In a world where magic exist and you can find fae and elves, the idea that two souls might be conected is not that weird of a concept, but people usually associated that myth with their perfect partner, never with, lets say, your sibling.

Piper stood by the ocean with the hot sand bothering her bare feet but she didnt move, she came to a sudden full stop right there, staring beyond the blue and to the small point where Dreev was hidden, always covered in a dense sea fog.

— Piper...? What happened?

A voice called from a couple steps away, where Kaoz realized he was walking alone after a few minutes, he stopped too, turning to stare and wait paciently, more worried than in a rush, even more when she didnt respond.

But Piper didn't hear him, too busy dealing with the weight in her chest holding her down, unable to look away from what she thought, no, from where she knew someone was calling her, looking for her, she was sure.

And she was right.

Well beyond the dark ocean, standing on the docks was a redhead teen, staring at the inmense shadow the continent casted and thinking if maybe his sister was out there, was she alright? Was she alive at all? Maybe she was also thinking about him.

Yulem felt a knot on his throat, tightening by the second as the fog seem to slowly take away any possibility of seeing her, of seeing anything at all. He knew if she didnt call out for her now he would never do it, not before his throat closed and the fog took her away and so, he finally opened his mouth with a mouthful of salty air.

That friday was one of the busiest days of the month thanks to the farmers market being open, so when I say a lot of people were in town, I mean a lot.

Poe took advantage of this and after riding his carriage all the way to the plaza, he came out and walked straight to the center of it, dark clothes and a solemn look catched peoples attention, quickly leading to a crowd forming around him as he cleared his throat. Yulem on the other hand, was left behind to watch it all unfold from the carriage, prohibited from getting out.

— Oh loyal people of Dreev, my people... I have such horrible news to tell I just had to come do it on my own... This is the kind of stuff you deserve to know directly from me.

He started his extremely rehearsed speech with the voice of someone who just had his heart broken, maybe if his parents loved him he wouldve ended in theater and not politics.

— Is my biggest pain to announce... That the first lady, Lena, has... Passed to a better life up with our goddesses...

His voice broke just enough, stopping to look down, carefully rub his eyes but not too much, cant ruin the makeup, before looking up to keep speaking over the waves of gasp from the people.

— And thats not all... No, my beautiful daughter, my heir... My dearest Piper has been kidnapped from her chambers this very morning... The island is on locked down at the moment, while all my guards are on the look out but... I...

He covered his mouth, stopping to apparently take a deep breath in, gathering the courage to say more lies.

— I would appreciate your help looking out for her... Do tell any guard if you see anything suspicious... Please, dont let me lose my dove.

In the grand scheme of things, having a bad dad didnt seem like the biggest problem, at least not in a city covered in poverty and death, yet Poe was a rich kid, showered in luxury every breathing second, of course having a controlling dad and only parent was the end of the world, but we need to see it from his perspective.

All alone, the poor boy abandoned by his mom as soon as he was born because she couldnt stand that man anymore, subsecuently leaving her child to be raised by such monster, a dangerous and poweful man, governor of the third biggest city. That was Poe.

But good things happen even to rich people, for Poe that was his arranged wedding, where he met his soon to be partner in crime, Lena, a young and energetic teen who was lured to the role under the pretence of keeping her family safe, that was a lie.

Together it didnt take long for rage to boil over and spill from Poe, slightly pushed by his wife, he took his fathers life with his own bare hands and with it, the spot as Dreev's governor, opening up an endless hallway of oportunities under the idea that a human life... Might just not be that sacred.

After the first time, executing people became quite an easy thing to do, but now it wasnt him getting his hands dirty, just watching the fun. To give credit where credit is due, Dreev did raised from the ruins, becoming now a blooming city and an even bigger military threat to others, all under Poe's caring hand. Bussines grew, the death penalty was put on place and his heirs were finally born.

The most beautiful daughter, destined to rule that very city one day and the wisest son, meant to supoort her along the way to command by her side.

Day 1

"I like you better broken"

Day 2

Old Injury

Day 3

Ghost(s)

Day 4

Blood Stains

Day 5

Survivor

Day 6

Soul Bond

Day 7

Alt 3: Alternate Universe

Day 8

Hunger

Day 9

Alt 4: Lazarus

Day 10

God complex

Day 11

Alt 6: Live broadcast

Day 13

Day 12

Bodyguard

Day 14

Day 15

Day 16

Day 17

Day 18

Day 19

Day 20

Day 21

Day 22

Day 23

Day 24

Day 25

Day 26

Day 27

Despite the proven existence of magic in the world, it is often fronwed upon and left to be used for the most weird and lonely individuals, because speaking the truth, everyone was quite happy with their lives, no matter if you asked in Arsh or all the way up in Dreev.

Because of this, finding a magic user was a great feast, now finding someone ableand willing to bring back someone from the dead was near impossible, but Kaoz managed.

With a frown and a lot of complains he carried the almost frozen body of his biggest enemy, it was starting to rot despite the numbing cold by the time they got to that old, run down cabin.

Inside rest the only 6 wizards Kaoz knew, but they would have to do, at least one of them must be able to conjure that kind of magic, and of course he was right.

Out of the six, only Birdie, the youngest of the bunch was willing to do something so gross, rhat went directly against the rules of nature, just because Kaoz asked nicely.

They set up camp far from their home to avoid interruptions and after a quick material gathering, the ritual began. At that moment all of them, Kaoz, Piper and Yulem were suddenly very thankful to have done such a thing on Poe's corpse first, if they planned on bringing back their mom, she couldnt be the prototype.

The ritual worked, but nowhere near they way they expected. Poe's skin, already tight and pulled and shredded couldnt fix the wounds, so a plant like material took its place, covering and closing all those dried up wounds but covering much more than necessary in the process.

His throat closed once more, his jaw appeared to be back in place and even the thousand of tiny scars closed, showing an obcene green ish color that showed how much he came back wrong.

The second indicator, of course, was the was his mouth refused to produce the sounds he was familiar with, seemingly unable to form a complex thought beyond recognizing the faces of those in front of him and his own hands, Birdie said:

— Maybe his vocals cords are wrong... I dont quite control how the material rebuilds it, I never had a blueprint!

They couldnt quite blame her completely, she tried after all, but... At least it wasnt Lena now walking so slowly and making such faces to his own kids like Poe was doing, even in resurection he couldnt be a good dad.

— Let me kill him.

— It hasnt been that long, stop whinning!

— But Im hungry!

The face of a young and small Kaoz looked up to meet his fathers eyes, looking for any sort of comfort in his dire situation, but instead he was met with harsh words and even more cruel looks.

— You eat too much, do you think Im made of money?

— I dont... I cant help it...

His voice was still far from getting to his current toneand his eyes had yet to lose his spark, that poor little boy seemed nothing like Kaoz, so far they only shared a name.

— Of course you dont, you poor fucking baby. My wife died because of you and you dare speak back to me?

Kaoz felt the words get caugh in his throat, clawing their way out and hurting in the process just like they did when they hit his dad.

— It was not my fault! I didnt bring the plague here!

— What did I just said, you bastard?!

Two steps were taken towards the child direction before a heavy hand landed on his face, sending him a couple steps back with more shock than pain, already very used to the lather.

— Im sick of you... I dont want to see your stupid face again, ever! Get out of my house. Out of my life! Now!

The universe always seemed too big for humans to be all on their own, alone in such a huge place... And they were kinda right, but not in the way they expected.

Alongside them, were hundreds, maybe thousands of similar planets, far away by millions of light years, impossible go be touched or even heard of, but maybe it was for the best.

One of the most... Similar ones was probably the worse, the only one where they all lived at the end. Well, all expect Yulem.

The only one whose name was never meant to be said a last time, the only one whose death was never written and the one that changed the way the story was told.

In their world, Yulem died young, unknown circustances but everyone knew the cause had a name and surname.

The poor young boy never got to be separated from his sister, because she was taken alone and never looked back.

He never got to grieve his mother, because she cried for him and was killed, this time for real.

He never met his sister again, never accidentally set off a civil war inside his home because he never got to have one.

The story was reshaped, missing his biggest piece, the quieter one, but it was never able to fill up that space again.

He was rarely allowed to go out, much less alone, this time was one of those times, so the little redhead walked out of the manor acompanied by 3 intimidating guards, honestly, he wasnt sure if they were meant to protect him or keep him trapped.

He walked all the way down to the market in the middle of the city, split in the middle by the river where tiny boats were tied, selling all kinds of fruit alongside the already busy streets.

Yulem felt more like myself in the anonymity of being no one in a crowd, so he walked and bought and tasted everything, getting some fruit for myself, then a drink, then a tiny notebook and— his shopping spree was stopped by one singular look to someone standing at the other side of the river.

Piper, recently escaped from the unfair rules of his most beloved caregiver, had finally made her way back into Dreev, the city glued by hopes and prayers. Like any other, she made her way into the market too, just a few minutes after Yulem. They walked the same streets and tasted similar things, one buying and the other carefully stealing as she walked by but never meeting each other, because they were on opposite sides of the same river, that quickly changed.

Neither Yulem nor Piper would be able to explain it, not until much later on at least, but that day she saw a familiar red and he saw the most beautiful amber and they both ran to the closest bridge, meeting right in the middle, one a little out more of breath than the other.