Chapter 33: Lucilla Baker

--Lucilla Baker POV--

Nineteen years ago, my parents died, leaving me with the family bakery. I was only seventeen at the time. I knew how to run things and I already had a establish customer base, but I was now alone. Before I worked with my parents to get everything done, with baking cleaning and setting up the displays up front. I was struggling to keep up with things all alone. Thankfully my neighbors and long-term costumers of my parents helped out from time to time.

A few months after my parent's death, on a dark rainy night on a full moon, the deafening sound of thunder keeping rattling my windows I got a visitor. I was in the middle of cleaning the store when I heard a knock on the door, curious I went to see who it was. Looking through the window I saw a cloaked figure running away into the stormy night. Confused I cautiously opened the door and looked onto the street, but the figure had already disappeared.

I was about to close the door when I heard something below me. When I looked down, I saw a basket with a baby inside. I stood there frozen, looking at the small child swaddled up in blankets. It's big bright Ruby eye's staring up at me. The sound of thunder broke me out of my trance. I quickly grabbed the baby and brought them inside; I couldn't just abandon them when they were right there.

Once inside I brought her upstairs and brought it to my room. I hurriedly brought out new blankets and swapped them out with the wet ones. Now with their head uncovered I noticed that the little hair that was on the baby was silver in color.

"Who are you?" I asked the baby.

"Gah!" Is the response I got.

I couldn't help but smile. Then a thought occurred to  me, 'Is this child a monster?' The un-natural red eyes and silver hair made it obvious this child was a Human Monster hybrid. They didn't have any fangs in their mouth, so they weren't a Vampire. They could be a Werewolf, but I wouldn't be able to figure that out until a full moon. Though I got the feeling that wasn't the case.

"What do I do with you?" I asked myself. I placed my hand on the baby's cheek caressing it. My caramel-colored hand contrasted sharply with their pale white skin. In response her tiny fist wrapped around one of my fingers. The child then looked up at me with a bright innocent smile like no other.

"Gugah!" They exclaimed before giggling like they just told a joke.

*Thumboom*

"Ah!" just then a loud crack of thunder went off startling me. I was so focused on the child in front of me that I forgot about the storm outside. Even though I was startled the baby just giggled again instead of crying in fear. What a brave child.

"Aren't you a brave one." I said to them. "I guess I'll figure things out in the morning, it's getting late after all."

-- -- --

Five years have passed since then. I'm now twenty-two years old and I named the child ruby after her Ruby red eyes. Things have been a little challenging especially since about two weeks after acquiring her the Church made an official announcement about her existence. As a farming town news tends to get to us later than other places so by the time, I heard about what the Church called a prophecy I had already grown attached to the small innocent baby I had in my care.

Plus, everyone knows the future can change. The Church has made that clear by killing anyone who was said to be destined to become the enemy of either the world or man. It's a major part of their teaching that the future isn't set in stone. So, when I look down at my daughter's pure and innocent eyes all I can see is a child who hasn't done anything wrong. I'm still a devout believer in the Light Goddess Angelica along with the others like the Time Goddess Kintris, the Space God Edros, and the Goddess of Souls Ovana, not to be confused with the her twin sister Veris the Goddess of Death (there are many others as well but I'm not about to talk about the whole pantheon of Gods and Goddesses). The problem is I just don't think I can agree with the Church wanting to kill a child. Goddess Kintris just tells us what could happen and never actually gives instruction with these visions.

That's what I gathered anyway. I could also just be making excuses for not wanting to turn in Ruby. Speaking of Ruby, what a good girl she is. Even at five years old she tries her best to help me in the bakery. When she wants to help, I have her drink a cosmetic potion. Thankfully they last for three days before running out, but I don't have enough money to keep buying them regularly, so I limit it to about three to four per month. The rest of the time I keep Ruby hidden from sight afraid she'll be taken away and killed, as a result she didn't really have friends.

I'm trying my best to steer Ruby in a direction opposite of the prophecy. How effective I've been is unknown, but at this moment in time the girl is currently helping me with the store front. She might be five but she proved herself capable enough to not only handle money but even help in the back with the backing. Obviously I handle the bulk of the work, especially in the kitchen, but I let her do stuff here and there if I deem it safe enough. The oven was not deemed safe, much to her Disappointment.

"Ruby can you handle the payment while I grab their order?" I called out to the little girl who was sweeping the store front.

"Okay!" She said brightly with a wide smile on her face. Her disguise made her pale skin a light brown, turned her silver hair black, and her red eyes brown. You could almost mistake her as my biological daughter.

Leaving the girl to handle the transaction I went to grab the sweet bread from the heat box that kept the bread warm. Putting the bread into a bag I went to make my way back to the front when I trip over myself. Before I could even let out a scream I suddenly stopped falling, being held up by someone. I looked up and saw my boyfriend, Fitz.

"T-thanks." I stammered, blushing and embarrassed, clutching my necklace.

"No problem." He said smiling.

"Ah, hold on I need to finish this real quick." Though I was happy Fitz decided to visit I still had customers out front. When I made it back I had Ruby sweep the front as I dealt with the older customer.

"Thank you dear." Mrs. Samson said to me as she took her sweet bread.

"I hope your grandson will enjoy his present." I said to her smiling.

"I hope so too. It's a shame your daughter is usually sick, I'm sure that her and my grandson would get along just fine." She said with a warm smile. "But looking at her now you wouldn't be able to tell she's bedridden most of the time."

"Uh, yeah, it really is a shame." I chuckled nervously. I needed to explain away why Ruby couldn't go outside a lot and the excuse I came up with is a weak immune system.

"Have a good day dear." Mrs. Samson said as she left the store.

Waving goodbye to Mrs. Samson, I returned to the kitchen in the back. There I saw Fitz poking around the heat box, with one hand idly playing with his necklace. The box was empty of course since Mrs Samson was the only one to make an advance order for today. All the other general bake goods are up front on display.

"Hey, why are you here today? Thought you would be helping your family in the fields." I inquired.

"Well a merchant came by today and I was asked to talk with them. After finishing the business side of our talks, I prodded them for information about Ruby." He said. "I learned the Church has ordered the Hero to stop searching in the Empire."

"Really? Where are they looking now?" I asked. After all the reason the Church focused on the Empire this whole time was because Monster-Human hybrids, such as Vampires and Werewolves, are more commonly found within the Empire than anywhere else in the Human territories.

"Well, they didn't move far, just to the country next to it." He answered. "After all they were once part of the Empire, so they also have a higher amount of Human born monsters."

"I see. What about the Empire, have they completely given up on it then?" I asked.

"No there still searching there, they just change their focused is all."

"I see."

I appreciate any news that I can get about my daughter. We do have a Church in our town but typically they only announced very important news, like the prophecy. Otherwise we don't really receive a lot of information all the way out here, especially with how close we are to the Enchanted Forest. The best way to keep up with recent events is from the merchants that come by every once in a while.

"Well, I have to go now." Fitz said. "I only came by to tell you this."

"Oh, hi Fitz." Just then Ruby walked into the kitchen. When she noticed Fitz, she looked unhappy. "Anyway, Mama I'm thirsty, can I have some water please?"

"Of course, sweetie." I said to her. I don't really understand, but Ruby never liked Fitz. Though she has shown she trusts him from time to time.

"Well, um, I was leaving anyway." Fitz said awkwardly to Ruby. "Here, I bought this from a merchant I talked to earlier today, it's yours." He handed the Five-year-old girl a piece of candy before taking his leave.

"Hey, wait! Don't just- aaannd he's gone." I wanted to protest the treat he just gave her, since she hasn't even eaten lunch yet, but gave up quickly. I wasn't about to make a big deal about it and I know he only did it so Ruby could like him more. Turning to my daughter I saw her already chewing on the candy. Her bright smile melting my heart.

"Alrighty then! Let's go get some lunch today." I said suddenly, surprising Ruby.

"We're going out to eat today?" Ruby said expectantly.

"Yep, I suddenly felt like it." I said.

"Then, then can we go to the restaurant where all the Hunters hang out!?" She said bouncing on her feet.

"Sure, why not." Most Hunters were probably out anyway. Plus, there weren't many located in such a small town, and most of the ones located here were residents of this town themselves so we knew them. The only ones we really had to worry about were the Hunters that were only here temporarily for some job. Not that it was any of our business.

Closing the bakery for lunch I walked my daughter down the street hand in hand.

-- -- --

Sitting in the living room above the Bakery I was drying Ruby's hair using wind magic. I wasn't a Mage, it was a simple 'Arcane Trick' that anyone could use if they had an affinity with the wind element, since one didn't even need a chant or magic circle to do it. I was told by one of the Mage Hunters that I have a very strong wind affinity though and would probably be a decent Mage if I had the training. Not like she offered but still.

I loved Ruby's Silver hair that glimmered in the moon light. It was honestly very beautiful, and it greatly upset me that if anyone were to see it, they would more than likely be disgusted. Ruby was Seven at this point in time and even though she should be running around with others her age, making friends, she spends most of her time inside with me. Occasionally Fitz, but she ends up in a bad mood when it's just them.

"I wonder Ruby," I said suddenly, "Is Fitz really that bad?" I couldn't help but ask since my mind wondered in that direction.

"I guess not. But I just don't think he's good for you." She said with a huff.

"But why?"

"I don't know." She shrugged.

Sighing, I finished drying her hair. She got up from the floor and sat next to me, giving me a sideways hug. We sat next to each other on the couch in silence for a while.  'I can't believe it's only been seven years.' I thought. Things haven't been easy, but thanks to Ruby's surprisingly understanding of the situation and Fitz things have been relatively peaceful. I couldn't help holding doubts about some of my decisions, such as keeping Ruby inside most of the time. I feel like I might have stunted her social skills greatly. Plus she couldn't rely on me or Fitz forever. Am I preparing her for the world at large? I don't think I am.

Yet I was too scared to change what we've been doing. Her identity being discovered was a terrifying and real danger. Yet she still needs to interact with others her age and make some friends and learn more about the world through her own experience. Ruby doesn't seem to mind how things are now, but I can't help but see her resenting her childhood later in life. I'm just holding her back from growth, aren't I?

"Are you alright Mommy?" Ruby asked me. She only ever called me Mommy when she was worried or upset.

"I'm fine, sweetie, you have nothing to worry about." I don't know how she was able to tell, something was bothering me, but to stop her from worrying I'll put all these problems on the backburner for now. "How about a story? Why don't you pick out a book and I'll read it to you."

"Alright." She said still looking worried about me. She walked up to the mostly sparse bookshelf and picked out her favorite story. It was a Novel about a woman who started with nothing and eventually built her own kingdom. It was a violent book, but Ruby seemed to really enjoy the conquering and kingdom building part of the story. "This one please." She spoke.

"Alright. In the small village..." I started reading. Honestly, I never would've read this to her if I didn't already find out she read the whole book by herself multiple times. I didn't realize how literate she was until then and I figured it was too late to restrict her from reading this story, so I just hid any other bloody and violent books for some her age. It might already be too late to shield her from such things altogether, but I refuse to budge on this.

"While Heather stood in the bloody battlefield she had to wonder if what she was doing was justice..." I continued reading. I think the reason Ruby liked this book so much was because just like her the main character was treated as a monster throughout the book. She also wasn't necessarily a hero either and would sometimes do villainous acts.

"It's over, Heather shouted she stood in her black armor dripping in blood...." I stopped reading and looked over and noticed that Ruby had nodded off to sleep. With a smile I closed the book and placed it on the low table. I then picked her up and carried her over to her room. Once in her room I gently placed her on the old wooden bed. I watched her sleep for a little bit before I left, closing the door behind me.

-- -- --

For the past year I've noticed Ruby sneaking out of the house. I've been confronting her about it but all that did was make her defensive about it. Not wanting her to completely shut me out which would make working with her harder in the future I made a deal with her instead. I'll let her go out on her own but only on certain days and she needs to drink a cosmetic potion. I hope this would continue trusting me and come if anything was wrong.

"Ruby, you're almost ten. Just another week." I said one day after she came home. "Do you want anything?"

"Umm. Can I have some cake?" She asked.

"Sure, that's no problem." I said with a smile.

"Also, can he stay away the whole day?" She pointed to Fritz who was washing some dishes for me.

"Ouch that hurts Ruby." He said, dramatically clutching his heart. "I know you don't hate me, so why are you so stubborn about disliking me?"

"Hmph. That's because you suck." She said, sticking her tongue out.

"Well, I guess I can't do anything about that right now... even though it's been almost ten years." With a sigh he then turned to me. "Lu, I want to talk with you in private, can you meet me outside?"

"Uh, sure?" I spoke. After making sure Ruby would be fine, I made my way to the back of the Bakery. There I saw Fitz waiting with a nervous expression on his face, clutching his necklace.

"Well Lu," he said when he saw me. "I just- Its been- We-... Okay. Lucilla backer after ten years of being together I have one very important question I want to ask you."

"Oh, um, okay?" I said fluster by his sudden seriousness. Then grew even more flustered when he removed his necklace and put it around my neck, above my own necklace.

"It would honor me greatly if you were to marry me." He said with a determined look on his face.

In this world it's a custom for you and your partner to buy a necklace for themselves if they are in a serious relationship. When the time came when they were ready to marry, they would then exchange their necklaces with each other. What Fitz just did was propose to me, and I only had one answer to give.

"Of course, I'll marry you!" I said breaking out in a large smile. I Unhooked my necklace from my neck and hooked it around his neck instead. Now we are officially engaged.

Fitz quickly scooped me up in a hug laughing in glee, or crying it was hard to tell, but it was obvious he was happy. Neither of our necklaces were fancy or adorned with gens or precious metals, but that didn't matter. What mattered was what they represented, and that was far more valuable.

This was the last great memory I had of Fitz. We were blissfully unaware of the disaster that would happen shortly after Ruby's birthday.

-- -- --

Ruby was now ten years old, and I was still on cloud nine about my engagement. It was later in the day and the sun was starting to set. I was cleaning the kitchen when Ruby ran in. I turned to greet her but froze when I saw her appearance. She had Silver hair, pale skin, and Ruby red eyes.

"Ruby." I said evenly. "Did you just come from outside?"

With a panic look on her face she slowly nodded.

"Upstairs now! We need to pack everything we need and get out of town immediately." I didn't mean to yell, but I was now panicking myself. I headed upstairs to my bedroom and pulled up one of the floorboards. Inside was some of the emergency money I've saved up, some rations and other things we would need to run away.

"RUBY! LUCILLA! ARE YOU STILL HERE!?" I heard Fitz calling from downstairs.

"UP HERE!" I yelled back. The sound of footsteps ascending was heard from the stair well. I left my room and saw as Fitz entered into the living room.

"I heard what happened. Ruby reverted back to normal in town, multiple people saw her run this way, we don't have time, we got to go now." He said the moment he saw me. "I'll slow them down, but grab Ruby and go, there isn't time to really pack."

"Alright, Ruby let's go!" I called Ruby and she came out with a bag half full of clothes.

"Go, get out of here!" Fitz said urging us along.

I grabbed Ruby's arm and started running towards the towns exit. Not the main exit, the northern one. It faces the Enchanted Forest and I hope escaping in that direction would make the other hesitate to follow. Looking behind me I saw Fitz running in the opposite direction, closer to the center of town.

Me and Ruby ran without stopping, when we saw the north gate two guards were already there watching out for us. When they saw us approaching, they immediately blew into a horn informing everyone which direction we were in. The two men, one with a sword the other with a spear readied themselves. With determination I pulled something from my bag.

The red crystal I pulled out was an exploding fire crystal, usually used by Hunters. It was very expensive and took months to save up enough money to buy it, but it was enough to get me past these guards. I needed to hurry before the Church caught wind of what was happening. Filling the crystal with Mana, I tossed it towards the two men, recognizing what it was they jumped away from the danger before an explosion occurred sending debris in all directions.

"Wha-?!" Ruby exclaimed in surprise.

Using Chi that I learned from Fitz I picked up Ruby - who made yelp a little by the suddenness of it- and ran through the smoke cloud. Once I was across and we got into the forest we should be clear. I ran as fast as I could, I didn't know how to imbue an element into my Chi so I couldn't increase my speed all that much. The strength it gave made carrying Ruby easy enough that I had little difficulty making it to the edge of the forest.

Just as I was about to cross the threshold, a spear hit me through the leg, pinning me in place.

"AAAUUUUUGGGHHHH!!!!" I fell over, dropping Ruby. She tumbled away from me, but It took everything in me to even notice that. I've never been hurt this badly before and I almost passed out from the pain. 

"Mommy!" Ruby cried, tears in her eyes as she ran over to me.

"Aaahh, Ruby.... Run." I said, Looking in the direction of the town I could see a mob coming ever closer. "Please Ruby, I'll be fine, just run."

"No!" She screeched. "I won't leave you."

"I see." I said with a twinge of pain. "Then how about you come save me when you're older." I pulled out another crystal, this time green, activating it I used the wind spell to push Ruby deeper into the forest. I managed to get the strap of my bag around her before she could stop me.

I solemnly watched as Mayor Efulen marched closer with an armed mob growing behind him. When he was close enough, he stopped.

"Hello Ms. Baker." He said, "Will you kindly tell us where your pet monster is?"

"She's... my daughter... and I'll never... tell you." I defiantly said, glaring at him through my pain. My leg was losing blood fast, but luckily the spear was acting like a plug keeping my bleeding to a minimum.

"Daughter, that's twisted." The mayor said." How could you treat something like that as human? How could you trick your fellow people in treating her like a person?" As he talked some of the mob behind him split off in search of my daughter.

"Shut... up." I managed to get out.

"Gosh, you're so stubborn. You'll die if we don't treat you." He said, "We already killed that boyfriend of yours. Though admittedly that was an accident."

Hearing that I was crushed, my will to hang on started to slip and my vision started to grow dark.  "We can't have you die; we need to let the Church know of your crime after all." I thought I heard someone say something but by then my consciousness had already faded away.

-- -- --

I was locked in a dim stone dungeon. Why hands and feet wear bind and chained. I've been here for over a week being interrogated by the Church officials. They eventually decided to leave my fate to the mayor. The hole in my leg was healed with magic but in it's place I was covered in busies and fresh wounds.

"You know this all could've been avoided if you weren't so adamant on protecting that monster." Mayor Efulen said to me. The dim glow of the crystal lamp hiding his face in shadow.

"She's my daughter, what did you expect me to do?" I said, glaring at him.

"It isn't even human." He said with a sneer. "No matter, the Church has decided to leave what to do with you to us. Your punishment will be diced in three days."

I shuddered a little when he said that. Typically criminals are treated much harsher in smaller communities. I didn't want to know what was in store for me, but I also hoped that because I knew these people they would go easy on me, but I couldn't be sure.

"Honestly how could a human treat something like that like a person." he said, suddenly ranting. "You even tricked your own people to treat that thing like a human. That's just messed up you know." He spat in disgust.

"She was a child and my daughter." I said. "What did you expect me to do?"

"Kill it, or tell someone about it. If you did you wouldn't be in this predicament now would you? I bet you're starting to have regrets now."

"I would never regret raising my daughter. The only thing I regret is staying here for so long." I said angrily.

"Sigh, you lost your mind didn't you? There isn't another explanation as to why you would raise a monster child otherwise. It's making it really hard to talk to you really, you're just so unreasonable." With that he turned his back on me and started to walk away, but then he turned around on last time.

"We won't be seeing each other for a while, but after three days I'm expecting us to be real close." He said, the shadows making his face look like some harbinger of misfortune.

I felt a shiver run down my spine when he looked at me. He said nothing else as he continued to walk down the dim stone corridor. I sat there in the mostly dark cell; alone with nothing bit my thoughts to keep me company.