Prologue: Beginnings
Since my twin and I were little, we were always told that we were special. It was highly unusual to have a sibling in the village I grew up in, so to be blessed with twins was an incredible rarity. Our mother had the name Senna already picked out, to honor our grandmother, but when two arrived instead of one she named the other girl Kylita, after herself. We were winged-elves, we had the ability to fly at will, but in our village it was not looked to kindly.
Senna and I had a bond between us that no one could seem to understand, we shared emotions, could tell when the other was hurt, and we were hardly ever found apart from each other.
At the age of ten, our father had given me a bow and told me to shoot it at a target that was put up against a tree behind our little shack. Senna told me that my eyes got so wide that it looked like I was going to cry. I remember picking up the bow and how it felt a bit unnatural in my hands. I looked to him and told him I couldn’t. Disappointment filled his face and our mother walked out and smiled and shook her head, and told him to give my sister a turn. Senna eagerly grabbed the weapon from his hands and aimed at the target with an intensity that vibrated in the air. The arrow hit the target, and joy flooded her face and my father told her that he would start her training in archery the following day.
I felt a wave of disappointment flood over me, and my mother sat and put her hand on my shoulder. I looked up at her and she smiled kindly and told me she had a surprise for me when father took Senna to train with the bow.
Early the next morning, my father and Senna ventured into the woods to begin her lessons in archery. My mother helped me get ready and we went to the clinic in town where she worked. There were people coming in with different illnesses and injuries. Some looked like they were about to fall over right where they stood. My heart longed to help them, but mother kept pulling me along. We got to a room with a little boy laying on the table. He had a gash on his foot and he was crying. Mother looked at me and sternly told me to heal him. I looked up at her and almost felt my mouth drop-- my mother was never this forceful with her words. She said it again and I turned to the boy and reached for a bandage on the counter.
Mother smacked my hand away and told me to use magic. Then I realized she was trying to prove me to be a cleric. I nodded at her and lifted my right hand, channeling my energy into healing the boy’s wound. I then placed my hand on his foot and watched as the gash closed up. My mother smiled and told me that I was to work with her now.
That was the first time Senna and I found something we didn’t have in common. The more we were helping our parents the more we began to long to be together again.
At the age of fifteen, our parents announced to us that they had picked us both husbands we were to marry at the age of nineteen. I looked to my sister and she shook her head. It was tradition that your parents were to choose who you were to marry, unless you decided to leave the village. I could tell that she didn’t want to marry someone picked for her, and I felt the exact same. We didn’t argue with our parents, though, we agreed to meet with the boys. We did so reluctantly, deciding that it was best not to hurt our parents.
We found the two boys to be quite odd. The one who was to marry my sister was named Shakin, and he had this unnatural obsession with her. He would follow her everywhere and beg for her to just be with him day and night. The boy I was to marry was also weird, but I almost never saw or heard him, but he, too, liked to follow me, without saying anything. His name was Raiang. He grew out of his shy stage after a few months, though, and eventually Senna and I had to put up with both their advances.
Over the next couple years we were escorted and followed by our husbands-to-be. They knew we weren’t interested, but that only doubled their efforts to get us to fall in love with them. My sister and I, on the other hand, were constantly trying to escape, lingering in unfrequented areas , sneaking off into the woods, or even just locking ourselves away in our home after we worked with our parents.
The day of our nineteenth birthday was the day that my sister and I were to marry Raiang and Shakin. We sat in front of the mirror in our room the morning before the event as our mother took turns fussing with each of our hair. We looked beautiful, and our mother told us so constantly. There was a sickness in my stomach that grew with every passing moment and I knew that Senna was feeling the same way. Mother's preparation stretched on for hours, and eventually, she made us to look like the type of girls that belonged on the arms of men instead of the creatures of nature that we really were.
“We could run away…” I heard Senna say as our mother left the room. I let out a small sigh, we had both voiced the possibility to each other many times. “If we don't, we will belong to them. They will be able to do whatever they want to with us, and I can't stand the thought of that.” As the heavy words fell from her mouth, she stood up and turned to look at me, a fire in her emerald eyes. The dress she was wearing was pure white, beautiful, but it completely contradicted her personality. She was about to go crazy, I knew it from the way she twitched when she heard the footsteps from outside.
“If we did that, we would never be allowed back, and we would never see our parents or our family again,” I said, knowing it was the same argument that we each used when we felt the hopelessness of the situation. The words made her tense, and I knew that she wanted to leave but not so bad as to never be able to see our family. “I mean really, maybe it won’t be so bad…” I say, cringing at the lie that I just said.
“Yeah, maybe, come on, we are going to be late.” She grabbed my arm and pulled me from the room. Our hands locked together as we exited the hut and made our way to the middle of town, where our small wedding was to be held. My palms began to sweat and I felt light-headed. As we approached the growing crowd, we were surprised at the size of the event. Almost the whole town was there. Our father was standing next to the elder on a platform in front of the crowd. Raiang was standing off to the right of them, and Shakin was on the other side.
“Kylita, Senna, please step forward.” The elder’s voice echoed over the crowd; he didn't speak very loudly at all, it was the power and authority with which he said the words that made him seem twenty times more louder than he actually was.
Senna and I reluctantly separated our hands and walked up to the platform, taking our spots next to our soon-to-be spouses.
“Today we are here to bring together two young couples brought together my their parents' will and join them in marriage...” The elder started talking and I began to space out. I knew I should pay attention but it started to occur to me maybe Senna and I should have run away. I looked up to see Shakin throw his arm around my sister and her eyes filled with disgust. I was waiting for her to punch him, or anything but, to my surprise and horror, she just lowered her eyes accepted it. This was not my Senna. Raiang reached for my hand and I smacked it away, Senna looked up at me, shocked, and I heard several gasps and murmurs from the crowd.
My eyes met my father’s and a small smile of approval formed on his face just before an arrow pierced right through his head. “Dad…” I gasped.
My vision started to swim and I started seeing dark spots. I could no longer hear the screams of the crowd. Through the panic, elder began issuing out combat orders and directing us to move. Suddenly, a shrill cry entered my ears and I looked over to see Senna trying to fight free of Shakin, who help her back as she tried to make it over to our father's collapsed, lifeless body. “I need to heal him…” I said shakily, reaching my hands up to let my magic flow, and sarting toward him.
The elder grabbed me roughly by the arm and pulled me away. “There is nothing you can do for him!” He said in a stern voice. I began screaming at him, hitting him and trying to fight my way to my father.
I saw several of the archers grabbing Senna, keeping her away as well. I leaned down and put my face by the elder's hand and bit him, causing his grip to loosen just enough for me to escape. I ran towards Senna and kicked one of the archers in the groin, and she shoved an elbow into another's neck while slamming another to the ground. Our eyes met for a second and then we were running towards our dad in time to see an army of Wraith warriors making their way towards our village.
“What is going on? Why is this happening?” I scream. I heard a small cry and turned to see Senna's eyes on father’s body. Pain filled my chest when I saw Mother lying there, too. “Mom…” I said, “Mom! Get back they are too close!” I couldn’t stop myself from yelling out to her. Tears filled my eyes as I tried to run towards her, but Senna grabbed my shoulder and I stopped. I looked back to her with shock-filled eyes, not understanding. When I looked again, I saw the poison that took our mother’s life seeping from a wound on her side.
“We can’t stay here. We've got to move” Senna said, trying to sound strong. The tears streaming down her face gave her away. I turned away in defeat and we ran toward our home, to grab anything that could help in the upcoming battle.
“This isn’t going to end well,” she said, grabbing her bow and a quiver of arrows. I ran to our parents' room and grabbed several different medical supplies; every type of medicine would be needed, I knew it.
After getting all of our supplies, we made our way outside to see what we could do to help. I noticed several of the wraiths already running around, and setting homes on fire. Others were draining the life force from the archers on the front lines. I saw Senna start to draw her bow, but I touched her arm, “We aren’t going to do much, we should get who we can and run.” She looked at me for a long moment, I could see the desire of revenge burning in her eyes. I shook my head and spoke softly, “We wont be able to do anything, even our best archers are falling.” She looked over to the oncoming wraiths and back at me. She nodded and put her bow on her back.
We turned our backs on the oncoming wraiths and began to look for others who couldn’t fight. Instead, we ran straight into our fiancés. They looked at us with longing but they didn’t say a word. Instead, they both ran straight to the front lines to try to hold off the wraiths. “They weren’t bad, just clingy.” I said, getting a smile from my sister. We found the Elder at the farthest point of the battle. He was talking to an orb that he had formed in his hand.
“Yes, it is all going as planned…” He said, trying to be secretive. Senna looked at me and I shrugged. “Just a few more minutes and you will be able to take the whole village.” I felt my mouth drop and Senna’s had a similar expression. She slowly reached behind her and drew an arrow and her bow, aiming it at the Elder’s head.
“Turn around,” I heard her say. The orb in the Elder’s hand disappeared and I heard a laugh emit from his mouth. He slowly turned to face us with a dark expression.
“It’s too late, you idiotic girls.” He said. He flipped his hand and Senna’s bow disintegrated. She looked alarmed and tried to back up, but stumbled. “You two, instead of seeing the signs, you were both too focused on your inevitable fate to marry two who you did not love.” He snorted, “Your parents were so excited to be marrying you off to two of the most powerful boys in the village, they, too didn’t realize what was happening, and that’s why they are dead.” I nearly lunged at him but he waved his hand and I fell to the ground, unable to move.
“Why?” I said. Trying to find an answer in his eyes-- anything that could explain what he was doing.
“This, my child is how I am going to acquire my Demon power. You see, when you get to a certain state, you can either to choose the light path, or the dark path. And I chose the dark. I made a contract with the Wraith king, giving him my village to feed on, and take whatever he wanted in return for my Demonic power.” He laughed hysterically, loving the ability to boast about his part in slaughtering his whole village.
“You idiot.” I heard a familiar voice from behind him. A silver light pierced through his right arm. A cry left his mouth as he turned to retaliate but was met by the tip of my mother’s wand at his throat. She was shaking and very weak but she somehow managed to hold herself up. “Hurt my children... I will kill you.” She said as energy formed on the end of her wand.
“Dear Kylita.” He said, aiming it at my mother. She flinched, then shoved her wand hard against his neck. He grabbed it and her eyes widened. A spark of lightning exploded from her wand and everything was swamped in blinding light. I closed my eyes tight and heard a scream, but I wasn’t sure if it was my own or my sisters. When the light faded, the elder was holding our mother by her throat, her body still and no longer full of life. He threw her to the ground and turned his attention back at us.
He started walking towards us, but then he stopped, turning instantly pale. A black aura was floating through the air, surrounding his body. My body could finally move. I sat up and crawled towards the forest, my sister following close behind me. When I looked back, I saw a giant wraith approach the Elder and begin to consume his spiritual energy and his body. “You were a fool, for trusting me.” The thing growled before sucked up the rest of what used to be our elder.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For several hours-- or was it days? It felt like an eternity-- my sister and I sat high in a tree and cried. We were clinging to each other, tears and agony mixing together, mourning for our village, for our parents. After a while I found myself asleep, reliving my father’s death as the arrow pierced his skull right in front of my eyes, and then the dream shifted to my mother, how she tried to save us with the last ounce of energy she had left. Then it switched to Senna, clutching her bow, and being consumed by the beast that devoured our Elder.
I woke up screaming, with a fresh stream of tears falling down my cheeks. I felt Senna’s arms wrap around me and we sat there for a few more moments, until we were both calm, and the pale sunlight was hitting us through the trees. “We need to leave.” She said, shakily moving to jump down from the tree. She grabbed me by the arm to haul me along with her. It was time to push the images away and try to forget, I realized.
“We need food and water. We can try to see what we can find from the remains of the village. And maybe we will find some survivors.” As I said this, I got a cold look from my sister. “Plus, we can grab you another bow.” She sighed and started walking towards the village; I followed close behind her, seeing our home in a form that could only be conjured in nightmares. All of the homes were burned to the ground, there were bodies everywhere, but none of them showed any movement. I saw Senna pick up a bow and test its balance in her hand, and then slung the weapon over her shoulder. I found several different potions that I could use and put them in a bag I found on the ground.
“We are never going to get anywhere in these dresses.” She said, ripping a slit in hers and hacking at the skirt with a small knife until it was a little over her knees. I did the same with mine, but left it a little longer. “I think we should try to travel to the capital city for the Winged-Elves, and we can report what happened. We will be safe in Plume City, I think.” She smiled and then her back shifted a bit, and stared at the wings that were there, they were white and beautiful. We usually were not allowed to fly, unless the Elder knew, but seeing as he was dead, it seemed like a good idea.
I let out a sigh and a similar pair of wings formed on my back and lifted me up in the air. It felt nice stretching them out, but under the circumstances it was a bitter feeling. We rose above the trees and began flying in the direction of the capital.
~~~
“Kyli.” I heard Senna say after a few hours of flying in silence. I looked up to see her point towards a cave under us, where two people were standing, one looked injured, while the other was fighting off a couple of scorpions trying to get to them. “Should we go help?” she asked. I looked back towards the injured man and began descending toward the situation below.
I landed right beside the injured man, who seemed to be a Winged-elf also, and was desperately trying to heal himself. “Here, let me help you.” I say, placing my hands in front of me, sending the healing energy out to help sooth his wounds. I looked behind me to see Senna shooting rapidly at the Scorpions as the other man swung his sword, trying to keep the fiends off of his comrade. I let my heals flow out and engulf them both, healing all of the wounds they were getting from the scorpions. After Senna sent one last arrow through the last scorpion, we all collapsed, and stared at one another.
The man fighting looked at me for the first time, and I realized he wasn’t an elf, but an Earthguard. I had only ever seen an Earthguard once, and that was ]the Elder from a faraway place, who visited once every few years. I stared at the glowing symbol on his head and how much more muscular he was than any other elf I had ever seen. I blinked and stopped staring, realizing how rude I was being. “Hi, I’m Senna, and this is my sister, Kylita.” Senna said, breaking the silence that was awkwardly growing.
“Well, greetings, My name is Kuradain, thank you for your help.” The other man, the cleric, said. I noticed he was almost completely healthy again.
“I’m Theste.” The EarthGuard said, and then a smirk formed on his face. “Would you two like to join a faction, its new and very small as of now, but we are trying to get members.”
Senna looked at me, and I looked back to her. “What do you call yourselves?” I say.
“OneDay.” Kuradain said, a grin forming on his face.
I looked to Senna and almost cracked a smile, we were both thinking that the name was ridiculous, but we really didn’t have anywhere else to go. I nodded at them and Senna did too. “Yes, we will.” We both said in unison.
“Great.” Theste said. “Welcome to our family! As I like to say, 'Someday, One Day—we will prevail.'”
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