In the dusty desert plains west of the Sea of Darkness, two lights converged in the ruins of a long-forgotten town.

Once serving as the largest trading post in the region, this ghost town was a thriving hub of commerce with hundreds of travelers passing through the streets every day. Now, only dust occupied the remaining buildings.

Sudden gusts of dry wind tore across the empty streets, kicking up dust and scattering dried debris from one side to the other. Overhead, the hazy night sky showed signs of an impending storm.

One of the descending lights, an orb that strongly resembled a ball of electricity, looked like a shooting star as it flew through the night sky from the east and landed in the middle of, what was once, a courtyard garden behind the town hall.

As the orb came closer to the ground, the light seemed to pulse as dozens of smaller sparks began to coalesce around it. In the span of a heartbeat, the orbs of light took on the shape of a person wearing a black cloak. The cloaked figure stepped forward, taking a moment to inspect the area before using gloved hands to try and shake off the red-orange dust that had begun to seep into their clothes thanks to the relentless wind.

Despite all efforts, the steady dusty winds that blew through the ruins refused all attempts to remove the dirt and the figure could only look at the lack of results while sighing in disgust.

Suddenly, the figure jumped hastily to the right as the ground to their left exploded in a burst of bright white light.

There was no sound to indicate any sort of attack, however, a large crater, one spanning several meters, had erupted in the exact spot where the figure had previously stood.

More light explosions followed the first without pause, and the cloaked figure started moving rapidly in seemingly random directions as craters formed spontaneously behind them. Realizing that the bombardment showed no sign of stopping, the figure quickly turned into a ball of light and zipped up to the roof of the three story town hall, escaping the explosions which continued to decimate the garden below.

Returning to a solid form, the figure quickly spun around to look towards the northern skies. Head tilted, body relaxed, an odd combination of anticipation and contempt radiated from their posture as they stood watching a certain part of the northern sky.

A few moments later, the silent explosions finally ceased and a brilliant beam of light descended upon the opposite end of the rooftop. Although the intensity of the light would have blinded ordinary people, the cloaked figure was unphased. Looking on in heavy silence, the figure waited patiently as the beam of light began to fade and the silhouette of a woman took shape.

The woman stood tall, shoulders back, as she took a step forward unto the rooftop. Brown hair, thick trimmed brows furrowed over hazel eyes, thin lips curled up slightly beneath an upturned nose, the woman, dressed in a mint green pantsuit, looked as though she was running late for a business meeting.

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Wearing an amused expression, she raised a brow at the cloaked figure before strolling across the roof to take a peek over the edge at the devastation she had wrought in the space below. Appearing unimpressed with the results, she 'tsked' lightly under her breath; quickly losing interest and returning her attention to the rooftop.

After a few moments of awkward tension, the woman seeing that her 'teasing' wasn't already having the intended effect, she decided to adopt a more tailored approach rather than continue wasting her time with petty antics. Her expression shifted from one of amusement to that of feigned exasperation.

“You can lower the hood, brother. There’s no one here but us,” the woman sighed.

Hearing the word ‘brother’, the man in the black cloak shook noticeably.

Having finally gotten a reaction, the woman brought one arm across her body lazily, propping the other elbow on it while she rested her chin on a fist as if waiting on a problem child to capitulate. Despite the obvious provocation, the man ripped his arms from beneath his cloak and complied by lowering the dark hood that had kept his faced hidden in shadow.

Faint moonlight revealed unkempt brown hair framing an older man's face. Savage green eyes, glinting with a fierce and unyielding resolve, peered out from beneath thick eyebrows, and gritty stubble covered a strong jaw. His lips, curled back to reveal white teeth, and an upturned nose, one that was strikingly similar to the woman's, completed a handsome visage.

The man and woman looked strikingly similar; too much so. It was clear that the woman's words had some truth to them.

"Don't," the man growled harshly through gritted teeth, "you are not my sister. You might wear her face like some prized trophy while you waltz around taking advantage of people, but don't you dare try to play that game with me. You make me sick."

The sound of metal against metal broke through the rising tension, one of the man's metallic gloves tightly wrapped around the hilt of the sword at his hip while his eyes remained fixed on the woman's every move.

She rolled her eyes slightly, acting like he was being dramatic, before tilting her head to the right and laughing lightly, "Come on. You know as well I do, brothe--"

A loud sound, like a dull thump, abruptly punctuated her words, and whatever the woman was about to say was cut off as the very world itself seemed to flex outward in protest.

At the same time, reality seemed to flicker, appearing as if someone covered the world in a dark veil and then ripped it away. It wasn't just the stars this time, even the moon disappeared from the night sky and momentarily left the world in pitch darkness.

"I. SAID. DON'T!", the voice that should have come from the man's throat seemed to resonate from everywhere at once, deep and full of pain. The voice drowned out not just the woman's words, but all sound; leaving only the man's resounding cry of anguish and rage to fill the void.

Hazel eyes widened slightly and, for the first time since she had appeared on the rooftop, the woman's eyes no longer contained amusement. A seriousness had replaced the subtle mockery, and the thick brows, risen momentarily in swift surprise, plunged to their depths in the next minute as she thought of something that she had never wanted to consider before.

The sound of the man's cloak, snapping sharply in the surging wind, drew her attention while she was still reeling, and it was only then that she noticed: all the desert sand that had been gradually accumulating on the man had vanished; not just from his cloak, not just from his boots, and not just from his person.

From the area beneath his feet to the space surrounding him, at a radius of around two meters, not a single speck of dust remained in existence. The air hummed with power and energy, nothing in the space around him seemed to be able resist the man's influence. When the building around them began to deteriorate as well, the woman finally understood.

'It's him.'