Laxita's POV

These two kids are my cousins...WOW! I never even knew about their existence.

"I apologize for their behaviour. Please come inside. Let's talk comfortably in my room. Revati, prepare something for her to eat. Come dear"

I nodded and followed her and the twins. I was still amazed by this place. It's so beautiful. I had never seen anything like this before. Non mages were not permitted to enter unless they had special permissions. This place was huge and it's crawling with mages of all ages. Really fascinating!!!

"Yahan aakar baitho beta," she said

("Sit here, dear")

I sat with her and she started patting my head. Honestly, her touch felt warm and I smiled.

"I don't know after how long I am seeing you...Subhadra always mentioned about you in the letters and told me that we will meet soon. But before that she..."

A lone tear slipped from her eyes and became wistful.

"But dear, what are you doing out here? So far away from your home? Is everything alright?"

I remembered everything which happened after their death and my expression changed from happy to angry.

"Actually, it's a long story..."

I told her everything and she was shocked. She had no idea about what went down in my life.

"I am so sorry dear. I should have never left you. I was there at their funeral and I thought that Vijesh would take care of you. I foolishly assumed that. I didn't even know that he had that kind of a reputation as I had never met him before. I am really sorry. How can I earn your forgiveness?"

"It's fine. It is not your fault."

"No, it is my fault and I will do everything in my power to make it upto you. After Subhadra's death, I drowned myself in more work and didn't even think what it must be like for you. I thought he was family. He acted so nice and reliable in front of everyone that I was fooled."

She started crying and I didn't know what to do. The twins were looking at me with sympathy in their eyes. But I really was alright now. To calm her down, I showed her my mother's letter, the pendant and the book.

She read the letter and immediately more tears welled up in her eyes. And then she started crying again. All of us tried to calm her down. I hugged her to tell her that it's alright. After she calmed down a bit, she took the pendant in her hands.

"Your mother made this pendant. It's a high-level artifact"

"She made this?"

"Only high-level mages can make such artifacts. That's why they are rare."

"Wow. But how does it work? I mean it is quite handful."

"It can be used in a specific manner. You have to learn it in order to use it."

"Ohhh"

"And this book...."

"This book is locked with some kind of magic or spells. I can't open it."

She inspected the book for a bit and then realized something.

"I will take this book to our researchers. It is locked with complicated magic. They will investigate this book. We will know, what is in there that she didn't want people to find."

"Alright."

There was still so much that I wanted to ask her.

"Can you tell me the reason as to why my mother never told me about you or why she hid that she was a mage? She mentioned in the letter that something dangerous was looming around us."

"Dark mages"

"Dark mages?"

"Dark mages are the mages who use their dark magical powers. A dark mage, the adversary of light, is a sinister practitioner of darkness magic and illusion who lurks in the shadows while wearing black robes and gloomy armour. They are expert practitioners of the dark arts, lethal fighters who emerge from the shadows to launch surprise attacks."

"What is their aim? And why do we have to be wary of them?"

"Their aim is to eliminate all the mages who use the powers of the sky. Their adversaries. Dark mages want to establish their supremacy. But unfortunately, for us, not much is known about them. They last appeared when Soma Sangha was established and Devendra was the head of the association. He defeated them and they disappeared for centuries. But a few years back, they were sighted again. We don't know how they came back. But their intentions were definitely not good. We are still in the process of finding out about them. They are mentioned in the books but not much is written about how to defeat them. Believe me, we have been trying to find out about them for years. But there has been hardly any progress. I don't know if we are lucky or not as they haven't attacked us but we don't know when their intentions might change.

After her marriage, Subhadra left the association and decided to stay in Somapura with Yashwant as he couldn't stay here. And during that time, she encountered a dark mage. She fought with him and barely made it out alive. She was pregnant at that time and she always used to say that her child gave her the power to fight a formidable enemy. The dark mage saw her face so she had to leave Somapura to protect herself and her family. That's the reason as to why we have not met in person since my marriage. She told me that day, that she would return with you one day, when you were old enough to learn. To fight. To protect. But that day never arrived...I was there that day, on their tervi. I left you with Vijesh thinking that you would be safe from dark mages as they never saw you and your magic was concealed. But I was wrong. So very wrong. I never considered this outcome."

Everything made sense now. Why maa hid her identity. Why she hid about her sister. Why we left Somapura. Why my powers were concealed. And why she decided to tell me everything on my 15th birthday. And why I never saw my aunt.

"So you decided to hide everything from me until the end? You never planned to tell me about my mother? If I hadn't found this letter then I would have..."

Tears welled up in my eyes. I don't even want to imagine the horrible possibilities.

"I am really sorry. I was so drowned in my own sorrows that I didn't even consider this possibility. How can I ever ask for your forgiveness," her voice broke.

There could have been terrible consequences but none of those actually occurred. I don't want to dwell on what could have been. Instead, I want to focus on what I want for my future. So, I wiped my tears as I was determined now.

"I heard that you are a teacher here. If you want my forgiveness please teach me about magic."

She was surprised by my response. She was not expecting this but to my surprise she laughed by listening to my condition. I also smiled by seeing her.

"If that's what you want, then it's not that difficult. But are you sure that is the only thing you want? I can give you anything you desire."

I held her hands and said, "It's alright with me. I don't want to dwell on the past. Please don't feel guilty. Let's focus on the future so that we can defeat this unknown formidable enemy.

Mujhe aisa lagta hai ki ab jo bhi hoga, wo accha hi hoga. Isliye chinta karna bandh kar dijiye"

("I feel that whatever is going to happen now, it will be good. So, stop worrying")

She nodded and we hugged each other. I felt as if I have found a family after a very long time.

"Let me give you an introduction. This is Devansh and this is Devika. Children this is your cousin - Laxita, my sister's daughter."

Both of them greeted me and then Devansh said, "We are very sorry for our behavior earlier. We didn't know that you were family." 

"We always knew that we had a cousin but we are seeing you for the very first time. So, I hope you would forgive us," Devika said.

"Oh no no! It's quite alright. By the way, your kids are really cute. How old are they this year?"

"That's the thing, they are not that young. Children, I want you to transform back"

"Transform? What are you saying-"

And then, I saw a light emitting from their hands. It was too bright so I closed my eyes. And when I opened them...My oh my, what is this sorcery. Both of them had grown taller and they didn't even look that much younger anymore. They transformed, LITERALLY.

"Wh-What? But h-how? I mean...what just happened?"

"They use artifacts to transform themselves into their younger versions. It's an illusion actually. They do this so that they appear harmless to outsiders. They usually transform when they see some unknown people around the boundary. You see, Soma Sangha has to stay on alert these days. Not only them, but everyone guards the boundaries in shifts. If something suspicious occurs, the association is alerted immediately. And also, they are 15 this year. Don't let their illusion fool you."

"Oh"

I don't know why I am at a loss of words today. They hardly appeared 7 or 8 years old. Whatever you see here, may not be the truth. Magic is involved everywhere.

Meanwhile, Revati arrived with the food and my aunt said, "Ah! Revati is here. Please keep everything on the table."

"I think you should eat. It seems as if you would pass out any moment now due to hunger," Devansh said.

"Yes, you seem quite thin," Devika agreed.

"I want you both to inform your father about our new guest."

Both of them nodded and left. This got me curious.

"What does your husband do at the organization?"

"Bhargav? He's the current head of Soma Sangha."

"He's the current head-WHAT?!"

This day was filled with too many surprises. I fear that I might faint with these many bombshells in a single day...

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Hello people😄

How was the chapter? I hope you are liking the story so far...

The story is going to be really interesting from now on✨