Peace and quiet...

Sieghild lived with her parents and her brother in a house on the edge of a deep forest, with animals running about their usual lives within it. The nearest human settlement was a bit off, a few hours on a horseback, but it never bothered her nor her family. They did have a horse and a wagon, so they’d be able to get there with their goods without too much of a hassle. Well, only her brother, Tammaro, was bothered by the distance. He aspired to one day become a world-renowned inventor, and not constantly being around the people that should know of him was a bit of a problem.

Her mother, Saffira, a now-retired wizard, would take care of the small garden nearby the house, where various flowers, herbs and vegetables were grown. She’d also take care of the children when they were still young, and had not yet tasted the smell of adventure and action the outside could offer them.

Despite being retired, she would still impress the children with a display of spells that defied what they thought were possible, ranging from changing the colour of a flame, to lifting objects with just a simple mutter. Tammaro would constantly try to figure out the mechanics of these tricks, unable to view it as “magic”, while Sieghild would try to learn as much as she could, to impress her mother. However, despite Sieghild’s willingness to learn, her mother could see that neither of her children, despite both being able to somewhat use spells, would be able to take on the full path of a spellcaster, much less a wizard.

Sieghilds father, Wolfram, an old, yet strong man, wasn’t any less impressive. After an accident during one of his hunts, he had to retire from his family’s line of work as hunters, but was eager to teach his children what he knew. So when Tammaro turned fifteen, an age considered to be that of an young adult in their family, he began teaching him his family’s legacy. Curious about it all, Sieghild would often sneak out to watch their training, and had to be followed back home by an irritated father.

On one of those times, after almost a year of sneaking out, her father informed her to just give up on sneaking out since she would not be taught this, as the path of a hunter in his family was something every boy would learn, and not the girls. But as she would continue to sneak after her father and brother during their training sessions for yet another year, he had little choice but to agree to teach her as well, to prevent her from getting in trouble should she be foolish enough to sneak out alone. It might also have helped that her brother seemed to have no interest whatsoever in learning, and that their father wished to have at least one of his descendants to continue their legacy. She still had to wait for her fifteenth birthday, however, as it wasn’t until that age children would be able to fully utilize the techniques that were taught.

After years of training, Sieghild did eventually manage to go out hunting without her father needing to stay close by, much to the displeasure from her mother. Saffira tried to teach her a few spells which would at the very least make her feel better about letting Sieghild be out alone, but she was still anxious every time she left out the door.

...But no longer.

One day, while Sieghild was 21 years old, everything seemed to be just another day. Her father was cutting up and gathering firewood to cook up the meat Sieghild had brought from her hunt, her mother tended the garden and gathered vegetables to go with the meal, her brother tinkered away in his room, trying to create something never seen before, and Sieghild was snoozing off on top of the fence of the garden, tired from the hunting.

It was all a normal day. But that all changed when a small, hissing sound emerged, slowly growing louder and louder. When Sieghild and her mother noticed, it was too late. The house burst into flames with a violent whoosh. Saffira dropped her gardening tools, running towards the house, with Sieghild following just behind, half awake. As the two got to the house, Wolfram, still carrying his axe, arrived as well, looking around to try and find whoever did it. Her mother tried to peer inside the burning house in an attempt to see Tammaro, to see if he was alive, but the flames masked any possible movements and people inside. Both Sieghild and her mother tried to shout out to Sieghild’s brother, but neither heard anything from him.

It didn’t take long before seven hooded figures appeared before them. Their faces were masked by their hoods, but Sieghild’s mother seemed to tense up when she saw the symbol on their brooches. They announced that the fire was indeed their doing. When Sieghild’s father questioned them for why they did it, one of the hooded ones laughed, and merely said that they weren’t obliged to tell. Angered by his reaction, Wolfram launched forward, trying to attack the laughing man with his axe.

Everything happened so fast, in the split of a second. The man that had been laughing stopped laughing, and stretched out an arm towards him. A strange, light blue beam blasted from his arm and towards Wolfram, piercing through his chest, and he fell to the ground, not moving.

Sieghild could only stare, not being able to comprehend what happened before her eyes. When it all sank in, however, fury took over her body. Letting out a howl, she drew her bow, and fired at the hooded man, not thinking about aiming. The arrow missed the intended man, but hit one of the other hooded men’s feet.

As she prepared another arrow, the man that killed her father unleashed another beam, directed at Sieghild. When she looked up, eye to eye with the beam, something suddenly blocked the light emitting from it. Falling to the ground, Sieghild saw that the one shielding her from what almost became her own demise was her own mother. Letting everything that had happened in, Sieghild fell to her knees, and began shaking her mother, muttering her name over and over again, in an attempt to wake her up, but to no avail.

Sieghild didn’t notice the hooded men drawing closer until one of them pulled her up by her collar, holding her slightly above the ground. Struggling underneath the man’s grip, she could hear the men discussing between themselves of “finally finishing the job”. As she was about to ask what they meant by it, she suddenly felt cold, yet burning sensation on her upper left chest. Struggling for breath, she was tossed on the ground. Before her conscience slipped away, she could see the back of the hooded men, as they left.

The curse of those left

When Sieghild woke up, the sun was about to rise. Sieghild tried to get on her feet, which proved hard as her entire body felt heavy. What she didn’t feel, however, was what the autumn breeze should have brought with it. The cold. Trying to remember what had happened, she looked around, and saw her parents on the ground, unmoving. Letting the weight of her body drag her onto the ground again, she couldn’t control the tears streaming down her chin.

After several minutes, Sieghild wiped away the tears and stood up, trying to regain her composure. Finding her bow again, which had been kicked a bit off from where she had laid, she fastened it onto her back again, and looked back at her house. Filled with the desire of revenge, she sat out to find whoever did that to her family.

As she began her travel, she noticed some new oddities. For one, even if she wearing only light clothing, she wouldn’t freeze. She also noticed that if her mind slipped off for a bit, a small part of her surroundings would be lightly frozen. When she finally found a mirror, she discovered a strange, light blue marking, almost like a tattoo, on her upper left chest. Not knowing what it was, she decided to try and look it up, and also on how to remove it. Seeing as it appeared right after that encounter, it couldn’t be something good.