Content Warning: Brief mention of corpses

“Ghost Twins?” asked Thallios.

“Yes, people call us the Ghost Twins,” said Luli, “because of how we look.”

Thallios stared at the Luli and Lutian.

“White hair, red eyes,” Luli elaborated.  “Actually, your hair color is interesting too.”  She took a closer look at Thallios.  “It’s like the color of cinnamon.”

Thallios gave her a look.

“Your eyes are interesting too.  They’re the color of honey…”

Thallios felt flustered.

“Also…you kind of look like a girl…”

Thallios’ face flushed red.

“Ah, sorry, sorry,” Luli said as she waved both of her hands.  “You probably hear that a lot and are tired of it.  Forgive me, I tend to say whatever comes to mind.  Unlike Lutian here, who hardly speaks.”

Lutian’s eyebrow twitched as he frowned.

“But…it’s interesting,” Luli continued.  “The other aura I see, the fiery one that’s being suppressed…it seems…how should I say this…female?”

“My name…is Amara.”

Thallios shuddered at the random voice that just sounded in his head.  He looked downward.  Lutian glanced at him.

“So, other people call you the Ghost Twins?” asked Thallios, trying to change the subject.  “Are there people who live nearby?  This place seems pretty remote.”

“Ah no,” Luli replied.  “We live alone in the marsh.  People shun us.”

“Because of…your appearance?”

“Yes…” Lutian suddenly murmured as he stared at the fireplace.  His expression was solemn.

“You don’t have any other family?” asked Thallios.

“Mother passed away many years ago,” said Luli.

Thallios looked at both of them and thought about his own mother.

“When we were born, the people in her village thought she was cursed because she had twin babies with red eyes,” said Luli.  “Then when our hair grew in and it was white, the villagers completely shunned her.  They said she would bring bad luck to everyone.  She eventually left the village with us and we grew up here in the marsh.”

“That’s terrible…treating someone that way,” said Thallios.  “What about your father?”

“We never knew him and mother never mentioned him.  The villagers said he probably wasn’t even human.  Maybe he was a spirit.”

“Oh…”  Thallios then thought of something else.  “But, how are you able to see auras?”

“Oh, that!  Haha, I don’t know.  I’ve always been able to see auras.  Never gave much thought to it.  When I was a kid, I thought everyone else could see them too.”

“I’ve always been able to see things created from magic,” said Lutian. “And the spirits that live in the woods.”

“Mother dabbled in magic when she was younger,” said Luli.  “I suppose that’s also why the villagers thought she was cursed.”

Thallios thought about his own mother again.  Though the circumstances were different, she had also been cursed in her own way.  “Is it lonely, living by yourselves in the marsh?”

“It can be,” Luli replied.  “But in a way, we are more free.  No one here to shun us or say bad things.”

Thallios looked at them with sympathy. 

Luli walked over to the fireplace to check on Thallios’ drying clothes.  She ran her hand through his chapan.  “This is pretty intricate embroidery.  Are you from a wealthy family?”

Thallios shifted his eyes away from them and looked downward.

“Ah, don’t worry about it,” she reassured. “Whatever your background, you’re our guest!”  She picked up his clothes.  “These should be about dry.  There’s a partition over there if you want to get changed.”

She handed Thallios his clothes and he went behind the partition.  He emerged a few minutes later wearing his cloak and chapan.

“About that suppression spell?” he began.

“Hm?” said Lutian.

“Is there any way to get rid of it?”

“I am not very experienced with magic, but I can try.”

***

Thallios sat cross-legged on the floor as Lutian kneeled behind him.

“This might feel a bit uncomfortable,” said Lutian, “but please try to stay still.”  

Lutian then took his palms and slammed them against Thallios’ back.  Thallios’ eyes opened wide and his head jerked forward.  Lutian then turned his palms around, closed his fingers inward, and made a pulling motion toward himself.  Silver threads began to emerge from Thallios’ back.  Lutian pulled back further, yanking out an entire web of silver threads.  Thallios’ head went backward.  Dark waves swirled around him and radiated outward.  The cottage shook and the table and chairs toppled over.  The contents of the teacups spilled onto the floor.

“Wow…” Luli murmured.

“Thank you,” said Thallios as he tried to catch his breath.

“No problem,” Lutian replied.

“You don’t seem that inexperienced with magic.”

“Ah, didi is just being modest,” said Luli.  “Oh, I can see it now.  Your golden aura.  It’s starting to flow freely.”

Thallios’ hair flowed as if it was being blown by the wind.  He closed his eyes.  When he opened them again, the irises were golden yellow.

“Oh wow!” Luli exclaimed.

Amara stood up.  “I need to find Leiyu…”

***

“King Xenon sent the soldiers that killed my family!”

Leiyu felt a chill run through his body.  He had only met King Xenon briefly when he and Thallios were still in Ishkhandar and did not have any particularly negative impressions of him.  He had promised the king that he would protect Thallios, and Thallios was often melancholy when he mentioned his father.  “Oh…when did this happen?”

Astatine glared at him.  “Around twenty years ago…”

***

Twenty years ago…

In a valley on the border of the Western and Southern Regions, there was a small rural village.  Five-year-old Astatine ran to the top of a small grassy hill.  He took in the view of the placid expanse before him.

“Astatine!  Lunchtime!” a woman called.

“Coming mama!”

Astatine ran back down the hill to the cottage where his family lived.  Behind the cottage was a garden where his parents grew vegetables.  Chickens ran around in the grass between their dwelling and their neighbors’.  Astatine’s father had gone to help out the other villagers with the harvest and would be returning soon.

Inside the cottage, Astatine sat at the table, sipping soup and munching on bread.  His mother was feeding his little sister.  Suddenly, she paused, sensing a noise in the distance.  She ran toward the door and opened it.

Astatine’s father was frantically scrambling back to their cottage.  “Run!” he shouted. “Invaders!”

Astatine’s mother ran back into the cottage and grabbed Astatine and his little sister.  Astatine did not understand what was happening, only that his mother was gripping his hand very tightly and that his sister was starting to cry.  They joined his father outside and the family started running.

Astatine looked behind them and saw ominous figures on horseback galloping toward them.  They heaved flaming torches onto the roofs of the cottages, setting them ablaze.  The other villagers were also running and screaming, trying to flee in the chaos.  The invaders set more fires.  Astatine’s heart pounded wildly and his eyes watered from the smoke.  He could not see his family clearly amidst all the villagers running into each other as the invaders surrounded them.  He felt the grip on his hand slip and panicked.

“Mama!  Papa!” he cried.

All he could see was the orange glow of the fires as he got lost in the throng of people.

***

“Our village was in a valley that had been peaceful for as long as anyone could remember,” Astatine said to Leiyu.  “Of course, since it was on the border of the Western and Southern Regions, it was attacked first.  The invaders were merciless.  They burned everything down.”  He began to tear up.  “My family perished.  I would have died as well, except…”

***

A lone figure wearing a mask and a long black cloak walked amongst the ruins of the village.  The cottages had burned down and corpses lay strewn about.

Who did all this? she thought angrily.  I feel traces of magic.  This was no ordinary fire.

Suddenly, she sensed something and walked over to a pile of rubble and corpses.  She started to dig through the debris until she saw a tiny hand.

A child? she thought.  She continued digging until she was able to pull the unconscious child out of the rubble.  It was Astatine.  She held him in her arms.

There are still some faint traces of life in this child, she thought.  Is his family here?  I’m afraid I cannot detect any other signs of life.

She stood up and carried him away.

***

“My lady found me amongst the burnt ruins of the village,” said Astatine. “There were no other survivors.”  He sat down against a tree and drew his knees up.  “We had a happy, peaceful life…”  He buried his face in his knees and trembled.  “Why’d they have to come and destroy everything?”

Leiyu stared at him silently.  He thought back to the time Thallios had looked back at Ishkhandar in tears as it burned down, and how he had sobbed in his arms in the cave that they took refuge in.

“I’m sorry,” Leiyu murmured.

Astatine turned to him abruptly, his eyes watery.  “You’re sorry?  What for?”

“For the whole situation…”

“What do you mean?”

“Everyone is suffering so much because of what others did…”

Astatine looked at him in confusion.

“You…Thallios…you all lost people who were dear to you…”

“...”

They sat in a long awkward silence.

“So, after the Earth Priestess rescued you, what happened?” asked Leiyu.

“She took me back to her temple and healed me.  I ended up staying there.  There were others living there too, taking care of the temple.”  He looked up toward the sky.  “She would sometimes leave to journey to other places.  When she came back, she said she saw the same destruction everywhere.  Entire villages and even cities burned to the ground.”  

He paused and took a deep breath.  “She always wore a mask and no one ever saw her real face.  Still, it was clear that she was upset.  She figured out that the Goddess of Fire from the Western Region had a hand in all the destruction.  Of course, she also said that the priestesses of the goddesses do not normally interfere with real world affairs, so there had to be a reason why the Goddess of Fire was involved in all this.”

After another pause, he continued.  “So she sent her ravens to investigate.  Found out that the priestess of the Goddess of Fire had married a king and that they were ruling the Western Region together.  If they had merely kept to their own region, my lady wouldn’t have cared, but since they invaded our region and caused so much destruction, she had to do something to stop it.”

“The curse?” asked Leiyu.

“Hm?”

“The Earth Priestess cursed Thallios’ mother?”

“Ah yes, I guess you know about all that already.”

“But…there’s something I don’t quite understand.”

“What’s that?”

“Why did the Earth Priestess choose a curse that took years to complete?”

Astatine shrugged.  “I’m not sure actually.  Maybe my lady just wanted the Fire Priestess to suffer slowly.  A quick death would have been too merciful.  Or maybe…”

Leiyu waited for him to continue, although he felt some trepidation.

Astatine sneered.  “Maybe my lady actually wanted the king to suffer.  So she had him watch her slowly die over the course of years.”

Leiyu took a deep breath.  “What will she do to Thallios if she finds him?”

“As I’ve said before, I have no idea.”

“If the Western Region’s invasion of the Southern Region happened twenty years ago as you said…then Thallios was just a child himself when it happened, scarcely older than a baby.  It’s not right to go after him for something his parents were responsible for…”

“The little prince is merely a vessel for the Goddess of Fire.  An avatar, if you will.”

“Vessel…” Now it was Leiyu’s turn to get angry.  “How dare you! Thallios is not a vessel!  He is a person!”

“Hehe, looks like I’ve struck a nerve.”

Leiyu glared at him.

“Tell me, why are you really protecting him?”

“I promised…”

“Yes, yes, you promised that awful king that you’d keep his son safe.  But that can’t be the only reason…”

“What do you mean?”

“The little prince…or Thallios, I should say, since he is a person…I think I know why you want to protect him so much…”

“Why?”

 “Because…” Astatine said with a gleam in his hazel eyes,  “he is so beautiful…and why wouldn’t you want to protect someone so precious?”