In an unknown place, high above the universe, footsteps echo through an empty hallway. An individual, in a white cloak, walks through the empty hallway, staff in hand.
The staff looks as if it has been taken straight from an old tree. The top of it has a ball of light that has a glimmer of blue at the centre.
As the individual walks in darkness towards the end of the hall, they point out their staff and mutter something under their breath.
A circular disc floated through the air towards the individual and stops just before them. The individual lowers his hood to reveal his white hair and a white cloth covering his eyes.
He lifts his staff into the air, and a green sphere floats out from the darkness towards the robed man.
The sphere lands in his hand and he crushes it over the floating disc. The shards of the sphere swirl around in the dark fluid of the floating disc until it changes colour and the fluid glistens with a hue of green.
The robed man waved lifted his staff above the disc and while swirling it above the disc, muttered something under his breath.
The green fluid floated into the air and formed a mirror shape in front of the robed man. He looked into the mirror and the memories of the sphere looked back at him.
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In a rundown house just south of the city, a little girl lay. Covered in bruises and scratches.
She didn't dare move or speak, as to not incur more punishment from her adoptive parents.
The little girl had lost her parents in a car accident just two years ago and with no family left on her mother's or father's side, she was put into foster care.
The two people, now her adoptive parents, had been rays of light for the little girl in a very dark time in her life.
But that light soon faded as the adoptive father lost his job and while they were struggling to keep their home and food on the table, there was now one more mouth to feed.
The adoptive father had started drinking and become abusive to his wife, who didn't work and stayed home for most of the day. This left the woman with a lot of anger and resentment.
And with no one else in the home, the little girl took the brunt of her anger. Whether that was in the form of screaming and yelling at her, that she was the reason that all of this was happening to them or hitting, pinching and scratching the little girl.
The little girl with no where to run to, had to accept this lifestyle as reality. She still went to school, although with long sleeves to cover the bruises and marks.
She thought that if someone saw them, she would get into trouble and that would result in more pain. So, she took, what she saw as, the least painful path in her everyday life.
One day at school, the little girl's class had PE and had to go change clothes. What the little girl normally did, was wait until everyone was done and out the bathroom before she would change.
This was so that no one would see any marks on her body. That day however one girl was late to class and while the little girl was changing, she walked in to see her with bruises and cuts all over her body.
The girl went and called a teacher who then took her to the school nurse. The school nurse was horrified once she saw the marks and advised the school to call the police, so they could investigate this.
The little girl stayed with the school nurse while her adoptive parents were bought in by the police for questioning.
Both adoptive parents stuck with the same story that they didn't know the origin of the bruises and even insinuated that they could have been caused by one of the students or staff members at the school.
The police had to let them go as they didn't have enough evidence, and the little girl wouldn't say anything to them, even when separated from her adoptive parents.
The little girl held onto the hand of the school nurse who told her that she would help her, but that at this very moment she had to go home.
The little girl seeing her last ray of light disappear and being swallowed by the darkness, followed her adoptive parents out of the police and to their rundown home.
As soon as the little girl's adoptive father opened the door, he threw the little girl into the hallway, by the scruff of the neck. He started yelling at her about how she had disrespected them and without them she would be dead.
The little girl tried to get up and run away but was meet by a kick to the stomach from her adoptive father. She flew through the air and hit the wall with a thud. She lay there trying to catch her breath, but all she could do was her adoptive mother screaming in the background.
She tried to muster whatever strength she had to shout for help, but no words left her mouth. She lay there only hearing echoing voices and seeing dark shadows standing over her.
But in the doorway stood a light, that was getting closer by the second. And as it got closer it got bigger, until the light took shape.
The shadows in front of her didn't seem to notice it but the little girl saw it clearly. A man in a white, hooded robe stood before her. He had a staff made from the branch of a tree, with an orb that had a glimmer of blue on it.
The robed man removed his hood to reveal his white hair and a white cloth covering his eyes. The robed man looked at the little girl and smiled. He bent down and reached out his hand for her to grab.
The little girl looked at the hand and almost began to cry. The light who she had been waiting for had finally come to get her. She used her last ounce of strength to reach out her hand and as she did time stood still.
Everything stopped, the sounds from the shadows, their movements, everything. The little girl looked around as she floated into the air. She looked around and laughed as the shadows disappeared behind the blinding light.
Her eyes started to close as she landed in the robed man's arms. He looked at the little girl in his arms and turned his back on the scene in front of him. He lifted his staff and then slammed it into the ground.
A portal appeared in front of him, and he walked through it with the little girl, sound asleep in his arms.
As he left time resumed and the two adoptive parents were met by police officers and a next-door neighbour that heard a commotion and phoned them. The police arrested the two adoptive parents, and the medical examiner declared the little girl dead on the scene.