Iea

II : Fatality

The children had wandered into the middle of the room, Nia gazing about the stone caskets that glared down at them. Each stood silent, symbols faded, except for their own, which seemed to glow angrily.

There wasn't much else to the room, besides a huge pair of staircases that led up to statue-blocked doors. The elevator door itself was also blocked by statues standing silently... Nia had to notice the fact that inside each rectangular statue was a carving of a horned child, head hung in despair. However, each image had two horns, unlike the children standing before them.

Nia, or the 'Left', was aptly named for the horn protruding from the left side of her head. Of the two siblings, she was considered to be the 'sinister' side of the two, mostly due to her dominant hand and local superstition.

Ain, on the other hand, was 'Right', logically named for the side of his head, which sported a horn. He was the 'dexterous' one, the more innocent of the pair. Or, he was, at one point, until the night he made a rather large mistake... Through the mistake he was cruelly blinded by a group of the townspeople, and since Nia defended him, the two hadn't been together until the morning before.

"Sis?"

"Yes?" Nia was leading him to an open arch-door.

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere besides here." Walking into the room, which was thick with dust and a thin amount of fog, she nearly walked off the edge of a ledge. "Woah!"

"What is it?" Ain suddenly slipped off the edge, instantly coming to a halt as his sister clung to his arm. "Don't let me fall!"

"You won't fall far." Nia pulled him up, not too worried if he did since there was only a few inches of space between him and the floor, "Here we are."

"Where are we NOW?"

"It looks like a storage room. Kind've empty though." Gazing around, the girl suddenly caught sight of the only exit- a small window. Nearby, a shining metal chain hung from the ceiling. "We've got to get out a window."

"Uhmm..."

"Don't worry, and do what I tell you."

Slowly resting him back down in the pit, Nia took a leap to the chain and clung on, waiting until her swinging came to a halt. Reaching her arm down awkwardly, she called for her brother.

Following the noise, he eventually came into contact with her hand and took it.

"When you feel the chain, hang onto it." With much effort, Nia climbed up a few links of the chain, holding her brother in the air. She felt her arm become free as he grasped the chain underneath her. "Hang on as hard as you can."

Climbing up, and trying to make sure she didn't shake her brother off, Nia flung herself at the window- climbing into the sill, she instructed: "Climb up until I tell you to stop."

"Okay..." Uneasily, and slowly, Ain blindly made his way up the chain.

"Right there. Stop." Leaning out, she reached for the back of his shirt, but found him a bit too far away. With a bit of a frown, she suddenly reached out with the end of the frying pan. "Now, can you feel the pan against your shoulder?"

"Yes?"

"Grab onto it."

Slowly reaching one arm out, he wrapped it around the base of the handle. With a gulp, he suddenly let go of the chain with his other arm, hanging off the pan. Nia hit the windowsill hard on her knees, as Ain hit against the wall.

"Hanging on?"

"Yes!"

"Hold on like your life depends on it!" Slowly Nia began pulling him up, grabbing his arms when they were close enough. Pulling him up into the windowsill beside her, she paused a moment to rest her arms. "You've gotten heavier!"

"I'm sorry..."

"No, that's a good thing." Crawling out of the window, she gently pulled him down with her. Outside on the balcony, both of the kids were swallowed up in the quickly thinning fog, melting via the rising sun. "You can see the sea forever up here..."

"You can?"

Nia gazed hopelessly over the never-ending waters. All thoughts of freedom were momentarily dashed as she stared at the sea. "Forever..."

"..." Ain stood silent, listening to the waves below. He could feel the damp fog settle on his skin, and could smell the saltwater drifting up. "Even though I can't see it, I think I know what you mean."

"Well, come on, there's a tower this way." Sprouting a grin, the girl looked at her brother, entirely forgetting he couldn't see, "I'm sure we'll find a way out from there, or at least get a good look from the top as to where we are."

"Okay." Ain followed his sister's tugging, "You'll have to describe it to me."

Walking in, Nia announced, "It's a really big tower with some really fancy stairs, and up above, WAAAAAY above, is a second floor. There is windows and-"

"Sis. Stop."

"Hmm?" She gazed about the room.

"Listen."

Growing silent, Nia focused on listening. Faintly, she began to hear the sound of something thick dripping above them. "Something's leaking."

"It wasn't raining, was it?"

"Nope. Come on..." Curiosity fired up, "Let's go see what it is, okay?"

Slowly, the two children began winding up the stairs. Nia was incredibly patient with helping her brother scale the steps, an almost touching prospect. Reaching the second floor, both of the kids paused, listening to the heavy dripping.

"What is it, Sis?"

"..." Staring up, her eyes were fixed on a black-iron cage hanging from the ceiling. From the bottom, a thick substance was dripping- one large glob fell through the air, Nia watching. It came down and hit against the ground, adding more liquid to the dark puddle on the stone floor. "...don't... move. Stay right here."

Leaving him on the stairs, and wielding the frying pan, she sneaked up to the puddle, looking up. Jumping to the side, she narrowly avoided a drop of the strange black substance.

"What is this stuff?" Slowly getting on her knees, she stared at the puddle. Slowly, silently, she reached her hand to it...

Suddenly a sharp scream pierced the tower- instantly Ain threw himself up a few stairs, shouting, "Sis, what is it?"

Nia was forcibly being pulled into the dark puddle headfirst, legs angrily kicking outside of the pool. Within, she felt wrapped in ice and depraved of air, still screaming as loud as she could. Slowly, the darkness began to push against her, and her muscles began relaxing. Her feet stopped moving as she sunk into a strange, hanging position.

Eyes glazing over, she could see nothing but black, limbs all numb. "Br...broth..."

Outside, Ain was feeling around as best he could, wandering around blindly in the tower. "Sis! Sis! Where are you? Say something!" Suddenly he tripped over the frying pan, landing on the floor with a thud, "...Sis...?"

Feeling around, he felt the surface of the pan, but could find nothing else. "Sis...?"

Entirely submersed in the black, Nia felt as if she was being split apart. Frozen, she dreamt that she was free-floating in some endless night sky, listening to her heart beat. Suddenly, her heart went entirely silent, as her last breath escaped in a gasp.

In an instant, she was thrown through the surface of water, and hit the ground with a bounce. "Ugh!"

Coming to a landing, she slowly looked around. The tower, entirely drowning in thick black mists, looked the exact same as before besides the fact there was no light. Her body ached as she rose upright.

"Brother?" Walking forward, she suddenly started choking as she inhaled the dark mists. Collapsing back on the floor, she continued to cough- squinting, she spotted a glowing figure in the center of the room.

Crawling to it, she found the air suddenly to be clear- standing up, Nia was in an orb of mist-free air. Looking back down, she was shocked to see a child, holding the frying pan, silently calling out a name.

"Brother...?" Sitting beside the boy, she gazed over him. Dressed the same, with the same face, she could've sworn that he was Ain- only problem was the fact he had a complete set of horns, quite unlike her brother. Reaching her hand out to the figure, she touched his shoulder and suddenly heard him calling out for his sister.

"Brother, I'm right beside you!"

"Big Sis!" The boy shouted painfully, looking about ready to fall apart.

"Can't you see me? I'm right here!" Frowning, she got no response. "Where am I, then?"

Looking up, she noticed a white glow in the cage. Taking a long breath, she suddenly slapped her hand over her face, and took off up the stairs. The black mist swirled around her as she scaled the stairs- reaching the cage, she noticed it to be thinning out the mist like the person below. Inside, the surface was glowing white, reflecting the REAL world against it's shimmering surface. The door was wide open, so she leapt into the cage and fell through the puddle of light.

Nia felt that she was suddenly spun around, as she hit the surface of the cage rather hard. Black liquid slowly ran down her body, as she pushed herself upright.

"Sis, is that you?"

"Yeah, I'm up here!"

"Up where?" Ain suddenly stood up, holding the frying pan.

"In a cage. But the door is open, so I'm going to come down."

"Unlocked, hm?"

Dark eyes stared off into the distance, not even seeing the stone walls ahead. Rather, the woman was staring through the walls, gazing in her mind's eye at the tower room. Her dress was reforming and drifting in odd ways, like the black mists seen in the spiritual world, "They slipped out of unlocked doors... do they expect every door they see to be that way?"

She had been watching them, from her throne, the minute they had entered her castle. "And that girl... completely oblivious to her demise... She stands and talks like she's still on the physical plane... Such fools."

Slowly, in the corner of the room, a thick shadow spread out.

"Bring them to me. Dead or alive, it will not matter- bring their souls to me... but wait... bring the boy whole..." The woman sat back in her throne, talking to the shadow- or rather, thousands of mindless spirits that once met their ends in the castle- smirking something terrible. "Though he has no sight, his body holds potential..."

Clang!

"What happened?"

"The door shut..." Nia tried to push against the bars, finding them to be sealed shut. She was ripped from her attempts as a loud scream came from her brother below. "Little brother!"

Looking down, she saw him suddenly get mobbed by man-sized shadows.

"Oh my seasons- Little brother!!"