Thinking about it, I think I started telling this story a little too late. Let's rewind the tape.
It all began in the quiet town of Iverdawn, somewhere in a forgotten corner of Europe. The year was 1995. I was seventeen years old and living alone.
And then you ask me: — Living alone as a minor?
Yes. Well, if you really want to know, I am a magic user. Those people you saw walking with me, my "parents," were just complex illusions projected so as not to attract the attention of normal beings. The naked truth? I don't even know who my real parents are.
Through the folds of reality, there exists what we call "The Other Side." A magical, dangerous place—a parallel dimension where I came from. At the time of the crossing, I was only thirteen. I barely mastered magic, yet there I was, thrown into Iverdawn.
Over time, I began to try to understand these people. "Non-magical people" are curious specimens. According to local biology, normal humans are made of approximately 70% water. Me? My recipe is quite different: I am only 20% water and 50% pure magic (the rest is flesh, bone, and stubbornness, I suppose). My body is fundamentally an anomaly. If anyone did a complex blood test on me, the doctors wouldn't find answers, only impossible questions.
At fourteen, I entered what they call "Middle School." It was there that I began to absorb everything about this world. And it was there that I met the person who would change my existence: Lucia.
The eldest daughter of a traditional local family, she soon became my best friend.
She was the first soul on this plane to whom I revealed my magic. And she, strangely... accepted me. Soon I became close to her family, even getting to know her little sister, Maria, who was only eleven at the time.
It was then that I felt something unprecedented. According to humans, the name for this is "Love." On the Other Side, this concept does not exist. There, they only understand procreation as a war strategy; children are tools, potential weapons, never fruits of affection. And I am exactly that: the product of the union of two great dynasties. My mother, Elizabeth Arkzarn, the Duchess and master of gravitational magics. My father, Anthony Von Kiimenk, the Duke and leader of the Illusion family. Both conceived me without a shred of love, designed only to be the ultimate weapon.
And, of course, they failed miserably.
I am named Akay Von Arkzarn—though I dispense with the surname.
Lucia was the first girl I fell in love with... And the last, too.
At fifteen, we were inseparable. But a magical creature from the Other Side attacked the city. In the midst of that madness, despite all my power, I couldn't save her. Lucia was taken.
I even crossed the rift back to the Other Side to look for her, but I found only ruins. That place was dead. The noble families had destroyed themselves in their wars—or so I thought.
So, here we are. I'm seventeen now, cold, quiet, and burdened with guilt.
Still, I'm not totally alone. I have Maria, Lucia's sister, now about to turn sixteen.
And I have Lucas. At nineteen, he is what I call a "bully with a heart of pudding." He is that guy who uses his absurd strength to take care of the weak; a tank that runs on emotion.
About Lucia? To the city, she is just a face on a "Missing Person" poster that has faded with time. People treated the creature's attack as a natural disaster. To the police, she is dead. But I know the truth.
And this is exactly where our story begins.
First day of school. January 1995.
I was standing in front of the school gate.
— The sooner I start this, the sooner I finish — I muttered.
— Good morning, Akay! — Maria's sweet voice interrupted my thoughts.
— Heh, good morning, Snowflake! — Lucas completed, with his crooked smile.
The bell rang. The tedious ritual began, until the classroom door opened and the air grew dense. A girl with abnormal white hair walked in.
— Class, please welcome White Snow.
"White Snow"? I mentally rolled my eyes, until the wind brought her scent to me. She smelled of deep winter, ozone, and static.
She smelled of Magic.
During the break, this White girl didn't take her eyes off Maria. A predatory gaze. Even Lucas noticed.
— What's up with the new girl? — he whispered.
My paranoia exploded when I saw the two of them chatting and agreeing to go to the library. When school ended, I waited a few seconds and began to follow them.
Hiding behind a bookshelf in the municipal library, I saw the moment White stopped pretending.
— So, Maria... I heard you have a sister. You have her blood... You are special.
The library air froze. I stepped out of the shadows.
— Ah?! You. Akay Von Arkzarn — she said, unsurprised.
— To you, it's just Akay.
Maria was sluggish, numbed by the supernatural cold.
— Who are you? For real — I demanded.
— White Snow Hemminy. Of the Ice Family. And I have come for Maria's blood.
— Over my dead body, you bit...
The floor exploded into spears of ice. My body flickered and dissolved into purple mist—an illusion clone. I appeared from behind a shelf and used gravity to turn books into heavy projectiles, but she raised an ice barrier.
— Why do you want Maria?!
— Her blood! You should know, Akay!
She stomped her foot and froze the entire library floor.
"...How do I beat this?" I thought, walking on the ceiling with inverted gravity.
I dove at her. White fired sharp ice stakes, but I used my micro-orbit technique—the same one I used to deflect rain—to capture the projectiles
and send them back, slashing her face.
— Muy bien... — she whispered, touching the blood. — Cunning, just like your mommy.
Suddenly, the door exploded open. Lucas entered. I seized the distraction, pulled the ice spear back with gravity, and shattered White's arm. But the ice reconstituted itself instantly.
— IGNORE THAT! GET MARIA OUT OF HERE NOW! — I yelled.
Lucas obeyed, fleeing with Maria.
White, furious, made massive columns of ice sprout from the ground. I ricocheted between the shelves using gravity like a slingshot.
— You're their daughter, aren't you? — I shouted, attacking her mind. — Just another weapon? Your parents only see you as a tool!
— SILENCE!!!
She blindly attacked a clone of mine. I appeared behind her. A punch to the back of the neck. And then, I increased gravity to one hundred times normal. Her body was crushed against the floor, immobilized.
— Checkmate. Snow White, the witch won...
I began the interrogation, increasing the pressure.
— Speak. What did you want with Maria?
— Hahahaha... idiot...
I increased gravity to 150%. CRACK.
— You better start talking. Before I invert the gravity of your own blood.
— Hinkin... the blood... — she choked out. — Never wondered why that elemental kidnapped Lucia?
The word hung in the air.
— Kidnap... No. I've heard what I needed to.
I snapped my fingers, releasing the pressure. She stood up to attack me in a last desperate attempt, but I grabbed her face with one hand.
— Have you ever been to space? — I asked. — Gravity Void... inside your skull.
The sound was muffled and wet.
I dropped White Snow's lifeless body to the floor. Blood ran from every orifice, her veins ruptured from the inside out. I stood there, still in the middle of the destruction.
"Kidnapped."
An involuntary smile curved my lips.
— Great — I murmured to the silence. — So Lucia is alive.