Two Sisters' Struggle

Fran felt the air escape her lungs as Moira’s warhammer connected with her breastplate, forcing her into the air for a few seconds until she landed, rather hard, on the ground. Fran gasped for air as Moira continued her renewed **** on her step-sister. Fran slowly scooted back to keep the distance between her and Moira, but to no avail. The angered Warden was able to catch up and brought her warhammer down on Fran’s location. The traitorous former Order Inquisitor was able to summon a quick burst of strength to roll out of the way of Moira’s warhammer, which left a small crater where it landed on the ground.

“Well, well,” Fran started, “looks like the little Warden has finally decided to go all out,” Fran managed to get out between heavy breaths. A smile slowly made its way across Fran’s face at the sight before her.

“You dare smile before my presence?! After all you’ve done?! AFTER ALL YOU’VE SAID?!” roared Moira, nothing but anger and bile in her voice.

“Of course, dear sister. You are finally fighting with your full potential. Play your cards right, and you might even be able to beat me for once!” Fran said In a matter of fact tone. “All it took was me shattering your view of your precious Order!” said Fran with a laugh at the end.

“I’LL KILL YOU!” replied Moira as she charged Fran again, her warhammer ready to strike down her wayward step-sister. Fran, who suddenly realized she no longer had her weapon in her possession with all her gloating she had just done, was **** to dodge Moira’s flurry of swings. Fran, between her dodges, ducks, dips, dives, and dodges, scanned their little battlefield in search of her weapon. Her sword was 20 feet away, which wouldn’t normally be that bad. Sadly, a very angry Warden stood between Fran and her trusty sword.

“See! That’s the spirit! Keep up that anger!” Fran said, continuing to fan the flames of anger and hatred in Moira. Let’s see if I can get her to slip up somehow and get my sword back. Fran thought to herself as Moira charged her again. Fran saw this as her chance and when the opening presented itself, she dove towards Moira’s swing. Fran felt a gust of wind as Moira’s warhammer once again made contact with the ground as Fran was able to do a forward roll behind Moira and towards her sword.

“Ah, gotcha!” Fran happily announced as she thrust her sword up into the air like she was Link who just got the Master Sword. Moira did not let Fran celebrate her reunion that long as her hammer once again made its way towards Fran’s head. Fran, however, once again had her weapon and was able to parry the Warden’s aggressive attack.

“Tisk tisk, Moira, you always forget your footing when you attack so aggressively!” Fran said as she thrust her pommel towards Moira’s face. Her shield quickly caught the attack, which is exactly what Fran wanted as she placed a foot behind Moira’s and then hip-checked the Warden. With her leg firmly behind Moira’s, the Warden fell to the ground, her hammer rolling out of her hands.

“Damn you, Fran!” Moira spat at her opponent, who only laughed in response. “You’ll pay for your crimes in the name of the Lady!” Moira spoke to Fran. Fran knew this saying and what it meant.

“Shit!” cried out Fran as she tried to move but was too late. A beam of Holy Light fell from the heavens and struck Fran, who let out a cry of agony as the powerful attack ripped through her body. Smoke floated off her body as she fell to the ground, reeling in pain. It had been so long since she was hit by that attack that Fran had actually forgotten what it felt like.
“Let the Holy Light purge you of your sins, sister,” Moira said as she crawled over to and grabbed her trusty warhammer. She used it as a crutch to get back to her feet and looked down on her step-sister. “You could have been at my side in this fight, Fran. But you chose to side with the warlock mage, who threatens to destroy everything the Order, and we personally, have worked to achieve!” Moira cried out, a hint of sorrow in her voice.

“Did you ever think, even once, that maybe I DIDN’T WANT TO BE IN THE ORDER?!” Fran yelled at Moira, long dormant emotions came flooding to the surface for the Grand Inquisitor.

Moira’s face was in total shock at what her life long friend and rival had just said to her. The words flowed through the Warden’s ears and to her brain, but they could just not be processed. How could anyone not want to be in the Order? The Order was a just and holy Abyssal group who only wanted to bring peace and prosperity to everyone in the Abyss. Who wouldn’t want to be part of that? Moira just couldn’t accept those words.

“What do you mean you don’t want to be in the Order?! It’s an honor and a blessing to-”

“NOT FOR A CHILD SOLD BY HER PARENTS FOR SOME DRINKING MONEY!” Fran yelled out to Moira, whose look of shock was even greater than before. It wasn’t too great for Moira to block the sword that was flung at her face with her shield.

“What do you mean? You never mentioned that before! You and father both said you were found in an orphanage...” Moira said, her words akin to a **** hazard in her throat as each one struggled to come out.

“A lie your father came up with to tell the Order,” Fran said as she got back up, a bit of blood around the sides of her mouth. Her left arm was wrapped around her abdomen, her earlier injuries and her recent hit from Moira’s Holy Smite piling on. But the injured Inquisitor continued her slow walk towards Moira, who was frozen as if she had been transformed into a statue as he listened to the words of her sister.

“But..why?” was all she could come up with as Fran inched ever closer to her.

“Why? Why?! Because “I bought this child to act as a living training dummy for my daughter who is the next Warden of our Order” wouldn’t go over all that well. Don’t you agree?” she said with a powerful hatred in every word.

“But, that’s not true! We’ve always been treated equal, always!” Moira said but with no real conviction in her words. She was afraid. Afraid to think back to their shared childhood and really examine their time together. To see if perhaps, just maybe, her words were wrong and her step-sister’s words were true.

“Oh really? Because I only remember one of us getting lashes from breaking training equipment. I remember only one of us having a room to herself. I remember only one of us having a birthday celebration. Face it, Moira, I was nothing more than a tool to be used by you!” Fran assaulted Moira with these facts that the young Warden had explained away or simply chose to ignore.

Moira was now matching Fran’s forward movement with her own backwards movement. For every step Fran took, Moira would take a matching step backwards. She had to keep the space between the two until she could process this information.

No. It can’t be true. Father would never do that! He’s a good, noble man! A man who does what’s best for me! For the Order! For the Abyss! Each thought she had, more and more doubt found its way into her mind. Is he really doing all this for me? For the Order? For the Abyss? But who else could he be doing it for? Himself? How would any of this benefit him? Moira struggled to rationalize the facts that had been put forth, the facts that shattered her rather naive understanding of her father and relationships.

While Moira was having a crisis of conscious, Fran had actually stopped when she reached her sword. The Grand Inquisitor bent over and picked up her sword from the ground. With it firmly in her right hand once again, she rose Judicium to the air, pointing at the heavens.

“I summon thee, holy warriors of light, created by our savior, the almighty Lady, to bring divine punishment upon this heathen who doth stand before your humble servant!” Fran’s command snapped Moira out of her deep thoughts as she saw a beam of light overtake Fran as she felt a heavenly presence makes its way down the bridge between the heavens and the battlefield.