Present
Since the night she killed her brother, Mesyla has been haunted by the bloody memory. Immediately after she took his eye, she immediately collapsed on top of his body. Her soul then drifted and left the Realm of the Living. Just like her mother, Mesyla was cursed with the ability to travel between the eight Arlan realms—a feared ability that has resulted in the slaughter of those known as Drifters.
It was Nirea, Goddess of the Forbidden, Profane, and Sacred, who created Drifters. The Freak of the Gods. An outcast, she was. But she didn’t want to be alone…and so she resented most of them for isolating her. As time passed, her rage grew, and her close followers encouraged revenge. The Gods soon learned that angering the Bearer of Curses wasn’t a great idea.
The turning point came when the Goddess Desire waltzed into her kingdom and played her devious mind games on her. A scorned lover. After Desire left, Nirea created and implanted a genetic code in many Arlans that allowed them to travel anywhere they wanted, but also bonded them to her for life. A genetic curse. These Arlans were her soldiers and sent to spy on her siblings in their own kingdoms and realms….and sabotage them. Their appearance is mostly invisible…except their eyes, which are sparkly as ice in transformation.
After the Gods left, Drifters, also known as ice ghosts, have been hunted and slaughtered. Freaks of nature, they are called. But Mesyla, with her new power, has been prophesied to remake the Arlan order and lead Drifters in The Ice Rebellion.
But being a Drifter isn’t easy. It’s addicting. Some lose themselves and their families in the process. And for Mesyla, after her brother’s death, she began to spend more time in other realms than she did in the Living one. To the Realm of Parturition, to the Realm Of Shadows, to the Realm of Dreams, Mesyla went everywhere. Running, not only from that night, but the truth she has kept hidden from mostly everyone, including her father.
Now here she was, face to face, with the nightmare himself. Her big brother. The King’s Gold.
***
“Did you miss me, little sister?” He smirked. “Or are you still busy stealing my crown?”
Mesyla couldn’t believe her eyes. Her brother was standing in front of her….wearing his royal attire. Mesyla wanted to reach out to him, feel the skin on his bones.
“I can’t believe this.” She muttered. “Are you real?”
“You killed me, remember?”
Mesyla’s heart fluttered. She missed that voice. She reached out to touch his face, but he stepped aside before she could touch his cheek. “Are you a ghost?”
“Not exactly.” He answered.
Mesyla started to twirl her short curls as her eyes began roaming the room.
“Why won’t you look at me, Mesyla?”
“I just was.”
Mesyla couldn’t see, but Xand was shaking his head. “Not in my eyes, Mesyla.”
Mesyla continued to avoid his eyes. But Xand wasn’t going to concede. He walked around her and back into her direct view.
“Look at me.” He barked, voice raised.
Mesyla flinched.
“You can’t run from your own doing, my sister. It’s time you face me and what you’ve done.”
Mesyla raised her face. When she laid her eyes upon him this time, Xand was no longer in his royal attire. Instead, he looked exactly how Mesyla last saw him. Bloody clothes, bloody face, and a missing eye.
He was standing in front of her with his arms crossed over his chest.
“What am I supposed to do here?” She croaked.
“Tell me why you killed me. Let’s start with that.”
“I had no choice.”
“You did, actually.” He countered. “You could have ran out of the door, but you didn’t.”
Mesyla started to feel nauseous and dizzy. To calm her nerves, she started to play with the rings on her left hand….the same rings her mother left her.
“What…. are….you?” She stuttered
Xand reached out to cusp her cheek. “A nightmare.”
Mesyla cocked her head. “What is happening right now? What am I supposed to be doing?”
Xand let go of her cheek and took a seat in the middle of the room. He gestured for Mesyla to follow suit.
Once she was seated, Xand cleared his throat and took a deep breath before speaking.
“Tell me why you killed me, Mesyla.” He ordered again. “You have to be honest here.”
Mesyla lowered her gaze and started to fiddle with the fabric of her dress.
“Come on, Mesyla.” He urged.
“You chose this fate for me. You weren’t going to stop.” She cried.
“We don’t actually. You killed me before we could find out.”
“You weren’t going to stop.” She repeated, this time through gritted teeth.
Xand let out a huge sigh. “Do you regret killing me?”
“Of course, I do.” She answered softly. She sounded remorseful, but her eyes were telling a different story.
Suddenly, the room became eerily quiet. But then a shattering of glass could be heard behind Mesyla. She whipped her head towards the door but didn’t see anything. When she returned her gaze back towards Xand, he was just staring at her.
“What?” Mesyla snapped.
“Do you remember me throwing the glass?” He asked.
Mesyla nodded.
“Do you remember what happened before you walked in here?”
Mesyla closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“You chose this fate for me.” She repeated again, voice shaky.
“Maybe. I. Did.” He responded coldly.
“You were going to succeed father.” She added.
Xand’s eyes grew dark. “But, I didn’t.”
“I’m sorry, Xand.”
“Why do you think you are seeing me, Mes?”
“I killed you. A burden that weighs me down.”
“But there’s something else.”
Mesyla’s left eye twitched. She ran her fingers through her hair and then stood up. Xand followed her movements. Once they were standing, Xand closed the gap between the two.
“You are a bloody heir, sister….running from a truth that you buried the day I was buried.” He whispered closely to her ear.
“And what is that truth?”
“You don’t really fear the public discovering it was you who killed me.”
“No?” She croaked.
Xand shook his head. “The truth you bury, the truth you don’t want to acknowledge, is the truth that there was no self defense. Not really. The truth is that you and Gin decided to kill me before you even came into this room.” He revealed. “And you enjoyed it.”
Mesyla lost her balance and stumbled backwards. She ran towards the door, but it wouldn’t open. She tried twisting the knob over and over again.
“Fuck.” She cursed.
She banged her head against the door. As she held it there, a firm touch was felt on her shoulder. When she turned around, she expected to see her brother. But it wasn’t Xand standing behind her….. it was her ….from seven years ago.
Mesyla slapped a hand over her mouth and fell to the floor.
The younger version of herself stood over her.
“It’s time to stop running, my love. It’s time to accept the truth.” The younger version spoke.
“I’m not my brother.” Mesyla asserted.
“No, my love. Unlike him, we finished the job. And we would do it again, wouldn’t we?”
Mesyla rubbed her hands over her face. Her breaths quickened.
“Say it. Say it. Say it.” The younger version shouted over and over again in the grand bedroom. “Say we would do it again. Embrace your wicked urges. Arla will need them, remember?”
Mesyla had her eyes still covered. When she finally opened them, the younger version was kneeling and staring directly at her. “Say it. You can’t lie to yourself.” She whispered.
“Yes.” She whispered back. “I would do it again…and again…and again.”
Mesyla’s body trembled and shook as if a huge weight lifted off her shoulders. Then suddenly her body suddenly tensed up, her breaths became shallow, and her eyes turned completely gray. Out of nowhere, a huge burst of energy erupted from her.
When she opened her eyes, the younger version of her had transformed back into her brother—now holding a bloody glass shard. “Now kill this nightmare once and for all.” The being ordered. “And don’t look back”
***
When Mesyla woke up, she was immediately greeted by the Royal Court.
“Is it done?” She breathed.
Her eyes scanned the room, bouncing between members of the Court, waiting for their answer. After a moment of silence, they all nodded and began to chant what Mesyla would never grow tired of hearing,
“Queen Mesyla Adabelle Dakari.”
“Queen Mesyla Adabelle Dakari.”
“Queen Mesyla Adabelle Dakari.”
