Separated from the world. Void.
A pointed structure, a dark black castle, gave off a feeling of ominous...an ominous...destiny.
Two figures, very similar, two women, one clad in a black regal dress while other wore a white.
Same patterns and same accessories, but just contrasts of each other.
They were twins, and from birth they had already chosen their color.
Black didn't necessarily mean evil, white didn't necessarily mean good.
It was just what they liked.
But...now...now their expressions didn't show love.
They were facing each other, standing in the huge hall inside the black castle.
Then, the one wearing the white regal dress shouted. Her voice was hysterical. She shouted, "Why do you do it?!! Why go so far? 'He' will come. Come on...let's go back. Please...leave this. We have had our chance."
The black clad one didn't answer. Her face planted with hatred and revenge.
She just glared at her sister.
As her sister continued, she finally stopped, interrupted and spoke, "It is for revenge."
There was a small pause, a very small one, but significant enough.
The white wearing sister once again asked with a concern filled voice, a fear she would try her best to withhold,
"Revenge? What revenge? Against whom? Revenge on 'Him'?"
Her white dress flailed with an unknown force...wailing.
Then, she said something strange, her voice and face regaining a certain confidence.
"Revenge...Haa...revenge on 'Him'... If you truly want that...then, ask for 'His' permission. He will surely grant it."
As she spoke, she somehow found her own words amusing, but...it was true...
The more she spoke the lesser sense she made.
'Please...not you too... please...please' her mind screamed.
She wanted to continue, but then, she was interrupted by her sister, the black queen, shouted:
"Not him, The world! I will have my revenge. We will have revenge. Our revenge!"
The glass windows started crack.
"I will destroy the world!" she roared.
Each word, each cry was filled with determination, rage and also madness.
Her sister, asked with tears in her eyes,
"Then...Then what about you? What about me? Where would we go?"
No answer, just madness. The white wearing sister was getting more and more frightened by her sister's madness.
"Why..."
"Please..."
That was all she could ask.
Again, no response.
Then, as if the madness had finally been withheld, the black queen spoke, her voice croaked and her face was disoriented.
She said, "It's this...or...that. I...will go against it...the world. When I fail, he will come... for me. To return my soul to...
Make sure...make sure that he comes.. for me. You will not see me again."
And then...she disappeared.
Leaving the hall empty except a single woman standing.
The red carpets made no sound of footsteps. The dim lights continued shimmering, giving a desolate feeling to that castle.
The Black Queen's voice had croaked a lot and reduced to a whisper before she disappeared.
As the previous scene continued to flash by her eyes, the white clad woman, cried,
"Why?"
She sobbed. Staining her dress with tears.
"Everyone! Why is everyone like this? Just why can't we all...?!"
She shouted.
She continued to sob for a while and then finally, after calming herself she raised her hand and pounded the castle floor.
The entire castle shook. Bricks fell, cracks appeared. The entire castle started to fall, and with it the white, regal dress of hers hugging her body, also fell with her, into the nothingness, into the void.
---
As the Sun started to set along the saffron sky, Ray and his group had arrived in Phoenia.
In Phoenia, the Teleportation hub wasn't exactly a hub. It was more simple, more common. A few mages were employed, who were responsible for casting the teleportation.
As a carriage made its way, a very curious face was obvious.
"Teleportation here is a common convenience? Hmm, very different..." Tidlen noted aloud, scribbling in his notebook, which Kyle silently observed.
In the small carriage, which was a little congested for five people, Kyle and her team had traveled for a month.
They finally reached a small town just inside Phoenia's borders.
Getting out, Kyle handled the payment, while the rest of the group curiously looked around. Even Ray...
"Wow...there are all kinds of demons here. Even elves..."
Lily wondered at the scene before her, from inside the carriage.
"Demons. That's a very broad term, you know. A lot of intelligent races were branded as demons and ostracized back in the day." Ray explained.
'hmm...is that so?' Tidlen thought to himself.
His thoughts wandered to the blood thirsty monsters who attacked anything and everything in sight.
He saw that some demons were big and bulky, strong, muscular, some were smaller, their bone structure itself a bit curved. He could make out a few who even had inhuman shapes.
'Are they really intelligent? They...are also demons...'
He thought with slight apprehension.
This small town had five teleportation hubs, but they were all crowded.
Looking around, many 'why' s came to his mind. He wanted to talk to the locals and learn more about their lifestyles.
"I'll go and ask them", he decided, aloud.
"I'll come with you."
Ray said.
"Me too", Matt said, adding another member to the explorer group.
Tidlen was happy about that. He didn't want to slow down the group. If somebody else joined, it would be better. And Ray and Matt were always fun to hang out with.
'Were men the only ones curious?'
Matt wondered as he looked at Lily and Kyle.
Lily was groggy, having slept most of the day. She walked out, tripped, and fell, face first. That, was her first step in Phoenia.
---
Settling the payments, Kyle followed her group to the teleportation hub, with Lily.
At the forefront was Tidlen, followed by Matt and Ray.
They had already started talking to a local, laughing and chatting with the ones enjoying a leisure evening, when Kyle arrived.
"So what did you learn?"
Kyle asked Tidlen as they walked to the hub. As they waited in line, Tidlen thought for a while and said with breaks.
"In short, here in Phoenia, mages and magic are in abundance so... They...tend to use magic for everything. Also I asked about the festival... It was started to celebrate the Lord's brithday. All of them said that it's a must visit... oh and the capital is supposed to be very beautiful too..."
Disorganized as it was, his summary had everything in it. Five pages worth of information.
---
The line was long and they were one of the last.
Ray handed out a gold coin to the mage and they were teleported to the capital.
They were all fascinated by the night view of the capital.
Each house was unique in some way- the different patterns on the walls, the architecture, the colour combinations, the lanterns... Every house and buildings, both small and big, was made special, to stand out.
After stopping and taking in the scenery, the group headed to find an inn.
They got three rooms. The women would stay in one, Tidlen and Matt in the other, and Ray would take the last room.
This as Kyle observed was bit of a surprise. Though Ray had always preferred to stay alone, in the past month he had joined with them more often than not.
Over the days, Kyle was slowly starting to understand Ray, but it was very hard for her to figure him out. He had this personality which was aloof but caring, ruthless but also kind.
His whole personality seemed to be made up of contradictions.
Kyle just couldn't piece him up.
He would often smile. Smile at small things and big ones, crack jokes when no one expected and more.
This kept even someone as observant as Kyle guessing his next move. But one thing she knew for sure, that Ray wasn't a bad person, nor would he betray them.
Climbing the stairs, Kyle puffed up her chest, and said in a deeper voice
"For tomorrow, we must sleep today."
In a philosophical tone, trying to be funny.
It landed blank, but the group smiled nonetheless.
---
The morning was bright. The decorations made the festive air obvious.
Ray woke up early as always. He looked out of his window to see the morning scenary.
As he did this daily routine, he saw someone familiar.
A friend.