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Zarathustra
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I stared at the wall in disgust. The packed dirt bore my claw marks, from when I woke up from my fevered nightmares.

Dad was outside my den, he didn't like the idea of me going off on my own anymore, and as stealthy as he was, I could always hear him coming.

"How long has it been?" I asked him, hearing him unclench his breath as he relaxed his stealth pose.

"Since when?" He asked, walking, sitting down next to me.

"Since...what are they calling it? The Battle of Dragonfly! Like anyone knows what that means." I spat.

"Zara, calm down a bit, you know it not good for you to get worked up, especially on your birthday." He tried to sooth me.

"I said, how long has it been?" I repeated with more force, I dug my claws into the soil with such force they hurt.

    He waited a long time before answering. "Two years."

    "We're sixteen years old today." I told him quietly. "You know, we used to stay up late at night, and he would tell me stories from the human world. He told me that in his tribe, sixteenth birthdays were a important, and they began their journey to adulthood from there."

    "We'll have a celebration if you want dear." My father answered quietly.

    I turned to him, tears in my eyes. "I don't feel grown up. Adults know how to handle pain, yet everyday I wake up...and it still hurts Dad."

    He smiled sadly at me, and pulled me into his chest. I cried silently into his fur. It still hurt, and it hurt so badly. I slept for most of that day. Until Jay came to see me.

"Hey Zara?" He asked stepping in the door frame.

"Come in." I sighed, he crouched down next to me.

"We need to talk." He announced. "About Zach, and what he did."

"What about it?" I spat.

He was unfazed by my prickly attitude. He knew I didn't mean it. In fact, as I peered more closely at him, he seemed angry.

"I just woke up from a dream with Suka, the first time we've seen her in two years. She had some very important things to tell me." He told me, his voice tense and strained.

I pushed myself up wearily, he flicked his tail and rush hurriedly from my den, he walk was angered and quick. I followed him, trying to keep up with his pace as he led me towards the Archives. We stalked past dozens of scrolls as he led me deeper into the caverns, until we came across one of the private reading rooms. There were already a bunch of scrolls laid out, but they were unopened.

"What is this?" I asked, my tail flicked around my ankles, since when did Jay read?

His anger dyed down a bit and he looked kind of sheepish. "I uh, need you to read these for me. Anyway, the dream I had with Suka."

"She appeared to me at first, looking really distressed and honestly embarrassed. She said she had wanted to talk to you, but something was stoping her. She told me Zach wasn't supposed to die."

I flinched, but at the same time my belly grew hotter and hotter as rage consumed me.

    "What?" I questioned, very slowly.

    He paws fumbled around with one of the scrolls, he pushed it open and tapped the top. "Read this for me will you?"

    "Ancient Magyk Volume Two: Dragonflies." I read, there was only about three paragraphs in the entire thing.

    "The mark on your right eye, Zara. Suka told me a very long time ago there was a Claw named Dragonfly who had uncontrollable Magyk powers, when she died her Magyk kept living and reincarnating itself into different claws. She had both yours and Zach's markings."

    "So you're saying we're one of those reincarnations?"

    He nodded. "Dragonfly had a twin sister, she was the first creature ever to be possessed by Tenebris, her Magyk was warped and started following the reincarnations of Dragonfly's Magyk, there was always the good twin, and the evil twin every hundred years or so, they would always case some huge historical event, and the evil twin always dies."

    I put two and two together. "Zach isn't evil."

    Jay shook his head. "No he wasn't. For some reason the Magyk screwed up this time, you guys each got half of each type of Magyk."

I looked away and contemplated this news. There was still that burning fire of anger and pain clutching onto my heart like a leech.

I told you you couldn't trust Suka, or any of the four. The voice announced, waking from it's silence, I felt a twinge of annoyance at it's sly comment and ignored it.

Be quiet. I told it, turning back towards Jay.

"So what does that mean?" I asked.

His shoulder fur prickled. "She said it meant you both should have died, but you both should have lived."

"Why did she wait so long to tell you all of this? It's been two years!" I roared, clawing the ground again.

I watched as his muzzle wrinkled in a mixture of slight disgust and fury. "She wanted to apologize. She said she was sorry for not seeing it earlier despite her best efforts. She acted like it was her fault and felt it would be best to wait to explain it to us."

It was her fault and you know it. The voice announced again.

I said shut up. I snapped.

Jay's head perked towards me. I realized I must have said the last part aloud, I silently cursed myself for my incompetence.

The voice was my friend, it told me things that I couldn't learn from Sierra of my parents. I first heard it just a little while after the Battle of Dragonfly, and it had stayed with me ever since.

"Zara?" Jay inquired, appearing at me shoulder. "Are you okay?"

I breathed. "I'm fine."

I changed the subject. "Why is the scroll on this Dragonfly Claw so short? Where did you even find it?"

"It was was in the very back of the forbidden enchantments section. I really ticked Skylark helping me get it. She was the only one who wouldn't get suspicious about a blind Meðal-claw in a library."

My heart skipped a beat. Skylark. Months after the battle she had turned up half dead in Ice-claw territory, one of the Battle-claw patrols had found her. She was imprisoned in one of the lower caverns for a few months for trying to join Tenebris to payback the heart break Zach caused her, until she was kicked out and left for dead. She dragged herself back to the Hill on her own, even after she had broken one of her wings. Skylark had been devastated to learn what had happened and had tried to kill herself, but it failed. She was under close watch by Lysander who was still trying to make peace with her to this day.

"So what happened? Why did everything go wrong?" I asked turning towards him.

"Suka said Zach thought he was the evil twin, that's why he was so willing to...you know."

I clawed at my face. "Ugh Great Glamora he is so stupid."

At least that's what I said. I felt like crying again on the inside. I can't believe he is so willing to die for me just because of some moron who lived a million years ago. I didn't know I was sobbing until Jay wiped away my tears for me.

    "Hey, hey." He whispered. "I'm here. It's gonna be okay."

    No it wasn't going to be okay, but it felt good to hear someone say it.

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AAAAaaaaaaghhhhh I don't like this chapter It feels rushed but I don't want to rewrite it because that would take. To. Long.

Bear with me pls.

Fan art is by WarriorMissy.