Prologue
"If it is for love I will do anything." The man repeated these words in his mind over and over but couldn't remember where he had heard them. His new wife held up their child, she was born yesterday, only a month after marriage. This was common among his kind, he had told this to the human he loved but she hadn't believed him.
Among his kind is was rare for the first born child to survive and yet, his halfling daughter had. It was the most wonderful day in his entire life, at least until the Kaularo came.
The Kaularo is among the most dangerous beings in all of Pantacou. No one knew what they could do since no one survived to tell the tale. This encounter was different though, the man didn't sense and murderous intent on the Kaularo. Still weary he asked, "Why are you here?"
The Kaularo didn't respond, it's eyes were on his baby girl. His wife clutched their child to herself and the baby started crying. He pushed his arm between the Kaularo and his family protectively. The Kaularo didn't move so again, but more firmly, the man asked, "Why are you here?"
"Why do you think?" it said in an eerily creepy voice. "I am here to see the halfling, did you not know?" The man had known but desperately hoped no one else had sensed it. He knew his daughter was special, he knew she wasn't an ordinary halfling, and he also knew that they were all in danger if everyone else knew.
He could smell his wife's fear, not for herself but for their daughter. He knew what he had to do to keep them safe and his wife would never forgive him for it. He had to kill their daughter. If he wanted to keep his family safe, no the love of his life saved he had to kill their daughter or risk her falling in to the hands of evil.
He was going to do just that when he remembered where he had heard those words, he had said them to his best friend before starting this path, the one that lead him to his wife, his daughter, his family. He knew of only one other way to fix this.
He took her power but only temporarily, no one’s power could truly be taken away, concealed yes but gone, that was impossible. He glanced at the Kaularo seeing if it knew what he was up to, it didn’t but he was still weary. The Kaularo wanted to take his daughter because of her abilities so all he had to do was make them disappear.
He touched his daughter’s chest with one hand and with his other he touched his own. This would create an I breakable bond between them creating a path to every inch of her mind and ability. He knew she would hate him for this if she ever found out what he had done but it was the only option.
It worked, he felt her power fading into herself, he felt everything she felt, he felt the guilt that would way on his shoulders forever. More than anything else he felt the relief of being able to save them all as the Kaularo growled and backed away, seemingly forgetting why it was there in the first place.
He looked at his wife, not sure of what he would see in her eyes. “What did you do?” She was relieved that the creature was gone but she was still afraid, of him. He was hurt that she didn’t trust him but he deserved it. “It isn’t permanent, just for a few years, I don’t know how to protect us after that.”
“What is going on? My child is in danger, what did you do to her?” Now his wife was angry, at both him and herself, “I just took away her ability to use magic, it was the only option that didn’t involve anyones death! I just was to keep my family safe, I want to keep you safe.”
They were shouting now, this had never happened since they met, he didn’t know what to do. They kept arguing into the night, not even bothering to take care of their child, even as she cried.
