Of Ravens And Doves - Prologue

Prologue – Aria
“Come back here you furry!” Aled ignored me as he ran into my bedroom, my phone peeking out of his short’s pocket.
“I, Aria Fiore, am not a furry and I am offended that you think I’m nothing more than a meme on your electronic device.” He declared, a lopsided grin on his face as he claimed the room’s beanbag.
I huffed and sat on the edge of the bed, dark wisps of my hair covering my eyes. We were nothing alike; Aled was asteria: an anomaly. Half human, half beast. Even without Aled’s mutations, the differences in our appearance were stark, my amber eyes clashing against his emerald ones.
Aled was a survivor. I was too, though my body never changed; I was powerless, an anomaly of anomaly you could say. The virus made people into monsters, demons that used to roam the streets freely, mindless creatures. Aled had caught it when we were young, young enough to not remember a thing about the incident, yet it changed his life, my life too.
Now, the virus seemed so far away, existing only in pocketed slums within the [capitol’s] walls. Life was stabilising, rebuilding.
Aled’s ashen blonde curls bounced over his eyes as I crept a hand over, pulling his floppy ears hard.
“Don’t do that!”
“Or what big puppy?”
“Or I’ll...I’ll bite you!”
I let out a gasp as my eyebrows flew.
“You wouldn’t!”
“I would! It’s just…a last resort that’s all,” he said defensively.
That was obviously a lie. Aled couldn’t even bring himself to kill a spider, let alone harm a person, just like a labrador pup.
“You’re too nice for that, Al.” I said lightly, my tone teasing.
Aled looked disgruntled, his hand running through his unruly curls before it settled in his hoodie pockets.
“I’d rather be strong than nice. What’s the point of being nice if you can’t defend yourself?”
“No matter what mom or dad might say, being nice doesn’t make you weak. And if anyone doesn’t like that, then just get a nice, strong girl to throw them into the freaking sun. Preferably someone who isn’t me.”
“Yeah…thanks for your help with those other guys…again.”
“I don’t think they’ll bother you for a verryyy long time. You’ve only come home for summer and you’re already causing me grief.”
Silence settled over us, but was quickly broken by fits of laughter as we collapsed onto my bed, side by side, our breath synced, just like we were in the womb. I can’t quite remember why we were laughing, but perhaps it was just to fill the silence between us.
Quiet, rhythmic thumps filled the room as his tail hit the bedframe, fur collecting in piles on the carpet. Maybe it was strange for us to be 17, yet still dependent on the other’s existence; still breathing, laughing, crying together, even when Aled would return to the Academy in September. But in that moment, nothing mattered; it was just us.
But even the sun will one day lose its shine. Everything is temporary. Everything passes.
Because 3 hours and 16 minutes later my twin brother was murdered.
I didn’t know. There was no twinny sense that told me that something was wrong. It was our mother that found out first, not me.
I don’t think half of me died that day. I think that it broke free from its chrysalis and became something new. Something dangerous.
3 hours after, I was arrested for suspected murder.