The adorable little sister broke the silence.

"Of course, a real hero will save everyone!" little girl declared, raising her fist toward the sun. "And I will be the greatest one ever!"

...

Witnessing the memory, the fifteen years' old Luxinna blinked. The battered darkness screamed, flailing powerlessly in the light of hope.

"Was I...really like that?"

"Everyone was like that once, but we grew out of it," Satholia nodded sadly. "But did we grow up? Or did we actually degrade? Is it time to look back at our more hopeful younger self with pride instead of shame? In my humble opinion, that old-fashion big dream is the greatest thing we ever created. The world only needed a reminder of why it is great to dream big."

"I am abandoned by everyone?" Luxinna muttered, her tears were welling up. "I am sorry to let you down, but the girl with that dream is already long gone."

"Still want to take a bet with me?" Satholia smiled teasingly. "Sorry, but you are wrong, not everyone cast you out."

A light surged to kick the darkness in the face again.

...

It was a trial held in the balcony of white wood overlooking the stage like a sacred judge's stand. The jade-color light illuminated alcoves circling the girl inside the wooden cage. Multiple blue and white banners of historical testament adorned this proud court.

The elf behind a white banner of tree and river addressed the jury.

"I, Lucian Drakokia, hereby announce the trail of Luxinna of House Drakokia under the charge of-"

"Shut up, Lucian!" sniped the elderly elves inside an alcove to the right. "This trial is a farce, and you know it. I won't permit you to execute my grandniece."

"She is born into my house with deadly magic never seen before among our kind, Lord Balder," Lucian said. "As Lord of Lightwell, We are duty-bound to protect the elven-kind against any potential threat--even if it is my flesh and blood."

Balder outrageous glared around the room.

"Potential threat!" He slammed his fist into the wall. "Shame on all of you! A political enemy, I understand! Executing a rogue agent is still acceptable. But this! Calling a twelve years old girl a threat! How can you reach such a new level of low, Lucian!?"

 "May I speak Lord Balder." Another elderly elf spoke up.

"Oh go on, Alusto," Balder said, fed-up with the whole affair. "I know what you are going to say, but entertain me anyway."

Alusto straightened himself, pumping-up for a speech.

"It's true that the state won't benefit from the execution of Luxinna Drakokia," Alusto announced. "But the girl, the devil before us, possess destructive magic alien to the creative ability of our kind. It is the power of a demon and-"

"The power of demons?" Balder snorted, throwing a copper coin at Alusto's head. "That is how much I gave to your pathetic excuses. I don't care if she could summon abomination from the void, much less a bolt of lightning. She is my brother's granddaughter. I will protect her as an elf-lord and her grandfather. Screw your excuses, this trail is a sham, and I will not see it pass if I can help it."

The little Luxinna choke back a sob.

"About that, Lord Balder," said one female elf on another podium. "Elves, especially the nobles, are gifted with spirit-art talent and natural affinity to Nature or Water. Luxinna Drakokia has none of this thing."

"I don't think I make it clear enough, Selina. So let me repeat. I. Don't. Care."

"There is no point, Balder," Lucian announced. "We have already validated the evidence in advance, and the verdict already passed a long time ago. You alone can't stop the execution."

"Pass in a secret trail rigged by this sham court!" Balder bristled in a poorly kept rage. "Just why are you going this far to kill your daughter, Lucian?"

"It is none of your business," Lucian waved the argument off with his hand. "If not for the fact that our law forbade us to conduct a private execution, I wouldn't bother troubling an entire council with this announcement."

Silence.

"Ah, I see," Balder grimaced as he finally pieced Lucian's motive. "You are afraid. After all these years, Artorax still terrifies the Drakokia. Your mother will truly be disappointed by your cowardice, Luck."

Lucian lost his temper--fear and trauma surfacing in his eyes.

"Don't you dare! You've never fought Artorax and her ilks. Never watch our spirits and comrades fell from by her bolt. I lost many brothers at the hand of that monster. No child of mine will wield such heresy!" Lucian ranted. "What do you expect me to say to the bereft families if I let this monster continue existing?"

"Enough," said another elderly elf.

"Master Avar..." the elf woman, Selina, said in shock. "Please don't-"

Avar silenced his protege with a wave and spoke.

"Lucian, I know what you are planning," Avar said threateningly. "But to honor a benefactor of mine, I am willing to risk it."

Avar cleared his throat.

"To all my dear compatriot, by the authority of my house and Julius's, I veto the execution order. Instead, I want us to lower the sentence on the ground of the defendant's age. Instead of death, I suggested that Luxxinna Drakokia faced a life-banishment."

Aver glared at Lucian.

"Are you satisfy yet, Drakokia? Or let it all of Lightwell known that the Drakokia are savages and killers."

Lucian looked at Avar in annoyance.

"Fine," he grumbled. "May those who found the defendant guilty raise their hand."

Lucian and three other elves, including Alusto, raised theirs. The female elf threw a conflicted look at Avar before sadly raising hers. Despite the pressure, Avar and Balder didn't budge an inch.

"May the council adjourned, and judge of spirit gathers. Five out of Seven hands raised. The sentence has passed. Luxinna Drakokia, by the council's will, for the crime of heresy, you are stripped of your inheritance and title. You shall never set a foot into Lightwell again on pain of death. You are now dead in our eyes."

...

"Grandpa..." Luxxina looked at her surrogate grandfather's rage-filled face. "Uncle..."

'Yes, despite your father having half the council under his wallet. They are still willing to stand by you. And it's not only them.'

The light blossomed from the goddess, laying the burning corpse of despair to rest.

...

A guard walked the crying Luxinna out of the city gate and into the forest.

In the wood, out of sight, he reached down and hugged her.

"Don't cry, Lux. It is not over yet."

"But I will never see Mag again. Or you. Or big sis Eva."

"There is no such thing as never," the man tried his best to comfort the girl. "Let me tell you a secret, do remember the time you asked me to teach you swordsmanship?"

"You said I was too young."

"But you keep coming over and over. The rest of the guards and I were so fed-up we finally relented. We decided to teach you only the basics, but none of us believe how hard you practiced. The big secret is you actually make some of us practice even harder not to get left behind."

The young guard cherishingly rubbed Luxinna's head.

"So promised me. Don't give up hope. Be strong. I am looking forward to seeing how much you improve. Promise me that you will be the greatest knight the world ever know, prove that Lord Drakakia are wrong about you."