It was a late night when the twins were laying in the bed that they had to share. The moon was shining through the dusty window. The world was at peace as they slept, or so the world thought. The silence was broken by a tiny whisper.

"Psst. Elle." Erik's eyes were wide awake despite the late time. He lightly shook his sister and whispered again. "Psst. Elle wake up." Giving a sigh of resignation he pulled the blanket they shared off of her, revealing her purple fluffy pajamas.

The smaller girl let out a groan of tiredness from being woken up for seemingly no reason at all. She sat up, her purple hair sticking out in all different kinds of unnatural places. Yawning, she covered her mouth before blinking blearily at her brother.

"What?" She asked blearily. The girl wasn't amused at being woken up. "I'm cold and I wanna sleep." Elle whined before she tugged the blanket from Erik's grasp moving to fall asleep again.

One word had her instantly awake. "Magic." This caused Elle's eyes to snap open. It was a well, 'magic word' with the pair of siblings. They had both been interested in magic ever since they saw another villager use water magic to help the flow of water in the stream. It was a beautiful sight to see and both wished to learn it at some point.

"No way." She looked deep into Erik's eyes, however certainty flickered down the 'twin bond' that the pair shared. Certainty and excitement. "What did you find?" She questioned eagerly, sleep seemingly further away than before. Elle shifted so that her legs dangled from the bed, Erik still kneeling next to her.

Erik smirked before crawling off the bed and reaching a hand underneath. After a second of rustling noises, he retrieved a small book from beneath the bed. "It's a magic book." He said excitedly.

Elle made a noise of excitement as she reached for the book that Erik was holding. Erik relented, handing over the book to his sister. "I don't understand everything, but there are basics." He remarked.

Elle traced her hand over the rough cover of the old tattered book. The edges were tearing from previous use, and the binding was deteriorating. They could only make out two words from the title, 'of Magic' so it obviously had to do something with magic. 

Carefully and tenderly, Elle opened the book and dropped it in surprise as words began to flow out of it. A gasp sounded from her right as she looked at her brother. His eyes were wide with shock as his eyes were riveted to the scene happening in front of them.

A sharp emotion of surprise jolted down the bond. "This never happened for me." His statement caused Elle's eyes to bulge out. That didn't make any sense, why would it do that for her?!

"That's weird." She hummed. Her eyes scanned over the words as Erik spoke once again.

"It says like-" He stopped trying to find the right words. "Certain people can only control certain types of magic. And you can learn lots of different types of magic!"

"Only when you're young enough though." Elle interrupted his rant as she caught up with the reading. "Wait there's two different types of magic?" She questioned. Her bare feet touched the rough ground as she stood up walking towards the words to see more clearly. "C... caster and holder?"

"I don't get the difference either." Erik giggled a bit loudly. He stared for a moment at the words floating around before giggling again."It's all magic to me!"

"QUIET YOU BRATS!" A dark voice boomed as the two children heard footsteps creaking up the stairs. Both of them froze in horror, eyes wide as they glanced at each other. Erik quickly snapped the book shut and shoved it back to its previous spot underneath the bed. Elle quickly pushed Erik onto the bed and as the door squealed open she tossed the blanket over his body.

A monster opened the door. Their eyes black with anger and rage. His large feet thundered towards the cowering Elle. She curled up as tight as she could, her trembling hands moved to attempt to protect her head. Rough grubby claws grabbed the purple strands of her hair a hoisted her up.

A small whimper of pain rang in the silent room. Elle's curled up legs now dangled uselessly in the air and she was left at the mercy of the monster.

Behind her, Erik trembled beneath the sheets. From both fear, and feeling useless unable to help his twin. However, this was what life was like for them. The monster always came and yelled at them, sometimes hurt them. They couldn't just escape the woods surrounding them was densely settled and since everyone in the village knew each other they couldn't risk being spotted.

A cry of pain sounded when the monster smacked Elle across the face. "Just shut up you worthless piece of trash. How many times have I told you to be quiet." Fear and panic both raced down the twin bond. "You and your brother are both mistakes." Swinging his arm to the side, he threw Elle and she crashed into the floor whimpering. 

The monster made a noise of satisfaction as he started to stomp down the stairs. Once the pounded footsteps faded, Erik quickly slipped out of the bed and rushed towards his twin. A pale red handprint was forming on the right side of her face. 

"Are you okay?!" Erik asked quickly, in a hushed manner. Tears started streaming down her face as she hugged the boy.

"If-f we learn magic," She hiccuped, "do you think we can escape this place?" The small girl was shaking, now in a sitting position. Her hands traced the mark on her face, as she lightly hissed in pain.

Erik stared at her for a beat of silence before responding. "You said it yourself, we'll get out of here someday. Maybe magic can help with that." 

Wiping her tears away, Elle crawled over to the bed. Reaching under she retrieved the book once more. A weak smile crossed her face as she held it up. "Guess we'd better start learning something."

A soft smile appeared on Erik's face as he shuffled his way over to her. "I guess so."