Just A Pawn - Chapter 9 The Other Side

Lumin hadn’t know what had become of Pawn, her little sister, after she had went missing, she had simply one day disappeared without any trace or explanation.

Pawn, a little over a decade prior to her disappearance, had returned from the demon realm and never again went back seemingly traumatized by something she had experienced.

The only physical change being a bracelet she had found there, though the bracelet’s origin was completely unknown to Lumin.

Regardless of what Lumin offered, Pawn would not tell the truth on the matter, only by asking the accompanying soldiers did she piece things ‘somewhat’ together, Pawn had apparently taken it off the body of a lone female demon which she had come across, and ‘apparently’ killed.

Thus Lumin had thought the matter irreverent, and believed Pawn to be simply lacking in confidence for some reason, all the while heading down a rather dangerous path.

Pawn had been meddling with her affinity as of late, seemingly no longer trusting any of her fellow spirits to watch her back, growing more and more distant, much like Lumin’s twin sister Iris had once done…

Lumin had turned Iris in for her actions in hopes of showing her the error of her ways, but in the end it had only strengthened her conviction, and pushed her further away, ultimately resulting in her ‘execution’ via banishment to the demon realm.

An action for which Lumin was praised endlessly.

The goddess of wisdom even commended her actions, taking Lumin in as a disciple, one of the greatest of honours, even earning her the title of ‘Lumin the wise.’

…She had actually thought turning in her sister was the dumbest decision of her life, and she knew she’d forever regret it.

‘Lumin the loyal,’ that was the second title she gained for ‘killing’ her own sister, it was used at every formal event, every introduction, every gathering, even now showing up in her menu… as if to mock her.

She’d betray them all in a heartbeat to have her sister back, those were her true feelings.

She would not let the same thing happen to Pawn, that’s what she had decided upon her sisters’ ‘birth’… and then, it happened again, regardless of her resolve.

…

Lumin had thought up a plan, to seal one of the many tunnels which connected to the demon realm, she knew for a fact that the one in question was undefended thanks to her spies, but more importantly, the mission was to help Pawn regain some confidence in herself a little bi at a time.

She had sent Pawn on the mission with orders to contact Lumin upon reaching the barrier, but she never did, she just vanished, along with the tunnel.

It had suddenly collapsed without warning, meaning Pawn had forcefully opened the package she had been given, for some reason unknown to Lumin.

The package was enchanted to act as a timer, had it not been opened it would have degraded over the course of couple hours after being exposed to the demon realms air, so why had it been opened?

And then, as Lumin was scared and confused at the implications, the light in Lumin’s Communication crystal suddenly went out as well, meaning that the crystal held by Pawn had been broken, and Lumin ‘believed’ she had lost another sister due to her own actions.

…

When years later she learned that Iris had become a high-ranked demon, through her now replaced spies, she hadn’t felt so happy in the past ten years, she even went so far as to ordered a siege the demon realm so she would have an excuse to go there herself, to apologize.

However Iris contacted her first, revealing that she had been the one who had taken Pawn away, they were both alive, as demons, and they both wanted revenge against her.

…Lumin had never felt so conflicted.

…

“Haa…” Lumin sighed as she stared at the piece of paper currently in her hands, it was a demon contract, a type of contract which would bind the signatures very life force to its terms and conditions, it was already signed by Pawn and Iris.

It’s terms were those of a 3-way duel, ending only upon the death of one of the 3, running away or breaking any rules would also result in death.

Along with it were instructions on how to summon Pawn and Iris from the demon realm, as well as the time and date of the fight.

The location was left to Lumin so long as it met the appropriate conditions.

The specifics would only reveal themselves upon the signing of the contract, and only if it were signed by Lumin herself.

There were other things as well, to prevent cheating, but nothing that stood out, except for one thing, a letter that clearly stated, ‘fail to sign it within the next week and I’ll kill Pawn myself sincerely your dear sister Iris.’

The letter was written on the back of another contract, signed only by Iris, and binding only Iris herself, forcing her to follow the words of the previous letter.

…

(Pawn may still have some potential to change, that’s why her name is Pawn after all, she can become anything… so I’ll make sure she has the chance to…) thought Lumin as she signed the paper.

The contract’s magic then washed over her intertwining together the fates of the three sisters.

…

The Warden’s demonic palace…

Iris felt the demon connect her to Lumin from across the dimensions, it brought a smile to her face, the last piece of her plan for both her revenge and escape from this realm.

As Pawn had once guessed, Iris was a demon of wrath, but more specifically, a demon of ‘manipulation,’ able to simply alter things, in one way or another, twisting them to her benefit.

Her appearance, her voice, memories, the connection between communication crystals, anything was hers to twist as she pleased… and she would do so as she pleased, she needed to.

Once Lumin was gone, Iris would be right there to take her place as a high ranking spirit, saving those banished like herself in secret and guiding them into demons, taking over the spirit realm from within one betrayal at a time, such was her ‘evil’ plan.

“Why couldn’t we have been demons from the start? That way we could have- no, this is the only way I can forgive you,” she whispered to no one in particular, deep down, somewhat jealous of Ember and Lace’s relationship, but also feeling contempt towards it, it made her remember.

However even she knew she was not always like this… not always scheming… not always crazy, though she didn’t remember anything specific about herself.

She, like Pawn, had long ago been put in that same prison, and likewise decided to shift blame of all the things done to her by the demons onto the one that had betrayed her instead.

However, in comparison, the betrayal done to Iris was actually far smaller than the one done to Pawn, perhaps even considered a mere slip of the tongue by Lumin, but the damage it caused was far far larger.

Hundreds of years of constant torture by the previous Warden, doing all manner of horrible things to her, all as a result of her banishment, thus the fault of Lumin.

She had tried to direct all of her hate towards the previous Warden, Warden ‘Owen,’ but his mind broke far too quickly and his sense of self was lost around the same time she removed his face.

Iris simply needed someone else to blame, but there was only Lumin… beloved, despicable, Lumin.