What is a creation to its creator? What is a creator to their creation? These were questions that ran through Asaya's mind sometimes. She liked to think the characters she created in the books she wrote would like her, but with some of the lives she gave them, and with what she made some of them go through… that probably wasn't possible. They would definitely hate her, wouldn't they? I mean, with all the trauma she dumped on them after creating their concept… it would be a reasonable reaction.
Imagine your life had been horrible, your loving and caring mother had been murdered in front of your eyes by your evil father, you ended up growing up distrusting and on a quest for revenge, seeking to find your father and kill him for all the suffering he put you through in your childhood… and then you met the god who had created you and designed your life to be that way, detail for detail… you'd be pretty upset at that god, wouldn't you? They created your life and made it suck! Asaya had to admit that if that happened to her, she'd probably be a little angry too.
But still, even though she did give all her characters horrible lives, she still really loved them! Really, she did! And she despised tragic endings, so no matter what she wrote, or how awful their beginnings were, her characters always ended up loved and happy by the end of it, she swore! That sounded like a paradox, honestly, and other people probably wouldn't understand, but Asaya really did love all the characters she created despite the awful lives she put them in. Honestly, the more traumatized one was, the more she loved them! That's how it worked!
Though, to be real, the fact she dumped all that grief on her creations was probably just a reflection of her own life. Sure, she really went dark with some of them, but it was still just a peek inside her soul. A soul that the universe had deemed bland and talentless, apparently.
Because seriously, how old was she now? Jeez, Asaya barely left her house these days, sometimes she lost count of the years. But she was probably nineteen or twenty now, right? And her powers still hadn't appeared, which basically meant she was hopeless. Because in this world, in the cruel world she lived in, the moment a kid turned fifteen, they were anointed with magic by the closest priest, and the ritual would open your soul to the mystic mysteries of the universe.
The universe would then take a look inside your soul, examine it, memorize it, and assign you a magic power designed around what your soul was like, and would essentially mirror your personality, habits, and interests. It's said that the more of a wild-card you are, the more the universe will love you, because the more unique and odd your soul is, the stronger your power will be.
That theory had actually been proven not too long ago when a woman was born with the ability to read souls. It'd been nothing but talk before, but that woman proved that the more unique your soul was, the stronger your power would be. And if you were a bland person with little depth to you, your soul wouldn't attract the universe's attention, and you would be left powerless. That's why powerless people were so looked down upon, because they were viewed to be shallow with lives that lacked purpose and meaning. It was stupid!
Not that Asaya thought the system was bad or anything. People who lacked depth tended to be assholes anyway from her experience, and those who acted one-dimensional kind of creeped her out. She definitely understood where the universe was coming from, for sure.
The one thing she didn't get was why the universe had completely skipped out on her! She was pretty odd and quirky, wasn't she? Back when she'd been a kid, too young to be anointed just yet, she'd run around and acted like a crazy maniac! People always told her left and right that she was bound to receive something super powerful when she got anointed! She was always praised for her creativity, put on a pedestal by adults, her pranks and boisterous, chaotic personality were all encouraged…
And yet, now that she was nineteen or twenty... god knows how old she actually was... and had yet to surface with a power, people tended to write her off and say things like, "Well, all she ever did was run around and cause trouble. She didn't really have much else to her, now that I think about it. Her soul probably doesn't have much depth, so it's no wonder she ended up powerless, just like her mother."
Which, like, hey? That's kind of rude, you know? Asaya liked to ignore those fools and look on the bright side of possibilities, which mostly consisted of hoping her power was just very obscure and that she simply hadn't discovered it yet. It was true that most magical powers and abilities tended to be right in your face, but some of them took years to discover! She was probably just one of those people!
And really, she was most likely still nineteen, still in her teen years, so it wasn't like she was old or anything. She still had a few months at least before she hit her dreaded twenties, probably.
Or at least, that's what she thought, before she went scrambling for her date finder. It did take Asaya a bit to find it… about another month, give or take a few days, because she'd given up after the first ten minutes of searching and had randomly stumbled across it later after finally picking up some of her laundry. But ah, she found it! Perfect.
The date finder was really just a long stick with an age crystal attached to the end, where the crystal would attune itself to the planet's age and translate it to the current year system.
Her stick was a bit crooked, but it was still usable, and the pretty white crystal shined a soft pink when it hit sunlight. The stick had grown thin roots around the base of the crystal, lodging itself inside, so when caught at the right angle, it looked like the crystal had blurry dark veins stuck inside it. It was quite cool. But she really didn't have time to observe and fawn over the beautiful view before the knowledge transferred to her mind, and Asaya nearly did a double take.
The date is 116, Lorfina 15th… you are twenty-one years old.
…twenty-one? Really? She was already that far gone? Asaya could've sworn she'd checked her age not that long ago and she'd only been eighteen. How did this happen?
If she was truly twenty-one, then that meant she really was way too late. Since the average lifespan for a human was five hundred years, they kept schools open until you turned forty, but all of the good, high-class schools didn't take in people who were older than twenty unless they were special cases.
Ah man, this sucked! Two of the kids she used to hang out with went to the most top-notch school around, a school known as Soul Star Academy, and now she wouldn't be able to show up with a cool new power and blow all of their minds! At best, if she finally gained any form of magic at all, she might be able to get into Saint's. How humiliating…
Huff, hadn't her life been bad enough already? She'd lost her mom when she was only ten years old, her father gave her all the money she needed to survive, but she hadn't actually seen him since she was fifteen… all she got were his letters that were becoming less and less frequent. Asaya couldn't even remember the last time she'd gotten one. She didn't even have a clue what he was doing, just that he left her with enough money to last the rest of her life.
And not to mention, she didn't have any friends. The two close friends she used to have, the two people in her life she used to do everything with, hadn't talked with her ever since she'd gotten into a big fight with one of them. Asaya looked back on it sometimes, and neither of them had really been in the right, but neither of them had been in the wrong, either… it was one of those grey situations, she'd decided. And yet, what hurt the most, was that neither of them had ever tried to approach the other to fix it. In the end, it looked like their friendship wasn't worth much at all.
Even Lumis, who hadn't really been in the fight between the two of them, hadn't stopped by in three years. Which, she supposed he was in the right for that. She had yelled at him to go fuck off, because for some crazy reason, she was convinced he was on their other friend's side of the argument, and that he was trying to hurt her even more. Asaya knew she'd been acting unreasonable back then, so it was a miracle Lumis even came back one last time to tell her that he and their other friend were leaving town to study elsewhere. And what had she done then? Slammed the door in his face. Nah, it was no surprise Lumis wanted nothing more to do with her…
If she could fix it, she would. She wanted to. But Asaya just wouldn't even know where to start. Those two were both living in the dorms at Soul Star Academy right now, and while she'd probably befriend Lumis again if it looked like he was willing, that other friend of hers… even though their argument had been over four years ago, it still felt so fresh. Even though, when she looked at things objectively and knew neither of them had been right or wrong... it still really hurt, and Asaya just… didn't know if she could handle facing that alone. And right now, she was completely, utterly alone.
Really, hadn't her life been bad enough already? And yet she was powerless on top of it to boot! So unfair! If Asaya was a character in a story, nothing more than a creation written out on paper with a quill and ink, she'd be furious with her creator right now! Ah, to the skies with it!
"Creator of mine, I know you're out there!!" Asaya yelled as she leaped from her bed, throwing her fist at the ceiling as her lamp flickered above. "I demand you give me a better life this instant! I want super awesome powers! I want friends! You hear me?!"
But of course, she received no response.
Wow.
She couldn't help but lower her fist as she stared into the depths of her flickering lamp, the slow flame calming her nerves as she slowly came to the realization that she really had lost it. That's what holing up in your home and barely ever leaving it did to you.
Of course, Asaya also wrote books in her spare time, which gave her plenty of self-proclaimed awesome books to read, but still. She probably had an entire library filled to the brim with books she'd written, and yet she was too scared to actually get them published.
The last time she'd gone outside and tried to, which had been at least a few years ago, she'd been bombarded with people asking her if she'd developed any powers yet, only to spew insults when she told them she hadn't. A lot of the insults were directed at her father, saying this is what the man should've expected for marrying a powerless woman to start with.
Asaya just hadn't been able to keep her nerve, and had retreated back into her home near the edge of town to live where none of the insults and rumors could reach her. It was better that way.
Even though she really would like a friend. But she'd prefer to delve herself into her creations, the characters she'd designed, and the people she'd made in her fantasies. She'd prefer that instead of facing the real thing. It made her wonder… if she could summon one of her characters to her side, right now, which one would she choose? Let's see…
There was Elkan, a very powerful elf who had the power to control and manipulate life energy. He could heal, enhance his five senses, increase his speed and strength, suck away the energy and strength from others, and he could even make someone go blind or deaf! He was pretty overpowered, yeah. But he was a big softie, kind of! He was so kind-hearted and protective over those he loved, and he could be gentle and doting, when he wanted to be. He had a calm and stoic personality, and even though he could be quite sarcastic and bitter towards those he didn't like, he was the most devoted person in the world to his close loved ones. In the story he was in, he referred to his love interest as "my lady" for the entire book! Who wouldn't want a man who would treat you like that?
Next, there was Sonna, a human with immense super strength and who could turn her skin into dragon-like armor. She was very sturdy, and was known for making herself a human shield, because it was almost impossible to penetrate her armored skin, which was designed to be stronger than a high-class dragon. She had a jovial and happy personality, but was also very grounded and realistic. She's the type you could always go to for advice, and not to mention her loyalty! She'd jump in front of a sword for you no problem! Of course, she would do that because she knew she could take it, but still… top class wife material right there. Asaya certainly wouldn't mind having a big sturdy girlfriend like that.
Vex was probably next on the list. He was a demon that had the power to control a void, which he could also use as a portal. He could store an endless amount of stuff in there, and if someone gets trapped in it, their body wouldn't age or starve, and they'd be put into stasis. Time doesn't pass inside there, which he's used as a torture method before, but, you know… haha, you can ignore that. He looks scary, and he's not very expressionate, but he's honest and true to himself. He has strict values that he follows, and even though he's a bit gloomy and more than a bit depressed, he's very sweet and steady. He likes to be helpful, and even though he looks so dangerous, he's actually very insecure about how he tends to scare people at first glance. A total soft guy underneath that hard exterior, who doesn't love that? It might take a little bit, but he'd definitely be an amazing lover, too!
Ahh, such beautiful men and women as options. Who would Asaya want to be real the most? Honestly, if she could choose all of them, she'd definitely go for it… who wouldn't want their own harem full of people they'd designed to be their ideal types worshipping them all day? Like, come on? Irresistible. But, of course, if she had to just choose one…
Asaya flopped back down on her bed, lifting her hand to the sky as she looked in between her pale fingers, the skin glowing a deep red underneath the light of the lamp. Her short, thin blond hair swept into her eyes, their lavender color dim as her thoughts became crystal clear.
Because Asaya knew that if she could choose anyone, then she'd choose the man she'd specifically designed to be her ideal. A person who would love her, care for her, and not abandon her. Someone who wouldn't threaten to leave her to make her do what they wanted.
"Elkan… I wish you were real," she whispered, voice tinged with upset, as she looked at her glowing fingertips.
Wait… glowing?
She sat up in a rush, staring wildly as her outstretched hand that began to glow a soft, pale green, the essence coming from it morphing next to her bedside as a tall, handsome man, whose face she had imagined all too vividly before, formed right in front of her. She recognized his long, pale green hair that draped over his sides like silk curtains, his dark, creamy brown ears slanting downwards from the sides of his face as clear, emerald green eyes met her with a calm, serene gaze.
"Yes, my lady? You summoned me?"