Family, is everything.

My home is in utter ruin. Fires rage through the streets turning homes into smoldering ash and flickering ember. The cries of the wounded and dying echo all around me as I push through the smoke, choking on the acrid stench of burning flesh. My blood soaked hands tremble, barely managing to maintain control of my blade. My vision is blurred, the pain I'm in is almost unbearable and for a moment I think I have nothing left. I think I might quit, but I can't. Not now. Everything I've fought for, and loved, is crumbling and dying around me.

I make my way to the town square, and I see him. He stands unmoving like a stone statute, blade in one hand, the lifeless body of a woman in the other. Someone I knew. My hand reflexively rises to my now wide open mouth as I gasp in shock.

Fae... No...

His grip loosens and the lifeless corpse of one of my best friends slams in to the cobblestone, painting it crimson read in a sea of blood. The very picture of death itself turns to face me, his eyes locking on to mine. The flames casting long flickering shadows against the face of someone I loved. The memory of our childhood, the bond we shared, his once fervent desire to protect me, is distant now. I look up from Fae's lifeless body and fix my gaze on him, and I take my stance.

"Still alive?" his voice is calm, "Little sister..." he asks, as he begins taking lazy steps towards me.

I snarl, all my rage, my pain, lashes out at him,  "No! Don't call me that!"

He raises a hand to his chest, as he stops his glacial advance, "Amara, sweetie, I'm hurt." The fake smile on his face is a cold and twisted mockery of my once beloved brother. I don't know who this is, this monster, this lunatic, but my Kael is dead and gone. "You don't have to die here you know" he motions with a light bow, a hand gesturing towards one of the nearby roads. "You can just, go."

I grit my teeth with such fury my whole face aches. I reposition the grip on my sword even though my arms feel like lead. My whole body trembles from head to toe. "You always, always, thought you were above us all, Kael."

 "Above you?!" his expression tightens, a flicker of frustration breaking through his calm facade. "I am trying to save them Amara!" he says, motioning in wide arcs to the burning town that surrounds us. "I am trying to save all of us! You and your bloody resistance will destroy everything!" he snaps and I recoil, fighting back tears. "Have you seen what has been done to the other towns that chose to follow you in to open rebellion against the King?"

I inhale and exhale deeply, looking my brother in the eye, "You think this, is saving them? Look around brother! You're burning our home to the ground! You are murdering our people!"

Kael's jaw tightens, his lips forming a thin line as his knuckles grow white from the grip he has on his blade. "Sacrifices, little sister, sacrifices" he steps forward towards me again, "This resistance ends here and now, and the price we pay is our home, to save the homes and lives of countless more."

Those words hit me like a punch to the gut. It's always been this way with him, so bloody certain, so gods damn sure he knows what's best.

"We, I, would rather die free than live under the yoke of a tyrant!" I scream it, my defiance, my pain, my everything. I take a step forward in response, "You sold us out. You sold me out."

Kael's face flickers with an emotion, regret, I think. It's gone as quickly as it came, replaced by the cold and unyielding resolve I've come to hate. "I did what I had to," he says, his voice is laced with pain. "Your gods damned cause will ruin us! Your little rebellion is reckless Amara. You surge headlong in to this without a care for what your actions do to the rest of the country." He pauses for a moment and for the first time in my life, I see hate, pure hate, in my brothers eyes and it breaks me. That hate, is meant for me. 

I shake my head, the tears flying away from my face sparkle like stars in the night sky. "No! You don't believe that! You can't!"

He does though, I see it in his eyes, this twisted conviction that's taken hold of him. He's utterly convinced himself that betraying our people, betraying me, is the only way to save us. To stop this war, save lives and return everything to the status quo. He's willing to sell us back in to tyranny and I will never forgive him for it.

Our swords meet in a blinding clash of steel that rings through out the burning streets. I don't now how I blocked it, I barely saw it coming. The force of his attack sends me reeling backwards, stumbling, but I catch myself. My brothers attacks are relentless, his continued strikes are precise, measured. It tells me all I need to know, this isn't anger, it's purpose.

"You always let your heart lead you Amara, but hearts do not win wars." 

I snarl, pushing back against him as every single muscle in my body screams in a choir of protest. "Your mind is leading you to destroy everything we've ever loved!"

We lock eyes, and for a single fleeting moment, it's like time crawls to a halt. I can see the boy he used to be, the one who stood by my side, who laughed with me, whose sworn he'd always protect me. The tears streaming down my eyes mingle with the blood of the wounds I took to get to him. My brother, is gone. The shell that stands before me is willing to burn everything to the ground in the name of some demented version of, peace.

"I'm not going to let you do this" I whimper, my voice breaking. 

Kael's expression hardens, "Then die with the rest of your cause."

He lunges at me his blade cutting a wide arc through the air. I dodge, but I'm not fast enough. The blade grazes my side, cutting through my armor and digging in to my skin. I bite back a scream as I fall to one knee on the cobblestone. Blood pours from the wound as I move my hand to cover it, looking up at my brother as he looms over me.

"You're not strong enough little sister," he says, his sword raised for the killing blow. "You never were."

His words cut me deeper than his blade ever could. My brother, the one who once fought beside me, now stands ready to murder me. The weight of this, the truth of it, breaks me.

I wont let it end like this, not here, not like this. I wont die surrounded by the ashen remains of my home.

With a roar, I surge up, swinging my sword towards his legs. My brother's fast, but it's his turn to not be fast enough. My blade finds purchase and slices through his thigh sending him stumbling back crashing in to a pile of nearby ruble, still on his feet. I press forward with my next attack, every single movement sends pain thundering through out my whole body.

"You think I'm weak?" I growl, slamming my sword in to his again, and again, and again. My strikes are wild and desperate. "You think I'd just lay down and die for you brother?"

Kael grunts with each impact, barley managing to block my raging flurry of blows. His movements become more erratic and I see his calm is shattered. 

Good. Let him feel it. Feel the full weight of his actions.

"I'm trying to save us!" he shouts, his voice raw as he swings wildly at me. "I'm trying to save you!"

I block the strike, our swords lock together, our faces now inches apart. "I don't need saving!" I scream. "I needed, you! I needed, my brother!"

With a final rage filled scream and burst of all the strength I have left in me, I twist my blade, obliterating his remaining defense. It plunges in to his chest, he chokes, coughs and spits up blood. My eyes go wide as he stumbles backwards, his sword slowly slipping from his fingers as it falls to the ground with a clattering clang before he follows suit and crumbles to his knees. My sword still lodged in his mid section.

For a moment, we just stare at each other, both of us breathing heavily. His eyes meet mine, as the fires around us continue to rage. He forms a small smile on his mouth as his lifeblood begins to leave him. "I wasn't going to kill you, little sister..." his voice is barely audible over the roaring flames. I step forward and tears blur my vision as I pull my sword free of his body tossing it aside, falling to my knees to be with my brother.

He falls forward and and I catch him, cradling his body in my arms as the life drains from him. "I know..."

"I love you, little sister..."

"I love you too.. big brother.."

My heart breaks with each final breath he takes, before the last one escapes him and my soul shatters. We were supposed to protect each other, now I'm holding on to the lifeless body of my brother as the world burns down around us.