Two of a Kind

Prologue

"You're just afraid." She murmured impassively, displaying the lavender and pink pearl that lay in the flat of her hand, a chain of clear polished rocks hanging down from either side. "Admit it." The wind ruffled her long, midnight black hair. The corners of her mouth were contorted into something that resembled a smirk, as though she had proven an unnamed point.

The boy snatched the gem out of her hand in one swift motion, growling at her. "I fear nothing!" He snapped, looking away from her and at the Jewel in his callused palm. He clenched his fist but kept his clawed hand in-between their bodies. Then, as though defeated, he looked back up at the girl with his tawny eyes and asked more softly, "What do I have to do?" The silver, fur-covered ears on his head drooped cutely, like a reprimanded puppy's.

"Ask." She replied simply, as though talking to an idiot, and adjusted the leather strap that crossed her torso. It held a quiver filled with razor sharp arrows to her back; a strong handcrafted bow lay down by her feet. She could drive off countless demons with her arrows. They never missed their mark. The arrows had almost destroyed him once upon a time, but she had purposely missed and pinned him to a tree instead. That moment seemed to have happened so long ago.

The wind picked up, blowing almost forebodingly and making the branches of the trees that surrounded them sway. The noon sun painted everything gold and dark yellow, colors that humans could not see with their weak eyes. This would be the last time he would see something like this…

The boy closed his eyes tightly, letting the wind whip through his coarse white-silver hair. It was tangled; he never really bothered with brushing it and plaiting it like his mother had done when the days were rainy. What was the point if it was just going to become tangled again? Suddenly, as though to rid himself of thoughts about his mother, he took in a deep breath, letting the smell of the forest and tree sap wash over him. The sharp and sensitive dog-ears atop his head kept on flicking back and forth to capture the sounds of the birds and the swaying leaves and the girl's steady heartbeat. In his clawed hands he turned the Jewel over and over, the normally light weight feeling unusually heavy, as though duty and sacrifice filled it with lead.

When he opened his eyes, he looked into the girl's chocolate brown ones and resisted the urge to cock his head. She remained emotionless and stoic and it gave him no strength or reassurance. The truth was he was afraid--but only a little bit. Things would come as they would and there was no stopping it. After all, they had planned this for so long, and it wasn't like him to chicken out at the last moment.

He clutched the thing in one fist, dropping the other hand to his side, and ignored the almost irritating way that the stones dug into his hard skin. Then, in a rough, commanding voice, he asked his question, their question rather; the question that they hoped could be answered.

There was pain, and though he expected some, this was nowhere close to what he thought he would have had to endure. Colors that had no name flashed behind his eyes and suddenly he was screaming, the muscles of his jaw painfully stretched, but it was nothing at all compared to the fire and ice underneath his skin. It felt as though his body was being split in half.

Little did he know how literal that statement was…