Kristen Harred sat in the dank and darkened corner of her cell in the dungeons underneath the Council of Mages. The cold of the metal shackles bit into her skin and numbed her flesh. But the once powerful and revered king's mage couldn't complain. After all it was her daughter that activated the nullifying rune and stripped Kristen of all her powers. All that celestial magic returned to Karma from whence it came, Kristen's grand scheme had failed. Her fellow rogue mage's either dead or imprisoned along with her. All because of her daughter. Seiren.

Strangely enough Kristen did not hold any animosity towards her beautiful young daughter, but rather it merely increased the love Kristen had for her. And Madeleine. It made Kristen's heart leap with joy that Madeleine was given a new body and had become a full fledged state mage.

My beautiful baby girls, Kristen passively thought.

Kristen thought of her few remaining allies. Only a small handful of rogue mages survived. Zor Jarsdel included. The rest of her alliance was with Prince Fautos Tophalis of Hanna. Kristen no doubt knows that due to her failure of completing out her plan her alliance with Fautos and Hanna has been terminated. But Kristen has come to terms with her sentence. But she only had one request upon her death if they would even grant it. She wanted to be Seiren and Madeleine, one last time. She wanted her two beautiful children be the last thing she sees. It's how Kristen wanted to resign from this cold-callous world that worked her to the bone and when she refused to go by the rules that bound her, King Pollin Miracle I 'putting Kristen in her place, and reminding her the duties of a state mage'.

As Kristen sat in her cell she gently moved a lock of blonde hair that covered one of her eyes, and Kristen got a look at how dirty her fingers were. Parts of her nails were chipped away, dust and dirt caked her hands and violated the cracks of her nails. Her once smooth and graceful hands were no rough and callous. Just how long have I been here? She wondered.

She recalled it being a while after what the state mage's now dub the Battle of Benover. No doubt they would put Kristen was a king's mage gone awol and used her rune magic to create the 'Karma rune' and cause a mass genocide of state mage's across the kingdom of Karma's capital. But Kristen also resigned to letting History think of her that way, because she knows that even if the world will forever view the name Kristen Harred in a negative light, Seiren and Madeleine knew the truth, and that their mother loves them.

The sound of pattering footsteps approached. Kristen raised her head to see one of the Council's guards had stopped in front of her cell, a metal tray with a clear plastic cup of water and a metal bowl with thick grey glop.

Great Kristen dreaded inwardly. Prison food.

The guard slid the meal through the slot in the bars, the officer dropping the plate with a thud, not caring if Kristen's food was wasted on the dieted cell floors. Bit's of glop was sprayed here and there but for the most part the food was somewhat edible. Kristen wasted no time gasping the plastic cup between her dirtied fingers and downing the cool refreshing drink, her throat bobbing from use. Once the water was finished Kristen turned to see her metal tray. Just as the officer was about to walk off Kristen caught him. "Sir, I don't believe you gave me a fork."

Kristen's voice slipped out of her mouth in a sarcastic tone, the fiery temper and snappy sarcasm from her old days were returning. The officer however gave Kristen a murderous gaze. "A fork. You caused the death of thousands of innocent people and your asking me for a fork!!!" The guards voices carried around the cell. To emphasize his point he brought his face closer to the bars. Kristen now being able to make out light pecan tanned skin, dark curly brown hair. A seemingly boring and generic face within a vast sea of people. "My family on my mother's side lived in Benover. My little brother who was barely two was ripped to shreds by the things you unleashed in the city. Friends and family I had known my entire life is dead because of you!"

The officer gazed at Kristen with such a malicious aura. But Kristen's face remained neutral. She had faced tons of prejudice and similar verbal assaults when she was first indoctrinated into the king's mages. The guard must have been angered by Kristen's calm and silent demeanor as he pulled out a metal fork and threw it at Kristen, the metal instrument flying past her face, but a single scratch had appeared on Kristen's right cheek. Blood bubbled to the surface immediately but if Kristen acknowledged the wound she chose not to reveal it. The officer gazed at Kristen menacingly one more time before shuffling towards the staircase and receding to the upper level of the Council of Mages.

Kristen stared at the metallic fork for a few seconds before holding it in her hands and wiping it off with the folds of the rags they deemed prison clothes. Kristen at the slop in silence, the slop tasting like wet cardboard. Trying her best not to throw up the contents in her stomach at the taste she decided to hold off eating the rest and just sit in the cell and stare at the walls. Of course Kristen wasn't given anything to write with, even though she possessed no magic, the cell was enchanted with nullifying runes made by the one Kommora Haigh.

Kristen originally tried to tamper with the nullifiers. But that resulted in a painful shock from the blue runes hidden underneath acting as a protection spell.

Kristen laid her head against the wall and closed her eyes, her consciousness slowly drifting from the realm of the living to the realm of dreams. The dreams were like they were most days. It was always the Battle of Benover playing over and over again. Except this time Kristen remembered everything and a different scenario would always play out. But one thing in the dreams remained the same. Rather than using a nullifying rune, Seiren pulled out a red-orange rune merge and killed Kristen with a stony face of hate and animosity.  Or her daughter used more horrific means of torture and death.

Kristen's death at her daughter's hand played over and over in her mind until it was burned in there like a tape. Kristen slowly opened her eyes, and rather than standing in King Pollin's audience hall, she was sitting in the corner of her cell.

It was an endless cycle for Kristen. But she was used to it by now. The once proud king's mage looked at the bottom of her bowl of slop, and couldn't help but smile. "What a strange turn of events" Kristen remarked as she pondered who could have given her the remarkable trinket that was now her own. Kristen looked at the talisman and didn't know what to think of it as.

A show of alliance? Symbolism? Or- then Kristen thought about it further and deemed it most appropriate. The little trinket before her wasn't a symbol or show of alliance. It was an omen. An omen as clear as day.

A/N: Remember to share, comment, and vote.