"You knew it was going to end this way."
Justin licked his lips clean of the scarlet blood. He wiped the rest of the blood with his dirty tan button down oxford shirt, its buttons undone, revealing a white tank top.
Alex pushed her matted locks passed her ears, straining to listen for a sign of resentment. She was going deaf, as she had lost hope in the use of her right ear. Her arm was horribly scarred, pus and blood leaking from burning rashes and skin. She quickly bandaged it with a gauzy material, her wand still in hand.
The cave was dark, torches lit every hundred paces or so. Stalactites and stalagmites were everywhere, making it hard to maneuver around obstacles. The only source of bright light came from the luminous cave opening, leading to a vacant shore. It rained outside, and drops fell through tiny cracks in the roof. Dim and haunting, it set the mood perfectly and collided with the siblings' emotions and darkest ambitions.
"You wouldn't kill me, Justin; you wouldn't do it even if you really wanted me dead." Alex chided. A mischievous grin ran across her face, her dark eyes staring deeply into Justin's.
"I'd do it, Alex. For years, I've waited for this day to come: the day where I became the only wizard of the family…and apparently, the only child."
Justin pointed his thumb towards a heap on the cavern floor. Alex's eyes shifted to it, closely examining it. She gasped quietly, just to let Justin feel that she didn't care. She kept a solemn face when she looked into her younger brother Max's cold eyes, the irises rolling to the back of his head. His body was still warm, but you could tell that he was dead. His lips were unusually cold and blue, his hair dampened.
"Mom and Dad are going to kill you, bury you, and then kill you again." Alex said, hiding back tears. Her brother, her silly, obnoxious, annoying little brother was gone, never to return and enjoy life as a non-wizard. She'd known that he wasn't going to win the competition, but to die and receive nothing in return is just cruel.
She eyed Justin, horribly planning his death. A rock crushing his skull? No, too easy. How about a flood that only drowns him? No, too cliché. Wizards always use that move. Whatever his death was going to be, in would be Alex's way of avenging Max.
What was wrong with Justin? How did he end up this way? His obsession with being the family wizard never fazed Alex when they were kids, but now, in the midst of battle, death, rain and a sinister brother, Alex became scared. For her, and her brother.
Justin raised his wand to Alex's face. She followed suit. The two siblings now circled Max, changing their positions in the cavern. Alex panted. Justin tried not to focus on his dripping blood. Alex's lips were chipped, and she quickly moistened them, readying to slur a spell as fast as Justin calculated her movements.
"Mom and Dad won't kill me. I'll be long gone by the time I kill you and win the competition." Justin was so sure of himself that he was going to win. Someone needed to slap him up against the head.
"You idiot!" Alex yelled, "I don't just go around killing my siblings for power! What is wrong with you? Our brother is dead because of you!"
"Max saw it coming. When he was ahead in the competition, he pushed the date. We stopped him of course, but his idiotic decision sent me into panic mode. How was I going to do it, back on level one and he was on level three? How was I going to win? I only thought of one possible way: murder."
"But Max didn't deserve it."
"No one deserves it. But the power hungry will do anything to get what they want."
Alex curled into a ball and screamed. She screamed until she could scream no more. She regained strength and yelled at Justin, her wand pointing exactly at his heart.
"Homici Interfici!" she yelled quickly.
Justin began to feel his chest, feeling spots open in his skin. Blood leaked out of his body, and he eyed Alex.
"What did you do?" he yelled, "What did you do to me?"
"You deserve it." Alex whispered, now standing next to him as Justin fell to the floor. He now lay in a pool of blood.
Alex crouched down and cried. She couldn't believe it. Years of training, and being knocked back down to level one. Her life spiraled before her eyes. She remembered arguing with her siblings. She was such a jackass to them, and yet, she was blind to see Justin's true colors. Why did it end up this way? Why did her brothers have to die? Where would she go? She couldn't return home. Her parents were massacre her. She'd be turned in to the Wizard Council.
Well, whatever she did, she couldn't reverse time.
She was now the Family Wizard.