Leena’s tears fell from her eyes as she leaned over and hugged her brother. “Brother, won’t abandon Leena, right!? You won’t leave Leena all alone like mama, right!? Leena will do whatever I can for Brother, so please, don’t leave me.”

Although it hurt to have this little girl hugging him, Sora was unable to push her away. Her words resonated with him and reminded him of when Ai was little, and their mother passed. The image of Ai was overlapping with Leena’s face in Sora’s mind. He couldn’t bring himself to abandon the little girl who he did not know. He gritted his teeth as he struggled to lift his arm and patted the small back. “Don’t worry, I won’t leave you. I will make sure you can grow up and get married to a wonderful man who can take care of you.”

Leena’s lips pursed as she lifted her head. “I will never marry! I will stay with brother forever.”

Seeing that angry pouty face caused Sora’s eyes to soften. From everything that had been said thus far, Sora knew this little girl relied on her brother to survive. He knew if he ever abandoned this girl, he would never be able to live up to Ai’s expectations of him. So he made a firm decision right then and there. “Yes, yes. You will be with brother forever. But Leena,” 

Sora decided to become Leena’s brother. Although he was confused as to what was truly going on, he would learn things slowly and hope he could eventually grasp what was actually going on and where he was. But for now, just seeing the big smile on the little girl's face, reminded him so much of his little sister. The smile one wanted to never fade. Sadly he was unable to protect Ai, but he would make sure to protect Leena. But first… “Leena, can you tell me in detail why I feel so much pain?”

Leena almost began tearing up again before wiping her eyes and began explaining what had happened. “It’s all Leena’s fault. If Leena did not tell you what the bad person said, Brother would not have gone to try to fight him.”

It happened a few days ago. Her brother, who happened to have the same name as him, was out searching for things for the two of them to eat at the forest's edge while she was at home doing their daily chores. She was outside doing laundry when Frederick Dunham walked by. “Haha! Motherless and Fatherless child has to do all the housework. This is what you get for being born and cursing your mother to die.”

“I did not curse my mama!” Tears welled up in Leena’s eyes as she yelled at the young boy, who was around thirteen years old. 

“Humph! If you didn’t curse her, how come she died? She died because of you. You're nothing more than a cursed child! I will tell my father to kick the two of you out of the village before you curse us!” Frederick let out a laugh as he walked away. The other village kids behind him laughed along with him as they followed after him.

Leena was unable to deal with such hateful words. She began to cry and ran into the hut. When Sora came home to find the laundry still soaking in the washtub and sobs coming from the house, he knew something had happened. When Sora walked through the door, Leena's tearful eyes turned and looked at him as she asked: “Brother, am I cursed? Frederick said mama died because I'm cursed and my curse killed her…”

Sora’s rage flared up hearing such words. He wondered how anyone could say such a thing to his little sister, who was as cute as a button and had never caused anyone any harm. “Leena, Brother, will only say this once, so listen well. In this life or any other, there is no way you are at fault for how our mother passed away. She got sick, and we were unable to cure her. There is nothing else to it. You are my, Sora’s sister, and I will be damned if I will allow anyone to make you cry. You stay here.”

With that, he ran off into the village. A few hours later, some nice villagers brought Sora back. He was badly beaten and burned all over his body. When Sora was brought home, Leena almost fainted from fright, but she bit her tongue to keep herself from passing out and did her best to keep her brother alive as tears rolled down her cheeks. 

The villagers even warned Leena to tell Sora not to do that ever again since Fredrick had become a magas.

---

“I see… So that happened. I’m sorry for worrying you.” Sora had to admit, he had full respect for Leena’s brother. He ran to fight even though he would never be able to win. But one thing that caught his attention was the word magas. “Leena what is a magas?”

Leena’s eyes lit up but slowly dimmed. “Brother Magas are something that we can only dream about. They are the most powerful beings in the world. One finds out that they are a magas in two ways. The first way is to be tested to see what kind of mage soul you have, and the other is to suddenly display your element. Frederick was lucky and suddenly casted fire magic one day from what the villagers told me. But because they wield amazing power, we mortals can only bow our heads to them. So Brother, please do not try to fight him anymore. Leena will not be able to bear life anymore if I lose you. You are all I have left.”

Sora was taken aback by Leena’s explanation. He had never heard of anyone using magic before. “Lena, can you give me something I can see my reflection in?”

Lena nodded her little head and went over to a spot on the wall and pulled out a small object before walking back over to Sora and handing it to him. The object was an old mirror with intricate carvings in it. It was small and fit in the palm of Sora’s hand. Compared to everything else in the house, the mirror looked to be worth hundreds of times more than the house and all the things in it together. 

When Sora looked at his reflection in the mirror, he completely froze.