Hello everyone! My its been awhile. Listen, I know that some of you are wondering how my stories are sonic related, but I can assure you that most of my stories are linked together. You will see soon enough.
Enjoy!!
Long ago, there once was a place called Inatriel. It was one giant realm that was a combination of light and shadow. During the night, travelers believed it to be a dire place. But when the sun dawned into a new day, Inatriel would come alive. Its residents would step out of their homes and pick up from where they left off the day before. Among these folk, an old woman told a legend. There were many versions of the tale, and among them all, hers was the absolute truth. It all began with nothing more than a single, young girl…
The world was joyous. Everywhere you went, the citizens if Inatriel were celebrating the coming of the queen's child. Moreover, wherever you went, gossipers spoke murmurs of hope. For nine months, no one knew who the father of the coming baby was. Rumour was that the queen might at least let the world know what race he was. At the hour of noon, trumpets sounded to alert the folks that the child was born. Before a crowd, the queen stood on the balcony holding a bundle in her arms. A spokesperson called out "Behold the daughter of Queen Fyara and the heir to our fair kingdom, Princess Shaedah!" The crowd inhaled a gasp as the queen held the princess up for all to see. She looked like one of the light, except for the lines on the left half of her face; an indication that she was half a Shade. The people of Inatriel were mortified, thinking of the disgrace their princess would hold.
"Mother, look at what I can do!" the princess cried to her mother, wielding two swords in a graceful routine. The queen smiled at her daughter and told her it was amazing. It had been seven years since the kingdom had its shock. None ever did get over it, though in spite of themselves they did admit that for someone who was a half a Shade she was very pretty. She had long blonde hair that was streaked with black. Deep purple eyes sparkled like jewels as black lines stretched out across the left side of her face. Her lips matched the colour of her eyes. Extraordinary symbols went up Shaedah's left arm. A knee-length dress of purple flowed around her as she spun her little sword dance. Her life was perfect. Each moment of it seemed to go to fast for Shaedah's liking, though.
Years went by like gusts of wind and before she knew it, Shaedah was sixteen. As her mother completed her duties and servant boys gawked, Shaedah twirled and leapt each day of those years and in her hands, as always, were her now rusty swords. On that particular day, though, Shaedah was performing something more dangerous than entertaining. She planned to enter a competition that her mother disapproved of, the Shadow Lands' "Festival of Risk". Whoever displayed the most dangerous routine won the ultimate honour. Shaedah planned to enter and win. For days, the princess had been practicing and tonight was the night. Shaedah had planned to sneak out of the castle at sunset and return by dawn. Should a guard catch her she would simply say she was talking a little walk. If she was pursued by a guard, Shaedah would use her "shadow half" to blend in with the darkness. No one needed to or will know the destination of her little "walk".
As she did an aerial flip the mail boy Kyle came up to her and whistled. "Shaedah, if anyone is more talented than you I think I'll die of shock." He said. Shaedah turned to smile at her dearest friend. When she was two, the citizens of Inatriel could not even look at her, all except for Kyle. Ever since then one was rarely seen without the other. They had everything in common, including one very important similarity. Kyle, like Shaedah, was half-and-half. He had blonde hair streaked with red and beautiful blue eyes; the kind that you could not help but look into, with tanned skin. The princess took a few steps closer toward him. "Kyle, the road to the Shadow Lands may be short, yet trifling as well. Would you like to have the honour of escorting a champion?" The boy scoffed at her cockiness and replied "So sorry, champion, but," Kyle turned away from her, "I have plans to attend to myself. Besides, I thought you were never afraid, o great fearless princess?" With that, he walked away, leaving Shaedah to her thoughts Kyle had plans and did not tell her, it was unlike him. Putting that question aside, Shaedah went back to her routine.
'That was harder than I predicted,' Shaedah thought. Three guards had caught and pursued her. This made it difficult to disappear without notice. When she was finally off the castle grounds, Shaedah pulled out a mask from the travel pack that she had hid earlier that day. It was black with yellow and rust red markings, and covered only the light half of her face. Digging deeper into her pack the young princess retrieved a black cloak with matching gloves and put them on as well. She did not have to worry about her hair; Shades had only three different hair colours, blonde, red and black. Therefore, they should not care if she had two out of the three standards. Hastily, Princess Shaedah hurried towards the dark half of Inatriel.
The sun had settled into its slumber and the moon was long awake. At last, nothing could stand in her way now, for there she was, standing before thousands of Shades. A silent prayer of protection thought in her mind as she steadied the blades in her hands. After a mere two seconds of waiting dark music filled the air as she cut through it in a stunning, lethal dance. It was beautiful, yet tragic. It was perfection. The crowd's amazement continued to soar along with the girl moves, until their terror began when an explosion caught everyone's attention. A thunderous crack rose into the air. Shaedah's wide eyes hurled themselves around the perimeter, looking furiously for the one responsible. They widened further at the sight she saw; there, standing in the middle of the wreckage, was Kyle. Staring in such disbelief can cause one to lose concentration. Before the girl knew it she was being swept up by someone. Squirming to break free, she saw that it was Colonel Iskar. Another explosion occurred and Shaedah was knocked out of the man's arms. As she blacked out, a female voice screamed her name. 'Mother…'
Mother! Shaedah snapped back to her senses to see her mother charging after Kyle, with an energy ball glowing in her hand. At this action, the boy merely smirked and withdrew one of his own. A glazed look in his eyes immediately told Shaedah that his intention was to kill. Obliterate Inatriel and her citizens; Shades and Lights alike. Mortified as the two drew closer to each other, she ran towards them. How could he? She couldn't figure it out. Sweet, loyal Kyle, her only friend, was a threat to existence. A tear fell from her eyes as she recalled the last words he said to her:
'"So sorry, champion, but," Kyle turned away from her, "I have plans to attend to myself. Besides, I thought you were never afraid, o great fearless princess?" '
So these were the plans he spoke of. She had to stop him, even if it meant killing him. It looked as if she had two choices; death of the parallel universes or of her friend. Taking a deep breath she pulled out her blades, but not before a childhood legend filled her mind. It was foretold that if a half should stay in the Shadow Lands' for longer than he or she should, they will turn to the dark side. She had finally realized that it wasn't entirely Kyle. It was his "shadow" half. This struck an idea into her mind. Without second thoughts, Princess Shaedah bellowed out to him "As the heir of these two halves, I challenge you." A hundred feet away, her mother and friend stopped their quarrel and turned to her direction. A fight with the princess, this rather interested the dark boy. He charged towards her, summoning a set of swords and clashing with hers. As if it was rehearsed Shaedah ran off and led him away from the war zone of the Shades and Lights feuding.
They had almost reached the light when Kyle grew rather annoyed with her game and flung his swords at her, grazing her arm. With a shriek the young girl jumped at her attacker. They struggled for a few seconds before Shaedah was slammed against a tree. Groaning, she realized that he was coming closer. She had finally made her decision. As much as it pained her, she had chosen the death of Kyle. Shaedah picked up her blade and concluded the routine she didn't finish at the festival. As she did her final spin the locket Kyle gave her broke of and fell at his feet. He lost his focus and gazed at the locket, letting tears fall in spite of his prideful dark self. He clenched his hand, causing Inatriel to rip in half.
The lights, seeing what was happening, quickly ran over to their territory before it was too late. Before Shaedah could do so as well, she realized that Inatriel wasn't the only thing splitting. Her insides twisted and turned, making her feel nauseous. Her skin started to rip, pulling herself apart. Looking to her left, she gasped at what she saw. It was her, only she had jet black hair and lines that stretched over every inch of her face. In the reflection of "her" eyes Shaedah saw that her hair was fully blonde, eyes were green, lips were normal and no lines were on her face. From behind her Kyle broke out in a sinister laugh.
"If you want to stop me, you're going to have to fight against yourself." He said. The irritated young woman stared at him as though he was a lunatic. 'Wait…he is.' She quietly thought. It was an unfinished one though, as she slammed herself against the earth's chilly ground to avoid an attack. Standing tall Kyle said "Come on, Aedah. I know you can do better than that." When he received a confused blink, he sighed. "When you two are apart, you are the Light name Aedah, she is the Shade name Shadie. Together you are Shaedah. Now let's go! Show me how you'll be able to fight now." 'Aedah' grimaced. How was she going to fight now? Not with swords, obviously. When she did sword play in the past she used 'Shadie' to balance. It looked like she had to use the one thing she had the least practice in: magic.
"Alright, 'Shadie', she beckoned, "bring it on. Let's have a battle of the halves; Light versus Shadow, one-on-one." Shadie smiled at Aedah, accepting her proposal. "Fine, have it your way. Just try to beat me. I will never be a part of you again, nor will I allow myself to be tamed." A blast of black magic swirled around Aedah. She instantly recognized it as a Shadow Summoner. This made her to react by throwing an energy ball at the Shadow girl. It would've caused some major damage if the demon wasn't her opposite. 'My opposite…' Another idea popped into that brilliant mind of hers. It had to work. It was to crazy not to. As Shadie threw a nightmare curse Aedah threw back at her a dream curse. Screaming the two equals fell in pain from the impact. Shadie, enraged by this course of action, threw a demon; Aedah throwing an angel. Again, both fell at the impact. Shaking, Shadie and Aedah threw all off their power at themselves; causing an explosion of light and darkness to erupt in the skies. When the smoke had died out, Kyle was very displeased that she was once again 'Shaedah'.
The deranged boy screamed at this, causing the tear in Inatriel to further rip apart. He seemed to have melted in the ground. His body bubbled and his skin peeled. Kyle appeared to have been reborn from his defeat. His distorted features had returned to their gentle state. Collapsing onto the ground, Shaedah made sure she was whole again and jumped across the trench. As she turned to take one last look at the Shadow Lands, she realized something and jumped over the gap and back to the other side. Grabbing Kyle she stooped to grab her locket. Before the sides completely broke apart Shaedah dragged the both of them across the trench. At the sight of her daughter Queen Fyara ran towards her, but shrieked when she saw Kyle.
When he looked up, the princess punched him in the face. "What in the name of the gods were you thinking? You split Inatriel in half! Why would you do such a thing?" Rambles of questions were shot out of her mouth. Kyle blinked. "Destroy Inatriel? I was heading to the Festival of Risk to compete myself. That is, until I found myself lost in the Forest of Darkness. You know the legends; lose your way and find a desire for destruction." he turned to face the queen. "I apologize for the inconvenience. Will you forgive me?" Shaedah didn't give her mother time to reply, she already knew what hers was. Laughing, the female half grabbed her friend and ran off.
Friendship, a precious, rare jewel that is blind to the ignorant eye. Despite of all the hate that happens in the world, it still can be found. And who knows? Those friendships might turn into something more.
Months had past, and the reconstruction of Inatriel was well under way. Shaedah and Kyle were horse back riding through her lush fields. After Kyle return to normal, monsters appeared out of his dark half. So the pair had traveled the country side, hunting them down and killing them one by one. They finally had the job done and were returning to the castle. Smiling, Shaedah pushed the boy off of his horse and took off, laughing all the while. When he caught up to her they were passing through the gates to the city. At the sight of them everyone cheered. It was great to feel accepted, despite their differences. Together they rode on forward towards the castle, thus ending this story.
Some proclaim that fighting against your enemies is a hard thing to do. Fighting your friends is even harder. People fight against each other over differences and possessions. But what about fighting yourself? You would know your opponent's every technique, predict their every move, so how may I ask, would you win? You wouldn't, yet you wouldn't lose either. You would gain nothing. So the next time someone tells you that your enemy is difficult to beat, scoff and remember this story. There is but one person harder to beat; yourself.
"I rather like that story, grandmother. Out of all the others, I really enjoyed it." A thirteen-year-old girl said to her grandmother. It was a clear, sunny day in the village Mtaha. As usual, she sat on her grandparents' porch and listened to their tales. Predicting the time, the girl waved goodbye to her grandmother and scurried away before it got any later, leaving the old woman alone. The front door opened, revealing her husband. "You should come in, honey." He said, before reentering the house. The grandmother barely heard him. Her eyes were turned towards the window glass. There in her reflection, was the sight she had looked upon for over seventy years now; deep purple eyes that matched her lips, and black lines stretching towards the mid-point of her face. After a moment or so, former queen Shaedah stood up and followed Kyle into the house.