by Sky Wilde
Foreword
Darkness may seem to be present on every end of your vision, but know that, to see Darkness, there must be light somewhere.
And for me, my light had vanished, but I am seeing darkness. And I know that for darkness to be present, the light still is somewhere.
This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
MARK OF CHANGE
First edition. June 15, 2020.
Copyright © 2020 Sky Wilde.
ISBN: 978-1386199151
Written by Sky Wilde.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Preface
Prologue
Recurring Nightmare
I Am Dead
Distant Cousin?
Family Dinner
A Favour
Not a Magic User?
Shell Bomb
True love
Going on Vacation
Nightmare Came Real
Love .vs. Magic
Alpha’s Heirs
A Happily Ever After
Motherly Love
Epilogue
Somewhere
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Further Reading: Broken Pieces
Also By Sky Wilde
About the Author
To all the women of the world, who would go through hell for those she cares about.
To the good souls, who endure pain in silence just because they don't want to be a burden.
And to my mom, who urged me to publish. Without you, I am nothing.
Preface
“Everything started in flames and ashes, and everything will end in flames as ashes.”
December’s life was like her name. A winter which put her through hardships. But, she was curt with having hope. Hope, that one day she will be happy and that her life will be beautiful. She knew that it will happen, one day. One day after many decades of the chase she was and is going to withtake.
What she never knew was that the chase was at the end. What she never thought of was that she would meet her other half of the soul.
Her soulmate.
Grey’s life was like his name. Colourless. Faceless. Emotionless. A routine of managing his company, sleeping, eating and working out. But, he was okay with what his life had thrown at him, even though he hoped for more. He knew that he’d missed the opportunity to love the love of his life, and he was okay with spending his years as a bachelor for at least two more decades, and he was forty.
What he never knew was that the wait was at the end. What he never thought of was that he would meet his love of life again.
His soulmate.
Their lives are thrown in whirlwinds as both their worlds collide.
He was not a supernatural, at least not as per his knowledge of the life he has. His world was normal, even if he never knew that he was abnormal.
She was a supernatural being, a sorcerous. Her world was dominated by the crazy craving of powers in every single direction she turned to.
Their worlds collide and everything goes up in flames and ashes, as the mark of destiny is laid in stone by the ashes born out of the flames.
As the mark of change is laid before them.
“We are made one with what we touch and see,
With our heart’s blood each crimson sun is fair,
With our young lives each spring impassioned tree
Flames into green, the wildest beasts that range
The moor our kinsmen are, all life is one, and all is change.”
- Oscar Wilde, Excepted from Panthea
Prologue
*December*
The moon is shining a little truant today. Most of the stars are not showing themselves through the clouds. But I guess it is pretty normal during an October night. The fall season is in its full swing right now, making the nature more beautiful. I can see a lot of birds getting ready for the night. Some birds are really cute with its pair. Their voice in a soothing duet gives me such pleasure.
Life around me is beautiful. My life... it is a big mess.
I run down the aisle as fast as I can, and still I can’t get away from my stalker. A big bad Alpha of a renowned pack is the one I am running from. I may be a small and frail female, but even the big bad Alpha can’t get his hands on me.
I am not overly confident, if that is what you ask. I am the eldest daughter of one of the oldest clans ever present. That means that I am not one to mess with. But...
Even though I got powerful blood coursing through me, I, being born without the mark of sanguine, am powerless...
I have no one of my clan to protect me. To be exact, even though they were with me my whole life, they are against my goal now... So I got only me and my goal to keep my lonely soul company. A goal of keeping my life to myself, instead of throwing it away, just to be safe and secure in a pack.
The little flakes of snowfall of the night fall on my long hair. I look up to see a lot more of them falling to me. Like they are willing to shower me with their love. I smile and look past the snowy clouds using my enhanced vision to see my favourite star, a star which always shines, for me.
Everything around me is perfect. Everything but my life. I look back over my shoulder to see my ex-fiancée, the big bad Alpha.
“Stop right there, December!” The command blows through the air around me, whirling with magic particles of the Alpha.
Heh. A command against a powerful blooded sorcerous like me? What did they think?
I maybe a powerless sorcerous, but I am not a total push over either. Alpha commands are nothing against me. I pour my reserve of magic into running faster than a normal athlete and easily put some distance between me and the Alpha. The big bad Alpha motions the goons following him to advance and take me down.
My magic perspective vision is very good, compared to my other weakness, and I know that five from a group of seven including the Alpha is pouring their energy into running now.
More speed. More speed.
After putting more of the much required distance. I turn back and wink at them.
I know... that is not necessary, but it just feels very good to taunt them.
The taunt makes them enraged, but also reckless. That gives me an opening to start my offensive. I check my reserve to see that most of it is empty from pouring into running. Still I know that my magic will replenish itself in course of time.
I use a little bit, a very tiny amount, of my Luna magic to make the first of his goon trip over nothing but air. He grunts in pain as he slams head first into a post.
Those wounds were never enough to even bring blood from these guys. But it gives me a huge amount of pleasure in seeing them fall.
One of the other four absorbs energy from their surroundings and pours more into their speed. Unlike us, the men can’t absorb and use the magic at the same time, just like men can’t produce offspring. But, being the strongest members of the strongest pack always comes with these kinds of exceptions.
It seems they came prepared this time, taking out their powerful weapons, just to hunt this terrible but still a sorcerous, with powerful blood.
“They only need your blood! So suck it up and live like me.” My part-blood father’s voice echoes in my memories.
Well, it’s not like they are going to take it from me using a syringe or so. They only need a progeny from me. That is what I am running from. Forced marriage to a big bad Alpha to just be a loveless child-bearing machine.
My Mom is one of the powerful sorcerous of my kind, and my dad is... well, he is just a weak part-blood... My mom wanted to pass o
n their powerful mark of sanguine to the daughters to be born. Any sons she might bore will be a weak male, just like my father, but the daughters will be strong, in fact very strong due to mixture of magic blood and thus my Mom married my Dad despite the opposition of others.
I used to ask ‘why in the seven worlds am I weak if your daughters will be strong’. She simply said, “You got more of your father in you than me...”
My sister, who I can’t even call by her name, is the most powerful sorcerous in the present. She is just a namesake sister to me, in fact she never acknowledged me as her sister. Her powers are strong and many of them are rare and unique. Her powers can be shown by the fact that if someone says her name once, even in a whisper, she will know who said that, and where they said it. The magic particles will carry her name through hell if it comes to that... So I restricted myself from saying her name even in my mind.
Me? I am just a normal, not-so-powerful teenage sorcerous who wants to have freedom in life, well... I need freedom in at least in how I dream about my life.
As he already said– yelled, I corrected myself –My name is December Ann and my friends—only the two friends I have— like to call me D. See? Not so special.
Now, back to my family. Being the weakest sorcerous of my family, they don’t care what happens to me... well they care about me, but they don’t care about my happiness...
My life became a mess since I reached maturity at fourteen. I at least had four years of breathing space for me to accept that mess. Since they had to go through my marriage, or really, transfer of my leash to another owner legally and thus needed me to be eighteen.
On the eighteenth of June I reached the legal age and had a big party at my house for that. Well, party is an overrated name for what they did– ‘an introductory to the other males who wants my daughter’ was what they did.
I was carried through a weird and intimate dance by a lot of men who didn’t even bother to keep their hands and eyes to themselves.
Eww. Eww.
Finally, when I thought it was over, this big bad Alpha came out of the blue and took my hand in dance. I was kind of relieved but also kind of depressed in the same time. That emotion became one of embarrassment and anger, when he groped me in front of my parents.
I still remember looking at them for help, and they just allowed it. The big bad Alpha finished that weird dance by getting awfully close to my cheek. I was preparing myself for the kiss he was going to give.
Gross.
To my surprise, he moved past, to my ear and murmured, “You will be my property. I claim you.”
That line cut the final thread of tolerance in me, at that time. “Damn, I knew that being a weak sorcerous means I won’t get a huge variety of spouses, but that doesn’t mean I am going to be someone’s property for Nyx’s sake. I break your claim on me!” I yelled at the man, and received a gift from him.
A hard and painful backhand.
My mother caught me before I hit the ground from the force of blow... but murmured in ear, “We have decided. Mickelson here is going to be your husband... Stop fighting what you are and embrace what you will get.” And she pushed me toward the Alpha's open arms.
Again, he didn’t mind the crowd and pulled me into a deep and forceful kiss, groping my ass in the same time. I wriggled from his grasp and went running from there to my room, trying not to get myself more embarrassed by crying in front of the gathered crowd.
I heard his deep rumbling laughter from my back and the clear line saying, “She is mine. I claim December Ann” With that he staked his claim on me, and from what my parents said, I would have been bonded to him in days, if I hadn’t escaped...
Yes, and I can’t remember how much time I cried without food or water, but I still remember starving like something else, with an unbearable thirst for water. Until I pleaded them to open the lock on my door and accepted that I would agree to whatever they decide, they didn’t even bother to treat the swelling on my face.
Instinctively, I shudder from the memories and focus on the pounding steps on the aisle. Just like my powerless magic, the reload time for it is also very slow and these guys are gaining on me.
Four more men to go. Two of them are in their beast form, a raven and a hyena.
The hyena sorcerer has almost reached the proximal distance of my offensive magic spells. So I let out a little tendril of magic flow through the air and create a glass like horizontal blade right in the path of him. A sharp enough one that he, without noticing, goes straight into it. The concentrated air slices through his face missing the eye by an inch... He whines in pain and stops.
Good. That will teach them not to mess with me.
I’d to power down my other passive skills considerably to start my offensive... so that it takes some time in noticing that the big bad Alpha has slowed down to a trot.
Not good... He won’t give up that easily
I open up my reserve to magic perspective, and it picks up a strong cluster of sol magic combining.
Uh-oh... Seems the Alpha has more tricks up his sleeve.
Yeah, the female of my kind has the tendency to generate magic, called Luna magic, an active form of magic... and the male of my kind has the tendency to gather magic from surroundings passively, and use them as sol magic.
Luna magic of female makes them what the humans tend to call witches, and we like to term ourselves sorcerous. Because witches are women who uses spells. We use magic particles of nature.
Sol magic, a passive form of magic based on instinct, of the male basically makes them able to shift their forms into something they instinctively prefer. It is the most basic of sol magic. A powerful sorcerer has other prowess to him than form-shifting. Also some males, with the blood and bond of females, can use a little of sol magic as active magic like a sorcerous. Sometimes when men become more powerful, they break natural laws and gather magic from surroundings actively like us. But, they can’t easily use active magic. They could only gather and boost themselves up, either bodily, or by changing forms.
Thus, the males always tend to bond with powerful females through an act of blood and sex. When they forge the blood bond, many abilities of the female will pass through the bond, and the male can use them with a little more effort.
This will weaken the female considerably, since she keeps transferring her powers through their bond.
This became the reason that there are very low single females of my kind and those like me who ran from their families, are easily kidnapped and raped brutally for the power. Tortured in every way till they break and give them consent in becoming a Delta to them. A slave, practically.
My Mom used to say, “Your innocence will buy your way to safety from this harsh world. So don’t even think of sneaking in a boyfriend.”
Yes... A girl with her innocence intact is eagerly sought after, for the power it gives. Many of the Alphas hunger for virgins to be added to their harem, since it gives them the most power. But I am not planning on selling my innocence, at all.
Thanks to my Mom, I at least got some rare low powered magic with me, like advanced magic perspective vision of mine, and some very rare powerful magic like the Magic neutralizing skill of mine. This particular skill has helped me in surviving the harsh world for almost a year now, and it will help me survive the world for the many years to follow.
December, stop being overconfident. Focus.
The magic around the Alpha grows in concentration, and reaches a saturation point, which is very higher than the normal limit of his body. The magic starts swirling around the Alpha’s body visibly, waiting for the command.
Damn, I underestimated my enemy.
I am going to kick myself in my butt for that later... If I survive tonight...
Focus. Focus December...
I push the negative thoughts out. Forcing the rest of my reserve to the neutralizing blast, I send out a shockwave around me. My body floats in the air for second covered with a white light of Luna partic
les, before they travel through the air in high velocity, creating a high pitched sound, sending all the birds screeching.
Any and every magic users nearby will get affected by it, except me of course. This power of mine is the only reason I haven’t been caught and forced into slavery by now.
The big bad Alpha and his goonies are knocked back from the force of shockwave and many falls right on their ass. I bite my tongue to keep from laughing at them. An enraged predator is as dangerous as a man on drugs with a gun in hand. Especially on such a close range. Putting distance between them and me, I keep running.
That should keep them away from me, for now.
At least for an hour or two, they can’t use any type of magic, and that is enough breathing space for me to get a head start and rest somewhere. Even now, the exhaustion from excessive usage of magic is catching up to me...
... Need to rest...
After turning the corner of the street, I look back at these fallen bastards of males and give them a smirk. Rage literally oozes from the Alpha as I press my lips in a kissing gesture and wink at him.
Oh yeah! Taunting them is sooo much fun.
Pouring the final ounce of my newly-generated magic on the speed, I take off in an instant and fled into the night.
This. This kind of a running and chasing and hiding is what my life is.
My small and insignificant life.
Recurring Nightmare
*December*
I keep on running for some more miles, without any breaks. My whole body keeps screaming out its exhaustion at me for the past two hours.
Got to put more distance between me and my fans.
Running by the side of woods, hearing the nature talk, is one of the best feelings of freedom I have ever experienced. And I am not ready to lose it. The moon light is already providing enough Luna magic to me to keep my walk for some more miles, but my body... darn it, my body muscles feel like mashed jelly...