"Humi, I know it hurts now, but it'll get a lot better from here I promise." Maria cooed to the young girl, trying to be gentil as the needle pricked the girls arm, making her wince slightly.
"See? All done! You made it Humi, you're so strong" Maria cheered. Humi was on new medication for the newest desease she had to battle. Her vision dulled, head swayed dizzily and she tried to focus on Maria but there was two of her. The medication always made her like this, a zombie chained to a hospital bed. Humi couldn't see Maria too well but the sound of her quivering voice told her she was choking up tears.
"Thanks Maria...I'll be ok now..." said the weak, pale girl, trying to ease her troubled friend. She felt her hand being squeezed gingerly and she brought the corners of her lips up into a reasuring grin. Marias heart always aked seeing Humi so helpless. But she had to smiled, not to dampen Humis spirit.
"Maria, when will this be over?" Maria bit her lip.
"You know, it may be tough now. But someday you'll get out of here and become an amazing Caster like your mother was." her head was roaming with thoughts of Humis mother, each memory held a meaning she brought deep to her heart. Maria wasn't only Humis nurse, maid, chef, teacher and only friend. She had been her Mothers childhood friend too. That is, before her mother died.
The little girl processed this. "I don't know how to become a Caster Maria, being so sick all the time I probley couldn't anyways."
Marias eyebrows creased with concern before she got up off the bed and walked out of the room. When she returned she held a huge leather bound book, the size of a chest. Plopping the enormous book on the table next to her she waved Humi to open it. Humi looked over it, taking in every detail of the cover, leather straps held the book firmly, the actual colour of the book was a swamp water green, scratched and faded with age. Reaching a hand to unbuckle the book she felt a sharp sting shoot up her arm and she retracted it quickly looking over at Maria with a puzzled look.
"Oh oh oooh~ you can't just take off the binds dear, if you could do that then anybody, even humans could look at your Casting book." She chided. Humi made a pouty face. "Then why'd you tell me to open it?" Maria giggled sweetly. "The same thing happend to your mum when she first opened it. Because first you have to be ready to take in all you read from this book." sitting next to Humi in the bed, Maris layed the book upon her lap.
"Your mother, when she first received this book, every page was empty. You know why?" She questioned.
"Becaaause..." Humi paused. "They didn't put her spells in there yet?"
She shook her head at the girls answer. "They aren't called spells Humi. The things in here tell you how to unleash the power that's already inside you, Literally! When your ready enough, a new page in the book will grant itself to you. And that's why there were no 'Castrophs' in here when your mother first received it."
She blinked at Maria and then at her mothers Casting book thoughtfully. "How will I know if I'm ready?"
Maria chuckled and shook her head. "The first step is learning patience. Your heart may want to learn all it can but sometimes your body is... not ready yet."
A sigh came from Humis lips. She knew what Maria meant. She was too weak to handle it. But this didn't put her down, it made her even more determined than ever. Weeks after that day Humi completed simple physical tasks like walking and picking up books, something she couldn't normally do before. Maria kept Humi enthusiastic and looking forward to waking up each morning. Though she wasn't authorized to Madame Maria taught Humi the basic things she needed to know before she could open her mothers book. But one day while Maria was out Humi took this as a chance to try opening the enormous book.
"HAH...AHH! M-Ma-Maria!!" Humi shrieked. Maria bursted through the door and to her surprise and utter horror Humi and the book were lifted from the ground in one of the mansions huge libraries, a looming green glow luminated the entire room, and Humis arms and legs. Dark Caster texts from the book were crawling up her limbs, turning her hair from the silky black it was, into an almost white pigment. Humi didn't mean this to happen at all, she only wanted to become like her mother. But this chain of events even startled Maria, normally the book would fly open and the reader would be so thrilled, nothing about Humi was evil or uncertain but why was the book reacting this way?
The text kept flowing into her body, Maria attempted to step forward but the green erry glow acted as a shield, counter acting any of the Casts Maria striked at it. One more burst of blinding light blasted a gust of wind through out the room and everything was still. Once the dust cleared the maid crawled toward Humi, sweat beads dripping down her brow she turned the limp body over to reveal her face. Tears were twinkling down her cheeks, her new white hair stuck to her face from sweat and her breaths were uneven. Humis eyes were filled with trauma.
"What happened Humi?! What did you do?!" Maria panicked, holding the girl in her arms.
Her body shook like a leaf and she stuttered, staring into space as she spoke. "I-I-I pulled one strap, then the other....when I opened it... it was blank, just as you had said. But then t-the letters appeared. I don't know w-what happened."
The light peeled her eyes open. Surroundings were not that of the mansions library, but the train. She was dreaming of the first time she opened the her mothers Casting book. She looked down at her makeshift bag pillow, bolting in a sitting position her hands scrambled through the bag and pulled out the book. She sighed, relieved it was still safe and hugged it to her chest. Too distracted by a sneeze to think about what this dream meant she looked up to see a boy her age, with curly chestnut hair like cork screws. Freckles scattered his nose and cheeks, wire glasses covered his matching chestnut eyes as he looked curiously over to her. If only she knew how important this first encounter is to her future...
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