***
It was as if the world was limited to that fateful castle, it may seem like there was only a throne room and a corridor, but the rest of it was simply off limits to visitors. In this separate dimension, no cries would ever get out nor would they get in. An exclusivity that kicks out even the world, that was a privilege unique to the castle's living quarters where Demon royalty resided.
The system of nobles and superiority by birthright had been purged by the latest Demon King, but that was not always the case. Back in the 1800s, before the human industrial error and the explosion in population, demons still roamed about freely, doing as they please. This freedom was what allowed them to have such luxuries and operate a caste system of their own. At that time, the demons were ruled by Hikari's predecessor. Her father.
"Big sis! Big sis! What are we gonna do today?" (Hikari)
She once lived through an idyllic life, enjoying every second of her youth. The only thing that stood out to her, was that every night her older sister had to enter a certain room where groans of pain would escape through the cracks in the door. But it was okay, after all she would return the next day as if nothing had happened. She knew that her sister was in pain, but what could she do? She had absolutely no understanding of what was happening beyond that door, nor did she have any ability to change anything.
Everyday, she simply hoped that playing with her sister would heal her heart. Most of the time, her sister came back with some injuries, some that even her demon regeneration couldn't account for, leaving a scar in her beautiful porcelain skin. She loved her sister dearly, there was nothing that could replace these feelings of hers.
"... Big sis... Let's run. I... I don't know what's going on, but I don't want to see you in anymore pain..." (Hikari)
"And where would we run to...? It's fine. Just leave it to me. I promise, one day everything's going to be fine and I won't need to go that room ever again." (Yulora)
"... Alright... I'll trust you..." (Hikari)
She hesitated for a good bit, her words and thoughts tangle in her throat to form a garbled mess. Even if they didn't know where to go when they ran, wouldn't it at least still be better than living here? In the first place... It was Hikari who couldn't take seeing her sister in such a state any longer.
***
'Yulora big sis... Do you see me...?' (Hikari)
***
They've never ventured outside the castle, but there was a certain flower garden that they would never fail to visit once a day. In the mornings, they would enter the infinite corridor that forbid those who weren't accepted into the castle. It was an open corridor, with a bright pale blue sky like turquoise, a majestic roof that stretches on without an end and intricate marble columns that support this roof.
Off to the side of the polished marble tiled floor was a sea of flowers. Those who live here could freely change the colour and shape of the flowers, because we came here everyday, the previous dull sea of snow white has now become a mishmash of various scenic and elegant colours, saturated to please the eyes and soft enough to nap comfortably in.
To those who have lived outside, playing in the flowers here must seem very strange. Most visitors told me that this land filled them with a sense of dread instead of any comfort. Well, I only learnt that after inheriting the throne. To us who were practically captives here our entire lives, this miniscule amount of variation was enough to amuse us, not to mention half the fun came for the company of each other.
It was no exaggeration. Despite living in the same place, I've only seen father and mother once a year. We also had a brother, an aunt and some other relatives... But they never left their rooms, nor were we allowed to see them. It felt great, as if Big sis and I had all the corridors and land to ourselves in the castle. 2 naive children that played around for a few decades... That was how we were viewed by the others. Except...
Big sis' nights away grew louder and more excruciating. Something had changed, and the process inside had gotten worse... The only hint I got from interrogating a nearby servant was that the human population had exploded... I couldn't understand. So what if they proliferated in numbers? What does that have to do with increasing the pain Big sis went through everyday?
It wasn't long until I found the reason. It was training, grueling and cruel training to become the next Demon King. After all, I would go through the same, though my load would always be lighter than hers. The next morning, she seemed very haggard and exhausted. Her eyes sunken, ruining her once beautiful complexion. Her cheeks tense and her lips have rot. Her skin behan peeling in some places, it was almost as if she was a corpse. It felt like if I didn't reach out to her, she would disappear.
She played with me as always, cheerfully, enthusiastically. I understood that I was taking advantage of her kindness very early on, but... I couldn't stop... She always placated me, and I... Simply enjoyed her presence and voice, her warmth and her smile... It was akin to bait hanging in the open. No matter what, I wanted it and was easy enough to be satisfied by having it for a short while...
When will I get to see mom and dad? Someday. When will we get to see the outside world? Someday. Will we be together forever? Sure we will! When is all these 'someday' you speak of? It might be soon~ She had to appease my curiosity, not knowing that it was precisely because she has lived longer in this castle that these words were like daggers to her heart. She was a little stun from the first question, but she quickly recovered to the point that whenever I had a question, she had a deflection ready.
She took pains to make the answers different, making sure not to hurt my pure little heart. She was gentle when she played, amicable when she spoke. She sympathised when I was sad, celebrated when I was happy. In all respects, she was the perfect role model and she made up 90% of my world.
One day, we were playing hide and seek among the flower fields. It happened to be my turn to seek, but she might have predicted that I would give up early and start crying. She hid nearby and was ready to return at any time. When it was her turn, she pretended not to see me to prolong our fun.
"Do you promise to not leave me alone ever again?" (Hikari)
I spoke with upturned eyes for maximum damage.
"mmm.... Mhmm!" (Yulora)
***
There was no way to avoid or foresee it. One day, Big sis Yulora never came out of that room. She never returned, ever. It was safe to say, she died from the training. She would never leave me alone... Of her own will...
I changed the colours of a certain flower in the vast unending fields. Weaving a crown of petals, I held it up into the air and turned around. The artificial wind caresses my face, as if it did so in someone else's place. There was absolutely no noise strewn about, no terrible gale roaming around, no rustling of flowers in the vast fields. For a long period of time, all I could hear was my own shallow breath, faint and about to vanish...
I gazed intently at a spot filled with flowers, a particularly expansive swathe of indigo sat cutely in their usual spot, her usual spot. It marked her presence, that her existence once were, yet at the same time that she was no longer here. There was no waterfall or extreme pouring of tears. Before she noticed, they had already slid down her cheeks, dropped onto her crossed legs and wet the petals underneath.
She wouldn't scream, nor would she erratically go berserk. She wanted to vent out her dissatisfaction with life, but at the same time the crushing despair of not being able to bring Yulora back impeded her. It tightened around her hearts like a constricting serpent that would never let go, suffocating even her tears. Her little hands grabbed desperately at her own undeveloped chest as she keeled over the flowerbed, pressing violently and clawing at her heart to force it to calm down.
She tried to hold it together, she really did. With the way things looked, her sister didn't look like she had much time left anyway. But she still prayed, she continued to have faith in her sister's survival and hoped to the heavens that she survives another day. She understood subconsciously that things would end up this way, precognised it even, but her hope usually carried forward to the next day when she sees her sister was just fine.
It was a simple morning and a simple routine, a single routine was disrupted but that was enough for her to know. They were supposed to play once more in the flower beds, her heart was already staggering on the edges. So when she saw the patch of indigo hydrangea, she could no longer hold it in. Her feelings threatened to escape on short bursts of convulsions, shaking her shoulders drastically while she held her mouth shut. She wanted to puke, but she didn't want to ruin the flower bed.
Hydrangea - Gratitude.
It took a while for her to regain her composure, but her face had been ruined. Her tears had dried over her cheeks, leaving it a sticky mess. Her eyes were red with swelling, her throat was aching from all the internal convulsions. She physically tired herself out, her heart ached until it was hard to breath. Each breathe was sharp and painful, at the same time she could never inhale enough to satisfy her body, leading her into a cycle of pain.
Soon after, it was her turn to enter the room. According to her father who had always visited that room every night, her sister could not adapt to the training as fast as she did. Yulora took up training so Hikari didn't need to, Yulora took up arms and fought the humans so Hikari didn't need to. At the end, while Yulora was incredibly powerful and a large asset for the demon army, she sacrificed herself so her subordinates could escape a human siege. They drove their incursion too deep into human territory and she paid the price for their actions.
After a few years of training, her father confessed to all of that. That they were in war, that with the industrial era, magical girls sporting new technology begun to wipe out the demon army. The castle was never affected because it stood in another dimension, but the demons that lived outside have had to retreat into small secluded communities and abandoned mines, lest they risk extermination.
The situation was dire, her sister was cut off from the main army and forced into a defensive battle. She paved a way to retreat through the surrounding enemies but was caught up too deep into battle to escape with her life. Hikari took up command, acting as the new hero of the demons and successor to her sister. But she learnt from her sister. She used her physical and magical prowess, her biological superiority over all demons to commandeer an authoritative aura that none could rebuke.
It didn't take long. Demons loved to gossip, for some reason her subordinates were especially inclined to do so.
"... That serious attitude is just like her sister's. " (A)
"... Hey! Shh!! You never know who is hearing!" (B)
"Haa! Who cares. She'll end up like her sister anyways. Taking this war seriously and constantly hiding from the enemy, we'll get surrounded again and she'll sacrifice herself out of some misplaced sense of atonement.
If we had just been aggressive from the start unlike those loser nobles, we'd have defeated humanity by now!"(A)
She didn't care what the rabble thought... But for slighting against her sister... Hikari walked up to them, appearing behind one of the two.
" H-h-her highness! What are you doing out here?! On this lovely day!? " (B)
B felt less guild, he wasn't the one running his mouth, but... What she heard suggested everyone thought like this. It would hurt to kill the innocent, it would hurt her own conscience.
"... What do you think of the previous great hero? Princess Yulora?" (Hikari)
"... She didn't have enough strength, so she fell to the humans. For us demons who valued strength above anything else-" (B)
She lopped off his head with a mere swipe of her palm. A stared at her in shock, the fear seized his breath and thinking as he stared puzzled by the development. The demon rabble must be too underdeveloped in their heads if they can't even process this... Better get rid of them. Better ones will take their place anyway. Just like how I replace big sis...
Before A could leak out another sound, she rip out his heart before he noticed. After a few moments his gaze finally wandered into her palm, still beating freshly and full of energy on her reddened skin was his heart. She then crushed it into his skull, not even pulp was left when she was done. With a quick thrust, his head blew off and left nothing but red mist behind and his heart was naturally disintegrated in the process.
His headless body fell to the ground. Hikari knew where to go next.