A Dawn's Mercy
The Radiant Dawn braced her self, the time for another battle had come. The dark of the night had rendered her unable to restore her strength, while her counterpart thrives in such an environment. Dusk was approaching, she tried to hide once before, to no avail. Out of her own domain, her opposite always found her. Leona heard a rustle of leaves, neither of them were good at stealth. They did have something in common then. She brandished her sword and shield. She never took the armor off.
She walked outside of the little cabin she had found, and saw Diana in front of the door. Diana gave a small nod, which Leona returned.
"We meet again, Sun." Diana said.
"Only the seventh time at this place." Leona returned. "You have your note, right?"
"Of course, you take me as forgetful?"
Only a precious few seconds they can talk, before control is taken from their minds, and they are forced to fight. The fight was a short one, but eventually, Diana had to flee due to her injuries.
The exact situation had happened before, not that either of them cared. Escaping their imprisonment was their top priority. Leona went forward and picked up the small piece of paper that was blown away from the fight. She put a hand over her bleeding side and slowly shuffled into the cabin.
Diana had found her way to her current headquarters, a cave with a small entrance. The glowing sigil on her forehead easily lit the small room. Various furs lined the walls and floor, and at the end was a pile of rocks, blocking the way deeper into the cave. Diana gently set her one of a kind khopesh down, and sat in a meditative position. The sun was in the sky, and it would sap her energy if she were to be exposed to its rays. Only light purified by the moon sustained her.
Leona was out and about, letting her wounded side be healed by the sunlight. It would never completely heal until Diana's own repertoire of injuries had as well. The Sun worshiper was competent with a bow, but the clinking of her armor drove away many possible prey. While trying to quietly walk through the woods, she noticed a symbol carved into a tree, one she remembered from her youth. The symbol was one of protection. Leona had to sit down to keep from falling.
She remembered everything that happened to lead them to what they are today, how could she forget. She remembered seeing a little girl, 4 years younger than her, and how people weren't too friendly with her. Leona reached out to the girl, and tried to be friends, but only in private did the girl exposed herself. A year later, everybody bowed deeply when Leona was bathed in sunlight on top of Mount Targon. Leona had her eyes peeled, she saw little Diana smiling at the back of the crowd. The two met up later.
"Now I can always keep you safe." Leona promised. Diana just smiled as Leona continued working to carefully imprint the protection symbol onto her forehead.
Later when Diana showed an affinity for moon light, she was taken away, so they could beat the impurity out of her. The seemingly generous moon blessed her with power. The protection symbol on her forehead shattered, the symbol of the moon replacing it. Diana slaughtered the Sun worshipers that harmed her.
Diana eventually reunited Leona, but the blessing of the Sun gave Leona an unquenchable thirst for justice, which took over her when she resisted. Leona was forced to fight Diana for the so called crime of murder in self defense. Full of power, they easily demolished the surrounding terrain.
Leona shook her head to clear the memories. Her spirit was strengthened by the sun, but it would do no good if she could find no food to sustain her body.
Diana gasped, breathing heavily. She stood up, mentally berating herself for falling asleep while meditating again. Memories of her dreams suddenly came to her. The moon haunted her with visions of previous blessed ones. All of their stories were the same as that of her and Leona. And they all end the same way. Diana quickly wrote down some words on a small piece of parchment. Leona had to know of their only escape.
Leona tracked down Diana to a mountain range, a few days later. The position was nearing the location of the Shurima Desert, home to the ruins of the ancient city-state of Shurima, which was recently reconstructed by the resurrection of the greatest emperor Shurima ever had, Azir.
The mountains were very tall with snow covering well below the peaks. At the base of the range were a few caves, one of which she knew Diana was hiding out from the Sun in.
The night was a new moon, and Leona wouldn't have to worry about losing power. She found a small clearing in the woods, and set up a small campsite. The glow of the fire would certainly attract Diana's attention, hopefully leading to a confrontation in the morning at dawn. This was one of the few time either were going to fight close to even half power.
Diana was busy exploring the mountain as night fell. She found a slightly sloped area that was littered with boulders reaching three times her height. She felt as if the slightest touch would cause them to thunder down, this would be a good place to fight for her plans.
Leona did a bit of scouting of her own, this was an area she had never been to. The mountains blocked the hot and dry winds of the Shurima Desert, even then, the area opposite was full of only the greenest of desert vegetation. It still didn't rain much despite the natural protection given to the area.
Night eventually fell, but Leona had long since moved her campsite near the same plane of boulders Diana had found.
"Well well, looks like the sun is being especially brave tonight." Diana's voice echoed from seemingly nowhere. Leona knew better, and looked directly at Diana.
"It may seem so, but the moon is especially braver, wandering on a New Moon.
The time for talk was over, the time to fight, and "accidentally" exchange notes had come.
Diana lifted her silver reverse khopesh, and ran at Leona. Leona stood still until the last minute, she then lifted her shield to block the strong attack. The khopesh bounced off the sturdy shield, leaving a small nick on an edge. With the khopesh going away from Leona, she swung her own long sword sideways. Diana was ready and easily blocked the strike with her gauntlet. Diana used the momentum from the block earlier to attempt an uppercut at Leona. Once again, Leona brought her shield down to block this recent attempt as well.
Leona poured her energy into her shield, the top glowed a bright yellow. She then smashed the shield at Diana, disorienting her. Leona proceeded to take advantage and jabbed her sword at Diana's arm. However, Diana recovered faster than expected, and dodged to the left. Leona hit nothing but air, and was also put into a bad position. Diana also took advantage, and swung overhead at Leona, aiming to cut her in half. A dome of bright yellow light surrounded Leona, easily bouncing the khopesh off.
Leona swung to the right in an attempt to cut Diana in half. Diana couldn't get out of the way, and surrounded herself in her own dome of bright silver moonlight. Leona actually feinted the strike, and as soon as the dome burst into existence, she withdrew the sword. Diana quickly extinguished the shield to conserve energy, for one cannot be stronger than the other. Leona took advantage of the exposed Diana and threw her now glowing sword into the air. She called down a concentrated Solar Flare right onto Diana, who easily took the full force of the attack.
Diana phased into pure moonlight and dashed at Leona. Leona activated a weak shield while preparing for another shield bash. In slow motion, Diana saw the glow of the shield, but could do nothing to stop from hitting it. She was disorientated while still in her moonlight form, and ended up smashing her head into one of the small boulders. Diana fell to the ground a few feet away. The boulder rolled up the slope from the force, but soon started rolling down, right into the path of Diana.
Leona was trying to force herself to move, to do something, but the Sun's control had a tight grip on her. Leona could only watch as the boulder rolled over her. The large rock went over Diana's chest, breaking most of her ribs. When the Sun was sure that Diana's injuries had no chance of healing, it released control over Leona, deeming the job done. Leona quickly ran over to the panting Diana.
Leona cradled Diana's head into her lap, hoping she was still alive.
"So, this is how it ends." Diana painfully gasped out.
"It shouldn't have, both of us were supposed to live." Leona said, trying her best not to break into tears.
"My note, its in the pouch, read it after I'm gone." Diana was struggling to even take a breath.
Leona just nodded, not trusting her words.
"You are the sister I never had, I love you." Diana said, before exhaling her last breath.
Leona closed Diana's eyes, and burst into tears. Cursing the unfairness of life.