A/N - This story is on my Quotev account, under the same name. I will be uploading six chapters at a time until both stories have the same number of chapters. Thanks for reading!

Also, this is going to be a REALLY slow-burning story, so don't worry about Cecilia being only twelve right now because she's not getting a love interest until later, and that's NOT going to be the main point of the story.

The Roman Empire
April 6, Around Midday
24 AD

Cecilia trotted to keep up with her mother, Priscilla, and her father, a musician named Tiberius. She stared blankly at the green, country scenery as they walked, still not entirely willing to believe what her father's profession was making them do. She didn't want to move. At all. She had been perfectly happy back in Rome with her friends and small home and few, familiar possessions. She didn't want anything else, yet those were the very things she had to lose. Her father had sent most of their things ahead with her older brother, Felix, but nothing of her own except the small rag doll that she now held close to her chest was ever going to see her new home.

Cecilia was scared. She didn't want to admit it, especially in front of her father, but she was scared that a sphinx or harpy or lion or some other monstrosity would leap out and eat them all. Her mother and father didn't believe in such things, but one of their neighbors back in Rome had warned them that the leafy trees lining each side of the paved road provided excellent cover for monsters. And what if Perusia was plagued with giants or locusts? What if their new house wasn't sturdy enough to defend them or the crops died? Or maybe their new house would be too small. Or maybe it would be too different. And even if none of that happened, she was scared that the girls in Perusia wouldn't like her. What if the Perusians found out that they were Christians? Would the girls hate her then? Would her father be taken away and crucified? Would her mother be beaten and slaughtered? And what of herself and her brother? Would they all die and join her eldest brother, named after her father, in the Lord's kingdom? 'What if-? What if-? What if-?'

"Cecilia!" her mother called sharply, snapping the twelve year old girl out of her thoughts. She looked down and noticed that she had stopped walking, and little glowing pebbles were beginning to form on the road around her. She quickly reined herself in and sprinted to catch up to her parents, who were several feet ahead of herself. Her father gave her a knowing, stern look, "What did we say about using your abilities? What if someone had seen?"

Cecilia knew that he was only angry because he was afraid for her safety, but that didn't stop the ashamed tears from blurring her vision. She hung her head both to hide them and show sincerity and respect. Her hands discreetly gripped the cloth of her long white tunic and she whispered, "I am sorry, Daddy."

Her mother's hand rested comfortingly on her shoulder, and Cecilia knew that her father's anger was quickly dissipating. Sure enough, she was wordlessly pulled into a hug before the trio began to move again. She stayed close to her mother and stared at the road, only half-listening to Priscilla's soothing alto, "There is nothing to be frightened of, Cecilia. You will be happy in Perusia; we all will be happy. And if you are worried about those gems, do not be. There were not any people close enough to notice."

Cecilia briefly glanced around at the other travelers on the road. There were several merchants, and a few people had donkey-drawn carts or other animals of burden to carry their loads. Everyone seemed to be a Roman citizen, although Cecilia figured that one couldn't always tell, even if her former neighbors all agreed that foreigners were weird and easy to spot and quite frankly unintelligent and savage.

If she had looked behind her, Cecilia would have seen a man not too far back that definitely stuck out from the other travelers. He was wearing a brown tunic and trousers instead of the usual white toga, and he was bald with a large, bushy brown beard. His dark cloak was fastened on his right shoulder, so that it draped over his torso diagonally, although in the back it must have looked like a regular cape. He wasn't abnormally tall or short, but it was clear from his build that he didn't have to do much physical labor. He carried nothing in his hands and kept his gaze fixed ahead of him, an innocent picture of someone minding their own business, and yet the Roman citizens who saw him kept a safe distance.

The man came to the spot where Cecilia had stood just a minute or so before and dropped his gaze curiously to the ground. Wordlessly, he knelt and picked up the largest of the tiny gems and took a moment to study it, rolling it over in his hand and noting everything about it. The gem was perfectly smooth and rounded like a oval, and it produced warmth and a pure light. Then he closed his fist tightly around it, stood up, and began walking again, this time with his gaze flicking to the girl ahead of him and her family.

Cecilia and her parents were unaware of this as they walked. It wasn't until they reached a part of the road with few other travelers that the strange man approached and asked softly, "Excuse me, sir, but is this yours?"

Cecilia and her mother turned their heads as Tiberius faced the man. As soon as Cecilia saw what was in his outstretched palm, she gasped and felt her father pull her behind him. She closed her eyes and concentrated on not slipping up again as her father asked, "What is it to you?"

The man allowed the suspense to torture Cecilia a bit before he looked at the jewel and answered, "Such a gift should not be kept secret from the world. Your daughter has amazing power that she does not yet know. She should not be admonished and hidden away, but she should be admired by all of Rome. Worshipped, even."

Cecilia didn't like this man, and she knew that her parents didn't either. Once before, when she was very young, someone else had found out about her abilities and said the same thing. Her parents had refused and moved her and her brother to Rome, and they would refuse this man, too. But the man seemed to anticipate their response and continued quickly, "She is not the only one with power beyond that of mortal man. Pluto has blessed me with control of the earth, like he has blessed your daughter with these magnificent gems. He has raised us up to be more than what we could be on our own. You should not teach her to be fearful of her abilities."

Cecilia knew that her parents were uneasy with this man claiming that she had been blessed by the Roman god of the dead. They had taught her that she had been blessed by the Hebrew God, and by Jesus his son, and that there was a reason beyond their own understanding for it. Sure enough, her father replied, "I will tell you what I told the others: no."

"Ah, I see," the man responded, his deep voice now hiding some unidentifiable emotion. "But let your daughter decide. What say you, Cecilia? You should be ruling Rome as the gods intended."

'He knows my name!' Cecilia thought with fear, opening her eyes wide. She peeked out from behind her father and tried to answer, but her voice refused to work, so she simply shook her head and returned to hiding behind her father. The man's voice revealed that hidden emotion to be disgust and anger, "You dare defy the gods? This is the destiny they have laid out for us! Do not resist the fates, young one. Pluto will punish you greatly in the afterlife if you disobey! Join me."

Cecilia's mother gently wrapped her arms around the twelve-year-old, who in turn clung closer to her doll. Her father tried to say something to the man, but he spoke first, his anger speaking louder than his words, "You have poisoned your daughter's mind! You have stolen her from the gods! Therefore, I will steal her from you and return her to Pluto, so that he may know that I was not disobedient!"

The ground began to shake, at first just a tremble but then as a mighty quake. Cecilia cried out in terror and cowered into her mother's arms as her father, after a moment's hesitation, attacked the man. She didn't even register the gems forming on the stones around her feet and on her skin as a wall of stone suddenly rose up between her father and the man. She watched in horror as her father turned to them and shouted to run just before another wall blocked him from view. Her mother didn't hesitate to obey and grabbed Cecilia's upper arm, pulling her along until her feet began to work. Cecilia struggled to keep up and fearfully asked her mother, "What about Daddy?"

Priscilla only began to sob as an answer, and Cecilia felt a dread unlike anything she had ever experienced before. Then something caught Cecilia's feet, and she fell with a startled yelp. Her mother was quick to turn around, but the stones wrapped around her feet and kept her in place. Cecilia's blue eyes locked onto her mother's frightened green ones, and she leapt back onto her feet to try to run to Priscilla. But the ground opened up underneath her, and with a scream she plunged into the darkness, her panic finally overtaking her.

She curled into a protective ball and closed her eyes as the ground closed up again, and then she knew nothing. She couldn't hear or see the walls of stone above her melt away like nothing had happened, or see her mother scrambling to the place Cecilia had stood moments before as the stone binding her feet released her, or hear the anguished crying of a mother who had lost her only daughter, or see her father run to comfort her mother, or see the strange man walking away with a satisfied smile. All she knew was warmth and light, and she drifted to sleep.