The Dark side of the Moon

Imprisonment

I stared at the shadow in shock, I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"...Max?" I say in disbelief as he approaches from the shadows and his blonde hair similar to Aruna's glows in the light. I looked at his facial features and blinked multiple times to make sure that I wasn't seeing any illusions. "Is that you?"

He also stares at me in disbelief the same way. "You haven't changed a single bit since I last saw you." He says rushing to hug me. I squeeze back and start to tear up at the thought of missing my little brother and missing him growing into the person he is during the time I had missed. He looks and acts somewhat different and I have no idea why that is.

"Look at you, you seem different," I say as we pull away. "What happened?" I looked at Aruna but even she couldn't look me or even Max in the face. "Okay, I am not waiting on this family matter secret bullshit. You will tell me and you will tell me now!" I felt power surge through me as I said the final word of my sentence but I ignored it. Looks like my siblings couldn't ignore it due to the terrified looks on their faces.

"Okay!" Aruna says scared out of her mind with tears threatening to stream down her face. I look at Max waiting for an answer  "As I showed you in that spell, he left..." She stops to take a breath. "He left after I sent you away and I promise I had no idea where he went. He never came back no matter how many times I've tried to reach him. Looking at him now I realize he was with Nova this whole time."

I stare at her in shock. "What?" I ask in disbelief, "Is that true?" I turn to Max.

"Yes, although it wasn't by choice, she found me out in the outskirts of the kingdom and put me in a room. Of course, she let me roam freely as long as I helped her with her issues with Aruna."

"Did you?" I ask.

"No! I would never, after what she did to you, me, her!" He says pointing at each of us. "Although I did throw in some sarcastic comments and jokes throughout her "therapy sessions" is what I like to call them." He mimics quotation marks in the air around 'therapy sessions'. I giggle, now that's my little brother.

"How did you end up here?" I ask still wondering how it got this far.

"When she found out you found a way back she had to leave this palace but of course, she couldn't leave me in charge, so she threw me in this cell." He says shaking his head. "That crazy bitch has too much power for herself and we need to find a way to get rid of it."

"This cage is dampening our magic. There is no way out for us!" Aruna mentions.

"I guess we have to wait until she comes to visit," Max says finding a comfortable spot on the concrete floor.

"You think she will?" I ask calmly watching Max. How I've missed my brother, my only best friend who has been there for me no matter what.

"Well she was waiting for you Ray," Max says. I haven't heard my nickname in a while, It always brings me back to my childhood when Max would get fed up with saying my 'long' name all the time as kids, he eventually shortened it and it stuck just between us.

"Why?" I ask confused looking around for some kind of way out.

"I heard that she made this cell, especially for you, but I'm not sure what she would mean by that," Max mentions. I think I may know what she meant, but I'm not completely sure the only way to test it is a very dangerous gamble.

It would, wouldn't it?

"What? What's on your mind?" Aruna asks, I hadn't noticed she was watching my facial expressions. I get pulled out of my thoughts and snap back into reality.

"Oh... Nothing, I was just thinking what it could mean but I'm not so sure." I say recollecting my thoughts.

You know what she wants.

Stop it I'm trying to think!

Stop what? She spelled it and I know exactly how to break it.

It's dark, yet I still tried to examine the place. I could tell we were underground due to the lack of windows, I walked to the door keeping us in and reached my hand out to touch it. As soon as my finger reached the cool metal I saw a spark at my finger and soon came a horrible shock at my fingertips. "Gah!" I yell pulling my hand back and holding the other over it, just as expected I knew what she was planning on doing but it's way too early in the year to plan this.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you not to touch the door.." Max says worried. "I'm so sorry."

"No, no I knew she spelled it but I needed to make sure," I say reassuring him but before I had the chance to look at my brother I heard movement behind me.

I turn around and see Nova standing in front of me. She's taller than me so I had to take a few steps back and tilt my neck back to look at her in the eyes, her dark brown eyes. The ones that used to hold different kinds of emotions, happiness, sadness, regret and even love. But now all I see is anger and revenge and I'm not sure why.

"Hello my new prisoners, hope you've all been acquainted with your fellow prisoner." She smiles looking between Aruna and me.

I take a few more steps back away from her as she talks still in utter shock.

"You can't get away with this!" Aruna yells tears streaming down her face. "You know that all you're going to do is destroy the world rather than rule it! Those gems won't help you with anything!"

Gems? What does she mean by that?

Your dear sister is looking for the gems of harmony. Using them she can rule the world and anything she wishes for will happen... At least that's what she thinks.

After it finished talking my brain felt like it was about to explode from the laughter. I scream and fall to my knees from the agony grabbing my head hoping it would help ease the pain. Eventually, I end up lying on the ground and the very dim lights and silhouettes of my siblings start to fade to black.

-

I wake up to the sound of screams in a soft bed. Sitting upright I look around, I'm in my room. Why? What is happening? Answer me demon!

Well well, if it isn't your worst nightmare come to life.

What? I don't understand.

Take a look outside dear. Don't forget the tissue box on the nightstand.

Crawling out of my bed I slowly take steps towards my window. As I get closer I don't look through it I look at how clear it is and I reach toward it feeling where there once were broken pieces and cracks forming in the window. Memories flood my thoughts but I push them back away. No! I can't think about it right now. I then look through the window overviewing the
kingdom. The lake that passes through it and the castle leads to the town I once ruled a thousand years back.

It was on fire, buildings were falling apart, people screaming for their lives, guards brutally torturing innocent lives, children screaming for their parents, and some left orphans. Then came the worst of them all, Nova leading those guards. I watched as she walked through the town past the fire and chaos encircling it unfazed by the brutality coming from her soldiers. I was horrified.

Is this what I would've become? A monster?

The Demon laughs.

Oh no, don't worry this isn't what you would've become dear. You would have been so much worse! Instead of torturing them physically, you would've affected their minds for eternity, torturing their consciousness and even when they are unconscious while asleep. Under your rule, everyone would have eventually gone crazy because they would spend every moment of their entire life constantly living a nightmare. And that my dear is what I love about you. You can cause the worst pain and how fun it could've been! If only our wretched sister hadn't gotten in the way!

Stop! Stop! Stop!

Again I fall to my knees begging for the pain that had returned to stop. My head felt like it could explode at any given moment, slowly falling to the ground I fell unconscious once again.