The next day Raien went though more of the usual teasing. She kept the pain of it inside adding it to the accumulated bitter little ball she had been forming all her life. Silently the ball sat in the pit of her stomach just waiting to roll over anybody who was unlucky enough to push it over the edge. She was sulking as she walked home that day then she unknowingly walked into someone, knocking herself down.

“Watch were you’re going, you freak!” exclaimed the boy she walked into. She looked up at who she walked into, she didn’t know who it was, but Trian and some other boys were with him. She squeezed in a quick “I’m sorry” and began to get herself up.

“Don’t like at me with those freak eyes,” said the boy in response of her apology. The ball was beginning to roll.

“Why do you always have to poke fun at my eyes and hair, just cause they’re not like yours?” questioned Raien. “What gives you the right? Well you know what I think?” She shouted at him now standing up, pointing right at his face. “I think you fear difference, and if you ask me, that’s a rather pathetic thing to be afraid of!”

“No, I just hate freaks,” replied the boy. “And what are you going to do about it?, Huh, What can a little freak girl like you do?”

“This!” she shouted as she curled up her fist and jammed it into his chest.

Raien thought it was weird to hear so much screaming, He’s all show after all. How much could one punch from me do? But before she could think it farther out she was pinned to the wall of the school.

“What did you just do to him?” demanded Trian. Raien looked over his shoulder and went weak at the sight she saw. The boy she punched was rolling on the ground trying to smother his shirt that was now aflame. Oh my God! Thought Raien.

“What did you do to him!” shouted Trian, who now had her by her throat, her feet dangling a good foot of the ground. Raien could feel him clamping down on her throat. She had to act quickly. She placed her hands out in front of her and pushed him away with a blast of wind. Trian went flying until his back hit a tree. A horrendous crack was heard and Trian feel limp on the ground, he didn’t look like he was getting up.

“She’s a damned witch!” screamed the other boys as they quickly scrambled into a run hoping not to share a similar fate as Trian. Raien stared at her hands. What have I done? The situation became too much for her to handle, she felt her body become numb as if she slipped into unconsciousness.

Raien awoke from another horrible dream. Momentarily confused, her eyes strained to adjust to the light, or lack there of. The sudden realization of where she was came rushing to her. Nothing had changed, the same room loomed in front of her that had been there ever since the fight. She had no idea how long she had been there, was it hours, or was it days? The room was barely large enough for Raien to lay down, it was made entirely out of thick reinforced steel. She couldn’t think of any way of escaping. She couldn’t blast the walls out with wind, the room would conduct too much heat for fire and lightning would surely kill her in that room. Most every city had a room like this in their jail, specially made for a wild magic user, a title that was quickly placed upon Raien. She sat in the corner, knees to her chest and arms crossed. She fingered her neck, still sore and now bruised. I wonder what’s going to happen to me?

In another room sat the mayor of the city, contemplating over what was to be done with this new witch of his.

“She must be executed, my Lord,” said one of the councilmen.

“She killed two young men by merely lifting her hand,” added another.

The mayor thought over this with a sigh. “But, wasn’t she provoked?” asked the mayor. “And at one time was nearly killed herself?”

“This may be true, but it doesn’t outweigh the fact that she killed two people with magic, we cannot, let this kind of person walk around freely.”

The mayor sighed heavily, he knew what he had to do, the papers arranging the execution were right there, all they needed was his signature. He picked up a stamp and was about to place the seal that would finalize the execution, but before he could he was cut off by a quick sound from the door.

“No need to be so hasty your honor,” from the door called an unknown women elegantly dressed in a white dress that had to be made of the finest silks with a matching velvet cape that flowed like rippling waves with her every moment. Beside her holding the door open was a man suited in silver mail with a golden crown on his left breast, a dark blue riding cloak that flopped over to one side at his shoulder, pushed aside by a heavy broadsword that slung across his back. “There’s no need to sign that paper,” counseled the mysterious woman.

“And who exactly are you two?” asked a rather misinformed councilman, to which the mayor pointed at the crest on the man’s armor and instantly knew he had to be General Saxon, the leader of the Essilian armed forces.

“What is an Imperial Commander of the King’s army doing here?” asked the mayor.

“We were sent here by King Shean himself,” replied Saxon.

“Well he may be a general, but that doesn’t explain who you are madam,” replied a councilman.

“I am Kayleen Sylphades, leader of the magical division of the Southern Armed Forces. Commander Saxon and I were sent here to take your little magic user off your hands,” she said.

“How do you even know about what happened here?” asked a councilman.

“When it comes to matters like this word travels faster than you think,” Kayleen said coyly, then adding, “So we’ll be taking this magic user now if you don‘t mind.”

“I think not. She is to be executed for her crimes,” argued one of the councilmen. “Our Lord is about to sign the document that is about to seal her fate.”

“Indeed, and you have no right to claim her, Orrin may be a border town, but we still pledge allegiance to the King of Failin,” added the other councilman.

“How naďve of you,” laughed Kayleen. “How long do you think your kingdom will defend a little hamlet like yours here? King Shean’s ambition of a unified Aleria is inevitable. That being said, the thoughts of a yokel council member like yourself cannot hold a candle to a royal command, no matter what King that man happens to align with.” The air of her voice was carried with such graceful, yet forceful tone that it couldn’t be denied. The councilmen left quickly.

“Now that we are alone we must talk about this ‘Raien’ of yours, our majesty is very interested in her and wishes to have her trained for combat, our magical army is almost ready for a full scale operation into the north. If what she did is true she will be a necessary addition to our army if we are going to attain our kingdoms greatness that we are destined for.”

“Why would I just give you a weapon to use against my own kingdom?” asked the mayor.

“Because if you do, I can promise you that Orrin will be spared during the invasion,” explained Kayleen. “Because whether we get your little Raien or not the invasion is inevitable, and if Raien isn’t among our ranks well, we’ll just have to start in Orrin and burn our way straight to the capital.”

“But these papers are already made,” added the mayor.

“Like I told your council members,” started Kayleen as the papers started to glow with a pale white light and levitated to face her. A dim black flame manifested and balanced on the tip of her delicate finger. She lightly touched her finger to the parchment and they quickly combusted into a pile of fine ash. “A royal order cannot be denied.”

“I see your reputation of having a shrewd demeanor isn‘t exaggerated,” replied the mayor.

“Continue to go against her and you’ll see how shrewd she can be,” warned Saxon.

The mayor cleared his throat and thought well the next words he’d say. “I see there is no way of talking you out of this, and I don’t wish any harm to befall my city, however you being here today, and the things you have said can’t be seen as anything short of an act of war.”

“Very true,” agreed Kayleen, her hands then began to glow a pale white light again, she then placed her hands upon the mayor’s temples, and as the white flowed from her hands into his hand she calmly said to him, “That’s why we weren’t even here at all.”

Raien rocked in her squatting position on the floor. The waiting was draining her. Soon the wall opened to what was a seamless door, in walked a hulking man in armor and an elegant women clad in white.

“You have been freed, Miss Raien,” said the man. “You have been pardoned by King Shean of Essilia, the only obligation is that you serve in his army.”

Raien’s worst fear had come true, her gift was now going to be exploited, she wished she were never born with this so-called gift.

“No!” screamed Raien. “I will not be used as a weapon for your damned King and his pointless war!”

“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice in the matter child,” replied the woman. “You are far to powerful for us to leave you to be killed by a this Podunk town. Surely life is better than death.”

Not when your life is not your own. Thought Raien. I can take them, I’ll just stun them with some fire, the door is open, nothing can stop me now. Raien lounged at them with her hands in flames, but before she knew it her world became shrouded in black as she suddenly dropped to the floor.

“Stupid girl,” muttered the woman. “So naďve, one little burst of magic and she thinks she’s unstoppable. Saxon, You’ll have to get the seals, she’ll wake up eventually.”

“I was hoping we wouldn’t have to use these again, my Lady” said Saxon as he pulled what looked like two long hinged metal cups connected by a chain from a bag he wore on his belt. Saxon closed each cup over one of Raien’s hands.

“Well Saxon, we got what we can here for, let’s go home.” With that Commander Saxon and Lady Kayleen exited the room with a lifeless Raien over Saxon’s shoulder and just left the city, like it was nothing out of the ordinary. To them she was no longer Raien, all she was, was a witch. The witch was gone, and that is all they cared about.