A sudden whoosh of air was the last thing that I thought would jerk me awake. I opened my eyes into the small hole on the middle of my bedroom ceiling, exactly at the foot of my bed. This hole was made to get a view of the planets while I lay on the bed on gloomy days. Some small luxuries that a sky with no boundaries brings you.

I glanced around the room to see that the window opened, probably to let some fresh air in. Even with the crispy night wind, I felt sweat beads being formed on my head. What I need the most is answers. But I'm just too afraid to move from my bed, because I don't want to wake up if this is a dream.

I could feel the nerves coming back from the events of the day. But the familiarity of my blanket and the smell of musk and books comforted me into a sense of peacefulness. Most of the memories lay forgotten on the back of my head while my mind wandered on to what is to come. I took a breath through my mouth when I felt a shiver down my body. I felt cold even under the heaps of layers I was in.

Slowly sitting up from under the covers, I looked around the room to see if anyone was there. My mind was still reeling from the events of the day. Instinctively I looked down at my hands to see not a drop of blood. Confused, I glanced down to my attire, which was understandably my pajama dress, whiter than ever I've seen it in my life.

"Oh sweet Goddess... you are up Leah." Ginny gasped from the doorway.

Ginny? Ginny?

Before I knew it tears were streaming from my eyes as I ran to hug Ginny.

"I thought.... I thought..." It got harder to form a sentence through all the tears and gasps for breath.

Ginny embraced me lovingly as I shed all of my weights of the day on to her shoulders.

"I had no idea. I'm so sorry." She mumbled on to my hair.

"Oh. You're awake." A voice I didn't recognize said from behind me.

I looked behind me to see a woman almost the same age as me smiling at me.

"Hi, I'm Meva. We couldn't get to meet, what's with all the blacking out and all." She chuckled humorously.

When she saw the confused look on my face, she chuckled again.

"Oh love, it's just normal. Even I blacked out on my first day." She reassured me. But I was still confused.

Meva looked like every other human woman in our realm. Her messy brunette hair and wild mud colored eyes were just what a farmers daughter would wish they could look like after a swim in the lake. But there was something about her that screamed everything but normal. It was not that the tips of her hair that was purple or that her eyes looked strangely chaotic like the mud after a rain or that her freckles covered face had an unnatural glow. No. It was because I recognized her from the test. She was the one who disguised herself as Ginny. 

"I saw a hole on your waist the size of a fist." I couldn't even believe my own words with what I was seeing. Meva was dressed in a blouse revealing her perfect set of abs and the clear absence of a hole in there shocked me.

"Right? That was so much fun. But love, my familiar is absolutely scared of you now." She petted her unruly hair.

"Your what?"

Before she could answer my question a familiar figure emerged from the hallway.

Mother looked pearly white when she saw me. As she approached my room, I searched her face for a glimpse of the monstrous entity I saw as her earlier. But her shocked face didn't in any way resemble the monster. In fact she looked a bit sickly.

Standing in front of me, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before embracing me. I couldn't help but ask her the one question that has been on my mind the whole day.

"If I'm not your daughter, then what am I?"

*****

Sitting under the light of the lamp I waited for her words to dawn over me.

"I don't think the grumpy warlock can wait anymore than he already did. We will be leaving at the first light of the morning." With a little skip in her step Meva walked out of our little house.

I glanced a look between all three of us. Ginny looked surprised but happy. And mother, I wasn't sure if the lamp was casting a shadow on her or not, but she looked sad.

Ginny was the first to break the silence.
"I think it would be best if you get some rest for your journey. I will help you with the packing." She smiled wistfully.

When Ginny went into the room I stood up to follow her when mother swiftly called my name.

"I'm sorry. I don't know who you really are or how you got here. I can't give the answers you want." She mumbled making me stop.

Turning to her I wanted to ask lots of other things which she could easily give her answers to. I wanted to ask her if she ever really saw me as her daughter. If she ever really loved me. But I took a breath asking to myself if her answers will ever make me at peace or if it is only better to leave it as it is. I chose the latter and walked away from her.

"Mother will come around. She felt grief stricken after she saw the form you were in after the test." Ginny took a breath through her mouth as I entered my room.

"What's on your mind?" Ginny inquired sympathetically.

"I don't know what to do Ginny. I had this big dreams of having powers and finally getting to see the inside of the wall. But I never thought I could actually do it. And now I'm doubting myself."

I doubted if the mages made a mistake and this was all a big misunderstanding. As I not even remembered everything that happened at the house of worship. The few things I could remember were the faces of a dying Ginny and my Mother, who was an actual monster.

"If anyone deserves to see the other side of the wall, it's you Leah. We all know that. Even the mages know that." Ginny reassured me with a smile.

"But... but I won't be able to see you everyday like I used to. Or.... or run along the fields with you and go to the market with...you." I silently let a single tear fall laying my back on the bed.

"Leah," Ginny came to sit beside me, "everything is going to be better now." She smiled. "You will get to experience your life long dream, and mother will get to have the life that she always wanted and I, I will be happy once Nolan grow a pair and asks me for my hand in marriage."

I gulped her words down. Slowly taking some time to process that what she said is indeed true. Mother will finally get to live in a much better house. They won't need to work in the field as much as they used to, also they wouldn't have to fight to ease their hunger. Everything's going to be better now. They will get a life that they always deserved when I become a mage.

"Should I talk to Nolan before I leave?"

"You fight your battles Leah. I will fight mine." She smiled even though her eyes looked a bit sad.

"Now let's pack everything up before midnight so you can get some sleep."

The items I possessed were not much. In fact even I felt a little embarrassed with what little I possessed. Most of my clothes were hand me downs from Ginny or mother and most were torn or washed out.

"I should go see Geyah after this." I thought out loud.

"Oh, actually you will be able to see her during dawn." Ginny beamed at me. "Geyah was also chosen to travel to the capital."

*****

The first light came a little sooner than I expected. I didn't even get to sleep a wink when my heart was beating a million times a minute. I was more than excited to live my dream. And I was even more excited to get to live it with my closest friend.

Geyah and I always dreamed of this day. When we would lie flat in the open terrace of their ancestral home, looking at the moons and wondering about the stars. We would make up scenarios in our mind where she was always the second hand to the queen. Geyah would tell me she wished to be the maid of the queens chambers at the very least. We always wondered about the queen since the time we saw her portrait in one of the books that a traveling mage carried. She looked ethereal in an animated picture and we imagined how staggering she will look in person.

In all our little scenarios I would always be a mage warrior. A being who would fight for the kingdom and its people. Geyah thought my dream of traveling to the wall was astonishing but my aim of becoming a warrior, a bit foolish. She thought the easy way people like us can live inside the wall with as much as little attention was, to be a maid. But even  the all knowing Geyah didn't dream small. She also wished to become the empress if her fate holds herself esteemed. I thought it was beyond foolish, incredibly absurd.

The sun cast an orange dew across the wall. The sky shone a beautiful shade of purple as the birds began to speak. I could hear the river running to reach somewhere, probably the farmers who are awaiting a good harvest this season. The early morning mist painted my glass window. The window was a gift from the towns folks to me for winning last year's hunting race.

I patted down my clothes, checking myself in my glass window. My hair was braided in thousand's and my eyes looked eager to set out for the day. I was wearing an off-white gown which I tied around my waist with a brown scarf. This was the one cloth that my Mother bought for me on my birthday a few years back. I have yet to grow into it. It was loose on me but the gown fell short on my ankles. The dress had puffed sleeves which fell on to my wrists with a puff. I tied another scarf around my waist loosely which I can later use as a head scarf. The heat in which we had to travel must be dreadful.

"I think we look like twins now." I turned to see Geyah beaming excitedly by my door, wearing a dress almost as same as mine but in green.

"Geyah...." I hugged her so tightly I heard her cough.

"Can you believe it? I still can't. This is our dream come true Leah. This is our dream. We finally get to live it. This is not an easy feet Leah all that we ever did in our entire lives, lives up to this day. I'm so happy that I could live it with you." Geyah cried happy tears twirling me around. And I cried with her.

*****

Outside our house Meva was waiting patiently. She looked like a warrior in the least amount of clothes I have ever seen in my life. Meva was wearing a sleeveless, strapless top which showed of her shoulders and her ripped arms. And her waist was also in full visibility. She paired it with tight trousers and the sleeves of a maroon jacket loosely tied around her waist. Her curly long hair was tied back into a messy bun. She smiled at us when we came to her view.

"How did you two sleep last night. Wait let me guess I'm sure you didn't sleep a wink yesterday and you fell asleep before you even saw your bed." She perceived pointing at each of us.

Geyah let out a laugh astonished and opened and shut her mouth like a fish.

"So I hope you have already said your farewells because we don't have anymore time to lose. We have a long way to go." She said with a motion of her hands.

As in queue Millina, Mariah and Mother came out of the house. Mariah was sobbing into a cloth while Millina looked proud. My Mother looked somber as her eyes dulled to the ground. I searched for Ginny with my eyes.

We walked together towards the exit of our small village, all my belongings in one tiny bag across my shoulder. Mariah continuously sobbed along the way as my mother walked limply beside her.

A small crowd gathered around the village exit as everyone waved us farewell. But deep inside, each person wished that it was them or their offspring's that got the chance to live in the capital. It was a horrible system. Everyone knew that.

Ellivandor and the conductor emerged from behind the crowd. Ellivandor looked smug as Nelson had the aura of a champion. Nelson looked at the both of us and smiled wistfully.

"Finally, after many years the people of Emirium has gifted the capital two young mages who will continue to thrive and flourish under the care of the kingdom. This is a fleeting moment in the history of your little realm as finding two mages among you is extremely rare. This calls for a festival indeed." Nelson roared with his thunderous sound as the people cheered behind us.

"They get what they wanted and we get what we wanted." Ellivandor claimed humorlessly as he walked out.

"Let's begin our journey younglings." Nelson cheered along with the crowd.

Mariah hugged her daughter saying a final goodbye through her tears as Geyah wept on her mother's shoulders. Millina hugged her after that as I searched for Ginny in the crowd.

"Leah dear," Millina stepped towards me, embracing me tightly."I know you would watch over my Geyah, but I also want you to take care of yourself. It's not an easy world out there darling. And especially for you it's not an easy road." Millina said with a glint in her eyes. "Promise me you will take care of yourself first above anything else. Promise me that you will chose the right decision when it comes to be. Promise me Leah that I will see you one more time." With each words Millina grew even more frantic.

I hugged her once more and promised her that I will take care of myself. She placed a final kiss on my forehead before blending into the crowd.

Mother watched me with a gentle smile. I nodded at her.

As Meva urged us on I felt my heart beat faster to see Ginny one more time. And I felt it breaking into pieces as I couldn't spot her. My throat closed up as my eyes filled with tears.

"Leah... wait." I turned my head so fast I tasted the air.

Ginny came running with a small flower in her hands.

"Don't forget this." She gasped for breath.

I opened my hands to see the aquatic blue rose still blooming happily in arms. Ginny took it from my hands to put it on my braid.

"Atheleah, adornment of The Goddess. I hope you find who you truly are."

With a final hug and tears streaming down my face, I bid farewell to the land I once called home.

"Chin up darlings, Astralis awaits us."