It’s been said that +Anima all have Kimunkle blood in them.

But is that really true?

There are +Anima that have no connection to the Kimunkle, and children of +Anima are not +Anima themselves. It is unlikely to be genetic.

Few people have seen the moment when somebody becomes a +Anima.

However, we find two common threads from the few times that it has been seen.

The first is that most become +Anima at age 14 or younger.

The second is they are extremely close to ‘death’. 

[Page 136+137- Book 4, Chapter 5]        

I woke up to the fresh smell of herbal tea. A nice way to wake up.

“Thank you…” I told the old lady as she handed me the tea. Last night, after I cried myself to sleep, the old lady found me again and brought me back.

“No problem, dearie. I know it’s hard to loose family members.” I didn’t question how she knew that. My head wound was better, but the wound inside my heart was still aching bad.

“There’s just one thing I don’t get.” I looked up at her with sad eyes as she said that. “You were almost killed by Lord Hashas’s guards, and now you were almost killed by your old teacher… And there’s probably many more times, even worse than this…” She trailed of, probably thinking I’d get a hint or something but I didn’t.

“How haven’t you been saved by your +Anima yet?” My eyes went wide. It is said that if you’re close to death you become a +Anima, but it is also so that you have to be 14 or younger. I told the old lady that, but she just shook her head.

“You really believe that? There are some Kimunkles that are 30 and are still +Anima.”

“But they probably turned into a +Anima before 14. And besides, Kimunkle are like the exception to everything.” I expected the old lady to chuckle, but instead she just stared at me with an un-readable expression. She suddenly lashed her middle and index finger out and poked my forehead.*

She then smirked and went to make more tea.

“What was that for?” I asked, a little annoyed. She chuckled. She turned to me with a smile.

“It’s a secret!” She said with a smile before going back to the tea. I wanted to question her but I was too tired, so I stayed quiet. She gave me a cup of new fresh tea and I thanked her.

“So what are you going to do now?” She asked me as she examined my expression. I shook my head.

“I honestly don’t know.” She thought for a moment.

“Well there’s always those four kids you came here with.” My eyes went wide.

“Oh right! I totally forgot!” I suddenly jumped up and placed the tea down. I grabbed my bag and ran outside.

“Bye, old lady!” I yelled as I ran down the light path. I knew how to get to the town from the mansion.

“My name is Margret, dearie!” She yelled at me from her cottage as I ran with a smile.

“And my name is Cassidy!” I yelled back before the cottage was out of view.  I kept running. I was worried about them. I knew they were all together but they were going to break into the royal castle. It was hard to get out of Lord Hashas’s mansion, and he’s a low-levelled Aristocrat. Can you imagine the castle? Then again… Their +Animas… When the mansion came in sight I stopped. I was tired. The pain in my right side which was previously ignored slowly came back to my senses. The wound to my head wasn’t really all that bad and was healed enough to only be a tingle of pain. My legs were sore from all the running. My legs have been tested these last two days. I’ve never run so much in all my life, except for the day I ran away of course.

“Lady Cassidy...” I heard a gently and soft voice said as I was shook awake. When I opened my eyes I saw the gently face of my servant. Her name was Daisy. She had violet hair tied back in a bun and a white maid’s outfit. I sat up in my large princess bed and rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

“Lord Thomas is waiting for you to join him for breakfast.” I was surprised at the news. My father usually never ate breakfast with anyone, usually alone in his study. I got out of my bed and dismissed Daisy. I went to my closet and grabbed a light blue dress with white frills all over. After I got dressed in it I went to the dining room where my father was sitting at one end. I entered and joined him on the opposite side.

“Cassidy.” He acknowledged with a nod.

“Lord Thomas.” I nodded back. I wasn’t allowed to call him ‘Farther’. A servant came in with a cart with two meals. After she placed them down in front of me and my father, she left.

“Cassidy, do you know why I am joining you for breakfast?” I shook my head.

“It is because I want to talk to you. I have received word from the servants that you are abandoning your studies to train with Toni. Although it is a good thing to learn self-defence, you cannot just abandon your studies!” He started gentle but ended in anger, trying to tame his temptation to walk over to the me and hit me. My dad is angry with me, something I’ve heard a lot from him. He wanted me to be like him, a noble with knowledge, discipline and low-levelled self-defence. The reason I kept abandoning my studies were for the obvious reason that they were terribly boring and Toni was a better teacher and conservationist than those old librarians.

Toni is the head of our guards, so one day I requested he teach me the way of the sword. Everything he told me was fascinating and unbelievable. When we were training he realized that I wasn’t meant to wield a sword, at all.

So he gave me a staff to fight with, and realized that I was a lot better in that art, but not quite right. So he made it his personal mission to find the weapon for me, which he did. The weapon he found for me was an odd one, but I can’t think of another perfect weapon.

We practised with old and used ones for a while before we realized it was the perfect weapon for me. After we realized that he went and made one especially for me. A hand crafted double headed Spartan spear. The body part of the spear was red with glistering gold elegant Ancient vulgar Latin(Roman) words.

The words only said my name and the spear’s name. The name on the spear was Cassie, not Cassidy. The reason is because I never felt like a noble when fighting, I didn’t feel like a fake. When I fought I felt like myself. I am Cassie, Cassidy is a fake.

Then there is the name of the spear. Its name was ‘Spartacus’. Spartacus was a famous gladiator from history. His name meant ‘from the city of Sparta’. And ‘Sparta’ meant ‘mythical mortal’. Which basically describes a supernatural human.

I held pride when holding Spartacus. He will forever be my only weapon.

I suddenly heard a loud thud and a crash. I looked up to see my father with his hands on the table and his plate broken on the ground.

“You dare ignore me, Cassidy!” I glared at him behind furrowed eyes. “And now you glare at me! Cassidy! Go to your room!” He didn’t need to tell me twice as I pulled the chair out and walked to my room, slamming every door as loud as possible. My mother was absent today so I couldn’t turn to her for help. She was at the flower fields today, seeing as even though she married a noble, she still had a florist shop to run.

When I entered my room, I locked the door and knocked my head on it in fury. Why was my father like this? I couldn’t understand him. But this wasn’t the first time, and this is nowhere near the worst. The worst was about a month ago when I stabbed a History book with my spear. Oops? This entire month I’ve been thinking of the reasons I wanted to stay here. There was only two reasons I could think of.

Those reasons were my mother and Toni. But after a while I realized something. Toni could protect my mother, she didn’t need me. After I realized that, I started planning. Tonight was the night I chose. Under my bed is a bag with everything I’ll need. Now I just need to say goodbye.

Later that day I snuck out of my window and went to the training grounds where Toni was sitting, bust polishing a shield.

“Well hello, Lady Cassidy.” I glared at him playfully.

“I thought I already told you, only you are allowed to call me Cassie.” He chuckled and nodded.

“Of course, Cassie.” He said as he stood up, the sword at hand. He took a stance and swung at the air before going back to a natural position.

“That’ll do it. A little sharper now and lighter than my previous one.” I smiled.

“So you finally finished the sword, huh?” He nodded and stuck it in the ground.

“Try it.” He told me and I nodded. When I lifted the sword in my hands, I realized what he meant by lighter. Comparing this to his old sword, it was incredibly lighter.

“Wow, don’t you think it’ll slip out of your hands?” He shook his head.

“Not if you have a firm grip, but I’ll need to test it out obviously. How about you and me have a little sparring match tomorrow?” I hesitated only a little, but only the normal human hesitation that we would have to think.

“Sure. But my father kinda grounded me, well at least I think he did…” He started to laughed and I smiled.

“Hey, can you do me a favour?” I asked and he nodded.

“Sure.”

“Can you help me get to the flower fields? I want to help my mother today, and I don’t see chance to stay here with my father.” He nodded.

“Sure. Follow me.”

About half an hour later we were at the flower fields. It was on top of a mountain ,where you could see the Sairando from above. There was a large variety of flowers, to many to count. Some I recognized, but very minimum. In the middle of it all was my mother. She had a yellow flower dress with her short orange bright hair freely.

“Thank you.” I told Toni and he nodded before leaving. I crept up to my mother before surprising her my hugging her. She yelped and whipped her head around and sigh in relieve.

“Cas darling! Don’t scare me like that!” I laughed and hugged her properly.

“Aren’t you supposed to study?” She asked me and I shook my head.

“Nope. Dad sent me to my room because I abandon my studies. I decided to come help you rather.” She laughed and nodded. My mother was just that awesome. She knew the pain of studies, twice as hard as me because she had to learn nobility from being a normal citizen.

“Ok then, take this basket and gather all the open orange Anemones you can find.” I nodded and took the offered basket before going on my hunt.

My mother and I spent the entire evening together, and Toni joined me for dinner with a rather long conversation about anything and everything after sundown.

“You better go to bed now, Cassie.” He said as he leaned over my bed and grabbed my face to kiss my right cheek. I blushed a little before he left.

“Good night, Cassie.”

“Good bye, Toni…” I said softly, and smiled before lying down. It was now about 8PM. Still too early. I took a nap and awoke at the right time. 1AM. I got up and went to my closet to change from my white gown into black pants with a black hoodie, to hopefully drown me a little in the night. My backpack was dark brown, so it would hopefully also be hidden. I opened my window and jumped out before closing it. I knew this mansion from the back of my head, plus the patrol areas. I had to take a lot of detours and strange ways to get to a place which was  free of patrol areas. It was at the training grounds. The gate Toni and I took previously today passed through was locked, so it wasn’t an option. Luckily there was a large bolder near the wall so I climbed on it and could see over. I threw my backpack over, but aimed it for a bush. Then I just had to use body strength to pull myself onto the wall. When I was about to jump down, I heard the voice of the person I trusted the most, and I used it against him.

“Cassie?!” I heard the shocked voice of Toni and only spared a glance at him before jumping down. I grabbed the backpack and started to run as fast as my frail legs could carry me. The entire time I ran I prayed that no one would find me. I could imagine the hurt look on my mother’s face as she had to hear it from someone, and the image of Toni’s face will forever be implanted into my brain. I cried. I didn’t want to leave, but I couldn’t live with it all. I wanted to see the world, not to be locked up in a mansion too big for my liking. I want to learn about the world but seeing it, not being forced to study them through books. I want to be able to live free with myself as Cassie, not Cassidy….

I started to slowly make myself to the mansion which still reeked of blood, but I knew I had to enter if I ever wanted to get Spartacus back. I just hope that he wasn’t taken away in the last 3 years. I started to think of all the places they could’ve put him as I walked inside. I had to step over dead bodies, this time fear and tears leaked out. When I reached the main hall I started to go up the massive stairs. Where could he be? Maybe it’s somewhere like with a amour statue? Maybe they smelted the thing? In the basement? My room? The weapon room? Or- I was cut off in my thoughts as I walked straight into the wall. Smooth. But I’m glad I did. Because when I looked up, there he was, framed up against the wall with gold. Under it read the title: Spartacus. Cassidy’s beloved companion. I was a little angry that they used Cassidy, instead of Cassie, but I was honoured that they did this. I reached up and just managed to reached it and took down Spartacus. She was a little dusty, but she was just as I remembered her. Tall, beautiful, unique, and mine. This beauty was all mine. And yes, my name was on her. Well, I guess Spartacus is a he…

I left the mansion, but not before wrapping Spartacus in a white cloth to hide his handsome features, I suppose. I wrapped him to my back and placed my backpack over him. Spartacus was only a little smaller than my body, so when I placed him on my back he was from my left ankle to my right ear. I started to run again in the direction of the town where Crystala’s caravan was. Nana and Husky had her collars on and they also said Senri was with her, so she’ll probably know where they are. As I ran the beads in my hair clicked together, indicating they are a little lose. My bag jumped up and down against Spartacus, giving off a little sound of metal each time they hit each other. I had to hurry. I had no idea what their condition was or where they were.

They way to the town was longer than I remembered, and I only reached it when it was already dark. When I got at Crystala’s caravan, which was still in the same place as 3 years ago, it looked as if she was preparing to go somewhere, seeing as she was on a horse with a staff on her back.

“Lady Crystala!” I suddenly yelled and went up to her. She looked at me in surprise.

“Do I know you?” I nodded.

“I’m Cassidy!” Her eyes were filled with recognition. 

“Cassidy? You’re alive.” I nodded.

“And I heard that you know my friends. Cooro, Nana, Husky and Senri. I’m searching for them, do you know where they are?” She nodded.

“At the castle at the moment. I’m heading there myself.” My eyes went wide.

“Can I come with you?” She nodded and indicated that I should jump on her horse and sit behind her. I wrapped my arms around her abdomen.

“Hold on tight, Cassidy. We have to hurry.” I nodded and the horse suddenly charged in the direction of the castle.

“How’d you meet them?” She asked while we were on our way.

“I wanted to come back to see my parents when I met them at Moss mountains. I came here with them and was sold to Lord Hashas.” She nodded.

“Did you get to see your parents?” I looked down sadly.

“Yeah…but they were dead.”

“What?! Who killed them?”

“Toni…” She hesitated.

“I knew something was off with him, he was always too nice.” I nodded.

“Yeah...he even made this weapon for me.” I said , indicating to the wrapped Spartacus on my back.

“That’s the weapon that was framed up in the mansion . He made it?” I nodded.

“Yeah, he could make weapons as well. It took him four months to create Spartacus.” She looked slightly amazed.

“Wow…and I understand. Everything on that weapon is delicate and well detailed, the words especially. What does it say anyway?” I smiled.

“Two names. Spartacus, and my name, Cassie.” She smiled.

“Well of course, Cassie.” I nodded and the castle came into view.

“One of my old companions, Kazana, left and went rebellious against the rule of Sairando. His plan is to kill my brother-.” I finished for her.

“The king.” She nodded.

“Yes. He’s a powerful +Anima. I’m going to need your help, if you would lent it.” I chuckled and nodded.

“Sure. I mean, we are family after all.” I said sarcastically and she nodded.

“In a way, yes.” She said and I snorted.

“A very close way. I just can’t believe that Husky’s my cousin. Ha ha.” I laughed nervously. Not soon after, we reached the castle. The gates were open so we just went in. We jumped off of the horse and ran to the courtyard. As we ran there I threw off my backpack into a random bush and started to unwrap Spartacus as we ran. When we got there we saw Husky and Senri help the King out of the lake.

“Watch out!” Cooro yelled as Kazana went to strike at the King, but before he could land at hit on the King, Crystala and I interfered. Crystala jumped in front of the King and used her staff to strike at Kazana. Kazana fell  back but quickly reacted by opening his hawk wings and flying a bit back, but I jumped behind him and used Spartacus to land a hit on his back from his right shoulder to his left hip. He cried out in pain as we both went falling into the lake, but Cooro managed to catch me before I fell in and place me down safely on the ground.

“Crystala… why are you here?” The King demanded.

“I am here to take responsibility for Kazana.” After hesitation the King nodded.

“Very well then. Take him and leave immediately.” Crystala nodded and he King hesitated. He looked over all of us, and his eyes landed on me. He smirked in satisfaction.

“Ah Cassidy, my devil of a niece. It seems you’ve learned the truth of your mother.” He said and my eyes went as wide .

“Wait, what? What truth?” I looked over at Crystala who laughed nervously. “What truth?!” I demanded. The Kind chuckled slightly and turned away. I settled on Crystala.

“The truth of my mother? What does he mean?” I asked, gentle and confused. She walked over to me, making first sure Kazana was unconscious. She lowered her lips to my ears, and my eyes widened as she retracted. I stared at her in disbelief. She smield sadly and went back to Kazana. I turned around and walked away, having a little heart attack on the inside.

“Cassie! Wait!” I heard and whipped around to come in contact with Cooro’s chest as he flew.

“Ah!” I yelped in surprise and jumped away. “Cooro! Don’t do that!” I said, holding my hand over my heart while breathing slightly faster.

“Oops, sorry.” He said and scratched the back of his neck nervously.

“Hey, what’s that?” Nana said pointing at a bush behind me. “It fell out of your hair.” I whipped my head around to the bush and saw small egg on top of a small branch. I recognized it as my egg.

“Oh thanks Nana.” I said as I took the egg from the branch and smiled at it. But my smile faded as I noticed something. The one side of the egg was a little tainted red. I remembered back to the fight with Toni. He managed to strike at my head. This must be from the blood… I thought sadly as I put the egg back into my hair. I looked back at everyone and they all had confused expressions, even Senri. I laughed nervously.

“I-it’s nothing. Anyway, we better leave.” I said and they nodded. We started to make our way out of the castle, the entire time I wondered about my birdie. I didn’t give up on him, I believe he will survive. He was with me through my fight with Toni, so he’ll be able to survive! My poor egg… If he does survive, will he be a vampire bird? Hmm… My thoughts went on and on about the egg, until I stopped at a thought. If he does survive, what will his name be? Or maybe I should call him whatever comes to my mind first when I see him? Yeah, let’s go with that.

“Are you ok, Cassie?” Husky asked and I looked at him.

“Hm? Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well…you’ve been in such a daze since we left the castle that I bet you don’t even know that we’re going back to Asteria on a boat.” He told me and I only then took notice of my surroundings. We were all on a boat, Kazana as well, and we were just deporting.

“Wow…” Is all I could say. Do you know the distance between the castle and the port? Oh my word, I must’ve been out for like 3 hours!

“Wait, didn’t you say you wanted to see your parents?” Husky suddenly asked and the others three perked.

“You wanted to see your parents? You were born here?” Nana asked and I looked down sadly. I nodded.

“I did get to see them.” I said and looked up at them again.

“Well that’s good then.” Cooro said with a closed eyed smile, but I didn’t smile.

“It’s just…” I started but hesitated. I didn’t really want to tell them what I saw.

“Hmm?” I shook my head.

“No. I just I can’t wrap my head around what she told me.” I answered with a shook of my head as I sat down, cross legged.

“She?” Husky questioned.

“Yeah, Crystala. My aunt.” All of their eyes widened at that, some bigger than other’s.

“I don’t understand.” Husky admitted. I sighed.

“My mother is Reena, a normal citizen. My father is Thomas, Queen Marein’s brother.” I admitted.

“Wait, WHAT?! Your father is my mother’s brother? That means you’re my-.”

“Yup.” I said, popping the ‘p’. “I’m your cousin, Husky.” ** Husky was dumbfounded. He had no reply and I laughed.

“That’s why the King called you his niece…” Cooro recalled and I nodded.

“Yeah. But if you recall he called me a devil of a niece. When my family was invited over or I was to stay at the castle, I would always take forks and knifes to stab books in the library. It was the only thing that kept me busy. All the princesses were being snot nosed brats and all of the princes were bullying poor Husky here. I don’t know if you recall this, Husky, but I once threw a fork into prince Richard’s hand.” His eyes suddenly went wide as he recalled the memory.

“That was you?” He questioned and I laughed, nodding.

“His mother was so furious! You should be dead by her wrath!” I laughed.

“Yeah, she did quite a number on me, but not enough for her to get fired as a Queen though. But it seems I keep getting saved by the weirdest of people. Like an old lady that saved me from bleeding to death when I escaped lord Hashas .”

“Wait, WHAT?!” That seemed to come out of Husky’s mouth a lot recently. “You almost died?” I nodded.

“Yeah, see.” I said, lifting up my shirt a little to show them the scar. “They were going to kill me for certain because I killed the head of the guards, but then I discovered an old friend of mine. Her name is Katherine, she’s lord Hashas daughter. You know her Husky?” He nodded.

“She was around the castle sometimes.”

“Anyway, Katherine helped me escape. But then I was wondering around the forest for about 3 hours, just bleeding to death, like you do.” I said sarcastically. “And then the old lady found me. She helped me with my wound, washed my clothes and fix up my hair. She was nice. Also, the egg I have in my hair is what the old lady found in my hair. She said that she didn’t know the specie so I decided to keep it, and see if I can raise it.” I said with a nod.

“And the spear?” Nana asked, a little shakily.

“Oh when I was little and had weapon training with my teacher Toni. He said that I wasn’t meant for just any weapon. Swords, guns, staffs, everything we tried wasn’t just right for me. Then we discovered a double headed spear, and I loved it. He forged this one for me especially. It took him four months thought. The words on the spear would be ‘Cassie’ and ‘Spartacus’. I just love that thing to death.” I said with a laugh at the end.    

“Wow, you must be tired.” Cooro said and I laughed.

“Kinda. Oh! One more thing the old lady told me. She says I’m weird.” I said with a few nods. They stared at me.

“Well, that’s understandable.” Husky said and I shook my head frantically.

“No, no, not like that! Well, I guess I’m also weird, but she told me I’m weird because of how I didn’t turn into a +Anima when I almost died twice. Once in the castle, and the second when I was bleeding to death. Although, now that I think about it… There have been a lot of times that I’ve been close to death. Especially on the White Mountains. Sheesh, those people are vicious when you mention something about +Anima.” I said with a shook of my head and noticed that everything was getting fuzzy. 

“Cassie?”

“Are you ok?” I heard their worried voices.

“Tired…” I mumbled and fell into something hard and warm. I looked up and everything was fuzzy, but I managed to see that the thing I fell into was Senri. And then all went dark…

*R.I.P. Itachi.

** “I’m you’re cousin, Husky.” I can’t help but think of that scene in Harry Potter. “You’re a wizard, Harry.”