They Called Her Izana

Prologue

They stood opposite each other.
Two beings.
As old as the Starspeace itself.

"What do we have here?" one entity smirked, she was smelling unpleasantly of burnt matter.
She constantly shifted from one foot to the other and swayed her hips simultaneously. Her presence didn't inspire a shred of trust in the other being; this one smelled after flowers. Once, their powers couldn't be compared, but as the centuries passed, they became more and more matched.

The long-haired entity, dressed in robes as delicate as bird feathers, clutched a chess piece closer to her chest. Her long hair waved in an unseen wind. Flower parts, acting as fingers, nervously touched the chess piece. Her skin was covered with eyes, which stared nervously toward the lady, who smelt unveiled. Her body was surrounded by black mist.

After millennia of rivalry between her and the being cloaked in black mist, Asalina, the flower-smelled lady, for the first time felt uncertainty. In the past, when her faithful worshippers stood by the thousands in temples, she would simply have told the Shadow Lady that her presence was unwelcome and banished her. But now? She dared not do more than look calm and pretend, that she had everything in control.

Asalina extended her tendril-formed hand in front of her with the chess piece resting on it,

"Are you going to show me that?" the shorter-haired entity covered with dark mist drawled.

She jumped over to Asalina and looked curiously over her shoulder. Her red eyes sparkled. It was a beautiful sight to see the goddess who wasn't resisting, and of course, the shiny object was also nice.

The chess piece glowed with an intense color, it was uncommon these days. But what was even more uncommon was the color itself—actually, two colors.
"Well, darling," the Shadow Lady smirked again, "It looks like we're going to work together."

Asalina watched displeasure as the energy of her rival and her own rotated around the chess piece.
"I hope we can agree on at least something regarding our project," Asalina said with a touch of irony, biting her tongue as she called somebody's life a "project."

She nodded at the Shadow Lady. "Still, it is strange that the energy of both of us has gathered in a single being."

The shored-hair entity was so surprised by Asalina's willingness to talk that she dared to make closer contact, she placed her right hand on the goddess's left shoulder.

"Indeed, it is a beautiful mix of your cute goodness and my darkness."

The word "evilness" would have been more fitting, but Shadow Lady wanted to leave her words disappear in mystery. She wanted her rival to think for a moment. They had been playing this game for centuries, and she was slowly starting to feel ready to lay all her cards on the table.