Restricted Magic - Arc 3

Part 6

It wasn't a fight. It was a one sided beatdown.

Small hands struck his chest, pushing him to the floor. The boy was young, but he was smaller, and his five-year-old frame couldn't hold up against the larger boy's strength. He curled up in a ball, protecting his head and his stomach as the other child kicked him over and over. A group of children surrounded the fighting pair, but no one stepped forward to help him.

"Monster!" One girl shouted with a cruel grin.

"Leech!"

"They should have drowned you when you were born!"

He tried to hold on, but the boy lands a kick to his head, causing his ears to ring. Blood ran from a cut in his forehead to his eyes, dying his vision red.

Enough.

He reaches out, grabbing the ankle of his assailant. The boy, startled, tried to pull it back but it was already to late.

His hand was on him.

The larger boy crumpled to the ground, unconscious. The remainder of the children stepped back, startled as he ignored his injuries and stood up, smiling, the coppery taste of blood in his mouth.

"You were right."

The other children were screaming, running away in the face of his power.

"I am a monster."

He was all-alone. Sitting at the edge of the temple steps, he put his face in his hands, and sobbed bitterly.

"What's wrong?" A young woman, sixteen or seventeen years old, sat next to him, a soft comforting hand on his back.

He briefly explained what happened, hesitating to tell her the extent to which he hurt the other children. When he had finished he looked up into her eyes, his face sad.

"Maybe I shouldn't have been born. They say I'm a monster, and I think they're right." He rubbed his tears away with the back of his hand, but his eyes immediately filled up again.

The woman didn't flinch.

"You are what you decide to be. If you decide to be a monster, then that's all you'll ever be. But you don't have to be." She gave him a quick hug. "You could be a hero if you wanted."

He pouted. "Easy for you to say, you were chosen to help my father with the Renewal. He likes you."

"That may be so, but he loves you, so I don't think you have to worry." She chuckled quietly as he rolled his eyes.

Looking out at the ground, where his blood and tears had soaked into the ground he sighed. "I hate my power. I wish I could be like you."

"Everyone has a purpose. You don't need mine, you already have your own." The young woman shook her head. "Keep searching for it. And until then, if they come to bother you, try to make you cry, show them a smile instead, even if it's a fake one." Placing a finger under his small chin she smiled brightly. "Just like this. Let me see it."

He smiled, and if it was a little strained, neither of them mentioned it.

"Good job Christopher, I knew you could do it! Now why don't you come inside, I made some cake, my sister's coming today!"

Christopher jumped up to his feet, excited. "Elsinore is coming?! That's great!" He ran towards the temple, before pausing, a genuine smile lighting up his face. "Thanks, Sophia."