Everyone thought Aanya Ibis would be the hero, so when the sorcerer called her little sister Asilia instead, Everyone was shocked. Why? Aanya fit the prophecy perfectly. She was of the youngest generation of the Ibis family, who were definitely the ones in the prophecy, and she was born under a full moon! Yes, Asilia fit both of these too, and yes, she had actually gotten magic from the moon, but Aanya was obviously a better fit for a hero! She was great with a spear, she was a good runner, she could scale the mountains around her village with ease, and she actually wanted to be the hero, unlike Asilia. She watched as her little sister walked up to the platform, to the place Aanya was meant to stand. Asilia, looking kind of confused, took the small sword they had pointed to her, and razid it above her head. It glowed, confirming she was the one it wanted. No. This wasn't supposed to happen. Aanya was supposed to be the one to save the village! She was going to stop the war between the two countries, and be a hero! But now her tiny little sister, who could barely use the little sword she was carrying, was the one leaving on the next full moon, to try and end the war before it reached them.

Back at their house, Asilia made them dinier. She looked nervous as she stirred her soup. Finally she looked up, “can you teach me how to use the sword? Also, I’m sorry I took your place.” she blurted out. “OK” Aanya answered. She had been expecting Asilia to ask for some help (they agreed that whoever was chosen, that would help, thow they had both been shut it would be Aanya), but the apology was surprising. 

After dinner, they went outside, and worked on how to use a sword for 3 hours. By the end Asilia was a little better, but Aanya still didn't have high hopes. Her sweet little sister, with her light brown hair, tied back in a loose braid, her young round face, and her big grayish eyes, was just not cut out for sword fighting. She was good at taking, and convincing and magic, but Aanya didn't think throws would be all that helpful. But they'd made a promise and Aanya intended to keep it. So every morning that would wake up early and work on until lunch, then go sell their fruit, and when they got back they would train some more. After 3 days, Asilia was better, but Aanya was still worried. She had a plan for the next day, but never got a chance to use it. 

Just as Aanya was drifting off to sleep that night, she heard a “bang!” She thought it was just the wind blowing the tree next to their house around, but then she heard a muffled shout and another bang. Realizing it was definitely not a tree, she got up to go see. To get outside she walked past Asilia’s room. The door was open, and Asilia wasn't there. Looking in, she saw a blanket on the floor, and scratch marks on the door. She ran to the door, and saw 4 people in black, carrying her sister away. Grabbing the bladed poll they used to get fruit from the top of trees, she ran after them. She caught up to them pretty fast, as they were carrying a person, and hit one of them with the dull side poll he recoiled, and she tried to cut the bands of thick cloth binding Asilia, but the fruit poll was unwieldy, and before she could do anything, they had all drawn their swords, and putting all her attention to blocking the blows, was all she could do to avoid being cut in half. After a few minutes of this, one of them struck her with the flat of the sword, and Aanya blacked out. 

Something was shaking her awake. She slowly opened her eyes. Expecting to see the ceiling of her room, she was surprised to see she was outside. Then it came back to her. All her grogginess vanished and she sat bolt upright. Looking around, she saw a few people walking around, looking at the tracks the intruders had left. As she got up, the sorcerer notes her, and came over. 

“What exactly happened?” they asked. “4 people came and took asilia!” Aanya said. “Yes, we know that, but what did they look like, and did you see where they went?” “They were dressed in dark gray, and had swords, but that's all I remember. And they went towards mou.” The sorcerer sighed. 

“We need to get that girl back.”

They said as they walked towards the village hall, where a meeting seemed to be starting. She slowly walked over to the meeting, trying to listen in. 

“We need that girl back, she's our only way” said the sorcerer. 

“Yes, but how?”

“We need to send someone to get her. Or hopefully she’ll escape herself.”

“That would be great, but I agree we should send someone.”

“What about her sister?”

Yes! Aanya thoult! This was her chance to prove that she could be the one in the prophecy. 

“No, the sword said not her-”

Aanya didn't hear the rest. NO! She was going to prove them wrong! She ran towards her house, and grabbed a Jaket, knowing she would have to go over the Raven mountain range to get to mou city. She also took the spear they had lying around, the one that had made people think she would be chosen. The one that- “No” she said, interrupting her one thoults. She couldn't go down that train of thought. Instead she grabbed a bag and stuffed it with food and some water. As an afterthought, she grabbed one of Asilias' sweaters, in case she didn't catch up with them until after the mountains. And with that, she set off.    

It took 4 days to catch up with them, and when she did, there were no longer only 4 of them. Now there were about 16 gaureds, definitely from mou. They all had the crest made of red mettle, with a small gold shape in the middle. It was definitely the crest of a mining city. She wanted to rush right in and get Asilia out, but she knew that would just get her killed. So she keeped following them, hoping for a chance to get Asilia out. The second night after she found them, when the gourds were eating, they only left one guard. Aanya was about to go and free her sister, when Asilia caught sight of her. She let out a small squile, and smiled, but then looked worried.  She waved her hands around as much as she could, with the thick shackles. She seemed to be signaling for Aanya away. Confused, Aanya keeped coming twordes, but saw the pleading look in Asilias eyes, and ducked behand a rock. It was just in time, and the guard started walking around to the front of asilias cage. He put some food in, then after letting her eat for a bit, he opened the cage and let her stretch out.

“Can I walk around a bit on my one?” Anilia asked.

“No, Obviously not.”

“What if I give you my shoes? Then I can't go far.” She gave the guard a pleading look, and he finally gave in. Asilia could be quite convincing Aanya though. Her little sister walked around a bit, then came over to where Aanya was hiding. 

“Your hear?!”
“Ya, I came to rescue you.” 

“It’s not going to work, there's like 20 guards.”  

“I’ll find a way.”

“No, I can. You should go home”

“What! Why!?!”

“Because-”

She was cut off by the guard coming over. She gave Aanya a wave, and headed back over to the cage. Why didn't Asilia need her? Did she, like everyone else, think Aanya was nothing, just because a stuped sword had not chosen her!? No. Asilia couldn't think that. She wouldn't. But Aanya’s confidence was disappearing. Maybe Asilia was right, maybe she couldn't do this on her one. Maybe she should leave, and let people figure things out for themselves. No, not Asilia. She was just a little girl, and Aanya couldn't leave her, even if she was thinking wrong. Aanya sighed, and went to sleep. 

When she woke up the next morning, something different seemed to be happening. The guards all seemed perticulaftly excited. Aanya wondered why. She doubted it was good for her and Asilia. They set off, with Aanya trailing them about a quarter mile behind. But instead of going until the evening like they had the other days, they stopped at noon. Aanya got a little closer, and climbed a tree to get a better look. All the guards were whiting around on a flat strip of rock. She was just about to climb down, when something happened. The flat rock was no longer flat. It was moving and opening. Aanya dashed down, and saw the guards taking her sister into the newly formed hole. She ran over, and just as it started to close, doucked in. She seemed to be in a cave. The walls were made out of rock, and there were stalactites on the ceiling. Then she realized she was completely out in the open. No one seemed to be around, but she would still rather have a hiding spot. It took some trying, but she eventually figured out that you could move around in the stalactites if you keep pushing on them. So she started going deeper into the cave. She came to a fork in the tunal, but she could see which one Asilia was in. she was about to go in when she heard voices under her. She froze and listened.

“Are you completely sure?” 

“Yes, I told you, it's definitely there. That horrible sorcerer has it.” 

“OK, so what do we do?” 

“We raid that village and get it. We should head out in 3 days.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!”

“OK, I’ll get them ready.” 

Oh No Oh No Oh No! That was her village! She had to do something about this. What did they even what from them? What did they need so badly. It didn't matter. They were going to raid the village, and she had to stop them. 

“Aanya?”

Someone said, bringing her out of her thoults. She looked around, woread, and saw Asilia, somehow not in a cage. 

“What- how did you get out?!” 

“Never mind that now, We need to go”

There was a bang.

“Agreed!”

They started off up the tunnel, and were almost out when that heard a shout. “Guess they realized you got out” siad Aanya

They got outside, and keeped running. They went about 3 miles when Asilia said she couldn't do more. They found a small cave to stop and hide in. Aanya started to tell Asilia about the plan to raid their village, but they heard people not too far away, so she stayed quiet. The mou guards seemed to really want to find them. You could hear lots of them all through the night, and though the sounds leesend in the morning, they were still very present. Aanya sighed. She really wanted to know how Asilia escaped. She hadn't thought that her little sister could do anything like that. Maybe she didn't have enough confidence in her. She also really wanted to go warn her village, but she knew that would catch her. Hopefully everyone searching for them postponed the raid.

That night they were able to talk for a bit. Most of the guards were gone, and they decided it was safe to whisper. Asilia tells Aanya about her escape. 

Asilis overheard them talking about the tunnels they would get to soon. She was hoping to escape before that, but didn't get the chance. She did however, manage to grab a rock at one point, and was able to get to a place where she could see a key on the night where there had been a full moon. Using her magic, she was able to shape the stone into the key. She wasn't sure it was the right key, and it didn't work for the traveling cage, but it turned out it did work for the one in the tunnels. Aanya told Asilia about what she had overheard. Aanya had expected Asilia to want to warn the village, but she had a different Idea.  

“Warning the village won't do much,” she said.

“We need to go strat to the sores or it will just happen again. We need to stop the war”

It didn't take too long for Asila to convis Aanya. Aanya wanted to be a hero after all. Asilia had apparently overheard quite a bit when she was captured, and had some Ideas for how to do it. Asilia seemed so different. Much more confident and sure of her abilities. Aanya realized it was also because she had accepted that Asilia wasn't a little girl anymore. It took a bit, but they came up with a plan. 

They would go back to their village and get whatever the Mou city guards were searching for. Then they would send a message to both the warring cities, telling them they had the whatever it was and ask them two come. Then they would play it out from there.

It took some doing to get past the Mou soldiers, but they made a good team and were able to get back to the village. 

When they got there, it took some convincing to get the sorcerer to give them the thing, which turned out to be a staff. It apparently gave the wilder power to move the land it was bound to. They sent letters to each city and they both came. Then they put the end of their plan into action. They broke the staff and gave each city half. A fight almost broke out but they were able to calm it down. So they went down in history as the two who fulfilled a prophecy meant for one.