A Long Time Ago

Once, a long time ago, a family lived together in a village. It was small with only a mere two hundred people living there. The village was in the middle of a valley, protected on two sides, but also vulnerable on two.

The family was made up of three people. The father, Joseph, was well known as the head of the guard. The mother, Jules, was the fairest woman in the entire town. Their daughter, Trixie, had inherited both her father's strength, her mother's beauty, and from her grandmother; she inherited magic.

You see magic is a finicky gene. It is only given to those with the best potential. Her mother had little heart and only married because of the money involved. She still loved her daughter, though. Even with her magic, none in the village believed she was capable of evil. That is until they arrived.

Many believed they came straight from the underworld, while some believed they came from the stars above. Whatever they were, they weren’t human. They wished pain upon the village and when they discovered Trixie’s powers they wished for her to join them. She ignorantly agreed, knowing not what they wanted, nor what they were going to do. She watched on as they killed everyone she knew, starting with those she loved.

Her mother’s skin was torn off her, stripping her beauty away, they said. Then she was fed to the hounds of the forest. Her father’s limbs were ripped from his body, leaving him with none of his previous strength. Everyone she knew was killed in front of her in horrific ways, and all of them died believing she helped them.

Finally, on a cold winter’s night, she was left alone. The creatures left the village in flames to destroy the next. Trixie cried for hours in the grass. Her tears fell in the frosty grass making flowers sprout around her. Slowly, the plants around her covered her, encasing her in a bubble of peace. Her plants grew over the village, turning it into ruins, a town lost by time. In her bubble, she became wise, calm, and happy. She lost track of the world turning around her and instead focused on her immense power. It pulsed within her slowly, calmly, like a heartbeat, but stronger.

Years and years past until a group of people stumbled upon the village. They were in shock at what they found. Mangled corpses littered the overgrown streets and where there used to be houses, now laid ashes.

When they reached the center they found Trixie’s bubble, untouched and perfect. In her peace, flowers had bloomed around it, shielding her face from the harsh light of day. The ignorant men sought to find what was at the center and slashed through it with their gleaming swords.

They found her at the center, now but a teenager. For the first time in years, she fluttered open her gleaming green eyes to meet those of another human. She never thought she’d see someone again. Tears fell down her cheeks as she lost the serenity she had found in that bubble. She came to face the fact that her problems couldn’t fade away.

As the men helped her to her feet she stared at what her village had become. She couldn’t stay here, but how could she leave? Looking around the village she could remember what it once was, hear the children laughing, and remember each one that died. She didn’t want to stay, but she felt she should have done something, anything.

Despite her unwillingness, the men took her out of the town. The traveled for months until they reached the next city. In that time she reached acceptance, not peace, but tolerance for the past. She found love with one of the men on the journey and they traveled together, helping people. As much as she wished her magic never faded, after all, it had chosen her. However, from then on she never let a single one of those creatures go. She helped others not go through what she did.

As the years went on she found herself happy. She believed that for once it wasn’t her fault. That for once she’d done something good.