The majestic queen of the O.Z.
had two lovely daughters she.
One to darkness, she be drawn,
and one to light, she be shown.
Double eclipse, it is foreseen,
Light meets dark in the stillness between,
but only one and one alone
shall hold the emerald and take the throne
Prologue:
"Did you hear that?" the younger girl asked the elder.
"Your adventures have a way of getting me into trouble," said Princess Azkadelia to her little sister, who ignored her lament to clamber into the cave. With a sigh, Azkadelia followed. She soon found an old lantern to light, so the girls could explore.
When Azkadelia translated the ancient pictograms they found on the walls, her sister the Princess Dorothigale exclaimed, "Cool! Do you think this is an old temple?"
"No," Azkadelia said, shivering. "This is something else. Let's go get Mother."
But her sister's attention was drawn to the rear of the cave. "Can't you hear that?"
They examined the back wall. Azkadelia's lantern illuminated the strange carved face. She didn't notice immediately as her sister reached out to the face, placing her hand in the carved mouth. Then DG, as she was called, shrieked as the strange face seemed to draw out her magic. "Az!" she wailed.
"MOTHER!" screamed Azkadelia with both voice and magic, trying to pull her sister away.
When the rock face exploded outwards, Azkadelia gripped DG's hand, and would not let her climb through. She checked her sister for injuries, ignoring DG's protestations that she heard someone crying in need. Azkadelia heard nothing.
Soon after, their Mother, Queen of the Outer Zone, the most powerful Witch alive, climbed into the cave, calling for her girls.
"We're here, Mother!" Azkadelia called, relieved to have an adult nearby at last.
DG was almost in tears, frantically pleading to be allowed to go "help the little girl" but Azkadelia held her tight. The queen surveyed the cave ruefully.
"So, there is truth to the prophecy," The queen muttered, grim. "Hold fast to her, Azkadelia. Don't let her cross the threshold." The Queen raised her hands, light pouring from them to fill and illuminate the cave revealed beyond the face.
Azkadelia gasped to see the figure of a young girl, but almost instantly, that figure was replaced with that of an ancient and hideous crone. The crone's face seemed oddly shaped, her eyes too wide and round, her teeth sharpened when she bared them at Mother in a snarl. DG yelped, her struggles to go to the crone replaced by shivers of fear.
"Hiss and snarl all you like," said the Queen to the crone. "You cannot leave without a carrier."
"Give me the little one!" snarled the crone, her eyes locked on DG. "She is the dark!"
.
"That may be," answered the queen calmly, "but we of the Zone have learned that Dark does not always mean Evil." She glanced over her shoulder at her daughters. "Girls, remember how your tutor taught you to share your magic? Now, I want you to share with each other, and then share with me."
The princesses clung to one another, the sparkling light of their combined magic shimmering in the darkness of the cave. That light grew when their mother joined them, and the magic directed by the queen flowed into the crone's prison.
The evil crone screeched and wailed. The day she had waited and longed for, that she meant as her moment of triumph and escape, was only her day of final judgment and execution. The light of the Queen of the Outer Zone, supported by her daughters both Light and Dark, pierced the crone, and she dissolved into black miasma, sinking into the earth.
Tears ran down DG's face as she looked up at her mother. "I'm sorry, momma," she whimpered.
The queen embraced her youngest. "It's alright, my angel. You're still learning." She opened one arm to draw Azkadelia into the hug. "And you, my darling jewel. You were so clever and brave. You were smart to keep DG out of there."
"Would the wicked witch have taken her?" Azkadelia asked, shaken by the near loss of her sister.
The queen nodded solemnly. "She would have, and that would have been very dangerous. Remember girls, you are stronger together than you are apart. There can be no Light without Dark, and no Dark without Light. Together, you are everything. Can you remember that?"
Both girls nodded, promising their mother.
From that day forward, DG had a separate magic tutor from Azkadelia. An older woman, a priestess, round faced and white haired, was brought from Central City. The girls soon learned that though the effects of their magic was often very similar, they each had their own special ways of making things happen. DG's new tutor taught her different ways of doing things from the way Toto did, and DG found that many of the things she had struggled with under Toto became easier when done differently. The priestess, Maat, taught DG a different way of looking at things than the way her mother, or Azkadelia, or even Tutor, did. Under the light of the moon and the stars, DG's magic flourished.
Both princesses grew up beautiful. Azkadelia became tall and willowy, with a sunny smile and shining eyes. DG wasn't as tall as Az, but she was curvaceous and mischievous, with an impish smirk and constant humor lurking in her deep blue eyes. The queen, proud of both her girls, let them find their own ways of living, never trying to control or direct them.
When Az was twenty-one and DG sixteen, the queen took them to Central City. There, in a room hidden deep in the Royal Compound, she drew forth a locked case of ancient black wood. The only other people in the room were their father, and two others.
The High Priest of the Twins, spiritual leader of the Light, and the High Priestess of Cybele, leader of the Dark, both bowed deeply when the Queen opened the box with a key of silver and gold. Inside the box, on a bed of velvet, lay an Emerald of surpassing value and clarity.
The sisters exchanged glances. "It's going to be you, Az," stated DG calmly.
"You don't know that," Az answered nervously.
DG glanced at the Priestess, and said, "Yes, I kind of do." She boldly stepped up. "May I, Mother?"
The queen smiled at her younger daughter's determination. "We need to know. Go ahead, angel."
DG gave her mother a cheeky grin and lifted the Emerald out of its case. She held it in her bare palm, and though the magnificent gem sparkled in the candlelight of the room, it remained only a beautiful jewel. A sigh swept around the room.
"See?" said DG cheerfully, and then in a sudden movement she dropped the gem into Azkadelia's hand. Immediately, the Emerald flared to life, sending beams of green light shooting around the room, then settling to emit a brilliant green glow, pulsating slightly with the beat of Azkadelia's heart.
"One and one alone, shall hold the emerald and take the throne," DG quoted, her voice full of satisfaction.
"DG?" Az's voice was strained. Her eyes showed her emotional conflict. She never wanted to overshadow her sister, despite being older, despite being a witch of Light. So many distrusted the Dark, but the sisters had been raised to respect and understand both.
"You're the heir, Az. You'll be Queen after Mother," DG said happily.
"She's right, my darling. Even were you not rightful heir by birth, you would be Queen." The Queen hugged her eldest. Their father wrapped one arm about Azkadelia and the other around DG, pulling the family in to a group embrace.
"We have witnessed," the Priest said solemnly. "None will contest our sworn word."
"Good," said DG. She turned to Priestess, "How soon can I take vows?"
"What?" gasped her mother.
The sixteen year old rolled her eyes. "Mother. You know me. I don't want your sort of power. I want mysteries. I want magic."
"And magic you shall have," said Maat, High Priestess of the Dark. "Since you were a girl, you have had the ability to grasp and contain the Dark. I will teach you, and you will follow me as High Priestess."
"What of the Eclipse?" asked Azkadelia.
"We'll worry about that when it gets here," dismissed DG.
TBC