23 || Two Halves
Morana had made a mistake. It dawned on her as she walked through the castle's halls for the first time in a decade with Damian trailing behind her — the walls familiar yet different. The edge of a blunt dagger pushed against her heart with every room they passed.
These were the paintings that young Viviana had reached up to when she ran past them with her sister. The guards following behind them had struggled to keep up with them in their heavy armour. Only their mother had been able to capture them to put a stop to their antics.
She hadn't seen them since that night — since she fucked everything up.
The necromancer adjusted her helmet, stopping it from spinning around on her neck yet again.
That was another mistake she had made. She should have waited for a smaller guard to come by in the rotation so she could have a disguise that fitted her frame.
Morana had some muscle to fill out the arms of the chainmail sleeves, but not enough to cover the rest. The boots were too big, the chest plate rubbed painfully against her shoulders, and not even the strap of the protective gloves would bind them to her wrists.
If the situation ever arose where she needed to flee, she would have no chance of getting away successfully. Her only option would be to rely on her bones.
"Where are we going now?" Damian murmured despite there being nobody around them.
"We're finding my sister. Though, there's a lot of ground to cover," she thought aloud.
Where were they to start in the hundred of rooms Celnaer held?
Where would Ilyana spend her time? "I guess there's no better place to start than the royal quarters.
" It was still early in the morning by some standards.
Princesses slept in late, right? That was what Morana would do if she still held that title, anyway.
Before she could head for the staircase that branched off into several balconies, a sharp pain twisted in her chest. It was as if a viper had sunk its fangs into her heart and injected its venom deep inside. She leant against the wall, staggering to a stop.
"Bone girl? What's wrong?" Warm hands wrapped around her, but Morana could only focus on one thing.
Underneath her chest piece, her necklace knocked against the metal, fighting to break free. Magic surged through her veins, begging her to turn around.
"What time did you notice one of your colleagues was missing?" Princess Ilyana's voice shattered her agony, severing the serpent with a cool steel blade. The heavy footsteps of a guard followed behind her.
"Twenty minutes ago, maybe?" a man suggested, his words shaking. "I rushed to find Clove as soon as I found out, but it's tricky to find someone in a big castle like this." A forced, half-hearted chuckle left his lips. "Only fate could string two people together in this maze."
"I'm sure everything will be okay. Yofie will be found and there won't be reason to worry any longer." Ilyana's reassurance was enchanting, a powerful magic lacing her tone. Morana found it strange to hear the comfort. The familiar hints of her own voice were odd yet lilted in solace.
Her twin was here and now she was going to die.
Morana's hands shook as the guard that followed the princess stopped before the corridor she and Damian were in. "Soldier! Are you fixed to a patrol right now? I need your assistance guarding the princess."
The assassin didn't know what to say. Every inch of her body was frozen in fear. This was what she was worried about — for a repeat of her last encounter with her sister to occur. As she turned around, she spied shimmering ruffles of azure peering around the corner, so close yet just out of reach.
All she needed to do was grab a handful of bone shards and send them flying into her target. This mission would be over before she could blink. However, as Morana's hands inched toward the pouch hidden beneath her armour, her fingers refused to uncoil from the tight fist they found serenity in.
Damian stepped out from behind her, standing tall as he glanced at the guard. His presence made him flinch.
"Your Highness! You have my apologies. If you require help, I will find another guard to assist me." He bowed deeply, a faint murmur coming from inside his helmet that Morana recognised to be curses to himself.
"I only needed help finding my way back to my quarters," the Fireborn insisted. "I recognise where we are now, feel free to go where you're needed." He motioned for the necromancer to join them, a silent sorrow twitching his lower lip.
"Thank you, Prince Damian." The guard inclined further toward the ground, if that was even possible.
Morana bowed too before joining her new, temporary colleague in following Ilyana down the hall.
She nearly stumbled when she caught her first glimpse of her sister from behind.
Blonde hair shimmered in the morning light, hanging loose in uneven curls.
Her straight-back posture was something the princess had always scolded the young assassin over, the epitome of perfection.
As tears welled in her eyes, Morana was thankful that her armour clanked with every step she made.
Her necklace knocked against her chest plate with such a wild force that she feared it would soon begin to dent it.
She noticed Ilyana also did the same, grabbing her unruly necklace and holding it against her chest so it didn't break the chain it resided on.
They needed to be somewhere quieter if she was going to kill her. Somewhere Morana could have more time to take down this guard and the princess without alerting anyone. Somewhere to give herself the time to find the courage to end this mission once and for all.
She traced her footsteps until they reached the castle's library, the grand wooden doors shining with polish still having stood the test of time.
"I will be at a desk near the entrance," Ilyana declared. "Please wait outside. If I need you, I shall call for you."
"Of course, Your Highness," the guard replied as he took his position on one side of the door.
The necromancer mirrored his stance, taking the other side as a tear slid down her cheek. Her heart thudded so fast that she was certain she would pass out. Her twin was going to die.
"Hey, soldier. What's your name?" asked the guard. "I'll let Captain Clove know you've helped me so you won't get in trouble for missing your shift."
Morana swallowed her sorrow. There would be time to mourn later and she couldn't fail Silas. "I'm afraid I can't give you that."
After a quick glance down either end of the hall to make sure nobody was approaching, she reached down to pull a dagger out of her boot and leapt back up to pull the helmet off the guard's head.
She couldn't kill him now. If any passersby saw the blood her weapons would leave in their wake, it would alert everyone to her presence in seconds.
Before he could pull out his sword, Morana knocked him over the side of the head, catching his body before he fell to the ground.
Pushing the doors open with a kick and a nudge with her hip, she dragged her victim inside the library, praying there was a decent alcove to hide him in.
A chair crashed to the ground as Princess Ilyana stood from her desk. "What's going on?"
The assassin made sure the doors were secured shut before turning around. Between the gaps of the bookshelves, her twin was in full view — a replica of the woman she would have been if she hadn't ruined everything.
Despite the dark circles under her eyes, Ilyana's skin was flawless unlike her own which was littered with wounds and scars.
Her necklace floated above her chest, producing a vibrant azure hue.
It was the same shade of the eyes she stared into — ones she had seen in a mirror for all of her life.
She had the same sharp nose too, the same freckles smattered across the bridge.
Morana's power swirled in her chest, excited tendrils begging to be freed. Only, they weren't thrilled for the death that was about to happen, they were happy to be reunited with their other half.
With a moment's hesitation, the necromancer pulled off her helmet to reveal her purple braid. Half of her face remained covered with a thin layer of black cotton, keeping her true identity hidden in the shadows.
Ilyana staggered backwards, reaching into a pocket in her dress and pulling out a black and silver dagger. "You're Morana The Cursed."
"That's me." A wobbled smile encroached on her lips.
She pointed the blade towards her. However, with the amount that she was shaking, an attack would never do any real damage. "What- what have you done with my sister?"
The necromancer reached for her bone shards, her fingers grazing the sharp edges, but they wouldn't move any further. She couldn't do it. She couldn't kill her twin.
Fuck Silas. Morana had told him time and time again what she wanted to achieve, that she couldn't kill her sister, and yet here she was attempting to complete the job. This was the revenge that he sought, that he had dreamed about for decades, but her revenge involved someone else.
No matter what she did, there would be consequences that didn't sit right with her.
Either, her sister met her end, or Morana would meet hers at the hands of her boss.
Betrayal would only lead to a tortuous pain that would devour her from the inside out, but she was willing to accept it if it meant reclaiming the family she had lost.
She tugged down her mask, dropping her dagger and bone shards to the floor. "I am your sister, Illy."
The princess shook her head, tears streaming down her face. "No. No, you aren't."
Morana tried to reach down into her chest plate, to show her the necklace that matched her own, but the dyonite crystal wouldn't fit through the opening no matter how she pulled on it.
"This stupid thing." She hauled the metal frame over her head and threw it to the ground, glad to finally be rid of the restriction.
Her necklace sprung free and dragged her toward her sister. "It's me, I promise. I won't hurt you."
"Vivi?" Ilyana released her grip on the hilt of her dagger.
The necromancer reached down again, this time into her pocket to pull out a small, velvet box. She opened it to reveal their mother's purple ribbon — the one she had never removed since Silas had gifted it to her. "It's me."
"You- You're," the princess choked on a sob. "But the assassin. They killed you and mother and-" Unable to continue her words, Ilyana rushed forward and wrapped her arms around her sister, burying her face into her shoulder. "You're alive."
Morana's knees almost buckled from feeling her twin touch her again — with a hug that she always used to comfort her when she was upset. Her eyes prickled at the sound of her cries. "Do you not doubt that I am who I say I am? I could have just stolen this necklace and this ribbon."
She needed a reason to go back to the Lost Abyss, to leave her sister behind. The two twins had been reunited, but now what? She couldn't stay and secure her old life. She didn't want that, nor did she deserve it.
Ilyana shook her head and cupped Morana's face.
"You look exactly like me, minus a few scars.
" Her buffered nails traced old wounds — old memories that she hadn't been part of.
"And my magic tells me it's you," she answered between laughs as their necklaces connected like magnets. "How? How are you here? You're a..."
"Necromancer," she finished her sentence for her. "There was never an assassin, Illy."
"But you died. I- I held your body. I felt it." She sniffed, wiping away her tears. "We need to tell father. He didn't believe me that you were still alive at first, but now he has no reason to-"
"No!" Morana grabbed her wrist to stop her from leaving the library. "We can't. He can't know." Her chest tightened, making it difficult to breathe. Facing her sister was one thing, but facing her father, the man she had sworn to take revenge upon, was another.
"Why? What happened to you, Vivi?"
The doors to the library burst open, a loud voice cutting through the permanent silence that the room was known for. "Illy? Where are you? Morana The Cursed is in the castle. We need to-"
The princess stepped in front of her sister. "It's okay, Clove. She's not who we thought she was."
Cropped, crimson hair blazed against the backdrop of the sleeves of books — a fire burning only to protect.
A Wyrith sun insignia was stamped onto her armour, marking her high status within the ranks of the royal guards.
This was the woman who had stabbed her and got away with a bone shard still in her abdomen, but she was also a woman she had once called a friend.
The captain charged at the necromancer with a sword, forcing the twins to part. Ilyana ducked out of the way and Morana dodged the blade by stepping backwards, the weapon not swinging anywhere near where it aimed.
"Stop!" Ilyana tugged on Clove's arm, trying to get her to lower her blade. "That's Vivi!"
"That is not your sister. She's a psychotic murderer with hundreds of kills under her belt." Her grip held strong, the sharpened tip inching closer and closer to the assassin's throat.
Morana watched as the realisation snapped into place in her twin's mind. The curtain of Viviana was removed, leaving only the chaos and suffering of her new title behind.
"I'm not here to hurt anyone, I promise." She sidestepped another swipe at her face, holding back the urge to disarm what used to be her childhood friend. Her magic whispered sweet nothings into her ear, tempting her to kill Clove and finish the job she started.
"Then what about the guard you left in the doorway? The guard you killed and hid in the bushes outside?"
"I had to get in somehow," Morana chuckled, the sound hollow against her chest.
"That was Silas, right?" Ilyana questioned.
"It has to be. He's forced you to do all of these things and you've just been used for your power.
" She nodded as she thought, turning to her sister for confirmation.
"There's no way you would kill people just for the sake of it.
" The princess returned to her side, holding her hands. "Silas is the real enemy here."
"Ilyana, get back. Leave the library and find more guards. Tell them what's happening here," Clove ordered.
"No, Clove. You can't hurt her. We spoke of finding Vivi earlier this morning so we can fix the mess of this curse together and now we have that opportunity." Her fingers squeezed her twin's calloused palms. "I'm not leaving my sister behind again."
"Then, I'm sorry." The captain shoved Ilyana out of the way, knocking Morana off balance in the process. With a fierce twist, Clove buried her sword into the necromancer's stomach, pushing it until it pierced both layers of flesh.
A scream ripped through the air, one that Morana found familiar, yet it wasn't her own.
Blood dripped down her front and pooled at her back, eliciting a deluded laugh from her. "You always had to have the last word."
An extra burst of anger made the captain pull the blade up further, cutting through organs, until she pulled it back out, leaving Morana to fall to the ground.