Chapter 9: Alike but, Not Alike

 King Tenic walks to the front of the podium in the palace stadium, with a bunch of citizens in front of him. “My people!” He shouts. “The Fairy of Deception is dead! And we have two notoriously successful fairy hunters to thank for this!”

The crowd makes noise for the awaited saviors. But, behind the curtains was a whole situation on its own.

“Come on, Arden! They’re waiting to celebrate our heroic act.” Susanna tells the lifeless man, who hasn’t said a word since the execution the week before. Noticing Arden’s lack of desire to move, Susanna looks at the guards. “Could you help him out?”

The guards pick up Arden and then stop, before pushing him through the curtain. Arden could see the fulfilled expression on Susanna’s face as she looked into the crowd. Arden then too looked at the crowd, and for once the people from Luis weren’t looking at him with disdain, but with respect. This was all Arden wanted, so why couldn’t he smile?

Later that day, King Tenic brought the top three fairy hunters: Arden, Susanna, and Neinol, to a secluded room to reward them for all their years as fairy hunters.

“Susanna Aschire, as promised…” King Tenic rolls out a large banner with Fern Aschire, Susanna’s father’s, face on it, which says ‘To Honor Our Fallen Soldier’ on it. “A special day will be set in place to honor your father.”

Susanna’s eyes light up as she sees the banner. “It’s wonderful! Thank you so much, my lord!”

King Tenic then turns to Neinol. “Neinol White, come before me.” Neinol then proceeds to get on one knee in front of the king. King Tenic pulls out a sword and puts it to Neinol’s neck. “You are to lead the troops in the outskirts.”

Neinol smirks. “With pleasure.”

“Outskirts?” Susanna questions.

“It’s a special task assigned to Neinol, my dear. Nothing for you to concern yourself with.” King Tenic smiles. But his expression soon turns mischievous when he looks at Arden.

“As for you, my top fairy hunter. I present to you, Saylor.”

Arden flinches and looks to the door opening on his left. But, his smile quickly washes away. A woman that looks exactly like Saylor walks in with a smile on her face. “Big brother!” The woman runs up to Arden and jumps to hug him. “I’m so glad to see you again!”

Arden is confused. She looks exactly like Saylor. Her hair tied to two braids with a pink bow in the back, exactly how she tidied it. Her dark brown skin remains untouched, as if never affected by a disease. And for the first time in years, the dark pink eyes looked colorful, nothing like the dull eyes she had the last time he saw her. But her cheerful personality, the way she calls out to Arden, the way she hugs him, and the way her eyes look almost cunning, was nothing like the Saylor, Arden knew.

Arden knew Saylor to be soft spoken, and gentle. He knew her to call him by his name, rather than calling him “big brother” like the childish way she used to call him. He knew her eyes to always look narrow as she constantly gets sleepy from practicing her dances all night.

“Isn’t this great?” The king walks over to Arden. “Your sister can finally walk and talk again! Good as new! The two of you will be going to your new home together in the country of Luis.”

…

On the way to the exit of the kingdom, Arden and Saylor walk together. “Ah! Wait a moment, big brother.” Saylor notices. “I forgot something in my room. Can you pretty-please wait for me right here?”

“Sure…” Arden responds.

“You’re the best!” Saylor says in a jolly tone.

While Arden waits for Saylor, Queen Eunice passes Arden, but then stops as soon as her back is turned away. “Saylor is dead.” Queen Eunice says.

“What?” Arden replies, surprised at her words. “What do you mean by that?”

Queen Eunice looks over to Arden with a saddened expression. “King Tenic killed Saylor two days after you came here.”

Arden’s heart stopped. Crazily enough, he somewhat believed the queen. And as Queen Eunice walked away, Arden began to get lost in his thoughts. “Two days?” He thought. “But, that was after my deal with Elai. Did she lie to me? Why would she lie?-” Then Arden paused with realization. “So that she can live longer…”

As Arden’s heart filled with hatred, the woman who had the same appearance as Saylor came running over. “Hey big bro! I’m back! Are you ready to go now?”

Arden didn’t know what he wanted to do. He wasn’t sure if Saylor is dead, or if she is the whimsy woman in front of him. All he knew was that he was out of purpose. “You…” Arden hesitates to ask. “Are you sure you’re my sister?”

The woman before him smirks suspiciously. “You’re awfully frightening big brother. How am I supposed to ever leave your side if you can’t even remember your little sister?”

“You’re actually her…?”

“The one and only!”

Arden punches the wall beside them. “Don’t play around with me. Are you absolutely certain that you are her?”

The woman then frowns while glaring at Arden. “Fine, then let me ask you this. Who do you want me to be?”

Arden continued to look at the woman’s eyes. It’s the only difference appearance wise from the original Saylor. But, from what seemed to be a scheming expression at a glance, as Arden looks more closely, he can see the woman’s eyes tremble as she holds back tears.

Arden sighs. “I’m sorry.” He pulls this woman close to him and hugs her tightly. “I think I’ve just been losing my mind a lot lately, that I can’t differentiate what’s real and what’s fake anymore. Let’s go home, okay?” Arden smiles softly as he looks at his little sister.

But, Arden was still very anxious about what the queen said. However, if what she said was real, then he’d have to lose everything. His sister that he loved more than anything, and the only one who kept him going in life. And the memories he saw as precious with Elai would be no more. Because if he just revealed Elai’s identity a day earlier, he could’ve saved Saylor.

Arden wipes Saylor’s tears and walks back to the exit. But unbeknownst to Arden, Saylor followed closely behind him, glaring at his back.

…

A few days go by and Arden and Saylor enjoy their time in their new house in Luis. But, just as Arden’s suspicions about Saylor die down, an incident occurs.

A glass shattering can be heard from Saylor’s room, and Arden rushes to check on her. When he opens the door, a pink mist that looks like water with pink misty fish jumping in and out of it, surrounds Saylor. It was the ability of a “witch” that’s used for Saylor’s dance performances.

“Saylor, are you okay?-” Arden stops as he sees 4 dead men dressed in all black. “What happened here?”

Saylor laughs. “You see? This is why I wanted to switch rooms.” Saylor reveals another dead man that was being strangled by her mist and she drops him onto the pile of bodies. “Listen big brother. I’m all for praising the king, but let’s not tell him I killed his assassins, okay? How about… we make a ruse where it looks like they died on their way here?” Saylor winks and smiles at Arden as if the assassins were nothing.

Arden falls to the ground, and as time goes by, his “what if thoughts” consume him into depression.

Meanwhile, at the kingdom…

“Come quick!” A royal guard shouts.

“What is the meaning of this?!” King Tenic shouts.

“An intruder broke in, sir.” The guard says, leading the king and a few other guards to the room where the Fairy of Deception’s body parts remain. “They broke in and took just the head.”

Before the king, he can see the head is missing, and that the only evidence the intruder left was a bunch of rose petals.

“The petals can also be found in the prison cell that the Fairy of Deception was staying in before her execution.” The guard adds.

King Tenic clenches his fist. “Find that intruder this instant! They couldn’t have gone far!”

But little did the king know that this intruder would travel far into the outskirts. A woman with long pink hair, a green dress, and wings that are made out of only bones.

She uses these wings, and flies into a tall tree among many, and sits on her knees to look at the skull in her hands.

“It’s time for me to fulfill my promise to you, Elai.” She says as she leans in to kiss the skull, with bats made out of only bones and rose petals swarming around her.