Nothing but darkness surrounded her and she ached to find a path, a light, anything to show her the way out of this terrible nightmare. She found no such thing, however, save for sneering voices and sinister laughter, echoing louder and louder until it drowned out even her own thoughts–

“Kali? Kali get up!” A hand grabbed her and pulled, ripping her out of her nightmare and into reality. She gasped then, eyes wide open as she stared at the face hovering over her. It was much like her’s, with golden-brown skin and silver eyes. Long hair woven into mini twists fell from it, tickling her own face and making her scrunch up at the sensation.

“Thanks for pulling me out Kendi.” It wasn’t a rare occasion for one twin to be burdened with nightmares and the other to save them from the ordeal. Today it seemed to be Kendi’s turn to play the savior, pulling his younger sister from the darkness her mind trapped her in.

“It’s nothing, you did the same for me last time and that dream had Lehana in it.” Their mother, Lehana, was anything but loving. She was worse to them than any nightmare the twins could dream of. From birth, they were reminded of who they were: mistakes, regrets, and above all–bastards.

Though to the twins Lehana was nothing more than a cold and heartless mother, there had been a time when she was warm and loving. Then with her beauty reminiscent of the morning sun, no person could resist her. Eventually, she caught the eye of the emperor himself.

His love, as she would tell her children many times, had been the cause of her downfall.

The court, disgusted by royal children with a lowborn mother forced the king to cast her out, though he didn’t put up much of a fight against them. Banished to the smallest estate furthest from the palace and given only a handful of servants to raise her new children, Lehana descended into a rage. A rage so pure, fueled by lies and lost love, that even when the twins reached 16 she never stopped blaming them.

“Do you think she’ll come back home tonight?” Kendi shrugged in response, watching his twin sit up and tie her mini braids up into a ponytail.

“She could, she hasn’t been home in days. Hopefully, if she does it’ll make the servants cook for once? Our stash is running low.” The entire mood of the mansion was gloomy, with the servants forced to take care of a manic mistress. What other way could they take out their anger but on the children worth less than they were?

If Lehana wasn’t home they didn’t cook, clean, or take care of the estate, resulting in their home appearing like a haunted manor. They especially didn’t care for Kali or Kendi, leaving them with worn-out clothes and little food. What the twins could get their hands on they rationed, reliant on Lehana to come home drunk every couple of days to get the servants working again.

“I am tired of this…” Kali sighed, taking a piece of stale bread from their dwindling stash for her breakfast. Like every day in this dreary place, she wished for something more. She fancied a universe where she and Kendi weren’t born with bad blood, free from the torture of simply existing. A world where they could be whoever they wanted to be and travel the world together.

“Don’t you go daydreaming again, you’ll make me hopeful.” With his words Kendi gave Kali a soft flick to the forehead, prompting a hum of annoyance in return. Despite the misfortune of being born, they had both been blessed with powers since birth, able to connect with each other's souls. They could speak to one another without uttering a word aloud, enter each other’s dreams, and even evoke emotions in each other.

With this they felt as if they were more than just siblings and more than just twins. They were one and the same, two sides of the same coin. Without Kali there would be no Kendi, and without Kendi Kali would cease to exist. It was this power, strengthened by an unbreakable bond between the twins, that had encouraged them to survive this cruel environment around them, content as long as they had each other.

“I’m sorry Kendi, I just can’t help it sometimes.” Her brother nodded, understanding that even with the obvious obstacles in their path they couldn’t stop hoping. What else did they have, other than the aching desire to live another life?

“You wretched children! Come out at once!” Lehana, of course.

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Alarm struck the hearts of both siblings, it was early morning and Lehana usually showed up in the evening. Quickly they scrambled up, Kendi grabbing their stash of food to hide and Kali rushing to tidy up their room. Anything out of order was simply an excuse for their mother to lash out at them and they had learned to give as little reason as possible for her to raise her hand.

But it was too late, because as Kendi unceremoniously shoved the stale food into their closet Lehana barged in, like a beautiful storm ready to unleash a torrent of wind and waves. Mercilessly she laid eyes on her prey, caring for none of Kendi's frantic pleads. Her sharp nails found her son's face, and a cruel grin spread across her own when she saw the blood it drew.

"First you ruin my life and now you think you can steal from me?" Her words were slurred, yet sharp enough to make Kali shudder.

"Mother, it's not what-" Air was knocked out of Kendi's lungs by the kick Lehana gave him, leaving him kneeling and crouched over in pain. Kali gasped then, running over and placing herself between the two.

"Mother, we barely have any food to eat. So we just save a little for when we get hungry. We didn’t mean to offend you, please forgive us!" Kali ignored the yells echoing in her mind, even if Kendi wanted her to save herself she never would. Instead she stared cautiously at her mother, who seemed to pause a bit at her words.

"Why would the servants ever feed pathetic bugs like you?" It was an expected answer but it hurt nonetheless. Kali braced herself as Lehana ruthlessly grabbed her daughter by the throat and choking the air out of her.

“You know what they do to thieves these days? They brand them so that everyone knows of their crime. Befitting is it not?” Kali soundlessly shook her head in desperation, and Lehana smirked as an idea formed in her wicked mind.

She threw her daughter down onto the cold wooden floor, turning once again to focus on her son. She grabbed him by the arm, dragging him out of their small room and into her own. It was like entering a whole new manor, with expensive furniture and beautiful decor. It was warm too, unlike the twin’s cold room, heated up by a large chimney fire.

Kali had always looked at that fire with jealously, wishing that she and Kendi could have one too. Now she only stared at the flames in horror. Lehana grabbed an iron poker from its rack with her unoccupied hand, shoving it into the fire.

“Mother, please. We won’t do it again I swear!” Kendi’s desperate words fell on deaf ears. Something happened to Lehana that night that had driven her mad. She saw and heard nothing but the pain of sixteen years ago, memories fuelling her unending insanity.

“That man, how could he? How could he do this to me?” She screeched the words, blinking back tears before she withdrew the poker from the fire. What had her son said? She couldn’t care less. Those cursed children were the reason why she was here, why she was suffering. They deserved to suffer with her, it was unfair for her to cry alone.

She couldn’t even hear his blood-curdling scream when she drove the poker into his chest, and barely processed his look of agony. But she did hear a voice, clear and cold as the ocean waters, loud enough to muffle her racing thoughts.

Stop Lehana, let him go.

Lehana dropped the poker instantly, taking a step back in confusion. Who was that? It was only her and her children in the room, the servants knew to steer clear of her at times like this. With only one option, she slowly looked to Kali, gasping when she saw her daughter.

Kali's hair, a rich black that glistened under the sun, had changed. Now it shined a platinum white. It was as if her eyes and hair had traded shades, with her once silver eyes becoming like endless black pools. Lehana wanted to scream, yell at whatever thing had possessed her daughter’s soul, but found that she couldn’t. She was rigid, forced only to watch her daughter open her mouth and speak again.

If you want someone to burn so badly, climb into the fire yourself.

There is a hallowing despair in knowing the outcome of a situation and being powerless to stop it. The twins had come to accept this feeling when Lehana would come home to them, but it was a frightening thing for their mother to experience firsthand.

Against her will she nodded, turning away from her daughter and walking towards the fire. She didn’t want to, of course, who would willingly step into a lit chimney? But her body wasn’t her own, controlled by the will of her bastard daughter.

Kali herself couldn’t comprehend what was happening, or what she was doing. To her, she had simply witnessed her brother burn and had thought to herself that it was truly it this time. Lehana was going to kill them both if she wasn't stopped. So she decided to stop her mother herself.

She had sensed a similar feeling to when Kendi entered her dream and pulled her out then, a connection to Lehana’s spirit that she had never felt before. Though unfamiliar she had grasped onto it, taking command of her own mother’s will. Kendi had felt it then as well, that his mother’s soul wasn’t her own anymore. He had been so surprised that the pain in his chest seemed to dull, replaced by alarm, confusion, and finally–hope.

Never before had they been able to connect to another person’s soul. Now, as they watched their mother climb into the fire and scream, the twins realized that Kali had unlocked in them both a way out of this miserable life, a path they hoped wouldn’t lead them into more despair.