Embracing my chaos

Do you feel it?” someone whispered, her voice filled with concern.

“Definitely…it feels surreal, to harness such power…it is dangerous though, Serenai” her sister responded, her voice becoming hushed in the end.

“Agreed, but remember, we’re not alone here, we must be very cautious, someone might see you channeling, you know what happens to such people” Serenai told her sister, with a racing heart. Her stern eyes and trembling lips reveal that fear for her sister’s life since she is the only family she has in this heinous realm. Losing her seemed like a nightmare, she would not want to delve in. Even the thought of it scared her.

In the treacherous lands of Sonne, magic users are hunted for any use of power as they are thought to be children of sin. Serenai fears for her sister as she has shown her powers since her early childhood. They are orphans, who live near the village of Furtherealm, to the north of Sonne. Sadly, vigorous haters of channeling reside nearby, who are said to gruesomely cut off the hands of any channeler they see or even burn them in a manner that cutting hands seems an easy death. Such rumors trouble Serenai; she remembers that the ruling council is said to hunt and eliminate those with magical powers, viewing them as a threat to the stability of the kingdom.

Little did she know that their parents vanished for the same cause, leaving them to survive on the fringes of society, for years they tried to live relatively normal lives. However, no matter how they tried to do so, Naera felt extremely pulled to the power, to the appealing spark of magic. She could hear its call, a pulsating power boiling within her veins. Her sister cautions her against ever revealing her true powers, but the allure of magic was difficult to resist. As for Serenai, she did not display any affinity for magic, the spark has never called her. For that she was grateful, since she came to show no affection for the thing that took their parents away from them. Instead she found solace in doing some mundane human work. 

However, that comfort would soon be lost again. One doomed night, the sisters returned home after gathering some herbs, ambling deep into the woods that guarded their hidden haven. That evening Serenai did not feel right, her heart did not find comfort, she felt a coming of imminent danger. The forest was too quiet that day, that hush troubled her. 

“Do you sense it? Something is not right” Serenai told her sister.

The moment she shared her concerns with her sister, suddenly from the depths of the forest, cloaked figures emerged, their faces hidden by dark hoods. They started running towards them, shouting slurs at them, calling them sinners. They advanced at them with merciless eyes gleaming with madness and fury.

Serenai instinctively tried to run to Naera to shield her from the attackers. However, her sister did not need such assistance. At that moment, some magical, surreal weaves emerged in front of her sister, she wove a protective barrier that held the attackers away from them. Unfortunately for the sisters, the attackers had a long history of fighting against such wielders of power, so they definitely knew how to handle such weaves. In that moment, some tall man revealed a weapon that he used instantly against Naera, shattering her defense at once. The weapon struck Naera down to the ground. 

Serenai watched in dread as her sister fell before her. The cloaked men briefly revealed their faces, and their cold, cruel expressions caught her glimpse.They took both sisters with them. Serenai tried to resist them, clenching her small fists at the cloaked men. Her attempts proved to be in vain as someone punched her in the face, making her lose consciousness.

The cloaked attackers swiftly captured and took the young girls to their heavily guarded camp within the woods. Without a doubt, they had baleful intentions, eager to eliminate every evidence of magic, including wiping out the innocent ones.

Serenai came to her senses, still baffled by what had happened to them, she saw her and her sister tied to the chairs. Serenai’s attempts to get them out proved to be to no avail. Instead she looked around the tent to inspect everything, trying desperately to find any clue, any hint that might get them out of this heinous camp. The camp was a dreary place, concealed in darkness, where prisoners ultimately embraced torture and agony as old friends. 

Suddenly one man entered their tent, an interrogator she deduced. 

“I am Sorion, the chief interrogator. As you might see, my darling, someone saw your sister’s channeling. A horrifying sin, my dear, you know that” he said.

When she tried to retaliate, he intercepted and stated “you are born with sin, we as men of honor should eradicate our holy world of such wickedness”.

Serenai looked in horror after hearing these words. But these words did not cause her to feel fear for herself as she had no hope for herself, she felt scared for her beloved sister.

Sorion started to interrogate them trying to extract information of whether the sisters knew of other channelers. This agonizing questioning took two or more days with small interruptions for some water for their prisoners to keep them somewhat alive.

Naera was the one who suffered more from his relentless interrogations, each day driving her closer to the edge. Serenai, her only family, tried to comfort her, despite enduring the same overpowering torture. Their bond, forged through years of isolation, was stronger than the agony. But as days turned into weeks, their resistance seemed to shatter as Naera’s health deteriorated quickly under the constant torment. It was evident that she would be the first one to go. 

This evening Sorion tortured them even more mercilessly, they could not bear the pain of having needles under their nails. He especially focused on Naera as she was the one seen channeling, Her spirit unraveled under this pain. Serenai tried to meddle in her torture, shouting and offering herself instead to save Naera from this agony, even if it would be for a moment.

Despite her pleas, Sorion still chose to torture Naera. In her final moments, she still found power to whisper some words of love and support to her sweet sister before letting pain and agony take over her spirit.

Naera’s hollow eyes met Serenai’s; at that moment she felt like a million, no billion glasses, piercing through her skin, they reached out to her soul. With Naera gone, her humanity she badly clung to before withered that evening. She released a cry that could pierce the sky down, she cried relentlessly, releasing everything that she dug deeper inside of her. 

Yet she felt something, something deep and obscure called for her.

Then when Sorion tried to kill her to end his task, she awakened something within her. Her scream resonated the camp along with a wave of weaves, chaotic weaves, billion weaves overwhelming Sorion and shattering the camp. The spark within her after all these years finally reached out for its owner.

The camp was ultimately shattered, Serenai managed to leave a trail of chaos and devastation with dozens of lifeless bodies and some people still clinging for their lives. She found her sister’s body and mourned her. She found herself not wanting to leave her, her only sunshine, her only hope for a merry life.  

While some pleaded to be saved, suddenly some man appeared in front of her, some villager she guessed. When he saw the lifeless bodies, he instantly started shouting slurs at her. She did not even turn her head towards him, instead she raised her palm, weaving something, something dreadful and horrifying. Her weaves caused the instant death for the villager and the remaining people, by blowing their heads and ending their suffering. She could only watch in awe as it happened, as if her spark allowed her rage to come true. After embracing her sister’s body for the last time, she fled into the dark woods.

“If she was really the daughter of sin, destined to scorch in hell, then I am too, ready to burn as well and I would take everybody with me” she murmured, ready to set on a path of vengeance for her innocent girl.