Celestial Retribution

Chapter 1: In the Veil of Darkness

"The view is beautiful tonight, isn't it?" A soft female voice gently filled the silence of the moment.

The fantastic view, lit by the setting sun gave me a feeling of calmness. That calmness only being interrupted by the cold winter breeze penetrating into the deepest layers of my clothes. A shiver ran down my back while a new breeze rustled the few trees and many bushes that lining the mountain slope.

I turned around as my sister Zephyria joined me on the edge the cliff, from where you could see almost all the way north to the end of Silverdew Valley. It being a magnificent sight to behold. The valley was located on the far west of the Verdanian continent and as it was currently winter, the valley was filled with snow.

The snowy mountain tops were glistering in the slowly setting winter sun, as its soft orange glow made the valley look much warmer than it really was. The sky was slowly changing its light blue color, to an ever-darkening shade. Eventually, the blackened sky would reveal the millions of sparkling lights, that were always so clearly visible from this location. Equally a sight to behold.

"Yeah, it is." My voice showing the calm state of mind one would expect after having spend the last hour staring into the distance. But calm though it may be, a hint of sadness was evident.

Sis swiped away a tear that rolled over my cheek.

"7 years," she said as she sat down next to me. "We have survived for 7 years now. We will definitely make it. I know we will."

I looked at her, staring into the same distance as I had just now. Her face looked calm but deep in her eyes, you could see she was anxious, and driven. The thought of revenge has never left her, nor did it leave me. We were one after all. Looking back into the valley I saw the lighting already changed the whole mood of it. It was now some sort of Christmas landscape. You could see the small warmly glowing lights from the houses in the distance, bundled up in small communities throughout the valley.

"Thanks for the distraction sis. Now I missed a few minutes of sunlight." I said jokingly while shoving my elbow into her side.

"I know you saw it because I saw it, you idiot." she chuckled. We both laughed as our stares kept their focus in front.

The view reminded me of my time on Earth. Especially the times when I visited the Austrian Alps. Though I never really visited it much during winter times.

Would Austria have looked like this every winter?

I shook the thought.

You are not living that life anymore, you are living now. Stop thinking about it.

The temperature was dropping at a rapid pace now. The sun was slowly dipping behind the horizon on the east side of the valley. As the final rays of sunlight faded from the sky and the stars took their rightful place, the valley darkened completely.

"Shall we go back?" I asked as I stood up, holding my hand out to help her.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

She grabbed my hand and I pulled her onto her feet. I noticed that her hands were just as cold as mine were. I felt a shiver running through her as she stood up. We walked down the small winding path for about 20 min before reaching the garden of our home. By the time we reached it, the darkness made it hard to follow the path. Looking up, the stars became a bit hazy as a mist was setting in.

Next to the path into our garden, we placed lampposts with fire stones in the small cage at the top.
By injecting it with some aether, it would be burning the whole night, illuminating the pathways and regions around our house.

Holding my hand up to the lamp post, I focused my aether onto the stone, and within seconds the stone sparkled and erupted into a small but bright flame. The stone gave off some aetheric energy that showed itself in the form of small orange-colored orbs. They floated around the firestone and the lamp cage and it made it look all the more magical.

A clang rang through the room as our cups clinked together.

"To our parents," we both said in unison with a hint of sadness audible to any who would have been there with us. We held the cup against each other as we looked each other in the eyes. Our faces were serious, but again, that hint of sadness hidden within.

"We will never forget you and we will never forgive!" Again we spoke, or rather shouted. But this time the sadness was gone and replaced with motivation and anger.

"We will get our revenge!" My sister called out as she emptied her cup and slammed it on the table.

"You're damn right. And we will get Aria back!" I almost shouted as I slammed my own cup on the table as well.

During our dinner, we had a bunch of drinks and because of that, were a bit drunk at the moment. My sister had it worse than I did, which made it all the more difficult to keep myself upright as well. At least for now.

"Let's go to bed." We said in unison again.

We stood up, dropped our cups in the sink and we both went upstairs to our rooms.

"Goodnight, Zeph," the gentle voice of my sister reflected off the door to hear bedroom she was now leaning against. My sister started entering her room. But not before slamming her head into the door as she forgot to pull down the handle.

I couldn't contain my laughter when the thud of her forehead against the door echoed through the hallway.

"G-g-goodnight Sis," I could hardly reply through my laughter.

Eventually, she opened the door and with one last smile, we both disappeared into our rooms.

A deep rumbling noise caught my attention as I slowly awoke from a few hours of sleep. It took me a few seconds to acclimatize to the darkness around me when a massive roaring sound blasted through the valley. The roar was followed by violent tremors, the likes we have never experienced.

The house was shaking heavily. Trying to get out of my bed as fast as possible proved more difficult than I'd imagined. The ground shaking below my feet made it hard to walk. I was holding onto the bedside until I caught my bearings. Rushing to my desk, I yanked my clothes off the chair. The chair went flying backward. The noise around us was overpowering as I put on my clothes and rushed to the door.

As I reached out to the handle of the door, I pulled back when my Sis swung it open.

"Let's get out of here!" she shouted.

The house was still shaking violently causing Sis to lose her balance. Within a split second, I was able to grab her arm and prevent her from falling down the open stairway.

"Thanks" she uttered through her breaths.

"You good?" I asked as I helped her up as best I could.

"Yeah, let's keep going."

All around us heard things falling and breaking. Inside the kitchen, nearly all the plates were spread out on the floor in thousands of pieces. Vases lay broken on the floor.

Through all the chaos we had to focus on our goal. The front door was straight on from the stairs. Slamming the door open, we jumped outside, huffing and puffing as we tried to catch our breath.

When my breathing returned to somewhat normal levels, I looked into the valley. What I saw dropped my jaw to the ground. The sight was one I had never seen before. As magnificent as it looked, you could feel this was not going to end well.

The valley, which just hours ago looked like a pristine winter wonderland, was now enveloped in a dark purple hue. Looking up to the sky, we saw what could only be described as the Aurora Borealis that we had on Earth. But this wasn't just a nice sight. This spelled something bad. Something really bad.

The sky in the valley was covered with a layer of dark purple-colored mist with beautiful light purple strings floating in seemingly all directions.

"Sis, check this out!" I called out with my voice not hiding the hints of fear.

"What is this?" she questioned.

We were so fascinated by the event that we didn't notice that the earth stopped shaking. As fast and intense as the earthquake was, it faded away just as quickly.

Suddenly my eyes opened wide. Fear and panic being the only emotions being conveyed. I realized that the worst was yet to come.

In unison, Sis and I turned around and ran for the door. Meanwhile, a light rumble announced the impending devastation, one that would probably change this valley forever.

The rumble grew into an almighty roar within seconds as debris started to announce the inevitable disaster that was only seconds away. The door slammed closed as we ran towards the back of the kitchen. Clattering of debris started to hit the house as we desperately tried to open the cellar door. The cellar door was a massive and thick wooden door and the whole cellar was made with stone. Surely this would help our chances of survival.

Not a moment too soon. We opened the door, jumped inside, barred the door with a solid wooden beam, and ran as far away from the door as we could. We bundled up in the farthest corner of the cellar and hoped for the best.

The immense sounds of snow, rocks, trees, and more, blasting all around us, came to a stop. We looked at each other while holding hands. Hands that were sweaty, cold, and shaking in fear.

"W-w-was t-t-hat it?" I finally spoke as silence returned to the cellar.

"I... guess." Sis added.

The avalanche might have just taken a minute before it was over, but it felt like an eternity. Shivering from the cold, we realized we were still just wearing light clothing. It didn't help that it was in the middle of the night. The outside temperature must have been at least a reasonable amount below freezing. The cellar being all stone don't really help keeping it warm in here either.

"Let me," Zephyria said as she held her hands out and started to focus. She held her hands together like you would hold a basketball cupping it from both sides. The space between her hands started to emanate small orange glowing particles when a small flame erupted between her hands. The warmth spreads fast having an immediate soothing effect on our minds.

"Let's see if we can get out of here." I walked towards the cellar door. I tried removing the wooden beam that locked the door in place. I pushed it up but the beam didn't move.

"Shit," I cursed. "Seems like there is much weight against the door. I can't open it."

While I was trying to pull the beam out of its lock, Sis lit the candles hanging from the walls. This at least gave us some more light to work with. She then put her hand on my shoulder and pulled me back gently.

The flame in her hand disappeared and she took a battle stance. She turned to her right and moved her body back a little to lean on her right leg. She moved her left hand to her right shoulder and held her right hand near her hips. She looked as ready for battle as I have ever seen her.

Small orange particles started collecting in the air as they started swirling around her. Much like with the flame earlier. She stood there, eyes closed, full focus.

"Cinder Burst!" she called out as she released her spell.

A stream of wind formed around her, slowly turning an orange glow. The wind was being charged with the fire element that caused, what looked like, a small firestorm around her.

She struck out her left arm as if she was guiding the firestorm in the direction of the door. The intense warmth of the flames zapped across the room as it exploded against the beam holding the door closed.

We looked at each other, waiting for something to happen.

A sudden cracking noise, coming from the direction of the door, made us sprint away to the corner we first hid ourselves in.

With a big snap, the beam on the door broke and the door sprang open as some snow and debris dropped inside.

"Good thing you didn't pull the beam out" I joked.

Sis walked to the door with me close behind.

"Well, shit. This is going to be a problem."

"You mean a challenge, right?" Sis corrected me.

"Of course, that's what I meant."

Inspecting the wall of snow in the door frame I tried to come up with an idea.

"Ok, I am going to dig a hole to the top. I hope we can get some fresh air in here at least. Even if it is freezing."

Sis just listened and got a new fire going in her hands. Meanwhile, I picked up some wood that was laying around and started digging.

I punched through the snow as I reached the surface. Fresh air streamed into the hole that I just created. A shiver ran through me as I was yet again reminded of my, not so practical, clothing attire.

Making the hole bigger, I clamber out when another shiver hits me. This time, however, it had nothing to do with the cold. My body tensed, my eyes large. Sweat was quickly erupting all over my body as panic started to set in.

Above me, in the sky, a dark entity floated. A dark entity enveloped in a dark aura. This was my worst nightmare come true. It was just floating above the house as if it was looking for something.
That something was me.

Sis frantically tugged on my leg, trying to pull me back in. With a final hard pull, I fell back down the hole. We ran to the furthest corner, away from the door. We made ourselves as small as we could. Shivering, sweating, fearing for our lives.

With our minimal amount of sanity, we started focusing on ourselves as we were reminded of a skill our Uncle Kellan once taught us. It hid your magical presence. If done right, 'not even the best mage out there will be able to find you,' he would say.

Hoping for the best we got as close as possible and hid ourselves in the cellar.

A cold breeze woke me up from my slumber. I tried to get up but my sister held my arm tight.

I softly shook her, hoping she would wake up.

"Sis... Sis... Wake up" I said softly.

"uhm...hmmm" she groaned as she opened her eyes.

"What happened?" she looked around with a confused look.

"We fell asleep." I got up as Sis let go of my arm. "I think we are lucky to even be alive. Come on," I reached out to her. "Let's see if it is safe to get out of here."

She grabbed my hand and pulled her up. Her hand felt cold, though we both were very cold to begin with.

As we climbed out of the cellar and into the early morning sun that had just reached over the western mountain range, we saw the devastation Our house was already on a mountain slope but I guessed the snow was about has high is the roof of our house was. This level gave us the perfect view of the valley. But what we saw left us breathless.

The ones beautiful valley looked like a disaster area. The towns we saw yesterday, were gone. The northern city of Sunfrost used to be visible from our house if even just a little. But now it was gone.
No matter where we looked, trees were pointing in all directions, massive boulders lay everywhere.

"What... the... hell" we said in unison and completely in shock.

"Is there even anyone alive in this valley?" I questioned myself.

"We have to get out of the valley Sis," I stated plainly.

She nodded. "Yes, we do."

Author Note
The story has kicked off.
The siblings have lost everything but each other.
How will they get out of the valley with all the destruction around them?


This chapter was rewritten after having learned a lot more about writing.
It's not that the first version was that bad, but with my current knowledge and experience, limited as it may be, I saw there was a lot of details missing.
Wanting to make the story read and feel a lot better, I decided to rewrite it while keeping the original events, just written out a little differently.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, whether you read it for the first time or came back to read it again.
Thank you for your time reading it and if you enjoyed it, be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments.
Would love to hear your views on the story, its world, and its characters ^_^

See you in the next chapter.

Note: Be aware, that I am rewriting the earlier chapters so please excuse the change in writing depth and quality when you read through the chapters.
You can still read through everything without any issues. I won't be changing the events, just adding more depth to them.
if you want to keep up to date with the latest updates be sure to join me on my discord here https://discord.gg/DG7tpJmSx9