"Hey, Miss Morgan, what's it like to channel a spirit?" Ini asked her fifth question to a very annoyed Morgan. Iris stifled her laughter, feeling gratified in seeing Morgan annoyed from her best friend's badgering.
"Is there, like, a feeling when you get possessed?" Ini asked, to which Morgan didn't answer.
"When you get possessed, are you still, like, conscious 'cuz you're letting the ghost possess you?"
"Is it okay to take pics of the channeling when Mr. Armando's done-?"
"I suddenly remembered that I have some important business to attend to," Morgan said hastily, standing up. "Please treat yourselves with anything at the Main Hall until I'm done."
"B-but, I still have so many questions?!" Ini protested.
Morgan huffed out a loud 'harumph'. "Good miss, I have been entertaining these useless questions long enough and quite frankly, they have been a waste of time."
"U-useless...waste of-I'M DOING THIS FOR RESEARCH!" Ini protested, angry at the insult.
"Then why don't you go do your research someplace else?" Morgan retorted, a condescending look on her face. "From what I can tell, Fey Manor has no time to waste on the likes of peasants like you."
Ini was now seething in rage. "WHY I'D OUGHTA-!" she stood up, ready to give Morgan a piece of her mind, but Iris stopped her by grabbing her by the arm.
"Don't let her get to you, Ini," Iris said, giving one suspicious glance at Morgan before the latter left the premises.
"That stupid, no good bitch..." Ini muttered bitterly. "Just the who hell does she think she is?!"
"My mother," Iris answered matter-of-factly, making Ini turn to her in shock.
"You're, like, joking, right?" Ini asked nervously. Iris shook her head in response.
"O-oh, s-sorry," Ini stuttered. "I didn't, like, mean it and-"
"It's okay, Ini, I don't mind," Iris assured before venomously muttering, "In fact, what you said about my mother was spot on..."
Ini raised a brow, startled at how Iris agreed with her. "What do you, like, mean by that?"
Iris hesitated for a bit, thinking back to memories.
"Before you met me in Hazakura Temple, I used to live here in Kurain Village during my childhood," she said. "Mother wanted her branch of the family to carry the Kurain Channeling Technique, so she put me and my sister through intense training..."
. . .
Kurain Village
15 years ago...
It was well-known to the Fey Clan that Iris and Dahlia were identical to one another, being twins after all. They both had the same young, innocent features. Same adorable face, same long black hair, etc.
They even wore the same set of acolyte robes; the only difference between the two sisters was that each of them wore a different colored magatama. Red for Dahlia, light purple for Iris.
Furthermore, being twins, the two sisters did most of their activities together. Unfortunately for the two of them...today's activity was something neither sister wanted to do.
"Make sure you maintain your positions and to focus your minds," Morgan instructed her daughters, wanting them to stay still and maintain their meditative stances as freezing water rushed down above them from the waterfall.
It was painful and the two sisters absolutely hated it. Dahlia chattered her teeth and struggled to stay still; shivering head-to-toe from the extreme cold that pouring over felt the same way, struggling to endure the freezing pain rushing down her body as she tried to maintain her meditative pose and concentration.
"Endurance is key to spirit channeling," Morgan added, raising a brow when she noticed what her two daughters were feeling. "This pain will soon lead to power for your spirit channeling."
Dahlia couldn't help but turn her head to glare at her mother, but as soon as she did, the cold finally got to her; causing her to sneeze and fall to the ground, wincing in pain as she fell head first on a stone.
"Dolly!" Iris shouted out in concern, breaking her stance and rushing to help her twin.
Dahlia could only groan in pain, crying as she clutched her bleeding head.
"I-It's okay, Dolly," Iris said, trying to comfort her. "L-let's go fix it up..."
"You will do no such thing," Morgan said in an authoritarian tone. "You must continue your training!"
"B-but mother, she's hurt!" Iris shouted in protest.
"Because she didn't follow my instructions, like always had been. This will be a lesson for her to not disobey my instructions again."
Morgan's expression softened a bit as she approached Iris. "You're a good girl, Iris, I can see that. So please, let's continue our training...it will do wonders for your future..."
Iris opened her mouth to protest further but went silent when Morgan looked at her disapprovingly. For a moment, Iris thought she saw the color in her mother's eyes vanish, replaced with a dark glare.
It was that stare! Iris thought as she remembered the haunting, colorless, and soulless gaze that Morgan subjected to her and Dahlia every time they didn't obey her. It was the gaze of a demon, and it always made Iris tremble every time Morgan used it on her.
Despite that, however, Iris swallowed her fear and persisted. "I-I can't train...with Dahlia like this...she might bleed out...mother, please..."
Morgan frowned and pondered for a moment. "Very well then, but on one condition..."
Dahlia's eyes slowly open, feeling a bit heavy from several hours of rest. The first thing she saw her twin sister, who grinned joyfully when she woke up.
"Dolly, you're awake!" Iris shouted in relief, hugging her sister tightly.
"R-Rissy, can't b-breathe...!" Dahlia wheezed out.
"S-sorry!" Iris let go of her twin, giving her time to catch her breath. "How are you feeling...?"
Dahlia sniffled, a little snot coming out of her nose. "Like cra-AAACHOOO!"
"You're sick!" Iris said in worry as she placed the palm of her hand on Dahlia's head. "You're burning up...
Dahlia opened her mouth to respond, but all that came out were sickly coughs.
"Y-you should rest up," Iris said, trying to sound as gentle and caring as possible. "M-Mother wants us to be strong for-"
"Oh, mother this and mother that," Dahlia muttered, growling venomously. "Stop being such a mother's pet, Rissy! Can't you see what she's doing to us!"
"I-it's for the Fey family. To prepare us for our future..."
"That's what she always says. I'm still surprised she even gave us a break..."
Iris cringed a bit, a little hesitant. "About that...she only allowed you to rest if I took over your time...all the hours you were supposed to have will be given to me," Iris said, but frowned as she noticed Dahlia's eyes widening. "B-but it's not that bad-"
"Rissy, you can't!" Dahlia cut off, worried for her twin. "Y-you can't train that long! You'll get-aah-AACHOO!"
"Dolly, please..." Iris replied solemnly. "If I didn't agree to Mother's...request...she'd force you to keep training despite your wounds. You're already sick from the cold, so...please...just let me help you and rest..."
"But Rissy..." Dahlia paused. "Will you be okay...?"
Iris smiled, giving her sister a comforting smile. "We've been training since the day we were born, Dolly. I can handle it..."
And for the next three days, Iris had undergone intense spirit channeler training. While Morgan had decided to not have Iris go back to training under the waterfall to ensure she wouldn't get sick-though it was less that she did not want her daughter to get ill and more she wanted to keep training her-she still had to deal with long hours of staying still and performing meditations, being locked in a dark empty room for hours on to improve concentration and focus's Morgan stated, and so many other types of "spiritual training" with little to no breaks or rest.
By the time it was all over, Iris could only muster up so much energy to get to bed. By the time she reached it, she instantly collapsed. Her body was burning from the constant pain and her energy was completely gone. Dahlia could only look at Iris worriedly as her own sickness prevented her from getting out of bed.
"You've done well today, my daughter," Morgan said, entering the two sisters' room and approaching the tired Iris. "Take your well-earned rest, you will need it for your next session of training tomorrow."
Even though Iris was too polite (and tired) to even let out a small complaint, Morgan noticed what her daughter was feeling. She frowned for a moment but quickly replaced it with a smile to look warm and kind. "You might be in pain. You might feel that I'm torturing you, but this is all for a good cause. To make you strong and to prepare you for greatness. After all, it is your destiny as a member of the Fey family..."
"You always say that..." Morgan heard Dahlia mutter, and before Dahlia knew it, she felt a sudden, harsh, stinging pain on her cheek. Dahlia yelped in pain, rubbing her red cheek as Morgan lowered her raised hand and threw her demonic glare toward her second daughter, scaring the poor girl.
"You're too brash and foolish to understand, you selfish brat..." Morgan growled. "Once you grow up and get it in that idiotic head of yours, you'll get that I'm helping you..."
Morgan gave one last cold glance at Dahlia, frightening her, before exiting her daughters' room, slamming the door shut.
. . .
"And for a large portion of my childhood in this village, it was like that," Iris said. "Looking back, I realized that my mother was favoring me over Dahlia, considering I...obeyed her the most and endured most of her training..."
Ini's eyes widened in horror from what she just heard, unable to think of what to say. She didn't know her best friend had to go through that...
Iris continued, seething in rage. "Almost every single day, it was training and training and training and training-it just...wouldn't stop! And at the end of all of them, Dahlia and I would just end up tired or sick from all of it...!
"Every time, Mother always told us that it was good for the family...or that it was to prepare us...as if we should be grateful for what she did to us!"
She then let out a bitter laugh. "And you want to know the funniest thing about it? Dahlia and I can't channel spirits! None of the women on our side of the family can! All that pain...all that suffering..."
Iris balled her hands into fists as she moved her head down to keep Ini from seeing her cry. "Was all for nothing..."
"D-didn't your dad see what she was doing to you?!" Ini finally shouted out, having already processed in her mind the kind of abuse her best friend went through. "Like, he tried to stop it, right!?"
Iris shook her head and scowled. "Hardly. Father was a jeweler, a wealthy one at that. Every time Dahlia and I tried to talk to him about Mother, he always said he was busy or that she was doing a good job raising us. I wanted to think he really was too busy to see what Mother was doing, but I think he knew deep down what was really happening..."
"And I thought my parents were bad..." Ini muttered to herself, looking at Iris empathically.
"Would you believe it gets even worse?"
. . .
"We're leaving?" Iris asked in surprise, watching as Dahlia had begun packing her things.
"Yup!" Dahlia said, popping the 'p' and sounding all too happy at the notion of leaving Kurain Village. "Why do you look so surprised? Didn't you hear all that stuff going on with Mom and Dad?"
Iris did, every single detail in fact, but it still was a shock to her. Having found out that Morgan, and by extension Dahlia and herself, had no spiritual powers whatsoever surprised her. This not only meant that they couldn't channel spirits but also meant that Morgan or any of her relatives would never be fit to the Master of the Kurain Channeling Technique.
But still though...
"Why do we have to leave?" Iris couldn't help but ask.
Dahlia scoffed. "Rissy, you know why we have to leave. Dad said so, after all."
"I know that, but...is that really the only reason? Just because we can't channel spirits?"
Dahlia rolled her eyes. "Think about this, Iris, all that training we have to deal with is over. We can finally get out of this dump of a village! Aren't you glad?"
"I-I'm glad that the training is over with, b-but-"
"Do you want to stay here, Rissy?" Dahlia suddenly asked.
"W-what?"
"Do you want to stay here and keep training? To keep going through all those times we had to spend hours on painful things? Do you want to leave Dad just to keep going? Do you want to leave ME?"
"N-no, Dahlia, no! I-I wouldn't leave you!" Iris stuttered, aghast at the idea. "I-I'd never leave you!"
Dahlia quickly flashed a smile. "Good! Then you better get ready, Dad wants us to leave as soon as we can!"
Iris nodded and did exactly what Dahlia told her too, albeit hesitantly. After a couple of hours, the two sisters were fully packed and were ready to go. Their father had the car, a large black limousine, ready for both of them. Dahlia looked at the car excitedly, immediately stepping inside, ready to leave this worthless excuse of a village!
Iris, on the other hand, hesitated. Taking a step closer to the car, she turned behind her and saw her mother. Normally, when most mothers would be separated from their children, they would either do whatever they can to keep their children with them or at the very least try to make their last moments with them as wonderful and memorable as possible. Not Morgan, though.
By the look on her face, Iris could tell she showed little to no interest in the fact her husband and two daughters were leaving her. In fact, she almost sounded relieved, as if having to deal with two children with no spiritual powers was a tremendous burden that had lifted from her shoulders.
"Mother...?" Iris asked.
"Shouldn't you be leaving?" Morgan asked, in a hurry as she had more important things to do.
"Y-yeah, b-but I just want you to know that even with everything that happened..." Iris hesitated for a moment. "I'll visit you when I have the chance."
"That sounds nice," Morgan replied dismissively, with no emotion at all...and Iris' heart shattered at that.
"I...I love you, Mother...!" Iris said loudly, trying desperately, DESPERATELY to find some form of affection or care from Morgan...
"Good to know," Morgan said dismissively, the tone in her voice devoid of any of the love and affection Iris hoped, all Morgan gave Iris was an uncaring wave goodbye before turning around, having more important matters to deal with...leaving Iris, who was almost in tears...
. . .
"That's when a part of me realized that Mother only trained Dahlia and me so she could have a lasting reign in Kurain..." Iris said, her voice trembling in anger. "She didn't really care about us at all! She just used us as tools for her own ends and threw us away when we-!"
Iris stopped herself for a moment, seeing that she was startling Ini.
"I-I'm sorry," she said shamefully. "I-I was holding all of this in since the start of this trip. I-I'm just glad I let it all out..."
Ini just stared at her best friend, her eyes wide and her skin pale as she processed the entire story in her mind.
"That is seriously, seriously fucked up..." she snapped, her eyes filled with fury. "Let's get over there and give her a piece of our mind!"
"Ini, no!" Iris pleaded. "I appreciate your concern, but you don't know Mother as I do!"
"But she hurt you!" Ini snapped back. "You're a lawyer! Can't you, like, sue her or something!?"
"If only it were that simple," Iris replied. "Mother is good with her words. Put her in court and chances are, she'll talk her way out of it through a clever lie."
"But still..." Ini paused for a moment, before looking at Iris empathetically. "I'm sorry you had to go through all of that, Iris..."
Iris smiled. "It's okay. This has brought back some bad memories, but...I want to move on from them. I already have a promising career as a defense attorney, I have people like Mr. Armando and you in my life, and...I...I'm not going to let my past take it away from me..."
It still bothers me that Morgan has another daughter though...I couldn't imagine what Pearl is going through...
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!"
Ini shrieked. "Like, what was that?!"
Iris' eyes widened in horror, immediately standing up. "That was from the Channeling Chamber! Sir!"
Iris and Ini wasted no time and dashed toward the Channeling Chamber, nearly crashing into the large locked door. Iris quickly gripped the handles of the door and tried to pull it open, but it didn't even budge.
Damn it! Iris thought, distressed.
"What's all the commotion going on here?" Morgan said, approaching Iris and Ini.
"M-Mo-mother!" Iris cried out. "You have to unlock this door! Now!"
"I cannot," Morgan said calmly, shaking her head. "There is only one key to the Chamber and it is with Mystic Maya."
Iris scowled at her mother. How on earth could she be calm through all of this?!
"I swear, Mother, I...GRAAGH!"
Without warning, Iris charged at the door and slammed it with her own body, shocking both Ini and Morgan.
"I-Iris, what are you doing?!" Ini exclaimed.
"Help me break down this door, Ini!" Iris shouted. "Now!"
Ini didn't hesitate and started helping Iris. In unison, they charged and tackled the door, but it still didn't open.
"One more!" Iris shouted.
Reeling themselves back, they charged at the door once again and successfully broke the door open with force. And once they charged inside the room, Iris and Ini could only look on in shock and horror at what they saw.
Diego Armando, Iris' suave, charismatic, and insightful mentor, laid slump on the floor. Under Diego was a large puddle of blood and his clothes were stained with it, his black vest being a clear sign of this.
He wasn't moving nor breathing, and as much as Iris didn't want to admit it, she had to face the facts...
Her mentor was dead. And standing above his dead body was Maya, staying still, holding the bloodied knife with one of her hands.
Anger started to swell up inside Iris, but just as she was about to go up and confront Maya, to attack her for the death of Diego, her mentor and a FAMILY FRIEND no less, she came to a freezing halt as Maya laughed in a voice that wasn't her own. It was a cruel, sinister, and sadistic voice that Iris was all too familiar with...and just hearing it alone brought shivers down her spine.
"Hi, Rissy..."
"D-Dahlia...?" Iris whispered, trembling in fear. No...it couldn't be...her sister...her sister died in that fire accident, she couldn't be here!
"How long has it been, Rissy?" Dahlia asked, not bothering to look at Iris or Ini, still staring down at Diego's motionless corpse. "I've been feeling really lonely since that time you and this asshole put me in jail..."
"You didn't visit, you didn't write...you just left me all alone to rot in a cell...some sister you are, huh?" she snarled, gritting her teeth.
During the commotion, Ini managed to shake herself out of the shock and pointed her camera at the scene.
FLASH!
Neither Iris nor Dahlia noticed this, however, as they were too focused on one another.
"Y-you hurt so many people, Dahlia..." Iris said meekly, shaking in fear. "Mr. Armando, Terry Fawles, Mia Fey..."
Feenie...
"...you've done terrible, terrible things to all of us and you had to be punished for it!"
"AND THAT MEANT PUTTING YOUR OWN SISTER TO JAIL!? LEAVING ME TO DIE ALONE IN A COLD, DARK CELL!?" Dahlia shrieked angrily, suddenly turning around and giving Iris a chance to see her face.
It looked exactly like Iris', given that they were twins and all...but something didn't sit right with it. Dahlia's features...they looked strange and uncanny...almost like a doll's...
Was this a side effect from the spirit channeling? Iris wondered, but she didn't dwell on it long enough as Dahlia began taking steps toward her, brandishing her knife and she glared at Iris with a wicked grin on her face.
"You and that coffee-chugging bastard ruined my life, Rissy...AND NOW I AM GOING TO RETURN THE FAVOR!"