Chapter 1

Stars shone brightly in the sky, illuminating the home of the white falcon guild. Cambria, the knight mage, sat on the edge of her seat talking animatedly to her best friend Adaline.

"Did you see me take down an Animus last mission Ad?" Cambria asked excited to hear the response, two days ago she had defeated a demon for the very first time. It was a major achievement for any mage and Cambria couldn't believe she had managed the feat. However, Adaline just nodded her head solemnly. Cam couldn't understand why she wasn't happy for her, had something happened?

"Don't worry about me" Adaline replied seemingly reading Cam's mind, "I'm really proud of you by the way, it's great that you have become so strong in such a short amount of time. Why don't you go inside and celebrate with Aure."

"OK, ok I understand I'll leave you alone… for now. Talk to you later Ad!" Cambria shouted whilst walking away from her. Understanding that she wanted to be left alone, she decided it was best not to question her further; she would come around later.

Adaline sat with her head in her hands allowing her light blonde hair to act like a blanket around her. Tears welled up in her bright grey eyes, the third anniversary of that date was coming up and the nightmares were becoming too much for her. Every year it was the same thing: as the date approached, the horrible memories returned and haunted her dreams.

She sprinted towards the battlefield with an orb of light in her right hand. She must save her; she had to but the sword had already plummeted through the woman's chest killing her instantly. Screams filled the air as her twin, Amalie, went berserk. Before anyone knew better, everyone was dead. It all happened so quickly, in a single burst of darkness it was over. They had won but they had lost too much.

Meanwhile inside the guildhall a drunken Galia was flaunting her curves, in only her underwear, to the rest of the guild. Everyone knew in the morning that if they said anything about it, they would be murdered by her icy temper. Therefore, it was decided that it would be their secret, Galia would never know. However, when Cambria walked in, she was disgusted with the behaviour so she decided to teach her a lesson.

"Fight me Galia!" the Knight screamed reaching for her long sword.

"I will… beat you," Galia slurred back shooting a shard of ice towards her opponent only to miss by a wide margin. Luckily, she still managed to dodge the strike aimed her way by falling flat on her face and passing out.

"Wow… I've never won that easily," The purple haired mage whispered to herself before bursting out laughing. "Who knew she was so weak?"

Unfortunately, her little outburst wasn't as quiet as she thought because a few seconds later, she was hit by a burst of snow.

"Me? Weak?" Galia screamed in annoyance before a fall blown fight broke out and after an hour of constant blows, they both collapsed of exhaustion.

Aure was watching carefully from the sidelines whilst running her fingers over the twin white buns on top of her head. Cautiously, she glanced over at Eera. She had always loved him but was too afraid to tell him. They were perfectly matched: they both had quirky hairstyles; both had an infinity for air magic. For all the different classes he could have been, he was a gem holder, just like her. He could have been a dragon slayer, a demon/angel or even a pureblood mage but fate always had a play in things. It was destined for them to be together.

Although, Eera always found it a bit strange that he always received longing looks from Aure. Obviously, he liked her: she was smart, kind and an amazing fighter, but why would she direct her affections towards him. He wasn't any big shot like Lux nor could he hold his own against Amalie like Orion. He was weak and he knew it.

In the basement, Brynlee and Calla were exchanging the numbers of the hot guys they had both encountered in their last mission. Calla being a bewitcher mage loved making boys fall in love with her before dumping them for the next; she knew she should feel bad for that but it was just the nature of the magic she was born with. Although, Brynlee wasn't known to be one who could keep a boyfriend either. At least not after that fateful day.

Later that night, Amalie brushed her dark brown locks off her shoulder whilst carefully approaching her sister. "Are you ok Ad? It's getting to that time of the year again," Amalie whispered in Adaline's ear. She knew that the dreams that plagued her twin were intense and more frequent than her own. Amalie had blacked out for most of the tragic event and could only remember fragments of what happened.

"I'm ok now. I guess." Ad replied. "But the dreams just won't stop and I don't know how much more I can take."

"They will go eventually, we just need to grit and bare it," Amalie enthusiastically said as she sat next to the blonde. "Although, do you think we should tell the guild about what has happened. I think they have the right to know."

Soft winds swept along their hair, as they're bright blue eyes gleamed with a sense of longing.

"We really should tell them. But… Will they understand why?" Adaline murmured into her hands, "Will they understand why we had to kill so many people? Will they know that it was the only choice we had? Will they understand the sacrifice we had to make?" She spoke getting progressively louder with each word and before she realised it she was shouting. Then, all of a sudden, tears sprung to her eyes as they turned to hug each other.

"It will all be ok," Amalie stated, comforting her crying sister, "Let's go inside and get some rest. We will talk more about this tomorrow." With that, the two mages got up and walked to their apartment.