Her mother's arm struck her , once - twice each blow fast and fueled by rage Rina could never predict. The sound was sharp , filling the room , bouncing off the wall . Kian just stood there watching unbothered.
Rin stumbled but Lotus, her mother did not stop . 'Useless child', she spat striking her one more time. 'My beautiful hands are destroyed because of you', her mother hissed and went back to the table to eat. Rin cried not because it hurt but because her own mother was treating her like some piece of trash. Luckily, her father, Absel had taught her a lot about diseases and how to cure them . His farm also had medicinal herbs and it seemed he knew quite a number of them. He taught Rin their names , how to use them and he even taught her how to sort out poisonous herbs from non poisonous ones. After receiving her portion of beating , she staggered to the farm , picked up some herbs and began grinding them . After she was done making the medicine , she applied it and gave a long sigh. The pain had reduced but she still had scars. She went back to her shed and slept soundly.
The sun wrapped around her like a blanket as she stirred awake. Her eyes flustered open then she yawned . Another day , another event , another drama . She got out of her shed and began doing her chores . It was midday and surprisingly her mother, Lotus was around. She was in the kitchen doing the dishes when a glass cup slipped from her hand. Rin panicked . 'Thud ,thud', she could feel her heart hammering against her chest. Lotus rushed to the scene upon hearing the noise . Rin knew she was doomed , it was her mother's favorite cup. Upon the sight of her mother , Rin realized something was off. She was supposed to be panicking , scared and terrified at the sight of her mother. But she was angry , frustrated and exasperated . 'You useless piece of shit, you broke my cup , my precious cup', Lotus hissed as she raised her hand to hit Rin but stopped midway upon seeing Rin's face full of fury. Rin did not know where the anger came from but she was angry, angry like never before. 'For goodness sake, it is just a cup and you are treating it like something precious , If Pops were here , he would have seen what kind of woman he fell in love with' , Rin said with rage . ' Absel , Absel , that damned man .Everything you do remind me of that useless trash. I've had enough', Lotus snapped as stormed out angrily . Seconds later , Rin could see Lotus carrying Absel's belongings; which included his clothes and books. 'No , no you can't do that' , Rin yelled in despair as she watched Lotus threw her father's things into the fireplace . 'Huh, I have finally dealt with him . No more Absel . If I ever hear you talk about him or even mention his name in this house , you know exactly what I can do', Lotus said in an angry tone and left the room . Rin quickly went to the fireplace , hoping she could retrieve some of the items that belonged to her father. The clothes were all burned but the books were retrievable. Taking the books out of the fireplace burnt her hands but she refused to let the pain prevent her from accomplishing her task . At last she managed to take the books successfully . On the book , 'Basics of Alchemy' was written on it. Rin became curious about what alchemy was about. Her father once promised to teach her but he met his demise too early. She opened the book and glanced at the pages . She was surprised to see the content. 'This is alchemy ', she thought. It was about pills and how to make them . Rin burst out laughing. If you were there , you would think she was mentally unstable or deranged . 'This is it . Pops had been teaching me the concept of alchemy all this while. He taught me different types of pills , their composition and how to use them' , Rin said to herself . She wondered why her father told her he would teach her alchemy once she was eight when basically he was already teaching her alchemy. Rin got up and brushed off the ashes from her clothes and went to her room which was the animal shed. At night, she began reading the books using a candle. She was so engrossed in reading it that she did not notice it was daybreak.
A year had passed since the incident of her mother burning her father's belongings. Rin had learnt the books like she was crazy. She could even recite the book eyes closed . Anytime her mother beat the shit out of her , she would just go and read the books . It reminded her of Absel and she missed him every single day . The sun blazed overhead, turning the afternoon into a blanket of heat. Rin was working on the farm as usual . She wiped sweat off her brow . This time , she working on the side farm that was close to the road or the pathway.
'You are lucky to be sitting by Kian in class' , Rin heard someone say . Confused as she was she headed to the direction of the sound. 'He's so handsome plus he's a smart ' , Rin heard another voice say but it was different from the first. Rin stopped walking . She could see the owners of the voices . It was two of her classmates from school. They were sitting on the meadow chatting and giggling like the world means nothing to them. Rin recognized Jazia , the village chief's daughter but could not recognize the other . Truth be told , she has not gone to school for a very long time. Rin sighed and turned her back to leave because they were not talking about anything sensible but their stupid crushes. Rin heard something that made her stop abruptly. 'You know , who do you think will get the slot to The Academy . This is the first time they are hosting the annual exam in this village', the other girl said. 'I know the first person would be Kian and the second would be me', Jazia said proudly as she sashayed her hair. Exam, Academy , slot . These word were ringing in Rin's ears. 'Let's go the exam is in two days . I have to go prepare' , Jazia said and bid her friend goodbye.
I think there is an annual exam for recruiting students to a certain Academy. There are two slots available. I have to be one of them . That means I have to write the exam without Mother knowing. Rin thought about it carefully. She was going to write the exam and no one would stop her.