"Luna! I'm home from work!" I heard my mother call to me from the wooden door of our little cabin. We weren't like the rest of the family's here. We were what the people call witches. We can't help it, but it's still illegal in the city of Alberlore.

I was working on my painting of a forest in the living room when she walked in. "Hey! Whatcha doin?" I smiled and put down my small paintbrush covered in different shades of green. She looked as pretty as she always was. Her long, sleek, black hair was covering her shoulders in a perfect ponytail. Her purple eyes gleaming with happiness as they always were when she looked at me, and with her dark skin glowing in the moonlight she looked perfect.

     Her compared to me, people wouldn't think the two of us were even related, and they wouldn't believe us if we told them that we were mother and daughter. I have long, wavy, silver hair that goes down to my shoulders. I am very pale, and one of my eyes is a baby blue, whereas the other one is a combination of that and an electric blue.

     "Just finishing my forest painting."

     "The painting you've been working on for months?" I blushed. "Y-yah." She hugged me. "I'm glad your almost done with it!" I awkwardly hugged back. "I am to hehe..." She let go of me and turned towards the painting. "Woah..." She looked at the picture with awe I'm her eyes. She took in every detail in it. The colors, the trees, the small creek that ran through them, the bright, white, full moon that made it all come to life. "This is amazing!" I could feel the red rising back up into my cheeks. "Thanks, but it's not that amazing..."

     "What are you talking about??? Of course it is! You truly have a gift from the gods! If only you could show it to the world..." She looked down. She had to raise me away from socialization to lower down the suspicion of us being witches.

     In this city, if you're female, it's an 95% chance that you're a witch, according to society. To ensure that you're not one, you have to go through the Witch Trials. It's optional, and very risky, though some people will go to any lengths just to be accepted by society.

    Here's basically how it works, you go through certain tasks, and some of you pass it's a good thing, whereas other times you pass, it can be very bad for you. For example, you go through a task to see if you can swim. If you get to the surface, it's game over for you.  The reason is it's believed that only witches can swim. But there is a task where you have to read a scripture from the bible in front of a crowd. If you can get through it without stuttering or falling over your words, then your ok. If you do anything wrong of these challenges, then you die. Which is why it's so risky.

     Sometimes you are forced to do these Witch Trials. If any of your neighbors report you doing something out of the ordinary, they report you to the city guards. The city guards then take you to one of the camps, and wait till they start. Some of the "out of ordinary" things you can do for you to be put in is being a single woman with no kids, being single woman with lots of kids, especially if your neighbor had a miscarriage. Being a young or elderly woman or girl, keeping a big secret away from society, or having any type of pet. They also check your house once every month, that's when I have to hide.

     "Anyways! The real reason I came is to ask you if you would help me make dinner?" I nodded, "Yah, just give me a few minutes for me to clean up everything."

     "Ok, just try not to take to much time," She kissed the top of my head, and went out the room. I sighed, getting off my stool, and walked up to the window. It's a full moon tonight. It's where our powers are most active. I hope the guards don't come check the house tonight. It's hard for me to control them. I closed the curtain, and looked around at my small room.

     In the left corner is where my bed was, with a bedside table next to it with only a candle on it. Behind my bed was where my bookshelf was. I loved to read. It was a good way to get away from reality and into your own universe where anything and everything is possible. Then in the right corner I had my canvas and art desk. Then straight ahead of me was my door. Sure it was a small room compared to others, but it was still cozy and mine nonetheless.

     I walked away from the window to the door, passing some unfinished drawings on my art desk. As I opened the door, I heard knocking on the front door. I quickly shut it back and ran to the window. There were two people in shiny silver armor. The guards.
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