~HM dimension~

It had been two days since Caesia's disappearance, and Zhaika was starting to get genuinely worried.

Usually, it was Zhaika who disappeared for days at a time. Determined not to let her dormant magic stop her from being useful, she would often hike out past the edges of the city and offer help to farmers much like the ones who had raised her. After getting past the disappointment of seeing the marks and then learning she couldn't use them, they were often willing to pay a small amount for the manual labor she could provide. It was better than nothing, and it gave her and her sister something to live off of.

It was better than Caesia, who had long since decided she would never mean anything and had turned to begging in the central streets.

But then, Zhaika didn't make that much more than Caesia at the end of the day anyway. So why would she go and disappear now?

Eventually, she couldn't stand it. After lacing up her moccasins and grabbing her cloak from the corner, she ducked out of the sisters' small shack and started up the cobbled street. No one paid her any attention as she left the city edges and made her way into the busier center.

At least, no one should have paid her any attention, so when a hand tapped her shoulder, she spun around and swung a leg out, ball of foot smacking straight into a plated guard uniform.

Eyes widening, Zhaika brought a hand to her mouth, stepping back. "I'm sorry, I thought it was someone else."

The guard gave her a disgusted look, straightening his breastplate with a tug. "It's quite alright. Are you by chance related to a person named Caesia Val- Valsen..." He twirled his hand in the air, asking her to fill in the blank.

"Vallenscey. Yes, I am," Zhaika told him. There was no point in denying it; aside from the length of their jet black hair, the two were identical, down to the little dark bump on the brown skin underneath each sister's left eye. "Do you know where she is?"

"I do. She's doing important work."

"Very specific."

"His Highness, Prince Ikreva, requested her help for a vitally important task. He would ask the same of you. Assuming..." He glanced to where her cloak concealed her arms. "Are you a dormant telekinetic as well?"

She blinked. "Yes, I apologize," she answered habitually, even though something about the way he'd said it indicated that he wanted her to be one.

"Excellent. Please follow me, Miss..."

"Zhaika."

"Miss Zhaika."

Zhaika was still wondering what the Prince could possibly want with her and her sister all the way until she was ushered through the grand doors into his meeting hall.

For the first time ever, her eyes met the stone black ones common in Yakora's royal family. Dropping to one knee, she said, "Your Highness."

"This is Zhaika Vallenscey," the guard said to the side. "Sister of Caesia Vallenscey, whom you met two days ago."

"Excellent. You may rise," the Prince said, sounding impatient. "Follow me." He spun and strode toward a door in the side of the room.

Zhaika jumped to her feet and followed, frowning. "Your Highness," she began as soon as he'd closed the door to the smaller room. "It's an honor to be here, but I need to know where my sister is. That guard made it sound like you haven't seen her since she first came here."

He clicked his tongue in annoyance. "I haven't seen her. She proved incapable of the task I initially required her for, so I put her to work in the kitchens."

"Oh." That sounded about right, and Zhaika relaxed a little, growing somewhat excited. She wanted to believe that she was excited because her sister had finally found some measure of work. But a small part of her looked forward to the opportunity to prove that she could do what Caesia couldn't, something which everyone had always refused to believe no matter how blatant the evidence was.

It was like the twins were a singular entity in everyone else's mind, and nothing Zhaika did could ever change it.

She was about to ask Ikreva what he needed her for when he beat her to it. "I am in need of a dormant telekinetic because I have reason to believe that a Demon has made its way into our dimension, and more could follow."

Zhaika recoiled, face wiping completely blank.

Her head only hurt more and more as the Prince explained the nature of the situation, and what she was supposed to do about it. According to him, Caesia and the many other dormants he'd sent for had proven unable to use their marks — which made Zhaika want to remind him that they were called dormant for a reason — but he insisted that the task could be done, and that he needed someone like her to do it.

She followed him down a set of winding stairs to a massive chamber, and at the end were the Gates.

They really did exist. And the Prince really believed she could close them.

"Do I...use my magic...like real telekinetics are taught to?"

"Mm-hmm." He still sounded weirdly impatient.

How many times has he tried this and failed?

A small, itching part of her said that she was no different from any of the others, and that she was likely to fail too. But she'd never been one to listen to it.

She planted her feet, raised her hands, and pushed. The Gates creaked into motion.

Zhaika flinched back, so shocked by her use of magic that it took her several seconds to comprehend that they'd moved the wrong direction.

"Kelliel's fury," she cursed, glancing at the Prince. "I'll get it right if I give it another shot." It sounded weak, knowing how much there was on the line, but she couldn't give up her one chance at meaning something to her Kingdom.

The Prince didn't look surprised. "Go ahead," he offered.

With shaking fingers, Zhaika aimed at the stone slabs and pushed again.

Again, they inched open.

She closed her eyes. What was she doing wrong?

Caesia failed too. Everyone else failed too.

She glanced at the Prince; he was tapping a foot in annoyance. It's like he wants me to open them.

And then she realized. "You're the Demon, aren't you?"

He sneered, giving her a fake bow. "Prince Allium of the Demons, at your service."

"So these Gates...they only move opposite of however I'm pushing them?" She wasn't sure he would even tell her, but he seemed to delight in the reveal of his identity, so it was worth a shot.

From the smile that twitched on his lips, she'd guessed well. "Opposite of however you desire to push them. The flow of your magic doesn't actually matter."

"And Caesia stopped pushing, so you..."

"She's in the dungeon with the others. As will you be, if you refuse to open the Gates further."

Zhaika took a slow breath, biting her lip. Her entire life, she had wanted nothing more than to really mean something to her people. And this was her chance; all she had to do was refuse to move Gates, if she couldn't figure out how to push them in the other direction.

"Ikr- Allium?" she asked finally.

"Yes?"

"If I open these enough to get another soul through, will you let my sister go?"

He blinked in surprise, glancing between the Gates and the girl. "You're offering to open the Gates further, because you want to save your sister."

Zhaika almost agreed before she caught what he'd said. Because you want to save your sister.

Did she really want to save Caesia at the cost of endangering the entire Kingdom, or even planet? Was her love and loyalty for her sister greater than her desire to save her society? If it was, she could use this moment to close the Gates. But that was just it — she still wished she were able to close the Gates.

She swallowed, meeting the Prince's black eyes and staring at the Demon behind them. "I don't want to save my sister," she said, throat thick with guilt. "I have to."

His eyebrows twitched down almost imperceptibly before he nodded once. "Very well. Open them about ten degrees, and I will let your sister go."

Taking a shaky breath, Zhaika turned back around, planted her feet, and pushed again.

The towering stone slabs continued to inch toward her. She watched their corners against the ground, grunting with the effort of using magic she'd never even touched before. At what looked like ten degrees, she stopped.

"Now I will escort you to my dungeon," the Demon told her. "If you come willingly, I will allow you to remain conscious. In turn, I will let your sister go free."

Zhaika frowned. "Why do I have to go to the dungeon if I did what you wanted?"

But she knew the answer. Because he can't have anyone expose his secret.

He's not going to let Caesia out either.

As he started to respond, Zhaika spun toward the Gates. She'd opened them enough for another soul to get through.

Another Demon was going to come into her world, and it was her fault.

She jumped, forcing her fear-ridden body to unfreeze.

"What are you doing?"

Zhaika took a deep breath, rubbing her hands together. The markings on her arms still stung from their first ever usage. It felt good.

"I'm making sure you can't do any more damage."

She ran straight at the Gates, habitually holding her breath as she dove between the stone slabs and into the blackness beyond.