The Sisters Grim

I sighed as I leaned back against a wall, Elizabeth following suit. We had left the garden after she had set it ablaze, killing another guard on the way out, and we found ourselves hiding in the dark alleys of the city below the castle.

“So... sister, where to now?” I asked.

She grunted in frustration as she cleaned the blood of the third guard off her knife, “I don’t know, Victoria. I don’t recall anything about this world, or this city, or anything... at the moment, we’re blind.”

“Of course....”

She pushed herself off from the wall with a sigh, “Alright, let’s- ah-hck!” She suddenly clasped her hands around her throat, coughing and sputtering uncontrollably.

“Sister, what-” I went to grab her before she fell to the ground, but succumbed to a choking fit of my own. With every hack I felt a cold, prickly sensation build up in my throat, much like the feeling when I first remembered my powers.

I felt a strange sensation build up in my stomach, quickly rushing up my throat and to my mouth, barely giving me enough time to pull my scarf down.

I briefly saw Elizabeth do the same, before I clenched my eyes shut as some cold, painful liquid spewed from my mouth, spraying the ground beneath me. Opening my eyes and blinking the blurriness from them, I found myself staring at a thick, viscous pool of some black ichor, with small wisps of black trailing off into the air.

Hearing my sister gag, I looked over to see her bent over a puddle of thin, orange and black liquid, with small flames and plumes of smoke emitting from it. That's when I noticed the Eyes.

In each of our puddles was a large, spherical eye; pure white sclera and dark, piercing green color marked by shrunken black pupils. The sat in our respective pools, twitching madly and darting their vision at the world around them. The second the one I vomited up locked eyes with me, I felt my body seize up.

*

Elizabeth and I stayed stone faced as the mare screamed. She had just woken up and began thrashing wildly, pulling at her restraints.

She shouted something about her nobility, either trying to plead for her release or threaten us with her status.

I drowned out the cries as I reached for one of several small, bladed instruments; after the process was complete, she wouldn’t be shouting much anymore.

-/-

She only screamed louder through the initial stages of the process, and now it was starting to grate on my nerves- I could see the annoyance wearing down on my sister as well.

I sighed and carried her now-removed eyes over to a nearby shelf, placing them in a jar of preservative fluid, which also doubled as a solvent for the remaining blood covering the optic nerves.

“Please...” she begged, “I have a child, please....”

I stopped and turned back to her, my Eye in my hand, ready to finish the process. I stared long into the empty, bloody sockets in her skull.

“That is of no concern to us.” I said simply.

She shouted her voice till it cracked and broke as Elizabeth and I implemented the new Eyes into her skull, which immediately silenced her, as their effects took over.

*

I regained my senses, but all I saw was anger. All around me, everything I laid my eyes upon seemed to trigger my rage. Even worse was that I could feel that the Eye I had spat out- which had embedded itself into my right hand -was responsible for my anger. It pumped adrenaline into my blood, and dark, twisted fury into my mind.

Forgetting my sister momentarily, I screamed trying to vent some of my anger and stormed down the alley and out between the buildings, into the streets. So many innocent civilians and guards, all staring at me in confusion or worry.

I screamed again and threw my hand out, launching a small blade of darkness out at the nearest pony. She had only a second to cry in pain before it tore into her shoulder, cleaving the attached limb off and sending a spray of blood to the pony next to her.

There was a pause as they all stopped and stared, horrified; I didn’t.

I rushed forward at the blood-painted pony still frozen in fear and gripped the sides of her head. She clenched her teeth, and I felt her sweat seep through my gloves as she started to shake. I held a long glare into her eyes before I twisted her head to the side, eliciting a snap as her neck broke.

The next thing I knew a guard was bearing down on me, ready to swing a sword at my head with his own magic. I didn’t bother to dodge and simply grabbed it, bearing the painful, sharp sting as I tore it out of the air and threw it away.

He backed up slightly and I instinctively held my left hand out before me, as if holding a bow. To my slight shock, darkness crept up my arm and into my closed palm, forming the two arms of what looked like a longbow. Again purely on instinct, I made the motions of notching an arrow with my right hand, and to significantly less shock an arrow and string formed from my darkness.

Stupidly, the ponies seemed more stunned than I at my actions, as the guard who I stole the sword from simply stood in awe. Seeing my opportunity, I drew back the string and let the arrow fly, and it embedded itself just to the side of his left eye, all the way to the fletching.

The arrow disappeared, evaporating into black mist and fading into the air. I took a brief second to marvel at my now-remembered ability, but I was broken from my thoughts by Elizabeth.

“Victoria!” She shouted.

I felt a wave of heat wash past my back, and I turned to see a dying wall of fire pass over a guard, who fell to the ground in agony. It seemed that the guards had at least regained mental ground, and were retaliating against my actions.

Elizabeth and I stood back to back, surrounded by the five remaining guards, all of which had some form of sword, spear or dagger.

“Please, sister,” Elizabeth hissed under her breath, frustrated, “do not go storming out into the open, killing as you please. We only just escaped what I can easily deduce was imprisonment; we need not draw more attention!”

“Right,” I said and I shook my head, attempting to clear some of the anger, “I... I apologize it’s just....” I looked down at my right hand, “This Eye....”

“I know,” she whispered, in a much kinder tone, “but we must deal with the situation at hand- namely these guards -and leave from this city before we stop to discuss these...” she flashed her left hand, and I saw the eye she had expelled, “these Eyes....”

“Righ- dammit!” I ducked and swung upwards, automatically dispelling the bow and sending a wave of shadows up at the guard who had leapt at me.

He screamed as it cut through his armor and into his flesh, sending him back a few feet where he landed in a heap. One down.

I heard two more screams and the crackling of fire, as Elizabeth presumably killed to more. That left-

“Agh!” I felt a sharp pain in my side, and looked down to see one of the guards had stabbed me with their knife. I heard Elizabeth scream something in anger and the guard was ripped from my view, so I turned to face the last one.

My vision wavered through the pain, so I simply resorted to throwing several blades of darkness at random. The shout I received in response told me at least one hit its mark.

“Ah-hrgh!”

I flinched as a charred, mutilated body flew past- the guard who had stabbed me -and I felt a hand grasp my shoulder.

My vision started to fade- I could feel myself losing focus on the world around me, as Elizabeth picked me up and began to run.

“Don’t... rry... I’ll ge... s out... f hear....” Was the last thing I heard her say before I slipped into unconsciousness.