The Prodigy of Midian

I was always considered a unique child in my village, a genius. After all, I was a peasant girl who took an interest in and learned grammar, reading, and mathematics—a strange girl, as others saw me. Who, at two years old, would prefer trying to put syllables together and learn to read instead of learning to do their mandatory chores? The only one who understood me was him.

I remember it as if it were yesterday. The other village children and I were talking about him, almost bullying the poor boy. He was there, sitting alone, so pale that he probably had never left the house. Had he even been injured before that time? His hair was the color of wheat, not just any blond, but a stronger, brighter shade. The genetics of deviants sometimes help. His eyes, just like Duke Ethan's: amber like honey, as if a drop of gold had fallen into his irises. Theo was there, isolated and lonely, just drawing in the sand with a stick.

I felt a bit of empathy; after all, we were both odd. But I never approached him before the day my grandfather forced me to. He made me talk to Theo. After all, Sir Ethan brought him every Thursday, but he would stay there under a tree with Sir Edward, drawing in the sand. We—the children of Midian—assumed he was arrogant and proud, just because he was noble. But Lady Camille would never allow that. After all, no one knows why, but Lady Camille and Sir Ethan hate noble behavior, and not just that: they despise everything that comes from royalty itself. They always valued those who had nothing over those who had everything.

So, one day, I was forced to swallow my pride and talk to him. Actually, it was my grandfather who forced me, ordering me to befriend the duke's son. Not out of interest, but because my grandfather was the village leader, being the largest source of wheat in Romerian. That's why the Lawrence family was so close to us. Sometimes, you could even see Sir Ethan himself helping with the harvest and the villagers' chores.

Still, I approached him. I still remember his drawing. It was an eye, but not an ordinary one. A kind of galaxy surrounded its pupil. At the time, he said it was an ocular technique that used magic to nullify others' powers. Thinking back, Theo was always creative.

From that day on, we started to get closer. Of course, it was gradual. He had trouble expressing himself, lacked the initiative to say anything, just observing. I didn't understand, so I thought he was avoiding me. Time passed, and Magnum joined the trio—a boy with red hair and amber eyes, a peasant, but Theo and I eventually theorized that he was a noble's son. No peasant could have those traits.

It was strange how time flew. We were two years old, and then suddenly… Boom! We were five. Ah, that age… We already considered ourselves best friends. Theo, Magnum, and I were inseparable.

Being a deviant, Theo always had immeasurable agility and speed compared to kids our age. Magnum hated this fact, so he always tried to compete. I never cared; I always preferred to have a book in hand while they competed to see who could run faster, jump higher, or last longer. Note: Theo always won.

But it was on the day called the "Black Cataclysm" that our lives turned upside down. It seemed like just another ordinary day. I was sitting under a tree reading a story that Lady Camille, Theo's mother, had given me. Meanwhile, beside me…

"Agnes! Have you seen Theo around?" Magnum asked.

"No. Even if I had, he'd scold me for telling."

"That jerk threw a clay rock at my back and ran off. When I find him…"

"What are you gonna do?" Theo appeared on a branch of one of the tallest trees in the forest surrounding the plantation.

Magnum looked up disdainfully. Theo returned the look with sarcasm.

Tossing a stick at Magnum, he jumped down from the tree. He settled beside me and glanced at the book.

"Ah, the tale of the continents' separation?" he asked, while Magnum tried to remove the thin stick from him.

"Yes. Have you read this one too?"

No matter what books I read, Theo already knew the ending of all of them. It was annoying because he's the type who spoils the first experience.

"Yep. The god Zetian sinks Atlantis with a lightning bolt because their knowledge threatened the gods. The god Nethuns, ruler of Atlantis, was furious and plunged his trident into the ground. For forty days and nights, our world was struck by intense earthquakes and storms. Nethuns returned to his kingdom, now submerged, and left the trident somewhere. After that, the continents were divided. And that's why there's a storm beyond the oceans…"

I slammed the book shut.

"Thanks, Theo, now I won't need to read one of the fifteen books you've already spoiled for me before I even finished the first page."

"You're welcome," he laughed. He walked over to Magnum and removed the stuck stick. Shortly after, Theo's older sister, Thays, appeared from the plantations.

"Theo, is everything okay here?" Thays asked. Her hair was a copy of Sir Ethan's: straight and white. Her eyes, however, were like Theo's, but with a greenish tint.

"Yes."

"Alright. I'm heading back to Midian. Don't fight, and go to Agnes's house in ten minutes."

"Yes, ma'am!" we agreed.

When Thays turned and headed back to the village, Theo muttered:

"I'm hungry. Has the apple tree bloomed yet?"

"I don't know if 'bloomed' is the right word…" I commented.

"If you understood, then it doesn't matter. Magnum, let's check?"

"Let's go."

"You too," Theo said, pulling my arm and running through the forest. Minutes later, we would have preferred to follow Thays back to Midian.

When we reached the apple tree, Theo's attention was drawn to a walking mushroom. It was glowing, neon blue. Any child would be interested, but at that time, Theo was working on studying animals. It was an assignment from Teacher Beatrice, as Theo wanted to be a biologist researcher back then. He crossed the stream and stayed there for a while. It was long enough for Magnum and me to get worried. But when we least expected it, he emerged from the forest, tripping over a rock and drowning in the stream.

Quickly, he got up and ran back to us. He was pale, more than ever. But what worried me most was his mouth and eyes. Blood dripped from his lips, staining his white tunic. His eyes darted around, restless, wide with desperation.

"Theo…" I said, stopping him by the shoulders. "What happened?"

"It doesn't matter. Let's get out of here…"

An explosion interrupted him. Not just one, but several. All coming from the wheat field. Clouds of smoke polluted the sky that day, which had been as clear as a summer day. We ran toward it, trying to figure out what had happened.

As we climbed a small hill between the forest and the plantation, Magnum found his uncle on the ground, bleeding from the stomach and already dead. He ran off in search of his father figure.

Theo and I ran toward the largest smoke cloud, as it pointed in the direction where my family usually was in the plantation. The dirt road cutting through the wheat field clearly marked the massive smoke cyclone.

I stopped running right there. It was from the corner, but enough to traumatize me. I had already seen charred, disfigured, crushed, and even exploded bodies that day. But that scene impacted me for life.

My mother was thrown to the right, unable to move. After all, a sharp piece of metal was lodged in her stomach, having already cut her arm in half. Her legs were broken from being thrown five meters high directly onto the ground. Her pain was so great that she couldn't even keep her eyes open.

I threw myself beside her and started screaming for her. Sir Ethan suddenly appeared and touched the metal plate in her stomach. With just one touch, he carbonized the entire metal; with another touch on my mother's stomach, he created a kind of energy barrier that temporarily stopped the bleeding.

Picking up my mother in his arms, he asked me, "Were you with Theo? Where is he now?"

My lips trembled, and my eyes teared up. "I don't know…" I replied, crying.

"Edward!" he shouted for his younger brother. "Edward! Edward!"

"Here!" he called back, emerging from the plantation with three injured people.

"Take them to the village. I'll go after Theo."

Sir Edward picked up my mother and ordered me, "Follow me, quickly!"

We barely made it to the main road leading to the village when the biggest explosion happened. It was so powerful that it threw us over two meters.

✡

Among the three of us, only Theo and I made it to the hospital. With no further information about Magnum's whereabouts since that day, it took a while to process that he had also died.

Looking at me, a short, stocky doctor said:

"She's fine, only hurt her left arm." The doctor handed my diagnosis to Lady Camille. "As for the boy…" he referred to Theo. "The impact of the explosion, even though mitigated by Sir Ethan's protection, caused a skull fracture, two fractures in his right forearm, and five broken ribs."

Sir Ethan placed his hand on my head and comforted me, "Everything will be fine. Don't worry."

Lady Camille hugged Theo weakly and said goodbye, asking Sir Ethan to take him home.

"Agnes. Shall we visit your mother?" She extended her hand to me.

We walked down the hallway. I peeked into each room, and they were filled only with the injured from the incident. I entered my mother's room and looked out the windows; more carriages were arriving in the courtyard with more dead and wounded. In the region of Loureto—the capital of the Lawrence duchy—an estimated five hundred deaths occurred. This happened all over the world, but we weren't aware of it at the time.

Suddenly, a pale woman with long, straight, white hair appeared at the window, wearing a torn black dress. She ignored me and looked directly at my mother. Tears streamed from her eyes.

I quickly ran to Lady Camille and my mother, but before I could say anything about the woman, my mother said:

"Agnes, dear. Help Lady Camille. Obey her. Look forward and don't regret…"

"Mom, there's a woman…"

"I love you, daughter."

The woman at the window screamed. Only I heard it, but the windows throughout the hospital shattered with her cry. I covered my ears and complained about the pain.

Lady Camille grabbed me and took me to the corner of the room while shouting for the doctors. By the time I realized those had been my mother's last words, it was too late.

✡

It didn't take long for us to reach the Lawrence house. Sir Ethan and Theo had just arrived as well. They waited for us on the stairs, so Lady Camille couldn't hold back her tears and words to mourn my mother's death. The two had been friends longer than Theo and I had been alive.

"The O'Neill family…" Sir Ethan murmured, not even bothering to hide his gaze at me.

"Only Agnes remains now," said Lady Camille. "And I want to adopt her as our third daughter."

"Huh?" I murmured, still trying to understand what had happened to my mother.

"Her as my sister?" Theo grumbled.

"A new girl in the house? Oh no!" Thays exclaimed through Theo's maid. "There'll be another child to take care of!"

"That's good, I guess…" Ellen retorted timidly.

I looked at Theo again, and that image never left my eyes. He was looking at the ground, reflecting on something. His skin was still a bit pale, and he was all bandaged up. His golden eyes… they had no shine. They were so absent that they seemed like an abyss of confused emotions.

And it stayed that way for years, until he got over my grandfather's death. Since he never knew any of his maternal grandparents, he decided to treat mine as his second father. I saw him lying, saying he trained for protection, and that he didn't want to see that happen again—deaths he couldn't prevent. I saw him fight for no reason. And it stayed that way for all those years.

Lately, I've been wondering a lot: he arrived in Vagus one or two weeks ago. How is he? Has he found a reason? Has he found the emotion he wanted?

I was buried in work and projects. My mind was a mess, but it lit up like the moon lights up the night. I felt light when I heard his voice calling my name through the crowd.

"Agnes!"

I turned my head, looking for who had called me. My tired eyes widened and shone when I saw that pale boy with golden hair. I was even happier when I noticed his cheerful and awake expression.

Watching him run down the sidewalk, a whisper escaped my lips: "Theo…"