The Morning Star's Tale

"The Morning Star's Tale" is a [SEASON NUMBER] thread started on [IRL DATE] and finished on [IRL DATE].
==Summary==
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==Full Text==
“Once upon time, in a small, unremarkable cottage, a baby was born to loving parents. As far as they knew, she was an ordinary child - which was comforting.”
“You see, both parents had a... rather unusual lineage. The mother was descended from a line of star-touched individuals: beings who could wield the powers of seraphs and stars alike. The father... while his bloodline was a mystery to him, his mother had possessed power in her own right - a sort of magic that could devastate and immolate.”
“For their child to appear ordinary was no small relief to these parents. In their corner of the world, unique beings - that is, beings whose abilities were considered outside the normal realm of magic - were persecuted, and often captured and butchered in order to discover the secrets of their power. The parents rested easily knowing that their daughter would never be hunted.”
“Little did they know that their peace of mind... was a lie.”
“One of the great celestials foretold the arrival of a new star-touched to the realm of Men, and saw this arrival as a threat. However, as near-immortal beings, the concept of time does not mean the same thing to seraphs as it does humans. He mistakenly believed the mother to be the star-touched - after all, the power had never skipped a generation in her family before, so logic dictated that she was the star-touched who threatened him.”
“The seraph descended upon the cottage with righteous zealotry, reducing the father to little more than ashes with a flick of his fingers. He hunted through the home, his bloodlust piquing whereupon he laid his eyes on the mother. He tore her to shreds with his taloned hands, laughing all the while at his success. When there was naught a shred to identify the mother by, the seraph took his leave; completely unaware of the sleeping infant in the rooms above.”
“It wasn’t until the following morning that the infant was discovered, having screamed herself hoarse upon awakening. She was taken in by her godmother, the lady of the land, in secret. She grew up happily under her godmother’s watchful eye until her fifth birthday, when her world changed overnight.”
“It’s fascinating how it hardly occurs to people that power does not just bloom overnight. It takes time, it takes growth, and - most importantly - it takes an impetus.”
“On the eve of the girl’s fifth birthday, that impetus occurred. As her godmother approached her room to retrieve the girl, she became overwhelmed by a power presence. She saw a blinding light under the door, and heard a thousand, thousand voices speak. The voices spoke in every language, known and unknown, and every timbre. When the presence diminished, she pushed open the door to discover a monumental change had come over her charge. The girl’s white hair had become pure silver, her pale blue eyes had become deep, glowing sapphires, and her dappled skin had become like porcelain. While not afraid of the child, the godmother experienced a sort of revulsion upon looking at the girl. She was... too perfect, too symmetrical to be human.”
“Like the girl’s parents, the godmother also feared the girl’s fate, and determined it would be safest to send her to a monastery. There, she reasoned, the monks would be better suited to protecting and teaching the girl.”
“The godmother was partially right. The monks were indeed able to protect their newest acolyte, however they accomplished this through extreme isolation. When it came to teaching... the monks incorrectly assumed that the girl was a magical adept. In order to teach her to control this, they summoned a scholar - a renowned wizard and teacher - to tutor her.”
“For five years, the wizard taught her all he knew of magic under the assumption that her age was hindering her ability to cast. Upon embarking on this task, he gave the girl a focus for her power - a wand - for he, like the monks, assumed she possessed magic on a scale hitherto undreamt of. To the monks, the wizard appeared kind, patient, and understanding. However, behind closed doors, the wizard was cruel, impatient, and abusive.”
“As the girl came into her own body, the wizard grew more and more angry with her lack of progress. Not knowing any better, she internalized the wizard’s opinion of her: that she was talentless, that she was stupid, that she was a waste of space. The wizard’s ministrations became stricter and more severe, and when the girl tried to bring his actions to light, she was accused of dishonesty. As a result, the girl began to internalize and bottle her emotions.”
“Within the girl, a perfect storm was rising, one that would change her life forever.”
“During a fateful magic lesson, the wizard struck the girl with his staff, drawing blood and forcing her to her knees. On instinct, the girl threw her hands out to protect herself from another strike, and... the wizard was blown from the tower study, whereupon he plummeted to his death on the rocks below. No magic had been cast, and yet the girl had managed to kill the man without laying a finger on him.”
“Something within the girl snapped. By the time the monks arrived to investigate, the entrance to the classroom was nigh impenetrable. Great wings of light had blossomed from the girl’s back, and her eyes glowed brighter than the stars. She was surrounded by a spinning vortex of wind, one so powerful that it had picked up every loose object, as if it were collecting an arsenal. The monks had no choice but to wait for the storm to subside - to wait for the girl’s newfound power to exhaust her energy and incapacitate her.”
“The girl was locked away for two years after that, isolated except for sessions with the monastery’s docent. In this time, the monks concocted a plan: the girl would receive the markings of their order early, but only to conceal what the deemed necessary - marks of inhibitance, in order to ensure she could never be a danger again.”
“No sooner had the marks been applied did the monks send the girl across the world in the hopes that the remote destination would keep her from wreaking havoc. As the girl set sail, they breathed a collective sigh of relief. She would never trouble them again.”
As she finishes her tale to no one, the Shadow chuckles to herself. “And now... now she is mine.”