The Blades of Light and Dark

Melody couldn't sleep well. Her argument with Luna left her with a headache that refused to let her sleep. She just couldn't understand why this girl was excited about the whole deal. Their lives changed because of this. Because of this, her mother got murdered, and she and her brother were collected by the Court to be raised in secret.

Her life was nothing but walls and faded memories.

Melody threw back the covers and got out of bed, slipping her feet into her slippers with ease as she rose. A chilling breeze blew into her room, causing her to shiver. She groaned while stumbling to her window and reached for the little handle. The breeze suddenly rushed in and wrapped around her, as if persuading her to leave it in. Her lips pressed together, a rush of anger swirling in her chest.

A result of her powers, she guessed.

She slammed the window shut, cutting the breeze off instantly. Melody shook her head and folded her arms. That wind certain made her skin shiver.

Melody walked over to the foot of her bed and grabbed her silken silver robe, throwing it over shoulders as if trying to wipe the breeze residue away. It was moments like these where she felt she needed to sneak out. Sometimes being cooped up in this castle made her wonder if she'd ever be free of this curse; this responsibility that she didn't ask for, yet was expected to fulfill.

If it wasn't for the death of her mother, she would've tried to escape. At least defending her land and her brother would be enough to keep her content with this burden.

Melody opened the wooden door, and silently slid into the hallway. Her feet barely touched the carpet, scathing the tips like wind over grass. Faintly, she could hear her feet brush against the fuzzy fabric. The long hallway guided her as long as her attention span could take. Getting bored of seeing the same eight portraits over and over again, she decided on a door. The golden handle was cold to the touch, and when she pressed down it didn't resist. Melody could've sworn that every door was locked for the night, at least that's what Rain told her.

Darkness covered the door when she pushed it open. The dimly lit candles in the hallway got swallowed up and Melody couldn't see a thing.

"This can't be the music room," she whispered to herself, squinting her eyes in hopes that it would aide her vision. No such luck. She pulled back her arm and retied her robe. Somewhere within the darkness, she could feel the chill hover.

"Need a light?"

Melody jumped! Her heart pumped out hot blood that rattled her powers. As she jumped, a gust of wind burst from her ankles and hurdled towards the speaker.

"Hey!"

Melody, recognizing the voice, stepped towards the person. Short bright red hair immediately caught her attention, and a breeze of relief ran over her.

"Amber," she said, "by Enternia's graces you scared me." The fire pillar quietly laughed.

"You're lucky I can see well in the dark," Amber replied, "Otherwise, I coulda hurt you with one of my kicks." She stepped back and demonstrated one of her spin-kicks. Melody could hear her foot cut through the air. "After some more training, I'd like to create a ring of fire to push towards my opponent."

The Air pillar nodded towards the darkened room. "What about in here? Darkness is as good an enemy as the Shadows, right?"

"Darkness is just light's opposite." She held out her hand and took a deep breath. As she exhaled, her hand began to glow orange. Melody closed her eyes for a moment, taking in the heat from the glow and hearing the crackle of the fire before extending a hand into the dark room.

"Then would you mind shedding some light?" With her hand resting at shoulder level, Amber stepped forth. The darkness fled from her light, and reveled a large display of weaponry. Locked away behind glass were swords, spears, daggers, and more.

One-by-one, Amber moved her feet. Melody followed close by, staying completely covered in Amber's light. In her time in the castle, never had she seen this room.

"Such a fine collection," Amber commented, "Just who does it belong to?"

"The military, of course," Melody guessed. Her eyes couldn't stay focused on one thing. It jumped from sword to shield to dagger to bow. An uncomfortable chill fell down her spine, and it made her move closer to her friend. "I'm really glad we don't have to worry about fighting."

"We're still going to fight," Amber corrected, here eyes taking in the assorted weapons. Unlike Melody, the Fire Pillar had trouble hiding her smile. "Just because we won't using weapons doesn't make our actions any worse..." Melody spoke back at her, but Amber's focus was somewhere else.

A pair of thin blades crossed together. Both caught Amber's glow and revealed one blade to be white. The other, however, appeared much darker. It reflected a shine back, yet the blade's darkness remained.

Below the two swords was a sign. The fire pillar brought herself as close to it as possible before her nose started to press against the glass. Written on black stone in white was a simple quote: "When apart, darkness consumes. When together, light comes forth."

"What're you looking at?" Melody whispered as if what she was doing was super bad. Amber pointed at the swords.

"Our blades normally don't have those color," she commented with wonder, eyes heavily examining the two, "Certainly not from the Walled City."

"And the neighboring villages are all farmers," Melody added, catching onto Amber's curiosity. Her eyes fell down to the bottom of the case. "Huh."

"What?"

"There's one more." She pointed at a diagonal to a single bladed sword. The handle resembled a fox lying on its stomach, and its tail transformed into the blade. The tip of the sword was etched.

Amber stepped back and gazed at the display case. Nowhere could she see a sign describing what it was. "A sword without a name. Interesting..." She then turned to face her friend. "I'm surprised to see you interested in swords. You're usually not one for fighting."

"I'm not," Melody replied, folding her arms across her chest, "I was curious about the room. I got tired walking down those stupid hallways."

"Why're you walking down these hallways?"

"'Cause I couldn't sleep." Amber held her stare with the Air Pillar and smiled. She asked why. "Because of a headache."

"A headache caused by one Water Pillar perchance?" Melody didn't reply.

"She's so naive sometimes," she grumbled.

"She's not being naive, Mel. She's seeing an opportunity to help our people."

"But the way she's treating these lessons. It's like she enjoys them, or something."

"And what's wrong with enjoying one's power? After all it is ours to use for bettering Enternia."

"Bettering Enternia, yes, but to constantly stop the lesson to ask weird questions about energy and aura is preposterous!"

"Seems like she's just trying to figure out her skills."

"And she can do that in her own time." Melody shivered. "This is awful as is, and she doesn't know the half of it." Her eyes shifted to the three swords. "She wasn't kept here her whole life."

Amber took a step towards her friend and took her in her arms. "I know, it sucked growing up here." Melody didn't say anything, but Amber could see the air pillar's silver glow subtly appear. She remembered when she first arrived at the Crystal Palace: a kid full of rage.

"Let's get outta here," she suggested, "We've got enough on our plate than to worry about these." Melody nodded before she pulled back. She let out a long sigh.

Her headache sent a sharp pain behind her eyes, as if mocking her.