Melody of Blood and Night

Five

Candle lights flickered in the hallway, the only salvation from the darkness of a moonless night. The wind whistled a foreboding song before putting the flickering lights to sleep, plunging the passage into a cold, unending darkness.

It had a voice, soft and silvery, calling out to whoever would listen. It grew louder and louder, desperate to be heard, until a it found the opal-eyed girl, beckoning her closer. Forcing her out of bed. She called out to it, a fearful tremble in her voice, not knowing what was to come as her curiosity drew the little girl to its source.

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Aedlyn awoke to ear-splitting screams. Her heart pounded in her chest, panic clawing at her throat. Her anxious eyes darted to her twin, only to behold an empty bed.

Fear choked her, an incipient dread forming a knot in her stomach. She reminded herself to breath as her hands looked for the dagger under her pillow before taking in a shuddering breath. Mustering up some courage to leave the safety of her chamber.

The thought of her sister pulled her to the door, drawing her to the adjacent room. Cold sweat broke out on her forehead as she beheld her brother's empty bed, worry gnawing at her insides. Father would know what to do. Yes. She had to find him.

Horror flooded through her being as she rounded a corner. Corpses covered the floor like flowers strwened on the garden grass. Blood. So much of it, soaked the sandstone, now stained a reddish brown.

Her head snapped to the far end of the corridor, to the door. Fear trickled down her spine as she realised, it was cracked open. Her heart pounded in her chest as she made her way to her parents' chambers, stepping over the dead bodies, and pushed in the already open door.

"No...," she breathed. Her hands flying to her mouth, the blade in her hand clattering to the floor. Tears welled up in her eyes as she stared at the mutilated bodies of her parents.

"Welcome, sister. So nice of you to join us." A silvery voice drew called out to her. Aedlyn whipped her head to its source. The whole world seemed to come crashing down around her as she beheld her sister's tear-stained cheeks.

"Aerilyn...." She choked out, her wavering gaze trained on the girl with red-rimmed eyes, and a twisted smile. She held a dagger in her hand, stained with blood, as was her nightgown.

Blood of their parents. Laying lifeless and cold, in the embrace of death, their empty eyes staring into nothingness.

"What have you done...?" Little Aedlyn demanded, her voice breaking as tears of grief and horror spilled over, rolling down her cheeks.

Aerilyn's demeanour changed, her shoulders slacking as her face contorted in agony, fresh tears welling up in her opal eyes.

"Help me, sister, please! I'm so sorry...I'm so..." she panted as if it required tremendous effort to speak, "It won't let me go! Ahhh!" she screamed before falling to her knees, her head bowed downwards.

Then she rose, her eyes as black as coal, "She is quite attached to you." Aerilyn spoke, in a voice she dod not recognise, tilting her head to the side, "I wonder how your essence will taste." Fear paralysed her as her twin advanced.

She staggered back before tripping and falling to the floor, sleek with blood. Aedlyn crawled backwards but her sister didn't stop. No. This was wrong. Thunder crackled in the distance, allowing her a moment of distraction.

But when she turned back to her sister, a grown woman of about nineteen, stood in front of her, a blade raised high over her head as she sneered, "Deep down, even you belive that this is how it's supposed to end."