Evil & Love

Stolen

“Are you so stupid as to leave your little sister, just to get what? Some relic that has no use?!” her brother reprimanded her. Keilylia kept her mouth shut no amount of fighting could stop his angry rampage. He was just like their father in that way.

“Alok, she may have done wrong, but her mind was right in thinking this amulet could be of use to us,” Enwyn, Keilylia’s older sister, calmed as she emerged from her technology-filled room. She quickly retreated back into it though.

“I’m not done with you,” Alok growled at Keilylia before turning and stalking off in the direction that Enwyn had begun walking.

Keilylia took the moment to breathe before Aspyn briskly walked into the room.

“Is he done berating you?” Aspyn asked, cautiously.

“For now,” Keilylia spoke softly. She didn’t trust her voice above a whisper. She tended to become argumentative with her siblings. It was easier to stay silent and let them do as they wished. Silence may as well have been her middle name. Before her mother and father passed away and she was taken in by her older siblings, Alok and Enwyn would come to visit and Aspyn was little, so Keilylia often faded to the background and wouldn’t ask for what wasn’t her’s. In her mind, that was her parents' attention. 

Aspyn ran into her room as the boom of their brother’s voice rang loudly, “Enwyn! Becnee! Think things through next time!”

Keilylia stood up as her brother and sister came rushing into the room. “That amulet,” Enwyn gasped, “It’s cursed.”

Keilylia looked at her brother as he was scrambling to find bandages and ointment. It took her a moment to see why. A large laceration was on Enwyn’s left arm and a small but deep cut sat underneath her right eye. A red pigment was vibrant all over her body. Keilylia recognized it as blood but there were only two cuts on her sister’s body. She knew because her brother had Enwyn taken every piece of clothing other than her bra and shorts off. 

Alok rubbed a sharp smelling ointment on the laceration before quickly wrapping it in a white cloth he had bought from a vendor out of Inhefaocof. 

Enwyn drew in a sharp breath as pressure from the wrap was placed on her arm. 

Keilylia closed her eyes; she had always had a problem with pain, even if it wasn’t her own. 

“I’m fine, Keilylia, really.” Enwyn lied. Keilylia knew it was a lie. Enwyn always lied to make her feel better. 

“Father was right, I have to protect you three with everything I am,” Keilylia heard Alok mutter quietly. 

“Father is dead! Stop using him as an excuse for your actions!” Keilylia heard herself shout. She didn’t mean it or maybe she did but wished she hadn’t spoken.

“Father defines the three of us, Kei. Aspyn is the only one who isn’t because of your mother. Father taught En and me everything. You know nothing,” Alok snapped.

“I know and see more than you expect. I feel more. I hear more. Father had no need to teach me that. Teaching only gets you so far. I had to experience what I know. Something none of you could possibly understand,” Keilylia defended. Her brother would never understand, that was his greatest weakness.

“Oh, you poor thing. You are so real, this fake reality can’t comprehend what you are, but don't worry. You will teach them how reality should be, but first… a test.”

“A test, saiie ouki?” Keilylia wondered aloud.

“Yes, tell me the lie, and I will show you the truth.”

Keilylia sat in her curtained off portion of her brother’s house. Her brother grew angry and Enwyn sent Keilylia to her room. Her brother’s voice was calm and startling. Keilylia couldn’t deal with him. She never could. Enwyn was the only one who had the even remotest amount of control. 

Keilylia knew it was because Enwyn was the only one who was fully related to Alok. Her half blood would never be good enough for him. Their father was their only connection. 

Alok could be so cruel when it came to family. He never realised…

Don’t go there, Keilylia thought.

Your brother loves you. 

Let the pain fester.

Let it bloom.

You have no control.

Keilylia took a deep breath. She couldn’t let the panic and thoughts overcome her. It always ends very badly and she didn’t want Alok to have to find a new place for them.

“Enwyn. She is our sister, but she’s dangerous,” Keilylia heard her brother’s voice speak.

“I know, but maybe that danger could be our saving grace,” Enwyn whispered, but Keilylia still heard.

Enwyn, after a few moments of silence, moved Keilylia’s curtain-door to the side and walked in.

“Keilylia,” she said, her voice soft, “I think you need to assist me in my research.”

“I do?” Keilylia questioned, an excited edge rested on her voice.

“Yes, I think so.”

Enwyn led Keilylia to the tech room. Sitting on a pedestal was the amulet. “You see… You were the one who brought the amulet here. Which means you had physical contact with the amulet for at least thirty seconds. I barely brushed past the object before it threw its curses at me.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying, I think the amulet one, is conscience and two, it chose you. With that being said, I need you to channel your magic into it.”

“En, if I do that—”

“You could blow this place up. I know. But think of what else could happen! You could learn important information.”

Keilylia once again stayed silent. That’s not why she stole the amulet, “Fine. I’ll do it.”

Idiot.

Enwyn is only trying to get you killed.

Just die already.

Give up.

She let the thoughts bloom. She let them surface. Quickly, as her magic began to surface, she placed her hands on the amulet and gripped it tightly. 

Crimson fog clouded her vision. She heard her own voice but it wasn’t hers, “Don’t be afraid. Fear is death. Death won’t come for me. I will face my death and send it away. I am strong. I am brave. My power will not overcome me. Only my soul will remain. I will live.” After the voice finished speaking, flashes of herself–her younger self– passed through her mind. She saw her birthdays, her parents. She saw her past. She wished she could remember more, but as she has aged, her memory has grown worse.