>>Hael (Age 11-13)
Three other days passed. The house had no more food supplies left and I sat by the river wondering what I could do.
Do I leave? But where do I go?
I kicked my feet in the water. It feels weird now that she’s not here either. I felt better than this when she was here. What is this strange feeling? I rubbed my chest. It’s like I’m missing sothing.
I felt like my brain was shutting off my feelings. Like there were more things I had felt before but now I couldn’t.
I tilted my head
What was happening?
I’ve never left this place. I looked back at the cottage, then looked at the sky, where a family of crows flew by, I watched them fly above and then disappear when they flew above the forest in the distance. Then I looked back at my feet.
What do I do? I have no idea what to do.... If I don’t leave, soon I’ll start getting hungry.
That’s when the wind increased. The leaves rustled and the fallen one flew, making half close my eyes and shelter them with my hand.
!!!?
It concentrated on one place in the field, near the house and I turned my head to look at it. A white symbol appeared there and I recognized it. I read it in a book. It was a teleportation spell.
Right the next second, there was a flash that made close my eyes. But when I opened them, I saw a woman standing there. She looked a little like my mother. She looked around the place and her eyes landed on .
"You’re Hael?" She asked
"Yes," I stood up, "And who are you?"
"I’m Helena, your mother’s sister," She answered. So she’s my aunt?
"Why are you here?" I asked.
"I’m here to take you with ," She offered her hand to take, "Co on, I’ll take you to your mother."
I stared at her, "Why would you take to my mother?"
"Why not?" She asked, "Don’t you want to see your mother?"
I shrugged, I didn’t know if I wanted to see her or not but one thing was sure, "She doesn’t want to see ." I said and Helena froze.
"Why would you think that?" She asked,
"Because she abandoned ," I replied, "Isn’t that sothing soone does when they don’t want to see a person. She left because she doesn’t want to see anymore, right?"
She blinked at , unsure what to say, "Your mother is-" She paused, "...She’s going through a hard ti." She shook her head, "She loves you very much." She gestured to with her hand, "Co now, let’s get you to a better place." She glanced at the cottage, "A middle of nowhere isn’t a place to live," She let out a sigh as she stared at the house, then looked at , "You’re going to live with from now on," She smiled, "And there are many elf kids your age too. It will be a far better place than here."
I stared at her, she kept her hand out. I turned to look at the cottage, the only place I had known for eleven years, then I looked at her again and walked over. There was this strange feeling inside of when I grabbed her hand and she hugged .
A weird sense of warmth mixed with a hollow feeling.
***
"I’m fairly new to the ruling seat," Helena said, "But I’m the current ruler of the elf kingdom." I looked at her and nodded. The elf kingdom had giant trees and houses built along those trees but the most impressive thing was the palace and how it was infused with the world tree.
We made our way into the palace where my mother was standing, "Hael," She called out my na as we both stood in the guest room. She stared at , then tears started coming out of her eyes and she turned around, only to leave the room.
"Hestia!" Helena called out to her sister, "What are you doing?" She ran after him, "You can’t behave like that in front of your child!" Leaving alone in the place.
I knew it, she doesn’t like anymore. I wonder if she ever liked .
I turned around and left the palace, it wasn’t hard to rember where we ca in from and I just followed the path to go out. The forest was lively, there were much more sounds there than in the fields and the weather was pleasant.
I reached the ground where I saw so kids. The laughter of the other elf children echoed through the trees. I watched them as they played a ga with a football but it was a ga I didn’t recognize.
Helena said I could play with them.
With hesitant steps, I approached the group, my breath catching in my throat as their laughter faltered and their gazes turned upon . Their eyes narrowed with disdain, their whispers like venomous serpents slithering through the air.
"What’s he doing here?" One of them sneered, a cruel twist of his lips betraying the malice in his voice.
"Isn’t that a human,"
"Look at his ears,"
I stopped when I heard them, then touched my ears. Clearly, they were different.
"Hey!" A kid said, "A human isn’t welcod here," He held the ball in his hands.
"Yeah, go back to where you belong, human," Another taunted, his words like daggers aid at
"I- I’m not human, my mother is an elf," I said, "She’s an elf princess," If Hestia is the Queen, that should make my mom a princess.
"Liar!" They said, "You’re not an elf!"
"Maybe he’s a half,"
They all laughed, "That’s even worse!" They pointed fingers at , "It’s a half bastard! Nobody wants to play with a halfie!"
"Half bastard!"
I stood there, rooted to the spot, my cheeks burning with sha as their rejection washed over like a tidal wave. I tried to speak, but I had no idea what to say, the words caught in my throat, choked by the weight of their disdain.
"But I just want to get to know you all" I whispered, my voice barely above a whisper, my heart breaking with each syllable.
"Half bastards aren’t welcod," A kid ca and pushed , making fall back on the ground.
The other children laughed, a harsh and mocking sound that pierced to the core. "Play with humans, then," one of them jeered, his tone laced with scorn, "You look like one anyway halfie,"
My chest constricted. I felt bad but sothing in my mind was making angry rather than focusing on the sorrow. I stood up when the boy with the ball threw the ball at my face. It hit my nose as it made fall back roughly.
They all laughed while my nose bled. I felt hurt, sothing inside of cracked a little. It was like my entire existence was being made fun of.
"Hey!!!" A familiar voice ca.
"Shit! It’s the Queen!" The kids began to scramble as Helena ca over, "Oh My God!" She ca and sat down next to ," She placed her hand over my nose, "Oh! Those kids!!" A soft soothing glow ca out of her hand and my nose stopped hurting.
She casted a healing spell!
"Co," She helped up, "I’ll show you to your room."
"Okay," I held her hand
"You’re a brave boy," She smiled, "You didn’t cry even when they tried to hurt you."
...
Ah, there was this sorrowful feeling that ca up but then my mind chose not to focus on it. I wasn’t welcod there, so it was fine. I didn’t want to feel bad because of people.
And my mind chose to shut the feelings out before I even got to understand them.
***
I spent most of my days in the palace library, that was the only place people didn’t stare at . I felt the chill of isolation seeping into my bones, a gnawing emptiness that consud from within whenever I went out and t other people.
"He’s a human isn’t he?"
"How would he fit here?"
"He’s growing like a human too,"
"Wouldn’t he look like Ezio in a few years?"
"Oh poor thing,"
"He’s a human after all," Their gazes held so sort of malice I couldn’t understand.
"He’s a half,"
"A bastard? That’s even worse," Their ice cold gazes didn’t make much sense to .
Their whispers, like venomous serpents, slithered through the air. I learned that elves looked down on humans because they lived such short lives and they hated humans for how they still made such grand lives for themselves.
The other elves, both young and old, regarded with cold and distant eyes. So I chose to stay away. Nobody wanted to be with , so I chose to not be with anyone. My mother didn’t co to et again but Helena did.
But each ti she visited , she lied to , saying that my mother was going through a hard ti and needed so space. She would tell she loved but I knew she was lying.
But if she wasn’t, was this how love is supposed to be like?
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