Serenity

"Sen, you look like shit," Asher said when he found me for breakfast. "Have you eaten anything lately?"

"I can't keep anything down," I admitted. "The visions are coming at all hours now. I'd kill for a solid eight hours of sleep."

He snorted, "Who are you and what have you done with my sister? I've never known you to sleep that much ever."

"Yeah, well you try living a few thousand lifetimes in minutes and see how much you wish for sleep," I grumbled. I started to say more, but another vision slammed into me.

Images of my Father swam before my eyes. I was lying in a coffin-like chamber with lights surrounding me. "How much longer?" he demanded. A soft voice replied, "Soon. The stasis must be maintained to grant immortality. Otherwise, it will only be a one-time transfer."

"Sen, Serenity!" Asher yelled. My eyelids fluttered as I found myself looking up at him. He had me cradled in his lap, his eyes panic-filled. "Fuck, what was that?"

I gave a weak smile, "My daily existence." Then everything went black.

Asher

I paced furiously in front of her chamber door as the healers attended to her. This madness had to stop. What was the purpose of those cursed visions? I never wanted her to suffer, just to come back and be happy. The longer she had been here, the more I realized I was a fool. The door opened softly, making me turn sharply. "How is she?"

"The Princess is resting now, Your Highness. The nosebleed was a combination of the visions, dehydration, and exhaustion. We've given her a mild sleeping draught." The woman was wringing her hands as if afraid to speak further.

"What aren't you telling me," I demanded as she shrank back.

"It's just... I fear the visions are stripping her life force, Sire. I've never seen anything like this. Instead of her powers fully blooming, they seem to be attacking her body. I fear if they continue, she...she won't survive." Tears were in her eyes as I felt the pit in my stomach grow.

"What do you suggest," I asked, my voice softer now.

"The seer. If the fates set her on this path, then perhaps the fates can see a way to save her, and if not, then at least a way to lessen the pain she must endure until it ends," she answered, her voice just barely above a whisper.

"Thank you," I spoke as I moved past her to enter Sen's bedchamber. She looked pale against the pastel sheets, her hair strewn around her head. Her fingers gripped the edge of the sheet tightly as she muttered in her sleep. I sat beside her, wishing I could do something, anything to help her.

"Daniel," she whimpered, followed quickly by, "No, Garen... Please, just let them go, I'll stay. Don't hurt them." Large tears rolled down her cheeks as she slept and my heart broke. She truly loved them. Even now in her dreams or visions, she would sacrifice herself for them. What have I done?

Leaving a healer to sit with her, I found my way into the deep recesses of my castle. Ancient tomes lined the walls, and my desk was littered with spells, potions, and assorted oddities. I placed the wards, knowing full well what I was about to do carried risks not just for myself, but for Sen. Then again, what options were left? Raising my hands, I called out to the ancestors, and called out to the very fates who had set my sister on this path. A myriad of whispers began to fill the room as the temperatures plummeted.

"You are not the chosen, how dare you summon us?" they hissed.

"She is dying," I begged, my voice filling the chamber. "Your gift has become a curse that is draining her life force. Why have you done this?"

Shrieks answered me as the ground shook, "We have done nothing! She was on the path. Another changed the course, not us."

"Then how do I save her?"

"You do not."

I felt as if the air had been sucked from my lungs. "Serenity's going to die - is that what you are telling me?"

"Never die."

I shook my head, "You aren't making any sense. She is already dying! How can she never die when the visions are killing her? The healer said her powers are draining her life force."

Cruel laughter answered me. "Not her powers. Those who want to use her powers, to channel them for their own glory - it is they who attack her. They turn her gift into a curse. She must fulfill the prophecy. The Grey Pillars must be brought into existence."

"Grey pillars? What are you talking about?" I yelled, becoming frustrated with their circular explanations. "How do I save my sister?"

"You don't. They do."

"They?" I repeated but was now only met with silence as the room became eerily still and the lights dimmed. I blinked rapidly, trying to adjust my eyes then froze when I heard his voice.

"Who the fuck are you?"

Author's Notes: Any guesses on The Grey Pillars?