I knew that voice. It was her—the one I once deemed my savior. I could see now, it was an idiotic hope. I put on a smile, letting go of the door handle, I turned around.

  “Oh my,” I exclaimed. Our eyes met. Keeping my back straight, I lowered my body, bending both knees. Holding my wide-legged cotton pants as if they were a luxurious skirt, I swept one leg to the side, behind the other. Yet not once have I broken eye contact with her.

  “Hello,” my smile tightened, “oh DEAR high loooord of Pravi.” There was a clear mocking in my tone. Given the chance, I would have gladly helped her reunite with that twin of hers.

  “You remind me of my sister,” she said. Her voice was warm and falsely comforting.

  Too bad, I couldn’t kill her this very instant. Fighting her, the keeper of my fate, spelled out suicide for me.

  She was the first to look away. My eyes followed her, analyzing her every move. Casually, she turned her back to me, playing with her dangling sapphire earrings, humming a cheerful song, she walked to the corner of the room, unbothered by the raging flame.

  “Why was she here?” I question within my mind.

  She was never the kind to do anything without a reason, which ultimately benefited her. Today could not have been an exception. I had to be alert. Putting my dominant hand, behind my back, on the hilt of the dagger, I was ready to take it out of its sheath.

  “I wouldn’t do that, if I were you.” Her voice maintained its characteristic softness. I pulled my arm away. Not even looking back at me, she saw through me right away. Worse yet, I didn’t feel a hint of anger in her voice. That meant she didn’t view me as a threat. She was confident that I couldn’t as much as scratch her.

  Similarly, to the cold winter day, exactly twenty four years ago, she sat within the hammock chair with spindle in her hand. Her sister set her favorite chair on fire too back then. She looked more menacing than ever, surrounded by the flame. She, a being born of fire, had no reason to fear it. The golden puddle on the marble floor rose into the air, flowing, disappearing into her open palm.

  “You may rise!” proudly, she said. Her head held high, looking down at me, she liked this feeling of superiority. She squeezed her opened hand, pointing it in my direction as if imagining me getting squashed within it.

  A mere sight of her made me sick. I felt all those feelings of guilt returning. It was better when I couldn’t feel a thing.

  Getting back up from this curtsy of mine, I clicked my tongue. I didn’t have the time nor patience to endure her much longer. “Why are YOU here?” I demanded. It was brazen of me I knew that. This much defiance was pushing it already. She didn’t kill me though, she didn’t even react. Her face remained as affectionate as ever.

  “You do remind me of my sister,” she said, tilting her head to the side. “So CUTE!” Her mouth curled up. That smile of hers gave me chills.

  My body was telling me to run. I took a step back. She continued, “hmm, is it because of that time?” there was a single white thread in her hands now. It was THAT thread. She probably pulled it out during the short time I glanced back at the disintegrating body.

  By my estimate I had nine minutes at most. A faint glimpse of hand and bust were the last remains from the sovereign of Navi and they were turning to ashes, fast. My anxiety was at its peak, once the last of her turned to ash, the door behind me would vanish forever.

  Her sister was absolutely unconcerned by any of this. “You know,” she said, gently pulling on the thread within her hands. “That free-spirited sister of mine, though she could cut your fate short.”

  I remained silent.

  She needed something from me and it was in my best interest to figure out what it was asap. For a good minute, both of us remained motionless, gauging the reaction of the other. Something felt strange about looking at someone, whose appearance was identical to the one I killed. Dark skin, contrasting golden hair woven into two long loose braids, slim figure, gray eyes. Both had that characteristic thick, horizontal golden line across their noses. It was jarring how similar they looked.

  Unlike her sister, she would not be so easy to kill, not that ripping the soul from my body could have been called easy. She held my biggest weakness in her hands, that thread, small cut and I was done for.

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  The thread was pulled tightly “Twang,” it wiggled up and down, vibrating from the tag of her finger.

  I waited. Nothing happened.

  "I made you," she said. This tone was far less friendly; it gave me chills. "You should be grateful!" Her smile disappeared off her face, like it was never even there.

  It was getting dangerous. I could have risked it and gone for the door. It was right behind me too. Would my future have changed if I done so? I never got to find that out. I was too slow, she stood up and used her red flame to finish the deed. She burned what remained of her sister. The door, together with the whole room, vanished and I was left alone with that being, in dark, boundless nothingness.

  The flame was gone. There was nothing. No light, no sound, no smell. It was dark before, but not like this. Even without blue flame, I was able to see general shapes and movement once my vision adjusted. That wasn’t the case here, this was total darkness. I couldn’t feel anything around me either. Perplexed, how I didn’t fall nor float. It was as if I was still on the ground. Cautiously, I extended my right foot forward. My feet were bare so if there was something, I was bound to feel it. I felt like I would fall, collapse deeper into the void, I put my foot down regardless.

  There was still nothing there, I didn’t feel a thing. At least, I didn’t fall. Feeling somewhat stable at my feet, I pulled my other foot forward and was about to shift part of my weight back to that foot when I felt something cold brush past my wrist. Everything was dark, I didn’t even know if that all-mighty being was still there. “Ah,” a quiet scream escaped my lips. Cold, the same feeling, not knowing what that was, I pulled my body to the right, that didn’t help. I felt the same chilling sensation, now on my right arm. Instinctively, jerking my arm upward, I was looking for it, more intensely than ever.

  I didn’t have to wait long. That cold thing lit up, it was my favorite shade of greenish sea blue, circling around my arms. Initially, hoping it would fly away, I was trying to slide my arms out of it. All my efforts were for not. It started out slow, then picked up speed. The radius increased as well, making me move into a sort of T-pose, with both my arms extended horizontally. Soon, it was traveling so fast, I could no longer see my arms, blurred by cold, blue light.

  I squinted my eyes. “Била не била,” I said, ready to risk it. Not sure what compelled me to do so, I slammed both of my arm together. The two circling lights collided. Not feeling any different, I opened my eyes to see a tiny orb. It was calling me. Before I realized, that ball of light was next to my face, floating over my two palms. “Fascinating!” I smiled.

  So small, I was able to hide it in my hands, under my palms, it grew. Pushing my arms apart it grew to a size of baseball. It looked to be made of flame yet felt so chillingly cold. Upon closer look there was a darker shade of blue within.

  “Yikes,” that twisted grin illuminated by blueish hue, scared me. It was her and here I was hoping she was gone. All her teeth were clearly visible. Looking at those hungry eyes lusting over the orb, instinctively I pulled the it closer to my heart

  “Now, be a good girl and give me that,” she commanded. Looking at her salivating from its sight, the last piece of the puzzle fell into place. It was all for this. This little ball was the reason why she put me through all those trials.

  No, I will not give it to her this easily. If she could, she would have already taken it from me. She needed my permission, meaning I was in control for once.

  “Sure,” I said extending this glowing sphere to her. Overjoyed, she reached out to it.

  “Too bad,” I turned my palm over, slamming my hand down, together with that orb. I had no clue what I was doing, just felt like it would work. Akin to baseball, it bounced off the non existent ground within the void. Looking at her angry face, unable to do a thing, I couldn’t help but say, “Take it if you can.” I caught it with my other arm, my eyes narrowed from the smirk plastered all over my smug face. Honestly, I couldn’t believe that actually worked.

  She was mad, real mad. At this rate, she would have grounded all her enamel from anger. I moved to the left, pushing the ball toward me. She followed. Alternating between my hands, I was making it bounce back and forth between my feet. I couldn’t do this forever. I had to think of a way out. Holding the orb, spinning in place, I said, “Take it.” I turned around, back to were I started. My arm, extended outward, pushing the ball in her direction, I saw her eyes lit up.

  “Ahh,” I rotated my hand. “I changed my mind,” my tone taunting and unyielding. I pulled the ball away from her and, with a quick bounce, caught it on the other side, in her blind spot. Stupefied, her eyes widened. She didn’t expect this. Using this chance, I made a run for it.

  I ran, not looking back. The orb pressed against my chest lit my way. I heard her wail. Then there was fire spreading everywhere. For once I felt something. I was running through red flame, amazing, my feet were touching it directly, but it felt lukewarm at best. It had to be thanks to that dagger of mine. It was nothing in comparison to the heat and power of her twin’s blue flame. I was confident, I couldn’t give up, there had to be some sort of way ouuuu…

  I had no idea as to what happened. There was a sort of weightless feeling in my gut. My body felt uncomfortably light. I was falling—certainly not the escape I had in mind. She wasn’t here and the orb was with me, so I presumed it wasn’t all bad. This was a short fall and a soft one too. I assumed my butt would hurt due to landing, surprisingly no.

  I landed on something, I was suspended in place, yet it felt like nothing was there. The red flame was nowhere in sight. Being a bit scared to trigger another fall, I remained seated. Frantically, I waved that glowing orb in all possible directions. It was floating over my palm now. Lighting up the darkness, I was looking for possible exits. There was nothing there. Moving my extended arms, feeling for possible walls or barriers like this ground, didn’t yield any results either. It felt like endless nothingness. Carefully, I started to crawl, I needed to extend the radius of my search. I was starting to feel confident enough this place wouldn’t collapse under me when…