"You need to stay here in the medical ward for today to make sure there isn't any severe damage," the doctor said.
I had woken up a few hours after passing out from pushing myself too hard for the exams. Now, I was lying in bed in the school medical ward with Lyra sitting right next to me. Apparently, after I passed out, she called for help, and the school staff carried me here, where the doctor checked me.
"You could've badly hurt yourself, Ansel," the doctor added. "I understand you were trying to prove yourself, but you should know when to accept your limitations."
"I apologize, doctor. I'll try to be more careful," I responded.
After a bit, the doctor left, leaving me and Lyra alone. After a moment of silence, Lyra spoke.
"The shadow manipulation—you learned it because of her, didn't you?" she asked in an angry tone. "You pushed yourself to learn it and quickly tried it in battle, knowing you still couldn't handle it."
I put my head down, trying to avoid her eyes. I'm sure they were stormy, like a brewing tempest. Luckily for me, I was too weak for her to strike me with lightning. Shadow manipulation is one of the strongest abilities a descendant of Astrea can have. Those born with it are naturally capable of handling its stress. My twin sister, Calista, was born with shadow manipulation. She was quite talented with it and was more than capable of creating things without tiring herself out.
"It's not your fault for what happened, Ansel," Lyra spoke in a softer tone, sensing my frustration and attempting to comfort me. "She managed to protect you, even though it cost her sanity."
I still had nightmares about that day, the day I lost my other half, now an empty shell of her former self. People always say death is the worst punishment, but in reality, there are worse things than death itself.
"I could've protected her. If only I had reacted quickly enough, I could've prevented her from pushing herself beyond what she could handle," I said, clenching my fists and trying to hold back tears. "Because of me, she's not herself. She can't talk, she can't process anything—her mind and her eyes are soulless and empty."
"And do you think you're doing the right thing? Hurting yourself, trying to master your sister's ability without any proper training to handle it? Do you think that's what Calista would've wanted?" Lyra said frustratingly, now standing up.
"Well, no, but—" I started.
"No buts. You know what the other students thought? They thought you suddenly managed to shadow-step faster and that's how you knocked him out." She walked to the other side of the bed and looked me in the eyes, her gaze now flashing with small lightning bolts as if she was going to strike me any second. "But I know better. Those bullets you fired before didn't strike anything and were nowhere to be seen."
She paused a bit before continuing. "You used an illusion to hide what actually happened, didn't you?"
I laughed a bit at that question. "Seems there's no hiding anything from you. Yes, I also used illusions. The bullets were to expand into a shadow big enough for me to go through, but I used an illusion to hide that part and me hitting him also."
"Well, I understand why you did it since you didn't want to be seen as an unstoppable, unreachable force in front of our peers, but still," she grabbed a pillow and smacked me with it, "you shouldn't have done that!"
"Alright, alright, I'll try to be careful," I said, attempting to please her.
"Good." She set the pillow down, thankfully. "I'll let you rest for now." She hugged me and left the ward, leaving me alone.
I stared out the window, thinking of the day that changed my life—the day I lost my sister.
Valoria, until recently, wasn't always at peace. It was at war with the Republic of Elaria. My sister and I were both 12 when it happened. The Republic of Elaria decided to attack the province where my family and I lived. Our father, upon learning this, left the front lines with his army to come and save us, but they wouldn't arrive for a few hours. Our mom left us in the house and tried to slow down the army. She was a descendant of Astrea, from whom we inherited our abilities, and she was well known for being able to kill people quickly.
What she didn't realize was that a few of Elaria's soldiers managed to get through the gates and set the house on fire. Calista and I tried to escape, but part of a wall fell on me, knocking me down, and I sprained my leg. Calista attempted to pick me up, but it was too late as flames engulfed the room. In a last-ditch effort, she built a dome around us and held it for as long as she could.
"What are you doing? Stop! You'll hurt yourself!" I shouted. I attempted to stand up, but spots were still dancing around my eyes, and the pain was unbearable. But seeing Calista risk her own life for mine was even worse. "Please! Save yourself," I pleaded.
"No. Not when I could lose you. I don't care if I'm pushing myself too much, and I don't care that I might die. As long as you're still alive, that's fine with me." She smiled as tears ran down her cheeks.
I tried to speak, but no words came out as the pain in my leg caused me to pass out.
Calista held the dome for as long as she could before making a last effort by expanding the dome as big and as quickly as she was able to, causing the fire to die down at least around us.
She collapsed, and the dome fell as the sound of soldiers was heard in the distance. I woke up to see Calista next to me and tried to crawl to her.
"Please don't be gone. Please be still living," I whispered as I opened her eyes, but there was no hope. Her eyes looked soulless, like there was no soul or thought at all. I cried hard as I heard someone standing next to me. I looked up and saw it was our father, in disbelief. He said no words as he picked my sister up, and soldiers came to help pick me up as well.
They carried us to a nearby house they were using as a command post, where I saw our mother giving orders to the nurses. She then noticed my father carrying Calista and ran towards us. When she realized what had happened, she started sobbing hard. Calista had suffered something worse than death. She was still alive, but with no thoughts and incapable of doing anything. That fateful night, something changed in my dad. He led his soldiers towards Elaria and completely decimated their army. He didn't stop there as he went straight for the capital and beheaded their leader. He had his revenge, but was it really? It wouldn't bring my sister back to her normal self, and it was my fault. After the fall of Elaria, the land and its people became part of Valoria. But that night, I only had one emotion in my body—pure rage.
Once I was completely healed, I trained and trained my shadow-step, along with learning the abilities that Calista had like illusion and shadow manipulation so that something like that wouldn't happen again. I trained to handle multiple weapons and martial arts. Then, a 2 year-long killing spree occurred as I secretly killed people who attempted to resurrect Elaria from Valoria. Many people called me different names: Death's Angel, Black Death, Death's Blade. But many went with the name that seemed best fitting. I didn't kill people immediately, after all—I was only death's shadow.