I am proud to present to you the introduction of this tear-filled drama.
I hope you're bloody proud of yourself.
Thanks a lot, Ariadne.

~Ariadne~

Hello, long time no see. Remember me?

Of course you do. I'm awesome and unforgettable. Unlike some others...

That got way off track. Sorry.

It had been two weeks since we all returned to Earth. Echo was more bored than ever and wanted to go back to Imyrth since day one, much like Oliver, even though he didn't really talked about it. He was more concentrated.

Aunt Jenny didn't really like me, probably because I hung out with Damon and always supported Echo.

Oliver was a little unfocused, probably because he was always daydreaming about Celine and that peck on the cheek she gave him. She was all he talked about. All the single time.

That kind of confused Auntie Jenny because she had no idea where her children had been the month they were missing. The fact that she thought that Echo was crazy didn't help whenever the latter tried to explain Imyrth.

And, of course, whenever Oliver or I tried to support her, she kept saying we were just being nice.

I covered all the time Oliver spent daydreaming, but I didn't tell you about all the time his sister spent watching the videos from Imyrth. I guess she just wanted to make sure it was real and not just a dream, even though learning those videos by heart was a little extreme.

In short, the twins were losing it. They needed to get back to Imyrth fast, but I couldn't just barge in to the attic and make them do it.

Just kidding. That's exactly what I did, but only after Amon showed up at our doorstep.

How did that happen? We had no idea. At least not until we noticed a little chain with a compass hanging from his neck.

Damon happened to be the one who opened the door when Amon knocked. He had never met the guy, but we had all described him so many times that he knew what Amon looked like.

He immediately shut the door in his face and called me downstairs.

«He's here. Amon is here.» he whispered.

«What?! How?» I asked him. «Nevermind. Stupid question. Are you sure it's him?»

«I'm sure.» he replied and we went back at the door.

We opened it, and there he was; looking smug and as if he owned the place.

«How did you get here? Why  are you here?» I asked him.

«Won't you invite me in? I bet the twins have missed me.» he ignored me.

«You're staying away from them.» Damon told him.

«You didn't answer my question.» I inquired.

«I found your stash of compasses and followed the trail of embarrassment, guilt and disappointment.»

«Didn't that lead you to a mirror?» I retorted.

«You think you're so smart. What will Mrs Waters say when she finds out you dissed your new neighbour?» he said and pointed at a house next to the mansion.

«That's impossible. This wasn't there last night.» Damon said.

«Yeah, try telling Auntie Jenny that...» I told him. «Why are you here? Didn't you get what you wanted?»

«What I want is to kill. I want to kill you, your boyfriend, your cousins and their friends. Everyone you care about. I want to burn your house to the ground.»

«Why?» I asked.

«Because you and your family are abominations. You are from two different worlds. You must die.»

«What about Celine and Felix, then? They are purely from Imyrth.» I questioned.

«They are your friends. I will take everything you love first, and then kill you when you will be begging to die.» he answered. He then tipped his hat and left for his house. I took a deep breath.

That guy had nearly killed me. His army had attacked and I was badly injured. The twins probably had nightmares from all the times he had tried to kill them. I didn't want to worry them, but they needed to know. I had to tell them.

I shared a worried look with Damon and we both went upstairs to tell Oliver and Echo.

It was early in the morning, so I had to wake them up for school too.

We knocked on their door in the attic, and were greeted by a seemingly sleepless Echo. She had black circles under her eyes, which were red and sunken.

«You didn't sleep again, did you?» I asked her. Echo was six years younger than me, but we still got along. I felt like I was her big sister, despite the fact that I had only known her and Oliver for a few weeks. They were both like the younger siblings I never had (or thought I needed).

«How many times? Sleep is for the weak.» she replied shrugging. Oliver was still fast asleep and snoring on his bed.

«Yeah, I'm starting to worry that this shouldn't be your life motto.» I advised her.

«Oh, please... At least I don't sleep all the time. And it's not like I didn't sleep at all! I slept for a couple hours.»

«That's not healthy. Anyway, that's not why we're here.» I told her. «Wake your brother up, we need to talk.»

She looked at me with confusion spread all over her face and walked over to Oliver's bed.

A few minutes later they were both sitting on Oliver's bed with expressions full of shock, disgust and fear.

«It can't be. This is a joke, right?» Oliver scowled and looked around to see if anyone was laughing. «Please tell me you're joking...»

«Do they look like they're joking?» his sister asked him.

«Dammit.» Oliver whispered.

«It's true. Amon is now our homicidal neighbor.» Damon said. «Have a nice day at school!»he added, as the twins grunted and got up to get dressed.

*Celine*

Things back at Imyrth were worse. Felix and I had returned to the barn, that was left intact from the fire, and spent the last two weeks there. Amon had taken the throne by force and everything was crumbling.

The marketplace closed because the Elementalists from the South protested and caused a hurricane that destroyed most of the capital. Only very few people stayed to sell their merchandise, just to make a living, but everyone had left the town center. All the homes and shops had been evacuated and most citizens were smart enough to not come back.

Felix traveled back and forth once a week to get supplies and we were surprised that Amon hadn't come after us yet. In fact, no on had seen him in a week, which was weird considering that he was the kind of person that loved the attention.

Not that Amon was to be considered a person.

The surrounding countries that found Imyrth vulnerable started planning attacks. What Amon wanted was becoming a reality, as we were preparing for war.

These were dark times to be in Imyrth. We hadn't had a war in centuries and we were highly unprepared. The army was untrained and no one had seen it coming.

Ariadne had done her best to keep things peaceful, but Amon had other plans. I wonder what he would have done if Oliver and Echo hadn't come. Maybe Ari would have ended up dead, or locked up somewhere.

Speaking of the twins, Felix and I had a hard time adjusting to their absence. A month of being on the run with two people has that effect on you, especially if you have crush on one of them.

Now, I'm not one to be cheesy, but it is kinda obvious.

Felix kept watch almost every night to see when the Waters twins would come back, and even kept track of the days they were missing. It was a dark couple of weeks. I kept catching my cousin daydreaming, but I wasn't any better.

Don't tell Oliver I said that.

All in all, we weren't expecting any good news. We were just two cousins that only had each other, living in the barn next to the house that my parents died in just a few weeks back, after the country's evil dictator, who is making the said country crumble, burnt it to the ground just so he could kill us and our two best friends.

And you thought this story couldn't get any more depressing.

And that's what you probably think right now, but you haven't seen the half of it.

After returning to my parents' farm, me and my cousin started looking in the ruins for anything that could help us make the barn look more like a home. All the animals we had, had fled into the woods when the fire started, so we could stay there until the twins came back, even though we had no idea when that would be.

We didn't find anything of use, as the entire house had turned into ashes, but it made us reconsider who we were going up against. The few hours we searched were some of the most painful in our lives, especially since we hadn't had much time to grieve with being on the run, in the hospital and working.

I remembered how rude I had been when the house burnt down, how irrational and how aggressive. I blamed everyone but the one person that was to blame. I had even blamed Echo when I found out about her powers. I was glad I wasn't that kind of person anymore.

All in all, ever since we went back home, Felix and I had turned into emotional wrecks, waiting for two people from another dimension to come back and help us face the biggest trouble Imyrth had ever faced.

Even though we knew who we were facing, we had no idea what he would do. Amon was unpredictable and that made him even more dangerous. Things would be easier if we knew what his plan or motives were, if he had any. For the time being, Amon was simply a dictator destroying his country with no explanation. "Simply".

Sometimes I find myself wondering what we could have done to prevent him from doing what he did. He killed lots of people. Everyone who stood up to him ended up dead. He didn't care about how many people he destroyed or how many families he crushed. All he cared about was his power and what he could do with it.

We were very lucky he wasn't an elementalist too, because if he was things would have been much, much, worse. And I mean that.

Just think of when you were a kid. When you saw an ant, didn't you feel all powerful over it? Like it's fate depended on you? How many times have you killed an ant just because you could?

Well, that's exactly what Amon was doing, only he was doing it to people. Half the population ended up homeless. The rest had to surrender and live in pain. Anyone who stood up for their rights ended up dead and their families ended up tortured and then in prison.

Imyrth was no longer the happy place it used to be, and all that happened in two weeks because of the wrong person. Amon Brandon should have never risen to power.