The Tale of Tara and Emiko

X. Tara

Emiko slowly stood up from the ground. "Ugh...my fricking head," she muttered.

"Hey."

Her eyes widened. "Tara! What was that? Are we safe?"

"It hurts me to do this, you know." I gave her a look that said play along.

"Hurts you? Tara, what are you talking about?" Emiko's tone slid from scared to hysterical.

The spirit burst to life, its form shimmering as it floated to sway in the nonexistent breeze next to me. "Tell her."

Emiko took a step back, terrified. "Tara? What-what's going on?!? What is...that thing? Why won't you tell me anything? What do you have to tell me?" When I didn't respond, she ran up to me, slamming her hands down on my shoulders and shaking me hard. "TARA! What's going on?!?" Her face was twisted in confusion.

"Emiko." I tried for a soft tone, but it didn't seem to be getting through to her. "What did you see? In the vision room?"

"No! You don't get to know that! I'm not listening to you until you tell me what the heck is going on!"

"Emiko." My voice hardened. "What. Did. You. See."

"I'M. NOT. TELLING. YOU!!!"

The spirit chuckled behind me, a sinister laugh that seemed wrong to be coming from a fire with a skull head. "Strife! Arguments! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

"Shut UP!" I flung a bucket of water at the spirit, dousing it and snuffing out the flame. The skull clattered to the ground, lifeless. For now, at least.

My shoulders sagged. "Finally."

Emiko tilted her head to the side. "Can I stop pretending to be angry now?"

I laughed softly. "Yes. Yes, you can." I hadn't even told her to be angry, just to act. Guess that rumor I heard about royalty reading the room really well was true.

"Great!" Emiko clapped her hands. "Now, for the explanation part?"

"Yeah." I looked down at my feet, then back at her. Easier to get people to believe you if you don't doubt yourself, or seem like it anyway. "I'm an assassin, which is why I've been able to fight so well, but you probably already know that. The thing I just prevented from eavesdropping on our conversation is a spirit. The first spirit to die in this maze, in fact, and therefore the controller of it. When my sister was killed, in your town, I should add, the spirit captured her soul in the limbo between life and death, and has been holding her there ever since. It's the only thing it can do at the moment.

"But if I keep luring people into this maze and killing them here, the power of their souls will be fed to the spirit, and once he has enough power he will be able to be reincarnated. He promised me that with his power the first thing he'll do, as a token of his appreciation, will be to bring my sister back. She died a death unfit and unworthy of the incredible things she did, both for me and the world, and she deserves a second chance to live again.

"Also, I can't live without her. It feels like I'm seeing the world in monochrome. Everything's lost its luster, its glitter, its sparkle and shine. Nothing really matters to me anymore. I could die today and I wouldn't have any regrets, since if I die the spirit will have no choice but to release my sister, and we'll meet again in the land of the dead. The only reason I haven't turned myself in to be executed for my crimes is because if I don't deserve to live, my sister does, and I'll go to the ends of the earth and back for her.

"I really liked you. Honestly, I think you were the brightest soul I've brought here, and I really don't want to kill you."

"What's stopping you? Let me go. Let me go, and you'll never have to see me again. I'll leave you alone."