From a young age we were told the Northern Territories were a vast expanse of lifeless grasslands and barren forests. It was a dangerous land where humans could not survive, we were taught to never travel there. I remember this being one of the first things I was told during my primary education. However, my mother had told me otherwise. That was of course when she still spoke to me.

My mother often spoke of fantastic creatures like ogres, elves, trolls, and giants. She told me long ago they lived together with humans in the Southern Kingdoms. And despite our differences, we lived with each other in relative peace. However, with time they slowly left, leaving only humans behind.

She was an excellent storyteller. The tales she could weave would keep me entertained for hours and would fill my head with fantasies that kept me awake late into the night. Using magic she would act out the scenes in her stories in such a graceful manner that it wasn’t uncommon for me to get dizzy from the excitement. Those nights spent listening to my mother’s stories were some of the happiest of my life. But they would not last.

As I grew so did the distance between my mother and me. At the time I did not realize why. What had I done to cause my mother to shun me the way she did? I didn’t know then, but by the time I realized it was because of my father it was too late to repair our relationship.

When my talent as a full elementalist with major affinities in earth and water magic was discovered my father hired the finest instructors within the capital. He filled my days with physical and magical training. But I grew quicker than anyone had expected and the dark, putrid jealousy hidden deep within him came out.

My father wanted a mage and was he excited when he got one, it’s the only reason why he married my mother. But he did not want one that was more talented than he was. He allowed his insecurities to control him and behind closed doors he became abusive to my mother, his second wife, blaming her for bearing a child like me.

Every day my talent and skill in magic grew, and every day his abuse of my mother escalated. Over time my mother came to resent me, she wanted nothing to do with me, even refusing to see me. She saw me as the reason for her suffering, maybe if I disappeared she wouldn’t have to experience such abuse. It was painful not understanding why my mother abandoned me. I don’t blame her though. My mother was a very prideful woman, and to be humiliated every day like she was would break anyone’s spirit.

A rare 9th ranked water mage by the time she was 20 years old. My mother was a physically powerful woman who fell under the control of a physically weak but politically powerful man. The helplessness she felt from being both powerful and powerless destroyed her over time. And my father took great delight it breaking powerful women.

He was an inferior mage whose primary affinity was fire. By the time I was 11 I had surpassed him as a 5th ranked mage, and by 16 I was 8th ranked in both earth and water. I was even more talented than my mother. Normally someone with lesser talent like my father would be unable to marry a mage as powerful as my mother. However, because of his status as the head of the Candor family, anything was possible.

It’s hard to look back and think of the pain my mother was in. I wish I could go back and stop the suffering. Perhaps then she would have continued to tell me those amazing stories. But I was just a child. I did not fully understand what was happening to my mother. And she was not the only one who feared my father.

When my mother spoke about the Northern Territories her eyes would sparkle as if she were reliving a memory. It may have seemed foolish, but I chose to believe my mother’s stories were more than just tales to entertain a child. Her stories convinced me.

Everything I have become, everything I have done, and everything I will one day leave behind has roots in her stories. The emperor made me become what I am today. But her stories showed me which path to take after that night.

As if it were happening right now, when I close my eyes I can feel the heat from the flames. I still hear the screams that came from within the house where I once lived. And I can feel the fear and absolute shock that swallowed me as I watched helplessly. It is something that will never leave me. It is a moment that has haunted my dreams ever since.

For the emperor, that night was a huge success. For me, it was a night I was barely able to escape. That night he set into motion a series of events that would affect the entire continent. He razed everything I ever knew to the ground and set the world on fire.

On that night the emperor erased my family’s name, house Candor from the annals of history. The Empire declared war; I did not wish for it, they brought it to me by laying the body of my mother at my feet. I will make the emperor look back and think of that night the way I do. I will ruin the plans he has spent his every waking moment on. I will take away everything he holds dear to him like he did to me. And I will bring back the forgotten house.