8th of January, 1:00 pm, Irrelevant place
"WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS? AFTER EVERYTHING I'VE DONE FOR HER, SHE DECIDES TO CHEAT ON ME?"
The room was dimly lit and smelled musty, like fresh air would be illegal, with crumpled tissues scattered on the floor around the overflowing trash can.
"I EVEN SPENT MY OWN MONEY TO BUY HER A GIFT, AND SHE DIDN'T EVEN THANK ME." The screams echoed through the room — probably hearable in the entire house.
"Could you please quiet down, honey?" A gentle knock sounded on the door, which was followed by a tired-sounding female voice.
"I SCREAM WHENEVER I WANT TO, MOM! IF YOU'D BE IN MY POSITION YOU'D SCREAM TOO!" The man's voice screeched once more. Then silence, followed by the quiet sound of the steps distancing themself again.
"Why are all of them like that? I am nothing except good towards them, and that's my reward?" the man said as he sat down at his PC and booted it up. The fans began to rotate, and the RGB lighting turned on as his rambling continued, "You know what? I will forgive you for not listening to me, darling."
His eyes gazed at the wall, presumably a poster hanging right where he looked. But right now there was only darkness.
"You will just have to promise me that you'll be a good girl from now on and don't betray me any more than you already did," he whispered to himself.
"Why isn't she replying to my DMs?" he murmured as he opened his empty social media DMs in record time, "I bet she got a secret boyfriend, just like her slut of a mother."
He shook his hand like a wild animal. "No, soon she'll accept that we are destined to be together, and once that happens, I can finally teach her some manners, show her what happens when she betrays me."
A truly disgusting sound echoed through his room as he cleared his nose.
"I want to see her again. Just one little look. One day we can look back at all of this and laugh, together with our children. I wonder if she has also thought about names for our little ones."
"Hm, I need to see her again. I want to feel her again." His eyes shut and his hands formed fists as an ecstatic thrill ran through his body. "Hmmm, ever since that day when you replied to my message, I just knew you wanted this too. Why else would you say something like 'Thanks for the kind words'? Oh, Ruby, soon I'll come and free you from whatever it is that's holding us apart."
The man got up from his greasy gaming chair and walked over to his bed. You could think another earthquake hit Tokyo, the way he walked. On his way, he grabbed a box of tissues off his desk. Then he lay down on top of his huge mattress, the frame and screws screamed as he did.
8th of January, 11:00 pm, Aqua's room
Aqua hadn't slept in the past 48 hours; instead, he had been reading the ancient book without any breaks. After stocking up on his knowledge, he was now able to mostly comprehend the things written down in it. He was almost at the halfway point, having just finished page 718, which was about ancient uses of herbs Aqua had never heard of, and how they were supposedly able to heal any illness related to the kidneys. He still hadn't found what he looked for and grew increasingly impatient, yet he still turned the page to page 719. His red eyes, far more bloodshot than they should be, read the title of the story.
"Twins."
This tale is about a set of twins.
Twins who could not be more unlike one another.
They were born nameless children.
The son was meant to bring truth, and with it, freedom.
The daughter was meant to bring Illusion, and with it, deception.
Yet nothing ever unfolds like it is foretold.
Their mother was not able to carry the weight of such a prophecy.
Taking her life the same night theirs was created.
Their father is unknown to this day-
Some whispers claim he never existed at all.
These circumstances, unbeknownst to the villagers, altered their fate,
and even the fate of future generations yet to come.
They were born in the blood.
Destined to live by the blood.
Just to eventually return to the blood.
Soon, the villagers began to hail the son.
Praying to him for a better harvest.
Praying to him for more health.
Praying to him for safety and peace.
All while the daughter was scorned.
None, not even her own brother, showed her kindness.
The most merciful were the ones who merely ignored her.
Most punished her simply for existing.
Meanwhile, her brother lived lavishly in the palace, surrounded by luxury.
As the years came and went, the kingdom waned.
Their harvest was devoured by vermin.
Their people fell to plague.
Their men perished in wars with neighbouring realms.
So they planned to execute the daughter, who had grown into a woman.
They were hoping it would break her evil curse.
On the day of the execution, an old man came to the castle grounds.
The roaring crowd fell silent as he approached the pillory.
He laid his frail hand upon the daughter's head and spoke.
"I forbid you from harming this child any longer. Instead, you shall cast her into exile. That will be your punishment."
With that, the old man turned, his long coat trailing in the dust.
He vanished into the crowd as though he had never been.
The mob and the executioner erupted in laughter,
while the son looked on from his high chamber.
"Who dares command us?"
"What kind of punishment should that be for us?"
Yet their deeds betrayed their words.
They untied the daughter and let her go.
None could ever explain why — Only that they found themselves unable to resist it.
The daughter disappeared into the surrounding forest,
never to be seen by the townsfolk again.
What they were unable to know is.
They made the gravest mistake of their lives.
For the daughter was not the curse.
She was the one holding it at bay.
It was the son who bore destruction.
The prophecy itself was no lie when first spoken.
But her death-birth in her mother's blood had reversed their roles.
Now with the daughter gone, nothing restrained the son.
The kingdom fell within weeks, the presence of the son too strong in the absence of his counterpart.
The book seemed not to want Aqua to continue reading. It whispered, told him that he won't find what he looked for on this page; however, Aqua remained stubborn and continued reading, his bloodshot eyes too fixated to stop now.
The years went by, and the influence of the son grew.
He was leaving a trail of havoc none dared to name.
The daughter, meanwhile, was living alone in a cave, shut away from the world.
One day, the same old man from all those years ago came to the cave.
He came with an offer. More like a demand.
"Your brother has been growing in power; you will need to put an end to this."
"I would do it myself, but my time is almost here. I have lived for centuries, but no man is made for eternity. I will hand you my power of the moon, then you are the only being that can put an end to his plan."
Then the cave was filled with a sudden glow. When the daughter was finally able to reopen her eyes, she saw that the old man had turned into a puddle of blood, nothing but his coat remaining.
After the initial moments of silence, a scream filled the cave.
The daughter has just obtained centuries' worth of lost memories, feelings, and emotions.
With this knowledge, she now knew the true stakes.
So she made herself on her way, leaving her cave behind.
Walking on her path to put an end to this once and for all.
Aqua turned the page. By now, he was kind of invested in the tale; everything up until this point just consisted mostly of recipes, rituals, or shorter stories, so a tale was a sweet refreshment.
"What?" Aqua exclaimed as he turned onto what he thought was page 720. To his shock, he landed right on page 722; the remains of page 720, which had forcefully been ripped out, were still slightly visible.
"Are you kidding me? This entire book is in perfect condition and now this?" Aqua double checked to make sure that his hazy mind didn't skip the page by accident. "What am I even doing? As if that page would've contained what I looked for."
"Stop having fun, Aqua, you need to focus on what's important right now," Aqua murmured as he reluctantly dove into page 722.
An unknown amount of time has passed.
The daughter has turned into an old woman by now.
She lies on her deathbed, surrounded by her loved ones as she speaks one last time.
"My time is near, but there is one thing you need to do for me."
Her words are directed at her youngest child.
It's a beautiful young child with light hair and dark eyes.
"You will be the heir of the moon."
"He is bound to return eventually; thus, you shall take the moon and the book of knowledge and find them."
"Go find the one person who is intelligent enough to look through the web of illusions covering this world and give it to them. They will know how to stop them."
These were her dying words; after this, her body turned into a puddle of blood, staining the hospital bed crimson red and continuing the cycle.
To be continued…
…
Interesting…
Aqua finished the story, still a bit bummed out, his thoughts jumped from one possibility to another.
A beautiful child with bright hair,
could this story be talking about Tera?
That would mean that this book here is the book of knowledge…
His right thumb glid over the mysterious Kanji symbols he still couldn't make out of the by now shut book.
Intelligent enough to look through the web of illusions…
"Tera… You said you are always with me… Was this meant literally?" Aqua asked into the empty room, his voice hoarse.
"Indeed, it was," a sudden formless voice which seemingly came from the back of his mind, replied. The Aqua from just a few weeks ago would've jumped at this, but due to his mind already being conditioned to this type of thing, it didn't even strike him as weird.
"Can you explain this story to me?" Aqua asked as he once again opened the book and browsed through it to find the page again.
The voice inside his mind didn't reply for a moment, then it spoke. "I honestly don't fully know. I know, I refer to myself as wise, so this might come as a surprise, but this story took place long before my time. But I assume that the kid from the tale is Tsukuyomi with the power of the moon…"
"But Tsukuyomi, or to be more specific, the power of the moon, is the good one in this story." Aqua responded, and the seed of doubt that had initially stayed at the graveyard returned.
"I already told you, I stole this book from her, so I can't really confirm if the events cited within it actually took place. I should've ripped out the entire story honestly, but I wanted to allow you to make your own decision," Tera replied.
"If that's true, why did you rip out a page to begin with?" Aqua asked.
"It happened shortly after Tsukuyomi and I parted, when I first read it. This page in particular filled me with just so much anger since I knew her real self. I still regret what happened that day."
"That was everything," Aqua said, "Thanks."
A moment later, Aqua gasped as he felt like a pressure had been lifted off his brain. One moment it felt like normal, and a moment later it felt even normaller.