The thorns pricked the soles of my feet as I walked through the mud path between the fields. A few little minutes of walking stood before me as I'm about to cross the fields and on to the forest. I walked my way through to my favorite place out of the whole forest. It was a small clearing. Nothing special. Except you could see the walls surrounding the kingdom from a small hill in the clearing.

I found this place when I was a child. I would walk through the forest looking for Puff, our little dog. The first time I saw the clearing, I was dumbstruck by the huge walls. Never have I in my entire life seen something this huge and endearing. I would ask mother about the walls and she would say 'it is the reason why we are living as peasants.' Not receiving a perfect response I would nag at her again and again until she slaps some sense into me. But then I would hear from the villagers that it is the capital of the country and humans could never get in.

On the days I get punished by my mother, I would run away and come to the clearing. She did not know about the place and so did the villagers. It is like my secret haven. Or it could be that everyone knew about the place but they didn't care as much as I did. I always felt like an outsider among these lot. I despised the way the people were living in and wanted to get out. But it was not in any way their fault. The villagers called me useless and non worthy of my mother or the life she provides for me. I was the only kid in the village who still doesn't know how to sew and I didn't care.

I wanted to leave the village. Badly. I wanted to see the capital. I wanted to see the palace, the intricate design of the towers I only read about, the stone pavement leading to the canals and the small bridge connecting the towns. I heard about the forests on the other side of our village, occupied by witches. A few hour walk from the village. Mother restricted me from entering the forest as 'I will be fragile to curses from those hags.' I wished to see the infamous oracle, praised in our books for her visions and insightful predictions. The forest goes a long way onto the fairy territory and surrounds a mountain, where the werewolves and dragons lives. Seven year old me wished to see them all.

Ten years later, all I want to do is get out of the village and make the seven year old me happy by living her dreams. But to a human like me it's almost impossible. We were restricted to enter the capital unless we are accompanied by a mage or a soldier or we are awaiting trial for a heinous crime. There aren't many humans who entered the capital and lived to tell the tale. There aren't even many who have traveled to which realm or saw the ocean. It is an unattainable task for a human.

But there were some exceptions. The mages used to be human once and there is also a chance were there could be more born among the humans. Some kind of tests are conducted every year for children who attains seventeen. These tests are conducted only once a year and only once for a person. So I'm pretty much praying daily now to win the tests. So far only two of the kids were ever selected from the village and none of these kids ever knew about their abilities. I wish I could be one of them.

A call from afar brought me back to my senses. Standing up, I dusted off the dirt from my dress and decided to go back to the village. With a final glance at the wall I walked back.

"Lea."

"Leah."

"Haaaaaa..." I screamed back at my sister Ginny.

I sprinted through the field not caring about the stones pricking my feet. The moist in the air hits me in the face and I started to slow my pace. The days are going to be much tiresome with the harvest approaching. And after that there will be a festival to celebrate the Goddess Meliona for providing us with the corns and rice every year. The test will take place after that.

Ginny's figure slowly came into view. Ginny was tall like our mother and looked almost identical to her. She is five years older than me. She had beautiful brunette hair and dark brown eyes. But unlike mother, who had greed and selfish tendencies, my sister had a kind and wise personality. She pretty much raised me. Ginny was always like a mother to me even though she was only a few years older than me. She was standing with her back to me and when she turned I was surprised to see that she looked sad. Ginny never looks sad. I do but she doesn't. She is the one who always tricks me into thinking that everything is alright.

"Leah, there you are. Been looking for you for an hour." Ginny hugged me which took me by surprise, but I returned the gesture.

"What's with the sad face? Did Nolan say something harsh to you again?"

"Sad? I'm not sad. You must be day dreaming. And I don't even care to listen about half the stuff that idiot says."Ginny joked. She must be worried for me. She supported me towards achieving my impossible dreams but she also had her doubts. Ginny took the test when she was my age. Like many others she also failed. If she had passed, she would be in the capital now, away from us, humans. It's been a decade since any of the villagers had ever passed. The last one being Nicole, the eldest sister in a family of farmers, who had mastered sewing before she got selected.

We reached our village and everyone were looking restless with doing something.

"What's happening?" I asked Ginny confused.

"It's the test. It's going to be conducted a little earlier than we thought."

"When?"

Ginny said with a deep breath. "Tomorrow."

*****

The moment we reached our house, the door opened and mother angrily strolled towards us.

"Leah, it is not lady like to go out for this amount of time and come back this late. Even the planets have fell asleep. What happened to your clothes? And your feet is swollen and filled with wounds. Go change your dress." Mother searched me up and down for any other wounds and when she found none, she smiled.

My mother, Rola, never smiles. One of the rare times she smiled was when we found a garden gnome in our field. She was constantly talking about how it would cost a lot of money that she could get two more dresses. And on rare occasions she would crack a tiny smile at my sister and it was never directed towards me. I was either useless or lazy. And to say this surprised me is a major understatement. I was shocked to the bones.

"Mother are you okay? Do yo feel ill?" I asked. Mother rolled her eyes at me and ordered me to go change my clothes.

Before I could reach the door, Ginny called me from behind.

"Leah. Mother has something to tell you . Do you not mother?" Ginny looked at mother with an angry look.

"Yes?" Mother looked taken aback.

"You promised." Ginny said grudgingly.

Mother took a deep breath and asked me to go change my clothes and join them in the kitchen.

*****

Mother was sitting beside the table when I reached the kitchen. And Ginny was brewing tea on the other side. Both of them deep in thought. I was curious with all the silence. I dressed as fast as I could when mother asked me to change my clothes so I could hear whatever they wanted to say to me sooner. I was a curious person by nature. My curiosity almost killed my uncle once. I was curious to know about my uncles new lady friend when he came to visit us one day that I followed him all the way back to his house. What I saw there still gives me nightmares.

"Come. Take a seat." Mother pointed towards an unoccupied chair. And Ginny sat in the other.

"Leah, it's time you know about the truth. You are not my daughter."

"I found you.. actually Ginny found you in the forest seventeen years ago. I never wanted to tell you this. But I don't think I can hide it any longer. Especially when you look like that."

It started pouring outside. The clouds couldn't endure the load of the sky that it had to pour down so hard. In a moment my life came crashing down. I was so happy and curious a second ago and now I hate myself for being that way.

"I don't.... I don't understand. What do you mean mother? How.. how could I be not your... your daughter ?"

"I know what you are as much as you know yourself. Seventeen years ago, Ginny was out late after sunset and I was looking for her in the forest. I heard a cry. I thought it was Ginny. But there was this clearing, which I've never seen before. Ginny was sitting there on this tiny hill, with you in her arms. She was singing to you. And you stopped crying. And there was this searing light, like it is already morning. But it wasn't. It wasn't morning yet. I walked towards the both of you and the light vanished." Mother said with a distant look in her eyes. "I still remember the light. So powerful, so calm, so otherworldly."

I was screaming inside at this point. How could they hide such a huge thing from me? I wanted to scream at her. For abusing me all this time. For calling me useless, for slapping me for acting like a child, for never smiling at me. For everything and everything, I wanted to scream at her. But I remained calm. Calm, collected and lady like, just like she taught me.

I took a deep breath.

"Why do you want me to know this now?"

"Because you will be leaving tomorrow. If you fail or lose the tests does not matter anymore. You have to leave the human realm before you kill us too."

*****

I left the room without looking back. The people I thought were mine, was never mine. My mother who was a bit strict just like every other mothers. I thought she loved me behind all the facade. Up until now I never thought she hated me. I never once thought about Ginny lying to me.

This life I lived until now wasn't actually meant to be mine. I had no idea who I really was or what I was. I silently let out a whimper refusing to let the tears flow. I was supposed to be happy that the tests are going to be tomorrow and that it is my way out of the village. But a tiny piece of my heart broke thinking about how I have no one. How horrible of a lie I lived until now.

I shut the door to my room and fell on the bed. I silently sobbed into my pillow letting the tears flow finally. My throat tightened thinking about how horrible my life until then was and how easily I would forgive everyone when they would bully me for being an outsider. An abomination among the humans. My mind wandered to the times when mother would beat me senseless just for existing. And everything leads up to now.

Shortly after midnight Ginny came into the room. I acted asleep. I didn't want to talk to her. Obviously she knew. But I couldn't hate her for that, I could never hate her for anything in-fact. All I wanted to do was run through the field, my feet on the mud, sprint through the forest, unto the clearing and watch from afar as my life crumbles down.

Ginny sat down on my bed, leaned in to my face, gave me a kiss on the forehead and said how sorry she was and left. My heart tightened at the thought of living her here in the village. As much as I didn't want to think about it, I would have to leave her with mother.

I could still feel her breath on my ears when she mumbled to me,
"I know you want to leave this wretched world behind tomorrow and when you enter your new reality, remember that your name, is Rune and you were born from the light."

Before I could absorb what she said, a deep darkness fell over my eyelids and all the heaviness that I've been carrying inside until then, consumed me wholly. I closed my eyes with nothing but the name on my mind. Alethea, she said.