Happy Birthday

The metal of the chain scraped against the hard floor as she was dragged to her cell. The hard metal rubbed her wrists raw, as she limped slowly with the guards surrounding her. She was back in the castles dungeon after years of being held captive as a slave. They arrived at the front of the cell enclosure, and tossed her into the room. She clattered to the floor with a loud thump. Her head rung at the sound of her metal chains banging against the floor. Kanna heard the door shut behind her as she slowly picked herself up off the white concrete ground. Sitting on the floor of the cell she felt the weight of the room. From a labour camp to the castle's prison, she remained in chains. The guards didn't bother locking her chains back to the wall. She could barely walk let alone lift her hands high enough to get up. Her "room" was bare and cold. The walls and floor were all solid white concrete except the door. They didn't bother giving them a bed or even a proper bathroom. Not that it mattered much, she wouldn't be here long enough to need them.

Kanna stared at the chains that covered her skin. Her beautiful brown skin that had lost its color and chafed with pain now paled from malnutrition. No tears fell from her eyes, she didn't remember much about her past, she did remember her parents. Her mother, the queen and her father the king of the very kingdom she was now a slave too. From a princess to a slave, how far she had fell.

She looked down at herself, wounds littered her body. In fact anywhere you looked on her body there was scars of some sort. Most of them were old but she had some newer ones from today. They were not as harsh on her today as they usually were.

"Maybe it was a birthday gift." Kanna chuckled drily.

"Kanna" A low voice whispered through her room. Three small bangs were heard against the wall "Kanna, do you hear me?"

Kanna sat upwards from the corner she sat in, Her muscles groaned with pain as she leaned forward onto her hands and knees. She slowly made her way to the wall where the voice came from. She leaned her head against the wall of her room, hovering above the only vent that connected her to someone else.

Banging twice in response Kanna managed to say "I-I'm here Xynnia " she tried to take a deep breath through the shocks of pain that went through her body. A bitter smile touched her lips, "Happy Birthday Xynnia."

She heard a snicker in return, " It's not our birthday just yet, We've had some awesome birthdays but I think this one takes the cake."

"Why do you say that?" Kanna questioned her sister.

"Because this is the day we escape, you didn't notice did you?" Kanna could practically see the eyeroll from her sister. " They didn't bother to keep us as long as usual and their was no torture today"

Kanna's eyes widened " They were running test."

"Exactly, test to see if "it" had awakened yet. They were trying to see if our imperium was no longer dormant." Kanna heard another small laugh from Xynnia, "To bad they didn't know that time we were born"

Two bangs were heard from the other room, " Happy Birthday Kanna"

Kanna's head exploded in pain, causing her to double over grabbing her head. She groaned in pain as she braced her hands onto the wall in front of her. The cool concrete helped stabilize her. Her eyes opened slightly and a golden glow was reflected on the wall, her eyes blazed gold as she leaned her head back. Strength built its way through her body as she rose from the floor. The glow of her eyes faded and her eyes deepened with power. She banged the chains wrapped around her wrists against the wall. Letting it rang to the cell beside her, she got two in return initiating the beginning of their escape.

The door of the cell exploded with a loud boom. Dust and debris swirled around her as she exited. She turned to her right and saw her, her twin sister and took in her appearance. She was in a state she never saw her in before. Her hair was disheveled and her long plaits hung messily from her head. She was gaunt but her eyes sparkled with her new found power. She immediately pulled her into a hug, Kanna held her tears back as she wrapped her arms around her sister.

An alarm blared. Kanna looked at Xynnia in alarm but her sister just smirked. "They can't hold us here any longer, and that's that." She pulled out of her sisters grasp and looked her in her eyes, "Lets go!"

They turned to the hallway and began running, they made it to the end of the hall before they spotted guards.

Kanna took a deep breath, "I'll leave them to you" Xynnia smirked again as her sister ran down the adjoining hallway. Xynnia stopped in front of the charging guards, moving her hands out in front of herself palms forward focusing her imperium. Bringing one arm back as she turned her arms upwards and with a snap of her fingers their shadows melted from their body and became real. At the mere motions of her head the pools of darkness attacked the guards in front of her. She ran past the battle of the guards and their shadows only to be encircled by another group of guards. She couldn't go any more forward. Looking around herself she huffed out air before putting her arms out opposite of each other and moved in a circular motion around herself. Her shadow leached the life from the surrounding guards and one by one like flies they dropped as their lives were snuffed out.

Her breathing was labored, her power was taking too much out of her too quickly, she looked down at the fallen guard and saw a silver hilt. She grabbed the sword from him that had clattered to the ground when he died." I was always better with a sword anyway."

She met Kanna on the outside of the door she was running to. The alarm was still ringing through the hallways. "Are we good to go, did you help those two as well."

Kanna smiled, "Yes they are free and waiting at the first watchtower, they also know the signal. I sense twenty soldiers coming our way, the ones outside will have guns instead of swords so we really need to hustle."

She noticed her sister's heavy breathing, "Do you need a second to catch your breath?"

Xynnia shook her head," we don't have time, I just won't be able to use my power as much"

They locked eyes and nodded. Kanna pulled two daggers, the gold blades glinted under the florescent light.

Xynnia's eyes widened in confusion and humor "where did you find those?"

"The same place you found that." She said pointing at the sword in her hands.

Kanna put her hand out in front of her palm facing the sky, a streak of light almost like a shooting star but brighter burned across the sky. This was the signal.

Kanna and Xynnia ran into the courtyard, Kanna wielded her daggers as they ran into the first slew of guards. They were slower due to years of no training and lack of proper nutrition. But still the guards fell wherever they touched upon. Kanna used light to blind them before dragging her dagger through them. Xynnia was entirely a different person; her eyes were hard as steel and as cool as the night. The silver sword glinted with blood in her hands as Xynnia jumped into the herd of guards, they went down either by sword or a shadow that leeched their lives away.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw lighting zoom past, she knew it was Levina. She was like a black panther with the ability to wield lightning like her own personal weapon. Samara also held her own without the use of any powers.

Once the first group of guards were down they all ran, ran like heck. They needed to reach the end in order to get to the gate of the wall that kept them locked inside. They kept running towards the back gate. Bullets sprayed across the area in front of them, they skidded to a stop. They would shoot to kill. That was simply a warning, so they turned and ran to the watchtower gate instead. They ran ,ran because the only thing behind them was death. Bullets zoomed past Kanna as she dodged with her dagger. A bullet grazed her side, ripping her skin and clothing. Her side burned with pain and she cried out. Xynnia looked over at her sister to be sure she was okay and still running. The lapse in attention caused her to stumble and a bullet went through her shoulder. She almost fell as blood sprayed down her clothes, but was caught by Kanna. Neither stopped running even though Xynnia was losing strength at every step. They were almost at the watchtower gate when a shot echoed through the air. A shot different from the others. Kanna could hear the zoom of the bullet behind them.

Samara cried out in pain and anguish, the bullet had hit her. A bullet that had claws on the end and was attached to a string, pining its target. She fell to the ground grasping her chest that the bullet tore through.

"Samara! '' Levina yelled, They didn't stop running and couldn't stop running. They made it to the gate pushing through the watchtower and onto the other side that led to the village. clambering down the stairs and into the busy streets. People maneuvered around them and swerved their cars as they ran. "Hold on Xynnia, just a little more"

Kanna dragged her sister down a dark alley, they kept moving, wanting to put as much distance between them and the castle as she could. Xynnia collapsed, her skin was pale and clammy and she was breathing hard. Kanna dropped too.

"Levina we should–" Kanna looked around herself ,there was nobody with her except her sister. She didn't know when they got separated from Levina. She ran her hands through her hair frustrated. Her sister let out a painful moan which brought Kanna's attention back to her. She scooted over to her sister, "Sorry about that."

She removed the top layer of her shirt and ripped it into pieces. She tied her shirt around her sister's shoulder. Trying to at least stop the bleeding. She got up to pull her sister further into the shadows of the building they were behind. Gently picking up her sister's head, she rested it onto her lap. They rested like this for a little while before Kanna decided to keep moving, "we have to find help." Kanna wanted to cry, she knew she needed to be strong because her sister was depending on her but she still felt like curling up into a ball and weeping.

She got up and as gently as she could pulled her sister up with her. Blood seeped through the cloth and Xynnia groaned.

Kanna huffed out a laugh "I know ya know, we'll find something." Kanna knew she wouldn't make it through the night. So as scared as she was for her sister she kept moving . They moved further into the slums. It was dark and they made it to a neighborhood that looked almost completely abandoned. She found a house that looked completely dark and empty, it looked to be on its last legs but they had nowhere else to go. She snuck them to the back of the house and slowly opened the door. Her sensors felt off but she sensed no presence. There were no immediate signs of life either, so Kanna pulled Xynnia with her into the house. She got as far as the back counter before something pressed against her throat.

"Don't move." a sharp voice echoed through the dark.