Many hundred years ago…
“You know, I just made a house for this little bird.”
A blonde-haired girl was climbing an alder tree branch. Her tiny hands carefully placed a nest made of small twigs. She shouted for a girl under a tree to fly the little bird in her hand.
“Katarina, let the bird go!”
Instead of flying away, the bird was lifted by the wind. Katarina stretched her arms into the air and made a swinging and spinning motion to lift the bird up to where her sister was.
“Cool! How did you do that?” complimented the blonde girl from the top of the tree branch.
“Jovie, I had no idea it was just flowing.”
“Teach me how to do it next time.”
“You already own your own skills; therefore, there is no way.”
“Then suit yourselves. Shit! My skirt is tangled.”
Katarina simply chuckled at her sister’s angry groan as she descended from the tree, her skirt already ripped. She saw her sister come down from the tree branch with a sour face.
Jovie walked first as she stomped her feet loudly along the path. Her face was bent, and she paid no heed to the calls of Katarina, who was walking behind. That is, until Jovie’s foot tripped over a rock because she wasn’t paying attention to the road in front of him. She fell down, and her knee was scraped by a sharp-sided log.
“Ouch, my leg.”
“Jovie, are you okay?”
“Ouch, it hurts!” Jovie was already wincing at the pain in her knee.
Katarina examined the wound on her sister’s knee. She lifted the blood-soaked cloth and saw that the wound was quite deep. She was worried because Jovie’s wound was bleeding profusely.
“Can you heal a wound like this?” asked Katarina with a worried look on her face.
“I don’t know; all I’ve ever done is heal knife wounds.”
“If I help you with my powers, will it work?”
“What do you mean, Katarina?” asked Jovie.
“I’m directing my magical energy into you to enhance your ability for healing. Would you like to attempt what I do every day? I thought it could be helpful.
Jovie nodded in agreement. She had indeed seen Katarina practicing using her magic by the river several times, so she would give her sister a chance to try her magic on her.
“Hold my hand and don’t let go!”
In the next second, Jovie closed her eyes, and she heard Katarina chanting a spell that she did not understand. She only focused on holding Katarina’s hand and following her orders not to let go of their contact.
Jovie felt something warm running through his body and from his hands to his knees. She was curious about what was happening, so she peeked with one eye, and she saw Katarina’s powerful aura.
She understood and joined in the flow of healing energy to close the wound on her knee. Her eyes opened completely as she saw the wound closing slowly. Both of their attempts were successful, and her knee was no longer painful for her.
“Awesome! You’re a great Veela, Katarina. Thank you; I love you.”
Jovie hugged Katarina tightly, which was greeted by a gentle caress of her hair.
“You’re a little troublesome, sister, but I love you too, Jovanka.”
*
“We are all gathered here because I, as your queen, will be passing on my blessings to my daughter and a select few other veela. Genoveva, you may begin.”
The woman named Genoveva opened the leather parchment in her hand. She read the inscription that listed the names of the veela who would receive the blessing to have offspring. All the veela gathered in the room, decorated with cliff-side vines and a dirt floor with dried leaves and white coral stones. Katarina and Jovanka were no exception.
Both of them held each other’s hands very tightly. Their eyes were focused on Genoveva, standing next to the queen. Katarina felt cold sweat start to fall on her temples. She felt tense because she wanted to have the blessing so badly.
Jovanka also wanted it, but not as passionately as her sister. She just encouraged Katarina by holding their hands.
“Jovanka Novakavic.”
Katarina bit her lip. She was still waiting for the messenger’s announcement, but her expression changed as the leather parchment in her hand was rolled back.
Katarina and Jovanka looked at each other. Both were overwhelmed with confusion after there was no more follow-up to the announcement.
“Excuse me, Your Majesty, is this not a mistake? I didn’t hear Genoveva say my name,” asked Katarina at last.
“I want to speak with my daughter. I ask you all to leave us alone!” ordered Ravijojla to all the Veela who were there.
After all, Veela had left. Katarina began to speak up. “Mum, I don’t understand. Please explain to me: is this a mistake?”
Ravijojla took a deep breath for a moment. She could see a look in Katarina’s eyes that she could not interpret. Tears were already welling up in her eldest daughter’s eyes, and she knew very well that what she said would upset Katarina.
“What you’ve heard is true, dear. I have decided to give my blessing only to your sister in exchange for which you will have magical powers equal to mine.”
Katarina felt disappointed. How could her mother make such a decision? She just wanted to feel what it was like to have offspring. She had a love interest for whom she had already planned their future with the love of her life.
Her dreams, however, were shattered. Her mother chose her sister over her, who had more magic power than a Veela her age.
“How can you be unfair to us, Mum? I have magic power that you have admitted is greater than all veela, but why did you choose Jovie?”
Jovanka was speechless at her sister’s protest. She didn’t know what to do. She also didn’t want to make the atmosphere more tense if she commented on the situation.
“You have great magical potential, but you don’t have the heart to sacrifice your most precious possession for others. I can’t find compassion in you, whereas we Veela will always sacrifice everything we have for our loved ones.”
“Then answer my question, Mum! Does Jovie have that?” asked Katarina, sounding more bitter this time.
“Yes, she has more compassion than any woman, not even myself,” her mother insisted.
Katarina had already pulled her hand away, hearing her harshly. She clenched her hands into fists and closed her eyes. The rage inside her ignited as the ground began to shake violently.
“What are you doing, Katarina?” screeched Ravijojla.
“You said I had the most power of all the veela, and I’m going to prove it to all of you.”
Katarina soared through the air. She had transformed into a harpy woman with sharp fangs and nails. She flapped her wings so that all the light objects around her began to fly in random directions.
“Mom, what happened to Katarina?”
Jovanka had already run over to Ravijojla, who had spread her arms in preparation for the alarm.
“Katarina has become uncontrollable. This is what I’m afraid of; she’s very unstable! Take cover behind me!”
All the veela came to see what was happening. Katarina’s hoarse voice echoed through the air as she said, “Good, you’re all here! I’ll show you what it’s like to be treated unfairly. I won’t let any of you make me feel any more pain!”
Katarina let out rays from both hands. Not only light, but the energy that accompanied it was so powerful that it cracked the rock cliff in front of her. All the vehicles that were there were blown away in various directions. Few of them could still move after hitting the hard objects in the forest; the rest died.
“Katarina, wake up; it’s not you!” Jovanka shouted.
“Of course it’s me, dear sister. You, Mum, chose you over me, and that makes me hate you from now on!”
Katarina extended her hand towards Jovanka. She chanted a spell for her. The next second, Jovanka felt her body being lifted into the air. She felt the pressure on her neck tighten so much that she could hardly breathe.
Katarina’s body in the air was hit by a wave of wind, and she hit the cliff. Instead of making her weak, her body now gave off an increasingly dense black aura.
“You used black magic on your own sister?” screeched Ravijojla.
“I don’t care; you’re all hurting me. I’ll kill you all!”
There was silence after Ravijojla’s powerful clash with Katarina, leaving one of the veelas lying on the ground with a faint gasp.
A soft voice said, “I’m sorry, Katarina.”