Shattered

Prologue

It was a sad day in The Palace of Souls. King Lucius had died mysteriously, and his two children, Malice and Vice were at a standstill. The twins had lived their whole lives together, yet the single fact that there could be only one heir in power threatened to tear them apart. Malice looked at the sea of flames and red caverns below their balcony then looked at their room, where her brother stood awkwardly. 

"I know that the more 'charitable' thing to do would be to let you have the throne, but then we'd be at each other's throats in seconds. Besides, if we went with YOUR stupid plan, we'd end up in the dungeons as soon as we'd try to leave." Malice said, breaking the barrier of silence in between them. Vice just shrugged, not knowing what to say or do. 

"So that's IT? Our only parent dies and all you do is SHRUG? You're worse than him when he went to visit the Corone family, which, mind you, had a backup plan for this." "But he didn't want a snob to be in charge." "It would be better than any of YOUR stupid ideas! Plus, Rouge has more class than you would have as king." They both let out deep sighs. Malice paused for a moment, then re-instated the conversation. 

"What are we gonna do? What am I gonna do? And, most importantly, what would Dad do?" Before Vice could speak, one of their guards-a dark-haired man named Charbon-swung the door open and stood triumphantly in the doorway. 

"The Council has come to an agreement."  Vice loosened his posture. "Thank goodness! We were beginning to get despera- " The guard cut him off, cocking his head towards the door, gesturing them to go outside the castle. Without a word, the twins followed him, into the endless hallway. 

 It was only when they were halfway to the exit when Vice asked the guard where they were going. Charbon paused for a moment, then said 

"The citizens are waiting for you outside. We have decided on a way for there to be a ruler without having one of you out of power." While Vice felt relief in that statement, Malice pondered that sentence for a while. Did it mean that they would select the new ruler? Or did it mean something more nefarious? Suddenly she had a revelation.

 "Vice, we NEED to get out of here. We need to leave before it's too-" Her brother interrupted her, saying that there was nothing to worry about and that the Council had got it all covered. 

"Besides, we're already at the exit. There's no point in leaving now." Malice began to panic, slowly sneaking back down the halls, but was restrained by Charbon when she got too far from the doors. 

"No need to run away, dear. Everything is being taken care of. Now just let us bind your hands and wings together so you won't cause any trouble." This set off more red flags, even for Vice, who, at this point was being ignorant of the red flags up until this point.

 "Why are we being treated like prisoners? What are you gonna do to us? Why are we going to the execution machines?" Vice kept asking and aking, but to no response. The twins eventually realized 2 things. 1, they were heading towards a piece of wood with 4 holes carved for their heads and hands, and, 2, there was a crowd of Council members watching them. They struggled to free themselves but found that their heads and hands were shoved forcibly into the slots carved in the wood. They stared at each other, simultaneously realizing their fates. A loud broadcasted voice echoed in their ears. It was Charbon. 

"We are gathered here today to crown the new successor to the throne. Now, you may be wondering what will happen to the current heirs..." He pointed his arm at the trapped twins, earning a wave of cheering from the audience. it wasn't surprising. Their father had been a very irresponsible ruler, and also a drunk. Who would want  their next ruler to be just like the last one? Malice tuned out the broadcasting and cried silently, knowing that she was going to meet her demise. the sickle cut through the air, but just when it was beside her neck...