"Crystal magic! Crystal magic!" were the words a little brunette girl repeated over and over. She was breathing heavily as her body was not yet familiar with the surge of magic flowing through her veins. Regardless, the little girl was determined to make an impression infront of her teacher and her family. She wanted to let them know that she too, would become a powerful mage. It was all part of her plan. But fate didn't seem to follow the girl's plan, for this was the result.
The brunette began to feel drowsy from her exercises but at the moment she decided to give up, a small magic seal filled with spiral design appeared from her hand.
"Huh?" she wondered with wide eyes.
"This is my magic?" she began to wonder out loud. She smiled brightly as she proudly showed to her teacher and to her parents who were observing her studies from afar.
"Look master! Mama! Papa! Its so pretty!'Her teacher seemed very impressed by the looks of his smile but his eyes flickered with sudden realization. He rushed to warn his pupil.
"Ms. Lyra--" he warned but was too late when he heard a minor explosion.
Lyra flew back and stumbled on the ground. Dozens of shards of some sort flew in various directions. Some managed to scratch their creator in the face and arms. The shards moved at a pace so fast that the cuts left behind by them only opened up after a couple of seconds.
~
Crying could be heard from one of the many benches located in a corner of the courtyard. And who else would it be? The youngest of the Royce family prefered the quiet atmosphere of that area--with some guards passing by every so often. She got hiccups from all the crying and it seemed like it wasn't about to stop. Why is the 7 year old girl crying you may ask? Simple. She recieved a look of disappointment on both her parent's faces. Her father was mad that her little
'prank' -as he called it- had destroyed part of the room she was training in. He was mad and told Lyra that she would have more lessons about 'How to become a proper lady'. Lyra was downcast because that meant that she would have less time with her teacher for her castor magic. She failed many times but she was still sad that those lessons would be reduced. How could she improve if her time to practice was gone?
She could feel hot tears building up in her eyes but she brushed them away with the back of her hand. Lyra knew her eyes were swelling up as her eyes began to hurt. She was more tired than ever and she suddenly had the thought of sleeping. And sleep found her.
'Maybe, when I wake up, everything will be ok..'~
"Hey. Wake up! You'll get sick if you stay there..." an unfamiliar voice said with a hint of worry.
Lyra managed to crack one eye open and the other one opened soon after. The image of the owner of the voice didn't register into Lyra's mind till she blinked a couple of times and rubbed her eyes. When the drowsiness left her, the face of the unknown person suddenly became known. It was a face of a boy a couple of years older than she was. He had messy brown hair with a few green highlights. He had a firece look in his emerald eyes though if you look carefully, they showed a sense of kindness. He carried a iron sword and Lyra wondered if he was one of the new knights she heard about. Her question seemed to be answered instantly when the teen opened his mouth to talk.
"Now, what's a lass like you doing here all by yourself? Hang on." He had an easy-going smile on his face and seemed to think before laughing slightly.
"You're the daughter of Lord Royce aren't you?"The girl nodded her head. Somehow she knew that this boy was a nice one.
"Ahh, of course! But, hmm, what do you have on your face there? Scars? You didn't get into a fight did you?" he said in a light almost teasing manner. Lyra on the other hand, still seemed upset about it once she was reminded of why she was there.
"It wasn't a fight...I-I made an explosion with my m-magic...and Papa got mad and--" she was on the verge of crying again. But the green haired boy began to calm her down.
"Hey! Hey! Calm down! I was only teasing! Come on. I was just trying to make you smile." his hands were infront of him in a waving motion to show that he didn't mean any harm. But seeing as the little girl had not ceased and had infact, began to cry, an idea suddenly entered his mind.
"Please don't cry! I have a friend here and she doesn't like it when she sees other people who are sad. It makes her sad too. But she's a great friend. She's been lonely for a while and I'm sure she could use a friend like you."That got Lyra curious.
"F-friend like me? W-why me? I'm not special...I can't even perform a simple summon." The boy seemed a little taken back at the girl's lack of confidence but he quickly masked it as he kneeled down so he could see Lyra's expression and vice-versa. He reached into one of his pockets and brought out a gold key. Lyra looked at it with a confused expression.
"A key? Are we going to go to your friend's house?"The teen laughed.
"No, dear miss. She'll come to us."Not exactly comprehending what was going on, Lyra remained silent as the young knight outstreched his hand with the key and posed like he was opening an invisible door. All of a sudden, a magic seal appeared at the bottom of the boy's feet before he recited the words;
"Gate of the fish! I open thee: Pisces!" Suddenly a spash of water bursted from no where and from it a mysterious
lady appeared. Alarmed at the sight of this new person, Lyra ran behind the lady's summoner and tried to hide.
"Well, its about time you called Andrew! I was worried you wouldn't need my help anymore..." the lady spoke in an elegant manner. Andrew, as that was Pisces's owner's name, patted Lyra on the head.
"Its alright. This is Pisces. She's the one I told you about." Pisces's cheeks turned a light hue of pink at the statement.
"She's a good listener if you need one. She also loves to make new friends. Come on, don't be shy! Cause well, she's shy too.." ❀❀❀❀Thats how it started. Lyra and Pisces became good friends. Lyra was so interested in Pisces and Andrew's stories of the spirit world. This made her happy to visit the same place where they all met on a regular basis. Andrew even proposed to teach Lyra in the art of holder magic; a magic that did not need as much energy consumption as casting magic. Celestial Spirit magic was a magic that focused more on the relationship and trust of the spirit and its summoner. Andrew had taught Lyra all the basics of being this kind of mage and showed her the responcibilities came with. All was well in Lyra Royce's life until three years later.
~
Lyra, now a girl of 10 was happily waiting on a bench in the courtyard of her family's mansion. She was waiting for another lesson with her close friend, Andrew; a boy well, now a young man of 16. She was especailly excited because she hadn't seen her friend in a long time. His group of Rune knights were assigned a little mission in a distant land by the council. Now, the mission was done and Andrew would resume his regular duty as one of the guards of the Royce estate.
When Lyra caught sight of a few men who she had known to be in the same group as Andrew, her eyes lighted up with happiness. But disappointment hit her when she saw no knight with dark brown hair and green highlights. What was worse was, Lyra noticed a lot more unfamiliar faces. Normally, she would not dare to speak infront of so many adults but she was too curious. She hopped off her seat and approached the group of guards.
~
Tears ran down her cheeks as she hugged her knees to her chest. Lyra never cried so much in three years and it seemed like the tears would not stop.
'We were ambushed by rogue mages. We managed to defeat them all but some of us had to be the pawn."
'The pawn?'
'Some of us had to make sacrifices, Miss Royce. Andrew was one of them. He did not die because of regret. He actually seemed happy. I-I'm not sure if this is the right time to give this to you but here. He wanted you to have this. He told us it is important this goes to you...'~
Pisces' key.
With him gone, the contract Pisces and Andrew had was gone.
And now, Lyra was the new owner of the Fish spirit.
A friendship that began with tears, ended with tears.
