Can't Escape My Fate

I leaned against the wall in the training room, watching Mystic throw knives at the wooden dummy I set up for her. She was improving greatly, and had just started throwing knives. My little girl was going to be an amazing fighter when she got older, but if things worked the way I planned it would be for the right cause.
“Mommy did you see that! I hit it dead center!” I smiled at her, she was just too adorable.

“Good job sweetie. How about you try a few more times before we head home?” I went over to the dummy, and pulled the knives out of it. Like me, Mystic was amazing with knives and small blades. She was surefooted and analyzed every situation that she got herself into, and like me she always seemed to be getting into some kind of trouble.

I handed the knives to her and went back to the wall. I didn’t trust the other members of the army around her, so I took it upon myself to train her the best that I could. I hated leaving her alone when I had to go on a mission for my father, but I wasn’t ready to let her see just how evil the world truly was. Many of the other mothers were disgusted with the fact that I was teaching my daughter to fight, but if I didn’t then she’d just be one of the causalities of this stupid war. She was far too innocent for the world that she was brought into, but innocence didn’t mean she couldn’t protect herself.

“Mommy, when are you leaving again?” Her question brought me out of my thoughts.

“I don’t know sweetie. But I promise that I won’t be gone long, I never am.” I absolutely hated having to leave her. Every time I did, it was like my heart was being ripped from my chest.

“Can we go home now? I’m bored and I want you to…teach me magic.” Mystic paused, and looked around before mentioning magic. She knew that if anyone found out that she or myself were able to use it we’d be used as nothing more than weapons and most likely killed if we ever failed in our mission.

“Alright darling.” I helped her collect the throwing knives and put them in the wooden box I made for them. “Do you want to stop on the way home for something to eat or do you want to risk my cooking?”

“I don’t want to die.” She smiled up at me as she spoke. I picked her up and hugged her.

“You’re so damn cute.” I walked out of the training room with her on my hip and left the training academy. It wasn’t a place I liked going, but it was the only place where I could train Mystic. “So explain to me again how you managed to get kicked out of class.”

Myst blushed lightly and sighed. “One of the boys in my class said girls weren’t supposed to be able to fight. That we were supposed to stay home and be housewives. So I punched him in the face, and told him that girls were able to do everything that boys were, and were better.” I laughed and kissed her cheek.

“You really are my daughter alright.” I set her down as we got close to the small café. I opened the door and let her go in first before following. I let Myst pick where we were going to sit and slid into the seat across from her. Cole, the owner of the café brought over two plates of food without being asked and set them in front of us.

“You two are in here so often that I don’t even have to take your orders. One of these days you’re going to change something and I’m going to be very upset.” Cole was always friendly to us, and gave Myst sweets whenever he felt he could get away with it.

“That will be the day you go out of business my friend.” I smiled at Cole before I started eating. The food from the café was the best in the compound. I looked at Myst and knew she was thinking about something. “Sweetie, what are you thinking about? You look like you’re going to start a fight with your food.”

She looked up at me startled, “Just about what F.E.A.R is doing. It’s wrong isn’t it? To take prisoners and destroy villages?”

“Yes, it is wrong.” I knew where this was going. Ever since I read her the story of the Legion of the Black that I found in the library, she’s been wanting to know more and join them.

“Then why do you do it?”

“I don’t like it sweetie. But I do it to keep you safe. Soon my love, we’ll leave this place.” For the past year, I’ve been getting flashes of a small town in the desert and knew it was a safe place. It was familiar, but I couldn’t exactly place where I knew it from. “Just be patient, I know you don’t like waiting, but you have to. You’re not ready to make the trek through the desert yet.”

“I can make it.” She gave me such a defiant look that I laughed. She was so much like me it was actually a little scary.

“Alright the love, tomorrow we’ll do some training outside the city walls. Show me how ready you are. It’s much more difficult to stay focused out there in the heat. The sand will slow you down much more than you think.”

“I can handle it.” I just smiled at her. She was going to have to learn by experience just how hard it was out there. When we left the café, we went straight to our small house. “Can you teach me now?”

“Patience Myst, sit down on the floor across from me.” I sat down as I spoke, smiling a little as she copied me. “Try to clear your mind, you first need to learn what your element is. What do you feel in the air around you?”

“I don’t feel anything…” She closed her eyes and tried to do as I said. I put my hand on her cheek and smiled. She gasped and looked up at me. “Electricity.”

“What you’re feeling is my element. It will feel similar to that, but depending on what it is obviously, it will feel different at the same time.” She nodded and closed her eyes again, focusing on the air around her. “Do you feel anything?”

“Warmth, almost like a fire.” I smiled at the memory that came flooding back at the mention of a fire element. It was more of just flashes of a person I assumed I knew, but at the same time I knew that he meant something to me. “There’s something else…it’s still warmth, but almost bright?”

“Open your eyes, I want to test my theory.” I pulled a small knife from my belt and cut my palm. “Myst, I want you to look at the cut I just made. Focus on mending the injury. Can you do that?”
She looked almost scared but nodded.

“I can try.” She put her hand just above mine and continued to stare at the wound. Myst gasped as a faint white light surrounded her hand and closed the wound.

“You’re a healer. That’s extremely rare.” I smiled at her and cupped her cheek. “You did amazing love.”

“Can I do more?” Now that she knew what she could do, she didn’t want to stop. I hated saying no to her, but knew that if she didn’t get some sleep she was going to be very pissy in the morning.

“No. You need your sleep. You said that you wanted to come with me tomorrow and watch my sparring match. You have to be up early if you’re going to come with me.” She looked like she was about to protest, but decided against it and went into our room. I followed after her and crawled into the bed behind her, hoping that for once I’d be able to sleep without nightmares. The dreams for once weren’t that bad. Most of them consisted of five men I had never met, but yet knew on a personal level. One of them, I was drawn to as if he was more than a friend. The more I looked at him, the more I realized how much my daughter looked like him.