FOUR YEARS BEFORE

When the two of us are together, we make a mystic twilight

"I'll be the day"

"And I'll be the night"

And holding hands, we make a beautiful orange sky

It was a calm summer evening, and the waves of the ocean were lapping softly against the shore, giving it tender kisses as the water went in and out. Two little children, a boy and a girl, played in the wet sand it left behind, laughing at how it felt between their bare toes. The setting sun cast a red-orange light on their ruddy cheeks. They had been playing on the beach all day, but they had one thing left to do before they went home. After all, the darkness hadn't started creeping in yet. They had time.

"Hurry up, Allen," the girl said to the boy, her twin. "I can only see a little bit of the sun now." Allen tried to dig a little faster, but he didn't like how the sand felt when it bunched under his fingernails. It hurt the sensitive skin there, so he was trying to be careful not to let it underneath. "I'm trying, Rilliane," he said. "It's almost deep enough. How about you help me?"

Rilliane scoffed. "And get my hands all dirty like yours are?" She picked up the little wooden box they wanted to bury, holding a little "treasure" of the seashells they had found on the shoreline earlier in the day. "The Crown Princess shouldn't do that." Allen looked up at her, stopping his digging for a moment. She was already covered in sand from head to toe, though she didn't seem to be aware of it. She had it trapped in her damp blonde hair, and all over her feet from when they had played in it.

"You're already pretty dirty," said Allen. He laughed when Rilliane finally looked down and made a surprised face at the layer of dirt coating her all over. "Adviser Gaimen isn't going to be happy about this," she said, but she laughed as well. Then she finally knelt down in front of Allen and started digging with her hands, throwing sand behind her like one of the dogs they saw in the garden that the servants always had to chase away.

In a few minutes, they stopped and stepped back, finding their work satisfactory. Rilliane picked the box up again and lowered it carefully into the hole, careful not to let the fragile seashells inside shift and break. Then Allen pushed a big pile of sand on top of it, smoothing it out beneath his fingers. He patted it down a couple of times, making sure it was just right, then stood up, brushing the sand from his breeches the best he could. Rilliane did the same to her brown sundress.

They began to walk away as the creeping darkness slowly began to close in on them. At first, they had no trouble, for there was still a little bit of sun peeking out from behind the water. But soon that tiny sliver vanished, and they began to step more carefully, trying to avoid falling in the darkness. The next few minutes passed in silence, both children too distracted by the shifting sand beneath their feet to speak to each other.

Finally, it got dark enough that they got rather nervous, and Rilliane, in particular, didn't like the dark. She fought the urge to run, to get to the safety of the palace lamps. She looked up at the shadow of her brother beside her, immediately feeling a little bit safer. He would never let anything bad happen to her. Not in a million years. Allen had always protected her from the things that had scared her. He would squish all the icky bugs and spiders that she came in contact with and always made sure she took the safer path.

Because she was no longer paying attention to where she was stepping, she yelped in surprise as her toes hit a little rock, and she fell flat on her face in the sand. Allen hurried to her side as she raised her head, spitting and snorting. "Are you okay?" he asked quickly? "Does it hurt?"

Rilliane shook her head, still trying to get all the grit out of her mouth and nose. Allen stayed there, patting his sister on the back. He looked around, making sure their surroundings were empty. That's when he saw a pair of eyes shining in the direction they had come from, seemingly floating in the increasing darkness, slowly coming closer. Allen's heart leaped into his throat.

"Rilliane," he whispered in an urgent tone. She whipped her head up to look at him. She could just make out his face, and when she saw it, she felt panic pulse through her body, her gut twisting with terror. Why is he so scared? she thought. Allen's never scared. "What's wrong?" Rilliane whispered.

Allen pulled her to her feet, hurting her arm a little in his haste. She hissed, and he looked at her in silent apology, but even so, he continued to pull her into a run. "Allen!" she shouted. "What's going on? Why are we running?" Allen didn't answer. He simply kept running, his breath coming in deep gasps.

Finally, after what felt like forever, they reached the palace and hurried into the entrance hall. They collapsed, exhausted, onto the great rug covering the entire floor, letting servants fuss over their dirty clothes, too tired to care.

Later that night, as they lay in their beds, waiting for sleep, Rilliane asked one more time, "Why were you so scared earlier?"

Allen was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "I thought something was going to eat us." When Rilliane didn't say anything else, he continued. "It was like something was staring at us, wanting to gobble us up." He was silent after that, too afraid to say more. It couldn't have been real, right? Monsters weren't real. But then why did he feel a chilling certainty that it wasn't an illusion?

Rilliane could sense her twin's unease, but she didn't know what to do. She had no idea how to comfort him when she was pretty shaken herself. She tried to go to sleep, but she couldn't calm herself enough to do so. Neither of them could. Not for a long time. The sun's rays were peeking in through their window by the time they finally fell asleep.

...

FOUR YEARS LATER

Rilliane woke, excitement surging through her veins. This was the day she and Allen had been waiting for all month. Their ninth birthday had finally arrived, and Rilliane trembled with joy, for it meant she was one year closer to ruling the kingdom of Aurum, with Allen by her side. Her adviser had decreed that she wouldn't take to the throne until she and Allen were ten years old.

The two of them had been orphans from the start. Their father had been killed when a ship coursed for one of the neighboring kingdoms capsized, dragging him down to the depths of the ocean and leaving his pregnant queen behind. And the queen had died shortly after giving birth to the twins. So the children had been raised mostly by the royal adviser and a gaggle of servants and maids.

She hurried over to Allen's bed, shaking him awake. "Come on, Allen," she said, a little louder than she had intended. He shot straight up at the sound of her voice, startled. Then he glared at her. "What was that for?" he demanded. Rilliane stuck her tongue out childishly at him. "It's our birthday, dummy," she said. "And that should be a 'thank you for waking me up, Rin'."

Allen rolled his eyes at her. "You also made me almost wet myself." He threw a pillow at her, and she dodged, giggling as she picked up one of her own. He didn't have time to bring his hands up to block before he got it full in the face. Rilliane had always had a better aim than him. She was better at a lot of things actually. She was just very skittish most of the time.

Rilliane laughed even harder as he pushed the pillow off of his face and glared even harder at her, trying to conceal his smile. She ran away down the great hallway outside their bedroom, heading to the kitchen to see if she could sneak some cake. If there was any yet. Soon, she heard small pounding footsteps behind her and knew her brother was chasing her. He would try to stop her. Allen was such a goody-two-shoes. He never let her have any fun with her mischief if he could help it. But there were times when she had been thankful that he had stopped her.

Allen had always been more aware of their surroundings than she had. Rilliane tended to run headlong into trouble without checking what she was running into. She had narrowly escaped falling into fountains and getting bitten by spiders only because he had yanked her back at the last second. But at the same time, he never let her play any pranks on the servants. He always said that it just wasn't nice. Rilliane didn't understand why he cared about whether it was nice or not. They were servants. It hardly mattered.

She turned down another corridor, trying to shake him off her tail. Looking over her shoulder to see if he'd followed her, she didn't see the royal adviser walking down the same hall in the opposite direction. Rilliane's head turned just in time to see a flash of deep blue from his robes before she ran face-first into them.

As she fell backward, landing on her rump, Advisor Gaimen gave a soft laugh. "Where are we running off to so early in the morning?" he asked in his rumbling voice. "If you were heading to the kitchen, you were sorely mistaken. One, the cake won't be prepared for a while yet, and two, you two both need some sunshine. I think I want you to go down to the beach and play today."

Rillane's shoulders slumped just as Allen came around the corner, stiffening in surprise when he laid eyes on the older gentleman. "Ah, there you are, Allen," said Adviser Gaimen, "I would like for you and Rilliane to play down at the beach today. We have some special plans today, and you guys can't be around for them."

"What do you mean we can't be around for them?" Rilliane demanded. "We're the royal twins. You can't just send us away so you can have some alone time!" Adviser Gaimen gave a surprisingly patient smile. "With all due respect, Your Highness," he said softly, "you are not queen yet. Next year, you will be. But for now, I would like you to listen to me for a little while longer. Can you do that?"

Before Rilliane could protest any more, Allen grabbed her hand and started to slowly lead her away. "Come on, Rin," he said quietly. She shot one last glare at the adviser before finally giving in and following her brother.

They headed back to their room, each taking turns changing clothes behind the divider, before eating breakfast and making their way out of the palace and onto the beach just outside. Neither of them had seen anything out of the ordinary here since they were five years old. They had dismissed it as hallucinations, since they had been rather tired at that point, despite not being able to sleep that night.

Neither of them feared anything like that now. they were much too old for such fears. Walking down onto the sand, they noticed little crabs scuttling down near the water, and Rilliane hesitated. She hated creepy-crawlies. It didn't matter what they were. Ladybugs, caterpillars, spiders, anything. She didn't like anything of the sort.

Allen noticed her hesitation and said, "They're just crabs, Rin. They won't hurt you if you just leave them alone." Rilliane wrinkled her nose. "But look at the way they move," she said, revulsion quivering in her voice. "It's so weird and yucky." At that, Allen had to bite back a laugh.

Just then, an old man approached them, an old wooden cane patting the sand in front of him as he walked. They looked at his eyes and saw the irises and pupils were covered in a gray cloud. "Does anyone have any food to spare?" he asked, shouting as if he didn't know there were children a few feet away from him.

Rilliane actually had a few candies she had saved for later in a small pocket in her dress. But she had no desire to share them with this old, blind man. They were hers to keep. He could starve for all she cared.

Allen, on the other hand, had a few slices of bread hidden inside his coat that he had snatched from the breakfast tray so they could eat something later on the beach. He took pity on the old man. It must be so hard not being able to see and not knowing where your next meal will come from.

He pulled a slice from his coat and held it out to the man. "I have some bread here," he said, trying to get his attention. He whipped his head around in Allen's direction. The man came towards him, smacking his legs with the cane when he got close enough. Allen grimaced, but held out his hands, and put the bread in the man's grasp.

The man smiled when he felt the bread. "Thank you, dear child," he said. Allen didn't say anything; something about that smile unnerved him. There seemed to be a devilish quality to it. He just couldn't tell what it was. And being near the man felt... wrong. He couldn't say how. It just did.

Allen tried not to squirm as the man reached out a hand and patted his shoulder. "In exchange for the bread," he said, still smiling hungrily in Allen's direction, "I'll tell you a secret about this sea right here."

The man bit into the bread, shoving it greedily into his mouth, barely stopping to chew before swallowing. "This sea grants wishes," he said, his mouth still half full. "All you have to do is write down a wish and put it in a bottle. Then you send it out on the waves. It'll grant any wish your heart desires."

As if in response, a huge, cresting wave crashed onto the beach, leaving foam and seashells in its wake. Allen considered it. It seemed ridiculous at first glance, but the man seemed sincere in his words. He looked over his shoulder at Rilliane, who stared at the man in wonder. Could it really be true?

Before Allen could voice his skepticism, the old, blind beggar walked away, tapping his wooden cane on the soft sand as he went. "What do you think, Len," Rilliane asked excitedly. "Could that be true?"

Allen shook his head. Then he thought better of it. "I don't know," he said. "But I know one thing."

"What's that?"

"I don't want to play here anymore."

Rilliane silently agreed, and together, they headed for the palace courtyard, which was much more secure than the shoreline. They didn't have to worry about running into any scary old men here.

That was where they played for the rest of the afternoon, neither of them aware of a lurking presence watching them from the shadows. The demon stayed there until the royal twins were called inside and out of sight. He had found that the girl, Rilliane, had the potential for destruction, and relished in the fact that he could use it. She was greedy, and he was the embodiment of Greed itself. He licked his lips in hungry anticipation of things to come.

Dark, horrifying, terrible things.