The next morning I woke up surrounded by a small haze. It was as the weather knew something important was about to happen. As if every living being, every ghost, every animal knew today was important.

I hugged the blanket as I got up, while being greeted by the sun which was shining through the window. Today is the day. The day everything changes. “Happy birthday Keira.” I whispered to myself while I got up. It was time, it was time to face the truth. Time to face the legacy of my sister. Time to wait and see, if there was something, or if it were just characters. If it was the last, I wouldn’t rest before I knew what they meant. I’d travel the world, finding answers, and never returning till the riddle was solved.

I wrapped myself in the pink blanket as the cold air from outside greeted me. Then I stared at the characters for a while. I didn’t know what they were, they didn’t even make sense to me. It was impossible to see what my sister meant, but I knew for sure, I was the one who had to understand. The message was written for me, and for nobody else. It was time. I had to push my fears aside and live through the moment. There was no other way.

My hand reached for the blood as I decided to touch it. It was now or never. I hovered over several characters deciding to touch the first one. My finger reached the blood and as the two of them touched, it felt as the wall exploded. This was blood magic. No doubt. This was what my sister left me.

“Kiera. After all this time you came. Your strength and courage are mine. Don’t forget. Your way is my way, your pain is my pain. I’ve lived through the years, waiting. As my being existed through the characters on the wall, waiting for you to return. I trapped myself, hoping to help you one day. And today is that day. You have finally come to face your duty, to face the end of time. As you know, the silent war is upon us. You will need to free the wizards, The Last Wizards of the earth. They are in danger. Everybody knows they exist but they don’t know about you. It is a dangerous time to live. But you can do it. I see you already saved The Water Wizard, and she named you Warrior of Faith. Go under that name, as nobody will know that you’re actually The Trial Wizard then. The one who holds on to all the power in the world. The one divined by humans, forgotten in the past. I will gift you something to hold on. As you got the Bottle of Life from The Water Wizard I will give you the Ice of Death. It’s a relic that protects you from the cold. Hang this necklaces around your neck, and I’ll always be beside you. But don’t forget, come back here if you ever need advice, as I am bound to the characters and the characters are bound to me. They will show you the way when you’re lost. I wish you the best of luck Kiera.” 

It was slightly shocking, hearing my sister’s voice, seeing her face. After all this time, after all this time my sister was alive. Not as human, but she still existed. I took the Ice of Death from her hands and tied it around my neck. I would never lose sight of it. It would protect me, but it would also keep the memory of my sister alive. Nothing else mattered, I got a part of myself back with her. A part that was lost without her, lost without the other half. Now I had the strength to continue. The strength to move on. Since she had returned to my side.

It was time to leave, for the last time I glanced at the characters. Then I moved through the house. Would there be anything worth taking with me? Was there anything important enough to put in my bag? I wandered from the first floor to the ground floor as I looked at the walls. They were old, the paint was rotten and the smell awful. I remembered the good days. When the walls were like flowers, bright and colourful. When the wind had a slight breeze through the house. When the laughter of me and my siblings danced through the house. It was a time in the past, a time I was happy. A time without order and chaos ruling my life. A time of peace.

I went down the stairs, carefully jumping over the loose parts, just as I had done in my youth. But I made one mistake, and I heard one crack and I nearly slide the way down. But just in time I was able to save myself. I jumped down on a different stair as I found my balance again. That was close, too close. I needed to repair that. But I had no time.

My original plan was to use my old home as a sort base of attack. But seeing the state of the house, I realised that was of no use. It was so old, there were holes everywhere and it was perfect for an ambush. Something I couldn’t afford at the moment. I had to live and be free.

As I passed the living room I remembered an old picture on the wall. It was worth taking with me. The picture was nearly no weight and it remembered me of the good times. It was a picture of our family. I carefully stepped into the living room as I looked around. It was a total mess. It looked like someone searched for something important a few years ago. I rushed through the room heading towards the place where the picture used to be. And then I saw it. All that was left of the picture. Somebody tore it apart and me and my sister were the only two left on it. No parents, no little brother. somebody stole that part of the picture and searched the house for this. But what could it be and what could I do against it?

With the leftover picture in my hand I walked outside. It was time for me to leave. Calling my sleeping bag and the small thin pink blanket with a summon spell I packed them in my bag. It was a good thing I learnt from Master Kenjio how to pack a bag fast and comfortable, otherwise I would have been doomed the moment I left his land.

The forest surrounded me as an old friend. I had nothing to fear, I had nothing to lose. It was my calling. Even though my sister said I was The Trial Wizard, I was also The Nature Wizard. As I remembered with a smile on my face how the two of us found out, the memories embraced me like an old friend.

We found that out when my sister tried finding what element was hers to control. I did the exact same at home. We carefully looked which items the elders showed us and collected them at home. My sister wasn’t able to figure out what her element was, as it was summer when we first tried. But that was good for me, because I recall letting the plants in the garden grow up to a meter. My sister had to hide the plants, as it wasn’t her element but mine. As she cut them down, we realised I had the gift of life and the gift of nature.

I sneaked in the library of the elders once, to get the book left for The Nature Wizard. And I replaced it with a handmade copy of flowers, as it looked exactly the same as the book I was holding on to. While my sister returned to the magic lessons, I still followed her everywhere, but now being aware of life forces surrounding me. It was a lot to take in for a twelve-year-old, but I managed. I became more silent and only spoke when spoken to me. The elders blamed it on me being a teenager but they had no clue.

As the summer ended the elders became impatient. They wanted to know what element my sister had. They realised it wasn’t one of the creating elements which meant it was one of the elements of death. And they were dangerous. Long ago wizards with this kind of magic where naughty. They destroyed cities and harmed people. But my sister was caring and looked after everyone.

Then one day, it was stone cold, a boy was trapped in ice. As me and my sister were on our way to our daily lessons when she heard the ice scream. “Help! Someone is trying to kill me.” She didn’t know what it was, started running and found the voice of the ice calling inside herself. She saw the boy, killing the ice as she yelled. “Stop! You’re hurting her!” The boy looked up and laughed, but then in a matter of a second, my sister gestured the ice to fade away. “Never laugh at the ice, ever again.” And with that the boy turned around and ran.

That day, we approached the elders before we could start our lesson. My sister calmly told them what happened, and that she didn’t mean any harm. But ice had feelings too, she could hear her, understand her, as it was an old friend. From that day on, the elders were scared of her. They refused to teach her, so they had a boy run to the City of Ice. In this place, there was a generation trained to teach The Ice Wizard. Weeks went by, and in the end an 25-year-old showed up. Telling the boy got murdered while entering the city, but that he himself had come to fulfil his duty and train The Ice Wizard.

I sighed, facing the forest. It talked to me, it gave me warmth, it made me feel at home. But then I felt it, humans, tonnes of humans inside the forest. Why were they here? What was there purpose? Why were they crossing Nobody’s Land? Was there a reason they were here. I had to protect the forest. Grabbing onto a vine I speeded through the trees. It was time for me to see who they were, and what they were doing to upset the forest.

Arriving at the right spot, I hid myself in a tree. I was one with the forest, the soldiers couldn’t see me, but I saw them. It was a camp full of soldiers. It fully existed out of tents, smaller ones and bigger ones. In the middle there was huge tent, bigger than all others, and it carried a flag on the top. I was in shock. I knew that flag. That flag was the symbol of The Order. The symbol my parents used to sign their letters with. The symbol they had on their clothes, as they were part of The Order.

I made it myself comfortable in the tree I was sitting in. With some help of the nature magic I created a bed on 20 meter height, and I also made blanket created out of leaves from the surrounding trees. Then after I tucked myself in also using the pink blanket, I reached out with my mind. I needed to be able to fall back to my body at any time possible, since the upcoming trick I wanted to use costed a lot of energy.

The book I stole said the following “Once you make sure your body is in a good positioning to fall asleep, you open up your mind and enter your existence through nature. It is important that you keep your awareness close to your body at all time, since anyone who finds your body and just touches it, is able to kill you. By doing this you are able to protect your awareness somewhere close to you. Powerful wizards can go further while weaker wizards stay closer. But remember, this spell is very advanced and if you try this while being in training, or while not entirely knowing the entire range of your powers, you are able to kill yourself. Be warned fellow Nature Wizard.”

I slowly started paying attention to my breathing. Breath in, breath out, and breath in again. It costed some time, but after a while I was in sync with the forest’s heartbeat. It was only then, that I pushed my soul out of my body and took the time to explore.

The wind blew through my entire existence and I finally felt free. I remembered the first time I tried this, the day after my parents left. I had to know where they were, so I had to try, even if I ended up killing myself. I didn’t find them that day, but I did find the Spirit Nim. Nim was a carefree girl living her childhood dreams. She told me she used to be the first Nature Wizard’s daughter, but as she wanted to be like her father, she tried the spell and was stuck between her body and ghost forever.

“I know, it wasn’t very smart.” she told me back then. “But I’ve learnt how to enjoy this life. I watch over children and sometimes have a visit from a wizard like yourself. Yet I’ve never met one as young as you are.” She soon learnt my history and guided me through the World Above, as she called the place. That day I didn’t reach my parents, but I learnt a lot about the history of Nobody’s Land, as well as about The Nature Wizards who lived before me.

I returned to the present. It was time to see what secrets were in the camp. As I came closer a lot of questions entered my mind. Why was The Order here? How did they get past the River of Fallen, but mostly, why weren’t they hunting down the wizards?

I looped around the camp and as I saw nothing interesting I decided to check out the main tent. It took me a lot of mental strength to evaporate through the tent and reach the inside. It was something I only did when necessary. But being on the inside I realised it was worth it.

The tent was divided into two parts. One, which looked like a used prison, and one which looked like a living room from one of the higher in commands from The Order. I decided to wait. I had to know who was held in prison here and why. And if these person or people were worth rescuing.

For me the waiting became an eternity. It took a lot of energy to stay in this form, and I felt myself becoming weaker every second. But I had to do this, for the sake of the prisoners. I called upon the strength of the forest, and all nature surrounding me. And the gave it to me. As a gift, because I’d protected them, and taken care of them ever since I found them.

Then after some time, which was only an hour, but felt like a whole day, the commander walked in. And with him two prisoners and six guards. I immediately recognized one of them. It was Master Kenjio’s wife! I saw her gasp for breath as well. She was able to see me as the daughter of a wizard. But what I didn’t expect was the other person to gasp for breath as well. I realised he must be a wizard as well, as I sensed his aura. But which one? I couldn’t tell from his clothes, and there was no way to read the signs on his arms. Within a second I gestured my hand to my lips, telling the two of them to be silence, and then, as I knew enough, I slowly went back to my body and fell asleep.