Chapter 5 - 05: Dying Wish V
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"Nine Circles," she said. "Each one a ring inside your heart. The more you unlock, the stronger your magic becomes."
She was sitting near the gate that day, wrapped in a faded quilt that smelled of dried herbs and old woodsmoke. Her voice trembled with age, but her words were clear. She stared at the fire as if it held answers to questions even she no longer dared to ask. The flames danced in her eyes, casting shadows on the lines carved deep into her face.
John had been sitting on the floor with a half eaten crust of bread in his hand. He looked up at her, hesitant. His voice was barely a whisper.
"But I think I don’t have any magic," he said.
She turned to him slowly, her cloudy eyes soft but piercing. "You will," she said.
"How do you know?" he asked.
"Because your eyes see the world as it is," she replied. "That is rarer than any power. And because you carry the bloodline of mages. Magic sleeps inside you. But one day it will wake. And nobody knows what type of power they will awaken. No matter what type of magic someone gets, it all depends on how you use it. The method of using magic determines how strong you are or can be."
He did not fully understand what she meant. But the certainty in her voice made something ache in his chest. He wanted to believe her. He wanted to believe that there was something special about him. Something more than the chores and the silence and the stares from behind manor windows.
That was the last spring he would ever hear her voice.