September, 4, Wednesday, Year of 1842. Nina Gray.

Nina looks at faces of varying familiarity—some that she has seen before, some she thinks she’s seen before, and some that she hasn’t. None of them are children that she knows well because she hasn't stepped outside her house for the last two years except today. She has to walk with them— the survivors of her village— captured by the very bandits that raided her village and killed her parents. Powerless. That is how Nina would define her entire life in one single word.

She rolls her tongue inside of her mouth and tries to salivate, walking as fast as she can to avoid being hit. The bandits are cruel, and they will not offer sufficient water. Regardless of how familiar she is with others in her long march, they are in the same state—children under 15 with their hands cuffed up and soles hurting from walking and running nonstop for hours. A tall boy suddenly stops and screams, rebelling against the demands of the bandits to remain silent.

That is not his only act of defiance, for he proceeds to summon a fire as big as Nina’s head and sends it flying on a bandit’s chest. The children watch, impressed, as he sends two other bandits flying away by pushing the wind. His act of defiance prompts two more children to use magic and rebel but it is a naïve attempt. They are all contained by bandits who push air towards them, and an hour later there are magic suppressing collars on their necks.

Nina is unsure of how she feels about the three young magicians’ outburst at first. Jealously rises within her and stings her. She is incapable of using any magic. Powerless. Most others that walk with her are incapable of the same but for different reasons—they’re mostly younger than 13—the age that magic blossoms and comes alive in people. Nina is presently 16, having lied about her age and passing off as a convincing 14 year old year girl.

There are two types of people, generally—the pure and the impure. The ones that can use magic well and ones that can only touch magic, but Nina falls in a separate category of her own with zero magic potential. A cripple. “People such as you are extremely rare…rather…impossible…” she remembers her father sobbing in utter shock, “We have to take you out of school.”

There is only one record of someone like Nina existing in the entire country and the record is some hundreds of years old. It pains her heart every time magic is used and she wishes that she lived in a world without any magic. She thinks “How wonderful that world would be! A world with no magic at all—where everyone is truly equal!” and begins to imagine a world where every human is like her, a cripple at magic but she soon has to stop her mind from running places as the bandits make them finally stop walking.

There are whispers and prayers, for no child really knows what is coming next. Nina is the oldest amongst the lot of 25, and even she has no idea as to why the bandits have taken them. Surely adults are better workers, she thinks. The cave that they are taken in is cold and pleasant, and to Nina’s surprise, there is a gentle breeze in the cave. It reminds her of the only time she visited Cyra, the country across the mountains.

A bandit that seems to be their leader once again examine the children one by one, taking a good twenty seconds before passing to the next. They are forced in a formation of five by five by the bandits. Now that they are within the cave, they are outnumbered several folds over—not that Nina thinks that they have a chance against them even if the numbers were swapped.

They are each given a piece of bread and a cup full of water to drink. It is not enough, but it is better than nothing. They quickly eat and drink up. A bandit with a blue bandana soon addresses them. His voice is bittersweet and he appears to be in charge. “You can rest for today. Your work will start tomorrow. If you need to go the toilet, tell the guards. That is all.”

There are several questions—“What do you mean by work?”, “Why did you bring us here?” and “Where is Mama and Papa?” along with several curses and threats—“Take us back to the village!” and “Return us our family!” but they are not responded to. The leader only motions for the children to be taken deeper in the cave, where they find bare preparations already made for them to sleep in, guarded by five grown up bandits.

Most of them are too tired to complain about the cold floor and those who have the energy lack the courage. All of them quickly fall asleep, bandits taking turns on watching them during the night.

September, 5, Thursday, Year of 1842. Nina Gray.

Nina sleeps for a good ten hours, and for the first time in years is woken up by something that is not the chirping of birds. She resists yawning, not wanting to draw any attention to herself. She hears weeping, and curses herself inaudibly. She has suffered in a similar way to most other children there, losing her parents. Despite that, she cannot seem to bring herself to cry and run away. A part of her hates herself for being so inhuman but she suppresses it deep inside, hoping that she’d have enough time later on to deal with her feelings. Feelings were not necessary right now. She must survive.

The weeping children are forced to quiet down as the bandit leader with red bandana explains, “Each of you will have to prove that you are worth keeping alive. Your work for today is simple and small. Memorize the map that we will pass along.” There are once again several unanswered questions, followed by barely audible vehement curses by small children that parents of those children will be shocked to hear—if they live anymore, that is. A golden haired tall girl of perhaps fourteen assures everyone that things will be fine. She doesn’t seem to believe her own words, but a ten year old boy hugs her and she repeats in a slightly more convincing fashion.

The map is of Nina’s own country, Gala. It is a country corrupt to the core and filled with cutthroats, bandits and all kinds of scum. “How the mighty have fallen,” Nina makes a remark to herself, remembering reading about Gala’s impressive history. She is asked a few questions regarding the map, and she ensures that she does not stand out. She gets an answer wrong on purpose and that seems enough to deter the bandits from including her in their exceptional category. Nina talks to no one, stares at no one, questions no one and hence becomes a no one as intended. At the end of the day, they still have no idea regarding their purpose. Are the bandits training them to be one of theirs, after all that they have done to them?

September, 6, Friday, Year of 1842. Nina Gray.

The second day is an excruciating day where they are made to train. Nina struggles to keep up because she has spent the last three years in her house, afraid of the outer world with magic. The bandits weed out the weaker children, and Nina barely makes the cut. Nina does not know where they take the weaker children. Most likely to the slave market.

There is a small boy of ten that complains about everything. His name is Jimmy something, and Nina finds him grow more and more irritating as time progresses. He has not gotten over what has happened, not adapted like others. Helena caresses his hair at night and explains how dire their situation is and how everything will be alright. However, it is too late. Night comes and Jimmy is taken away by the bandits, away from the struggling Helena. Her eyes are full of tears, and she struggles to speak to anyone. For the first time in two days, the night is completely silent, with no gossip or Jimmy crying about something.

September, 13, Friday, Year of 1842. Nina Gray.

The training intensifies. They are now allowed to get out of the dreaded cave but only to run under supervision. Only fourteen children remain. Nina digs her nails into the grey cave wall, glaring at the back of the bandits. She lowly swears she would kill them all if she had even a bit of magic.

There is an alarmed voice of a bandit, and Nina worries if they had heard her… but they seem to be focusing in the other direction, towards the cave entrance. Nina then stares at Helena, who is just as confused and alarmed.

The bandits quickly unsheathe their swords and a few take out their guns. A bunch of people enter into Nina’s vision, their swords flashing. They proficiently use the wind magic, raising an air barrier to block bullets and divest the bandits of their weapons and lives. A red haired woman in particular proficiently uses the wind magic and gives out instructions to others. She must be their leader. Strange. They seem to be helping the children, but they definitely are not from the royal guard.

The children are once again confused when the one-sided fight ends. A young man takes them to the entrance of the cave, where there are less signs of violence. “We are the rebels of Gala. We are here to put an end to the Bezhas bandits but it seems like we are a little late…” He examines the children too, but unlike the bandit’s, his eyes are not eyes of an appraiser. His name, he says, is Walter, and he is second in command to their leader.

There is alacrity all amongst the children after he is done speaking. No more bandits, no more training…but no place to go back to either. What will they do now, Nina wonders? At least the bandits were feeding them. She has so many questions for Walter, but asking might attract attention and hence lead others to find out how she has no magic.

So as she has done her entire life, she only watches, and particularly watches the red haired woman. It suddenly strikes her that she has heard of her, the red witch Lotti of the Galan rebels. She is known for her cruelty…and most definitely not for saving children. Strange. Were the rumours false?

Walter soon addresses the children assembled in a semi-circle. “You all have two choices—either go back to a neighbouring village or to join us rebels and help us in our goal to overthrow the current crown. The second option can be only taken by children who are 13 or older.”

Overthrowing the crown…?

“That’s ridiculous!”

“Impossible!”

Walter keeps on a smile despite the children’s naysays. He says, “I will not lie. We are neither liked by the bandits nor the Galan crown but we will feed and shelter you well.” So in the end, it’s similar to the condition they are right now, huh? Well, at least they haven’t killed Nina’s parents.

Children below 13 are taken away while the 9 remaining children are given ten minutes to think. Nina wants to join them and not remain powerless. For the first time in her life, she wants to do something active. In the end, 4 children decide to join the rebels. The 4 children consists of Nina, Helena, Keith—the boy that had initially defied the bandits and was then punished— and finally a silent boy that kept to himself that Nina thinks is called Oscar.

The red witch Lotti takes each of them aside to talk to them. Nina cannot tell what she asks of them, for Lotti creates an air bubble. After 30 minutes of interrogating both Helena and Oscar, it is Nina’s turn and she nervously steps into the air bubble. For the first time, Nina notices how tall Lotti is. Nina has seen her fair share of tall people, and while the Lotti is not the tallest person that she has seen, she is certainly the tallest woman.

The red haired woman stares at Nina for a moment and then approaches her with a jerk. She sniffs her forehead and then backs off, frowning. “You are not eligible for the rebel army,” she hisses.

Nina frowns back, confused. “But you haven’t even—”

“You’re… impure,” she interrupts Nina, “You cannot do magic well, can you? I will not accept impures in my army…but wait…I suppose you’re not like any other impure that I’ve seen. How peculiar. What is…this…?”

Nina instantly tries to grab her attention, changing the subject, “Please. I have no place to return.”

The woman raises an eyebrow, and considers for a minute during which Nina wonders how the woman knew that she could not use magic. She knew that strong magicians could sense—smell—magic but it often took hours for most magicians. This woman had done so in a few second.

Lotti finally says, hesitant, “The army is not all that there is to rebels...but we will see. My name is Lotti—most certainly Miss Lotti to you regardless of whether you end up with us or not. State your name and age.”

“Thank you, Miss Lotti. My name is Nina Gray and I’m 14 years old.”

Lotti raises an eyebrow again, but Nina makes no movement for a full ten seconds so Lotti says, “I will give you another chance to answer. It better not be a lie again, or else I’d have you work in conditions worse than the bandits. I am not a fan of impures, especially the ones that do not understand their place.”

Just…how did she know? Nina takes a deep breath before forming a clear reply, “I’m sorry. I’m actually 16.”

Lotti nods to herself, then asks Nina to stretch her hands forward. Lotti examines her outstretched dirty hands, then asks, “What weapon can you use?”

“I can use a sword.”

“Mm? I see.” Lotti says, looking down at her hands.

“I can take you in, Nina,” Lotti decides, “but not in the rebel army. You can work in the rebel support group alongside fellow impures. Soldiers are not the only things we need. Money, information, influence—there are many ways in which the support group strengthens the rebel group.”

Nina doesn’t falter. “I would like to be in the army, Miss. I want to train and acquire physical prowess, at the very least.”

Lotti nods, then all of a sudden closes her eyes for a moment. When she opens them, she is looking highly sceptical. “You are the most peculiar, Nina. To someone like me, distinguishing between the pure and the impure is as natural as breathing…but you’re something different altogether. It did not come to me at first but now I can grasp your utter lack of magic better.”

Nina resists her urge to gasp, but she is certain that she has already let up her poker face. “How—how can you tell? Nobody else—” Nina stops, realizing that she has let her tongue slip too.

“There’s not many magicians stronger than me in this country,” Lotti snickers as she approaches Nina. “Perhaps there are two.”

Nina takes steps back as Lotti keeps approaching her. The air bubble expands to cover them both, no matter how far Nina backs away to the wall of the cave. “What…is the matter, Miss Lotti?” She manages to ask, hoping that Lotti has not completely realized that she is a cripple and not an impure.

“Too late to play dumb, don’t you think?” Lotti smiles and tilts her head. “I…think I will take you in the army, Nina, but don’t think that you will be allowed to fight. You are to be taken for a different reason altogether. You will be my research experiment.”

Suddenly Nina feels like she should not be anywhere near this woman, but it is already too late. Lotti has finished scheming something in her head, and she says, “I want to test you before all the experiments. Use magic, Nina. Light up a fire. Push the air. Make a drop of water from the air. Dig a hole. Any of those. Even the weakest impure can manage to do little magic, can’t they?”

“I refuse—it’s—” Nina begins to say but has to stop as Lotti instantly grabs her head and smashes it against the cave wall. “I said use magic, Nina. Do you understand what that means?”

Nina sobs and holds her hurting head. She tries to find a way out of her precarious situation but her thinking is interrupted as Lotti smashes her head to the cave wall again. “I will not stop until you do as I say,” Lotti says. Her voice is completely cold, and it has lost all of its humanity. “Use magic, Nina. Come on, it is not too difficult, even for an impure sixteen year old. Imagine a fire, and then click your fingers. This one is the easiest, isn’t it?”

Nina’s head is smacked one more time before she gathers the courage to do as Lotti says. She imagines a fire as she has done a thousand times and then clicks her finger…but there is no change. No warmth emerges from her fingers and certainly no warmth emerges from Lotti’s voice as she says, “Interesting. Try a few times more. Can you use no magic at all, Nina?”

“I—I can!” Nina says in a final frantic attempt. Lotti watches with amusement as Nina imagines a fire as big as an ocean and clicks her finger…but there is no fire. She clicks her fingers over and over, tears flowing down her face, screaming hysterically, “I can! I CAN!”

But she cannot.