Chapter 18 - Firelights

                                    

                                          
6 YEARS LATER...
              A deep, angry rumble came from within my chest.
              It was a noise that I had been making frequently.
              My lion and I were angry and rightfully so.
              Looking through these reports had frustration bubbling up from inside me.
              I clenched the reports in my hands tightly.
              I huffed and wondered how it became like this.
              Everyone was happy one moment and the next?
              Well, everything went to shit in a matter of hours.
              Hours.
              I released the poor report from the death grip I had on it and used of my hands to touch the big scar that was on the top of my head.
              I would rather reminisce about the past than read report after report of how more shimmer was being produced. Of how more of it was being sold. Of how more of it was being exported out of the Undercity and into Piltover.
              It had been six years, and everything had only gotten worse.
              The only difference?
              I didn't have my family with me.
              My pride.
              I learned the word from my lion. 
I had gotten better at communicating with her over the years. 
My lion had named herself Amari. 
A name that meant a possessor of great strength.
Amari told me it didn't just apply to the physical kind, but the mental kind too.
Amari explained she was what my soul would look like if I became a spirit. She said that when I passed, we would become one again and we would return home to the spirit realm where my mom currently resided. I grew sad at the mention of mom, but she told me not to be because our mother was at peace. She even told me that our mother had gained great influence within the spirit realm due to her heroic acts.
Amari's words at the time brought tears to my eyes.
After I had calmed myself down, Amari said that the arcane had blessed my family line with the ability to shift into our true form, but that ability hadn't shown up for generations because of the things my ancestors did. The magic in our veins stripped because of our greed and lust for power.
I remember I had scowled at the mention of my ancestors abusing their gifts.
 When I asked Amari then why I had my magic, she told me that my mom's soul was deemed fit to once again be blessed by the arcane, so that was why I had my abilities. She said that didn't mean the arcane wasn't watching over me. She said that it was still wary of the blood that flowed through my veins but has been pleased ever since I had first shifted.
I questioned why Amari was talking like the arcane was sentient and she answered that's because it was.
Amari explained it was a living force of magic that had been around since the beginning times.
Hearing that made me feel honored that I was blessed by it.
Unfortunately, my thoughts moved from those happier memories of Amari and to the night that took everything from me...