Ladyyasumi

Chapter 1

  Cephera glanced over her shoulder, panting, her legs nearly buckling. A thick blanket of snow tumbled toward her and Seraphina. Speeding up just a notch, her muscles burned, threatening to collapse. The hillside dipped at a steep angle. One wrong move would send them plummeting head over heels to possible death.

  "Why do I let you get me into these messes!" Cephera yelled over the thundering sound of the avalanche. The mounds of white fluff drew closer and closer, no matter how fast they ran.

   "They're not messes," her twin sister, Seraphina, yelled back her voice cracking as she inhaled, her lungs burning.

   "Then, what are they?" Cephera panted rolling her eyes, continuing their untimely conversation. It might be the last one they'd ever have.

   "Adventures!" Seraphina flashed her witty grin before jumping over a fallen tree. Cephera ducked between its exposed roots, slowing her down.

   "Well, I don't care what you call them, they're still ...," the snow collided with the back of her legs, pitching her onto her face and burying her in the dense, freezing snow.

2 Months prior

  Cephera spread her arms, inhaling the fresh air near the Glimmering Lake. Days as lovely as these were all they ever had on Mechanova. The climate and weather didn't change. The lake always sparkled, mirroring the sun above. It's clear blue waters darkened as it grew deeper, and spanned toward the horizon where it seemed to drop into nothingness. She'd never been that far away from the palace to see what wonders lay beyond.

  She concentrated her mind on the soft sounds of birds, their wings beating fast, and their chirps mingling together in song. The rustling of tree leaves from the Nerubian Forest nearby added to the melody. Tilting her face upward, the warmth of the sun kissed her cheeks and nose.

  Breathing deep, she caught an unfamiliar scent. Furrowing her brow, she sniffed the air once more.

  Smoke?

  Cephera's eyes flew open as she twisted to look at the forest. Grey clouds curled up into the air, growing darker by the second, animals scurried away, and just before Cephera was about to run to the very edge of the tree-line, her sister came jumping through a thick brush screaming, "get in the water!" Seraphina waved frantically at her twin with both arms, resisting the temptation to look behind her.

  Cephera caught a glimpse of the angry pixies flying after Seraphina, throwing fireballs at her and catching numerous other things aflame. Shocked, Cephera turned and jumped into the lake, her sister joining her. They swam from one end to the other, periodically coming up for air, checking to see if it was safe to exit.

   Pulling themselves out onto the shore across the way, the sisters stood at the lake's edge and peered back at the forest. The smoke had turned black, and the stench of burnt wood assaulted their noses. In the distance, back toward the palace, it had caught the attention of the people. Cephera frowned and gave her sister the 'look.' Seraphina knew that look. She got it often lately, the one that said, 'what did you do now?'

  "The pixies started it." Seraphina insisted, pointing back the way she came. Cephera shook her head, sighing in exasperation.

***

   "Do you have any idea the damage caused by your actions?" King Yorin rubbed his forehead, his blue skin darkening as he paced in front of the twins. "Do you know how much energy it took to put out that fire?" He wasn't a man to take much of anything overly serious, but the twins knew he meant business this time.

   He had every right to be angry. What started as a few fires, quickly formed into one. Jumping from tree to tree, it devoured at least a quarter of the forest. "You extinguished it, no harm done. In a few days, you make the trees grow back, and all is well." Seraphina replied, but kept her eyes averted. The magic used by the royal family didn't work that way, and she knew it. As future Queen, it was her job to know and understand it.

   "Do you listen to any of your training? Do you know how much time and energy it will take to restore that amount of land, not to mention the materials we've lost for trading." He threw his hands in the air with a growl. A headache threatened to develop, but he tried to fight it off. His energy was spent, he needed rest.

   "It's not my fault we have hot-headed pixies living in there." Seraphina turned her face up, glaring, defiant to the end.

   "You don't steal their eggs!" The King yelled. The shout echoed along the walls and ceiling, startling some people nearby.

   "I wasn't stealing them, I was examining them." Her father washed a hand down over his face.

   Turning to his youngest, he said, "and you, why didn't you stop her?" Cephera stared at him, shocked.

   Pointing at herself, her mouth opened only to pause before finally speaking. "Me? I wasn't with her. I didn't even know she was in the forest," Cephera insisted, her cheeks turning pink.

   "I trust you to keep your sister out of trouble." He countered with a disapproving frown.

    "I can't be with her every second." Cephera looked between her elder sister and her father, how did she always get dragged into these things?

    "Why can't you be more like your sister," King Yorin said, turning his attention back to the elder twin.

    "Because that would be boring," Seraphina replied, "no offence." She added, giving Cephera an apologetic look.

    "None taken," Cephera assured her with a smile, waving off the otherwise mean comment.

    "Don't smile at her, she's in big trouble." The King chided, wagging his finger at them.

    "It was an accident. You want us to learn about all walks of life, right? Seraphina was just curious." Cephera picked up for her sister as she always did grabbing her father's thumb and giving it a squeeze.

   "I swear, if I had known they'd go all pyromaniac on me, I would have stayed far away from them," Seraphina promised.

  With another growl, King Yorin turned from them, slipping from Cephera's grasp. "Away with the both of you." He commanded, waving his hand over his shoulder. He got no arguments from either girl, they took off before he could change his mind.

   "You're so lucky he didn't punish you," Cephera warned her sister-- for all the good it would do.

   "It was an accident, they happen." Seraphina jumped the glass stairs two at a time leading up to their rooms. They both needed a change of clothes.

  Going separate ways at the top level, Cephera paused just outside her room and looked down at the small wooden chest set up against the wall. A shrine to their Mother. Everyone of Mechanovian descent lived thousands of years, but her Mother had been Gaian, or human as some called them. For a Gaian, she'd lived what was considered a full life, but Cephera wished they'd had more time together.

Though technically half-human, the twins had Mechanovian blood, and that overrode any other race. In fact, everyone in Mechanova was half another race, but their Mechanovian bloodline always reigned supreme.

**********

My dear readers!

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