an illusion of mind

Evan contrary to common believe loved his twin sister, not just that, but to death too, he loved her so much he was ready to take over the burden of the throne to protect her mentality and kind soul, he knew full well as a leader one must make so many evil and inhumane decisions, and he was ready to be that evil to protect his sister, he wanted to shelter her to keep her safe and innocent.

he knew she wasn't suitable to be an empress, so he chose to take over that burden, to shelter, to keep her innocent, even if it's just for a few more years... please stay safe...

and to achieve that he must become emperor, he decided to distance himself from his sister to not hurt her by opposing her in the throne, if his sister and him were close and he opposed her, he knew she would be heart broken, that's why...

"hey, idiot are you finally awake?" he spoke putting on a fake unconcerned tone, but he knew deep inside that he was scared to death for her.

"...w-what...." she groggily sat up and looked left and right, looking at Regina who was smiling and back at Evan, who's state was quite disheveled, he was still in his uniform it was dirtied up and extremely uncomfortable, despite that he forced a cocky smile and spoke up, "look at you~ getting kidnapped so easily~"

"Evan?" Amanda spoke finally steadying herself up to speak her voice was hoarse from not speaking for a long time, she had been kidnapped for a week and her state was evidence of that, she was skinnier and her skin was paler, and her eyes had bags underneath them.

Evan winced, his heart ached for his twin sister, seeing her so weak so vulnerable, he wanted to hug her to protect her, but he steadied himself, he was doing this for the greater good, it's better to distance himself and win the throne to protect his sister.

he steeled himself and coughed into his hand, "what happened to you? did they do anything to you?" Evan asked his eyes turning serious, Amanda looked at him her eyes unfocused for a moment.

before she gasped and her eyes widened she clutched her head and started to hyperventilate, tears streamed down her face and started stuttering out words frantically, "I can't! I can't remember!!!" she clutched her head desperately as if to stop the rest of her memories from escaping her.

Amanda felt like there was something very important stolen from her against her will, something vital, she clutched her head harder, her fingers almost piercing her skin, "I CAN'T REMEMBER!!!" she screamed out, a huge gap in her memory was gone, ripped away, it was like there was a void in her mind, 5 days of the time she spent was gone.

she felt someone shaking her, "GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!!!" Evan yelled at his sister panicking slightly seeing his sisters state.

suddenly Regina put a hand on her head, Evan looked at her confused and stunned.

Amanda started calming down her tears stopped flowing and her grip softened up, she no longer felt panic or feel, her memories weren't back but she was... feeling fine about it?

"w-what did you do?" Amanda looked up at Regina, she knew she was supposed to feel panicked that she was calming down so easily, it's as if the panic was forcefully taken elsewhere...

a bead of sweat rolled down Regina's chin as she let out a breath and smiled, "I took care of that, you can speak normally now..." she said smiling, her wide smile twitched slightly.

Evan looked at Regina in suspicion but he knew this wasn't the time for this, "what's the last thing you remember?" he asked her letting out a breath calming down too, but his hands held his sister's shoulders tightly still as if he was afraid she would go into panic again.

"I-I remember.... Demons.... DEMONS?!!" she exclaimed her eyes widening at her own memory, she felt panic again, but strangely this panic wasn't gone, it seems the panic that stems from her forced memory loss was the one that was taken.

"why are there demons in the empire?!" she exclaimed looking at Evan who just nodded, he expected this reaction because he knew the shadeskins, Regina had told him about them, how they were the perfect Demonic species for this type of thing, she had surprised him by her knowledge in demons and made him a little suspicious about her, she is Varcan after all...

Varca was the closest empire to the demonic lands and where the final battle between humanity and the demons had happened, it was to be expected a Varcan of all people knew about demons.

he shook his head and looked at his sister, "I know there are demons in the empire but we must keep it a secret..." he said shaking his sister to calm her down.

Amanda let out a breath and looked at him, "why should we keep it a secret! we should tell a professor!" she said gripping his forearm in her hand, her grip soft and gentle.

Evan felt his sister's worry through her movements, he sighed and started explaining, "well you know how demons are supposedly stuck in the nether planes right?" he said turning to his sister.

"y-yeah?" she answered simply.

"well you might not know this but demons cannot leave the nether planes... because they are simply extremely selfish and self-centered creatures, they simply can't survive outside as a group, so seeing those supposedly solitary demonic species the shadeskins cooperate so well with each other only means one thing..." he said his eyes shadowing over.

at this Amanda's face turned panicked and she held a hand to her mouth stifling a gasp "... there is a new demon king..." she muttered under her breath in disbelief.

"no, you're both wrong, why yes you're right there is a demon king, it's just that this demon king isn't exactly knew." Regina spoke up from the side holding a finger up in an explanatory gesture.

"what do you mean...?" Amanda asked turning to her.

"well, some of you might not know, but long ago, precisely five hundred years ago, when the demon king was defeated, he spoke about a return, he spoke about a time when he would return to rule over the demons once more, the exact words are...."

humans.

prepare yourselves for a time... a time when I will be back...

prepare for a time of war, unrest, and slaughter.

SHE will not be around then, what a pity...

the progenitor will come back to seal the fate of humans.

"that's...." Amanda had no words, besides, "how do you even know this?"

"I dunno." Regina shrugged casually with an unknowing expression.

"the rest of the words make sense but... who's this 'she' he's talking about?" Evan asked Regina.

"Also dunno." Regina shrugged again turning to him.

"do you even know anything?" Amanda asked crossing her arms in annoyance.

"hey! it's not my fault! this was 500 years ago how would I know?!" she huffed crossing her arms turning away.

in truth Regina did know... she did know this 'she' was...

"that doesn't matter now, but it confirms it, the demon king is back and the demon appearances are proof of that..." Evan said breaking Regina out of her stupor and she nodded in agreement.

"this is huge... this is bigger than any of us... this is a worldly matter!" Amanda exclaimed.

"that is precisely why we should keep it a secret and tell father when we have the chance..." Evan said simply, and Amanda understood the meaning in his words.

"yes... we should... spreading this would cause unnecessary panic among the masses..."

"I think we should head back, it's getting quite late." Regina said looking up at the setting sun.

and they both turned to her staring at her, "...what?" she spoke raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"promise us to not tell anyone... at all! we must keep this a secret!" Amanda said looking at her in a serious expression.

"I guess...?" she said a little confused.

Evan still looked sceptical him and his sister, they were extremely similar to each other being identical twins, and them having the same expression only solidified this fact.

they both turned away at the same time, "alright, I guess, we have no choice but to trust you for now..." Evan said turning back as he gestured for them to get up and get moving.

Amanda tried to get up and her feet wobbled and throbbed under her weight, she was still weak and malnourished she had no energy to move, it didn't take long for her to collapse on the floor.

"..." Evan looked back at her silently and she smiled sheepishly, "come on guys! the sun is setting the academy isn't too far away!" Regina yelled at them urging them to move.

Evan let out a long sigh and he crouched down in front of her, facing away from her.

"...what...?" she looked away awkwardly, and Evan just groaned in annoyance, "get on... you're dragging us down..." he said glaring back at her in annoyance.

Amanda begrudgingly got on to his back and he held her up in a piggyback.

he ran with her in tow, and caught up to Regina, "what took you so long?" she said her hands on her hips.

"..." Evan avoided eye contact as did Amanda.

"well no matter, let's go now." she sighed and she gestured for them to follow.

and they made their way back into the academy.