(Aziel)

Now, for months I couldn’t see her. They always kept us together before. Both of us were of the view that they wanted us to grow closer, form a bond and then they would rip us apart.

When you spend 13 years locked up together, you are bound to grow closer, no matter what you try. She had lost her son and I, my mother. We filled those black holes with each other.

Their crazy experimentation, the injections, the torture, and gene splicing finally turned me into a monster.

I lost myself, my magic was already gone, buried somewhere.

I was made to fight the Dread Army in my monster self. They would hurt me, chop off parts of my body, only for it to regenerate again.

They would laugh at my condition. My screams from the agonising, unbearable pain would go unheard. I was trapped inside that hideous monster, unable to escape, unable to shift back.

"He is going to be the final boss in the Inter Guild Wars. The last-minute decision," one of the Reavers laughed with the other.

Inside a gigantic metal cage, I was transferred to a dark cave and left there. There were two other hideous creatures. Must be created from other Faes. This made me sick, vulnerable and angry.

I knew no one would come to my rescue. But I was proven wrong. In walked she, with three other people.

I screamed inside the monster until my throat ached.

Amaia...the very first look at her and I knew she was my sister. My heart crazily leapt seeing her. I continued to shout but only monstrous screeches escaped me.

My sister was alive...the joy that bloomed inside my heart ignited a ray of hope, the one I hadn’t felt in so many years.

She had survived and grown up into this unstoppable warrior. Not only that, she could command all elements. That meant she was no ordinary Fae, she was an Omnifae. The fiercest, the strongest among our kind.

The thought of them finding her truth unsettled me. What if they hurt her?

The way she fought with her companions, I couldn’t have been prouder. Maybe she would kill me and end my misery. It would be better than dying every day, if I died once.

She flew towards me, embroiled in rage. Her wings were majestic behind her. The sword of our mother was drawn forward ready to pierce my heart. The way she wielded it, capturing the true essence, feeding it with her powers.

The moment was ironic and yet I was only proud of her.

But something extraordinary happened. Amaia somehow sensed me inside. She stopped her companions from hurting me. Once she touched me, my appearance began to change. The one that hadn’t for months and I was sure would never.

Amaia’s mouth hung open, eyes shone with recognition of her own blood.

She knew. My beautiful baby sister had helped me transform. We held each other and cried and I tried to tell her as much as I could.

I wasn’t sure why she was here but I knew she wasn’t with Istrale. They seem to be taking part in what the Reavers were referring to as Inter Guild Wars.

Amaia fainted in my arms and I wrapped my arms around her, holding on for a few more seconds before I would faint again and she would be taken away.

My eyelids were already becoming heavy. It was then that something silently twisted around my wrist. Curiously I observed that it was a lock of silver hair, half of it was still tied around Amaia’s wrist while the other half created this bridge between us.

Before I fainted, the lock of hair left her and completely wound around my skin.

When my eyes opened again, I was back in the cell with Queen Adrnia. She was holding me, letting my head rest in her lap.

"Aziel, are you alright?" She softly questioned.

So much abuse, such a long incarceration and yet she never lost her loving side. She had been here for 19 years, even longer than me and yet that hope of reuniting with her son kept her going.

Slowly, I raised my head from her lap. My throat was dry like a desert but I didn’t care. Using my tongue I wetted my cracking lips and faced her.

A slow smile crawled on my parched lips. "There is something I need to tell you..."

A shard of hope shone in her eyes so I began to quietly reveal everything that had happened.

"Amaia is alive?" Queen Adrnia placed her hands on her mouth in shock.

"Yes and this was around her wrist, now it’s bound around mine. I don’t know who it belongs to." I raised my wrist and showed her the lock of silver hair. It was twisting, around my skin going round and round.

She drew in a sharp breath at the sight. "Fascinating, it’s a lock of someone’s hair." She gently pressed her index finger against it and it coiled around her skin. "It has strong magic, not some ordinary magic inside it."

We were still talking when two guards appeared. The lock quickly hid under my sleeve. They menacingly laughed.

"It’s your turn. Say final goodbyes," they mocked with hideous laughs.

They threw open the door and grabbed my hair, dragging me out.

"Ssss!" A hiss escaped me. "Where are you taking me?"

"Don’t hurt him," Adrnia requested but they appeared deaf. "Let him go." She tried to fight with the chains holding her back but there was not much she could do.

"Remain strong Aziel," I heard her encouraging words. But deep inside, I knew this was it for me. They were going to end my life. I was dragged out and the door of the cell was closed behind me.

I wasn’t sure where they were taking me but it couldn’t be any place good.

They continued to yank me along, my broken, frail body had no strength to fight them. My legs and feet were scraped from being dragged against the hard surface.

And then something extraordinary happened. The lock of hair left my wrist and slithered like a snake. Climbing the clothes of the guard who was dragging me. It coiled around his neck and began to choke him.

"Aaaa!"

Instantly, he dropped me. His hands went around his neck, trying to wriggle himself free. His body shaking, eyes bulging out and face turning blue from the lack of oxygen.

"What? What is that?" The other yelled, horrified, trying to help his buddy.

But the other end of the lock became pointed like an arrow and stabbed the neck of the second guard, right where the jugular vein is.

A fountain of blood sputtered out as the guard crumbled to the ground and fell over me, making me hit my head hard.

My vision blurred, and the other guard screamed. My silver helper continued to choke the other guard.

Before I completely lost consciousness, I saw Amaia and a few other figures rushing towards me.

"Aziel," she called out. "I am here...." 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

My vision tunneled and I fell into darkness before she could reach me.