The Broken Twins Part 1

    Aelis returned to the castle the next day. Upon arriving at the gate, she met Princess Aubrey and Prince Adrian.

        “Aubrey, Adrian, it’s nice to see you two early up this morning!” Aelis said cheerfully.

“It’s nice to see you too Aelis!” they happily responded.

    “I have a question for you two. So if either of you were to be the one to be bestowed with magic, what would you do?”

They both thought about the question. There was silence for a few seconds. They both smiled. Shortly after, they began to speak.

        “If magic was bestowed upon either one of us, then we would use it for the good of the Kingdom by positively impacting the lives of the people. We would make sure that we use our magic to help the people and make sure that those who really need help are catered for. We want to ensure that everyone gets to live happily by ensuring that their needs get provided for them and they get the extra benefit to obtain some of their wants!”

        “You two really thought of this. Hearing it makes me want to cry with tears of joy.” Aelis started to tear up a little bit. “If either of you was bestowed with magic, I would be so happy.” She cleaned her eyes with a small towel that she made appear using her magic. Aelis cleared her throat after the towel disappeared. “I will be spending today with your two other brothers and I will spend tomorrow with your youngest sister.”

        (Adrian spoke inwardly, “I guess father didn’t tell her.”) He started to speak out. “Aelis, do you know the moniker that our younger twin brothers are publicly known by?”

        “Sadly I do not. What does everyone refer to them as?”

        Both Aubrey and Adrian responded in a low tone, “The Broken Twins.”

        “But why do people use such a negative moniker to refer to them?” Aelis questioned.

        “Archer and Azen - I mean Azel - are the Broken Twins. Archer has this empty look on his face that has been the same for years. He doesn’t smile when things are positive, he doesn’t cry when things are negative. He looks like he has no emotions. He looks hopeless” the princess sadly said.

        “Azel is a troublemaker. He constantly does what is wrong and does not care about the consequences of his actions. It even looks as if he enjoys causing harm, suffering and pain to others. Everyone sees him as a lost cause, but, Father still has hope that he will change.” the prince gloomily said.

        “Oh.” Aelis responded worriedly.

        “Good luck spending time with them!” Princess Aubrey and Prince Adrian left.

        (Aelis spoke to herself. “I wonder how today is going to be.” Aelis noticed something floating down. “It’s a note,” still speaking inwardly. “I wonder what it says.”)

        “Come to the other side of the castle. I, Azel, would be waiting for you,” she read out. “Looks like that’s where I’m heading.” She began to walk to the other side of the castle. “He might pull a stunt on me or something. Looks like I would have to be ready for anything.” When Aelis got to the other side. She saw a stuffed animal on the floor. “Is that a stuffed bear?” She went close to it. “Wait a minute--.” She immediately bounced backwards when she sensed a bomb attached to it. The stuffed bear exploded. She would have been caught in the explosion if she had not leapt that high. She saw something quickly spring from the ground, out of the explosion’s particles and right in front of her. It was a person of a smaller size holding a sword that was about to be thrusted into her chest.

        (“He was so fast. I could not sense where he was.” She said inwardly with an extremely troubled look on her face. “I have to act fast!”) She immediately summoned her staff and used it to block the sword. Her attacker landed safely on their feet but she roughly landed. Luckily, she was not injured due to breaking her fall with a small magic beam. Although there was a significant distance between them, Aelis could see the face of her attacker. (“That’s Prince Azel! How was he able to do that so quickly!”)

        Azel began to speak loudly. “What’s wrong mage?! I thought you were able to use magic far more superior! All you just did was break your fall with your power! I guess you are not as strong as I anticipated! I mean, you did fall for my lousy bait did you not!” He started running quickly towards her. “No matter. I shall defeat you - with a direct attack!”

        (“I must go easy on him to avoid hurting him.” Aelis thought.) When Azel got closer to  her, he swung his sword right at her in order to attack her from the side. Aelis used her staff to strike his sword. Both of them were applying a large amount of pressure on each other’s weapon. Azel started to constantly swing his sword at Aelis in an attempt to strike her. Aelis, however, deflected all of his attacks. He swung his sword in every direction but he failed to land a single attack on Aelis. Aelis jumped backward to keep some distance between them.

“Why are you only blocking my attacks!” Azel shouted. Aelis responded, “I will not! If I do so, you would get hurt. I do not want to hurt any of the King’s children even if they insist.”  Azel slightly tucked his head inwards and moved his body into a proper fighting position. Enraged, he began to scream. “Use your magic against me! I am not WEAK!! FIGHT BACK!!!” He rushed to her again. This time his body was moving much faster than it already was. “I SHALL PROVE TO YOU THAT I AM NOT WEAK!!!” Once he got very close to her, he rapidly swung his sword back and forth in an attempt to hit Aelis. His spontaneous attacks were once again deflected by her. However, this time he managed to damage her clothing bit by bit. A noticeable amount of holes started to appear on Aelis’ robe. (“How did he get faster than he already was? At this rate, he might end up landing a hit on me.” Aelis said, looking much more worried. “I will still defend and avoid attacking him.”)  “HOW ABOUT THIS!” Azel swiftly swung his sword away, crouched downward and spun his whole body with a lot of force in order to move dust from the ground right into Aelis’ eyes. His plan worked. (“I can’t see!” Aelis thought. He’s going to be able to attack me directly!”)

 (Azel screamed inwardly, “THIS IS MY CHANCE! NOW TO FINISH HER OFF AND SHOW THAT I AM NOT WEAK!!) Azel raised his body upward slowly, directly facing Aelis(who was blinded by the dust). He moved his sword backwards. With a large amount of force, he thrusted his sword towards the upper left portion of Aelis' torso, where he knew her heart would be. He looked at her face with an evil grin on his. Right when his sword was barely an inch away from Aelis, he froze his body. “I just realized it.. You look like…” He dropped his sword, fell on his knees,and placed his palms on the floor. With his face facing the ground, he began to slowly cry. “Wh-w-h-y d-d-oes she look like her? Why can’t I strike her? Just because she looks like her it doesn’t mean that she is her? Why? WHY?!” Aelis was able to clear the dust out of her eyes. She saw Azel on the ground. Tears began to also flow out of her eyes. (“Why do I feel this way. I do not know what is happening but for some reason I am also crying. He had the chance to stab me yet he did not. Why? Why do I feel like I subconsciously know the reason why he is suddenly acting like this? Why do I feel so much pity for him?) Azel screamed loudly, “THEY ARE TWO DIFFERENT PEOPLE!!!” After that, he stopped crying. “You are not her and you would never be her. You win because I wasn’t able to strike you. He got up and turned his body away from Aelis. “Honestly speaking, if I was to obtain magic. I shall rule the world. I shall prove to everyone that I am not weak. If we end up fighting again, rest assured, I will strike you.” Azel left.

        Aelis started to gasp repeatedly. Her panting lasted for a short while. “For a kid, he was very strong even though I was holding back. He could have pierced me with his sword. Sadly, he might end up fighting for the wrong cause in the future. If he becomes the first human to use magic, he could either change his path and save the kingdom or stay on the same path and be the cause of the kingdom’s destruction. Maybe if I spoke to him, I could have changed his path… Anyway, I have to go to his older twin and spend the rest of the day with him.”

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