Murderous Tesla Coil

Meditating was cut short for Gemini. Her sister's heart rate increased too high, making her nervous. 

"Oh, dear sister,"Gemini said to no one. "What are you doing?" Slipping Into her favorite parka, she rushed down the hall in the direction of her sister's aura. A magenta sphere pulsed rhythmically in the courtyard. 

It had been about six years since the illusionist had apprenticed High Priest Kadman. Her flow spells, which allowed her to perceive the smallest grain of dust with all five senses, had long been overshadowed by her new spells. Conjuring mirages so convincing the air seemed to heat or cool to match whatever biome she conjured. Just last week she conjured the mountains of Amphigur II, the heat from awakened volcanoes rolling off the stone ground convinced her mother that she was on the volcano planet. Though Gemini was sure the Emperor was being nice.

Not only had her mirages created sights and sensations that her targets could perceive, but she mimicked the tastes of foods and drink with as much ease as she had replicating songs of many cultures. Her magecraft had allowed peaceful negotiations during the most hostile times. Even warring Commanders who were at each other's throat would leave negotiation with a nostalgic smile on their faces, a crisis averted by the clever illusionist. But Princess Gemini had a different way of dealing with things than her sister.

Princess Aquarius had been training as a warrior of sorts. Gemini didn't understand her twin's interest in upholding the law with unnecessary violence. Tales of how the telepath had made a general kill his leader had been whispered throughout the Empire. Even Gemini, who spent her time meditating or casting spells, had heard tales of the Figure, the black dressed assassin employed by the Emperor. Gemini knew the Figure was Princess Aquarius, out on missions to wipe out threats to their mother, Emperor Haethora.

Almost tripping as she raced down the stairs, her hand darted for the railing. Steadied now, she continued to race down the steps, across the foyer and outside. The knight guarding the door hadn't noticed the scene brewing in the courtyard.

"Is something wrong princess?" the Cerulean knight sent to guard to the doorway to Her Radiance's castle.

"Just open the door," she told him. Gesture for him to hurry up, she snapped at him; Aquarius' aura flared again, like lighting flashing from the heavens. "Hurry up."

The knight shrugged. With a claw gloved hand, he pulled the double door open. Before he'd opened it all the way, Gemini slipped outside. 

The skies were dark, heavy with storm clouds. The air was warm, humid even. A storm was coming.

The courtyard was full of bushes trimmed to model beings of light called angels. A verdant sea of grass stretched as far as the horizon, the landing zone for the Emperor's Transported ship a mile away from the castle. The Emperor's ship is a large egg, round yet silver. On its side was her motif, the cup pouring light into the sun of Amun. Beside the hatch door at its base, it had no features. It stood on three legs that kept the egg from touching the ground. 

Aquarius sat amongst the angel bushes. Dispelling her perception magick, Gemini could see her sister was also meditating. It wasn't a calm trance, the air around the mage igniting twigs of angry plasma every so often. Furrowing her brows, Aquarius's jaw was clenched so tight it made the back of the Gemini's teeth hurt. 

"Aquarius," Gemini said aloud. Approaching her sister cautiously, static frizzed the braids that hung past her collar. "Aquarius what is this?"

"I'm meditating." the telepath answered abruptly. 

"Yes, I can see that." Gemini spun slowly, noticing how the range of the statically charged air grew. It was ten feet around the telepath. "But I think you have the wrong method. Meditation is meant to be peaceful, not… intense."

"I know." she snapped. Her frown deepened, agitation pinching her lips together. She was gritting her teeth now.

"If you want, sister," Gemini took a step closer to the telepath. She was an arm's distance from her now; the static that rolled over them had a fifteen foot radius. "I can show you the right method to achieve mindfulness."

"I'm not trying to be mindful. I'm trying to…"  whatever message the telepath had relayed faltered. 

"Trying to do what?" 

"Do you think I'm too aggressive, sister?" The question came with a series of images. A high priest yelling at Aquarius. Tears falling from a violet eye. Uncertainty.  A distorted image of a girl staring at a warped perception of herself. More tears. Sorrow.

Was she hurt? Did someone say something that offended her? The apathetic Aquarius had been disturbed by someone's words. 

Sitting beside her sister, Gemini said, "I think you do what you can to make mother happy in your own way."

"That's not what I asked." The current that rolled through the air was calmer, less random where the plasma ignited. 

"Well, what do you want to hear?"

"The Truth. Am I violent?" another series of images. These ones from the telepaths point of view. It was a collage of assassinations of rebel leaders and traitors. Lightning fried the minds of mages who committed treason. Brains melted from the noses of rebel kings. Telepathic schemers were made mindless vegetables with a thought. "Am I just a murderer?"

The question struck Gemini with a well of emotion. Was her sister a murderer? She was sent to eliminate all threats to their mother and the Empire. But even Gemini had found peaceful resolutions between the most stubborn of warlords. Aquarius simply turned that violence back onto the rebels. The image of a bald orange mage being stabbed by her general played in Gemini's mind. 

Was that what this was about? Did Aquarius begin to question what she was doing? Were her morales finally being questioned?

Gemini couldn't bring herself to lie to her sister. After all, the telepath was skilled in deceiving falsehoods. "I think what you do is a tad… overboard."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning," Gemini inhaled as she prepared the best way to tell her sister. "Meaning you are… aggressive when it comes to dealing with issues."

Aquarius said nothing for a moment. Gemini didn't receive more mental images either. The plasma around them had calmed, though it still remained in size. 

"Thats not a bad thing. It is your duty, as the bearer of San Jupero's role, to be aggressive when dealing divine punishment. If you didn't smite the foes of the Empire, you'd be failing as the saint's successor."

The telepath's aura flared a moment, perking up. The plasma in the air rolled gleefully. Gemini watched as her sister's face brightened. The clouds above parted enough to allow the blue light of the sun shine on them. The guard at the door peaked at the Princesses, cocking his head at the strange sight. 

Two princesses, sitting on the lawn. We must look like one of Mother's paintings.

"Do you think I'm a monster, Gemini?" The question was simple, though its answer was complicated. 

Of course, Gemini didn't think her sister was a monster. She was only doing as she was made to do, to exterminate threats with force. 

But the way she did that, it was like torture. A sadist's playtime as she fried the brains of her targets and disintegrated others with the Bow of San Jupero. That was monstrous behavior. Darkness overtook the sun again.

"And what if i dont hate being a monster? What if I like doing those things?"

A shudder ran up Gemini's spine. A jolt of plasma rolled over her. Was that on purpose?

"What if being a monster is just who I am?" More metella images flipped across Gemini's mind. A figure in black. Cloaked in shadowy robes. The bow in hand, the crown on head. A gray sky behind the Figure- Aquarius- lighting streaking across the darkened sky that reflected the one above. 

Gemini couldn't muster the strength to tell her sister that she wasn't a monster. She wasn't some violent murderer. A psychopath. She wanted to tell her sister the lie that would calm the telepath, she needed to. But when it came to it, she could open her mouth, her tongue refusing to lie. 

Lightning flickered overhead. The telepath's words were almost as loud as the thunder. "Do you fear me?"

Gemini jumped, clutching her chest. Her heart pounded in her chest, hammering against her hand as she held it. Aquarius had opened her eyes, turning her head to stare at her sister. She still sat cross legged, the preferred position for meditation. Plasma danced through the air again. 

"No," Gemini choked. "Not at all, dear sister. I love you.'' She placed a hand on he rsiter;s shoulder, but froze when her sister frowned. 

Aquarius pointed a finger across the lawn at the real Gemini. The mirage beside the telepathic twin shuddered. "Then why are you standing over there while your mirage coddles me?"

Gemini watched her mirage exchange a glance with her. She only conjured the spell to avoid her skin burning in the plasma. Its no that she was afraid-

Lightning flickered again. Thunder carried the telepathic message. "Leave me alone, deceiver!" Plasma burned in the air. It crept out from the telepath in magenta branches. The air around Gemini's real body burned, electricity almost zapping her outstretched hand. Retreating it just at the right time, she watched the Grdens's angels go up in flame. They fell in ashes the moment the plasma licked at them.

Gemini found herself running back inside, wanting to address her sister, to tell ehr how she truly felt, how she thought she felt. Instead she shoved past the guard at the door. AS she ran up the stairs, Gemini only thought one thing. 

I have no sister. Just a weapon in my twin's guise. 

Gemini found it hard to meditate that day. Instead she conjured a mirage of a tesla coil, reflecting the way her sister's aura looked