===*
I still remember the sound of the train blaring a deafening noise before the impact blackened the world around me, and all because a thief wanted my bag. I don’t know whether or not the thief was caught, or how much my family would have cried for me, but I surely died upon impact. I was certain of this when I woke up as a baby in a cradle.

“Oh, Makenna, you are so beautiful,” said my new mother, who cooed over me in the cradle with dangling, sparkling, colorful stars, circling around and held up with no strings. “Smile for me, my baby Makenna~!”

The burning humiliation that I’ve felt for two weeks of being treated like an infant slowly diminished as I accepted my fate:

I have been reincarnated into another world.

Roll credits.

Chime~!

“Oh! There goes the bell!” My mother, Camilla, called out as she left my side and rushed to grab her coat near the wide oak door. “Villa! Please watch over Makenna for me! Thank you!”

And as she opened the door, I could see a hell-razing sky and winged beasts flying from afar before she jumped off, falling and screaming in joy like a daredevil skydiving off a plane. The door slammed itself shut as soon as she was gone. A bottle of milk hovered in the air, grasped my invisible hands and brought close to my lips. The need to eat overwhelmed my senses and I quickly fed from it.

Villa, from what I could deduce, is the spirit of this magical house that would move, bend, and shift things around with the purpose of completing its chores and orders. Villa would be cleaning, cooking, doing laundry, and most importantly, taking care of me. Villa the house was my nanny.

Mother would often to be away, sometimes a week or two would go by before she shows her face. And, whenever she was home, I would watch her concoct potions, or craft items that she claimed had magical effects.

And one day, I would become a powerful sorcerer such as her.

However, with the mindset of an adult, I might one day surpass her sooner than expected. For now, my first progress was at the age of one-year-old. Huh. Never thought to be the age of a single digit, but here I was, and I was learning what the book referred to as mana sense. Thankfully, all the text in her book were written in English. From what I read, mana was everywhere, like chi, and it takes a special sort of person to have the ability to wield it, meaning a high aptitude for magic.

Being her daughter and all, magic came to me as naturally as breathing, and I learned mana sense on the day of my first birthday.
It was something that I’ve noticed before, a second skin on top of what I already have. It was, at first, a tingling, prickling sensation, but after becoming aware of it and even controlling the flow, it smoothens out into a running river, constantly moving all around me. And that was how I learned mana sense.

“Oh my! Starlight, did you just learn how to sense your mana?” My mother asked after coming a day late after my birthday, giving me a chocolate cake box bought from some grocery store. I wasn’t complaining. It was good as it is, though I vowed that once my limbs were a little more coordinated, I’ll be baking myself.

“My little Makenna is going to be an amazing sorcerer one day!” She said excitedly.

I had no clue what I was going to be when I grow up, but I know magic was going to be an everyday part of my life.

Thus, three more years passed. As I grew older, mother would be gone for weeks on end. Regularly, I see her at least once or twice a month, for either half a day or the entirety of it. She’s always busy, and it seemed like she would always go on her grand adventures. However, I was okay. After all, Villa was with me, and I found out that the house spirit was more responsible than my mother was. I still remember how she tried to force me to eat solids when my teeth hadn’t grown it and I was sure my digestive system wasn’t ready for rotisserie chicken. Villa intervened by locking my mother up in her bedroom before feeding me my bottle of milk. In conclusion, I trusted Villa, a house apparition, more with my life than my own mother.

During the times that my mother would show her face, she would come home wounded. At first, it was minimal like a cut here or a bruise here, but lately, she’s been coming home bloodier and more haggard, like she was beaten to a pulp. Compelled to heal her, I ended up taking care of her for two days before she’s suddenly all better and she was out again. Villa thinks that, because my mother is a powerful sorcerer, her wounds would have easily healed up in seconds, and the reason why she didn’t was probably to get my attention.

Yeah… yeah, I was starting to think that to when I saw she had a lot of healing potions.

Still, I had yet to call her out on it. It was good training for the medical field, if ever I decided to become a nurse in this lifetime. Plus, it helped me with my healing spells.

Years go by, and my mother is often gone. I was forbidden from ever leaving her hut, and Villa made sure of it.

“You’re not ready yet for the outside world, baby. Please wait a little longer,” she said. “Mama is working hard to make it a safer world for you.”

How exactly, you crazy woman? It’s not like she had such powerful magic that she could use to dominate an entire world…

Does she?????

With no way of ever leaving this place, I devoted myself to the studies of ‘witchcraft and wizardry’. It turns out that I didn’t need to use any sort of chanting words to cast spells, rather intention and imagination were enough to convey the spell. Then, there was also crafting magical items, and to do that, I needed mana stones.

“Hmm… to create mana stones, a spellcaster must imbue magical energy within a suitable storage container. Gemstones are excellent examples for mana storage, and depending on its durability and clarity, will determine its maximum usage and longevity as a battery. Some gems such as diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds, are capable of recharging the expended use of mana, so long as there’s a little of it left. Too little, and it may not recharge…”

Holding a shard of milky quartz, I easily created a mana stone. It cracked a bit though since my input was a little overwhelming, but it was working perfectly, and Villa gave it a B plus. Huh. Better keep working on it if I want that A.

Thus, my magic tuition continued, and before I know it, I turned 10 years old.

“…MOM!”

“Hello, Starlight~~”

I gaped at the sight of the bloody mess of the living room that ended up becoming a homicide crime scene, and my mother was the victim with the missing left arm.

Oh my god, she’s missing a left arm this time.

Breathing in my frustration and out, I made my way downstairs to care for her. Thankfully, Villa was already cleaning up the messy parts and it had set out the potion and healing kit on the coffee table for me to use. I sat down next to my mother on her left side where her arm her missing and I began to pour magic into it, focusing on renewing her left limb—

“Oh my! Your skills have gotten so much better than it did two weeks ago!” She said,

“Mother, the last time I saw you was three months ago.”

“Was it that long? Truly? It couldn’t have been that long!” She said as if she was shocked at the passage of time.

“What happened mother?” I asked, refusing to take the bait. “Why haven’t you healed it with the elixir I gave you last time?”

“I-uhh, I may have already used it before this happened… Hahaha.”

“…Really?”

“Really!”

I raised a brow. “And you didn’t heal it yourself with your magic, because…?”

“Oh! I-It’s difficult to do that on my own! And I’m in so much pain, Makenna, baby!”

Liar. I knew she used a pain nullification spell, otherwise, she’d be writhing around in pain right now.

“By the way, Makenna, what’s for lunch?” She asked as I finished stitching her up a new, solid arm.

She’s been gone for two months, and she’s asking for food from me this neglectful mother? Shameless!

Sighing, I told her, “Well, I made a big batch of pumpkin soup yesterday, if you’d like some--”

“Oh no, I want Makenna’s grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup.”

Oh… Oh my God! Shameless this woman!

“Mother! Just eat the pumpkin soup! If you really want that, then you can have it tomorrow!”

“Awww, no fair. Makenna baby~!”

I ignored her as I went to go and heat up the pumpkin soup, letting Villa take over for me. However, since I was such a pushover and a big softie over my mother, I decided to make her a grilled cheese sandwich.

First, I got two slices of sourdough bread, and spread it with a mixture of salty butter and grated parmesan. I toasted the first slice while I got out slices of aged white cheddar and mozzarella. Once it was done toasting on both sides, I took it out and toasted the other slice. Then, I flipped that side before adding the cheese slices. I put the other toast on top and close it with a lid as it heated up on low heat.

By then, the pumpkin soup was thoroughly heated up and I stirred it around, taste-testing. I added a glop of chili oil, because she loves it spicy and she once said that if it didn’t burn her butthole coming out, then it wasn’t spicy enough. Crazy mother. With that, a bowl of pumpkin soup and a hot grilled cheese sandwich were ready for her to eat.

Mother somehow knew I was done because she was already in the kitchen with me sitting on the bar counter, waiting for her meal. I passed it over to her and she began to eat with gusto.

“MMmmmmm~~!! So good! This is so good!” she cried with gusto. “You must have been an excellent chef in one of your previous lives!”

“It’s just a sandwich, mother,” I downplayed her enthusiasm, but her praises did make me feel good. I started making my own grilled cheese sandwich since it looked good with the pumpkin soup.

“MM! Spicy!” She cried. “HA! …..So good~!”

Crazy mother.

She ate her food happily, and just as I was about to my share, she said to me.

“Makenna, Starlight, I’m going to be gone for a whole year this time.”

“A whole year?” I asked as that would be the longest that she’ll be disappear for. Six months was already long enough, but a whole year?

“Or two…”

“What?? You can’t be serious!” I was shocked. How much more shame can this mother neglect when it comes to me? I’m just 10 years old and her daughter! There’s a limit to how much I could actually tolerate this! How the fuck did Rapunzel endured her imprisonment if she was never allowed outside when the DOOR is right there?! It’s not like this house isn’t big itself with its own garden and enchanted forest out in the backdoor of the kitchen, but I’m running out of materials and magical books to learn from!

When will she start training me as her apprentice? Did she even have plans of making me her apprentice? If so, why allow me to learn magic on my own?

“Now, now, don’t be too upset,” she said with a smile. “I have a brilliant idea!”

“…Do you?” I asked, raising a brow.

“Yes! Why don’t you live with your father from now on?”

….????????!?!?!??!?

“…Excuse me, did you just say father? As in I have a father?” I asked. “A real father?”

She snorted, “Well, I couldn’t have made an extraordinary baby all myself without someone else, now, would I?”

Yoouuuuu shameless woman!

I ignored her remark and said, “I have father? And you failed to mention that to me for the last ten years of my life? Why haven’t you told me about him before?”

She blinked. “Well… you never asked.”

“I assumed he was dead! Or he was some deadbeat bastard that left you!” I said. “I was waiting for you to tell me at your pace!”

“Awwe, baby, you were worried about me?”

*INHALE*

“…Mother.”

She promptly took out a white envelope along with a photo of a manor and she passed it over to me.

“Tonight, you pack your bags, and tomorrow, Villa will show you the way out. You just need to picture this,” she said. “And, of course, any time you want to, you can always come back here in this house. As you know, the front door is a magical teleporting artifact, capable of crossing dimensions and travelling faraway realms. So long as you know the location, or you have the image of it, you can always head there.”

I had figured, considering all the twisted backgrounds I’ve seen every time mom stepped out through the front door.

Taking another deep breath and out, I asked her. “Who is my father?”

“Oh my, he must be 28 by now…” she said as her gaze had this faraway look that I’ve never seen before. “…but I’ll never forget his face. Handsome... He was also daring, reckless, and...so full of conviction.... His name is Bruce Wayne, by the way.”

…Coincidence.

It has to be a coincidence.

It can’t be Bruce Wayne, Gotham’s Vengeful Knight.

…Right?
===*