Tortured Lives

Chapter Five: losses

A small bat-like demon flew to his master’s encampment, an excited look on it’s mutilated face. “Lord Hiyoko, Lord Hiyoko! I have some news that will please
you,” it said in a sing-song voice. Hiyoko looked up from the letter he was writing to his daughters, not in the mood for games but curious non the less.
He glared at the demon and gestured him to speak. “My lord, it seems that Shadow and her sister are more then you originally thought. The two over the
past year have developed feelings for each other and last night they both confessed those feelings,” it said in a single breath in fear of being cut off
by his master’s wrath. Hiyoko looked thoughtful for a moment and decided to use the information to his advantage.

“Those girls, I’ll let them think that I think they are nothing more than sisters. Then I can gain control of one or the other and my plans will be much
easier,” he mused. “Thank you Lixo, you have done me a grate service this morning,” he added to the bat which flew off to do whatever it did daily.

Shadow and Katie sat on the edge of a cliff over looking the ocean. It was the night before they were due to meet their father for what each hoped would
be the last time. Each of them had different emotions going through their minds but they shared a single thought “Will we get out of this alive?” The two
sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes until Katie leaned against a rock. Shadow took that to mean that she could curl up with her sister and so
she did. She moved into Katie’s lap and felt her sister’s cat tail move around her. She reached behind her lover and began to stroke Katie’s furry cat
ears and a low purr could be heard from her sister’s throat.

“Shadow,” Katie whispered pulling a golden heart locket out of an inside pocket of her robe. Shadow looked at the locket closely, it was well crafted and
had a strange red symbol on it. “Power for power,” she muttered, Katie just smiled.

“Listen, no matter what happens keep that locket with you at all times. Our powers are linked because we are related by blood and now even more so. That
locket just might save both our lives tomorrow,” explained Katie. The two sisters sat and watched the setting sun both knowing that it might be their last
night together. The sun slowly sank behind the mountains and the sky was slowly turning from golden orange to deep velvet black. The two headed to bed
for the night, not knowing what was in store for them the next day.

The sun was rising over the horizon when Shadow awoke in Katie’s arms. She moved over to the window and stared out it. She knew from the second she woke
up that something was definitely wrong. She knew that she was both a darkness and a fire element by birth and after being unconscious for eleven years
she had always felt a large amount of uncontrollable power in her soul but couldn’t explain it, but this morning it was stronger, much stronger. The thought
of losing control made Shadow a little nervous. Sure having a dark secret and having it come out would make anyone nervous but that didn’t matter to her.
She glanced at the river that was visible in the distance, the rising sun making it look as if the river contained blood, not water. Shadow traced a finger
along one of the silvery scars on her arm. She would always resort to cutting instead of talking about her problems but she didn’t care. It to her was
a way to relieve the pain even if others didn’t like it much. “What’s done in the privacy of one’s own room is one’s own, she thought as she heard Katie
stir in the bed.

The two sisters made their way to the river bed, the sun was high in the sky now and each wore blank looks and attempted to conceal their emotions before
their father had a chance to read them and predict each and every move they made. They only had to wait a few seconds until a large shock wave of dark
energy flew the two of them up into the air and back down. Before anything could get to chaotic the two spared a quick glance at each other and took a
good look at the man who had finally stopped hiding behind the darkness and shadows he loved so much. He had semi-long black hair and glowing deep dark
brown piercing eyes. His skin was a sickly red color, but the thing that caught Shadows attention was a long black crystal that was glowing a violent shade
of purple. The crystal’s purple aura pulsed and Shadow couldn’t take the building darkness inside her anymore. She released it in one all mighty blast
the same instant that Katie sent forth her own type of power. The explosion that followed knock the three off their feet and separated the two sisters.

When the smoke cleared Hiyoko was laying on the ground, definitely dead but Shadow was no where to be seen. “NO,” Katie whispered and tried to sense her
little sister but couldn’t find her. Katie knew that Shadow wasn’t dead but then there was only one thing that could have happened. “He took you Shadow
but I’ll get you back I swear I will,” she said staring into the river bed that now contained Hiyoko’s body and blood. Katie’s knees gave out and she broke
down in tears for the only person that actually showed her that she had a purpose in this world.

The End