The Birth of a Wishing Heart

22. Legend

Grizelda grimaced, half asleep. Her head was pounding. No matter how she moved, her muscles ached and she could feel sweat shift on different parts of her body. She pulled up her sleeves and dress, hoping for any sort of relief. She closed her eyes tight as she pressed her lips together. She would keep this to herself for now. She knew her sister was angry and close to her breaking point. She had always fought so hard for the both of them. Adiscordia didn't need this situation to weigh her down too.

She heard steps and flinched when a large sack plopped before her with a loud thud. The smell was a harsh slap. Pastries! She recognized her sister's boots and grinned. She forced herself up to get a better look. Did the gods finally have mercy on them?

"Addy! Where did you get these?" She exclaimed, looking up at her sister before going stiff. She crawled backward a few steps.

She must have already fallen asleep. This had to be a nightmare.

Adiscordia took a rigid step forward. Her skin was paler than usual. She almost looked dead. Her hair, dark as the curse itself, shone beneath the stars as if showing off a prize. Her eyes lost their life, becoming wholly black and void of expression. Her mouth was half open, drool falling from the sides.

Blood dripped from her right arm, where a sharp stone had burst from the skin. Black veins seemed to stretch from the wound. Her arm dangled from the rest of her body, which seemed to be bent in pain. Her face hardly met hers, as if it were an empty shell of what she once was. Shadows spread from her feet, hiding the ground in their darkness.

This wasn't Adiscordia.

This was something else.

"Addy?" Grizelda whimpered.

Instead of a verbal response, her eyes were led to the basket when her sister kicked it, making some of the treats tumble out. They looked delicious, but she couldn't eat right now. There had to be a strand of white left in her sister's hair. She only needed one.

She turned her head, wishing their momma was here. Instead, she was met with a ghost town, a predator before her, and the town that did this above her. "Wh-What happened?"

The voice that came from Adiscordia's body seemed to be mangled, composed of multiple at once. "Eat." It commanded.

"I-I" Grizelda stammered. "I don't want to eat right now, thank you. Do you need bandages? Are you okay?" She clenched her teeth together, feeling the familiar feeling in her scalp. Of course, disobedience. She looked at the tempting sack of treats. The options were disobeying her older sister or eating stolen goods, neither of which ended well.

"Eat." The thing inside her sister responded.

Grizelda felt her heart beat faster as the imposter came closer. "Th-Thank you, but I really don't feel good. Can I have my sister back, please?" She felt her eyes burn. Her sister would never give up like this. She felt her heart drop heavily in her chest. She had to be in there.

Adiscordia grabbed her by the waist with some sort of inhuman strength. "This isn't you-" she whispered. "Addy- You're in there. I know you're in there." She sputtered before that thing could hurt her. "You're scaring me!"

It stopped momentarily, but her hope sank when it moved away, still carrying her with one arm. Her feet began to kick as she rose higher, and she screamed. "Please- whatever you're planning-"

She wasn't sure what she expected her to do, but it wasn't to grab a scoop of whatever mush was in the basket. Eating something that wasn't hers, she knew what that would do. It had taken her sister, and now it was claiming her too.

Torn between joining her sister but becoming a cursed vessel and staying in this world alone, she tried to buy time. "Okay, okay- I'll." Her head slammed against a tree painfully, not allowing her to finish. Her sister's hands slammed against her mouth painfully. Tears formed in her eyes, but she couldn't open her lips. She couldn't join her sister. She was too scared. She let out a muffled scream as her head was banged against the wall again as punishment for her rebellion.

"Who goes there?!" A male voice called out. Grizelda could see the light of a lamp approach. She tried to stay quiet, unsure how much help the villagers could be. Adiscordia didn't seem to notice. Instead, she let out a growl and grabbed another scoop of sweets.

Grizelda dropped to the floor and shivered. She could feel blood trickle down the back of her head, which pounded so loudly she had trouble hearing her thoughts. "Please." Her tongue was seconds from escaping and tasting whatever heaven that beast was trying to feed her. "Please" was the only word she could whimper repeatedly. It grabbed her again, this time by the throat.

Grizelda coughed, nausea rising again. She couldn't breathe. She really couldn't breathe. She sniffled loudly doing her best to hold her breath as she stared deeply into her sister's eyes. She kicked at the air and stared at her sister. "Addy- you have to fight it! Fight it!" She begged reaching for her sister's hands.

The hand that pressed against her loosened, and for a moment, Grizelda could see a tinge of purple iris glow from behind the darkened eyes. It seemed frozen in action as the empty shell slowly shook, regaining life. A loud crack snapped from Adiscordia's throat as her mouth shut. Her nostrils seemed to shake with the force of her shaky breaths.

She knew it! "Addy!" she cried as she went to hug her sister.

Before she could embrace her Adiscordia took an unexpected step forward as if she had lost her balance. A bloody rock fell to the ground. Grizelda quickly peeked behind her sister to see a villager holding a lamp, his other hand raised. "Leave the girl alone." He demanded.

Grizelda snapped her head back at her sister. Drool was back dribbling down her chin as the purple in her eyes had disappeared. "Sh- she's still in there!" Grizelda stammered. "If we can -"

It had been too fast.

The sentence was caught in her throat as blood splattered at her feet.

The villager's scream was cut off before she could even finish.

Adiscordia had killed him.

With inhuman speed, she had appeared in front of him. Jagged stone-like claws had emerged from her fingertips, and she had ripped his throat apart like an animal. She had killed him, and now she was feeding off the pool of blood that spread.

Grizelda was unable to look away. Her eyes unmoving from the growing blood pool as her sister turned to her, eyes still void.

There was nowhere to go.

There was no one for her to turn to.

There was no way she could stop this.

Adiscordia stopped, sniffing the air before she turned her head toward her. "He deserved this. They deserve this." It pointed to the refugees on the hill above. Its voice was deeper than it had been earlier. "You and I aren't done yet."

Seeing her sister practically fly to her made Grizelda's head spin. A sharp pain on the already existing bruise in the back of her head sent a throbbing pulse throughout her body. Instinctively, she let out another scream, although she was far too weak to think. Her vision had begun to grow blurry. "You did this. I did this for you, and now you refuse?"

This wasn't her. That voice wasn't her sister.

She felt her shoulders be shaken with a tight grip. Voices murmured in the background before she felt herself falling forward with a hit.

Darkness.