The wind swirled, my hair flew around me. I looked down at a running river from a cliff. It called to me, begged me to jump in. Clinging onto the branch of a tree overlooking the drop, I smiled as I watched the deep river bubble and bounce, waves rich and pulling like a thick sheet. I lifted one of my bare feet and dangled it over, blinking as I felt water vapor spraying me already. I felt alive.

I closed my eyes. I could not be broken. I was strong and cool, sturdy and levelheaded, like solid ice. I was bright and passionate, and painfully deadly like fire. I felt the blood of my ancestors strengthen me, but I knew I should not use my powers as crutch.

I was raised by a loving, sweet mother and aloof yet caring father. They were my adoptive parents, and I only knew them a short while, but I would never forget them. They taught me valuable life lessons, how to be polite, how to share and eat my greens. They took me in, fed and clothed me, truly cherished and loved me, when my biological parents were dead or abandoned me.

I had been deceived, however, and soon torn from my parents. My grandfather, and great betrayer, threw a little girl into a lab and performed a heinous, abominable experiment. He force fed me knowledge and grew me into an early adult, meaning to sell me once I immerged. How could he!

Yet, I was strong.

He tried to break me, but I was unbreakable.

I looked down at the river below me, still holding the branch. I reached up with my free arm and wiped the tears from my eyes. The past was in the past. It would guide me, and it physically was within me, but it was only the start. I looked down at the river, strangely free. I let go of the branch and leapt off the ledge. Pebbles crumbled and tumbled off the cliff as I fell into the water with a smile on my face.

Whatever I faced next, I was both born for it and trained to face it.