Faye

Three large barrels sat on the rough earth, not too far from these barrels a large horse-drawn cart stood, almost full to the brim with similar barrels. Three barrels became two as a figure lifted one of the barrels easily and carried it towards the cart. The figure's movements showed no exhaustion despite working without rest to fill the horse cart with the barrels. 

Once the final barrel was placed into the cart and secured, the figure placed her hands on her hips with a proud smile adorning her pink lips. Her hypnotising, hazel eyes gazed over the many barrels that filled the horse cart, every last one had been moved by her. The only sign of her hard labour was the light sweat that laced her forehead, which quickly disappeared as the girl wiped it away with her hand.

"Though they aren't too heavy, moving 15 of them was a bit tiring", the girl murmured as she dusted down her plain brown skirt.

It had to be noted that each barrel weighed almost 300 kilograms which required 5-6 ordinary workers just to lift one, and moving 15 of these would take them at least two hours, yet this young girl whose body showed no traces of strength training had moved all the barrels in less than half an hour.

Inspecting her dress one last time for any traces of dirt, Faye looked around the empty work yard making sure no eyes had seen her actions before running towards one of the walls that enclosed the yard. Faye was about 1.65 m tall whereas the wall she was moving towards stood over 4m, any onlooker who saw her would think she had gone crazy and decided to smash herself against the stone. But there was no such thought in the girl's mind.

Once Faye was about a metre away from the wall, she suddenly leapt into the air, her upper body peaked over the wall before it started to drop. But the black-haired girl wasted no time as she rested her hands on the top of the wall and vaulted over to the other side. With experience ingrained in her movement, Faye gracefully landed on the ground only to flinch at the appearance of a stern-looking, middle-aged man. 

"What did I say about you moving the barrels?", the man questioned calmly, but to Faye, who avoided eye contact with the man, he was anything but calm. She knew the type of person her father was, the type who was at their calmest when their anger was at its peak. Even with the strength she possessed, Faye always felt powerless before her father, it was like he was an insurmountable mountain.

And she waited. She waited for him to say something else. But time dragged along yet no words had been spoken. He stared at her as if he was waiting for her to say something. 

No. Faye knew he was waiting for her to say something. He wanted an answer.

"You said not to think about even touching one of them, " she shakily whispered, lowering her head towards the ground and wrapping her arms around herself, trying to make herself as small as possible. She knew what was about to come.

Nodding his head, he replied, "So you didn't forget...you just chose to ignore my words...I see"

Faye's father took a step forward, whilst the black-haired girl stood rooted in her spot, brought his lips to her left ear and whispered, "All you have to do is smile and look pretty, that's it...yet you can't even do such a simple task, instead, you go around showing off your freakish strength...how are you going to get married when everyone in this village thinks you're a brute? And how many times am I going to have to tell you that I don't need your help at the refinery, you're lucky that I even let you near her refinery in the firs...", his words suddenly cut off as his eyes turned misty, sadness and rage visible in the pits of his pupils.

"Get out of my sight"

As soon as these words reached Faye's ear, she turned away and ran, there was no specific location in her mind, she simply wanted to run. Run as far as she could.

Not an ounce of hate was directed towards her father despite his harsh words, in her heart, she could never hate her father. After all, he was the only family she had but this was not the only reason why. 

Faye's mother died whilst giving birth to her. Articus, Faye's father, who awaited for the midwives to bring him the news of the birth of their child, was instead given condolences. The woman who he loved more than life itself was gone, and the crying child that lay in his arms was...the cause. Drowning in melancholy, his mind searched for something to blame, something to hate, he refused to just accept her death. And the target of his hate and frustrations was the innocent child that his wife had left behind.

Faye knew her father hated her. She was the reason his wife died. Yet rather than abandoning her, he chose to raise her instead. And it was not like he did it half-heartedly either. Dresses, toys, teachers, he gave her everything that would ensure she would have a good childhood. He gave her everything but his love. That was the only thing she longed for, her father's love. 

Being a young girl at the time, Faye believed her father hated her for her lack of magic talent, so when it became apparent that she possessed abnormal physical strength she believed that his perception of her would change. And perhaps she would finally receive his love.

But nothing changed.

His cold treatment of her remained the same.

Various memories surfaced in Faye's mind as she ran, each depicting different scenarios in which Faye tried to prove herself in the wine refinery to her father, only to receive his harsh words.

The refinery belonged to her mother before she passed away, so to Articus, seeing Faye trying to help around made him feel as if she was mocking his dead wife. It was why he refused her help. 

It was also why her father was trying to marry her off, the sooner he did, the sooner he wouldn't have to see her face around him or the refinery anymore.

As these thoughts and memories whirled around Faye's mind, due to her lack of focus on her surroundings, she suddenly tripped over a set of small boxes. Unable to react, the girl landed on her side, grazing her right arm. For a moment, Faye felt anger towards whoever had left those boxes, but this anger dissipated when she realised that the only person who could be blamed was her for lack of awareness of her surroundings.

The villagers who saw the situation were initially moving in to help, but upon seeing that it was Faye, they chose to ignore the event and carried on with what they were previously doing.

So many eyes had seen the situation occur yet none of them had noticed the faint red energy that Faye's body released when she was feeling angry.

But..

A pair of purple eyes had seen everything.

A plan could now be put into motion.