"Give... me... that... candy!!"

She reaches out from the dad's back, trying to grab that lollipop her dad is waving in front of her. She gets close, and he moves it away from her, apparently, he's teasing.

"Haha! You gotta try harder than that!"

He laughs out in a deep voice. Seeing how her dad is enjoying this, the little girl got even angrier. Her bunny ears perked up, she grabs her dad's horns, started shaking them along with his head.

"Wa-Wow! Ow! Mommy! Help!"

That made mommy giggles, she holds her husband's hand while looking away, trying to hold back her laughs.

"Ha- wha... you brought that on yourself... Show him what you have Apathya!"

They kept on walking, the young father eventually gives in and gives his daughter that little lollipop, the mom giggles, and the little girl got what she wanted happily.

It's desirable, having such a perfect, loving family. It's even enviable, seeing how happy they are. with big smiles on their faces.

Fifth birthday party.

"Happy birthday Apathya!!"

Flashy magic shoots out, bursting into bright colorful flowers in the air, all are cheering for the young girl, the main character of this party.

"Thank you, everyone!"

She smiles cheerfully, showing her gratefulness to all those in front of her.

A young boy walks up, his wavy silver hair flutters as he moves. From his back, he pulls out a small necklace with silver feather decoration.

"H-here! This is for you! It's an Arctic Falcon feather, it will help you with your magic learning!"

His face is beet red, from ear to ear, the little boy can't even look up to the girl in front of her.

She reaches out, receives her present.

"Thank you so much, I'll cherish it."

With an angelic smile, that young girl made the boy dizzy, flustered, trying to give out a response.

"I-It's nothing!"

He runs back to the table, all of the adults are laughing from those cute children.

On the side, her dad is talking to his friend.

"Hey, thank you for helping me made this party for Apathya."

"It's nothing, you're my friend, and this is her fifth birthday after all."

"Ha! What a friend you are. Your boy's fifth birthday is next month, isn't it? How about I help you out with that?"

"I'll appreciate it then."

"Krystella! I bet ya got some awesom' presents for ya girl, eh? Show it to us!" - A man calls out, looking at Krystella, Apathya's mother.

The beautiful mother smiles dearly in response, her long brown hair and floppy bunny ears move as she turns to her daughter.

"I did. Too bad I can't show it to you. Apathya, come with me after the party ends, okay?"

Little girl tilts her head in confusion, but still say "Yes" anyway.

After the party, everyone went home, and the little girl followed her mother's words. She happily walks down the corridor, stops in front of her mother's room, and knocks on the door.

"Mommy, I'm here."

"Ah, give me a second."

The door opens soon after that, Krystella is holding something behind her back.

"Come, let's go to the yard."

The little girl walks in the front, and her mother followed behind.

They arrive at the yard, it was almost sunset, and mommy finally pulled out what she was hiding, some item wrapped in white cloth. She undoes the wrapping, slowly reveals a small scythe with a strange laughing skull decoration. The blackened metal blade seems almost glistering as the afternoon sun shines on it.

"This is mommy's and daddy's present to you, marking this 5-year checkpoint of your life. When you were born, through identification spell, you are shown compatible with magical scythe weapons, so we got you this."

"A scythe... it's... beautiful..."

"Here, Apathya, take this. It's a living weapon, it will grow with you on your journey in the future. So, take care of it well okay?"

She reaches out, takes hold of that scythe in front of her, awing the beauty and craftsmanship of this item. Although it's strange for parents to gift their children with weapons at such a young age, to demonfolks it's nothing out of the ordinary. When a child of the demon race is born, their most compatible weapon is identified through a spell. Thus, it's also a common thing for parents to give their children that one weapon on their 5th birthdays, the age that they start to grow.

"All right, I want you to hold it out in front of you, and repeat after my chants."

Now that the weapon was gifted, Krystella proceeds to teach Apathya her first magic, summoning.
Apathya follows, slowly repeating her mother's chants

"Oh animabus pereunt, hic colligentes. Contractus volo. Praebueris robore tuo, mihi do vos mae vitas. In mandatum meum, VENI AD ME!!!"

As they shout out the words, a black mist started to form, swirling around Apathya. Her eyes are closed, not knowing about what's going on around her, she only cares about the magic she's using. Soon after, a laughs echo in her head.

"Kekekekekekekekekekekekeke, a potential meal~"

The mist condenses into a floating ball, a shock wave burst out, pushing the little girl on to the ground.

"Wha! What?!"

"Oh my."
Krystella's, the mother's, eyes wide open; she clearly wasn't expecting this. Meanwhile, Apathya is still on the ground, gasping in shock as there seems like a black flame flying around her.

"What is... this?" - Apathya asks.

"WhAt do yoU mEAn 'whAt is tHis'?! yOu SUMmoNEd mE!" - The black flame let out a twisted, ghastly voice in response.

Krystella places a hand on her cheek, expressing her shocked state and wonders.

"You really surprised me. This is a demon soul, you summoned him Apathya."

"Wha- A demon soul?! But how?!"

"At first, I only intended to teach you the chant to summon one with that scythe, and have you start your magic practices. I didn't expect you to actually did it on the first try. You really do have talents!"

The appearance of that demon got her by surprise, but at the same time, she was also happy, knowing that her daughter is going to be strong if her talents were shown at such an early age. Apathya, on the other hand, didn't really understand that. She wasn't aware that summoning a lesser demon to have them work under her, at five years of age, is something extraordinary.

"So this guy...?"

"He will be your servant from now on, why don't you name him?"

"YA YA! GImme a NaMe! A gOoD onE!"

After hearing Krystella, the black flame demon soul bursts out in excitement, revealing its face, a strange grayish white skull, with its teeth slanted, looks like it's grinning.

"Urg- Eh... a...." - That almost-creepy appearance of the demon scares Apathya a bit, but she soon gains back her composure - "Since you looks like you are grinning... and that laughs you made earlier... Joker?"

She was unsure, only saying the first thing comes to her mind.

"JokER eh? Good! GOOd! I LIke iT! JOkeR it IS thEn."

"Seems like that is settled, Joker, listen to your master all right? As her mother, I won't forgive a familiar going against her."

"Aye eyA! I won'T!"

"Good, now for the time being, would you mind going back into the scythe?"

"No nEEd foR me rIghT now EH? Wel I dun't caRE! ByeAA!!"

Just like that, Joker turns back into a black flame, fly back into the scythe and disappear.

Apathya is still in awe, still unable to grasp the situation.

"Apathya, come here, let's go back inside."

"Ah, yes mommy."

As they walk through the corridor, hand in hand, Krystella looks at Apathya in concern.

"Apathya, how are you feeling?"

"Me? I'm feeling fine."

"Really, are you not tired?"

"No, mommy. Is there a problem?"

"Ah, no, it's nothing."

They continued walking.

Krystella thought to herself:
"She's much more amazing then I expected... Summoning magic is only commonly seen done by teenagers and above... She accomplished it on her first try when she's 5, and not even feel any exhaustion! Her talent... if trained properly, she can become much greater than me..."

"Mommy, you look worried..."

A little voice made Krystella snaps back to reality; she looks down to her daughter, who's looking at her like she's worried for her mother.

"Oh, I'm sorry, it's nothing."

"Really...?"

"You're quite perceptive aren't you? Don't worry, it's nothing bad."

She gives out a gentle smile to comfort her sweet little girl.

They soon arrive at Apathya's room. As she opens the door and goes inside with her new weapon, she is stopped by her mother.

"Hold on honey, I want to tell you a few things."

"Yes?"

Krystella then kneels down next to Apathya, with her hands on the little girl's shoulders. She looks straight into Apathya's eyes, and start talking in a serious tone.

"First, I will start practicing magic with you from now on. Other than those times, I don't want you to use magic unless you really have to."

"Eh...? Why is that?"

"You're talented, extremely so at your age right now. That talent you holds is way too much for you to control. Without my watch, you can be in great dangers if your magic goes overboard."

"I'm talented?"

"Yes, you are. I have never seen someone that can perform summoning magics at your age, on their first attempt, and not even feeling any exhaustion in the slightest. That's why I'm saying you're talented." - She paused for a moment to catch her breath, then continue - "But listen close to my teaching here. I want you to be humble, and use that talent in the right way. Do not boast about your strength, as you can never know, someone out there can be much stronger than you in some ways. Also, use your strength to protect, not to hurt.

Apathya has troubles catching up to her mother's teaching, but still try to listen and remember everything as Krystella keeps going.

"I know you are a good girl, and smart, too, so I believe you will take my words to heart, and follow it. Can you do me a small favor? Can you live up to that selfish belief of mine?"

The young lady is surprised by such a serious talk from her mother, so she stands there in silence, trying to process her mother's words. After some thinking, she finally replied.

"Yes, mommy. I promise I will not boast about my talent, I will be humble; and I promise I will use my strength to protect, not to hurt. It's a pinky promise."

She then holds out her little pinky finger to her mommy, along with an innocent smile.

Krystella smiles back, also holding out the pinky finger. Their pinkies entwine, and with that, Mother feels peaceful at heart.

She stands back up, waves goodbye to her daughter.

"I'm going back to my room now, I'll call you when it's dinner time. Also, don't forget your writing and reading lessons, okay?"

"Eh- okay..."

Apathya immediately sulks as she hears that, even on her birthday, mommy is totally not forgiving.

Krystella turns her back, and go back to her room. Now that Apathya's talent is revealed, she will have some more works to do.