Chapter Fifty One

Valerie Books' POV

I was just 8 years old when it all happened. I learned how to use my magic for the first time, well, summon it to be exact. I didn't even have a clue that everything wasn't real.

"Mama! Mama! Look what I can do!" I said as I waved my finger and a bright yellow light came out of it. It was a beam of some sort. I aimed it at a tree and the tree got blasted by the magic I summoned. I giggled as I showed it to my mother.

"Oh, our baby's first time using her magic. I'm so proud of you Val!" My mother said as she picked me up and started cuddling me. She was sitting on a rocking chair, knitting. My mother and I were outside of our castle as my mother liked seeing the view from up the hills as she knitted, while I loved playing on the hills, rolling down and all.

"What's all this ruckus now?" My father asked as she walked out of the castle. He got closed and hugged my mother, hugging me in the process. "Why are the two of you celebrating? Did our baby did something impressive?" My father asked me as she took me from my mother's hug and started swinging me around. I giggled as I felt the wind blow through my hair as my father kept swinging me around.

"Val summoned her first magic dear." My mother said as she smiled at me. My father's eyes widened as he heard my mother.

"What? Really now?" My father laughed as she swung me even harder. "Haha! Our baby's growing up!"

"Careful now dear, you don't want to accidentally throw her off the cliff. You can't control your own strength. Remember the last time you said you can control your strength?"

I laughed as my mother reminded us of the time my father was lifting a fallen post in the village. "Papa threw the post so far away, villagers had to travel for a few days just to return it."

"Well, how was I supposed to know that there was debris blocking the post? If only I knew that they moved the debris around it, then I wouldn't have accidentally thrown it so far. Anyway, my baby learned how to use her magic I see?"

I smiled as I gave my father a nod. "See that papa? I was the one who blew that tree up!" I said as I pointed at the tree I used as target practice.

"Impressive, for a young girl. What do you say you show me what you can really do?"

"Dear, don't tell me you want to challenge our daughter with a duel." My mom asked as she looked at my father with a worried expression.

"Don't worry about it, honey, it's a family tradition! Once the children of the King and Queen learned how to use magic, they must have a duel with their father."

"Ugh, we really need to change that tradition. It's dangerous for the kids."

"What? No, it's not, the kids love it."

I giggled as I agreed with my father. "It's fun! That's the only time we have an excuse to beat our father's butt."

My father laughed as he heard me. "Haha! That's my girl! But I can assure you that you won't be kicking my butt in the duel!"

"Ugh. Duels." My mother said as she rolled her eyes and went back to knitting.

"Okay, okay. So you won't get worried about the duel. Val and I will do some practice." My father set me down and he waved his finger around. A light surrounded his body and armor encased him. "Are you ready Val?" My father said as he did the stance which shows one getting ready to take a hit.

I giggled as I ran back a little and faced my father. "Ready Papa!"

"Hit me!"

I waved my finger around and the beam of light came out and went straight for my father. A bright light surrounded the surroundings and suddenly, we were in the castle. I changed my appearance. I was around 12 at the time, my birthday will be tomorrow.

Even though it'll be my birthday tomorrow, the castle is not filled with colorful things like you see on birthdays. The colors of the castle were dull and gray. I was sitting on the chairs outside my mother's room.

My father came out of her room along with doctors, they were talking with each other. I waited for them to finish talking before I approached my father.

"I'm sorry, we tried every kind of magic to bring her back. We're terribly sorry about your loss."

"This is all my fault... I didn't know about her sickness... I'm her husband, I should've known that there was something wrong with her... How can I call myself a king, if even my own wife I didn't know that there was something wrong with her..."

The doctors looked down and they patted my father on his shoulder. "We're sorry." The doctors said and they took their leave.

My father sat down on the floor, his back against the wall.

"Papa...? I said as I slowly approached him. "What happened to mama?"

My father looked at me with tears flowing down his cheeks. "Oh, Val... I'm so sorry... I'm sorry if Papa didn't do anything to save your Mama..." My father said as he hugged me tightly, that was when I knew what happened to my mother, why my father was crying. That was the time I knew that my mother was gone.

My birthday came but we didn't celebrate it. I told my father to not hold my birthday party because of what happened to my mother.

I was lying down on my bed, looking blankly at the ceiling, thinking about my mother. While looking at the ceiling, I heard a knock on my door, it was my father. "Val? Sweetie? Are you in there?"

"Y-yeah, I'm here." I said as I wiped the tears from my eyes. My father slowly opened the door and he smiled at me.

"I just came here because I want to give you something. Well, it's not from me, but it's a gift made by someone else." My father said as he sat down on my bed.

"From who?" I asked as I sat down. He smiled at me and gave me a box, wrapped around in gift wrapping.

"It's a gift from your mother. She told me to give it to you when it's your birthday. She said that she planned on giving it to you on your birthday, she didn't know that she was going to go before your birthday comes."

I opened the gift and I saw it was a scarf. My eyes started watering as I saw it. I picked it up and started smelling it. It had my mother's scent, my mother's comforting scent. Tears started flowing as I start hugging the scarf.

That was the last gift I received from my mother.

-End of Chapter-