I panicked, clutching at my chest as I felt the small stone move through my body. It circled around my heart for a moment before growing still. I looked up at Faria whose eyes were wide, not with horror, but with excitement. Something about this excited her. What if this thing just blew up and killed me?

“What’s going to happen to me?” I asked, getting frustrated at my sister’s lack of concern. “Why aren’t you freaking out?”

“I’m not freaking out because this is a good thing.” She replied, trying to calm me down. She placed a hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eyes. “I did some research on this as well. Everything is going to be fine. Everything is going according to plan.”

“What plan?” I nearly shouted.

“I can’t tell you yet, but you need to trust me. You cannot tell anyone about this.” She spoke in a stern voice. In all my time with her, I had never heard her speak like this, though her tone turned soft soon after. “Some very difficult things are coming. This will help you get through them.”

“Can’t you tell me anything?” I asked, desperate for more information about the gem currently sitting in my chest.

“If I told you anything now, it would just put you in more danger. There will come a time when all of your questions will be answered. Please, be content with what I’ve told you.”

“…This thing won’t blow up in me?”

“No.”

“And this is for my own good?”

“Yes.”

“When will I know what this is all about?”

“I don’t know. That depends on others, but you will have answers.”

I sucked in a deep breath and looked my sister in the eyes. When I was growing up in the city, when it was just my mother and I, I had to learn quickly how to judge a person. One skill I had picked up, was how to tell when someone was telling the truth. If I met eyes with someone, I could see the small signs that they were lying or dangerous. Though I would never admit it, I spent the majority of my time there stealing for the same reason that Hazel did. Sometimes, there would be the occasional merchant who “wanted to give food to the poor” or a guard who “wanted to make sure that we were safe.” These skills helped keep me, and those who were with me, safe from harm. None of these signs were on Faria’s face. She was absolutely, seriously telling the truth.

“Alright, I’ll believe you.” My words made Faria breathe a sigh of relief and hunch forward. “But if this really does kill me, I’ll haunt you forever.”

My sister chuckled and patted me on the back.

“Now how about we see what this stuff can do.” She spoke, brandishing the ring on her finger.

We spent the next several minutes together as Faria played with the things that she had taken from the reliquary. There were some things that I had seen her grab that she hadn’t taken back out, though she had taken quite a bit to begin with. Finally, she summoned a simple, black bracelet.

“This was something that I was excited for.” She said, spinning the bracelet around her finger.

Then, she grabbed at the band with both hands and broke it in half. It then exploded into a small cloud of black dust that hovered in the air. Faria held her hand out and pushed her finger into the cloud, cringing as the cloud of metal dust scratched against her finger. She then summoned her aura. The indigo colored aura spread out from her finger and mingled with the cloud. The metal dust then started to swarm around and collected around her wrist, reforming the bracelet. My sister suckled on her injured finger, watching the metal shine in the light of the crystals in the ceiling.

“What is that?” I asked, shocked at all that had happened in the space of a couple seconds.

“A wasted opportunity. Or it was.” She replied, then answered. “I read about it in one of the books in grandpa’s study. It’s called the Iron Cloud. Some soldier in the past used his father’s sword in a battle, and the blade was completely destroyed. The soldier and his father’s love for each other was enough to rebuild the sword, though it was still broken.”

“That’s really cool, but… you went into grandpa’s study?”

“I know that I’m not supposed to go in there, but it was for a very important reason. And I never broke or changed anything; I just read some of the books he had.”

I knew that this important reason and the one about the Dragonstone were most likely the same, but I felt strangely violated. Grandpa’s study was supposed to be my private space. Though I couldn’t be too mad since she had left it the same.

“Now let’s see what this thing can do.” She said, holding out her right arm, the arm that had the bracelet on it. “This thing is supposed to absorb my mana and get stronger, but I should still be able to use it.”

She waved her arm around for a moment, the aura wrapping around her body. Then, like a snake, the bracelet broke apart into the dust cloud and slithered up her arm and into her hand, forming a tiny dagger. She waved it around for a moment, then watched as a thin chain started at the base of the dagger and extended down, wrapping around her wrist. She then let go of the dagger and grabbed the chain and started spinning it around. I noticed a couple times where the blade looked like it was going to hit her, but moved out of the way just before it could connect.

Then, all in a single second, the dagger and chain collapsed into dust and reformed into the bracelet on Faria’s arm.

Furrowing her brow as she glared at the bracelet, Faria mumbled, “I guess it needs to charge more.”

She then stretched her arms out and turned to me. At this point, I had taken a seat on the ground to spectate her experiments. She came over and pulled me from the ground and handed me a simple blue ring.

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“Consider this another birthday present.” She spoke with a grin. “I know how much you like to hide, so I made sure to grab this. If you put it on and rub it three times, it turns you invisible.”

I slowly slid the ring onto my finger and watched it shrink to fit comfortably. I then rubbed the ring three times, as she had instructed, and felt a slight tingling sensation from the ring.

“It works!” My sister cried out. “Rub it three more times to turn it off.”

I did as she said and the tingling sensation stopped. I then thought for a moment.

“If these things are so powerful, then why don’t we use them in the war?” I asked, trying to come up with my own solution.

“It was some kind of treaty that we signed a long time ago. Nobody knows what kind of artefacts that everybody else has, so nobody uses them.”

“Sounds like a-”

“A wasted opportunity. Yeah.” Faria interrupted, looking over my shoulder. “A lot of good could happen if these things were actually used, but father is too afraid of them being stolen.”

“Aren’t we stealing?” I responded, looking over my shoulder. There was nothing there, so what was she looking at?

“I guess we are.” She chuckled.

Faria then closed the reliquary and relocked the door.

“We should get out of here. If we’re gone for too long, then people will get suspicious.”

We left the large underground room, locking the door behind us and ensuring that lights were off and headed back up to the surface. We carefully snuck out of the small shed that hid the entrance to the royal training grounds and leaped behind some rosebushes. The sun was now setting on the horizon.

“Who is there?” Someone shouted from nearby.

In a moment of panic, I rubbed the ring and felt the tingling sensation as my body turned invisible.

“Sure, leave me to deal with this on my own.” Faria grumbled. “I’ll get you back for this.”

The guard who shouted then came closer and found Faria crouched down next to a rosebush.

“Oh, your highness, I did not know that it was you.” The guard stammered, suddenly nervous. “It is dangerous to be out of the castle at this hour. Please allow me to escort you back inside.”

My sister stood from her crouched position and turned to the guard, glaring at him. “I am perfectly capable of walking to the front door, thank you.” She then turned and started towards the castle doors, bumping shoulders with me as she did. I was unsure if she did that on purpose or not since she kept going as if nothing happened at all.

I followed after, turning the ring off when I was sure that nobody was looking. For some reason, Faria had decided to use the front doors instead of the usual side doors.

Throwing the doors open, she shouted. “Your future queen has returned!”

The few servants and guards present just inside the foyer all jumped and stood panicked and awkward.

“Do not worry, I am gracious ruler.” She spoke, mimicking the most snobbish voice she could before chuckling to herself.

The guards and servants all laughed nervously and continued their work. I was sure that they were all worried that she was insane; I sometimes do, but she would never really hurt anyone. She just likes to joke around. I wanted to tell them all this, but I doubt they would listen. As much as the nobles despise me, the common folk seem to hate me more. It was more of a jealous hate than anything else, which could end up more dangerous than the other. I didn’t blame them, though. I got a warm bed, a nice room and didn’t have to worry about starving, and it was all because my mother seduced the king.

It had taken me a moment before I realized that Faria was heading towards the room where my mother slept. It was a solitary part of the castle. The entire section was unused and closed off to anyone besides the guards and a maid who took care of my mother. These exceptions naturally included me as well.

We passed by one of the guards on patrol. He looked like he wanted to say something, but held his tongue and continued on his route.

Just as we came to the door to my mother’s room, her maid exited the room. She was a short, older woman with short gray hair. I never learned her name. I had asked on several occasions, but she never acknowledged by words and kept walking.

“Thank you.” I whispered just loud enough for her to hear, but she ignored my words and continued walking away.

Quietly, I opened the door. The room was extremely large, but only a small bed and nightstand. On the bed was my mother. The only sound in the entire room was the soft sound of her breathing.

I stepped over to the bed and looked down at the face of my mom. Her condition had improved considerably. Her skin had color to it, her light brown hair, though it was matted from lying down for so long, still looked as full and rich as when I was just a few years old. I knew that the day was far from now, but I looked forward to when I could see her smiling face and crystal blue eyes.

“I brought a visitor.” I spoke quietly. “She wanted to read to you today.”

I gestured to the chair set next to the bed and the book on the nightstand. Stepping softly, Faria moved over and sat on the chair and opened the book.

“Limfor’s Fables. Part one, the rebel queen.” She started.

Limfor’s Fables was an interesting book. A few copies had been found in the grand library one day. The stories were interesting, but were short and didn’t tell much. However, hundreds of copies started appearing throughout the nation, all in one day. It was because of this book that a wider range of the population could now read.

I sat on the edge of mom’s bed and listened to Faria as she read each fable from beginning to end. Personally, though many called it uninteresting, I loved the stories. Especially the first one. It told of hero who fought against her father’s tyrannical rule and freed her people from his evil ways.

I could feel tiredness wash over me as Faria finished reading the book.

“It seems like we’re both ready for the day to end.” Faria whispered as she closed the book. She then ruffled my hair and spoke softly. “I’ll leave first. Thanks for being awesome.”

She got up from the chair, set the book back on the nightstand and quietly left the room, gently closing the door behind her. I turned back to my mother and stared at her face for a while, remembering all the times we had shared before this happened. Inwardly, I regretted all the times that I had stressed her out or made her worried when I was younger.

Resolving to do better when she woke up, I bent down and gently kissed her forehead and silently left the room.

I immediately went for my room. Today had been strangely exhausting, so I dropped hard on my bed and swiftly fell asleep.

Right after I had fallen asleep, I was awoken by someone holding my mouth and nose closed. I panicked and flailed for a moment before I saw that it was Faria who had woken me.

“Geez, you sleep like a rock.” She muttered.

“Why are you here?” I asked, looking out through my balcony. It was pitch dark outside, with little light coming from the moon.

“I don’t have time to explain, but I’m leaving.”

“What?”

“What part of don’t have time do you not understand?” I sat there, dumbfounded and staring at my sister in shock until she explained more. “Important things are happening, and I need you to know that I’ll be okay.”

Important things again. When would I get a real explanation?

She took a step back from my bed and lit the candle on my nightstand. She then pulled out a tiny knife from her belt and pressed the tip of it into her palm. Even in the darkness, I could see her wince in pain. She wiped off the dagger on her pants and shoved it back into her belt. She brought her hand to her mouth and sucked at the wound, then held out her hand to me. She had carved a very crude symbol into the palm of her hand, the size of a fingertip. I recognized the symbol as one from the old language. It was the only symbol I knew; the one that Faria had taught me. It meant family.

She then walked over to the balcony and summoned what looked like a pair of gloves from her ring and slid them on.

“You can’t tell anyone that I was here. Not even Hazel.” She spoke. Her voice was neutral, but I could see tears forming in her eyes. “See you later, Mal.” She spoke before leaping from the balcony.

I rushed over to the edge in panic and looked down, expecting to see her lying on the ground three stories down, but she was gone.