Prologue
I remember the day like it was yesterday, the day my father died.
I was only 8 years old when my mother told me, “We have to go to the hospital because your dad is sick, and he might not get better.”
Because I was so young, it was hard for me to understand all the things happening that day.
My mom told me he had a rare disease, but she never told me what disease killed him and why we had to move away right after his death.
That day made me question many things in the world and my life.
I wanted to know why he had to die, why did God have to take my father away from this world, and my mom and me.
Why couldn’t I learn what disease my father died from? Why did we have to move away right after his death?
I’ve come to terms now that I might never get the answers to my questions.
But I know one is for sure, I was destined to meet that boy that day.
He said his name was Diar Pines, the only son of the Pines Corporation.
They own close to everything in Aklure, like churches, schools, and hospitals, but what they are most proud of and known for is Pines Academy.
Where all the kids in Aklure who can afford it can learn and master the art of magic.
The Pines family found a way to turn magic into a science, where anyone and everyone can learn it.
Well, if you have the money for it, of course.
Pines Academy is the number one school for parents to send their kids to if they want guaranteed success in their kid’s life.
The kids that have graduated from Pines Academy are now world leaders and legends.
they say that Pines Academy was built during the Salem Witch Trials, but the Pines family always denied it to be true;
they don’t call their students witches or wizards; instead, the students that attend and graduate from Pines Academy are called Beldams and Beldames for both sexes.
This means that they have studied and mastered the art of magic but were never born with it.
Witches and wizards haven’t been seen since the Salem Witch Trials, where all the witches and wizards were executed.
It is said that the Pines are the only and last descendants of a real witch.
Her name was said to be Lorrellie. The last living witch that survived the Salem witch trials.
She was the most powerful witch of them all.
So when she escaped Salem, she came to Aklure and got married to a Priest.
Together they built up Aklure from when it was nothing to what it is now.
For generations, the Pines became known for having the only surviving witch’s blood running through their veins.
With that power, they have gained unimaginable influence and wealth.
The daughters would become witches, and the sons would take over everything else.
But some people still hated witches and would rather see them burn and die forever.
So on the day my father died, Diar Pines’ little sister, who was soon to be a witch, the last one to be exact, was killed and poisoned by the ones who live to hate witches.
That’s where we met.
On the day my father and his sister were knocking on the doors of death itself on their hospital beds due to things that were out of our control and couldn’t be explained, we met at the hospital and were brought together by fate.
