Chapter 1 - Birthday: Part 1

Sunlight filtered through a thick blue curtain, illuminating a small room located in the attic. Right by the door was a large wooden desk, painted white, and a swivel chair. Under the desk was a trash can filled to the brim with some papers, soda bottles, and salty snack wrappers. On the desk there was a laptop in a silver casing, a pile of notebooks and books, and a tiny lamp. Above the desk there was a large shelf with a lot of books - from textbooks, through readings, to romances. Here and there, there were photos framed in colorful frames and many other ornaments such as jugs, figurines, etc.

There was a large wardrobe opposite the desk, and its door was decorated with baroque ornaments of flowers, angels and animals. Next to the wardrobe there was quite big, pink dressing table with a large mirror, framed in a wave-shaped frame decorated with tiny roses. There were make-up cosmetics scattered on the dressing table, and a small box, probably containing the owner's jewelry. There was a decent oak bed by the window, and a tiny bedside table right next to it, which only housed a lamp, a small alarm clock, and a telephone. The bed, on the other hand, was made of varnished wood and solidly covered with blue linen, painted with pink and purple flowers.

The room belonged to Selene Monroe, a teenage girl with long black hair, navy blue eyes, medium height and a slim figure. She was named after the Greek goddess of the moon, and it matched the color of her eyes. Selene was just sleeping on her bed and from under the duvet, which was pulled literally over the head, there were unruly black strands of hair spreading out across the pillow. Several times the girl rolled from side to side, making a moan, the sunlight was clearly disturbing her sleep. Eventually Selene gave up and opened her eyes, which were still a bit sleepy and hazy, so she rubbed them with one hand movement and rose slightly on the pillow. Out of habit, her gaze drifted to the alarm clock set on the table, which showed 9.00 o'clock.

-"God, I overslept!"- that thought flashed through Selene's mind and she immediately sprang to her feet.

As Selene nervously opened the wardrobe door, wondering why neither the alarm clock nor aunt had woken her up, she suddenly looked at the calendar. It was July 20, 2016, middle of summer holidays... And something else.

- Right, it's summer holidays....- Selene tapped her forehead lightly.- Also, today is my sixteenth birthday... I wonder what my aunt is preparing for me.- she wondered, falling back on the bed.

Exactly, what was she preparing? That was a very good question. Aunt Meredith was unpredictable but truly wonderful. She took care of Selene when her mother and father died and was like a real mother to her, Selene even called her like that when was a little girl. But aunt was never angry because of it, since even without this many people thought she was Selene's mother anyway. And all because she had the same surname - Monroe, and Meredith was her mother's sister. The sometimes funny situation came from Selene's parents being cousins - her father, Nathaniel Monroe, was the son of Namida's and Meredith's father's brother, Lucius Monroe. Mother's name was Namida Monroe. Fortunately, aunt's age refuted the idea that she was Selene's mother. Meredith was only 27, which would have meant that she had to gave birth while being 11 years old. This made the whole situation clear, and many people were touched by this story, since they all thought that someone needs to have a really good heart to take care of someone else's child. Meredith, however, did not find it anything extraordinary, after all, Selene was the daughter of her beloved sister. She considered it more of her duty as a member of the close family, which, however, turned into a pleasure.

Lying on the bed, Selene wondered what her aunt would do today for her birthday. Eventually, however, the dream crept into her mind again, interrupting those gleeful thoughts.

~~~~~~

Meredith had been bustling around the kitchen since 8 a.m. She usually got up two hours earlier because Selene was already leaving for school at that time, but now it was still a vacation time. Meredith was just squeezing orange juice and put some jam on the toasts, preparing her niece's favorite breakfast, at the same time making coffee with ham and cheese sandwiches for herself.

Meredith wasn't an ugly woman - she was of medium height, with slim and athletic body, had shoulder-length raven-black hair and hazel eyes that contrasted with pale complexion, making her the real personification of Snow White. Men were often highly interested in her, but she knew it was not necessarily because of beauty. Meredith was a sorceress, and that was what she considered to be the main lure. Meredith was born in a well-known family, which gave her a peculiar charm which no creature could resist.

All the time she thought intensely about today - her niece had sixteen birthday today. As the protection imposed on Selene by her mother was no longer working, had to find out who she was. After all, her power will for sure be released soon, and if that happened before Selene knew the truth, she might be shocked, and that couldn't be allowed to happen. Meredith only hoped her niece wouldn't react to the revelation with a hysterical scream. The world of magic, and not only, needed Selene more than ever. The struggle between good and evil, Light and Darkness, has never been so fierce as in the last few years. Everyone, including the demons, knew that something great was about to happen, that a decisive clash was about to come, which could seriously tip the tide of victory on one side. Of course, it will not end the eternal war between Light and Darkness, this conflict will last as long as the world exists, but it would give a significant advantage for one of the parties.

The Monroe clan was an old and powerful family in the magic world, owing to its "purity of blood," which meant that for generations no member of the clan had broken from the regular pattern and never associated with other being than a wizard or sorceress. Namida was her sister, two hundred years older, and Meredith loved her very much, they practically never parted. But when Nathaniel, their uncle Lucius's son, showed up, everything changed. Namida loved him so much that she was able to go against her own family, who believed that a feeling like love should never be born between such close cousins. But that didn't stop her, and even less Nathaniel. In the end, they got their way and married, and two months later, Namida became pregnant. It was then that dark clouds began to gather over them - five months before the birth date, Nathaniel was killed by a demon named Salvatore - he was clearly not given a chance to see his daughter. Namida was ready to follow in his footsteps, but the realization that she had to take care of the baby prevented her from taking this tragic step. On July 20th, year 2000, she gave birth to a baby girl and named her Selene, for on the night of her birth the full moon shone in full radiance. It turned out that her daughter was special, because she was born exactly one thousand years after the birth of the previous "chosen one". Namida was aware of this, so she put a seal on her that would break on the day Selene will turn sixteen years old. Unfortunately, Namida was attacked by a demon that was sent to kill her daughter, however, when he realized that could not attack the infant, got angry and killed the mother.

The mere mention of this story made Meredith's heart ache, as she blamed herself for not being with her sister at the time. If had been there, she would have sensed the demon's presence and would have warned Namida because Meredith had such a gift. She felt completely useless at that time... But as soon as Meredith saw her niece, she loved Selene like her own child and promised not to let her being hurt, even on a cost of her own life.