By Maeryn
Everyone in Nymeria has magic.
Some breathe it. Others wield it like a weapon, or hide it behind gold and silk. Me? I carry mine like a warning. A wildfire under my skin. A second pulse.
They say the forest forgets. That it swallows time, names, and blood alike. That no truth survives the tangle of its roots and shadows. But the forest is a liar. I know, because I've lived here my entire life.
And I remember everything.
I remember the night I was found—barefoot, shaking, wrapped in warmth I didn't understand. I remember Thalen's quiet voice and the way his hands didn't tremble as he lifted me from the ashes. I remember the look in his eyes: not fear. Recognition.
He never told me where I came from. Only that I had survived something that should've ended me. Something that didn't leave a scar… only fire that wouldn't go out.
I'm not afraid of it anymore. The heat that dances beneath my ribs. The way the flame answers when I call—not always with obedience, but with familiarity. As if it knows me better than I know myself.
Still, it's not the magic that keeps me awake at night.
It's the not-knowing.
Who left me here? Why? Why can't I remember anything before the fire? Why does Thalen flinch every time I ask about the past?
He thinks I'll forget. That I'll stay hidden, quiet, safe. But fire isn't meant to stay still. And lately… mine has been restless.
The air has changed. Even the trees have gone quieter, as if listening for something. I've caught sparks in my sleep—little embers blooming at my fingertips without warning. The kind that don't belong to simple forest magic.
Something's coming. I can feel it in the ground, in the weight of the sky. A pull, constant and maddening, like the world itself is waiting for me to move.
Thalen says I dream too loudly. That my eyes are always fixed on things I'll never reach.
But he's wrong.
Because I was never meant to belong to silence. Or shadows. Or even the flames I carry.
I was meant to belong to something greater.
And whatever it is…
It's waking up.
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The Realms of Nymeria (a reader's map)
Aurealis – Kingdom of sky and glass. Floating palaces, light-bound magic, and power masked behind soft smiles.
Velharis – The forest eternal. Ancient, untamed, and alive. Shadows here are older than the stars.
Thareon – Land of flame, stone, storms, and tide. Divided into four elemental clans, united by tradition and tension.
The Broken Border – A cursed line of ruin and silence. Sealed after the old war. Spoken of only in warnings and whispers.