How Roses Bleed

Sweet summer notes

The leaves were calmly dancing, and the last flowers left were starting to die, as the last drops of summer's sun were running away, leaving behind streaks of darkness and color. A soft breeze got tangled in my toes and hair, making me smile, taking then a big break, trying to capture some of those last drops of golden-colored light. I stood up and carefully stroke one of the last flowers remaining in the tree, paying special attention not to harm it with my claws. Against my pale hand, the flower grabbed an intense purple color, almost as my eyes. As the sunset went down, I slowly started to climb down from the branch I was sitting on, enjoying the roughness of the bark and softness of the leaves against my bare hands and feet, knowing that it was the last day I was gonna be able to carry them that way, at least until school was over.

I cheerfully started walking back home, skipping from time to time, letting butterflies and karmachens fly around me. I stopped to carefully grab a karmachen that carelessly decided to rest on my chest. As it stood on my claw, I smiled and let my eyes wander over its black body and opalescent wings, throwing yellow, turquoise, and pink tones. I had always loved these little creatures, and they seemed to have a special affinity for me that most of the other kids my age didn't share. So did butterflies, fireflies, bees, ladybugs, and other insects, they seemed to feel quite comfortable around me, landing on my hair or arms to get some rest from time to time. I appreciated them a lot, for quite a few years they were my only company. My mom hadn't let me hang with other kids until I was able to hold a spell over my eyes for an entire day, and stopped complaining about wearing nice little gloves all the time.

I was quite different from all the other kids in the village. They all had green, blue o brown eyes, and pretty pink fingernails instead of long white claws. Their skins were also quite darker if compared to mine, and they almost all had deep black hair or rich chocolate tones, instead, I had honey-looking hair, with reddish tones here and there. These last two things were way easier to accept, most of the north folk had paler skin and lighter hair, although probably nobody had skin like mine. I was almost home, and I started running memories through my head, fragments when I was younger, and stories my mom had told me.

Eighteen years ago, there had been a great disaster at the Dämon Institute, far up north. Little was known about the origin of it, the wardens and sorcerers kept as much as they could secret. A lot of people thought that this was because they didn't know either what had happened. This is what was released to the public: two students, an assistant, and a warden were killed during the incident, leaving a sorcerer and a warden badly injured. The names of the victims weren't released, so they were just ghosts in everyone's memories. Of course that my parents didn't find about this until four quarts later, but they were quite sure that it was this incident, that had brought me to their yard so many years ago. That same night, a lightning stroke one of my parents' trees, but not any lightning, this one threw away a soft pink light that lasted for a couple of seconds. My dad decided to go check if the lightning had started a fire, but surprisingly there was nothing damaged. When he was about to head back, he heard a small laugh, he thought that was very strange, as none of the houses near them had any kids. He started looking around, searching for the source of the peculiar sound, and then, he found me. I was just a small bump, covered in what seemed a towel, with my skin full of white soft delicate scales, laughing due to a butterfly on my nose. I was not human, but something else, something more, I was a demon, and it was clear as a summer's night, with my scales, big purple eyes, and small delicate claws.

He should've been scared, anyone with a bit of common sense would have killed me right there before I could do any harm, before I grew and caused troubles to the kingdom. However, because of some reason, he felt the need to wrap me in the towel, and carry me back home to his wife and take care of me as if I was their daughter. My dad is a musician, full of hope, and always looking for that bit of beauty everything has. My mom, on the other hand, is a warden. The moment she saw me, she knew what would happen if anyone recognized what I was. She told my dad to pack his bags, that they would go on a trip to the north so that they could say they had adopted me there, and that way they would have the long days on the road to figure out how to deal with my particular attributes, with no one to see me and take me away.

What my mom was most worried about were the scales, luckily, after a couple of days, they faded enough and were only visible on the sides of my waist and chest. They covered the sides of my ribs, all the way down to where my legs started, soft to the touch. the other tricky part was my eyes, but my mom figured pretty quickly a spell so that they looked soft blue, instead of bright purple. For the claws, they decided that the best solution would be for me to wear gloves, as magic can change the way something looks, but it doesn't take away its physical properties, and I could very easily slit someone's throat.

Something I am very thankful for is that my parents were always crystal clear about everything. What I was, how they'd found me, and most importantly, what would happen if other people found out what I was, especially people from the Académie. For the first seven years of my life, I never left the house. Before I could speak, my mom used to place gloves on my hands and hold the eye spell when we had visitors, asking everyone to please not touch me as I had very delicate skin. No doubt people believed this, they had probably never seen skin so pale as mine, not knowing that it was for their safety my mom did this. From the moment I could talk, she started teaching me the basics of sorcery, so that I could cast spells on my own. She taught me that usually, all kinds of magic require a source of power, such as fire, but since I was a demon, I didn't need any of that, and I could get the energy from within myself. My dad taught me to play the piano and violin, how to appreciate the beauty in all things, and to write poems. This last thing was my favorite to do and still is. When I was five, I was able to cast the eye spell for a couple of hours but found the gloves extremely annoying. At the age of seven, I was able to maintain the spell for an entire day, and do everything with my gloves on. At this moment my parents decided I was ready to go out, and not risk to show what I was.

I went to school just like a normal girl, because my mom had taught me to write and read, I was a couple of grades ahead of kids of my age. It wasn't odd, many warden's and sorcerer's children did this, it was quite common. Like any other girl, I made a couple of friends at school, went to classes, did my homework, played a couple of pranks, the usual stuff. If anyone asked about my gloves, I simply answered that I had really weak nails, and they could break very easily. Everyone was very respectful, and no one ever tried to take them off. I enjoyed immensely those years.

At the age of eleven, I had to choose what I wanted to do. Most of my classmates were going to go to technical schools, in which half of the quart you went to classes and the other half you learned a job. On the other hand, I was part of the group that was going to become part of the Académie, I wanted to become a sorcerer. Clear as if it had been yesterday were the long conversations with my parents, trying to decide what I should do, what would be the safest for me. Finally, we all together decided that the best option would be for me to go to one of the institutes. Although the people there were the most likely to find out what I was and consequently try to kill me, they were also the only places where I could learn more about myself. My mom had told me that there were a lot of things that we didn't know about, she was scared I may have hidden powers or abilities that could not only potentially harm me but also others.

She had studied at the Blumen Institute, the nearest institute to where I live, and she was a warden. Which meant she had learned mostly protective magic and a lot about plants, but no so much about demons. She did have the base knowledge about then, as it was necessary to perform any kind of magic. Long ago, before the fourth moon existed, both demons and humans lived in the same realm. Sure there were a few conflicts, but they were issues just like humans and demons have within themselves. For the most part, there was peace in the land. One day, the fourth moon came into orbit, and everything changed.

With a new celestial body, there were changes in gravity, how the oceans behaved, the length of the days and years, all the things one must expect when something like this happened. But something else did, something that changed everything.

The apparition of the moon caused a rupture between the two realms. It affected the behavior of both humans and demons but especially the latter. It started with the lower class demons developing a strong taste for blood and violent tendencies. Fierns, proleys, zayres, and more, killing everything they found on their way. A bit later, middle-class demons fell, but instead of killing, they sucked the life out of things they felt had enough energy to satiate their hunger. Entire woods, villages, and towns disappeared like this, leaving no more than grey, rotting corpses, and dead plants and trees. Finally, the higher-class demons were affected by the moon's spell, and for them it was different. They weren't invaded by this desire of taking life or destruction, what they craved were pain and suffering. The pain that makes the victim want to die rather than staying alive, but you won't let them, just so you can enjoy how they suffer and beg you to end their lives. They tortured men and r***d women, they were slow, as many focused only on a victim at a time, getting the most out of them as possible. But fear, fear of them ran wildly around the entire land.

Humans on the other side were starting to lose their magic, needing for the first time a source to perform the most simple spell, a demonic source. The highest demon of them all, so powerful no one now remembers its name, was not yet affected by the moon. He saw the destruction and death that all the others of his kind were provoking, was shocked to his core. 

He gathered all the sorcerers he could trust, and together they figured a way to separate and seal both realms. They made a circle, with the demon at the center, and started a fire. They started chanting, turning the fire from yellow to blue and then to deep bright green, they used the demon as their source and slowly separated both worlds. It was hard work, it consumed most of the demon's life energy, and it took his last breath to finally seal both realms away. The only connection left was the fire, which was now the source of all magic.Few demons were left behind, and the sorcerers made sure they were all hunted down and killed. After that, they funded the Académie, which was composed of 7 institutes, each one specializing in one thing. I was going to the Dämon Institute, which specialized in demons, and this was my last year.

I reached the door and just stood outside for a moment, looking for one last time at my home. I went inside, and the smell of roasted potatoes with rosemary enveloped me, behind it, there was a light scent of aubergine pie. My mom saw me and smiled

- Hey sweetie! Could you please help me set the table?

I went into the kitchen and got out dishes, forks, knives, and glasses, brought them to the table, and started arranging them.

Just as I was finishing, my dad came in through the front door, smiling as always. He liked the summer, as there was usually more work for him and I could help him from time to time. He hugged and kissed my mom, after that he hugged me.

- I'm gonna miss you so much my little demon - He said while hugging me - But tell me, what did you do today?

- Not much - I said - Helped mom prepare lunch and played in the garden. What about you? How was the party?

He laughed, letting me go, and answered

- The bride got drunk and started throwing things at her mother-in-law, and after that, demanding us to play a song that described how horrible she was - He laughed again - Of course we didn't do it, but it was kind of fun to watch.

- Dinner is ready! - Yelled my mom from the kitchen.

With my dad, we quickly went to the kitchen to help her bring the food over. We sat at the table and my mom started serving food. My nose hadn't lied to me, as we were having aubergine and onion pie with a side of rosemary roasted potatoes. 

- All packed up?- Asked my mom

- Yes, Katlin and I are leaving with the carriage at sun break, so that we can be at the institute on the 7th before it darkens- I answered

It took about six days for a carriage to reach the institute, and three to four days if you were going on a horse, as it was pretty far away from where I lived.

- All set then- Said my dad- Please be vary careful, as you know it is not safe in some parts of the road, and don't forget your dagger

- I know 

I smiled at dad and he did the same back to me. I really appreciated how much he cared for both of our safeties. He'd made sure both Katlin and I knew how to defend ourselves. "You're not weak princesses waiting to be saved. You're strong girls that should be capable of saving themselves and anyone in danger" he'd said this to us the first day of training. When it started, I was ten and Katlin eleven. We practiced almost every day after school, two months later, we were able to shoot arrows, fight with a sword, and defend ourselves in case of an attack. Two months after that and we were able to do all that while wearing a dress, plus hiding a couple of weapons under our skirts, just in case of necessity.

We laughed and talked for the rest of the dinner, when we were finished, we all helped clean up. We stayed up for a couple more hours, enjoying our last minutes together for a long time. As the institute was so far away, I couldn't return during the winter break, as we only had one quart and, by the moment I reached my house, I'd had to start my returning trip. My dad hugged me, kissed me on the forehead, and went to bed. My mom and I followed his example, gave each other a long hug, turned the lamps off, and went to bed. I checked one more time that all my stuff was safely packed, and changed into my nightgown. 

I looked around my room, remembering precious moments of when I was a child. There was a small dent on one of the corners, made when I fell off the ladder while decorating the ceiling, with my dad. He'd been really scared, but I just remember laughing and having a bit of a headache for the next couple of minutes. I gazed at the shelves, covered with books, most of them were children's books. Before I was able to leave the house, I spent a great deal of time reading. My mom made sure that my house was always a nice environment, as I couldn't leave it, and she didn't want me to hate it. I prepared the clothes I was going to wear tomorrow and laid on my bed, allowing my thoughts to go wild, thinking of everything, and nothing, at the same time. I was going to miss my house and my parents, eight and a half months was a long time being away from them, 408 days of school. I closed my eyes and gave myself to the darkness of sleep, knowing well tomorrow was going to be a heavy day. I needed the rest. And slowly I got lost in a deep sea of dreams.