A most lovely, and enchanting song blossomed shortly after entering into a deeper state of sleep. The song was sung by a feminine tongue carrying along with it a beautiful melody that kept his full attention. Even though there was an absence of instrumentation, the song carried itself well solely by the woman’s enchanting voice.

It carried its way through the depths of his unconscious mind. It became the sole focus of Raelle who had surrendered himself to slumber. It eased him and demanded he listen to the words they spoke aloud.

Their voice caused chills to run up and down his body. The hairs themselves on his arms rose and caused immense emotion to flow as their voice carried the song to new heights.

They hit a particularly high note and held onto it. That was when he opened his eyes and could still hear them singing.

Quickly realizing that it wasn’t just an experience from within his mind, he pulled the covers off of his body and stood up out of bed. He wandered over towards his large bedchamber window and looked up to the sky.

A dark womanly figure hovered in the sky with the moon behind them. With arms stretched out wide, they kept singing the song aloud that etched itself further into his mind.

Not knowing who this person was, he thought it quite strange and worrisome. No one but them were allowed to be on their property giving him pause. Who are they and why are they here?

Raelle rushed out of his bedchamber and exited the estate into the darkness of the night. There up in the sky, the figure still hovered there in front of the moon which shined down on them. The moonlight sent their shadow down to the ground hitting up against the estate due to the angle of the moon.

The figure twisted their head to look at him and gaze through his eyes. With those reddened lips of hers upon a pale face, she smiled at him lifting her voice higher and higher.

Several black birds flew towards her and then changed into human forms that also hovered up there with her. They added their own voices to hers to enhance the melodies. Two of the figures appeared as men and another two appeared as women as they stood on both sides of the woman who had been singing the entire time.

Who are they? What are they doing here?

There was one thing he knew about them, and it was that they were familiars. But why would they be here singing of all things?

It was so strange. It was so weird and yet at the same time, enchanting. He kept listening questioning the amusing sight. The song went on for some time but as the song neared its end, a sick feeling began to settle in his stomach.

At first, he hadn’t noticed it, but it quickly intensified. A sharp, and certainly not dull sensation rummaged up in his abdomen causing him to grimace. His heart began to beat fast and faster as the seconds went on. The song concluded with all five voices joined together to sing aloud the final note that drowned out every other sound.

While they kept singing that final note, he fell to his knees landing on the soft recently trimmed grass. Vomit exited his mouth forcefully. He breathed in before being forced to vomit even more. By the third time, nothing more came out but it still hurt.

He retched, and retched, and retched wondering whether it would ever stop. The sharp pain in his stomach kept hurting as if someone drove a dagger from inside him. His throat burned as he wiped the leftover vomit from his lips. The vomiting had stopped thankfully, but the stabbing pain went on.

With the song over and vomit no longer forcefully evading his body, he lifted himself back up. He put a hand to his stomach bracing for the pain and nausea overwhelming him still. Ow, this hurts, this…really, really hurts.

The five figures hovering from afar stayed put but as he gazed up towards them, he thought the middle one grinned towards him specifically. Due to the length between them, it was hard to say whether they were actually grinning. It could’ve been his imagination. Either way, she thrust one of their arms forward towards the estate, and a blindingly bright light flashed into his peripheral view.

A loud noise erupted and the ground shook. Smoke billowed up from the northern portion of the estate.

Raelle kept an arm to his abdomen as he rushed towards the estate. He breathed in heavily finding it difficult as his throat continued to burn. More destruction occurred against the estate blowing it apart. He rushed inside finding most of the windows shattered from the magic being unleashed for some unknown reasons.

Several servants scurried about unsure of what to do or where to go. Several rushed over towards one who had debris covering their body. He could only see their top half as the other half was buried beneath the fallen roof within a particular room. He wanted to help them, but his mind was fixated on his sister.

In a rush to find her, he bumped into a vase causing it to shatter on the floor into a million varying pieces.

Those familiars for whatever reason had chosen to viciously attack them. And he did not know why. He only knew that they truly possessed murderous intent. For what other reason would they attack them in such a manner?

More and more of their power exploded up against the estate causing more parts of it to crumble and begin to burst into flame. It was a complete wonder he had not been struck by any of it. He managed to run through a hall to try to reach his sister’s bedchamber which wasn’t far from his.

He ended up beside his bedchamber and continued to run past it. He caught his breath unfortunately taking in some smoke filling certain rooms in the estate. When he reached his sister’s bedchamber door, he did not think to hesitate in thrusting it open.

“Amberilla!”

She stood there frozen within her bedchamber which had shattered glass and broken furniture. He grabbed her hand and dragged her out of there by force.

“What’s going on brother?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “We’ve just got to get out of here for now.”

He led her down the hall from where he originally came. However, tons of debris coming from above began to fall forcing him to back away and watch it close off their exit.

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Without delay, he thrust open the door to his left exposing the inside of his father’s library. Books were all over the floor and he thought briefly how angry his father would be for having all this cherished knowledge thrown around in this manner. He put little more thought into it as he assisted his sister to get out and through a large shattered window. If the estate was to be completely demolished, he wanted them out of there immediately even if that meant taking an unconventional route out of it.

Once she managed to get out of the window, Raelle pulled himself over it carefully to not cut himself from the broken glass. Unfortunately by the time his two feet landed outside on the grass, he could feel a warm liquid running down his leg.

“Brother,” she said noticing his cut-up state.

“I’m fine. We need to focus on distancing ourselves from here.”

“Alright, but what about everyone else and our uncle?”

“He’ll be fine,” he said not knowing at all whether that was the truth. Whatever he could say to ease her mind, he said without regard for the truth. “We just have to go. Here, take my hand.” She grasped his hand and he tightly grasped it back. “We must run and get away from here!”

He didn’t want to leave his uncle behind or anyone else for that matter, but he didn’t think he could go and try to reach him. He wasn’t even entirely sure where he was. He hoped he would make it out but for now at least, he could only try to help his sister who he had right then and there.

They ran across the open field which surrounded the estate. Certain parts of the grass caught aflame causing it to sweep around erratically. They managed to avoid it and distance themselves away from the danger. After several minutes of running, the two of them stopped to catch their breath once more.

When he gazed towards the estate, it was entirely set aflame and broken apart. Why is this happening to us?

“Brother!”

She pointed towards something behind them. He looked over his shoulder only to notice a small feminine figure approaching them. They wore a bloodied outfit and had long brown hair with parts of it covering their right eye.

Another manly figure appeared opposite to the one approaching. The two of them stopped and then he began to spin with the world swirling around his vision.

His body eventually stopped landing far away from his sister. A terrible pain erupted from his side as he forced himself to stand. As he did so, a spray of dark glistening red erupted before the moonlit sky.

The one who had been there to sing the song at the very beginning had their arm coursing through Amberilla’s heart. Their bloodied arm and hand that had carved its way through her chest and out her backside, forced its way out of her body sending his sister to collapse onto the grass.

Raelle screamed.

Raelle cried.

Raelle felt worthless before the one who just murdered his sister before his eyes.

His dead sister’s lifeless eyes stared at him. Blood seeped out from her chest wetting the grassy ground.

The murderer had his sister’s blood dripping down their arm and hand. They wore a completely still and emotionless face. All he could feel as he looked at her was rage begin to consume him.

But at the same time as that rage filled him demanding he take action, a dreadful and most terrible fear prevented him from daring to move a single inch as he stood there all alone facing up against these fiends. He was frozen in place while the one who had killed her began to approach him slowly.

Hot tears blurred his vision. The murderer approaching him was taller than the other manly figure and womanly figure that just arrived behind them. And however much his blurred vision betrayed him, he could still make out the cut of her dress that exposed their legs and bosom. Their hips swayed to the left and right as they walked and carried themselves in a seductive manner while still possessive of that emotionless face.

What was he to do, except stand there knowing he was going to die before this fiend? He was no fighter. He was not capable of even defending himself. And with his sister lying there on the ground dead, he wanted to join her. What good was living anymore? What good was there to fighting at all, if she was gone from this world?

He tightened both of his fists and felt more hot tears running down his face. There is no point at all to fight. Just kill me. I don’t care anymore.

If he was to die, then he fully accepted it embracing his sister’s murderer to also murder him.

The woman whose arm and hand was still bloodied with his sister’s blood prepared to kill him similarly. She pulled their arm back and sent it flying towards where his heart remained.

His body suddenly flew backwards once more. He rolled across the grass until finally stopping.

When he managed to look up with his stomach to the grassy ground, he saw his uncle with one hand strangling the womanly familiar. The other two malicious figures for some reason were not there to assist the one being strangled to death. Raelle continued to watch only to notice his uncle’s other clasped hand having bluish-white light spilling out of the crevices of his palm and fingers.

He realized that his uncle grasped onto that arcane root he had shown him earlier except this time, he grasped onto it completely bare-handed.

The woman could not flee or fight back as they were actively strangled by his uncle. They struggled and though they tried to get out of his grasp in whatever possible way they could, his hand’s grasp around her neck was far too strong. Their body eventually went limp and the woman who he figured would fall over limp on the ground, began to turn to dust.

Within just a few seconds after their death, they fully disappeared and his uncle wrapped the arcane root once more with some kind of fabric he always kept at hand.

Raelle rushed to his sister. He went to his knees and put his hand around the backside of her head. “Amberilla…” He motioned a hand through her black hair and began to cry again while her head rest on his lap. The tears fell over onto her dress while he continually wept.

“Amberilla,” he said once more. “Amberilla!”

A hand grasped onto his shoulder. “Raelle.”

He pulled his shoulder back forcing their grasp to relinquish itself.

“It does you no good to do—”

“Just shut up!” He ran a hand through his dead sister’s hair looking into those unmoving eyes of hers. Though they looked up at him, they saw nothing as they were in fact dead. “Why didn’t you get here sooner, huh? You just let her die. You let those familiars kill her!”

“I tried,” his uncle said. “But I was not quick enough to get to you two. I…I am sorry.”

Raelle ran his hand over her eyelids closing them shut forever more.

As he held onto her lifeless body, he felt his throat wanting to completely close. His entire body shook and the pain and the grief taking over was not something he had ever felt before.

His tears continually fell over onto her bloodied dress.

He was to never speak to her again or hear her speak to him. She would never give him a loving kiss on his forehead or on the cheek. She’d never smile or laugh or one day perhaps marry someone and fall in love. They’d never make up for the wrongful things either of them might’ve done to one another in years past. He was to forever remember her last moment alive as her heart became pierced and looked over towards him with a frightening gaze.

Raelle lifted his head to gaze up at the dark sky to continue to cry and scream aloud to a sky full of stars and a universe that stared back at him knowing that it did not care that he was being forced to hold onto his lifeless sister’s body.