Three years ago, I completely lost my memory, she began.
— What do you mean by “completely”?
— I mean I didn’t remember anything anymore.
I didn’t even know how to speak or eat, and I could barely walk.
I had to relearn everything from the beginning.
He was horrified by what he had just learned.
He couldn’t help but curse himself for calling her crazy when they had first met in Tezora.
— Three years ago, Melvis and I went to the country of Sullivan to find a gem I needed.
Melvis told me what she could remember, since some parts are still blurry to her.
Just when we were about to find it, he came at us: Mori.
A demon who steals his victims’ memories.
We fought, but we lost.
I don’t know how, but at that moment, he tore a hole in my stomach.
Melvis had also been left for dead.
When she woke up, she saw me lying there and started crying, thinking I was dead.
But then, a miracle happened.
My body started healing on its own from a wound that should have been fatal.
— Wait… you come back to life?
Like an immortal?
Lucius asked.
— I don’t know.
I’m not even sure whether I should consider it a blessing or a curse.
— Are you kidding?
That’s awesome!
You can fight whoever you want knowing you’ll always come back to life, he said, his eyes sparkling.
Seeing how much he envied this power, she couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.
She continued her story in a bitter tone.
— I woke up five days after the fight, but I looked like a wreck.
An empty shell.
It was as if my soul had been ripped away.
I didn’t know how to do anything anymore: I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t eat, and I could barely speak.
I was like a newborn in an adult’s body.
The only exception was my magic.
It was still the same.
I couldn’t control it at all, and since I didn’t trust Melvis, who was a stranger to me, I kept attacking her.
I threw all kinds of spells at her and wouldn’t let her come near me, but she managed to dodge every single one.
It was a real nightmare.
Oh, poor thing… That must have been hell, he thought, tears welling up in his eyes.
— On top of that, I screamed every night because I constantly had nightmares.
Melvis was there every second.
Even though I wouldn’t let her come near me, knowing she was beside me and watching over me made me feel a little safer.
She was the only one by my side.
Even though she had also lost fifteen years of her memories, she still stayed with me.
One time, while I was sleeping peacefully in a meadow, I was kidnapped by bandits.
They put a bag over my head and tied my hands behind my back.
When a magician’s hands are restrained, they’re helpless.
But on top of that, if they can’t see their opponents, they’re completely trapped.
And the bandits knew that.
— So this time… — Yes.
The time we fought and you pinned me to the ground, I was completely helpless.
I was kidnapped and there was nothing I could do.
Since I hadn’t eaten anything for several days, I was physically very weak.
I had given up and accepted my fate, and that’s when Melvis arrived to save me.
“Are you alright, Miss Emilya?” she asked me, even though she herself had been injured while coming to my rescue.
At that moment, I stopped seeing her as an enemy and threw myself into her arms, crying my eyes out.
From that day on, I never left her side, and she earned my complete trust.
During the months that followed, I had to relearn how to walk properly, speak, and use my senses.
I had to become an adult again.
I gradually improved, but my nightmares wouldn’t stop.
So Melvis took me to your village.
— That’s where we first met, Lucius said.
— Yes, Emilya replied with a nostalgic smile.
— You were a little more shy, and since I still couldn’t speak properly, apart from Melvis, no one else really understood me.
You came up to me and threw an apple at me, which landed right on my head, she said, looking at him.
— I thought you’d catch it, he defended himself.
— You were the second person to treat me more or less like a normal person.
We stayed at your place for three days to prepare the Moon Flower potions.
You came to see me every night and always showed up through the balcony.
By the way, where did you get that habit of coming through the balcony?
she asked him.
— I don’t really know.
I just know I like doing it.
— Anyway… Even though I didn’t talk much, you had no trouble opening up to me, even though I no longer remember what you told me.
After we took the potions, we continued our journey.
I didn’t know where Melvis was going, but I followed her everywhere like a little chick, and she seemed to like having me follow her so obediently.
She took me to the magic academy because, even though I no longer attacked her, I still couldn’t properly control my magic.
She enrolled me, and I had to take an entrance exam.
The teachers were all stunned and wondered how they had managed to overlook me.
They all wanted me as their apprentice, but I just wanted to go back to Melvis, so I ignored them.
When I was an apprentice at the academy, I met someone who would change my life forever.
She is the one who is still my master today, one of the few people in this world I completely trust.
— Why?
Lucius asked, intrigued by their relationship.
— When I joined the academy, I didn’t know how to express my emotions.
In that regard, I was still a complete beginner.
She was the only one who noticed, while everyone else called me pretentious or arrogant.
I had a blank expression, and she understood that behind that mask was simply a lack of expression.
Without me asking her for anything, she began teaching me personally.
I didn’t know who she was at the time, but I followed her advice, and little by little, I, who had always been alone, started to find myself surrounded by people.
I started smiling and expressing myself, and then I made friends.
A year after joining the academy, that teacher asked me to become her student.
I thought about it for a long time before accepting.
She taught me all kinds of spells and trained me in all kinds of situations.
I learned a lot from her.
She also taught me one of her spells.
It’s the one I used yesterday.
— The White Flames spell?
Lucius asked, surprised.
— Yes.
But let’s just say I modified it for my own use.
Originally, it’s a beam of light that burns everything in its path and the target until there’s nothing left but ashes.
She taught me this spell because it’s her favorite, but I couldn’t master it.
One time, I almost killed a student because the spell went through the training room.
So I decided not to use it anymore.
My master understood and went back to my normal training.
One night, while I was sleeping, an idea came to me: if I couldn’t master the spell as it was, I could simply modify it.
— You have some pretty frightening ideas.
You turned a death ray into death flames, he said.
Emilya couldn’t help but laugh at the comparison.
— So, in the middle of the night, I started experimenting.
I adjusted the amount of mana, added my own flames, and repeated the process until dawn, but I couldn’t do it.
I didn’t understand what I was missing.
For several days, I kept trying this new form of magic.
After a week, I understood what was happening.
I had too many things on my mind.
I had to take into account the amount of mana to use, adjust the range, add the flames at the right moment, control their heat level, and determine the area of effect so I wouldn’t burn everything around me.
So I emptied my mind and let my body perform the process I had repeated for a week without success.
And after a while, I finally managed to create a tiny flame.
I was so happy that I went to show it to my master.
She was proud of me.
— That’s adorable.
She’s encouraging the creation of deadly weapons, he said sarcastically.
— Hey, it’s not nice to make fun of me, she replied, laughing.
Once I learned this new spell, I couldn’t stop perfecting it.
I wanted it to be an offensive spell, not just a pretty white light.
So I spent weeks in the training room, but I didn’t neglect either my training with my master or my classes.
Even though I was tired, I kept training because I wanted to succeed.
When I finally got what I wanted and the flames had become large and destructive enough, I stopped and went to bed.
The next day, I went to class as usual, and that’s when the worst happened.
My spell activated on its own, and there was nothing I could do about it.
My hair turned white, and so did my pupils.
I was in some kind of trance.
I had no control over anything anymore, and I ended up burning the entire class.
— What?
Lucius said, shocked.
— Don’t worry.
No one died.
The students and teachers were evacuated urgently.
I stayed there, all alone in that room, burning everything around me.
No one could come near because they would get burned too upon coming into contact with me, slightly, but enough to leave scars.
When my master arrived, she saw me and didn’t hesitate to take me in her arms because I was complaining that I was cold.
She had brought me some blankets, but strangely enough, they didn’t burn.
She stayed by my side for three days.
They tried to put out the flames, but to no avail.
They only kept growing.
So they gave up, and when they saw that the flames weren’t spreading beyond the room I was in, they thought it was better than nothing.
But on the fourth day, they changed color and became real flames.
My condition wasn’t improving.
So, rather than kill my master, I preferred to stay alone.
I told her to leave, but she didn’t want to abandon me.
So she stayed in the room with me.
That was when something strange happened.
The flames kept growing, and I couldn’t create a shield that would protect me.
So she created one for me, but it was useless.
The flames passed straight through it, and she couldn’t understand how that was possible.
There was nothing she could do, and she simply watched me burn.
To her great surprise, the flames slowly began to calm down.
I wasn’t dead.
My body was intact, and my hair and eyes had returned to their normal color.
— So that’s how you discovered it?
— Yes, she said, lowering her eyes.
After that, I stayed in bed for a day, and when I woke up, my master gave me a serious lecture and told me never to use that spell again.
I suppose I disobeyed her.
Sorry, Master, she said, looking up at the sky as she thought of her.
— But then… was that how you got your title of Magician of the Eternal Flames?
— I think so, yes.
Everyone in the capital heard about the incident.
— Quite a story… But I have one last question, he said.
— I’m listening.
— Did you never try to find out who your parents were?