Memories
by Evalyn-Lina Corr

The wild grass was waving under the light breeze across Suomian hills as I gazed mutely at the village where I was born, the trees whispering tales of times past as they were played with by the wind. Looking at my village I feel distant and sad; my last memories of childhood there were not of joy and happiness, they were of death, destruction and sadness caused by my mother.

It seems from what I am told that I look very similar to my mother, but I am only 5’ 2" where my mother was 5’ 10" tall, and my natural hair colour was auburn compared to my mothers black. I had decided to talk with one of the elders here who was one of the very few who had survived the death of Suomi, …reading carefully through his book of memories I am learning more of the place I grew up that any book in the Loures Library could tell me.

Surprisingly I am mentioned in here; he wrote:
"Again little Evalyn-Lina appeared from nowhere like a little ghost with her smile that makes the sun want to come out to enjoy it. Again, she asks me questions that not even the Corr Wizards could answer. Such a curious little thing she is, and her beauty comes from her mother.
Elaellyra, her mother is a very special Wizard, she has a presence of peacefulness, and her looks remind me of the stories I have heard about the Succubi, with her long, black hair with piercing emerald eyes. The day they walked into this village was the day everyone brightened up."

Reading through his notes, I have found what I believe to be the start of my mother's turn towards the dark. It reads:
"Today I saw Elaellyra arguing with Persia Corr; from what I caught I believe it was about the recently discovered Pentagram in the Astrid fields. The air around them felt dense: I noticed Evalyn-Lina sitting on the rim of the well, crying. As it was not really my business to interfere, I carried on with my work."

It seems my mother was arguing with the Head of the Corr family, who were the Wizard protectors of the village at the time, about using the power from the Ritual Pentagram in Astrid to help protect the village from the Goblins of Astrid. It also says a few pages further on that my mother and I never returned to the village after that day; not only that, children from Undine started to disappear and blood was found in Astrid: the body of a girl of about age eleven was found lying on the Pentagram with her chest cut open.

As I sit here, I know that I must have been there, watching that poor girl being murdered, yet I have no memory of it, only of everything after I was taken away from my mother.
It says here that Persia learned of one these sacrifices that was going to take place that night and was going to stop it. Only five people went to Astrid, as it would have been easier to remain unnoticed: the sacrifice that night was to be me…

He writes, "We finally reached the strange area with the Pentagram, the group hiding behind the bushes and waiting. I was scared just looking at the way it glowed a whitish yellow. We waited for, what I believe to have been two hours, then a group of Kobolds came out from behind the trees carrying something, and behind them was Elaellyra – but we could not see Evalyn-Lina.
Persia told us to wait until everything was in place, then we should charge. We watched intently as the Kobs placed a body on the ground and then stood around the Pentagram: everything went silent and then Elaellyra started chanting and I looked at Persia, who had a look of anger on his face, as he whispered to us "Now!" We ran out of the bushes screaming, and the Kobolds scattered because of the surprise. Persia used a spell on Elaellyra before she could do anything."

"What I saw next was a sight that made me feel sick and disgusted; the reason we had not seen Evalyn-Lina, was because she was to be the sacrifice, chained up without clothes and covered in some kind of strange writing on her body in blood.
Persia looked from Evalyn’s helpless body to her mothers and used a kind of restraining spell on her. I lifted up Evalyn’s body, whilst Persia and the others carried Elaellyra. Elaellyra was arguing with Persia about him having no right to do what he had done. It was the first time I have ever seen him hit a woman; then he said to her that she had no rights. We let her there after putting a exile spell onto her, Persia saying he will take care of Evalyn-Lina and make her a part of his family."

Walking through Suomi, I come to what was once the home of the Corr family: now it is just a run-down building with a rogue living there. In fact the village is a lot smaller than it should be, but I guess most was destroyed during the fire.

I remember running home from Astrid when I was six years of age, to see Suomi on fire, not only that, but my mother banding together the Goblins and Kobolds of Astrid as an army to destroy Suomi in revenge for me being taken away from her. Much of that is here in this book, the fire and the mercyless killing of my adopted parents. What I didn’t know was how I escaped being killed by my mother together with my family, until now:

"I watched helplessly, trapped by the ruins of my home, as Persia was cut down as if he was a wild dog, and then his wife Merlyn being killed by Elaellyra stabbing a staff through her back and out of her chest. I screamed when I saw Evalyn-Lina coming into my sight, stopping and crying. I tried with all my strength to pull myself free, but I couldn’t. Evalyn just stood there, frightened, and I knew what was going to happen as Elaellyra walked towards her, raising her staff into the air."

"What did happen was that Evalyn-Lina vanished, just as her mother swung her staff downwards. I heard someone laugh and Elaellyra looked towards the hills and cursed: I could just about see a figure standing on the hill and then dissappearing again, too. For my safety, I lay there not making a sound. Evalyn-Lina’s mother was still cursing, and one thing I remember clearly was when she said: "I’ll have to kill him one of these days, even though he is my husband and father to my girl".
A day passed and some travelers helped me and the rest of the surviving villagers. We never heard from Elaellyra or her daughter again; I hope Evalyn-Lina is far away from her mother and is living a new life."

So it was my father who saved me from death. I wished I had known him, but I guess he has died. The old man told me to keep the book, when I tried to return it, now I have decided to add to the book, who knows where it will end up in the future.