The next morning, I was woken up by a little Helena, confused by the fact that I was in her bed. When I asked her if she minded me sleeping there, she quickly shook her head, hugging me and laughing, asking me to sleep with her more often.
I smiled and promised I would, then started tickling her. I played with Helena for a while until Mom came in and told us to clean up so we could go downstairs for breakfast before getting ready for class.
***
I had a somewhat difficult week. I struggled to concentrate in my classes, especially Uncle Godric's combat class. Every time I had to hit the practice dummy, the image of the werewolf would pop into my head, and the tremors would return. This caused my performance in class to suffer.
I felt frustrated. I wanted to tell someone what had happened and see if they could give me any advice or anything, but at the same time, I was afraid to tell them. I was afraid they would think badly of me and be disappointed.
One day, while I was sitting by the lake, Uncle Salazar approached me and sat beside me. He didn't say anything, just sat there silently until I couldn't hold it in any longer and tears began to stream down my face. That's when he hugged me, patting my back in an attempt to comfort me. Once the tears subsided, I spoke in a trembling voice.
"I... I was scared... I don't know how it happened."
Uncle Salazar spoke softly, still holding me close.
"Would you like to tell me what happened?"
I nodded slowly and began to tell him what had happened that night. I told him I was curious to see a unicorn and that I had run away in the middle of the night and gone into the woods, and everything that happened afterward.
He listened attentively without saying a word until I had finished telling him everything.
"I understand how you feel... you know... something similar happened to me the first time... it was very difficult for me to cast a spell again until I understood that what I did was necessary... what I'm about to say might not sound good, but you must understand that we don't live in a world where everyone can live together without conflict. You might not realize it now, since both your mother and we have worked very hard to try to raise you safely without having to get your hands dirty with blood."
He stopped to look at me and patted me on the head.
"Perhaps you don't know it right now, but beyond the barriers protecting the grounds near the castle, there are many people killing each other simply because of the greed of someone who thinks he's better than everyone else, even though he's nothing but incompetent. There are also people being hunted like animals just for being different from what their pursuers call normal, regardless of whether they're children or adults. There are many forced to kill others for a piece of bread, and still others forced to kill each other just for someone's amusement. Now let me ask you a question... do you think that if you hadn't done that, you'd still be here, and that that thing would have let you live?"
Seeing me shake my head, he continued.
"I can't take away the burden you feel for having taken that life. I can only tell you to take that burden and turn it into your strength. Live for it, let it be what helps you move forward, what makes you strong, not only for yourself, but also for those you want to protect. Be strong so that this situation doesn't happen again. I'm not saying you shouldn't do it if a similar situation arises, just don't be the one who seeks it out without a reason.
" "As I told you before, we don't live in a peaceful place, but you have a strong enough family that can keep you safe and support you when you need it."
Uncle Salazar stood up and dusted his robes, then offered me his hand.
"Now, how about we go inside and... I don't know... maybe get some chocolates?"
I laughed at that and took his hand. As he helped me up, I said,
"Only if they're the ones with hazelnuts."
Uncle Salazar smiled as he said
, "Sounds good to me... let's go.
" "Thanks, Uncle, I feel better now."
***
After that conversation, my tremors disappeared, but I still had occasional nightmares. One night, after waking from a nightmare, I remembered I had an ability that could help me: Occlumency. I tried to concentrate on it to activate it, since I hadn't used it before. After successfully activating it, I felt my emotions stabilize, and I've been able to sleep peacefully ever since.
The conversation also made me realize that if I wanted to prevent something similar from happening again, or to keep Helena from going through something like that, I would have to become stronger.
I increased my training, tried to master the spells I already knew, and learned new ones.
I also looked for new abilities in my system's shop and found some that seemed good and accessible.
Aegis: A spherical protective shield that envelops the user in a semi-dome 3 meters wide and 2 meters high. It can terrify the enemy upon impact. Its strength and duration depend on the amount of mana injected into it. It can be summoned repeatedly without a cooldown. (Cost: 15 gold).
Flight: Allows the user to rise and maneuver in the air. The speed and duration of flight depend on the amount of mana used; greater speed requires more mana. (Cost: 20 gold).
Light Spear: Its size and durability depend on the amount of mana used to create it. (Cost: 5 gold).
For now, I only managed to acquire these three abilities, as they were all I could afford at the moment. There were others I wanted, such as teleportation, portal creation, and Amaterasu, but those were more expensive, and I didn't yet have enough gold to acquire them. I would have to wait until I had enough to obtain them.
I spent a lot of my free time trying to master those skills at least to a level where they could be useful to me and wouldn't blow up in my face, as well as figuring out how much mana I needed to put into them to make them functional and not be destroyed by a simple breeze.
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