Shadonia lay charred and riddled with mud and gore, a grim testament to the violence that had consumed it. The once beautiful landscape had been marred and left ominously desolate following the evacuation of the people of the capitol, Shadonia. At the forefront of Lunteria, a pair of hauntingly beautiful sorceresses gazed upon the battlefield, their eyes filled with a vengeful spirit and deep wrath, having been betrayed once again by someone they once thought dear to them.

However, it wasn't long before a sorceress with violet eyes and lilac hair broke the eerie stillness. "Let me help you, Princess!" She pleaded with her mentor Hinayana, filled with hatred after seeing one of her closest friends perish to Mayari's power. 

As her apprentice, she knew that her master, Hinayana, did not want her to be involved in the fight. Despite wanting revenge and being motivated by pure intentions, her master firmly rejected her desire to fight, as illustrated by her stern reply.

"No, Hespera. You have yet to live your life. Go. This is my mistake; I'll fix it, " Hinayana said as she turned toward her sister.

"No, I will not leave you. Mayari killed my oldest friend!" Hespera defiantly replied, her heart becoming heavy at her loss.

"I'm sorry, Hespera. You will forgive me." As Hinayana said this to Hespera, she teleported Her and her friends somewhere she knew they would be safe.

"Today, a Sorceress dies. I will kill that wretch." Hinayana's thoughts filled with a strong sense of vengeance as she unfurled her magnificent wings; they revealed a breathtaking combination of Tuscan orange and dark blues that evoked the stunning colours of the dawn sky. She took flight and met her sister in the ruined landscape of Shadonia castle.

"So you are ready to fight, Hinayana?! You should not have bothered to save your dearest student and her friends! I will find them!" Mayari said as she alighted herself, meeting her sister in the sky.

"You will not harm her or her friends, Mayari!" Hinayana's hair whipped wildly as she shot an icy gaze at her former sister. 

"You cannot hope to defeat me, Hinayana! Your student will die by my hands, and her friends will be enslaved! That's a promise!" Mayari Threatened. She felt invincible and thought she could defeat all who opposed her, including Hinayana.

After the conversation, Mayari gathered her magic and released a dark blue beam at Hinayana. As she did, Hinayana fired a beam of golden light in retaliation. The two beams met in the middle and exploded, cancelling each other out. 

Mayari spat when she realized that magic alone was not enough. After concluding, she drew her weapon, a lance as dark as night, glowing with an otherworldly power, and charged at Hinayana. Likewise, Hinayana charged her. 

As they clashed above the ruins, their weapons ignited, one in dark blue and the other in golden light. With each strike from their blades, bright green sparks shattered the darkened landscape, the clangs becoming a daunting ambience over the once beautiful Shadonia castle.

While Hinayana meleed against her sister, she couldn't help but wonder where she went wrong. This was the second time this had happened to her sister. When it occurred the first time, Hinayana had to banish her to the moon for millennia, and with the sacred treasures destroyed now, she would have to kill her to save the greater populous; it was her duty as the eldest sister. Although she was filled with hatred for her younger sister, she felt pity for her and blamed herself for the mistakes that led up to this point. She may have seen the signs in time if she had been more vigilant. She recalled the days leading up to this event and wondered if there were signs. 

* * *

Five days earlier before the battle...

Libulan was completing her royal duties when she felt that something was wrong. The air had a familiar thickness to it. She remembered feeling this way once before, but she could not recall where she felt it once before. It concerned her. She did not like it when she forgot things. What made it worse was that she could have sworn it was incredibly dire to remember. "What is this thick feeling?" she thought inwardly, an expression of concern playing at the corner of her mouth.

She asked her sister what she thought of this feeling or if she even felt it in the air. Her sister had also been doing her royal duties, sorting through the mountains of doctrines and political reports. She often hated doing this job, but she knew it had to be done because she was the princess of Lunteria and would always draw the short straw. Sometimes, she wished to hand her throne to Libulan, go on holiday, and live like a young girl again without the slightest bit of responsibility.

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Unfortunately, Hinayana had a job; although monotonous, she had to do it. She had to raise the sun daily, deal with politicians each day, and do paperwork all day. "Another day." She sighed at her dull and monotonous life. Although, unlike today, Hinayana could sense a thickness in the air, she figured a great evil was closing in.

Trusting her intuition, she ordered more frequent guard patrols and posted more guards around the castle. She had the ominous sensation that this would not be enough; her anxiety had only kept gnawing at her. It felt familiar to her, and that's what concerned her. A night earlier, she had a surreal nightmare that woke her in the middle of the night. In the dream, Lunteria was in flames.

Within that same Nightmare, she saw the rest of Lunteria enslaved by a mysterious villain. The dream felt so real that it felt more like a divine premonition.

She couldn't help but be reminded of a time when she nearly died, but something had her thoughts clouded. There was darkness encroaching on Shidonia, and with the thick fog clouding her memories, it was difficult not to become anxious.

She couldn't fathom why, though. Hinayana suspected that it was this ominous feeling that lingered around Shadonia. She knew that it was a type of spell that she could not break, and it scared her. 

As her trepidation grew, Hinayana decided she had better check on her sister in the library. She had ordered her sister to study the latest political changes so that she could take over the court during the night due to the number of requests they would receive.

Her sister had been studying for weeks in preparation for it, and Hinayana was surprised that she had not burnt out yet. "Libby, how are you today." Asked Hinayana

"I'm afraid I feel a darkness creeping in. Can you feel it?" Libulan's expression was concerned. She had been growing more worried as the day continued. Something was off. The day seemed to go fast and felt eerie for a spring day. It was unnatural, almost like something evil had been watching her.

Libulan felt like it was creeping in closer, slowly stalking her. She had checked over her shoulder several times today, feeling like she was being watched from the shadows. Her paranoia had set in moments before Hinayana entered the library, adding to her fear.

"Yes, I believe it's an evil spell; as for who cast it, I don't know, but be on your guard. I can't risk losing you again." Hinayana cautioned, with a slight hint of fear and worry in her expression.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. You worry too much, sister," Libulan reassured Hinayana, feeling safer and less paranoid with her around.

"I just don't…" Hinayana replied as she became choked up, tears forming in the corners of her eyes, sobbing lightly.

"Oh, my dear Hina, don't get teary. I'm not going anywhere. Stop blaming yourself for what I forced you to do." Libulan concluded as she gingerly wiped a tear from her sister's eye, with a sisterly love that could not be destroyed, not even by the hottest crucible. They were sisters and had been for over a thousand years; nothing would ever change that.

After the day ended and Libulan was asleep, she had a nightmare, so to speak. She witnessed Lunteria in flames, and standing in front of the flames was a Sorceress she knew all too well. It was the one Sorceress she never wanted to see again. It was her inner demon, her arch nemesis, Mayari.

"Your sister may have thought she killed me, but how can you kill something that is bonded with you, Libulan, or should I call you, Mayari? I'm going to have to borrow your body. Fight me if you want, but you will not prevail. I want to be sure our meddlesome sister does not interfere with my plan. I will curse you. So you cannot tell your precious sister or even your irritating and pathetic friend. HESPERA!" She spat, her tone dripping with venomous intent before reciting her curse.

"Mandé, quartâsas, imǒneh, somondus." As Mayari said this in the dream, it swiftly became a nightmare. Soon after her dark chant was recited, a black aura formed around Libulan, which began to surround her before Libulan absorbed the dark magic.

"That should stop you from mentioning our little chat, old friend, to your dearest sister. Now. to take over your body. I need to collect something for my arrival."

"You shall not take me over. Not again, Mayari." As  Libulan said this to Mayari, she focused her willpower, pushing back Mayari's influence to the inner depths of her consciousness. "You will not suppress my influence forever. you will fail." As Mayari said this, she faded away.

As Libulan woke up the next day, she didn't remember what happened in her dream or that she even had a dream. Still, something rang in her head that would not dissipate from her mind: the words, "You cannot suppress my influence forever. You will fail." The voice that rang in her mind was familiar, but she could not place it and couldn't understand why those words tolled in her mind like a daunting death bell. Still, she thought she had heard them before. She tried and tried, but she could not remember where she heard them.

Libulan walked up to her sister, intending to tell her the words that rang in her head like daunting bells. But when she tried to, she couldn't say anything. "What is it, Libulan? Is something wrong?" Hinayana was concerned for her sister. She noticed something perplexed her and felt a dark aura lingering around her. It resembled the same dark thickness that hung in Shadonia.

Libulan Tried to speak for several seconds, but when she tried, her mouth opened, but nothing came out; it didn't even move; the only thing she could say was.

"Oh, it's nothing." Libulan did not know why or how this was happening. She searched her mind for the answer, but it was like a labyrinth; nothing made sense anymore.

"Okay." As Hinayana said this, she could only think something had been wrong. Then she thought, "It's unlike my sister to act like this. Something strange is in the air. I need to find out what this means." As Hinayana finished her thoughts, she headed out to the library. As she did, she had this growing sense of danger gnawing at her subconscious. It only worsened throughout the day to the point where she was visibly distressed.

When Hinayana couldn't find any information on what was happening with her sister, she furrowed her brow. This frustrated and stressed her to no end. It was nightfall by the time she had finished researching the entire Shadonian Library. 

Without gaining any results from her rigorous search, she decided to call it a night, and as she made it to her chambers to get some rest, she was unable to sleep; she could only toss and turn, filled with woe and concern, about what was happening with her sister with this thick dark feeling of impending doom, the hung around Shadonia. Her mind had become filled with turmoil and strife