She was bred into this. One would think they would have removed, beat out, the desire from her. Removed it from all of them. But there she stood on the stage, watching her best friend on auction like a prime piece of live stock, and all she wanted to do was run.
There were three of them this year. Two girls and a boy who had been raised together since they were babies. They were the gifted, called Sintov. Three out of maybe a hundred that still existed in this world. Left over from an invasion of their world 300 years ago.
The Empire and the Stinov lived on parallel worlds ghosted, shadows to each other. The worlds were identical and yet different in so many ways. Where the Sintov race was peaceful, the empire was power hungry and military strong. The Sintov had magical powers, strong gifts, passed down from generation to generation, the Empire had none. The two worlds lives in peaceful existence, viewing the shadows without being able to interact with them. That was until the Empire attacked.
Not able to stand not having control over the shadows. The Empire's greatest scientists created a gate able to travel to the other world, allowing them to move their large army. They went to destroy the world, instead they discovered magic, their plans changed. They no longer wished to simply destroy, so they wouldn't have to watch a world that wasn't their own. Now the power for themselves. So they began to imprison the Sintov. Bringing them back to their world as slaves.
The once peaceful race was now forced into war, a war that lasted fifty years. Hundreds of Stinov were dragged to the other side. But the blood poured from both sides. While the Sintov weren't a violent group of people the gifts they had made a powerful and fearsome enemy for the Empire. The numbers were beginning to dwindle on both sides. The Empire couldn't send as many troops to the new world, and the Stinov were beginning to die out. It was a bloody and gruesome war, until the battle of Port Grening. The Elders of the Stinov devised a plan to destroy the gate. In the middle of the bloody battle they combined their powers throwing themselves into the gate, sacrificing themselves to save their people. The gate was shattered, the bond between the two worlds broken. The last of the Empire on the Stinov world fled for the mountains, they were left in peace.
But the Sintov that were captured did not meet as kind of a fate. They were enslaved. Used for the good of the empire. Over time the empire learned to harness the Sintov power. But slowly the Stinov began to die off. Terrified the empire started a breeding program, named the Temple. It worked to a certain extent, babies were born, but only a few were gifted. The bloodlines were too thin at this point, the Stinov became a rare thing. Once slaves that so many people had, they were now an item only the rich could afford.
