**Years ago**
At the Sky Kingdom jurisdiction, in a Sub-Kingdom called the Rain Kingdom, a young girl, perhaps the age of ten, was picking flowers that exclusively bloomed in this area. These flowers were called Blue Valley Orchids, and looked exactly as the name states—a glowing blue hue. Fields of them grew only in the Rain Kingdom, in a season where that was what they mostly got. Very rarely did this Kingdom ever get any sunlight, and when it did, it was celebrated like a spontaneous holiday.
The people here didn't mind the rain; they've grown accustomed to it as it helped with the watering of crops on the outer layers of the Kingdom, and their fields were always filled with these Blue Valley Orchids once every winter. It didn't even snow here; they only received cooler rain.
The land was laid out in rainy grass valleys, fields of shifted tectonic plates, and a large, large crystal the size of a mountain in the shape of a moon that watched over these lands from everywhere it could be seen. The Rain Kingdom was stationed just in front of this large moon-shaped crystal.
The young girl, picking her orchids, smiled cheerfully as she plucked the prettiest of the bunch.
"Raeyn will love these!" she said excitedly to herself as the light rain sprinkled down at this hour onto her short black hair. Her bangs were just above her eyes, covering one of them as she scanned the blue fields, and the wind blew, revealing the one behind her bangs. Sparkling back against them, the blue fields reflected off her two dark purple eyes.
When she picked enough orchids, she gathered them up onto her mid-length dress and ran off toward the Rain Kingdom in the distance. The Kingdom was beautiful in its own depressing way. Its metal and steampunk features portrayed a monochromatic feel as the rain seemed to wash all its color away. A Kingdom devoid of color.
The young girl had a small, humble home just outside of the Rain Kingdom walls, a small hill that had a view of the Kingdom and giant moon crystal itself from the South. When she entered through the cottage doors, she was welcomed by another young girl, probably the same age as her but just a little older, with silver hair. Her hair was the same length as the other girl's shiny black hair, wet from the mild rain.
"I'm home!" she shouted excitedly as the girl with the silver hair continued washing the dishes, facing away from her at the door.
"Welcome back," she said, almost like a whisper, as her dainty voice lingered like a soft monotone in the air.
"Look what I got you, Raeyn!" The black-haired girl, still excited, ran over to a small table that stood in the way of her and the girl she called Raeyn.
She put the orchids in a water-filled vase as she cut and trimmed the ends of the flowers one by one with precision.
"Happy birthday, Raeyn!" the black-haired girl said, extra cheery now.
Raeyn, who had just finished up the dishes, wiped her hands on a rag nearby and turned around finally. When she faced the black-haired girl holding the vase full of Blue Valley Orchids, her eyes finally showed. They were a beautiful bright yellow, gleaming prettily and innocently as she delighted in the sight of her favorite flowers.
"Oh, Ophelia… You really shouldn't have," she pleaded with her soft, dainty, bland voice.
"Are you kidding? 'Tis the season of Blue Valley Orchids. They're everywhere this year 'round. How could I not? And on your birthday, nonetheless!" Ophelia retorted.
"Yes, but… the valley where they're at is so far from here… and you're all wet now when you could have just come back home right away after class. We could have looked at them together when the rain stopped."
"Which is when exactly? It's always raining here! And what do you mean 'look at them'? You can look at this one here in your very own home! Come on, Raeyn, you know you like them!" Ophelia teased.
"I… I do, but…" Raeyn hesitated before continuing. "Father won't like these in the house."
Ophelia's eyebrows lowered as her cheery attitude disappeared almost completely. The two of them were silent for a few seconds before she responded.
"Okay," she said, disheartened.
Picking up the vase from the table, she slowly made her way back toward the front cottage door she had come from. Raeyn, watching her, said, "Wait."
Ophelia stopped in her tracks, looking back slightly, eagerly.
"We'll keep them. It's your birthday too, after all. We'll just keep them in our room where Father won't see. They're beautiful, Ophelia. You're the best little sister an older sister could ask for!" Raeyn said with a dainty smile on her face, closing her bright yellow eyes.
"Yay!" She hopped slightly, flipping herself back to face her sister. "And hey… You're only older than me by a few minutes. We're twins, remember? Golly, you really like throwing around that 'older sister' label any chance you get!"
"Yeah, yeah. If that makes you feel better saying that. And just because they're minutes doesn't make it any less true, hehe," Raeyn teased back.
The two young girls giggled, happily enjoying each other's company as they went back to doing chores around their small home.
***
When nightfall came, the fields of the Rain Kingdom glowed a bright yellow across the valley. There were many fireflies that occupied these lands on the nights when it did not rain. They were beautiful and a sight to behold on those lucky days.
"Raeyn, look!" Ophelia said to her, pointing out the window.
The two young girls looked outside and then made their way up on top of their small roof for a better view. They unlocked a latch that opened to the outside, making themselves comfortable as they situated themselves on the tiles of the rugged rooftop. The field yawned before them as they laid their eyes on the pretty, light-filled valley. They were in awe.
"They're just like your eyes, Raeyn! So pretty! We're so lucky to see this on our birthday!" Ophelia shouted with glee from their small rooftop.
Raeyn sat with a small but cute smile across her face. Their eyes glinted from each of the lights.
"Say… what if…?" Ophelia said, thinking aloud. "What if we ran across the field? Wouldn't that make the fireflies go WOOSH!"
She made a gesture with her hands, expanding them out in a wingspan.
"No. Father will be home soon," Raeyn said quietly, drawing her legs near, hugging them.
"Father doesn't have to know. And we'll be quick! We'll just run across over there! Look, I can see the distance from here. It's not far at all," Ophelia begged.
Raeyn sat in silence for a few seconds before finally giving in, "Okay. But we'll be quick, alright? Promise me!"
"Promise!" Ophelia stretched out a pinky to her, which they both latched.
The two of them made their way back inside and opened the front door, putting on their boots as they headed out.
Ophelia gestured for Raeyn to follow as they started running toward the field ahead of them. When they did, the fireflies scattered and flew up in the air above them, blackening the parts of the field they had just passed, filling the air with those bright yellow lights. The two girls held each other's hands as they whipped through the yellow-lit fields. Their eyes, glinting from the firefly show, were faces of pure enjoyment. Preserving the time they had with each other and forever engraving this moment as a precious memory.
It had seemed that they went just a bit too far, having too much fun running across the fields. When they realized how long they had been out, the girls collected themselves and sprinted back home as fast as they could—while still trying to pass by areas where they had missed on the way back.
Before they left, they had turned off all the lights in their small home. It was past their curfew, and they were planning to sneak in and into their beds so as to seem they hadn't gone anywhere. The path that their father took when coming home had a view of the house a good distance away, so no lights were to be turned on. However, when they arrived back, the lights were already on…
"No, no, no…" Ophelia whispered.
Raeyn, silent, made a small gulp from next to her.
"There's no escaping it now. Just blame it on me when we get inside, okay, Ophelia?"
"No! It was my—"
"Please…" Raeyn, with her calm, dainty, and small voice, begged.
Ophelia scowled, not openly agreeing, but went along anyway.
They walked over to the door with their heads down so slowly, and pushed their small front door open.
Inside, a man sat at the table facing away, bent over with his elbows propped on his knees, hands folded over his mouth, pondering. The two girls stood by the doorway, weary of their movements. There, in front of him, was a half-empty bottle of alcohol on the table and…
"Two things…" the man said with a low-toned, strained voice. He was dressed in a gray uniform with badges and small banners on him. A Knight from a Guild of the Sky Kingdom, stationed here in the Rain Kingdom.
"One. Where the hell were you two just now?" He paused and then looked at the Blue Valley Orchids in the vase on the table, his eyes twitching.
"And two. Why the fuck did you bring these cursed flowers into the house? You stupid girls."
When he looked at them, there was rage and aggression on his face, like he was possessed by something. The two girls cowered when he stood up to face them both.
"Don't blame Ophelia, please! It was my idea!" Raeyn yelled. Tears almost forming in her eyes, shaking a bit, but doing the best to steady herself.
The man stood up straight and raised his chin, looking down at them. Their yellow and purple eyes trembled next to each other as he yelled, "I don't care whose fault it is! You dare bring these into our home!?"
Ophelia, the extrovert, the gleeful one, stood there in fear behind her sister, unable to say a word. Raeyn, the introvert, the quiet one, stood just a little ahead of her, standing up to this angry man in front of them, speaking up.
"I'm sorry…" was all she said.
Ophelia, still unable to speak, turned her head slightly to her sister, mouth now trembling.
The man walked over and stood just in front of them now, towering over them. His back blocked the light, forming a shadow over them and himself. A dark, dark shadow.
SLAP!
He had hit Raeyn across the face with a heavy palm, separating her from Ophelia. Raeyn staggered and then fell on the floor toward their tiny living space. Grazing past Ophelia, the fear in her rippled throughout her body as he passed by and went over to Raeyn on the floor once more. He hovered over her and hit her again. Then again. And again…
His hands, forming into fists, made a sound when they hit her that made Ophelia cringe. Frozen in fear, she watched with trembling eyes as this man, their father, beat Raeyn literally to the point where she spouted blood.
"Stop… Stop… Stop it!" Ophelia finally yelled, mustering some small courage from within her.
But he ignored her and kept going. He then began to wrap his hands around Raeyn's throat. His eyes were filled with wrath and intense hate, drunk off the alcohol and fueled by the adrenaline that led him to this point. Slight drool fell from his mouth, like it was all muscle memory, and he could not stop. He did not want to stop.
Raeyn's silver hair covered her left eye, which was completely swollen and closed, and she had blood coming out of her nose and on the side of her mouth. That one yellow eye she had looked back at their father's, unwavering, defiant.
"Don't look at me with those damned eyes of yours… It was your fault! You killed her… You killed her!" Their father, hysterical now, tightened his grip on her throat.
Ophelia ran over to them and started hitting their father with weak, ineffective punches, screaming at him now and pleading with him to stop—tears streaming down her face from the terrible sight.
Their father adjusted his grip, still holding Raeyn with one hand, and swung his other arm toward Ophelia, knocking her back and hitting the vase of Blue Valley Orchids on the table, breaking it, and falling on a sharp, cracked piece—eye first. A squished, cracking sound echoed when she hit it, causing her to fall to the floor motionless. Raeyn's one working eye widened and focused on her as she witnessed Ophelia slam onto the now broken vase that lay shattered on this once clean floor.
"Ophelia!" Raeyn gasped, barely able to breathe. She didn't care for the harm that had been inflicted on her, but Ophelia was different. She could not stand her getting hurt.
Distracted, their father did a double-take as Ophelia hit the floor and a small puddle of blood formed around her head.
"Ophelia!" their father gasped, letting go of Raeyn's neck now.
And the moment he did, Raeyn stuck out her hand and chanted, "Inverse."
She touched the wrist of her father, and his left eye began to swell, his nose started bleeding, and blood dripped from his mouth partially. Though incomplete, she had cast some kind of spell that gave her father half of the pain that had been inflicted on her. He began to yell in agony.
With her wounds now half of what they had been, she scrambled to Ophelia, who seemed unconscious, lying by the table she had fallen into. She flipped her over on her lap and witnessed her bleeding right eye gushing red, with a large shard in it.
"Ophelia," Raeyn sobbed.
Their father, behind her, straightened himself and grunted from the small pain she had reversed onto him.
"You little bitch," he breathed, grabbing her hair, pulling her away from Ophelia. She screamed as he did.
Ophelia, still unconscious, bled on the floor.
Raeyn squirmed as her father dragged her to a small air conditioning vent, tying her there with some nearby rope, bruising her wrists with how tight it was. He then made his way to Ophelia and picked her up from the ground.
"Look what you made me do on Ophelia's birthday... This is your fault too. If only you had never been born," he said hauntingly, leaving her there, tied up tightly to the vent.
Raeyn continued to scream as their father took Ophelia to their room and turned off the lights. When he did and the lights had gone out, her scream stopped, and she sat there, slowly letting out a quiet sob in the dark.
***
Later that night, small hands had touched her and were attempting to untie the rope that had been tied tightly on her wrists against the vent. Raeyn, who had awoken after crying herself to sleep, tried to see who it was with puffed and swollen eyes. Though faint, her yellow eyes still glowed there in the darkness.
"Ophelia?" she asked quietly.
Ophelia hushed her, trying to make as little noise as possible. When she finally untied her, she saw Raeyn's bruises from the tight knot, now visible even in the dark they were in.
"I'm sorry… I couldn't do anything… I'm so useless… Raeyn, please forgive me… Please…" Ophelia sobbed, crying from her left eye only.
Raeyn looked at her, her eyes now adjusting to the darkness. Against the faint light of the fireflies that still loomed outside, she saw Ophelia's right eye bandaged; dried blood had seeped its way out. The bandage had been wrapped poorly.
"Don't cry, my sweet little sister… It's not your fault… Please don't cry." Raeyn caressed. Her hands stroked Ophelia's short black hair behind her ears.
"Let's change that bandage. Father probably wrapped this, but with it like this, it will only get infected. Here…" She grabbed Ophelia's hand, and the two young girls went to their room, where Raeyn continued to care for her younger sister.
About an hour later, Ophelia had a new bandage wrapped over her right eye. This one was better wrapped and more secure than the one before; Raeyn had also patched herself up.
The two girls now lay on the floor, which they called their 'bed', with pillows and a blanket over them. The light from the window behind them let in a faint yellow light that caressed them both, from the fireflies outside.
Smiling softly now, they faced one another, holding each other's hands.
"Regardless of what happened today, I want you to know this was the most special birthday ever! And it's all because of you… Ophelia," Raeyn said to her as they slowly blinked with heavy eyes. She lay on her left side, facing her sister. Her silver hair still covered her slightly bruised left eye, and the right eye glowed brightly in the darkness, unashamed of its hue.
Ophelia, lying on her right side with her bandaged right eye, looked to her sister with her left purple eye flickering back.
"Let's run away, Raeyn," Ophelia said sleepily.
Raeyn only watched her as her little sister fell asleep, still holding her hand. She grasped it a little tighter and said, "Yes… Let's go on an adventure."
Looking at each other intently, Ophelia greeted Raeyn one last time before falling completely asleep, "Happy... Birthday... Raeyn..."
Ophelia passed out as Raeyn brushed her bangs off her face one last time as she said, "Happy Birthday, Ophelia."
When the clock struck midnight, the two girls lay silently sleeping across from each other, holding hands into the night.
***
**Ten years ago**
A girl was screaming in agony. Blood stained and seeped through the many sheets on the bed. A male who was there, on the other end, helped her as she pushed. They were both young, maybe in their late teens, early twenties. Poor, and by themselves. The girl was pregnant, and her water had just broken.
She pushed and heaved, but the baby would just not come out. Her stomach was bigger than usual; it seemed there was room in there for two…
The male encouraged her, and once again she tried to push. Yet again, still struggling. There was a vase of Blue Valley Orchids on a table nearby, continuously inching off the ledge as the girl kicked and screamed. Since they had no professional help, nor could they afford it, they struggled all throughout the night just trying to conceive.
The cries of the girl echoed in the young male's ears, who had not done any of this before. Try and try again, she pushed. But only blood filled the sheets. It was like a river that spilled on the dirty wood floors beneath them. The male, becoming frustrated, tried to reach into her to pull the baby out. This only caused her more pain.
More hours passed, and then finally the girl pushed with all her might. She gripped the edges of the bed so tightly her hands turned purple from the writhing pain. The male pulled the baby out, and she cried, bloodied and scared… It was a girl.
The male, faintly excited, held her in his arms and then attempted to show her to the girl who conceived her.
She was not paying attention. Her eyes were open, staring at the ceiling of this run-down room. Her mouth open and dry. And her skin white and cold. The male, frantic, set the baby down and held the girl by the shoulders. He shouted at her, begging her to come back, but she was not strong enough to continue. She said only one word, "Twins…"
Her weak hand pointed to a long knife by some bags on a chair they brought in, then she pointed back to her stomach. She gave one last look to the bloodied baby that was crying across from her on the edge of the bed. The girl weakly spoke her final words before she left entirely. The words were names, "Raeyn… Ophelia…"
The male cried in distress as he witnessed the girl, whom he had lain with, pass away after uttering the names of her children. He looked at the knife and then back to her stomach. The last child was still in there. Mixed emotions flooded him as he stopped thinking, grabbed the knife, and cut her open.
When the deed was done, the male held the second baby he tore out from the deceased girl's stomach in his arms tightly. His eyes wide open, traumatized at the event that took place here this night. On the edge of the bed still, the other baby—the first one, still bloodied and uncovered, cried hysterically as he just stared at her with rage-filled eyes. Next to him, the Blue Valley Orchids that were in a vase on the nightstand had fallen and shattered on the ground. The orchids and their petals spread out, contrasting the pool of blood on the wooden floors.
The rest of the night went on without him doing anything else.
***
**Back to present memory**
The morning sun had risen, and Ophelia woke up in the same position she had fallen asleep in. Her hand was extended out to where she had been holding Raeyn's hand. However, Raeyn was no longer there.
Ophelia got up slowly, rubbing her one left eye before getting up and out of the room. When she stepped out onto the immediate small living space in their tiny home, she was confused at what she saw.
In the middle was a pentagram drawn out in blood. Her father was by the edge of it, praying. And in the middle…
"What… What's going on… Father?"
Ophelia stood just outside her and Raeyn's room, confused and taken aback. She did not know how to perceive what was happening, nor knew how to react to the scene that lay before her. In the middle of the pentagram lay something bandaged up entirely. It was the size of herself, resembling… a corpse.
Her father sat up from the praying position he was in and looked at Ophelia.
"It had to be done…"
Ophelia looked closer at the bandaged corpse on the ground. One of the bandages unloosened slightly, revealing part of a head and a face. The strands of hair that revealed were silver, and the right eye was wide open. A yellow color…
Horrified, Ophelia whispered, "Raeyn?"
Her father gave her a dead stare, as if he felt nothing at all.
"It had to be done…" he said again, psychotic. "I'm going to bring your mother back with her body…"
A tidal wave of emotions rang through Ophelia's small body. Her hands on her head, eyes twitching, trying to let out an internal pain that had swelled up inside of her. She screamed hysterically.
Her father, still kneeling on both knees, simply stared at her emotionlessly.
"Come here, child," he said almost ghostly, raising a hand to her.
Ophelia, distraught and shaking uncontrollably, took her a while to start moving, but began inching her way over to him eventually. She found it hard to keep looking at Raeyn's lifeless body as she slowly made her way to her father, so she looked down; shadows forming around and over her eyes, which her black bangs were covering. When she got closer to him, he widened his arms as if to give her a hug, but then…
With a burning hate in her eye, she yelled angrily. Her one eye locked onto her father's, and she threw a fist right into his face, permeating it. When it went through completely to the other side of his head, she disengaged the magic she used to perform the action, and her arm solidified right through her father's right eye. Gushing blood out from his face, splattering hers at the same time.
Emotionless still, her father's only working bruised eye twitched as he spat out blood from his mouth. Both his eyes were decimated by the gift of karma. She stayed in place there for a few seconds before pulling her arm out with her Full-Body Ghost magic. Her father then fell to the floor on his side and bled all over the floor next to the spilled Blue Valley Orchids from the night before. Now still. Dead.
Unable to stand, Ophelia sank to her knees, faint tears streaming down her face without her making a noise. Arm a deep crimson, dipped in blood. She finally looked back to where her bandaged sister was and began crawling toward her. When she got to where she was, she lay next to her in the middle of the pentagram and placed her hand on her cheek, and it was cold.
Right then, the pentagram activated and lit up a bright white light from the blood that traced it. What emerged from the depths of it was a terrifying sight. It took the form of a girl with black hair, broken and contorted, crawling upside down to her and Raeyn, who lay there. Her face was upright even though her body was upside down. Her eyes were sewn shut and so was her mouth. Skin pale like a corpse.
Though the sight of the girl was horrific, and despite Ophelia's age, she was not scared of it. She stared intently at it as it observed her, then she said, "Mother?"
The horrific girl twitched her head multiple times, then replied, "Not quite."
Ophelia, still lying next to Raeyn, grabbed her closer.
"The ritual has succeeded. One of love and one of hate," it said as it looked to Raeyn, then looked at their deceased father behind them. "But no need to fear, young girl… A pact I will make with you, in exchange for a life."
The horrific girl crawled around her and Raeyn creepily, then looked intensely, if it could see, and faced Raeyn's dead body.
"She can still be saved… but Forbidden magic you must use… and I can help with that, but first… the pact…" Its voice was like whispers and echoes as it went in and out of her consciousness.
It stuck out its pale, corpse hand to Ophelia. Looking at it for a few seconds, she thought for a bit, then, without hesitation, placed her hand on top of the cold, dead hand of the thing that resembled a broken and mangled girl.
"Wonderful…" it said like a screeching whisper, "Now, let me do the rest."
After this, the horrific girl forced her way inside Ophelia's mouth, and she blacked out.
"Forbidden Ghost Magic: Oculus Reincarnation."
When she awoke, Raeyn, who was bandaged next to her, was gone. And the bandages that covered her head, where she had damaged her right eye, were off completely. She could now see with both eyes, and they were two different colors.