4. Anger

Year 1410:

"Alright kids, let's do the quiz as we scheduled." Mrs. Smith, our general knowlege teacher announced as she clapped her hands to get our attention.

Our grade was hosting a quiz regarding the general knowledge of the world Telius. As much as I hated it, I was prepared...maybe.

I stood up and went to my seat next to Kirito; he turned to face me when the rest of my class was done filing in. I sat down in my chair and looked at the board; the instructions were to close all books and no whispering amongst each other.

The only reason why I was taking this quiz was to get the prize. Now there were two prizes, a sum of money, or something which I want. I had to choose between one.

The bell rang which made me snap out of my thoughts, and our blonde teacher started giving out the sheets.

'Name: Calia Aster

Date: 12th May, 1410

Subject: General Knowledge'

I started writing down the information, and then turned the page to get a look at the questions. We had roughly an hour for us to write our answers, so hopefully the questions would be easy enough.

"1. What is dorr? And what are it's types?"

"Dorr/Dorra is the currency used all around Telius.

One bronze dorr is the minimum.

One silver dorr = 10 bronze dorra

One gold dorr= 100 silver dorra

Gold dorr is used for big purchases, silver for weapons and bronze for the minimalist purchases.", easy. One down.

"2. How many types of races are there in Telius?"

"Humans, Dwarves, and Elves are the three types of races in Telius." Two down, that's a progress

"3. Which region is know as the kingdom of songs?"

"Eumelia is known as the kingdom of songs" Nailed it. I began to feel confident about this.

"5. Can a fire user control ice magic?"

"Yes. Ice and Thunder magic can be learned regardless of the primary elemental type. Although, Enchancians with water affinity have an advantage over this." That was tricky.

"6. What are your goals in life?"

Huh? This is supposed to be general knowlege?

"My goal in life is to travel the world and become a writer" I guess that will do it.

"7. Who are Beathany and Bacia?"

"Beathany and Bacia are the primordial goddesses of Telius. Beathany is the goddess of 'life' while Bacia is the goddess of 'destruction'. Enchancia and Eumelia worship Beathany while Vulcania and Daara worship Bacia". Easy, One last question to go!

"8. State the average lifespan of the races in Telius" I've got this!!

" The average lifespan of Humans, Elves, and Dwarves in Telius are 200, 180 and 250 respectively."

I glanced at the time and there was 3 minutes left. I was very happy about the paper, but I couldn't help but wonder if it was worth all of this effort.

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"I WON" I squealed as I ran into Avicia's room after school.

"YES!" She congratulated me. "What did you get"

"Not yet, I have to choose between the two. I also have to fill up a form" I said, smiling.

"How long do they take"

"Well, I've already filled some of it, but I'll need more time..."

A few days later, and a week after that, I was called to recieve the reward.

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"What do you want to choose, Miss?" Mrs. Smith asked me, fixing her glasses.

"Uh, what do you mean by 'Anything of your choice'?" I quoted, fidgeting my fingers.

"Anything you want, as long as it's reasonable"

"Then can I have..uh..10 books?" My lips twitched up in a smirk.

The woman gave me a blank stare. "Out of all the things in the world, you want books?" she said as if it was unbelievable that someone would want something like that.

"Go to the library, pick 10 of them, submit it here. We will do the paperwork and you can collect the book tomorrow afternoon" She handed me the stack of papers and I nodded my thanks.

I made my way through the halls until I found the library. It was huge, almost like a mansion, with rows of bookshelves going on for who knows how many stories.

As I entered, I immediately noticed the smell of old paper, dust, books and fresh ink. This was always so soothing to see. As soon as I closed the door behind myself, I instantly spotted the shelves where the new books were kept.

Completing what would probably turn out to be one of the longest quests ever (but hey, I did it) I made my way towards the fiction section. The section had a lot of books on the history of Telius and it's people. There were books about different kingdoms, religions, politics, literature.

Picking up 10 of them, I returned them to the office, and went home, excited.

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"MOM YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT I GOT" I barged in through the entrace, into the dining room. I spotted my father havung lunch, and my mother was serving him. She was wearing her typical white dress shirt and slacks. Her hair was still tied back in a bun.

"Ah! Callie darling you're back" she smiled at me before turning to dad. "What did you get?".

Avicia came down from her room, I think she probably heard me scream.

"Ten. Books. TEN. AMAZING. BOOKS." I jumped as I showed her the form. My father took a look at it, and I saw him twitching his eyebrows. Avicia jumped and hugged me, which made me focus on her instead. "Does it have a swordsman story?" She asked.

Avicia was fascinated with swords, she dreams to be a swordsman one day. Contrary to me, who liked archery.

"You took BOOKS while you could have had 200 gold dorra?" My father scolded. I had seen him see the form but what I had forgotten was that the form had mentioned the prize money.

"Yeah, I like books more" I said, deadpan. My father was the last person I wanted to talk to right now.

"A-Avie, let's have lunch dear. Calia, you too." My mother interrupted when she felt the tension of the room. She placed plates of food in front of us, while glancing at her husband.

"She will not eat today." My father raised his voice, "You will go to the office, right now. Change your prize and take the money."

I was done with my father and his abuse, all of us suffered about it and no one, ever stood up to him. And I wasn't the most obidient girl he had.

"No, I won't" I stated, shaking my head. Avicia and mom shared a look of shock. Avicia looked scared, and Mom was looking at my father in disbelief.

"No you say?" He glared at me, and I crossed my arms across my chest and stared right back at him. He stood up from the chair, took my plate and smashed it into pieces. I heard my mom and sister audibly gasp. But I remained seated. I didn't move, just stayed as I am. I felt like I would burst into tears at any second, but I wouldn't let my father see me cry.

"You will go to your office, right now." His voice got dark and deeper. "If you don't, I will burn those books."

I was surprised to hear the words come out of his mouth. But I didn't waver. Anger surged through my veins, and I stood up, summoning a small fire that covered my right palm.

"I would like to see you try. You burn the books, I'll burn your face." The flames danced wildly, dancing like a dragonfly on a hot summer's day. I was trembling from anger.

"Calia!" This time, my mom raised her voice, Avicia held onto me, and my mother stepped in between us, looking at me in anger and concern. She pulled me away from her husband and led me to our room.

"Calm down! Calm down!" She pushed me against the wall. Tears were rolling down my cheeks. My heart was pounding. "Calm down sweetheart and think about what happened, okay." Her eyes softened, Avicia was patting my back, her look of concern never wavering.

The rest of the day was normal, I took deep breaths and cooled myself, thinking of what had been said. Dad tried everything but nothing worked. I was sure my anger was starting to dissipate, but it was still there.

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The next year, it was my 18th birthday. What could go wrong right? Guests were there, my mom, my sister, everything was perfect. Or so I thought. That day, would reform my life forever, into the way it is now.