Fates and Thrones

Awakening

The world came back to me in pieces first, the scent of sunflowers, warm and sweet, filling my lungs as I gasped for air. My chest ached, my throat burning as I coughed, each breath feeling like I'd clawed my way out of something dark and endless.

I could not move at first. My body felt foreign, heavy like it wasn't fully mine yet. But the energy... I could still feel it. A hum of magic, faint but undeniable, thrumming through the ground beneath me. It wasn't mine. It wasn't Al's. No, this was something else. Older, colder. The god. He had been here. I could sense the touch of his power like a ghost clinging to my skin.

My eyes fluttered open, and for a moment, everything was just a blur of colors. The blue sky, the golden flowers, the green earth beneath me. And then, slowly, I began to make sense of it all. Al's voice was the first thing I recognized. Soft, but with that sharp edge of determination she always had when things were falling apart. I could not quite make out the words, but I knew she was still here. Still fighting.

I blinked again, the shapes around me sharpening into focus. That's when I saw him. Tall, dressed in a suit, a lantern resting beside him like some sort of twisted symbol of the underworld. The god. He was standing there, watching, with this smug smile on his face, like he had been waiting for me to wake up. I remembered it all; the ritual, the bite, the creeping darkness that had taken me down.

I sat up too fast, the world spinning for a moment, and my hand flew to my neck. The bite.it was gone. No wounds, no blood, nothing. The god had healed me, but that familiar weight in my chest told me there was more to this. Nothing came without a price.

I turned my head, searching for my sister. And there she was standing tall, unflinching, with a strange hairpin clutched tightly in her hand. I could see the tension in her shoulders, the fire in her eyes. Of course, Al would be the one to face down a god and demand answers. That's who she was. It brought a weak smile to my lips, even as my body still trembled from the effort of just sitting up.

"Al..." I rasped, my voice a broken whisper, barely recognizable as my own. I swallowed, forcing the words to come out stronger. "What... what did I miss?"

My breath was quickly squeezed out of me, as my sister launched herself at me. "Oh, my goddess! You made it!" I wrapped my arms around her with a huge grin.

"Of course, Aleesia, I cannot let you have all the fun. Now, can I?" I pushed her away before turning to face the God that was watching us. "Now, care to introduce me to your friend?"

"This is..." Her voice trailed off before she wrung her hands out in front of her.

"Nekrosyl, little light. But you will have different name for me if you make it through this." His voice was soft as he reached up and ruffled her hair. "Now, onto you little darkness. My time is running out."

His pale hands reached out holding a small necklace with a moon pendant in the center. On each side of the pendant sat two scythes. Each blade was diamond encrusted, while the handles were made of...Bone? It was easily one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen.

I looked at Aleesia's hair pin to see hers was the opposite of mine, as usual. The pin was a sun encrusted in diamonds, with two scythes framing it, their blades gleaming in the light. Unlike mine, Aleesia's hairpin seemed to pulse with warmth, as if the sun itself was captured inside it. The handles of her scythes were not made of bone, but of gold. Shining, pure, and vibrant. The contrast between the two pieces was striking. While mine felt cold and dark, like the quiet of the night, hers radiated with life and energy, a perfect reflection of who we were.

"Quite the matching set," I murmured, glancing at Aleesia with a smirk.

She caught my eye and smiled, though her grip on the hairpin tightened. "I guess we're bound to this now, huh?"

Nekrosyl watched us with that ever-present smile, his eyes gleaming with an ancient knowledge that sent a chill down my spine. "Bound, yes. But not with the trinkets you hold. By the choices you make. Light and dark, life and death, the balance must be upheld. What you face next will test every bond you have, every truth you cling to."

Aleesia stepped closer; her hairpin still clutched in her hand like a weapon. "Then we'll face it together."

I nodded, feeling the weight of the pendant settle around my neck, a cold but familiar sensation against my skin. "We always do."

The god's smile deepened, and he tilted his head slightly as if amused. "We shall see." His voice held a note of finality as the lantern at his side flickered, casting long shadows across the ground. "Time is short, little light, and little darkness. Remember, every choice has a cost."

With that, the world around us seemed to darken for a heartbeat, as if the very air thickened with the weight of his presence. And then, with a blink, he was gone, leaving only the lingering chill of his words.

I exhaled a shaky breath, looking down at the pendant once more. The two scythes felt heavy around my neck, but it was more than just their weight. It was the burden of knowing what was coming, what we had to face.

Aleesia moved to stand beside me, the sun still gleaming in her hairpin. "You know, this whole life-or-death thing is getting really old."

I chuckled weakly. "Yeah, well, what did you expect? We're dealing with gods now."

She rolled her eyes, but her smile stayed. "We'll figure it out. We always do."

I nodded, glancing at her once more. Together, we had always faced the impossible, and this time would be no different. Whether light or dark, sun or moon, life or death. We were in this together.

As if the God leaving awakened Jax, he came running at us like he was scared we were about to disappear. His arms wrapped around me as he cried. "I thought you were a goner. But you did amazing. How did you know what to do?"

"Aleesia may get better grades than I do, but I study a lot of the more macabre stuff. I knew about these woods, and once Aleesia joined the coven, I was debating on living out here."

"You mean when we joined the coven right?" Aleesia's voice full of hurt as she finished putting her hair up and placing her pin.

"Twin, you were always going to be the one that took Mother's place. Hence why Prince Kgosi was interested in you. I am just your back up." I sighed before grabbing her hand. "But that is okay, because now we know that you dodged the bullet. And I will return the insult that he gave you."

"I hate to interrupt this heartfelt conversation, but we have no time to stop at the village now. We need to move. This took an extra day. We need to get to the den of the forgotten." Jax had put the packs back on our horses and had brought Aleesia hers, while mine waited at the tree we tied them too.