The Witch's Greatest Trial

Chapter 1

The morning was brisk, birds flying too and fro, the sun just peaking over the hills in the distance, and yet this one girl was following behind her sisters without looking at the beautiful surroundings. She seemed dead at first glance, a creature or spirit summoned by her older sister.

This was however not the case. After years of being told that she was useless, and beat down on by the people supposed to love her, she had lost all her joy. From the day she was born, much to her parents surprise, Serena was cast aside. It was much of a cinderella story, without the evil stepmother. Serena was born to a family of wizards. Her parents, Joseph and Lilliana, We just mediocre with a small income. It was enough for them and their two daughters, Rose the oldest, and Lila the middle.

Rose was an exceptional talent with magic. She was casting healing spells and support magic by the time she was 3. Her parents were so excited about how talented they were so they spent much of their money to make sure she had everything that she needed to be the best. By the time she was 15, she was working in a hospital and was well known in the surrounding towns. While she was working she was also taking classes with the towns best wizard.

Lila was not far behind her sister. She was strong in magic that controlled the elements. She could command the skies to storm, or call up fire to vanquish the enemies. She spent her time in the forest. Mostly Lila liked to play with the trees and the woods. Her strongest affinity was with the earth. This was the element that she was most comfortable controlling. She was given money to go to the second best school to enhance her craft and eventually was noticed by the local elemental magicians guild. When she was 12 years old, she was taken in by the guild and her family didn't see her much after that day.

Serena was a an unexpected arrival for her parents. With all their expenses going towards Rose, they had very little left for her when she was born. In order to eat, Serena needed to clean the kitchen, cook the food, and do all the other household chores. She was often left alone and her parents ignored her. The would tell her things like "We never wanted you" and "Why did you have to be born".

Unknown to them all, out of the three sisters, Serena had the most potential for greatness. In her room, away from prying eyes, she would whisper to her only friends, the animals in the surrounding forest. She never thought that they would be listening, or even understand her, however she had the rarest of all talents. Not only could she talk to the animals and listen back, but she could, if trained properly, communicate with humans and make them do as she wished as well.

Yet another talent of Serena's was her ability to influence items that were not alive to do her bidding as well. She could tell a chair to move, or a window to open. Unfortunately, no one, including Serena, knew of her talents.