Unbreakable Bonds

Prologue

A flash of lilac illuminates a huge palace sitting atop an island jutting above the horizon. Wind howling through its carved wooden shutters and detailed columns. Fat raindrops pelt out a steady rhythm on the dark slate roof tiles, noise echoing through the entire building. Thunder roars deafeningly overhead causing a weary palace guard to jump.

On the other side of the palace another lilac flash shows a horrible scene unfold. A sharp, slender woman stands over a pair of small wooden beds each with its own intricate carvings. The occupants of these beds, a pair of girls who are identical as they slumber, unaware of the intruder.

The woman seems to float as she moves towards one of the girls. Remaining hidden within her voluminous, mauve cloak she retrieves a small, glass phial filled with a strange, dual layered liquid the bottom a shimmering, milky fluid and the top translucent one emanating an eerie blue glow. She shakes the phial, the layers mix together and she pulls out the cork. Leaning slightly she pours a single large drop into the sleeping girls mouth and the little girls eyes fly open. Another burst of lilac and a gust of wind light the room up, shifting the woman's hood giving the child a clear view of her crazed eyes and vicious grin. The last sight she sees is the woman moving towards her sister.

The storm is reaching its crescendo, thunder rumbles powerfully as the entire sky lights up with lilac, white and blue. Lightning strikes the tops of the waves around the island. The woman jumps back as the child she is about to poison bolts upright, looks her in the eyes and wails like a banshee. The noise is heard above the raging storm and draws the attention of an anxious few who had been waiting nearby. Between the screaming and fast approaching feet the woman starts to flee. The screaming stops and the woman becomes white as bone.

The doors to the room burst open as the woman leaps from the balcony. A guard, an elderly man, a young woman and a young man rush in through the doors, each of them quickly taking in the situation. The guard and woman leap out over the balcony after the figure flying in the storm. The elderly man rushes back out the doors cussing as he goes. The young man goes to the girls. The child who had wailed was crying by her twins side. Her fiery orange eyes were full of tears "It was almost just like my dream... daddy it wasn't supposed to be her though, it was supposed to be me..."

Meanwhile the guard had split away from the chase after the lightning nearly hit him. The young woman's clothes clung to her lean frame. She caught up to the woman who had been trying to free herself from her heavy cloak and the pair began to grapple. Words were shared as they both attempt to gain the upper had. Palace guards surround them and it is over.

The storm dies out and the black clouds disperse as the first rays of sunshine peak over the horizon.

Life and death are not beginnings or endings but rather states like solid, liquid and gas. Our bodies simply shift between states but what is it that happens to our souls when this shift occurs...