Young Evanora
Genesis
18 years ago as dawn was approaching I was born. The birds were singing and the spring flowers were in bloom (in our world it was like May 1st). In a cradle of blossoms, I bloomed. At least that’s how my dad described it. My theory is a lot different but that’s the only version I’ve been told. My dad always said I was a miracle baby but I know how babies are born. I’ve come to realize that my mother didn’t want me. I have no idea who she is but my dad was very thankful that she had me despite her absence.
My dad, Anthony Wister, was the owner of a small farm where he grew strawberries, which are my absolute favorite. I could eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and sometimes that’s all we had to eat. The farm was his passion. We lived a very simple life and everything was perfect-ish. The little town not too far from where we lived never liked us. My dad didn’t say it but I knew they hated us because of me. I’m weird-looking. Trust me I’m aware. Along with being a miracle baby, I was cursed at birth. My dad didn’t even need to tell me, I’ve always known. Besides looking different from other humans- my white skin, white hair that fades into grey/silver, and crystal blue eyes- I’m haunted. Both my dreams and reality are full of nightmares. The same dark figure will appear to me then leave for a while till it comes back again. I constantly feel watched. It has never harmed me physically but it makes it very difficult to be “normal” with all these factors working against me. Sometimes I can hear it whispering to me. My dad would be there for me when I was scared. I still remember the song he’d sing me while I’d cry in his arms. He was my very best friend and made me feel safe. The only person who I’ve loved and the only person to show me love in return. The only other people in my life were Suzan Boggs the Librarian that the town shunned as well because they knew she used to practice magic (they called her a witch) and Damon Holt. He and I would see each other at the Library but I think he was afraid to see me anywhere else in public. I taught him how to read through and we had some fun times.
At age 13 our lives completely changed. My dad couldn’t afford to keep the farm anymore and to prevent him from having to sell it he had to marry this terrible woman, Levinia. She was the widow of the town butcher who recently passed and she ended up with enough money to keep us going. She was young to be a widow (30ish) and too happy for someone with a dead husband. I didn’t like her at all and I could tell Levinia didn’t like me back, no one did. Her agreeing to marry my dad was always suspicious to me but at the time she solved our problems.
A year after their wedding my father died. This was the darkest day of my life and ever since it seems like days didn’t have a purpose. Have you ever felt so empty as if you are just a shell? Like you can’t even express emotions because nothing matches what your heart is feeling? Tears never did my dad justice. On a rainy spring day as twilight rays glimmered through heavy clouds, only a few days before my 14th birthday, my father was buried in the strawberry fields that he loved so much. I lost my safety, best friend, and hero. I rolled a large stone through the rain and mud to the place he rested so I could always return to that same spot. He wrote me a letter on his deathbed but I didn’t have the courage to open it. I was too weak. Damon came to my house for the first time ever on my 14th birthday. I was so angry and hurt that I told him to go away. After that, we never saw each other again. Levinia wouldn’t let me leave.
My visions and nightmares got even worse to the point that I could hear what the shadow was telling me and they weren’t good thoughts. Not even a month after his death Levinia married the Mayor of Haile. It was all part of their plan to expand the town and take the land for themselves instead of my dad selling the property to our neighboring farmers. As the strawberry bushes died I became a stranger in my own home and was treated as a servant. Suzan died when I was 15 and Damon suddenly disappeared one night that same year. Now I was truly alone. Mayor Leroy Guildsman was physically and emotionally abusive. Every day I slowly planned how I would kill them in their sleep and get away with it. The voices would help me plan my revenge. Sometimes they told me to kill myself but I wouldn’t let Leroy and Levinia have their freedom from me yet. I am the only one that can punish them.
Leroy and Levinia often threaten to get rid of me but I knew they wouldn’t. I was too valuable for doing all their work for free. Until one day, after 4 years of abuse, Guildsman didn’t just physically hurt me but he started to force himself on me. I began to fight back and I stabbed him in the eye with the knife I had hidden under my skirt. Levinia heard all this then came running to his aid. The two of them overpowered me. They put me in chains and sold me into the slave trade. Leroy and Levinia kept all my belongings from me, including my father's letter.
Exodus
I was treated terribly but not any worse than the life I had been living. For months I was drug around in chains like an animal for sale. I wasn’t allowed to ask any questions so I never knew where I was. Often no one wanted to purchase me because I was difficult or they couldn’t meet my price. My uniqueness made me expensive in their eyes. My stubbornness resulted in beatings but I didn’t care. Death would be a relief but I still have my mission for revenge. Word got around about me and someone in the Fire Plane was ready to buy me at full price. In the City of Brass Malachite found me. Malachite for some reason broke me out and we ran from the slave masters hired lackeys. We ended up getting cornered and Malachite tried his best to fight them off but he was outnumbered. (at this time I advise to play this song ) I heard a voice that was too familiar in my mind. Time froze around me. Suddenly I was in the presence of a dark cloaked figure. The Fire Plane grew cold as the hooded skull-faced figure approached.
“Evanora,” he said, “you recognize me, don’t you? I am Qi-ren.”
I was wary but it felt as though I was meeting an old friend.
“We are tied together you and I. When your mother left you at birth I saw potential and gifted you. For 18 years I have watched over you. Now I’m here to help you and make a deal. I let you access my powers that have remained dormant in you from birth. You can get revenge on all those who harmed you. However, I need you to help me when I call on you.”
My entire life I’ve never been free to make my own choice. Now in one moment, I have the option to accept great power so I can avenge myself and my father. I knew it was at a price but my life at that point wasn’t worth living. This was my only real option. Vecna reached out his boney hand and I grasped it in mine confirming the deal. I felt my heart stop beating. Vecna vanished and the time began to move again. I could feel the intense heat but I couldn’t feel my heart. Was I alive? Then I felt it, my heartbeat then stop again. My own heart's foreign in my body. The same heart that previously ached for my dying father. How can you feel both alive a dead at the same time? Suddenly I sprung into action helping Malachite finish off the mercenaries. Now it’s just him, me, and his pet beholder stuck in the Elemental Plane of Fire.
Comments