Chapter - 1 : A Bird Is Born In A Cage

 

It was for no known reason that from the moment I was born, I have been removed from my birthplace. And when I slowly started understanding the unusual things that were happening around me in my infancy....

 

I was already living in an isolated large mansion in the middle of a nowhere forest.

 

There were maids and servants who did all the work around the household. Cleaning, cooking, and looking after my needs but they never talked to me. I was forbidden to leave the place and there were always guards at the doors and at the perimeter of the mansion stationed.

 

No one could go out or walk in without being visible.

 

The only person that ever did converse with me was my mother who only came to visit me at the end of every week. Later I got to learn that I was a kid born to a prestigious noble family. And because I cannot use magic or my family’s inherent skill, I would be kept in this mansion for my safety.

 

But that was all I got to know, or otherwise, it could also mean that it was all I needed to know. 

 

At least that's what was told to me. And from then onward different intellectuals came knocking at the door. Teaching and educating me on various subjects, etiquettes, knowledge of this world, common sense, and language. But the only thing that was actually given much attention was my magic powers.

 

No matter what traditional methods were applied or taught to me. Doctors, practitioners, healers, and saints of all kinds from all places examined me and were still unsuccessful in their attempt to make it possible for me to use magic.

 

I did not know who my father was and I was also never told my mother’s name except for that my mother called me ⸺Caige.

 

I think the people in the mansion were still mute or were just not that fond of speaking to me. But every week I waited for my mother to show up. Promising me she would take me back home once I was able to use magic. I too invested all of my energy in trying to learn everything there was about using magic and its theory so that I could forever be with her.

 

Or at least meet my father whom my mother always kept on claiming was busy with work.

 

But if only at that time I hadn’t been just a kid of eight years or naive enough never to notice that fake poker face or the sadness my mother withheld inside of her. Circumstances that restrained her hand from caressing my hair, or giving me a warm hug, or... even at least for once I could have a sound sleep by her side just for the night.

 

Unable to understand that one simple fact that the happy family reunion I always dreamed of after successfully learning to use magic; would all turn out to be a lie.

 

 Another two years passed but to no avail.

 

Still, there was no solution for me to be able to produce an ounce of magic and I grew up with my condition remaining stagnant. According to the doctors, my body lacked all the necessary magic veins that should have been present in the body to conduct magic. The presence of the skill had been verified by a high-level appraiser.

 

But because of zero magic powers, it was deemed that I was magicless. Realizing all my hard work over these years was for nothing, I was disappointed with myself.

 

Turns out it was also the time when I was told that my mother was now sick and she wouldn’t come to meet me until she gets better.

 

And that’s from where hell started raining on me…

 

I hadn't actually known much about the life outside the mansion nor the real circumstances that had forced me into living in such isolation. The teachers who were then visiting me abruptly stopped coming. As if my life paused forever, someone from the outside was always controlling my will without me even knowing.

 

Fortunately, there was a huge library in the basement where I ended up spending all my time reading books. Hoping I would hone my skills in other fields and used them to impress my mother when she would visit me next time after she got better.

 

I fell in love with books and even sleep which was the most difficult part of my routine was taken over by my reading time.

 

Every day I would enquire the servants about my mother’s health but there was no response. Once I had thought of running away in search of her but the moment I got close to the gate several guards pointed their swords and spears at my neck.

 

That’s when I first felt a murderous glance from those near me. The eyes of those who were always there observing me. Carefully watching me and all my moves.

 

The irrepressible feeling that if I would have ever taken another step outside I would be murdered and cannot leave here alive.

 

And the next time when I did actually hear about my mother, it was the news of her death. She could not survive the illness.

 

I was heartbroken, and that was also the day when some new doctors started visiting again.

 

I never once got to know the real love for my family, but from the next day, pain became the most commonplace sensation to me.

 

Something was different about these people, the way they treated and saw me. They were no ordinary doctors or teachers of magic. But they operated on my body, and performed painful experiments.

 

Some would cut me open, sew me back and heal all injuries with healing magic. But it was not enough for the pain I felt which otherwise took weeks to subside.

 

All for the sake of becoming capable to use magic one day. I bore all and closed my heart and all emotions.

 

Sometimes they would close me inside a chamber with burning fluids, and apply pressure until I would fall unconscious. Everyone was still mute even to my screams, whether I was unconscious, or drugged and I did not even know when another year had already passed.

 

One day suddenly there was a commotion inside the mansion. Everything around me was being destroyed. The documents in the mansion were being burnt, and trees around the forest were being cut down.

 

Several luggage and trunks were packed full and dumped in the basement including all of my belongings. The library too was no exception.

 

And the servants told me that it was finally time for me to go back to where I belonged.

 

I was happy for the first time in years, except for seeing the library being decimated. If only I could carry some of the belongings that my mother gave to me back then, I wouldn’t have been sad leaving the mansion.

 

I put my first step outside the doors and one of the servants put me inside a carriage alone. After five minutes a coachman drew the reins of the horse cart.

 

We were on our way and when I gave a final glance to the nightmare place which had been my home until then.

 

BOOOMMMM….

 

Out of nowhere, the whole mansion was burning in embers. I realized the trees were being cut down to flame the mansion from all sides. I screamed to take me back to get my mother’s belongings. My books. Or, whatever there was left of me.

 

But no one heard my calling. The cart kept on moving quickly making its way through the forest without paying any heed to the wildfire. It was simple to understand that all evidence and the existence of the mansion was being erased in front of my eyes.

 

And to my horror, I was now big enough to understand and think for myself that I would become a part of this cleansing too.

 

“Open the door… Open it. Let me out. Please.” I shouted.

 

I banged on the door for it to open. But I could feel a rod had been placed on the other end of the door to stop me from coming out. I looked around the cart and found a small front window.

 

There was no time to think. With my hands, I broke the glass without any hesitation.

 

“Ahhhhhh!” Blood leaked when the glass cracked and prick my fingers and hand.

 

But that was not the real surprise, because now there was no one in the front controlling the horses. The strings were tied to the cart and the doors locked.

 

We were heading straight for a waterfall cliff from what I could see through the small window peeping.

 

“Save me. Help. Someone, please save me. I promise I would not be a bad girl and do everything you tell me to… I don’t want to die.”

 

I screamed and kept on banging the door. I cried and I knew there would be no one to respond to my cries or swearing.

 

 I was abandoned. The same hands that were controlling my will, that kept me prisoned for so long was now trying to get rid of me.

 

A simple message for me inside this cage they put me in⸺I am needed no longer.

 

I did not ask to be born like this, magicless. I too wanted to live happily with my parents.

 

Or, remember when I would cry a tearful when in stories I would read of parents taking care of their kids.

 

Or, of great sorcerers and Heroes who would go on to save the world with their unlimited powers.

 

It’s all because… I knew I could never become like them. From this moment I can’t even have that life as a happy dream.

 

Being betrayed for a choice I didn’t make. Only my father could have given such an order if he was the one in charge, to keep me in that place.

 

The cart suddenly bumped against the rocks and I rolled down from the seat.

 

The horses neighed and the ropes lost to the wight of the cart flipped on its own and broke free from their attachment.

 

I scrambled on the floor trying to stand up, but only to be tossed inside the cart as it went rumbling.

 

And when it finally stopped moving, I realized I felt weightless. The ear-ripping noise of the strong water waves crashing against the bottom rock made me unable to think. the cart was now carried inside a river heading for a waterfall cliff.

 

Someone was trying to kill me. i reminded myself of that fact again.

 

… I was going to die if I did not do something.

 

The faces of people I had never seen or didn’t know what their names were. Even if I cursed them now or blame them for my ill fortune. It won’t fix me or make them accept me how I am.

 

I had to do something on my own. I wanted to show them all, that even if they had given up on me and wanted to get rid of me. I could still stand up.

 

I will find a way to survive.

 

The hurling water from the river started pouring into the cart. I climbed back to the seat until every corner was full. And the fall pressed me against the roof.

 

I was still failing and within moments everything would come to an end.

 

.

What a child like me could do?

 

It was becoming difficult to breathe due to anxiety and my neck was choking with water.

 

There were two options either I would accept my defeat and die or try to force my hand and survive.

 

I wanted to fight back because I knew more than anything that I hated to lose.

 

My chest burned or rather it was my heart and soul responding to my calling. My brain forced my hand to move and then a marvel happened.

 

I had been told the effects of my skill but never saw it in action.

 

There were no sparkles… no light.

 

And when I knew I was burning through my life energy, the cart slowed down only momentarily just before the impact of hitting the rock bottom of the cliff.

 

SHRRRR….BRAMMMM…..

 

The cart broke into million scattered pieces, and my body crashed against several rocks when I fell into the water.

 

My body still moving on its own trying to save itself, I tried to shake my hands reaching the bank.

 

My head hurt and several places cut bled.

 

Still panting and trying to catch a breath. My lungs were heavy as if they would anytime collapse over my heart. My spine was aching after I had miraculously used my skill. But I knew it came at a cost.

 

I was losing consciousness, my body becoming numb.

 

I again heard some people coming down with horses. Searching around the place. Maybe they were there to check on my dead body.

 

Until I heard some screams of familiar voices of a few of the workers at the mansion.

 

“What happened?” I turned over myself. Still lying I fell on the rock bank. My body had barely enough energy to keep my eyelids apart.

 

Until a new group of men over horses came close to me. They were roughly dressed and had bloodied swords in their hands.

 

“The girl survived falling from such heights.” A man spoke as he looked at the topmost level of the cliff with an intense look.

 

“I suppose our doctor client was right again that we would find the next one here.” Another man said in disbelief.

 

“Stop talking and hurry before others come back in search for her. Put her behind one of the horses. It helps they would all think she died drowning and the fish monsters inside at her." Another husky man spoke in a crude voice. He might have also been the leader of the group as everyone followed his orders. He continued staring back at me when my eyelids finally dropped.

 

“And be careful, we can’t let her escape. The look in her eyes… she is no ordinary girl ⸺but a survivor.”

 

***

 

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