Chapter 15 - Feeling Betrayed

It's been almost a year since the incident in the attic.

In that time, a lot had happened and most of it was a mixture of both good and bad.

After the incident, my mother told everyone to lock away all their Grimoires magical equipment so I don't use it, not as I can anyway.

I thought my almost 2 years' worth of magical research and practice had all gone to waste until I realized something. Even if my mother was locking away everything and had punished me for what happened, she couldn't limit me from learning magic due to my abnormal condition.

The fact that my body absorbs mana was something I didn't delve deep into, but when I was finally given a reason to try and understand it, I was left flabbergasted.

The energies that enter my body are refining my body slowly from the inside out, which is the reason I didn't realize what was happening since there was no external improvement. I saw it as just a way to go without sleep or food longer rather than an asset or a weapon. Since I'm a female, I'm inherently weaker than men from a physical standpoint, but what if I could fix that? I may not have muscles that develop as fast as men nor the stamina or durability an average man would have, but through me having refined my body for almost 3 years without me even knowing it, I had gained a body that in the future have stronger bones, denser muscles, and stronger skin than any human without me even having to train.

Due to my body being refined by Elements and my mana plus the will of my soul flame, it will probably become resistant to most magic.

Speaking about soul flame, The radius of which I can locate or feel a soul flame had expanded from just being my own to being able to feel anyone in a 5-meter distance.

I started doing Martial arts on my own from all the techniques I remember from my past life and the techniques my father was willing to share with me. The only real downside was that I lost all my muscle reflex/ memory that I had formed for over 10 years

It's bad for a girl to want to do martial arts or work out, and honestly, since the time I had been reborn, it was the first time I heartily laughed at society and my nativity.

My sister was in her third year of the academy and we have been spending less time together due to it, meaning I'm given more free time for myself and to train my body.

From what I can see, my body is like a solar panel which grabs all the energies around it before turning it into energy useful to it alone.

Every time my muscles tore they would heal almost immediately stronger than before, making it really easy to work out and only having to stop when I run out of energy.

There are a few things that changed or I put more thought into after thinking about them for a while. First of all, my muscles didn't become larger as I said before, just more dense but at the same time the skin around them became tighter and my body became more toned.

Another thing is me breathing in Elemental particles. My breathing went from absorbing 10 to 15% of the particles that enter my lungs while the food in my stomach would start being digested magically the moment it slid down my throat and reached my stomach.

The breathing alone means that I don't have to sleep again if I don't want to while the food thing would become a problem only if I train too much without eating. Even with what I now call, Elemental Breathing, my body cannot assimilate enough energy fast enough to repair my muscles before I become dead tired and am forced to sleep.

The one bit of bad news however is the fact that as a three-year-old, my body can't develop fast enough, or as fast as my training makes me forced to limit it to once a week so I don't pop.

Furthermore, there seems to be a problem with me. First of all, when I look at a soul flame now, rather than look at it just like any other flame I started to develop the craving for one. I have no idea how that is possible but it is what it is. It feels like going through puberty again with a mixture of sexual hormones and the savory look it had to my eyes made it seem like quite the delicacy

Another piece of bad news is that I am still unable to use magic properly by casting even a single spell. It doesn't help that everyone in my family, grandma included, have forbidden me from using magic because apparently it's "too dangerous for a child" or "you haven't reached the age yet" whatever that means.

I'm almost 36 for god's sake, just let me live and be myself.

I do understand it is for my benefit, or that is what they think anyway. I decided to respect their decision and only practice magic on my own whenever I could.

The final piece of bad news is happening right now. It's about the neighbors' kids, which aren't the problem. The problem lies in the fact that they are and have been pestering me for the last 2 seasons and I'm about to snap somebody's neck if no one stops them.

Due to them being "older" than me, I have to "respect" them no matter what. They just happen to have made friends with my brothers who had joined in to pester me during my daily routine.

Now that I have finally been allowed to go outside, I'm not allowed to move outside of the fence surrounding our house. It is about 50 meters away from the house allowing me to have free reign in that particular area. The problem is that the face is connected to our neighbors' fence making it so we have to share it with them.

I'm not big on sharing nor speaking to others for a matter of fact. And here is where the problem sparked. The neighbors are trying to have "fun" pestering me and cry to their little mothers when they don't agree and send them off as nicely as I could.

It's been like that for months now and I've been quite the tolerable person until today where they crossed the line.

I sat there recalling my life and resting when I saw two people walking towards me. They are both respectively 7 and 11 years of age and both of them were boys.

Did I mention the fact that both our parents seem to be siding with them even though I am the right one? I'm not sure if it's the age gap that makes them believe in an older child or just the prejudice against girls they have, but either way, they have a prejudice instead of me.

As I look into their eyes, I can see clear disdain that is being covered in the mask of a smirk they both had painted on their faces.

"oi, come here for a bit," said the older, taller one whose name I completely forgot.

"Yeah, let's play a girly game together," said the little one who I had also forgotten the name of.

'girly? What are they 12? Oh wait they are… I think? They certainly act like children, look like children so I'm going to treat them like children.' I thought while slapping myself on the forehead.

They both had jet black hair with baby faces. They both were wide in every axis from all the lack of movement in their lives making them quite sour to the eyes.

Nonetheless, I didn't walk towards them. Rather, I ignored them and started to jog around the house again which seemed to infuriate them.

The moment they walked into the range of the soul flame field, I knew their intentions but not their actions, yet I was prepared. While the big one tried to grab me by the hair and pull them, the little one seemed to want to punch me more than anything.

I ducked under the big one's legs before kicking the back of his kneecaps while dodging the endless barrage of the little one.

When I looked at his soul flame, it looked so appetizing that I almost just lunged at him. My soul flame seemed to feel the same way and both our hunger started to take control of our actions.

Thankfully, my dazed state was stopped when I heard the sound of my mother coming outside and instantly stopping the fight.

"SHE STARTED IT FIRST, SHE HIT MY BROTHER. I TRIED TO STOP HER BUT SHE KEPT ATTACKING SO I ATTACKED BACK'' said the little bitch before breaking down into a sob.

His brother seemed to have gotten the hint and broke down while blaming me and saying they "just wanted to play with me" and asking me why I'm not "nice".

My mother seemed to have a complacent look on her face while turning into a mix of anger, disappointment, and worry.

Well, she seems to have finally figured it out. Honestly, it wasn't that hard. I'm 3 years old, there is no way in fucking hell I am going to beat the sh*t out of the neighborhood kids for no reason-

"Is what they said true? And don't you dare lie to me Pandora" she said with tears in her eyes and a staggering voice

…

ARE YOU BRAIN DEAD WOMAN?!

HOW THE FUCK IS A 3 YEAR OLD LIKE ME WHO IS MORE SCARED OF HER MOTHER BEATING THE SHIT OUT OF PEOPLE 3 TIMES MY F*CKING AGE?!?!?

WHAT THE F*CK?!

I could almost hear them laughing under their fake cries which just pissed me off even more.

My mother, my f*the mother who had breastfed me, fed me, and 'raised' me has more faith in the neighbor's kid than her child?!

I was unable to close my mouth for a full second. My agape mouth started to dry up a little from the wind entering it and my face was frozen in a state of both surprise and betrayal which my mother recognized instantly.

Before allowing her to spout more bullsh*t I closed my mouth stopping it from drying up before turning my eyes and voice cold as if I was speaking to a stranger.

I had finally had enough of everyone's bullsh*t and I am finally going to not give a sh*t anymore

"Wow," I said in a monotone voice while looking at my mom with half squinted eyes as if I was looking at a pile of the trash before looking away towards the two boys.

Their parents have come out by now and were glaring at me and my mother.

"if I'm about to get blamed for something I hadn't done, I might as well take full credit"

At those words, my mother's eyes widened in shock, and stepped forward to stop me, but my father faster. Out of nowhere my father grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me back before my foot slammed into the larger boy's face, missing its target.

While my mother was looking at me in shock, my father was looking at me in compassion before he hugged me.

To my surprise, he said, "I believe you".

My eyes widened as if they were about to pop out. My father, who had been seen as nothing more than a nuisance, believed me while the mother I loved so much betrayed me In front of the neighbors to 'minimize damage'.

All my defenses broke down as I hugged my father back for the first time since I had been born into this world. The warmth of his embrace seeped into my body, calming down every urge that I had built up in those few minutes before.

A few seconds later I let go and he followed suit letting me go inside while he handled everything outside.

The moment I was about to open the door I felt two different hands going towards me, one I slapped and the other I dodged.

My mother's hand was sent flying back while the other slammed into the corner of the door with such speed and momentum that it sent several cracking sounds into the area making everyone but me, my father, and my mom, who was too busy holding her hand, wince while squinting their eyes and scrunching their face.

It was the father of the two kids that had attacked me.

I completely ignored the stares and walked past all of them towards the door and got inside before slamming the door closed.

I could hear constant bickering outside while I tuned out the screams of pain from the man-child on the floor holding his hand as if it was broken.

Since it was still the end of spring, my granny wouldn't come home until autumn meaning only the brothers were home since Aroura only comes home on weekends.

I went to the attic and sat down in the middle after locking the door from the inside.

Yes of course I was pissed off, but I knew that what I was doing was childish, which was the exact reason I was doing it.

First off, there are many perks to me being childish, and the fact that my mother doesn't see me as a child is a problem, meaning I must rebuild the illusion from scratch.

Secondly, I can go days without eating if I don't train much, meaning I can try to learn magic if at least my way to do magic… or at least I hope so.

Finally, it will help me get over the urge of trying to eat everyone's soul flame as if it's an appetizer.. I don't know how I'm supposed to eat the soul flames of others, but I'd rather not find out.