Daughters of the Enemy

597 years ago

A little girl limped into a room and fell onto the floor.

A man rushed over. "Nevnera?"

"Father... the Poison of the Dark Flame... Mother... she..."

The man gasped, then muttered, "The Poison of the Dark Flame?" He felt the little girl's arm. "No internal energy?"

"She cursed us! Our internal energy transferred by Mother cannot counter the poison and will temporarily vanish when touched by the poison!

"You and Iraliyn? Where is Iraliyn?"

The little girl shook her head. "Iraliyn says, she has other internal energy! She also said, the fatal blow of the poison, can only be destroyed by the heart's blood of a perfectly healthy close one!"

"I will cure you." the man said quieitly.

"Father, I do not want you to die!" She clutched tightly onto the man's hand.

Present

A woman stood at the back of the room, facing a wall. She stood very still, as if frozen. So frozen that her long brown hair was in the exact position it had been hours ago. Her dark brown eyes pierced forwards that it would seem like she would burn a hole through you if you stepped in front of her gaze.

This was the Sorceress of Avhunin, Eteirea, the one who had caused much chaos in the world.

Many—especially the citizens of Cevenain— imagined her to be an old hag with dark black hair floating behind her and feathered eyelashes surrounding wild violet pupils.

But she was much different than that. She had once been the daughter daughter of a noble family of Avhunin. But nobody knew what happened that caused her to turn into who she was.

A light flashed near the entrance of the room. Her daughter appeared. She shared all her mother's features, except for her eyes, which were pale green. "Mother, we found information on the war."

"Ah, Nevnera!" said Eteirea, turning around. "I did not expect you to report to me. Was it not your sister's job?"

"Yes, Mother." Nevnera whispered.

"What news is it?"

"A while ago, precisely 2 weeks and a day, we heard an explosion coming from the Endless Abyss. Our researchers pondered about this for many hours each day. They aren't sure yet, but thanks to the previous exploration—"

"The one on time travel?"

"Yes, that one. Thanks to the previous exploration Iraliyn assumes it was a bridge between time. According to the vibration it caused, a couple of beings traveled through the bridge. Those beings would have met the 2 scouts from Cevenain that we forced into the Abyss."

"But how? The Abyss is endless."

"Mother, I can't believe how mystified you are. We realized the day of the bridge. If it was endless, there would be nothing to create the explosion."

"Good."

"You were testing me."

Just then, the musty curtain at the entrance of the room flipped open. A woman stumbled in. This was the queen of Avhunin, a woman Nevnera had known since she was a small child. "Miss Eteirea, is this enough for you? Can it stop yet?"

"No, absolutely not!" Eteirea thundered with a sudden anger in her voice, as if she had transformed into another person entirely. "I'm not stopping until we diminish Cevenain for once and all!"

The queen, whose name was Reyna stuttered, "But—Miss! Before this war started, before you came—"

"What about before I came?!" Eteirea snapped.

Reyna faltered. Whenever Eteirea was furious at someone, or even something, mostly for disrupting her plan of sorcery, she would speak in that tone. Whenever one heard her speak like that, even Nevnera and her elder sister, Iraliyn, they knew something horrible was going to happen to them.

She whimpered, "B-before you came... this world..." Reyna strengthened her voice. "This world was a world of peace, of harmony, and of kindness. You have changed it all. Now chaos is all around, innocent people are murdered, and evil is in the world. How much blood of the people of every kingdom has been spilt to end this—"

"Before I came, many wished to see this world in the reign of one kingdom! If not, there would be arguments, fights, and everything else! When we diminish Cevenain, the weaker kingdoms will follow its downfall. Then, Avhunin will be the only kingdom left for the world."

Nevnera, who had been listening the whole time, thought from the corner of the room,

Mother, this time you're wrong. Only you desire a world ruled by one kingdom, and that kingdom would be ruled by you, not the rightful throne.

In a flash of light, she disappeared from the scene.

Later, she snuck out of the mountain and flew towards the castle of Avhunin. There, she found Reyna standing facing the outside of the castle at the topmost tower's balcony. She glided down to the balcony.

Reyna turned to her. "What are you doing here, Nevnera? You clearly know that you will be sent to death when either the guards or your mother finds out you are here."

"You wouldn't let the guards kill me, would you?" She said softly.

Reyna sighed. "If you had never come here... no. But now that you come here... for the sake of your father, I will not."

"You know my father? Nevnera said, astonished.

"He was my eldest son and successor to the throne of Avhunin."

"Y-you..."

Reyna locked eyes with her. "Yes, I am your grandmother. You have the royal blood of Avhunin flowing in your veins."

That night, after Reyna had gone back to her castle, Eteirea resumed her frozen position facing the back of the room. But the small fire in her eyes had flickered out and now she was in a calm state.

She held her forehead in her hand and squeezed it. "Think! How can you fight this horrible curse? Eteirea, what would Zvosel say if he was here? He is the eldest. Zvosel would say... 'I told you not to use the panel! You should have listened to me!'

No, what would Ceradeyn say? Out of all my siblings, Ceradeyn understands me the most. Maybe it would work better because he is my twin. Ceradeyn would say... 'The only way to reverse the effect of the panel is to relocate the gems, the center piece, and your destiny thread.' And then I need to shift the gems three slots counterclockwise."

Eteirea thought for a moment.

"But how would I have time before I destroy everything? Each month I only have one night of sanity!"

"Iraliyn, have you ever considered about disagreeing to Mother's actions?"

"Nevnera, what are you up to this time?" Iraliyn sighed. "I haven't considered, but I'll think of considering soon."

Nevenra nearly laughed. "'Think of considering soon?' "

"Do you even know what Mother's plan is? She never spoke of it to us. Mother only ordered us to do things."

"Yes, I know. Just a moment ago, I heard her conversation with Queen Reyna, and Mother forgot I was there, I think. Reyna stated what the world was like 'before we came', and Mother retorted with her opinion of what the world was like before."

"What is her plan, then?" Iraliyn said, knowing very well what her plan was.

"Simplified, to rule the world. She's trying to diminish Cevenain. And the other kingdoms, when Cevenain is gone, will follow the downfall. Then, she needs Avhunin to be the only kingdom in this world, so she can control the monarchy by, which means she would be ruling the entire world through the royal blood of Avhunin."

Iraliyn gasped. "That's terrible! Why didn't I tell out of her actions earlier?"

"She was keeping it a secret. Mother's smart. She wouldn't just let us figure out like that. If we did figure out, we would probably abandon the plan."

"I guess Mother did use us to succeed on steps on her plan... so, what are we supposed to do?"

"Don't ask me..."