an illusion of mind

Sarah was a simple farmer girl that helped around her dad's farm, she loved her life, helping her parents, talking and having fun with her best friend that she liked, her life was simple yet fulfilling.

That was all until the bandits attacked their home, they killed those who didn't cooperate, and took those who submitted, she was taken as well and put in a cage along with all the young women in the village, the old ones were killed.

She heard the bandits speaking about selling them as slaves in the black market and her heart sank, all until the bandit leader left running out of the tent after killing on of his men.

Thankfully the man had left the key in the door to their cage. Noone was brave enough to try and escape, but Sarah would take her chances.

"Come on! let's go! This is our chance!" Sarah yelled at the other women three of which remained in the cage while the rest followed her.

"I'm sorry but if the bandit leader comes back and you're killed, I don't want to be one of you." A fairly young and fearful girl said as she cowered deeper into the cell.

Sarah gritted her teeth and stormed out of the tent and the sight that greeted her was absolutely horrifying, a young girl 15 years of age seemingly standing in the centre of the bandit hideout, the blood and gore flying around her was too much for some of them as they hunched over throwing up.

The smell of burned flesh and the irony smell of blood reached their noses and Sarah scrunched up her nose fighting the urge to throw up as well, the girl in the middle raised her hands marvelling at the chaos caused seemingly by her, Every single bandit that tried to attack or pursue her died, one simply fell over and died clutching his heart, another was stabbed by a spear from one of his fearful comrades who did not appear to see what he did, another's head was chopped off by a flying iron disk, another was hit in the head by a metal cauldron with hot soup which burned him and added to his anguish.

The sight was only describable as a disaster, a complete calamity, each and every single person who tried to approach the source which seemed to be the blonde girl with odd clothing would face a calamity that would either cut their life short or cause them an unrecoverable injury.

Sarah's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets seeing the bandit boss struggle to fight off relentless calamities that followed one after another and in the end ending with him propelled up into the air with a spear stabbing him in the chest, he did manage to be the closest to get to her which was still very far.

"Sarah snap out of it!" Sarah was shook out of her horrified trance by an older woman, Margret, she was a woman she knew very well like an older sister to her back in the village.

"We need to leave!" She put a hand to her mouth stifling a gag from the smells, Sarah nodded frantically as she started running after the others which had not gone far probably waiting for her.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" one woman screamed after they made it far enough, and by that she meant ran until their legs gave out.

"Th-that was... The bandits were just dying randomly! what was that?!" Margret yelled out.

"I-I think I know why that happened..." Sarah raised a hand grabbing the attention of everyone they were in total 13 girls and women including Sarah, "I think the reason was that girl in the centre, did any of you see her?"

"The one with the weird clothes?" A girl around her age asked her and Sarah nodded, "Yes, each time a bandit tried to attack her something bad would happen to them, I think she's the source..."

"Th-that's ridiculous, that couldn't be... We must have been seeing things..." a woman clutched her head tightly crouching down leaning against a tree.

"N-no! I'm sure of it, that girl with the weird clothes was definitely the source! she literally laughed at them when they tried to attack her!" Sarah yelled.

"It was like... Like she was calamity herself..." Sarah said recalling the vivid image of the girl raising her cane up in the air as she smiled widely her golden round glasses glimmering from the flames of the torches, Sarah shivered from the memory.

"Don't be ridiculous Sarah," Margret shook her out of her trance, "We need to leave and find the nearest town..." Margret continued.

"Let's rest first... I'm dead tired." Another woman spoke up.

Sarah couldn't help but agree, she plopped herself down against a tree and took in as much breath as she could trying to relax and recover.

"Food is ready~" Rachel heard the voice of the kind woman that had took care of her when she got to town, she stood up with the help of her cane walking slowly as she made it to the dining room.

"There you are Rachel~ Is the rascal awake?" The woman who's name was Serine gave her a warm smile which Rachel returned as well, she turned off her music player and sat down at the table waiting.

"No, miss Serine, Brian isn't awake yet." She shook her head and the woman just chuckled.

"I know my son very well, that idiot isn't gonna be awake for the next 2 hours if we were lucky~" She chuckled some more.

Serine was the wife of the lumbar jack who found her in the woods, his name just so happened to be jack as well, they had taken care of her for two days now, of course Rachel was planning on paying them in gold coins even if they refused, the couple had a son which was 16 years old one year older than her. his name was Brian and he was quite the hard worker, since she had gotten here she had only saw him with a sword in hand and swinging it. According to his parents he was planning on going to prism academy after two years, that's why he was training like that.

"I still see that he could get in now ma'am," Rachel spoke in an even respectful tone.

"Again with that, Brian barely know much about swordsmanship he only knows how to swing his sword, how could he ever make it now? It would have to be a special admission especially since it's the middle of the year." The woman spoke in a dismissive tone.

"Ma'am I know much about prism academy, I'm planning on going there as well, and especially since he doesn't know much about swordsmanship and he's already this good just proves that he's got an exceptional talent." Rachel spoke in one breath sipping on the tea in front of her, the habit of noble etiquette had been drilled into her from a young age. She couldn't drink tea any other way even if she wanted to.

"... I don't know... I'll have to ask Jack about this..." Serine still looked uncertain, as she set down some more plates on the table.

"And besides, we don't have the money for the road trip so that's just another thing..." Serine spoke as the door creaked open and Jack walked in an axe hefted on his shoulder as he set it down and wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.

"What are you guys talking about?" Jack asked as he sat down at the table after washing his hands.

"Rachel is still on about the academy." Serine said putting a hand on her cheek letting out a long sigh.

"Bah, We don't have the money for the road trip even if we wanted to send him." Jack waved a hand dismissively.

"I'll cover the fee, I have enough." Rachel said sipping on her tee again.

"... You'll what?" Jack asked in surprise as Serine slammed her hands down on the table which startled both Jack and Rachel, "No! I can't possibly take advantage of you like that! If Brian wants to go, he'll have to earn it!" Serine's expression was stern.

"Just think of it as a thanks for taking care of me these days." Rachel smiled as footsteps were heard coming down the stairs.

Rachel turned her head towards the incoming boy with brown hair and small scar under his left eye, he had sharp features and striking golden eyes that looked like those of an eagle, he had a smile on his face as he stopped in his tracks.

"Why did you not wake me up if breakfast was ready?" He asked as he pulled back a seat after washing his hands, he sat down next to jack as he waited for his mother to answer.

"You idiot, you'll have to learn to wake up on your own otherwise you'll always miss breakfast, you're lucky this time!" She huffed as she also sat down and started eating.

"... You're too strict, last night I had a good training session and Billy asked me for a favour so I had to stay up late!" Brian said as he took a wooden spoon and started eating his soup.

"Whatever, you'll always be as irresponsible as ever so what use is it trying to hammer it into your head." Serine sighs as she focused back on her breakfast.

"Also, when is she leaving?" Brian pointed a thumb at Rachel who was sipping on tea having not eaten much from the table.

"Brian! Don't be rude." Serine yelled at him.

"Haha! It's fine ma'am, I've overstayed my welcome, I'm leaving soon, my offer still stands." Rachel said sipping on her tea.

Serine sighed again tuning towards Brian, "Listen, Rachel here was kind enough to offer to pay for your trip to Prism, she also thinks you have a good chance at getting in even if it's the middle of the year."

Brian's eyes widened and he smiled widely, "Really?! Yes! I accept!" Brian turned to Rachel slamming his hands on the table in excitement.

"You brat! You're being rude to her again!" Serine stood up ready to hit him, she was held off by Jack as Brian shrunk back in his seat.

"Haha! It's fine, it's fine." Rachel said holding up a hand.

After things had calmed down a little Brian decided to ask, "Sooo... When am I gonna go to prism?" Brian pushed away his empty plate and turned to her.

"The evening." Rachel answered, "You're coming with me, I'm also planning on going to prism." She said sipping on her tea and Brian visibly reacted to her statement.

"How are you planning on going to prism?" He said looking her up and down, "...Considering... you know." Brian gestured at her leg, "Prism focuses a lot on combat aspects which should not be possible with your... Injury." Brian said bluntly which cause Serine to almost lash out at him but Rachel held up a hand dissuading her.

"It's an injury yes, and I already have an invite from them, it should be easy to get in, but you... you're probably going to have to be tested to get in." Rachel finished sipping on her tea.

Brian's eyes widened, "Hah?! You already have an invite?! How! that's unfair!" He slammed his hands on the table which earned him a glare from Serine.

"I met a professor from prism which was on a mission, he ended up seeing potential in me and gave me an invite." Rachel finished.

Brian grumbled and sat back down on his chair complaining under his breath from the unfairness of the situation.

Rachel just gave him a sweet smile.

Later that day, Brian waved goodbye to his parents and left off to go to the place Rachel had told him to meet her, they had to be on time because they were hitching a ride with a travelling merchant group.

"There you are." Rachel greeted him as she gestured for him to come, he followed after her walking slowly to match her pace with the cane.

"So this is it?" Brian said as he looked at the carriage which they were going to ride in soon enough, apparently Rachel had paid quite the sum of money because they got to sit with the merchant himself in the carriage, instead of in the back carriages with the luggage.

"How much did you pay?" Brian asked and Rachel answered by showing him five fingers.

"Five silver? that doesn't seem-"

"Gold." She finished, which caused Brian's eyes to bulged and he was about to yell at her for wasting so much money before she put a hand on his mouth silencing him, "We don't want to annoy the merchant here, he might just throw us out along the way." Rachel said simply which caused Brian to begrudgingly sit back against the soft cushions of the carriage, it was an expensive one and 5 gold was definitely enough to get to hitch a ride in it.

Rachel took out the rectangular device which Brian got to know was a 'music player' and it played songs that were pre-recorded, Brian knew it had to be expensive which only made him question the origins of this girl even more.

Rachel turned on her music player and relaxed against the cushions her eyes closed as she listened to music.

Brian was a little jealous but beggars couldn't be choosers, Rachel was just bringing him along because she accidentally found him and thought that maybe he had a chance.

He relaxed back on the cushions, it didn't take him long to fall asleep, he had learned from Rachel that the journey would be quite long to make it to the city prism was and that they would have to take a few detours on the way, in total Rachel estimated they would be there in a few weeks.

Brian couldn't help but get excited at the thought that his dream of going to prism would finally become a reality and all his hard work wouldn't be for naught...

He looked over towards Rachel who was fast asleep with the earphones embedded in her ears, he could see her round glasses with a golden glint reflecting off of them, her bowler hat with a yellow stripe and the most notable of all the two red rubies that were on either sides of her stomach one on the left and one on the right, the rubies resembled her eyes which were blood red in colour, over all Rachel had a weird attire and Brian thought she was weird when he first met her.

But if he had to go with a weirdo to get to prism he would gladly do it, Rachel was injured in her left leg, it seemed like it was permanent too the way the girl didn't want to talk about it the more he prodded.

She also did not want to say where she was from, another weird factor adding to the strangeness and mystery of the girl. Brian would see to that later, for now he would focus on getting to prism.

He closed his eyes again leaning back and dozing off into a deep sleep.