In the emerald embrace of the ancient woods, a playful shriek shattered the afternoon's serenity. "Jaco-bi!" a voice, laced with mischief and delight, echoed through the sun-dappled canopy. "Come find me!"

Golden braids, shimmering like sunlit wheat, disappeared into the green depths of the forest. Her grey eyes, alight with the thrill of adventure, sparkled like polished stones in the dappled sunlight. The girl was no taller than four-foot-ten, but that didn't stop her from jumping up and clinging to a branch far above her head.

Her brother, his features mirroring hers like reflections in a still pond, followed cautiously behind. His eyes darted nervously across the green labyrinth. Each rustle of leaves and snap of a twig sent shivers down his spine. Though she was far out of sight, he spoke as if she stood beside him, his voice barely a tremor in the air.

"Mama says we shouldn't play here," he mumbled, doubt lacing his voice, though his words held a hint of the adventure that called to them both.

The girl giggled, her laughter cascading through the air like wind chimes, and dangled her legs on the perch she was sitting on. Sunlight streamed through the branches, causing her grey eyes to flash silver with a thrill of forbidden adventure. "These woods are in our backyard," she declared, her voice echoing with childish defiance. "We should be able to explore them."

"Papa says there are demons living in these woods," the boy countered, stopping by a large oak tree.

He was close, he could sense her. His fear quickly slipped away. A twig snapped and his head jerked in the same direction of the sound. He grinned and his grey eyes sparked with predatory delight.

"Papa just tells you those things to scare you." The girl rang out, teasing and playful. "You're getting warmer, Jaco-bi!"

The boy rolled up his sleeves and leaped up the nearest tree to scout the area. He soon found himself falling back down with a thud, landing hard on his head when his sister flipped upside-down and hung from her legs onto the branch above his. She grinned mischievously, fangs glinting in the sunlight, before playfully chanting, "Boo!"

The boy sat up with a groan. He could feel blood seep out of a gash in the back of his head. It closed up just as quickly as it appeared. The obnoxious sound of his sister laughing loomed over him.

She jumped down from her branch and opened her mouth to make a snide comment, but stopped. Her clever eyes turned curious. Without an explanation, she walked past her brother and deeper into the woods.

"Hey, where are you going?" The boy followed her gaze but saw nothing. He called out her name, but only the rustling of leaves answered. Soon, her figure was swallowed up by the trees, and an uneasy feeling washed over him. "I already caught you once! Let's- Let's go back before Mama finds out what we were doing."

He waited a moment, then two, for her to call him. When she didn't, his heart dropped to his stomach as he realized this wasn't part of their game. He searched frantically, clambering over fallen logs, pushing past bushes, and climbing every tree he could find. Over and over he called out her name, but there was no response.

She was gone.

His only sister was gone and he was alone. Alone in the woods, his mother said not to play in and his father warned there would be demons. Tears brimmed his eyes. He choked back a sob.

Then, there she was cradled in the arms of the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Black hair cascaded down the woman's pale skin, framing a face that seemed carved from moonlight. Her green eyes, as vibrant as the moss on the ancient trees, glittered with an almost unnatural light. As she traced a long, pale finger along his sister's face, a melodic chant filled the air, causing a ring of mushrooms to bloom around them.

Jaco-bi stood frozen, a sense of dread creeping into his heart as the woman's melodic chant filled the air, trapping both him and his sister in its deadly lullaby. He watched in horror as she dragged her well-manicured nails across his sister's face and smiled like she had a secret she was about to tell, then plunged into his sister's chest and breaking her ribs with an almost tender touch.

She extracted an orb that pulsed with an eerie glow. It was silver in color and matched his sister's terror-filled eyes.

Jaco-bi’s voice croaked, unable to scream, and unable to move, tears began to flow down his cheeks.

The girl looked at her brother. It was her only plea for help she could give before her eyelids drooped down and she let out her last breath and became lifeless.

The woman played with the orb in her hand. It was like a soft rubber ball that gave some resistance when she squeezed it. She clamped her hand around it to the point it almost popped and relaxed. She looked over at him, her eyes batting. There was no remorse in her gaze, only a chilling curiosity.

She asked him a question, her voice sickeningly sweet, like an overripe mango. "Do you know what this is?"

He wanted to scream, to rip the glowing orb from the woman's grasp, but his body wouldn't obey.

"It is her soul." She answered for him, "You see it's the same color as her eyes."

The woman stood up and let the body in her lap fall to the ground, like a ragdoll done being played with. She smiled gently at the boy in front of her, as if she hadn’t just committed murder. "I am sure your soul will look roughly the same. You're twins? No?"

More mushrooms popped up wherever she stepped. She wagged her finger for him to come the rest of the way. And when his legs started moving on their own, his body started to shake trying to resist her. He stopped just short of touching his sister's soul. And just like a child who doesn't know her own strength, she squeezed it so tightly it burst and dissolved into thin air like sugar in water.

Jaco-bi let out another choked cry. It was the only thing he could do physically. Inside, however, his whole world was shattered fragments of himself that could never be put back together ever again.

The woman with the moonlit skin, emerald eyes, and perfect fingers reached out to touch his chest. The forest grew still as Jaco-bi was registering that Death was a beautiful woman.

Only it never came for him. Before she could get her hands on the boy, a centipede demon slithered its way out of the foliage. It was three different shades of black, easily over thirteen feet tall, and had four humanoid hands with claws for nails. It let out an ear-splitting scream causing the woman to grab her ears and break the spell she was using.

Jaco-bi immediately fell to the ground, like a body without bones.

With another shriek, it declared, "These are my woods. You are not welcome here."

The woman dropped her hands to her side, her smile turning into a predatory grin. "How peculiar," she murmured.

The demon clicked its mandibles, its voice a guttural growl. "You have hunted on my land without permission. You have broken Compass law."

The woman walked toward the demon with grace, like a cat on a ledge. Each mushroom she stepped on raised her higher and higher off the ground until she was just tall enough to look down at the demon. She squinted her eyes at the demon before grinning wide enough to show all her teeth.

In a soft, delicate voice, that would make feathers seem rough, she said, "Do not try to educate me, abomination. I am much, much older than your frivolous laws. In fact," Her face contorted into a gruesome grin as she placed a porcelain palm on the demon's forehead. "I am the law, and I do not think it is lawful for demons to speak."

The demon screamed, its dull, lifeless eyes turning a fiery red as it clawed at its head in agony. It reeled back, its massive body shuddering, and fled into the depths of the forest.

The woman turned back to Jaco-bi, her gaze unwavering. A flicker of sadness crossed her face, as fleeting as the summer breeze. "Our futures," she said thoughtfully, her voice like silk and steel."Will be rather interesting."

A single vine snaked around her wrist, tugging at her like a restless child. With a sigh, she said, "That took more out of me than I thought."

More vines wrapped around her ankles and legs until she was almost completely engulfed in a verdant cocoon. She looked at him with sleepy eyes, "We'll have to finish our chat after I wake up."

The ground beneath her opened up, swallowing her whole. Only the ring of mushrooms remained, a silent witness to the events that unfolded.

When it seemed like nothing else would be coming out of the woods, the boy ran to his sister. He held her in his arms and shook her violently. He called her name, each time finding it harder and harder to speak, until eventually, he let out a wail.

He would’ve stayed there crying for longer if the sound of footsteps crunching on leaves hadn’t brought him back to his senses. He picked up his sister’s lifeless body, quickly leaving the woods, and his childhood behind.