The Destiny of Amalah (18 page)

‘I am not everyone Amara, I am your sister,’ Ellora replied, her tone firm and grounded and not betraying how scared she felt inside.

‘Then be a good sister and leave me alone,’ an irked Amara replied.

‘No,’ Ellora said obstinately.

‘What?’ Amara asked, glaring at Ellora and then at Rakan, who seemed only intensify Amara’s feelings of anger.

‘No,’ Ellora repeated, standing firm, ‘I cannot. I see the changes in you, everyone does…’

‘So you are taking their side?’ Amara interjected.

‘This is not about sides Amara and I am not here about other people. I am here about you, as your sister. People see the change in you but they do not see that you are losing yourself as each day goes by.’

‘Ellora, leave me,’ Amara said raising her voice. ‘I do not think that you are in any position to talk of my behaviour,’ she said bristling. ‘And how dare you bring Rakan here while you begin to launch your attack on me,’ she angrily.

‘I brought Rakan here because I dare not face you alone,’ Ellora said softly. ‘Amara look at what you are becoming, it cannot go on.’

‘Get out!’ Amara screamed. ‘Get out now, how dare you?’

‘I dare because I have to. You are all I have left Amara. Please,’ she begged, trying not to cry; ‘listen to me. I don’t know what is wrong with you but the path that you are on can only be causing you more pain, and it will bring about your downfall and mine.’

Amara stood and faced Rakan and Ellora and it was clear she was incensed. Ellora and Rakan did not need her to speak to gauge her anger and Amara was growing more incensed by the second as she stared at them. She could stand discontent among the ranks of the guard and the people who worked for her, but from her own sister; the sister she had taken care of since her parents had died. “How dare she,” she thought to herself.

‘How dare you!’ she shouted. You ungrateful…’ she stopped short of calling Ellora names. ‘I take care of you, I am there for you and I have seen to your every need since our parents died, and now,
now
you come to me,’ her voice growing louder; ‘with Rakan at your side to embarrass and attack me.’

‘I am not attacking you Amara,’ Ellora insisted, raising her voice too. ‘I love you, but something is wrong. Surely you must know that! You used to treat everyone well and now you are treating people as though they are beneath you, and you are so angry all of the time. Amara listen to me,’ Ellora begged.

It was more than Ellora could bear to hear and once again, Amara’s temper got the better of her. ‘Get out!’ she screamed. ‘Both of you get out, get out now,’ she ordered Ellora and Rakan.

Rakan turned to leave but Ellora stood her ground.

‘No,’ Ellora said defiantly, causing Rakan to turn back around to stay by his friend’s side.

‘You dare defy me?’ Amara raged. She outstretched her arms and pointed at Ellora. ‘You, who claim to be my sister, come here and attack
me
and then defy me.’

‘Amara wait,’ Ellora pleaded.

‘Get out,’ Amara screamed and as she yelled at her sister, the arm that had been pointing at Ellora swung violently towards the door, and something happened that stunned all three of them.

Amara had felt a surge of power course through her body and her arm and when she swung it towards the door, bright cobalt blue streaks of energy left her hands and hit Ellora like a thunderbolt. The energy picked Ellora up off her feet and flung her towards the door with great speed and power.

‘No!’ Rakan shout; he instinctively pushed both of his arms out towards Amara and to his and Amara’s surprise; a stream of violet energy flew out of his hands and hit Amara. It broke the stream of energy that was hurling Ellora through mid-air and towards the door and she dropped to the ground with a thud and when she was there – she did not move.

‘Ellora!’ Rakan cried and when she did not move, he glared at Amara. ‘What have you done?’ he yelled.

Amara looked on at Rakan who was now standing over Ellora. ‘You started it,’ she screamed back. You came in here and dared to attack me,’

‘You were out of control,’ he said, his voice raised as he got to his feet.

‘Don’t speak to me about control, she screamed. Everyday, I have to control…the palace, the nations, everything. When do I get time to cry, tell me?’ she barked. ‘You who dares to come in here and tell me, how I should behave,’ she said angrily.

‘You do not get to attack your sister,’ Rakan snapped back.

‘STOP TELLING ME WHAT TO DO,’ Amara raged.

It was the final straw and all at once, the rage and grief within Amara was unleashed as her magical power was born.

‘I am sick of everyone telling me what to do,’ she said, hurling her arms forward and unleashing more of the blue energy from her hands, sending Rakan flying ten feet across the room.

Amara had lost control, her emotions were feeding her power and her power was intensifying her emotions and soon, she was consumed with her rage and her power and she had no idea how to deal with both.

Rakan writhed about in agony, as another bolt of energy that Amara had hit him circulated through his nerves and muscles. The energy was powerful and it was causing him excruciating pain. Amara walked towards Rakan slowly, passing Ellora who was still unconscious on the floor. She continued to walk towards him, she seemed to be in a trance but her face was contorted with rage. She was staring at him with angry glinting eyes, all the while, her hands discharging cobalt blue sparks of energy that crackled intermittently.

Rakan was still in pain and he was trying to catch his breath, which was difficult for him to do and so he made do with short shallow gasping ones.

He watched as Amara grew closer to him, he knew that she was no longer in control of her own body but he had no idea of how to stop her. He spied Ellora out of the corner of his eye, lying still and he watched as Amara drew her arms up ready to attack him again, he knew he had to reach her somehow.

Rakan steeled himself and somehow managed to draw in a deep breath and then suddenly, he lifted up the arm that he had been using to support himself with and hurled whatever energy he had at Amara and it flew towards her, this time in small balls of violet energy. It was enough to send her hurtling across the room and it gave him enough time to get to his feet.

‘Then why don’t you behave like a grown up,’ he bellowed at her. ‘Attacking your sister, and your friends this way.’

Amara let out another scream as she flew back towards the wall, she hit it hard but slapped her hands against it, letting them take most of the impact. ‘And why don’t you mind your own business?’ she screamed as she hurled more energy at Rakan.

‘Because you’re out of control,’ he said, as he jumped through the air to avoid another volley of energy coming from Amara. Rakan sent a volley of energy towards Amara and this time, it seemed to send her flying and it was her turn to land on the floor in a crumpled heap.

Amara didn’t seem to be moving, so Rakan rushed towards Ellora and in seconds, he was on his knees by her side checking on her; she was still breathing but she would not open her eyes. He stroked her hair and quickly examined her head and when he came to the back of it, he felt a solid large lump and he hoped she would be alright.

‘Shouldn’t you be more worried about me?’ Amara asked menacingly. Rakan turned around to see Amara getting to her feet and glaring at him,, her lips curled in a malevolent smile; ‘after all, I am the reason why you came here.’

‘Amara, I don’t want to hurt you,’ Rakan said sincerely.

‘You already did.’ she said acidly. ‘You all did… you…’

‘Amara stop!’ Rakan shouted. ‘I don’t know what is happening to either one of us and we should not find out this way,’ he said pleading with her.

‘I don’t mind,’ she barked, as more of her repressed rage consumed her and more of the cobalt blue energy began to emanate from her hands.

‘Amara!’ Rakan warned.

‘Rakan!’ she snapped in retort.

‘Stop this, please, I beg you.’

‘Yes you will be begging,’ she said coldly, her voice now deep and unrecognisable.

She expelled more energy out of her hands and towards Rakan, but this time Rakan was ready for her and he jutted out his hand, which held off her energy with his own.

Amara took her other hand, quickly pointing it at Rakan and then swung it towards the right-side wall, sending Rakan flying through the air in the same direction. He speedily dropped both hands to his side, raised them up again and flicked them towards Amara sending out volleys and streaks of energy, which hit Amara directly in the chest.

Her hold over him collapsed and Rakan fell towards the floor but unlike Ellora, his reflexes were lightening quick and he turned his plummet into a summersault, before landing with both feet firmly on the ground, with his back to Amara.

As Rakan had turned around, he could see Amara was getting ready to attack him once again but he was ready for her. Unlike Amara, Rakan was still in control emotionally and he had the wherewithal to try and work out how his powers worked. As he moved his hands and arms, he began to catch on:

‘Flick of the fingers sends out energy balls,’ he told himself; ‘remember, palm out means stream,’ he said as he sent out a stream in confirmation. Rakan was working on logic and anger, whereas Amara was working on instinct and rage alone but both seemed to be effective as they faced each other.

‘You’re not the only one with power,’ he taunted, as he dodged another of her salvos and sent one back to her.

Both of them were angry at each other and were taunting each other verbally as they continued hurling balls of energy at each other and luckily, for the most part, they missed each other, hitting the walls, pictures and ornaments behind them instead.

The noise could be heard in the palace halls and a maid and guard who were walking past both rushed to the door to see what was happening; they opened the door slightly and when they peered through and saw what was happening, the maid closed the door quickly and they both rushed off to find either Michael, Garrick, Häkan, Thaddeus or Raynor.

The study was being destroyed as Rakan and Amara battled it out with their new found magical powers, both of them were covered in cuts and bruises where the energy had hit them or gone past them but sliced them on the way past. Rakan was clearly the worse off out of the two of them; there were bruises covering his body from being hurled against the wall or to the floor. He had taken the brunt of Amara’s power to his arms as he had tried to protect his body and Ellora who had now began to stir and Rakan and Amara both saw her move slightly.

‘You can protect yourself Rakan, but I wonder – can you protect Ellora?’ the deep and unfamiliar voice of Amara asked.

‘Leave her alone,’ Rakan bellowed.

‘No,’ A glowering Amara replied.

She raised her hand and aimed at Ellora and when Rakan saw what she was about to do; without hesitation he dived towards Ellora. He flew through the air for what seemed longer than was humanly possible and landed just in front of her in just enough time to take the numerous bolts of energy that Amara had intended to reign down on her sister.

Rakan fell to the ground as the bolts hit him and now he was convulsing and smarting at the same time. The pain was extreme, he had never known pain like this before in his short life and as he was writhing in agony Amara walked towards him and stood over him.

‘Enough Amara,’ Rakan croaked. ‘Please, enough, he said imploring her. Amara was caught by surprise by Rakan’s vulnerability and she halted, trying to work out what to do, but her confusion was fleeting as her rage returned.

‘You should not have come here today,’ she shouted, as she was looking at him, her eyes glaring intensely, and clearly not caring about the pain he was in.

She pointed her hands directly over him and was about to do him some more harm when a vice like grip took hold of her arm. She looked at the hand that was wrapped around her wrist and then followed its arm and looked at the person to whom it belonged – it was Ellora.

‘Feel,’ Ellora said slowly, still holding onto Amara with one hand and then she touched Rakan with the other. ‘Feel his pain,’ Ellora said softly but emphatically, as she looked at her sister.

Ellora could feel the pain that Rakan was in, not just the physical pain that Amara had inflicted on him, but the pain that was in his heart, the pain he felt when his friend had enjoyed hurting him and her sister, the pain he felt because he felt betrayed and the pain he felt for she had truly wounded him and Ellora.

Through her touch Ellora made Amara feel those same feelings that Rakan was experiencing.

‘Stop,’ Amara cried. ‘Stop it please.’

His pain was like a knife to her chest and the realisation that she had caused it struck her like a bolt of lightening. His pain was now her pain and she felt it as much as he and she felt sick because of what she had done and what she had become and those feelings were enough to let her overcome the rage that had taken over her mind and her body.

‘Feel my pain Amara,’ Ellora continued. ‘Is this what you want? Is this what you want to become?’ she whispered.

‘No,’ she choked as she broke from her trance and the tears began to fill her eyes. ‘Dear god no,’ she said weakly. ‘What have I done?’ she asked herself as she fell to her knees in complete shame. ‘Rakan,’ she said looking at him. ‘I am so sorry,’ she sobbed as she reached out to touch him. ‘Please forgive me,’ she begged.