Content warning: Talk of death and assassination
It was a quiet and typical day in the countryside of a strange magical island. August 17th, 1884 seemed like it'd be another typical day for Susana Montoya-Iñíguez, a determined-looking 18-year old member of a farming and ranching family. She had brown eyes, tan skin, shoulder-length burgundy hair that was tied into pigtails, wore a beige short-sleeved blouse with brown pinstripes, a beige ten gallon hat, a blue vest, white gloves and a white skirt with green trim. Her skirt was close to ankle-length but didn't interfere with walk along a dirt path road.
Her leather boots made subtle tracks in road where she walked past purple grasslands, green barns from neighboring farms, and many trees. The sky was blue, calm and partly cloudy with a light but noticeable breeze.
"Is this what I should keep doing?" She thought to herself. She was thinking about whether to continue this life with most of her extended family, or whether to start a new life in the city.
This day seemed like any other for her, but this time around, that would change. Along the path ahead of her near the horizon she saw something red. Curiously, she stopped when she got near it. A glowing red magic circle was on the dirt path; the middle of the circle had a 12-pointed star and in an outer concentric circle were Roman numerals from 1 to 12 on each of the star points, arranged like a clock. There were a few more concentric circles outside of it to complete it.
.
"What's this?" Susana thought. Suddenly, a trio of large, glowing lilac-colored butterflies flew around the circle, and around a ball of light that appeared above the circle, to about eye level with Susana. After a couple of seconds, the magic circle dissipated and an unfamiliar person materialized in front of her!
"Hey, you!" The unfamiliar person cheerfully said, pointing to Susana.
The unfamiliar person was a blonde-haired and purple-eyed and light-skinned woman who was around 22 years old and she was wearing a black and white uniform. Her hair was slightly past shoulder-length, had long side-swept bangs that usually covered her right eye, and a ponytail on her left side. The hair around the left side of her face was pinned back and she stood several inches taller than the 5-foot tall Susana.
She wore a black short-sleeved tunic with a large white collar that resembled a sailor collar. The collar had two black stripes along the edges and the cuffs of her sleeves were also white with two black lines along the edges. Her tunic also had a teal tie, pockets on the waist on each side and white shoulder straps. On her right side there was a badge on the front of her tunic, and on the left was some ranking insignia. She wore gray leggings that had a single teal stripe on each side with short black boots that had white cuffs that matched her sleeves and collar.
She was holding a book in her other hand.
"Who and what are you?!" Susana blurted out, dropping the bucket of water she fetched from the well!
"Aww shoot! You also made me spill my water! You better be darn important!" Susana said in frustration over the errand she'd have to run all over again!
The mysterious woman in the uniform sounded amused. "Darn important? Perhaps, but I prefer to go by Aurora borealis--"
"Are you the northern wind or what?--" Susana interrupted.
"Rushing in at gale force, or shining brightly in the night!" This mysterious woman known as Aurora boldly proclaimed. "I'm a time traveler." She added.
"Why would a time traveler be crossing paths with me?" Susana thought.
"Would you, Susana, like to become a mage and use your powers to avert a bloody coup by an evil tyrant that would run the country to the ground and kill tens of thousands of people?!" Aurora asked before Susana had the time to ask her question.
"What?! That is an extremely loaded question, and you have no tact! And how do you know my name when we never met?!" Susana asked with a lot of skepticism. She was almost flabbergasted.
"I'm sorry." Aurora solemnly said. "I know it's a loaded question, but it's all in the history books. Take a look at this." She presented the book she was holding to Susana. It was a history book.
Susana looked at the pages she was shown in the book. They were about an event that started in 1884, only a week after the date! Susana was nervous reading the text. The Minions of Nemesis assassinated the country's royal family and in their takeover, they ran the country to the ground in just 3 years.
The leader was assassinated by a soldier within his ranks. Many of the other high-ranking officers were assassinated too, and the survivors fought among themselves trying to cling onto vestiges of power... Susana felt a chill of horror though at one of the photographs of a woman in the Minions of Nemesis uniform who was the assassin.
"That's me!" She shouted and recoiled. Fears sunk in. "What did I have to do to rise in their ranks? Was it worth it? I hate them, but I never imagined I could do this!" She said, starting to panic.
"You believed you had nothing to lose, and put everything on the line. Their leader and his elites were some of the most powerful demons. You had no magic other than what they gave you to become a witch, but you used it against them!" Aurora explained. The excitement in her last statement wasn't of much comfort to Susana though.
"I never wanted to be a killer. This is too much! Argh... But those monsters have been causing a lot of trouble here."
Aurora closed the book. "If you become a mage, you'll have the advantage. You can use your power and knowledge of these events to stop them before they happen, and without having to kill anyone."
"Is it possible for me to do that?" Susana asked.
"I'm sorry I'm putting all of this on you. I was excited to meet you, and sought you out because I believe you're the best candidate for this."
"I wish I could be, but that might be impossible." Susana said dejectedly. "I don't want to risk my soul again for that. I wasn't born a mage. I don't have the time to be initiated, and it'd be for nothing if I got rejected by the Magic Gatekeepers."
This didn't deter Aurora. "I know how to bypass those hurdles!" She eagerly said.
"How? I don't reckon I'm the chosen one. That's silly. I'm just an ordinary human."
"I'm at sea how she could see me as the best candidate for this. Is it because I was-- would be in the history books? But... If I can do this right and live up to what she's saying and believes in me, I can do better by stopping those events she warned about! What extraordinary things could be done in a better future?" Susana thought. Her initial skepticism turned to optimism!
"Okay! I'm fired up! What do I do to become a mage, and the best candidate for this?!"
"That's the spirit! I'll show you how! Follow me." Aurora said. She started to walk ahead on the path which was denser with trees. After some distance, she pulled a pocketwatch out of one of her pockets. "I have a magical device for you." She said.
Susana looked at it. It was a metal pocketwatch that had a light blue gem at the top near the dial. The neck of the pocketwatch was blue and the front case of the clock had two symbols on it. The symbol above was a gold star emitting a blast of light, and below it looked like a smiling face with star-shaped eyes.
"Isn't that just a pocketwatch?" She asked with a bit of skepticism.
"It looks like one, but when you're initiated, you can use its power to turn into a mage." Aurora explained.
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