Dear diary,

  My name is Mary. I don't have a last name... well, if I ever had one, I have no way of knowing. I'm writing this because someone very special asked me to. I will tell my experience on one particular day of my life, which happened many years ago.

  At that time, I was sixteen years old. After what happened six years earlier, I spent about three years in the Desert of Death, training relentlessly every single day. When my training ended, I traveled all across Totium, learning everything I could. Eventually, I decided to go to the Grass Kingdom to live a peaceful life... or at least that's what I told myself. In reality, I just wanted to run away from my past.

  I am a coward. And also useless. That was what I thought about myself.

  When I met Tommy and Jake, I felt very happy. They were the kindest people I had ever met in my entire life, and I felt relieved not to be alone again. But despite that, I hadn't been able to do much for them.

  "Compared to those two brothers, I am nothing," I thought."Jake is very strong and resistant, he knows a lot of things and, on top of that, he's very mature. As for me, despite having trained and learned so much over all these years, I don't even come close."

  But Tommy... he was even more unreachable. He was the current wielder of the legendary sword True?ioion. Not only was he strong, but also extremely agile and intelligent. Even if i'm faster and inteligent than him, it doesn't matter, because he had his great powers. With them, he could do incredible things.

  I admired him deeply.

  A good example of how amazing he was happened the week before: Tommy, without any help from Jake or me, defeated a giant tree all by himself. It had escaped from the Enchanted Forest and was roaming the Grass Kingdom. All it took was for him to use his electric shield for the monster to die easily.

  The next day, in the Great Kingdom, we had trouble with a giant crab. I was terrified, convinced we were going to die. Its claws were incredibly strong; it injured us badly, and we couldn't land a single hit because of its speed. But Tommy only needed to use electric camouflage to hide and finish it off with his sword.

  I apologized to him for being so useless, and he simply replied with a smile:

  "Don't worry. Nobody is perfect. We all make mistakes."

  That calmed me down... but two days later, everything got worse again.

  I ran into some criminals who called themselves "The Hunters." They were second-rate thugs, but they set a trap for me and, despite being stronger than them, I ended up on the ground, about to be killed. Tommy saved me using his electric shield and, in just one second, defeated all of them.

  I felt so humiliated.

  "After all these years, I'm still useless," I thought.

  I felt like it wasn't even necessary for me to be with them. They were more than capable of getting out of any trouble on their own. Jake had even told me that Tommy could have defeated the Plant King by himself if he hadn't gotten overconfident.

  I thought that, even if I wasn't as strong as them, at least I had my intelligence. I had spent years studying... but I was wrong.

  The day before, Tommy used an electric ability I had never seen before: Electric Intelligence. It allowed him to greatly increase his IQ. Thanks to it, he defeated an android that had been giving us a lot of trouble. I hadn't been able to come up with any way to stop it; the android was strong, fast, and resilient, and its weapons were extremely dangerous. But Tommy knew how to trick it and defeat it.

  Later, he told me he didn't like using that ability, because his personality changed a lot.

  "She was right. Without my powers, I'm useless."

  Even though that day I promised myself never to use my powers again, two weeks ago I lost control and unleashed them. I murdered a poor alien who only wanted the best for his people. If I hadn't been so careless, we could have talked to the King of the Great Kingdom and reached an agreement so the Martians could live there. But everything went terribly wrong.

  That day, Tommy was furious. Even when they offered us medals and money, he rejected them, saying he didn't deserve them. He told Jake and me that we could take the reward if we wanted.

  And he was right. It wasn't their fault... it was mine. For not being able to do anything for the Team.

  Luckily, they didn't see my true power. My true "self."I couldn't let them discover it. If they did, they would surely hate me...

  At that moment, I was at home. After what happened the day before, I told them I felt unwell and would take a few days off. I was seriously thinking about quitting being a heroine; I felt like I wasn't made for that job.

  I heard knocking at the door. I went to see who it was: the mailman. I was confused; he had never come to my house before. He just handed me a letter. I wondered who could have sent it.

  "Oh no... it's from the orphanage. It's an invitation to a reunion. This can't be... did she recover her memories? No, it's not possible. Okay, it's not a good idea to jump to conclusions yet. I'm very sure that no one except me can remember everything. Calm down, Mary, everything is fine. There's no way in this world that they could recover all their memories. It's just a normal invitation. Nobody remembers anything... but the truth is, I don't want to go."

  I was terrified.

  "Even though they'll probably be sad... should I go?" I asked myself.

  I called the guys. It was only a one-week trip, so they said they'd be fine without me."Well, of course... I'm useless anyway. At least it'll be a good way to relax a little, I guess."

  They offered to take me to the orphanage, but I didn't want them to find out about my past, so I told them it was fine, that it wasn't very far and I could go alone. I lied. It was very far. In fact, it was a place whose existence few people knew: a hidden town in the Raí Kingdom, a kingdom difficult to access, since you had to cross the Desert of Death. According to outsiders, that kingdom was peaceful and pleasant, but they were wrong. That place hid a dark secret that only some of its inhabitants knew... and I used to live there when I was a child.

  Despite being quite far from the Grass Kingdom, thanks to my great speed I was able to arrive in just a few hours. Before passing through the large metal gate, I put on a cloak to hide my face. There wasn't much chance of being recognized, but I had to be careful, just in case.

  The place was just as I remembered it: full of sand, with scorching heat, packed with stalls and people buying and selling. Most of those stalls were scams, although some really did sell useful things.

  After walking for about half an hour, I finally reached my destination... or rather, my past: The Witch's Orphanage. "Witch" was what people called the owner of the place—not as an insult, but affectionately, although those who used that nickname believed she wasn't actually a witch. Unlike the rest of the kingdom, the orphanage was surrounded by many trees for some reason. It was a strange place, but exotic, so to speak.

  That place brought back so many memories... many happy ones, but most of them not so much.

  I was afraid to go inside, but I gathered my courage as I remembered my old friends. I knocked on the door, and a few seconds later one of the sisters opened it—her name was Susan. When she saw me, she burst with happiness and threw herself at me, hugging me tightly. I was happy to see her too; she had always treated me kindly, despite everything, and I cared about her a lot.

  "Come in quickly," she said. "Everyone is excited to see you."

  I became very nervous when I heard that.

  We entered the dining hall, and all the sisters and my old friends, who were eating, stood up from their seats and ran over to greet and hug me. It was understandable that they were so affectionate after so many years without seeing each other, although they were hugging me a little too tightly.

  After greeting everyone, I turned to see the person I least wanted to run into: Sanyin, "the Witch." She was the one who had taken care of me for many years, since the day my parents "abandoned" me at this orphanage when I was just a newborn. I remember she told me she was my older sister. According to her, she had left our parents to "devote herself to God," since they were drunks who only cared about themselves and getting their poisonous drinks. She escaped from that place to never see them again.

  My mother became pregnant with me, and since they didn't want to take responsibility for another "burden," they abandoned me here. My sister, as kind as she was, didn't hesitate to take care of me. She taught me many things during my childhood and always looked after me. I'm grateful for those years... but I didn't want to see her again.

  Even so, I was completely sure that no one remembered what had happened that day... or at least that's what I told myself.

  I confirmed it when I spoke to Sanyin.

  "Sister, I'm so happy to see you. Where have you been all these years? You didn't even write me a single letter. Well, it doesn't matter—come here, let me get a good look at you. You've become a beautiful woman."

  Sanyin was the same as always, both in personality and appearance: elegant and well-mannered. She was much more beautiful than I was, although she always wore her sister's uniform, hiding her figure.

  After greeting me, she burst into tears and hugged me tightly.

  "I'm sorry, Sanyin," I said. "I've been very busy and couldn't write to you, but don't worry, everything has gone well for me. Well, girls, instead of standing around here, why don't we sit down and talk?"

  They all listened to me.

  I remember that in those years I was admired by all these girls, and I was very proud of that. But over time I realized that they didn't truly admire me. The one I admired was Sanyin. I remember thinking, "She's so beautiful and strong... when I grow up, I want to be like her."

  I didn't want to remember the past, but inevitably I had to, since that was the main topic of the conversation. We all talked about what we did after leaving the orphanage. Most of them stayed in the kingdom to work; some left. I tried to lie and say that I lived a peaceful life, but I couldn't, since one of my old friends had heard rumors about Team Totium in the Great Kingdom.

  To my surprise, they all told me that I was amazing and brave. However, Sanyin commented that it was very dangerous and that I shouldn't be doing that. I replied that it was fine, that I had Tommy and Jake by my side.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  After that, the conversation changed completely: they started asking me which of the two brothers I was dating. I couldn't help but feel embarrassed, but I made it clear that we were just friends.

  "Although the truth is that I don't even come close to either of them," I thought."I don't think either of them would fall in love with me."How funny.

  After several hours of talking and overeating, we lost track of time. When we finished, it was already night, so the sisters sent us to sleep. We all went to the rooms we used when we lived there.

  When I entered my old room, a wave of memories washed over me. That was where I used to sleep with my two best friends: Sasha and Talia. I cared about them a lot, although I didn't expect to see them again after so much time. I still remembered their faces from that day... the good thing was that they didn't remember anything.

  After talking a bit more, both of them fell asleep. I was the only one still awake; I couldn't sleep. I was fond of that place, but I didn't feel comfortable being there again. I missed those two...

  "I wonder how they're doing..." I thought.

  Eventually I fell asleep, but my sleep was interrupted by the sound of footsteps. I jumped up and looked out the window: I saw nothing, although the noise continued. I decided to go outside with my axe in hand.

  There didn't seem to be anyone... until I was attacked from behind. I managed to dodge the blow quickly. My attacker was a golem.

  "What is this? How was it created? Was it me? No... I'm sure it wasn't. Then who? It doesn't matter—I have to defeat it before anyone wakes up."

  The golem attacked again but missed. I took the opportunity to cut off one of its arms with my axe. It kicked me hard; it was almost as strong as I was. It hurt, but it didn't matter. Golems are slow. I lunged at it and cut off its head. It fell to the ground and melted.

  I quickly checked on the others. Everyone was fine, even Sanyin.

  "Maybe it was someone from the city?" I asked myself.

  The next day came, and I was the last to wake up. I couldn't sleep much that night. I remembered that when I was a child, the sisters were very strict: they always woke us all up at the same time. It was very annoying, but this time no one woke me up. I suppose that since we hadn't seen each other in many years, they decided to let me sleep as much as I wanted.

  When I entered the dining hall, I remembered all those mornings when we used to wake up together to have breakfast in that large place. The dining hall filled me with nostalgia. After breakfast, we all started having fun with the sisters. Like in the old days, we began playing a wide variety of old games: jump rope, spinning tops, dancing, singing, knitting, and many other things that filled me with memories. For a moment, I had forgotten everything bad that happened there.

  The next day we did the same thing. We all forgot about our problems. The girls told me that life hadn't been very easy for them, but they always motivated themselves by remembering me—especially Sasha and Talia. Besides loving me as if we were blood sisters, they admired me greatly. I felt terrible knowing that they were completely wrong about me.

  "I am not who they think I am."

  On the fourth day, everything was normal. I thought the week would continue like that, but in the afternoon Susan arrived at the yard where we all were, saying that five girls had disappeared. Those five weren't people I liked very much; they were a group that always bullied the others, especially my best friends. I always defended them. They couldn't do anything to me, so naturally they hated me quite a lot.

  Over the years they seemed to have changed, because when I saw them again they even greeted me. They seemed more mature, although they still didn't participate much in the activities. According to what they told me, they had had a hard life: they stayed in the kingdom and apparently lived off prostitution. I suppose that changed them.

  Now they had disappeared. As always, they chose not to participate in the activities and went to the bathroom. I went to investigate to try to find out where they were.

  In the bathroom, the only thing I found was a strand of hair belonging to one of them—the "leader." Her name was Ruth. There didn't seem to have been any struggle, since I found no blood or anything broken. Maybe they were caught by surprise and put to sleep.

  One question crossed my mind:"Why take them? They weren't like us. Maybe a sacrifice? Who the hell is behind all of this?"

  I couldn't find any kind of trail. It seemed that whoever kidnapped them was something, not someone.

  Night came, and to calm everyone down, the sisters and I said that they had probably left the place, since they had taken their luggage with them. But that was a lie: they hadn't taken anything.

  Even so, I promised myself that I would find them. Even if I didn't like them, now I was a heroine, and I had to save them.

  The next day I woke up early, but Sasha and Talia were not in their beds. I assumed they had woken up before me, although they had left their beds unmade."If the sisters find this, they're going to be furious."

  I decided to make their beds and go take a shower. In the bathroom I ran into several girls, but I couldn't find those two. When I asked about them, everyone told me they hadn't seen them since the day before. After showering, I asked the sisters, and they all told me the same thing.

  "This can't be... they were kidnapped too. But why didn't they take me with them? Does the kidnapper not know who I am? It doesn't matter—I think I still have time. If I hurry, I'll be able to save them all."

  After breakfast, I decided to sneak away from the activities and began investigating in the forest. I remember that during my childhood, from time to time we would go camping in that forest. It was very fun to make bonfires and sleep in tents, although some disturbing things also happened there.

  I could smell something putrid."I remember this smell... this is bad. I have to hurry."

  As I went deeper into the forest, I ran into three golems. This time I didn't waste any time and, before they could attack, I quickly cut off their heads. I followed the trail of the smell and went even deeper. The forest was enormous. After a while I ran into several more golems, but I managed to defeat them all, although it took me several hours—so many that night fell.

  I was very scared. The further I went, the stronger the smell became."I can get an idea of what I'm facing. It's someone very dangerous, but I can't leave without those seven girls. I have to save them. If Tommy were here, he would never give up. I have to be like him—I have to be as brave as he is."

  I reached the center of the forest. The smell was unbearable, and the place was full of golems—but these were different: larger, black-green in color, with a grotesque and terrifying appearance. They were much stronger than normal golems. It was the first time I had ever seen that type of creature.

  I remembered that Sanyin once taught me how to create them, but I never actually did it. In fact, I never created normal golems either, since they are made with corpses, and I didn't like that kind of thing. Only a few are capable of creating these golems: normal ones require a single corpse; these require ten or more.

  I had a bad feeling.

  "I can't hesitate. I have to finish off these monsters, even if they are much stronger than me."

  I started screaming loudly and running. All the golems followed me to kill me. Normal ones are slow; these were faster, but still slower than me. Before they could catch me, I quickly climbed a tree. They kept going, thinking I was still running.

  When they moved away, I reached the building they were guarding: a very old cabin. I remembered that place perfectly. I had always hated it.

  The smell of death was unbearable. I was terrified, but I decided to go in with my axe in hand. The first things I found were four super golems. They lunged at me. Luckily, I had a way to fight them: Jake had helped me improve my axe to make it more lethal. With a button, I could increase its temperature several times, allowing it to cut through anything.

  I was skeptical... but it worked. I managed to cut off their heads even though they were much stronger than me.

  At the end of the hallway, I could see a large, bright green light."Oh no... I have to hurry!"

  I ran as fast as I could, but a golem appeared out of nowhere and struck me. I managed to block it to minimize the damage, although it injured my arm. Many more golems appeared. I threw myself at them, killed most of them, but others seriously wounded me. It hurt a lot, but I couldn't give up.

  Despite my determination, I ended up on the ground, covered in blood. The last two golems were approaching to kill me, but I still had an ace up my sleeve. I threw my axe after pressing the second button. Upon impact, it exploded and defeated both of them.

  I was badly injured. I couldn't stand up, so all I could do was drag my pathetic body toward the room at the back. After a lot of pain and effort, I arrived. In the center there was a cauldron with green fire. It was a ritual.

  All around... the seven girls were hanging.

  "NO! I arrived too late... Who is the bastard who did this to them? I'LL KILL HIM!"

  Then I heard a noise. When I raised my head, I saw more hanging bodies: all the sisters, all the orphans."NOOO, DAMN YOU! COME OUT FROM WHEREVER YOU'RE HIDING!"

  I heard footsteps. My worst fear came true: it was Sanyin.

  "Little sister, how foolish you were to believe my act," she said. "Now, because of your carelessness, all of them are dead. You're still the same as when you were a child... just as foolish."

  "How did you recover your memories?" I screamed. "The only way to break my spell was with a power greater than mine!"

  She replied:

  "HAHAHAHA, it's actually quite funny. You were the one who gave me back my memories."

  "YOU'RE LYING!" I shouted.

  "It's the truth, foolish girl. Two weeks ago, you used your powers again after many years. Even though that day you promised you would never use them again... how pathetic. When you used your powers again, since you don't have much control over them, they most likely affected the spell you created six years ago, even if only a little. No one else besides me managed to recover their memories, and it took me three days to fully regain them. Then I called you; I knew you would come, thinking everything was fine. I sent a golem to bring you here, but surprisingly you had become stronger than before without your powers. So I decided to kidnap those girls so you wouldn't suspect me, and then your best friends so you would have a reason to leave the orphanage and come here. While you were on your way, I also killed all the other girls. Everything went exactly as I planned. HAHAHAHA."

  "But WHY? WHY KILL THEM? ALL YOU NEED IS ME, RIGHT?!" I screamed.

  She replied:

  "Oh, my dear daughter... do you remember that day? The day you discovered that I am your mother and that your father didn't abandon you—I killed him. What a wonderful day it was. I remember the look on your face. HAHAHAHA. Well, after that I tried to steal your power, but everything went wrong and you erased all our memories. Then I came up with the idea of using the power of the sisters and the orphans—the power you took from them—to make myself strong enough to steal your power. And now that you don't want to use your true power no matter what, it will be much easier for me. HAHAHAHA. At last, I will have what I have been seeking all this time: THE POWER TO CONQUER THIS STUPID PLANET AND BRING BACK TO LIFE ALL THE WITCHES AND WIZARDS WHO DIED AT THE HANDS OF THOSE DAMN HUMANS. THAT IS WHY I GAVE YOU LIFE. THANKS TO COMBINING THE DNA OF A WITCH WITH THE DNA OF A MAGICAL HUMAN, YOU WERE BORN: AN EXTREMELY POWERFUL BEING. BUT... YOU DO NOT DESERVE THAT POWER. NOW I WILL TAKE IT FROM YOU."

  She began to pronounce an ancient and powerful spell to take my power away. I couldn't say anything.

  "All of this happened because of me. I am completely useless. There's no way I can stop her without using my powers. Worst of all, even after everything, I can't fully hate her... she is my mother."

  As she lifted me by the neck, I looked at her, crying uncontrollably. Even so, I couldn't give up. I remembered Tommy; I had never seen him give up. I decided to try to stop her with what little strength I had left. I hit her, but I was so weak that the blow wouldn't have hurt even an ant.

  She looked at me with a wide smile on her face as I felt the spell beginning to take effect. I felt my power leaving my body. I lost consciousness.

  "I didn't want to use this power again—the power I always hated. Everyone admired me, but not for who I was, only for my great power. I was the most powerful witch and was always treated with respect by everyone. Even so, I always admired Sanyin more; I wanted to be a witch just like her. But I could never control my powers. Still, even though I have always hated this power, now the only thing left for me to do is to let it out to put an end to all of this. She truly underestimates me... she always has."

  My green witch power was unleashed once more. My wounds healed. I opened my eyes; everything looked green. I tried to control it as best as I could. I grabbed my mother's hand and broke it like a branch. She let go of me and, screaming in pain, moved away and shouted:

  "HOW THE HELL IS THE SPELL NOT AFFECTING YOU? I DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING!"

  "You're the foolish one for underestimating this great power. You created me; now face the consequences," I replied.

  She tried to attack me with her magic, but I was much faster than she was, and before she could even finish pronouncing the spell, I was already in front of her. I pierced her chest and tore out her heart.

  "Mother, this is something I should have done six years ago."

  She died quickly in my arms. Before dying, she had an expression of extreme fury, but she didn't say anything.

  Without wasting time, before losing control of my power, I used it to revive all the orphans and sisters, and to ensure that their memories would never return—the memories that all of them, except Ruth and her friends, were daughters of witches who had died trying to conquer Earth many years ago. They were all unconscious. The only thing I could do at that moment was cry over my mother's corpse.

  The next day, no one remembered anything. No one remembered me. I erased all their memories of me and my mother, and I left two days before the reunion ended.

  "It's better this way. They deserve to have a peaceful life."

  After several hours, I managed to return to the Grass Kingdom. I was heading toward my house when I ran into Tommy and Jake. They asked me:

  "Mary, what are you doing here two days early?"

  When I saw them, I couldn't help but start crying. They asked me what had happened, but I only told them:

  "I don't want to talk about it."

  They didn't say anything. They simply hugged me. I cried in their arms for a long time that day.

  End of Chapter 5