Mira

We let the guards handcuff us and push us into the waterfall, take us to what used to be my home. It's all rubble and ash now...rubble and ash to represent my childhood! My life here! Now obliterated! There's still smoke rising from various destroyed houses and trees...the ash and dust clouding my lungs. I choke on my former family home...choke on various pieces of what were once beautiful structures that defined our kingdom. 

We used to have these grand marble pillars at the entrance of the library and large slabs of granite in the small water park...but someone has pillaged it all. Not only did they take my home and my people, but they also took our artifacts! They took our literal foundations and left the rest of the place to burn!

Lily won't stop looking around the cavern with wide eyes, not being able to comprehend its size. This entire mountain is almost hollow...but structurally sound. Half of it was us carving it out, half of it was erosion. The irrigation drain was blocked at both ends, leaving what used to be a creek empty and bristle...

I wanted to cry my heart out, I wanted to scream and cry and kick and yell. My heart was beating furiously as I was ever so furious at what has become of my hometown. All you could smell is smoke...and one thousand burning scents of trees and structures! I could smell the treehouse that once held my only escape from my homelife burnt to a crisp...all the rotten wood and tarp leaving a placid smell in the air near where my house once stood. 

I'm already breaking down as the guards on either side of me practically drag me a mile into the cave, to where our large garden (with the throne at the center) once stood. All that was left was a tomato plant slowly fizzling away and the throne chair covered in soot and an even dirtier substance. 

"Unknown! How could you betray me like this!? I just wanted you to have a good life, that's all I ever wanted!" I cry out as we near her.

Lily (surrounded by four guards) looks over at me, a single tear running down her left cheek. My chest fills and exhales and yet I can't find enough oxygen to keep me stable. My breath accelerates beyond what it's supposed to be, my lungs desperately clawing for some oxygen.

Surrounding the throne was about one hundred soldiers, all in position to be facing the approaching two teenagers. 

I attempt to calm myself down and stay rational so I don't get myself killed. I don't see my sister anywhere, a thought that just makes my hands restless and clammy. 

Lily and I are moved to in front of the throne.

"This is a war crime!" Lily shouts, "Once the other kingdoms find out about this they will punish you!"

Unknown chuckles, sending an ominous echo throughout the cavern, "Good thing they won't, but that's not what I want to talk about. I want to make a proposition for the two of you,"

My sister appears out of thin air on the lap of Unknown, screeching at the top of her lungs. My legs almost give out but the guards won't let them, they hold me up so I'm able to see the horrid and putrid woman with her arm around my little sister speak her callous words.

"Here it is, a simple choice really," She says slowly, but loudly to drown out the screams of my dear sister, "You two join my army willingly, or we take you by force,"

I inhale sharply, "How about you give me my sister and no one gets hurt,"

She chuckles again, each note sending another agonizing spike of pain through my body.

Lily looks over at me, her lips pressed down into a thin straight line, "I'll go willingly if you promise not to hurt Mira or her sister,"

My sister, Claire, screeches, "No! Don't- it's not worth it! They have a hell waiting for you! It's hell-!"

I feel my hands spazzing as Unknown cups her hand over my sister's mouth in an attempt to silence her screams. Her screams...

They hit me deeply, right through my heart...

They are the sound I fought so desperately too not here when I was home...

Those screams are what I took punches for, what I risked my life for every day in my household just so she wouldn't get hurt.

Attempting to dash forward, the hands holding me tighten their grip. As I'm not able to use my hands as they are handcuffed in front of me, I kick outward with my legs trying to hit someone. Every bone in my body spazzes, I try to hit anything I can, try to break anything within reach.

I am able to break free of my guard's grip for only a second, before one of the knees me in the stomach. Doubling over in pain, the wind knocked out of me, I stumble. Falling onto my side, I'm able to see Lily's eyes widen as she breaks her handcuffs clean in half.

Lily

Something inside of me snaps. Not literally, because I've made damn sure they haven't laid a hand on me in anger. I tried to play the little naive innocent girl, but none of them are buying it- I wonder why false facts she told them about me. She had only seen a little bit of my magic, she doesn't know the full scale! If I was able to put myself into the right body with magic, surely I can get us out of there safely.

But they hurt the purest person on the planet. They hurt Mira for being upset that they had kidnapped her sister! Everyone here is just as sick and demented as the last!

I rip my handcuffs off and look directly into Mira's eyes. I'm going to save her, even if it's the last thing I do. No one deserves to have such shock and horror etched in every worry line of their brow, no one deserves to see their city burnt to a crisp!

The world around me irrupts with the guards trying to catch me, but I duck and dive towards Mira. I'm able to reach her for only a second before I'm dragged away, by the feet, by a guard with pure malice in their eyes. I claw at the ground to try to inch myself away, but I'm thrown before the throne once again.

My back connects with a hard stone, sending a jolt of electricity through my body. Anger rises in my throat, my arms start to buzz, and I'm irate. I don't know how my magic works, but I can feel it flowing through my veins at this very moment, so I'm going to use it. 

I stretch out my arm to grab Mira's sister with telekinesis and am able to untangle her from the grip of Unknown. Stumbling to my feet, I catch her in midair before scanning the battlefield for Mira. That's when I see her...backed up against a wall...blood dribbling down her lips as she coughs...

An arcane ripple forces magic down my hands, ripping all of the guards surrounding her off to the opposite side of the room. This gives me a second or two to bring her sister, so they can finally reunite. But just as the two are about to hug, Unknown snaps her fingers, and Mira's sister is again trapped on the evilest woman in the world's lap.  

I crouch down for a second, on instinct grabbing Mira's bloody hand and pushing some of my magic into her. She looks broken...defeated, but she can't be! Not yet! I will put up more of a fight! We will put up more of a fight! I push a large blast of my energy into her, and suddenly all the blood is gone and she's on her feet, looking bewildered.

The soldiers begin to advance on us. Spawning two swords in my hands, I shove one in Mira's arms and keep the other for myself. Despite not knowing how to fight, I wave my sword confidently in front of me, ready to take on these soldiers if it's the last thing I do. 

The first wave of soldiers carry blasters and attempt to shoot at us...but I am able to parry one attack and send it back to them. I put myself between them and Mira, knowing she's unlikely to fight back due to her current mental state.

Diving towards the soldiers, I slash and hack at whatever I can make contact with. My blade, glistening with blood, is sharp and able to cut through armor like butter. I don't even know how I was able to create it...or how I was able to reset Mira's body like some kind of video game, but I'm just glad it happened. I'm glad I was able to do something instead of sit on my ass and not know what to do. 

But then the guns start to go off, and now I know why you can't bring a knife to a gunfight. Swords are close-ranged weapons, easy to slash and cut those near, but guns can be fired at a great distance as they are now. I don't know how guns work, or even the intricate parts of a gun to even spawn one for myself. Dropping my sword as dozens of bullets near, I'm able to put up a force field between me and it.

I trust the strength of the field, holding out both hands and pouring all my emotion into keeping it steady. My force-field forms around me and Mira, with Mira being close at my side. But the soldiers are running at us now with guns shooting wildly, my frantic force-field starting to dim and wobble in the process.

A large gust of wind catapults me backward, with my head colliding with a solid rock first. I don't let that bother me. In the dust kicked up around us, I'm coughing and searching for Mira, finding her within seconds amongst the chaos. She's once again bloody and bruised...and it hurts me internally to see her like that. 

I grab her by the waist and stand upright, holding her tightly next to me.

Holding out a singular arm and screaming at the top of my lungs, I send a blast wave over all the soldiers. It renders each and every one of them unconscious. My instinct is to hug Mira tightly to me and cry, so I let myself do so and take a breath. But of course, this isn't the end, because why would anything ever be easy for me?

The gods hate me! They look down upon me and give me these powers only to toy and fool with them, knowing I won't make it anyway! The gods have always had it out for me!

Another blast of air hits me and Mira, we tumble and scatter, being pulled apart by invisible forces. I try to use my powers to grab onto Mira and keep her close, but Unknown is simply more powerful. Or maybe is it because I simply am unable to trust my powers now? I may have knocked everyone out but what if I used all my magic? What if my magic isn't good enough? Hell, I don't even know how I'm doing any of this!

Unknown walks down from her throne, seemingly flicking her wrist to leave Mira's sister tied to the chair. I cower...my knees giving out...making me look all the more pathetic. I try to crawl away, to get up and find Mira, but Unknown has already used her powers to pin me to a wall and hold me there with telekinesis.

"How did you knock out all my soldiers?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I spit back, unwilling to give her any pride in knowing.

She smirks and tilts her head, "Oh well then, it's over...you've been captured...you're precious girlfriend and her little sister have been captured,"

I frantically look about the room, but the dust and smoke are rising too high for me to make out anything. Trying to move any part of my body makes me feel like I'm trapped in cement on all sides, unable to find a way out. 

"I can't wait to find out how your magic works," Unknown laughs, "It's nothing I've ever seen before...we're going to run tests, and then I'm going to use your weapon against your own people,"

My head is slammed into the wall once again, except for this time it makes my head numb and fuzzy...