《Twin Soul - Myriad Harmony》 Prologue - Exile Prologue: Exile Being twins has been extremely advantageous throughout our many incarnations, but if there was a flaw then it would be that our beginnings are generally worse if we are ever of the same gender.
We grunt as our flesh is carved from our bodies by men with similar appearance to our own. A woman, who also looks related to us, chuckles vindictively as she watches the proceedings. Their pink hair and long ears are dimly lit in this torch-lit basement. ¡°You should have known that your foul blood would never be welcome here.¡± We didn¡¯t have much time to contemplate her words as the men thrust their rusty blades straight into the gut where something precious existed. How precious it is would vary from person to person, but without it there would be a feeling of incompleteness. ¡°If not for the fact that it would tarnish our reputation, we would have killed off a pair of mutts like the both of you or sold you two off to a brothel.¡± Her words were impeccably timed with the exact moment the men used their hands to pry our bellies open with no regard for the pain it would cause us. Their hands inched oh so slowly inside as they sought the prize within and after several agonizing minutes, they held a bleeding lump of meat. Whether we were screaming or not, we could no longer tell. All we knew was that there was a whiff of acrid smoke in the air. ¡°However, we can¡¯t have mutts like you two besmirching our pure bloodline with litters of mongrels. That¡¯s not even considering the amount of gossip it would incite if the mutts were to disappear in an obvious manner.¡± Our minds were barely coherent after the surgery we had just gone through that we had barely felt the men grasp our heads with their blood red hands. Waves of power reverberate so loudly within our skulls that we can¡¯t focus on anything else until a sharp crack echoed within our brains. ¡°At least not so soon after the death of your traitorous mother and her foul spawn of a husband.¡± For the first time throughout the whole procedure, she approaches us in order to send a brilliant pink light into our bodies. A light so beautiful that we used to fawn over it when we were kids, but now it has been used against us for many days. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°But cry not little mutts! At least your cousin will give you the mercy you deserve and banish you from our ancestral home of the Pink Flamingo Clan.¡± The smile on her face would be so benevolent if not for all the memories we have of her acting the exact opposite when it¡¯s just family around. The men, who were our cousins, grab us by the legs and drags us outside. Our heads filled with pink and violet locks of hair banging against the steps of the stairs and sullied by the dirt of the ground. ¡°Oh! Before I forget, I should remind you of one teensy, weensy, tiny, little important detail.¡± Our sister crouches in front of us after we had stopped outside the territory marked by our clan. ¡°Never ever EVER return or tragedy might befall you like your parents!¡± And that was the crux of the issue. Our parents were immensely strong, but even a god can be felled if you use the right strategy. It is very unfortunate that our family who are known for their ability as healers instead of their strength in combat have instead mastered the art of indirectly defeating their foes. ¡°Bye-Bye~¡± Our sister¡¯s words are punctuated with our brothers swinging us around to build momentum before throwing us as far as they possibly could. Our breath escaped us every time we crashed into the ground only to bounce again like a pebble skipping over the water. Whatever technique they used prevented most of the damage from colliding into the ground, but pummeled us enough to drive home the point that we might not want to return. ¡°¡°Ugh¡±¡± Some drops of blood are coughed up as we steady our bodies. ¡°Well, that could have gone better!¡± ¡°I told you we should have killed them!¡± ¡°Perhaps, but I¡¯d rather not tempt fate when everyone and their grandma has the goal of slaying gods...¡± ¡°Point. *sigh* But now what are we gonna do?¡± ¡°What we do every night sister~¡± ¡°Is it world domination?¡± ¡°Of course not! We break people¡¯s perception of common sense by doing the weirdest things possible~¡± ¡°You do realize that ends up being the same in the end right?¡± Chapter 1 - Time to Leave Chapter 1 - Time to Leave crunch crunch ¡°You know, it¡¯s almost kind that they let us keep our storage rings with all our money and stuff.¡± ¡°You do know how our sister is right? She probably let us keep it just so she can rough us up some more since we have a few healing candy stocked away.¡± ¡°Is that so? Never paid enough attention to her to notice anything but the ridiculously large amount of men she¡¯s been flirting with.¡± ¡°Sleeping with.¡± ¡°Same thing.¡± As we traverse the rocky streets of the closest town to our former clan, we find a few snacks, supplies, and knick-knacks to occupy our time with. Various merchants have plain wooden stalls and mats on the sides of the cobblestone street. The scents of food being prepared barely detracts away from the pungent smell of civilization to our sniffling elven noses. We kid you not. Elven noses have little tolerance for anything not plant. Our locks of pink and violet hair draw a few curious and contemptuous looks, but this close to the clan is still safe territory. Once we leave is when things will become dangerous. ding ding The general store we found is filled with various items on display from medicine to scrolls. The quality won¡¯t be the best compared to a specialty store, but you can occasionally find mystical treasures that have been overlooked. We aren¡¯t here for those though. Behind the counter is an old man in a white robe with his eyes closed like every other cultivator who cultivates in their spare time. Even cultivators need money, thus they must work odd hours at places like this instead of fighting qi beasts. As we approach him, he speaks to us without opening his eyes. ¡°If you are looking for night time products, then you are probably in the wrong store.¡± ¡°...I am interested in some jade custom-made products.¡± ¡°If you are looking for night time products, then you are probably in the wrong store.¡± ¡°Jade that a cultivator has altered into the shape of playing cards.¡± With this statement that I delivered in a monotone voice, the old man finally opens his eyes and looks at us for a few good seconds. ¡°If you are-¡± ¡°BLANK PLAYING CARDS! JUST BLANK PLAYING CARDS! STOP MAKING EVERYTHING I SAY SOUND MORALLY WRONG!¡± After my short little outburst, the old man finally smiles as if witnessing something funny. My sister is also laughing her derriere off on the ground heedless of my glares or mental accusations. Suddenly a few jade stones appeared on the counter and was promptly modified by the old man with his qi into the desired shape. Soon enough, an entire deck of cards was neatly stacked on the counter. ¡°That will be 2 crystals.¡± After grudgingly handing over the crystals and grabbing the cards, I made for the exit until the old man said one last thing. ¡°So will you be playing with just yourself?¡± I answered by slamming the door shut. Then I opened it for my sister and slammed it shut again. *** Unfortunately, things did not get better after finding an inn to sleep for the night. The innkeeper had not so discretely warned us to keep the beds clean and to use the barrel in the storage room for bathing instead of the actual bathing room. Sure the attitude towards hybrids was funny at first, but its gone way past what a person considers tolerable. The guards at the entrance to the city and every shopkeeper we visited were all just a step below hostile. If we still had our qi cores, then the guards might have forced us to do more than a strip check (with a female guard who kept insulting our mother). The increased prices and poor quality of anything we could buy put a damper on our shopping spree. Sighing at the injustice of it all, I turn to regard my sister who is doing a few flexibility exercises from yoga to dancing to some ancient tribal exercise that I have long since forgotten the name of in our shared bedroom. The room wasn¡¯t bad, but it was pretty plain with only a bed, a window, and a small flower-filled vase. I liked the smell of the flowers as it freshens up the stale air in the otherwise smelly inn. Scented amenities are not common in low tier inns and it¡¯s not unreasonable to have flowers everywhere to make up for it. ¡°Any ideas on how to cultivate?¡± ¡°I have taken a liking to that giant key we found at a blacksmith. Practically a steal at that gimmick store compared to all those overpriced weapons.¡± ¡°It may take years to develop a weapon force though.¡±This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°Which is why I am gonna focus on a few elemental forces for now.¡± Her response makes me look around at all the elemental mana that I can sense around us. The only ones we can truly manipulate are those included in our bloodlines. Unlike humans and their adaptability, other races like elves have difficulty doing anything that is not included in their racial instincts and even more so if it conflicts with their race. The brightest light is a breath of fresh air, the hunger for sun to build its body, the thirst for continued growth, the patience to wait for the perfect time to act, and the sturdiness to shrug off trivial threats to its existence and recover from those it can¡¯t. ~Nature~ Another light is a taste of salt, eternally flowing currents that travels across the land, always pulled gently by the moon, its depths hide secrets from the sun¡¯s eye, its tears that fall from the heavens and nourish the land, and its rage shall strike fear in all above its domain. ~Water~ The next light glows in all shades and colors, its dance ever changing with the frequency, constantly shifting from particles to waves and vice versa, its caress leaving energetic warmth in its wake, and intermixing with shadows until it can no longer reach. ~Light~ The final light is one that betrays sight, its domain shrinks under the day but grows under the night, its shadows can be seen but hides more within, its touch is feared by those lacking understanding of its existence, and its formless body is limited only by imagination. ~Dark~ There are flickers of light that represent the other elemental forces, but grasping them is impossible without dedicated effort to communing with them. ¡°Speaking of which, how is your innovative card cultivation coming along?¡± ¡°Honestly? It feels like I am mentally screaming at something and it somehow works.¡± ¡°The power to make your dreams a reality~¡± ¡°Except everyone else relies on some ancestor to do it for them¡± ¡°A black sheep cares not for the whims of the herd~¡± ¡°Although, their techniques are more refined.¡± ¡°Power without understanding is but pearls before swine~¡± ¡°Are you going to keep speaking like that?¡± ¡°Already spent a life time like that with haiku. It gets boring after a while.¡± *** Leaving town was a simple affair. At least when the guards are all happy to be rid of you. It¡¯s somehow creepy when every guard and even the people in line to enter the city all give us their blessings on a safe journey. Oddballs aside, our journey was relaxing. Clean air that is not tainted with the convenience of civilization. The music of birds to settle your nerves as you traverse the dirt path. Even the trees are ripe for an elven harvest. As we crested a hill and were finally out of sight of our traveled path, we were interrupted by a rabble of a most unpleasant sort. A hobgoblin with a mohawk, an orc with an afro, and a lizardman covered in tattoos had jumped out of the trees to surround us. Their gear were generic cultivator robes and standard mortal-grade weapons. Honestly, they weren¡¯t much of a threat even if our qi cores are shattered. Hobgoblin: Well, well, well. What do we have here? A couple of lost¡­ mutts? Orc: Mutts? What are we supposed to do with them? They ain¡¯t got no money to steal. Lizardman: Maybe we can sell them to some eccentric? Hobgoblin: Impossible. Look at them! They have freckles! Freckles! FRECKLES!!! What kind of elf hybrid has freckles of all things? Lizardman: Dunno. They do still have an elf¡¯s ethereal beauty so it might not be too bad? Orc: Only a fool would use a mutt for sexual cultivation. Don¡¯t tell me you plan to dilute your lineage with 4 addition races. Hobgoblin: Yeah! And whatever happened to that tail you said you were chasing back in the Village Hidden Under the Stars. Perhaps we should inform her of your recent shift in interests. Lizardman: I¡¯m still a lizard only kind of guy and please don¡¯t say anything! I almost got her to accept an invitation for a moonlit stroll. As our would be bandits have preoccupied themselves with their bickering, we have made the wise decision to keep walking past them. It was surprising, but they are somewhat correct. We are dirt poor and nobody would consider us world shaking beauties to fight over. At least we can have a nonviolent journey? *** After the twins were out of sight, the bandit trio were still bickering over nonsensical things. Another traveler had crested over the hill and only received a casual nod from the hobgoblin before being ignored. The next traveler, however, received only a passing glance before being ignored. His posture exuded arrogance and it was clear to all that he was a powerful cultivator from a renowned sect. Obviously, this cultivator merely scoffed at the noise caused by the plebeians on the side of the dirt road and promptly walked past them. Hobgoblin: KILL! Orc: SMASH! Lizardman: CUT! Despite being caught off guard, the cultivator was able to admirably block all 3 attacks and began to proceed with stomping the trash. His Tri-Illusion Sword technique was put to good use with deflecting most of the hobgoblin¡¯s unerring strikes while his defensive talismans protected him from the ones he missed. In his peripherals, he noticed the afro orc was swing his mace with an odd rhythm so he sped up the circulation of qi in his body in order to activate the Infinite Illusion Sect¡¯s secret technique. With this technique, his body was able to creepily twist out of the way in a manner that tricked the eyes. Air blasted by as the orc missed while overreaching and the orc was unable to step back fast enough before an Illusion Thrust that moved faster than your eyes could see has pierced into his shoulder. The cultivator smirked as he showed off the superiority of being a 1-in-a-million genius to be able to understand such profound techniques. Unfortunately all of his thoughts were brought to an abrupt end by an unforeseen tail holding a dagger that pierced through all of his defensive talismans. After quickly looting and disposing of the body in a storage ring, the successful bandits continued their chit chat. Orc: Bro, sometimes I wish I had a tail like that. Nobody ever sees it coming. Lizardman: Nah, it¡¯s only useful for surprise attacks and is almost useless when someone actually knows how to fight against tailed fighters. At least you have the muscle to break barriers without a ridiculously expensive enchanted item. Orc: We wouldn¡¯t need to use so much of our qi in a few seconds if that brat wasn¡¯t flaunting his money with every action he took. Hobgoblin: Tell me about it. I am clearly a better fighter, but that little prick must have eaten tons of pill supplements to boost his cultivation. Prodigy my foot! Orc: Yea, but now his riches are ours now! Hobgoblin: We should sell off everything in his storage ring first. Mere nobodies like us will never survive holding such valuable items. Make sure to sell them slowly so nobody is too offended with our earnings. Lizardman: By the way, why did we ignore that old man? Wasn¡¯t he a perfect target? Hobgoblin: Anyone who lives to be an old man is not a simple person. The path of cultivation is filled with death and those who survive it can easily handle us. Orc: But these rich brats can never see the forest for the trees. Unfortunately, they always have enough backing that we can¡¯t ever stay in the same area for long. Chapter 2 - Deep Sea Diving Chapter 2 - Deep Sea Diving Our journey was truly scenic as we got to experience many things that you can¡¯t inside a stuffy sect or a suffocating cityscape. Like that giant lion that was just sitting in the middle of the road. The corpses surrounding it marked its prey as cultivators. But he was friendly and allowed us to pet him after we gave him a couple qi cores that were collecting dust in our storage rings. Our parents told us of beast tolls, but it was our 1st time seeing the real deal. It is incredibly ironic that qi beasts have little to no interest in anyone without a core to consume. You can literally walk past them with no harm coming to you as long as you don¡¯t bother them. It even presents a contradicting statement to civilian merchants: have no guards and risk banditry, or have guards and risk qi beasts? After a bit of walking, we came upon a hill that overlooked a nearby beach. The clear and salty water tingled our noses as we finally found a decent spot to settle. In a way, it was even better than the cramped ponds and swimming pools back at the sect. Sensing a good atmosphere, I promptly pulled out some of my clothing projects to evaluate with my sister. ¡°What do you think of these?¡± Levitating around me were several sets of shirts, blouses, skirts, shorts, skorts, and boots that have all been painstakingly crafted from plants of various colors. Designs of animals, fictional fights, and vivid scenery have been etched into them. ¡°While I certainly want to get out of this plain, dull robe, aren¡¯t some of these a little risque?¡± She frowns as she looks over the high cut skirts and low cut cleavage. ¡°A bit of skin never hurt anyone~¡± ¡°Yeah, I think I will just take the shorts and that Y-back shirt.¡± ¡°Boooring~¡± ¡°And what are you going to wear? No wait, let me guess. That skirt with the slit on the side and the shirt without a back?¡± At her words, I frown for a bit since that WAS 1 of my choices for an outfit, but I decided to 1-up her. Afterall, she clearly avoided mentioning some of the more INTERESTING combinations available. ¡°Nope! I decided to wear everything~¡± With a flash of glowing flowers, my body was covered for half a second before revealing myself wearing a new assortment of clothes. A resplendent circlet wrapped around my head, a leotard that hugged my body, boots came up to my knees, arm-sleeves that ended at the elbow, and tiny wings at the back. All a shade of lilac or hot pink to match our hair. I give an enthusiastic twirl to show off my new costume. ¡°So you are gonna reach the heavens with cosplay cultivation?¡± Her voice spoken in monotone sends me into a fit of giggles. ¡°Don¡¯t hate! You know you can¡¯t live without my clothing~¡± We are both too fashion conscious to ever wear the same thing as literally every single cultivator on the planet. I know it. She knows it. It would have been a miracle that we hadn¡¯t set fire to our wardrobe by now, but we had and got scolded heavily for causing injuries in cultivation because people couldn¡¯t look away from our legs. It wasn¡¯t even hot pants¡­ ¡°And I guess you want me to make all the jewelry to go with it?¡± She shakes her head while chuckling. ¡°It would be much appreciated~¡± Saying so, I quickly put all of the clothing back into my storage ring and bring out 2 new sets for the day. 1 of which I had already switched into. ¡°But since we are here and all, we might as well take a dip.¡± She quickly looks me up and down before speaking. ¡°I half expected you to pull out a mermaid tail and clam shell bikinis. That looks positively, too normal for your tastes.¡± I simply shrugged my shoulders. ¡°Lack of material and all that jazz.¡± *** A rush of adrenaline surges through our bodies as we dive through the waters. Our gills take a moment to flap as the underused organs get back to working order and bubbles escape our lips. Our skin color obtains a blue-ish tinge as it becomes more easily recognizable as scale patterns. While our bodies adjusted for underwater traveling, we began our combat preparations. I scanned my outfit to make sure that the 1 year of soul growth I attached to it is still stable. I wasn¡¯t sure about making this outfit a permanent combination, but I can always change it later. So I began forming soul tethers to bind each piece of my outfit to each other and further strengthen the benefits of wearing them. My sister has pulled out 2 of her new cards and summoned them into the world in the form of 2 mermen. One was male while the other was female, and both were wearing brown cotton cloth to cover their blue-scaled skin. There were no mermaid tails. Just normal legs with some fins. Disappointing really. ¡°So how are they?¡± I ask because the mermen seem slightly confused by everything and are constantly looking everywhere. My words cause them to briefly glance at me before looking around again. Sorta like newborn babies that don¡¯t understand what a person is yet.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°Soul-binding was successful, but it will take a while for them to mentally mature. And how was your end of things?¡± ¡°Okay for now, but it will need more work to fix all the issues.¡± Getting an entire outfit to cultivate is a lot more complex than you think it would be. One piece of clothing keeps trying to be queen, something mutates every now and again, lone wolf syndrome, or a variety of explosions. After I could feel my sister spiritually prod her mermen, we began to swim deeper. Fluorescent coral thrived the deeper we went. They provided light for the fish for when then sun could no longer reach them. The deeper we went into the sea, the stronger the aquatic life became. A few giant worms hid under the sand to catch unsuspecting prey. Crabtaurs, half crab and half mermen, who politely greeted us and had a philosophical conversation about the differences between pure mermen and halves. It was pretty interesting, but my sister struggled to feed her mermen enough information at a steady enough pace to provide proper responses. We parted amicably and agreed to meet up again later with Steve and Trevor. Before they left, we did the customary crab dance where we clap our hands like pincers and beat a rhythm with our feet. Reminds me of spanish dancing. It was during a particular patch of deep sea filled with crystal coral that our racial instincts screamed at us. Just barely within view were a couple of fast approaching sharks. Our voices subconsciously made a shrill screech full of hostility towards the approaching threat. Gills flapped quickly in aggression and the water surged around us as our emotions hit their peak. The sharks wasted no time as they too screamed in rage towards us. Under their influence, the currents forcefully brought them closer to us within moments as they began to circle us predatorially. When our eyes would meet it was like a showdown between cats vs dogs. Lions vs hyenas. Students vs summer break homework. I wasted no time to lunge at 1 of them with a hastily made ice trident in hand as a magical girl wand wouldn¡¯t fit in an underwater battle. The shark¡¯s jaws promptly opened and released a compressed blast of water towards me. I was able to barely dodge it, but the speed of it disrupted the currents and held me still long enough for the shark to approach and headbutt me into ground. With all of the coral waiting to embrace me. With a pain-filled grunt I get back up in time to sucker punch the thrice-abyssed shark into another patch of coral. Taking stock of my surrounding, I grab a piece of coral sticking out of my side and try to grow it with nature qi. ¡°Ah shit!.¡± Unfortunately, the clearly not-animal is actually an animal and thus is not considered a weird species of aquatic plant. My frustrations were quickly put on hold as the shark was charging towards me once more. I waited for it to get close enough before I activated the ability violet dolphins are known for. My freckles glowed intensely in violet light and dazed him. I took the opportunity granted to me and slammed him back down with my foot while I recreated another ice trident in my hand. The shark violently thrashed to throw me off, but it couldn¡¯t stop me from piercing downwards with my trident. Sadly, its skin was too tough for my trident to pierce. Looking at the fissure line cracks in my trident, I was half tempted to tear the beast¡¯s soul asunder. Instead, I listened to the ever present voice in my head to pummel it sunny-side up. When in Atlantis, do as the Atlanteans would. A quick glance at my sister showed me that she had everything handled. So I tapped into our soul tether to view the fight from her perspective while leaving a smidgen of mental focus on pummeling jaw face. Like me, she had also created ice tridents for her mermen to use. Unlike me, she disrupted the shark¡¯s jet stream enough to bring it close enough for her mermen to stab at the underbelly without risk. Currents can¡¯t stop nor could they be altered fast enough to dodge completely. Unfortunately, it barely pierced through the skin and even that much was only because of the velocity that the shark was swimming with. Warily, the 2nd jaw face circled around looking for an opportunity to strike. She used the gained time to draw 5 cards from her storage ring and plays 2 of them. [RPG: Poseidon¡¯s Trident] [RPG: Mother of Pearl] A standard coral trident replaced the ice trident in the male merman¡¯s hands while a pearl necklace formed around the female¡¯s neck. Not liking the developments, jaw face aimed to crunch the source but was blocked by a trident empowered with miniature swirling water currents that ended up fracturing 1 of his fangs. It shook its head as it backed away for a moment, only to be caught in a squall. A pearl necklace glowing faintly as it worked its magic upon the world. Try as it might, jaw face could not escape the relentless attacks caused by the mermen. Puncture wounds lined throughout its body. It¡¯s side fin ripped off due to underwater turbulence. Exhaustion and anemia culminated into a final stand. With a rage induced roar, it rushed towards the trident wielding merman that had inflicted much of his injuries. The merman valiantly raised its trident and gave one last mighty thrust to end the menace. Jaw face, however, cared not for the potential injury and pushed itself through the trident enough so it can fulfill its namesake by chomping through both of the merman¡¯s arms. Happily, it¡¯s shish kabobed flipped sunny side up and his soul moved on now that it was content with doing at least some damage to such a hateful being. It¡¯s only regret was not getting to actually taste it before it crossed the heavenly jaws. ¡°You both did well! Take a nice long break.¡± With a sweet smile, my sister recalled the mermen back into their cards. She then swiftly swam next to me and asked, ¡°Having fun looking?¡± I snapped out of my trance after realizing she has been waiting on me for a few minutes. ¡°You could have poked me or something you know.¡± ¡°Could a. Should a. Would a. Didn¡¯t feel like it.¡± ¡°So mean~¡± ¡°And you love me all the more for it!¡± She says with a satisfied smirk on her face. I would have my revenge for today¡¯s humiliation. Soonish. Can¡¯t have my sister remain on her high horse for too long. *** Water drips off of our bodies as we walk back onto shore. Our gills flapping happily at the much needed deep sea dive that you just can¡¯t get when landlocked. The blue tint to camouflage our skin dims to our normal light brown complexion. We were about to get started on settling down when a most frustrating adversary reared its head again. On the sandy beach were a group of villagers being pushed back by a small group of mercenaries. Upon noticing us, one of the villagers spoke out, ¡°Please help us!¡± Locking eyes with each other, we could only mentally complain at the situation. The god of Deus ex Machina finally decided to end our peacefor he has brought forth the plot. Plot that shouldn¡¯t even be in the area...