"Rizas, cure her!" Jennifer casts her spell again, desperate.
That time, the mana pulled Jennifer's soul deeper into Anni's memories.
Anni stood in a cemetery beside her mother. It was her father's funeral. She had lost her father when she was only 10 years old. Her mother had made the ultimate sacrifice for love, leaving behind her influential family, who had disowned her for marrying Anni's father. Anni was the sole surviving testament to that fierce, boundary-breaking love. Her mother would endure any hardship for Anni. The grief over her husband's death, coupled with the isolation from her lineage, had already fractured her spirit. She was merely surviving, not living, clinging to Anni as the last anchor in a world that offered little recourse for women of her status once they lost their protector.
Anni's mother came from a wealthy lineage, so the family arranged a marriage of convenience. The groom was the 57-year-old Hazel Jasper Jones. Before long, the man gained popularity throughout the city.
The memory shifted. Jones sat on a couch, conferring with three figures. Across from him sat Jevier, Antonio, and Daniel. They were plotting the elimination of Jones's political rivals.
"First, we killed your party's top leaders. Next, we will eliminate your opponents. You will easily become the mayor of Barniglos City," Daniel explained calmly.
"But! What do we gain from this?" Antonio interjected with a psychotic smirk.
Soon, they became Mr. Jones's personal bodyguards.
In the beginning, Jones behaved kindly toward Anni and her mother. He played the role of a devoted father, but a darkness festered within him.
When he won the mayoral election, he hosted a lavish party at his estate. He drank heavily that night. He didn't look like a man who won an election, but like a conqueror poised to take the world. It was his first step toward total domination.
"Next, I will be the president of Penraven…" he shouted, standing on a table. Everybody clapped for him.
Anni was sleeping in her room.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
"My precious, I have some presents for you. Open the door," Mr. Jones said, knocking on her door and urging her to grant him entry.
Little Anni opened the door. Mr. Jones offered a sickening, evil smile, his gaze consumed by lust.
Her mother approached the room. She found the door already open. She looked through the opening, and her smile dissolved into a profound, chilling shock. Her eyes widened in horror as she witnessed the vile act Mr. Jones was inflicting upon her child. She knew, instinctively, that intervention would result in swift and brutal retaliation, not only against herself but also potentially against Anni as well, in a society where a powerful man's word eclipsed a woman's truth. Yet, the terror of that moment would forever haunt her.
She sat in a corner of the house and began to cry. "I am weak, Anni. Please, please forgive me. I am not a mother; I am a hopeless widower now chained to a monster." This was the cruel reality of their world, where a wife's status was negligible without male protection. This was a society where women were powerless without male protectors, left vulnerable to those with wealth and influence.
Five years passed.
Anni was now 15. She grew up enduring this abuse. But one day, she finally felt guilty and decided to tell her mother everything.
Mr. Jones knew he was in a dangerous situation. His reputation, respect, and power were all on the line. Jevier appeared nearby.
"I think your little pleasure from your daughter is also in danger now," Jevier said to him.
"What just you sa—" Before Jones could complete his word, Jevier grabbed his collar.
"Listen, you old fool. The Guardian of the Orders will soon become the Defence Minister. I chose you to help me with all the political issues. I need blood, I need blood, I need the blood of suffering. If I don't get it in time, I will suffer you and drink your blood"
"Why not her? Kill her soon..."
Then, when Anni told everything to her mother, her mother looked at her and embraced her.
"I am sorry. I failed as a mother. I became a selfish idiot. —I will go to the police. Even if they can't help you, I will kill him myself. I am brave this time," her mother vowed while trembling. Anni's tears wet her mother's shoulder.
Jevier snapped his fingers to form a mana ball. "Kill her," he commanded, and threw the ball at Anni's mother.
Her mother felt dizzy and had a sharp headache. Her eyes rolled back, turning white. She lost all control, screaming as the possession took hold. She snatched a nearby lamp and struck Anni with it. Anni managed to survive the blow, but she knew this sudden, violent action was highly unusual. Her mother had never before attempted to harm her. Several servants rushed in and saved Anni from further harm.
After that incident, her mother's health worsened. Anni never revisited her mother, but her mother's final vow instilled a newfound courage in her. She decided to go to the police and report everything.
That day, Jevier materialised in front of her. He used his dark powers on Anni. She stood still for a moment, paralysed, and then suddenly fell unconscious. When she woke up, she could not remember anything that had happened or why she was there.
Later that night, as she studied in her room, the sound of a spell, "Elenchos," came from outside the room. She suddenly fell asleep and lost control of her body. She began to smash everything around her, eventually hitting her head against the mirror. Jevier entered the room and used his mana: "Mesanychta, sleep her."
She immediately stopped harming herself and fell asleep again. Jevier took some drops of blood from her forehead with his fingers and licked them. "This is very good! I need mo...re pain into them."
The next day, Jevier became uncontrollably driven. He needed Anni's blood; he was addicted to it. That night, Anni slept unwillingly again and again, lost control. She stabbed her hand with a knife taken from a nearby fruit basket.
Jevier returned immediately and began to consume her blood. "Not enough, I need more. More pain…"
Mr.Jones was happy with that.
Anni woke after a long time, screaming in pain, unable to comprehend what had happened.
The next day, two servants are whispering together in the backyard.
They say, "Her mother was responsible for the latest incident," one servant mutters, glancing nervously at the main house.
"A truly unnatural cruelty. No sane parent inflicts such damage upon their own daughter," another agrees, shaking their head.
"Before we involve the authorities, we must consider Mr. Jones. We cannot risk tarnishing the Mayor's good name with this scandal," a third servant calculates.
"It is just too strange. The gentleman is so generous and proper. I believe this woman is practising dark arts. Perhaps that is how she killed her first husband," the first servant whispers darkly.
"I suppose he died in a protest, surely this woman does something", the third servant says.
Anni is listening to all of them. She understands that what happens to her is unnatural, but if she dies, all the blame will go to her mother. She makes a horrific decision.
The memory shifted. She was standing on the roof of her school, composing her suicide note on a piece of paper. At that moment, her friend Martha arrived.
"Anni, break time is over. Why did you call me here?" Martha asked her. "You've looked unusual lately. Are you okay? What happened to you yesterday? You came to school with a bandage on your head, and now today you have a cut on your hand. Is there a problem at home?" "Your mother again attacked you."
Anni's tear fell onto the note. "I can't suffer this life long." She then walked to the edge of the roof.
Her last two sentences in the note were "If I died, none of the reasons is my mother. She loves me more than I."
"What are you going to do now?" Martha cried out. "No! An… Anni, don't do this! Anni!"
She jumped from the roof, attempting suicide.
In this dimension, Jennifer is watching her reasons, her past, her fear, and her profound sadness. These forces compel Anni to take this final step. Suddenly, the world turns into a fully black dimension.
Anni's soul stands up. "What do I do? Is it right? My life started in hell, now death looks like a paradise for me, if this can help my mother," her soul asks Jennifer. She turns her back and goes into the unknown.
"No! No! No! Totally wrong. You are just so stupid. Stop, didn't you see how brave your mother is? Just because of society, she was silent at the time. But she is brave… You are Precious to your mother, your mother, Anni," Jennifer yells.
Jennifer tries to stop her, but she cannot grab her, cannot touch her, she cannot stop her. Anni's body is like a projection of light. She tries again and again.
But Anni's soul drifts away from Jennifer. Suddenly, another soul appears in front of Anni.
"You look like me. What are you?" Anni's eyes widen.
A 20-year-old girl with the same face as Anni stands there. Her neck is cut. Blood rains from her neck. She gives a hard slap to Anni. Before Anni can understand, she hugs her gently.
"Anni, you are me."
Jennifer wakes up, pulled back into the normal world. Johan and Arthur are sitting on a bench, waiting for her for a long time.
"Rizas, cure her…, Please, Please," Jennifer cast the spell one last time.
Anni opens her eyes, takes a deep, long breath. She is back to life.
Arthur runs to her. Jennifer still looks at her. "Johan… I saved a life as a doctor," Tears come to her eyes. She feels satisfaction. "Look, Johan, I save a life, we save a life."