SIL
THE ANGRY POUNDING of the rain followed by a clap of thunder heralded a fierce and raging storm. She shook her head in frustration as she covered her ears to block the cacophonous din created by the furious storm that had erupted out of the blue. Slowly, she dragged her feet down the carpeted stairs with a humongous pile of dirty clothes being balanced poorly by her hands while hating to do all drudgery of the endless chores without Archer. She grumbled slightly in disdain for him being able to wake up in the morning cheerfully while she resembled a ferocious winged boar from Kvetena judging by her wild unkempt hair that shined brightly like in its own mysteriousness of the night.
The pile of clothes tumbled down the stairs, and she almost lost her footing. A shrill cry of her alarm clock made her jump and she made a note to herself- never ever jump on the stairs even if a shrill cry from her annoying alarm clock screams at the wrong time it is suppose to wake you up by mixing up am and pm. It explained why she missed her favorite cartoon. She scowled at the clock, secretly hoping for it to combust in flames or shatter into millions of pieces, but Archer had given it her yesterday. It was a present, and she was already hating it. She slipped on her favorite purple skirt instead of the traditional Aurelian outfit and tumbled down the stairs.
A gasp of shock left her mouth, and she groaned in pain as she landed on her elbow. The pile of dirty laundry didn't provide her much of a cushion but she was glad the floor didn't have hard tiles or otherwise she would have been teleported to the ER. She struggled up to her feet as she heard her mother rushing up to her from the kitchen. She had been humming to a melody of an old folk song of Ignis when Esther had just narrowly missed breaking a bone and having the dread of going... No wait - being dragged to the ER. While the books on the table in the dining hall said otherwise, Esther's passion for helping others in the medical field often times came with the cost of seeing that place more often times than she would have wanted.
Her mother looked at her with concern as she tucked a strand of her ebony hair behind her ear which both of the siblings had inherited, except Archer didn't have a streak of dark coffee brown hair on the right side of his head. His hair turned white when he became mad; fortunately, Esther had only witnessed it only once in her life. It was very rare for some sorcerer to change the color of their hair naturally except for old age.
Her mother looked at her and sighed; her clumsiness was a regular occurrence which required only a short lecture of five point two minutes - yes, she counted in her head - until her mother gave up. She quietly admonished Esther about her clumsiness and went downstairs to the basement. She let out a breath while shaking her head when she had finally completed all her chores. She decided to make herself comfortable on the couch to make up for Archer waking her up to say goodbye. He always did, but today she couldn't sleep after it. Something was unsettling her, almost as if someone was watching her. The doorbell rang and she growled. She really hated being interrupted in her plans for sleeping peacefully.
A rhythmic knock two knocks - one knock - two knocks on the door made her forget all the miserable time she had spent doing the awful chores, and the sleep deprived state. Heavy steps muffled by the soft mustard brown carpet brought a smile to her face. Archer! But her bright smile quickly faltered as she examined his dire condition. His shaggy black hair was sprayed with water which sparkled like diamonds, twigs and leaf debris decorated and were nestled in his hair. Dark circles emphasized his weary azure eyes. There were burns and bruises on his lean arms. Fresh scars which looked like they were scraped by some animal and torn clothes bought a fresh blast of worry and panic to her mother's pale face which was paler than it usually was. She rushed to him as his knees buckled and his legs gave way to the ground underneath him. Esther rushed up to him in panic which was evident across her face as weariness threatened to pull him over.
Her father's black hair ruffled as he closes the brown mahogany door, fighting against the howling winds outside, and he picked her brother's limp body up and carefully places him on the silk red sofa. Her mom's black hair which were made in a tight bun now hung loose as she tenderly stroked her brother's hair gazing at him silently, trying to apply some magical herbs that Esther had gotten from their herbal garden. Esther seemed to be frozen to the ground as she stared at his weary condition. "What... what happened to him!" she sputter while holding his bruised arms gingerly.
His magical energy levels were depleted, but why? She knew from experience that Archer and Belle's pranks consisted were a mix of charms: magical and persuasion, but their pranks never resulted in either of them getting their magical energies completely depleted. Sometimes, broken bones, and a ruptured tendon, but never their magical energies being depleted.
Archer and her were born three years apart with their best friend Belle a year older than she. She never had experienced being upset for more than five minutes, her brother was always there for her. They shared a special bond and she could literally feel his presence. Sometimes she could even hear his thoughts and she felt what he felt. And seeing him so weak, she felt like being torn apart. I want to collapse on the floor, feeling dizzy, as the room started blurring and spinning like a roller coaster. The uneasy feeling that had been plaguing her for the last week since Archer let her roam freely in the mall for the first time without parental supervision. She felt her dad's strong, yet caring hand on her shoulder as he looked at her with concern, " Eirene, are you feeling okay?" she frowned at him when he used her middle name, but it was better than saying her full name, Esther Eirene Hunter. She didn't blame him; however, it had been a long time since she had seen him.
His job as the general of the army made his presence at the house very scarce. She visited to the royal palace very often. She was a close friend to the youngest princess. Her face is always replete with happiness and joy that she used to mask her sadness, but it was not Esther's story to tell. She had a habit to go horseback riding with Archer every morning just before the Sun rose. However, today they decided to go earlier because the moment the Sun rose, Oliva would be there to bring down the royal barrier of the previous monarchy and raise her own to initiate the beginning of her coronation ceremony which Esther had to get ready for tomorrow. The taking down the barrier and raising a new one all around Aurelia was an all day event that spread the barrier on all places along wherever the sun rays started spreading to signify the start of a new day. The province of Caldi would be last because it was the last place where the day would start because of time zone differences. It was a formal event and schools and workplaces were closed for today since the barrier would be least interrupted if less magical energy was depleted.
She decided that it was reasonable to deduce that something had happened Archer and Belle when their teenage selves because of something other than a prank. Those bruises were unlike she had ever seen out of class. The only one she recognized was one on his right forearm: a burn caused by dark magic or fire. Her eyes widened in horror- Archer' powers were derived from ice. Getting in contact with fire would cause an explosion of forces of his icy powers. It must have caused him to fight it off subconsciously depleting his magical energies, but where was Belle?
She was taking Archer to see Olivia raise the Royal barrier in the capital- Aurea. Esther had never been the morning person, so she boycotted the idea of going with the duo. Archer had never been the morning person until two years ago, when he decided waking up at four would be acceptable. Belle, unfortunately, was a morning person, and wholly agreed with his suggestion of him teaching her how to ride on a corniqualis. Now -everyday at five- he barged into Esther's room without knocking and served like an alarm clock. She woke up an hour late after he kissed her forehead, readjusted her blanket to make sure she was warm, checked how much water there was in the pitcher by her cupboard, and glanced at a picture behind her headboard, but she didn't know which one.
Belle had once given them two photo frame collage thing to place multiple pictures, and they both received it heartily. Maybe it was the picture of them in the center or the one on the right, she didn't know which one; her eyes were always too sleepy to figure out which one.
Today, it was different. He woke her up at four in the morning, and her eyes weren't tired but uneasy, so she lay down on her bed with her eyes almost closed, but she could easily see what was happening. It was the picture on the right that he stared at. Their sibling bond or whatever reacted again, and she knew he was nervous about something. Her eyes must have opened more because her brother's eyes averted from the picture as if it just him a laser back to his eyes. His eyes snapped to hers and she shut her eyes and focused on steadying her breathing.
He must have known because he ruffled her hair -she did nothing for she was pretending to be asleep- and said with laughter evident in his voice, "Goodnight, Sil." Being the mature sorceress she was, she lay still, but when she peeked one of her eyes open, she saw him rolling his eyes and running his hair through his fingers. He had something he had clutched in his hands, gripped tightly in clenched fists which piqued her curiosity. He stuffed it into his pocket and walked out the door without looking behind.
She shook her head and ignored the annoying, creaking sound of the stairs and scrambled to her room. Her room was adjacent to Archer's room and was an exact mirror image of his. She gazed at the gurgling roar of streams falling down on her window. She sighed glumly and looked at the photo frame on the right. It was clicked on our school trip capturing their friendship perfectly. Archer had been showing off in front of her classmates because he was one of the oldest. He was one of the mentors from higher classes for this trip to teach about their class experience. The trip was ridiculous. He kept cracking jokes and making fun of Ms. Griselda. It was by the edge of the shore of the sea that was the neArchert to the school, where Archer found the perfect way to demonstrate short distance teleportation.
He teleported right behind Belle -who predicted it and jabbed her elbow to his stomach- and put his hands, one on her waist, and the other behind her knee, and raised her above his head. Then, he teleported both of them a little farther from the shore, in the sea, and dropped her in the water. Belle must have realized her screaming would allow the saltwater in her mouth, so she shut her mouth and dove deeper in the sea.
Archer knew it was a prank and walked back to hear the applauds her didn't get. Then, Belle leapt up in the air and lunged at him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and legs around his waist as he struggled to hold their weight. He grinned wickedly, and leaned back causing the centre of gravity to change and him falling on her with his back to her. When they got up, she glowered and scowled, coming up with the most creative names for him while she let her fists fly at him. His sister had been rolling her eyes and being her support secretly because she had broken her leg.
Archer was oblivious and taunting her while she taunted him back. If he had known she broken her leg, he would have been apologizing and concern lacing his eyes with absolutely no puns. The picture was perfect. They were happy. It was them.
She wondered what happened to cause his painful condition. She looked at the grey gloomy sky making a din as thundering rain had unleashed its fury and the tall looming trees swayed, making hissing noises giving her chills. When she opened her eyes, she found dark clouds covering the sky, casting a gloomy glow upon the ground. She sat up on the bed, a huge thunder rumbles loudly and she shook violently. She opened my window and the earthly scent of the wet ground graces her nostrils.
She opened her closet, moving her arm around to find a her box of medical herbs she had. The wooden box opened with a click, and she grabbed the necessary ingredients for her potion. With a quick stir in a pan from the kitchen, and she poured over the contents of the four bottles- two drops of Dragon's blood, four Dew of the Sea, three magical spoons of serpent's tongue and four petals of wolf claw combined with a magical incantation.
She hurried downstairs finding her very pale brother lying on the couch with bandages covering his lean arms and forehead. She silently opened the door but with no avail, the screeching of the old mahogany giant still resounded. He fluttered his eyes as they gazed in her direction causing her to squeak in surprise. She had hoped to catch him asleep to make it hurt less. Her footsteps were soft as she approached him cautiously. She sat on the carpet next to him and whispered, "This might hurt. It is one of the potions we learnt on how to deal with dark magic. Can you sit so you don't choke on it?"
"I would, but I can't. There was some sort of poison in the restraints i escaped. It is a slow one that I didn't realize it before. I can't feel my body below my neck. I would be lucky if I could nod my head." He replied, and my eyes widened. There was only one type of poison that she knew about, but she didn't want to scare him. Her mind turned on her when she tried to come with a reasonable idea on how to tell Archer without him getting upset.
She looked back at her vials which weren't strong enough for the dangerous poison spreading and coursing through her brother's veins. "Hey mom, thanks for turning the lights off..." the rest came in muffled pig Latin that hinted that the poison was starting to spread above his neck. His eyes were down, and she shouted, "Keep talking" hoping that it had not affected his ears. While he mumbled something angrily, she opened the tiny vial and let Archer' mouth take as much as he could. She had remembered to put some Salvia Nemorosa because of its growth in winters and 'warm' Galacies climates.
A gurgled cry left Archer as he tried to withhold his pain inside. His eyes weren't squeezed because they had already stopped working. She asked him to turn towards her, but he did nothing. Either his ears weren't working or his neck. His screaming stopped suddenly with his mouth slack and him going limp. All signs of fight were gone. My shaking fingers reached his face. "Achilles?" She managed to choke out from her quivering lips. The pulse on his neck was the only thing providing her reassurance. She laid her head against his brother's chest and fell asleep listening to the rhythmic beating of his heart.
It was afternoon when she woke up on the carpet, and her brother's eyes peering at her right in front of her face. She screamed in surprise as she scrambled away from him. She glowered at the laughing teen boy in front of her. Not funny.
"You done." She gritted out.
He nodded, wiping away a mock tear from his eyes causing her to roll her eyes at him. His eyes softened, "I woke up five minutes before you did. I roamed around, threw you on the floor, stole some of your cookies, and then decided to greet you." He grinned, showing his pearly white teeth she really wanted to knock out. "How about a 'Thanks for saving me from slipping into a coma'?" she retorted.
His eyes softened which she deemed as gratitude. His smile widened into a sincere one instead of the teasing that was mocking her. She decided it was the best time to ask what had happened there, "What in Aurelia happened? You almost slipped into a coma!" She said bewildered. His playful eyes turned dark with sorrow and his cheeks lost color. He paled visibly, and he ran up the stairs.
She followed him, skipping two steps at a time to keep up with is speed. She flung the door to see him rushing into the closet and brushing some shirts aside. He muttered a spell and a hidden door opened with a click. She ran to catch up with him, but the door closed causing her to face plant against the wall. She groaned in pain as she rubbed the sore spot. It was definitely going to leave a bruise.
Archer must have heard her because she left the hidden door open, and she saw him throwing an assortment of a crossbow, various types of knives and daggers, four of his favorite swords, and four confronters to destroy large things. Her eyes widened as large as the objects Archer was planning to destroy. "What's going on? Archer, answer me. What happened? Where's Belle?" Her words were frantic.
"Olivia was hurt. Mordlum betrayed everyone. It was all an act. He didn't care about anything but himself. He captured Belle and I when we were horseback riding. He burned down the neighboring towns; the soldiers are severely wounded. There is an emergency. The traitor only wanted the royal family to be destroyed, so he used some dark type of magic and left Belle to rot in the prison. The poison he must have used was destroying me. It is a form of slow torture. I have no idea what to do except for getting Belle out of there. He knows that Belle is still too young to understand a lot of spells, so it is easier to keep her in. It will be the easiest to break her out. If possible, I'll break Olivia out. I don't know if her parents are dead or not." He ranted. He ran his fingers through his hair pacing and frantically checking if there were any other weapons he could use; unfortunately, he was fourteen. He didn't have access to many weapons.
"You are in no condition to fight. The vial I gave you was not strong enough. You need at least a day to recover. I will go." She didn't give him time to respond as she ran to her room to fetch her vials and weapons. She was sure her eleven-year old self could handle it.
She slung her bag of her potions for healing and fully armed with weapons. She heard footsteps indicating him going downstairs. She ran down to catch up with him. He was almost out the door when she grabbed his arm and spoke, "Not so fast, genius. I'm teleporting you, and then we both are saving Belle." she argued, leaving no room for discussion. He tried to protest, but she held her hand up, "You know there is no point in arguing." He looked at me for a minute and sighed, muttering something along the lines of, "Sisters."
She fiddled with her zephyr before she smirked and teleported... to a hospital. He looked around in confusion and she pushed him, "You need medical attention. That poison can still be lethal. Archer, you need to be reasonable. I will go and help Belle." He shook his head in protest, but she refused to hear anything. She was going to save her friend Belle no matter what.