"If only I had not trusted them.. If only I had not asked you to change your decision, then our present and future would have been different." whispered the crying girl as she said goodbye to her dying parents in her heart and dragged her sister away.
Fire… That was all one can see.
It's not just the fire that was spread but also fear. Fear of death. The walls of the palace echoed with the painful screams of people. Every inch screamed of death and fear.
The whole palace was burning. Maids, servants and everyone started running.
Some fell on the ground knocking over the fallen furniture and the lying corpses. People wearing black cloaks with their faces covered with masks were marching in every corner of the palace as they killed every single one.
The Sonarise empire, the one with a long history which stood even among many hardships, was on the verge of destruction.
The mercenaries had already sliced the emperor and empress and left them to take their last breaths alone while setting the palace on fire.
Now the two princesses, the only kin of the royal family, were left to kill to end the bloodline and history of the empire from the face of the earth.
Somewhere in the palace….
Two girls stood in front of their parents' dead bodies with fear, and sadness. They both were on the verge of collapsing. They were still in shock. They couldn't believe that their family who were laughing together a few hours ago were dying.
"Run! You have to survive for our empire.. For the people who are depending on us.. You have to…." their father said, who was also the emperor of the Sonarise Empire.
Olivia ran to their dressing room whilst dragging her sister through the familiar yet hidden passage to their chambers.
"What are you doing, the whole palace is on fire! We have to run Oli!!?" Ophelia covered her mouth with shock when she saw her elder sister cutting her beautiful hair to her shoulder and tearing her dress like a mad person making her confused and angry.
The fire was still burning their precious home and their parents were dying. Yet here instead of running, her sister was doing strange things.
"Olivia, we need to run NOW!" She jerked the hands of her sister as if trying to bring her back into her senses from the madness she was following.
"Change your clothes," Instead of reacting to her shouting, Olivia walked towards the closet calmly as if they were going for an outing that infuriated Ophelia.
"Oli, are you even listening to me?" her face grimaced as the thought of leaving her elder sister behind passed her mind but she immediately let it go.
She was her only kin now. She had to make sure that they both stay together till they reach hell. With that though she went closer to drag her sister who was rummaging through her clothes as if she was trying to find a perfect dress for the day.
The fire had already spread to the ground floor and if they did not hurry, they would die in it too.
"Oli, I know that you are disheartened and not able to make decisions, but their knights had already killed our knights. A few of the servants have staked their life for us to give us a chance to run away.
"But they would not be able to stop them for long. They would kill us without a doubt. WE NEED TO RUN!" She did not want to be cruel to her sister, but she was left with no choice with the way she was stalling her time; there was a chance that their corpse would be on the ground soon like their parents.
Just when she was about to drag Olivia and if needed slap her to bring her back to her senses, the girl let go of the closet and took out a torn and shabby dress that had no crest of their house.
"And to think that you believe you would be able to survive if you run away from the palace is laughable." her eyes were so calm and cold as she confronted her sister and then passed the dress to her.
"If you want to survive you have to forget that you are a princess and live as a commoner for now.
Now change the dress so that we can leave!" Ophelia flinched at the cold voice of her sister.
It took her a second to wrap her mind around the words and finally it dawned on her what her sister was doing!
With trembling hands she held the dress and looked around to find a place where she could change the dress.
"Tsk! Change here! There are no maids to support you." Olivia stared at her sister with red eyes, who was still hesitating.
She held the dress of her sister and tore it forcefully making her eyes widened.
Her hands reached to the zip of Ophelia's dress and pulled it down forcefully making the dress fall.
"If you want to live, you have to forget who you are completely. Now change your clothes, we have to hurry!"
Tears started to form in the eyes of Ophelia as she nodded her head and wore the dress that she would not have even granted a glance at any other time.
Olivia closed her eyes for a second to gain her courage back as she let go of her clothes too but instead of wearing a gown like her sister, she wrapped clothes around her chest and wore shirt pants.
Her hair was already short and she had cleaned all the makeup that was beautifying her face.
Picking up the make up, she covered her sister's face with darker shade to turn her whole face black and ugly.
"What.. is it..?" all the complaints died in her mouth when her eyes met the cold look of her sister.
"We need to run now!" Before Ophelia would nod, Olivia had already held her hand and ran towards the balcony.
She took a step back when she saw dozens of mercenaries running around trying to find them. They were killing everyone their eyes fell on and without a hint of hesitation, slicing their neck.
Her eyes burnt with hatred yet fear started to crawl on her face as she took a step back.
Ophelia's face had turned ashen and once again she had covered her mouth as she shook her head. Tears, that had just stopped, started flowing again from her eyes.
"There is no way, there is no way that we can leave the palace. We are going to die like our parents, like our staff, this is our end!" fear and disappointment, hopelessness started to fill Ophelia's voice as she choked on her tears.
"If we are going to die, I would rather go and die beside my mother than die here like a coward!" she whispered as she felt there was no other way. Wouldn't it be better if she would accept her future without struggles and close her eyes.
Maybe it would be less painful then!
But when she tried to take another step back and took her hands away from the grasp of Olivia, she winced.
"Oli, it is hurting. Let my hands go! Oli!!" the girl who was still staring down shook her head.
She felt that the leader of the knights who was searching for her stopped in his tracks.
She immediately crouched on the ground pulling her sister with her.
Just as she bent, the man who was standing down, raised his head and looked at the balcony closely with a narrowed gaze as a smirk formed on his face.
"I think they are not here anymore. We should stop searching for them and leave. Master would be waiting for us!" a glimmer of hope filled the eyes of Ophelia as she thanked god and turned to hug her sister,
"They have found us and now they are coming here to capture us!"
".........."