The Beginning

The night before she died, mother had called me to sing for her. She always loved to hear my voice. She told me that I was going to achieve so much more than I could ever imagine. She told me that my destiny was not in this world. She told me that I would be the one to save the world.

I did not take her words to heart. I knew she was dangerously ill and perhaps it had messed up her mind a bit.

She died the next night, and it devastated me beyond belief. It still hurt to remember that horrible day. They left Estella and I alone in the world at the young age of twelve to fend for our little brother, Luce, all alone in a world that was determined to break us.

I gazed at my reflection in the mirror as I ran an old wooden comb through the silver curls of my hair.

Today was a special day, as my father had told my twin Estella and me. But no matter what, I couldn't skip my morning routine. I've never missed it since I started, and I never will.

I placed the comb on the table when I had separated my curls to a satisfactory extent, and then I stared at my reflection again.

My full silver hair cascaded down my back and framed my full, oval face. My eyes, eyebrows and eyelashes were an identical silver color with my hair, and they stood out starkly against my tanned olive skin.

These were my assets. They made me different from everyone else.

There was a time I hated my eyes and hated the way my silver hair caught the light of the sun whenever we went farming. Now, looking back at those days, I could only think about how foolish I had been.

I had grown to love my hair, and my eyes, to love everything that made me different from the average person in the kingdom. Because I was not like them.

"I am destined for greatness," i spoke to my reflection. "They will all kiss my feet and grovel for my attention" a satisfied smile spread on my two toned lips as I continued "It is only a matter of time" I added.

I had started this routine after father finally decided to purchase a mirror. He understood that as young women, we had to prioritize our looks and charm the men if we hoped to escape a life of poverty.

A mirror was the first step in achieving that goal. I ended up hoarding the mirror for myself. She Estella did not care much about how she appeared after all, she was positive that she was already pretty enough to catch the attention of any male she desired; I did not doubt that for a single moment.

Thinking about the words my mother said to me before she died eventually became the only thing that kept me going. I started living only hoping her words could be true.

When Estella was ready to give up and end her life, I was the one that gave her the hope and strength to trudge on. And it had all been worth it in the end, because even if we were still living in intense poverty, at least we were better off now.

Coming back to the present, I pulled open my battered wooden drawer and opened my small vial of rogue; I saved my earnings for four months before I could purchase such a small amount of the substance, so I only use it on special occasions.

I used the pad of my index finger to scoop a small amount and I dabbed it lightly on the plump surface of my lower lip, to make it appear even fuller.

"Ugh, Maradonna, do you always have to be so slow?" that familiar annoying voice questioned, abruptly startling me. I angrily placed back the vial into the drawer and closed it with a shove.

She knew how much I hated interruptions of my morning routine. Was the only time of the day when I could do something to make myself feel better in this vile and wicked world, and she was ruining it.

"We are going to be late, father is already waiting for us," Estella added, sounding irritated.

I looked at her from the mirror and saw her quickly putting on her shoes underneath her green dress.

My twin, Estella, looked exactly like me. We had the same dainty limbs and body proportions. We had identical facial features, but my hair was silver while hers was chestnut brown. It complimented beautifully with her turquoise green eyes, making her one of the prettiest maidens in the kingdom, without even trying. But I liked to think, deep down that I was prettier than her.

As I gazed at her in a simple green dress and black shoes, her hair was elegantly tied up in a loose bun, with a few curly strands playfully framing her face and cascading down her neck. She effortlessly radiated beauty, stirring a familiar hint of envy within me.

I left my hair to pour down my shoulders and back, so that it would glisten in the sunlight like molten silver and people would wish they had hair like that. Sometimes I wondered if Estella wished she was the one born with silver hair. But then, that was a foolish thing to wonder. Why would she wish for such a curse? My silver hair had done me so much more harm than good in my life, but despite all of that, I still chose to love it.

Estella was incredibly social, but that was because she fit in easily with others. Thanks to her appearance, I was always the outcast that looked too different to be spoken to.

I was the perfect target for bullying.

I shook off those bad thoughts as I turned away from the mirror. I did not want to remember those dark days when I was bullied to the point of unconsciousness solely because my hair looked different. They were all jealous of me... so I liked to think.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Donna, hurry up! " Estella yelled. She actually just yelled at me. How dare she?

She reached for my pair of worn out brown shoes and tossed them at my feet.

"Can you just calm down a bit? You don't always have to be such a bitch about everything, you know," said "if we were truly so late, then father would have come here to tell us so"

I put on my shoes as she glared at me. If looks could kill, then I would have been dead... Like yesterday.

"Did you just call me a bitch? " She asked as she folded her arms and stared me down. She was trying to intimidate me with that stance, but I was not scared of her, not even a bit.

"I'm sure you heard correctly, " I said, looking up at her. "Or should I add hearing loss to the list of impairments you have? " I asked her defiantly and her eyes widened in shock, and then anger clouded her features.

"you're asking for a fight now, aren't you? " she asked "I will not indulge you" she let out a deep breath to calm herself.

I scoffed. "You were the one who started it"

She looked at me like she wanted to hurl some mean, disgusting insults my way, but she said. "today is a special day, Donna, and I'm sure even you know that," her voice sounded like she was speaking to a little child, even if I was technically the older twin. "I can tell something has bothered you on this gorgeous morning, but let's keep it in check for now. Father is so happy these days, and I do not want to spoil it by fighting with you," she said, ending her statement.

I realized she was right. She was always right. I was the one being a bitch.

I let out a heavy sigh. "Fine then," I said in a plain voice, as if that cleared the air between us.

I walked past her with my dark orange dress swaying behind me. It was the only beautiful dress I had, still it was very plain. Father had told us to look our best today, and I still wondered what the special occasion was.

We both got to the cramped up living area, the wooden walls were falling apart like the rest of the house. One of us would have to get married quickly if we didn't want to become homeless.

Father sat with Luce on the worn out sofa. He was speaking to his favorite child, and he didn't even notice us entering the room.

"Father, we're ready," I announced and both he and Luce looked up at the same time. Father's eyes brightened with pride as he looked at us.

"Oh, my beautiful daughters, I must be the proudest father in the world," he said with a wide smile.

Luce rolled his eyes dramatically.

"Come, have a sit, my dears. I have something very important to tell you," Father said. His voice had suddenly become very serious as well as his face and it brought fear to my heart momentarily.

Father was always jovial and happy despite his low status, so it was rather uncanny to see him with such a stoic expression on his face.

I moved to sit on the other sofa, and Estella sat beside me.

Father turned to us and for a moment, he looked like he was contemplating what to say. That was very strange because father always knew what to say, and this made me curious to know what this was all about.

The man we called father was not really our father. He was Faolan Cove. He claimed to be a brother to our real father. We had never known anything about our father, so we could not prove his words to be true, yet we decided to believe him. We were on the verge of death a few months after our mother's passing before he came to rescue us.

He saved our lives, and he thought us how to read and write, he thought us poetry and mathematics that were supposed to be learned only by members of the noble class. I always wondered why he chose to live such a modest life. A man of his educational standing could become a tutor to royalty, yet he chose to live in a broken house at the edge of the kingdom.

"We are leaving" Father finally said. I looked up at him, the silence in the room was really loud, as if everyone else was just as confused as I was.

"Leaving this house? Oh father, why didn't you tell us earlier, have you secured a big job finally?" Luce asked, his face cracked into an excited smile.

"No," father said, "We are not just leaving this house, we are leaving Earth," He added, and I blinked.

Silence again.

Estella stiffed a laugh beside me. Perhaps she thought he was joking. I thought the same too. He couldn't possibly be serious after all.

"Father, have you had too much to drink this morning? " Estella asked, laughter laced her voice.

"I am truly sorry. I know how bizarre this sounds," Father said. The fact that he seemed to be serious brought a pang of fear to my heart. I stared at him. He was not drunk, and he was not joking either.

The more I looked at him, the more I realized that I did not know this man. He trained us for six years — our 18th birthday was a week ago — yet I did not know him. All he told us he was related to our father and he could have easily been lying.

"I wanted to inform you all earlier, but there never seemed to be a right time," he said. His voice didn't sound like he was sad. There was a note of excitement in his voice. "I am not human," he finally said, and Estella gasped beside me in shock. I looked at the man I called father with wide eyes.

"We have all been summoned to Lorath, and we must leave immediately," he added.

"Hold up a second, you're not human? " Estella asked for further clarification.

"Yes, my children, I am in fact... " he reached into the collar of his shirt and ripped off the fancy silver necklace that he always wore. "A demon"

Instantly, large, black feathery wings sprouted from his back and I couldn't contain the scream of horror that erupted from my throat.

Luce scurried over to us, shaking in fear and we all huddled together as we watched our father transform into something that only existed in fairytales.

Our father, that was a middle-aged man in his early fifties, transformed to resemble a man in his late twenties. His greying hair had transformed into dark blonde curls. The sunlight illuminated his wings from behind and he looked so beautiful and dangerous, like an angel of darkness. For a moment I wondered if I had gone crazy, but Estella and Luce both had the same scared expressions on their faces. We could not all be hallucinating at the same time. Whatever was happening to our father was completely real.

"I do not mean to scare you," he said, a note of sadness laced his voice. He took a step towards us.

"stay the fuck away! Don't come any closer. I don't know who the fuck you are," Estella said, pulling us tighter as we huddled in a corner.

"language! Estella," the creature scolded firmly, and at that moment, he sounded like the father I had known and grown to love over the years.

"I know this is hard for you to understand, but please listen to me" He said, his black eyes turned to stare directly at me, but I did not feel fear.

"only Maradonna was invited to Lorath, but I cannot leave the rest of you here. You all have to come with me," he said, and my eyes widened.

"me? I'm needed in Lorath? Whatever for? " I asked. Estella and Luce turned to look at me.

"I do not know the answer to that," he admitted, and I frowned.

"so you want to take us to Lorath, but you do not even know why? " I asked him and for a moment he looked defeated. It was scary to see such a powerful being carrying such a look.

"Lorath is my true home, and I trust my Empress with my life. She has a reason for all of this. None of you will be harmed, I swear it," he said.

"You aren't truly sure of that, are you? " Estella asked and his silence told us his answer. "stay away from us," Estella repeated.

"I am truly sorry about this," Faolan said as he dug into his pocket and pulled out a golden key.

Faster than my eyes could follow, he stabbed the key into the weak wood of the floor and twisted it like he was unlocking a door. And instantly, the Earth opened up and swallowed us all whole.