She's Like Me - Thea's Revelation
The fragmented message, shimmering malevolently on the obsidian scrying mirror, was a cruel jest. She's looking for you. The words, forged by a magic I recognized as intensely familiar, yet utterly alien, were a discordant symphony in the cold, cavernous chamber. My twin. My sister. 
The sheer audacity of it, to appear now, a ghost from a past I had meticulously, ruthlessly, sought to bury.
A jolt, sharp and unexpected, lanced through the icy veins of my heart. A twin. I’d always been a solitary entity, a lone wolf carving my own path through a world too weak, too naive, to understand true power. To discover there was another, a mirror image of myself, presumably walking in the despised light… it was a disruption, a tremor in the carefully constructed edifice of my new existence.
The Darkness Queen’s power, a raw, intoxicating current, pulsed beneath my skin, a constant, low hum that usually drowned out the unwelcome whispers of memory. It promises dominion, absolute control, an end to the frustrating, chaotic dance of hope and despair that defines the so-called "good" in this realm. 
But even in the deepest, most suffocating shadows, the phantom echoes of a different life persist. I see their faces sometimes, shimmering specters in the periphery of my vision.Lyra’s unwavering gaze, Elara’s fierce determination, even Sereena’s gentle compassion. 
Their trust, once a warm cloak around me, now lies in shattered fragments, a bitter testament to my choice. And now, a sister. Another thread to this tapestry I so violently, so definitively, ripped apart.
Guilt. A foolish, antiquated emotion. 
I’d believed I’d purged it, burned it away with every calculated betrayal, every act of defiance against the dwindling light. Yet, it clings, a persistent, annoying fly in the ointment of my triumph. It’s the phantom touch of their camaraderie, the memory of shared laughter before the darkness offered me the ultimate truth  that power is the only true ally.
It’s the chilling knowledge that I betrayed not merely an alliance, not just a queen, but a bond, a deep-seated trust that had once felt like family.
And now, a literal family. A twin. She seeks me out, unaware of the monster I’ve become, the  transformation that has taken hold of my very essence. Does she possess the same latent magic that I once struggled to control, the power that ultimately drew me to the Darkness Queen’s irresistible embrace? Does she look exactly like me, a living, breathing reflection of what I could have been, what I chose not to be? The thought gnaws at me, a persistent ache. 
This complicates everything. The Darkness Queen demands absolute loyalty, an unyielding devotion that leaves no room for sentiment, no space for the delicate threads of kinship. But the idea of her, of this unknown sister… it’s a weakness I cannot afford, yet one I find myself unable to completely dismiss. It’s a flicker of the old me, the one who foolishly believed in the sanctity of light, in the warmth of connection.
The war is upon us. I have laid bare their defenses, exposed their most guarded secrets, whispered their every vulnerability into the willing, eager ear of my new mistress. My hands are stained, my soul… clouded, yes, but also exquisitely honed. But this sister. Does she carry a piece of the innocence I so willingly abandoned? Will she see through the imposing facade of my power, through the cold confidence, to the unsettling emptiness beneath? Or will she, like so many others who dared to stand in my path, simply become another casualty of my ambition, another pawn in the grand game of shadows? 
The thought is chilling, yet within that chill, a tiny ember of something akin to fear, or perhaps… a desperate, aching longing, dares to glow. She’s like me. 
And that terrifies me most of all. What if she too understands the allure of true power? What if she too sees the futility of the light? Or worse, what if her light is so blinding, it forces me to confront the darkness within?
The image in the scrying mirror flickered, then solidified. Not just a message, but a face. My face, yet different. Softer. Untouched by the shadows that have etched themselves into the very bone of my being. My sister. My twin. The words echoed, hollow and disbelieving, in the vast emptiness of my stolen chamber. She's looking for you.
It hit me, then, with the force of a physical blow. Not the kind of blow that brings pain, but the kind that shatters glass, revealing the distorted reality beneath. A twin. All these years, I have walked through the world believing myself an anomaly, a singular star destined to burn brightly, or to consume. I carved my path with ice and ambition, convinced that solitude was strength, that connection was weakness. And all this time, another me existed. A reflection I never knew, now shining its unwanted light directly onto the cavernous void I’ve made of my soul.
The Darkness Queen's power, usually a soothing balm, a constant, intoxicating hum, now feels like a discordant shriek. It promises omnipotence, an end to the petty vulnerabilities that plague mortals. It drowns out the whispers, yes, but not entirely. Not tonight. Tonight, they claw at the edges of my consciousness, a relentless chorus of accusation. Lyra’s unwavering loyalty, Elara’s fierce camaraderie, Sereena’s gentle, persistent belief in my better self. Their faces, once blurred by the haze of my ascent into shadow, are now starkly, painfully clear. Every smile, every shared secret, every promise I made and then shattered. It’s not just a memory; it’s a burning shame, a cold knot twisting in the pit of my stomach. The very fabric of who I was, who they thought I was, lies in ruins, meticulously torn apart by my own hands.
And now, a literal family. A twin. She seeks me out, blindly, innocently, unaware of the monstrous transformation I have embraced. Does she have the same restless spirit, the same yearning for something more, something deeper, something powerful? Or is she everything I discarded? Everything I deemed weak? Does she still carry the naive light I once possessed, before I saw its limitations, its fragility, its ultimate futility? The thought is a venomous serpent, tightening around my chest. She looks like me. She is like me. And that is the most terrifying truth of all.
This complicates everything. The Darkness Queen brooks no sentiment, no weakness. She demands absolute, unyielding devotion, a purity of shadow. But this twin… she is a gaping wound in my carefully constructed facade. A raw, exposed nerve. The idea of her, of this unknown kin, forces me to confront the ghost of who I was. The girl who cherished truth, who fought for justice, who believed in the inherent goodness of the world. That girl is buried deep, suffocated under layers of shadow, but tonight, she stirs. She weeps.
The war is upon us. I have given them every advantage, betrayed every trust, exposed every secret. My hands are stained with the invisible blood of their future. My soul is not merely clouded; it is a landscape of jagged peaks and echoing chasms, sculpted by my choices. But this sister… what will she do when she finds me? Will she recoil in horror? Will she try to pull me back, to rekindle that dying ember of light within me? And what if she succeeds? What if, in seeing her, I see the path I abandoned, the life I could have led? What if I see the truth of what I lost, not just what I gained?
The warmth of the scrying mirror fades, and I’m left in the oppressive chill of my own making. The Darkness Queen’s power still hums, but now it feels less like a comfort and more like a cage. My twin. She’s like me. And the agonizing, unbearable truth is, she represents a chance for redemption I don't believe I deserve, and a mirror to a past I’m desperately afraid to face. The guilt, once a whisper, is now a roar, echoing in the desolate chamber of my heart. And for the first time in a very long time, I am afraid.