Illusion ~ A Short Story

Compulsion

Aziza remained hesitant about Mira's newest type of illusion, unsure of what her brother's true intentions were when using it. She had seen just how quickly he switched from being the kind and protective brother she had grown up with to this cold and unrecognizable person who had pushed her into the wall. Her mind couldn't help but go down the rabbit hole of self-doubt, wondering if her push for them to continue providing hospitality to the travelers was the reason Mira was beginning to go down this path. If she had just agreed with him to stop giving hospitality, would he still eventually go down this path? Was this sudden change in behavior preventable or inevitable?

These questions and thoughts continued to haunt Aziza for many long weeks following the incident with that group of travelers. At first, after Mira recovered from the overexertion of his abilities, Aziza attempted to convince him that perhaps that incident was a sign from the Gods exempting them from any of the immortals' wrath by not continuing to provide hospitality. However, Mira surprised her by firmly stating they would not only be providing hospitality to each and every traveler that arrived on their doorstep, but also that he would be creating for them the highest-quality feast imaginable. Instantly, she wanted to retort that they simply did not have that kind of food available, let alone in the quantities that the first group of travelers ate; but then she realized Mira meant to use his illusions to create elaborate illusion feasts for each group of travelers that arrived.

Normally, when travelers arrived at their home asking for hospitality, it was because they were exhausted and in need of rest and a fresh meal. That was the point of hospitality, to provide the travelers with the rest and renewed strength to continue their journey to wherever their destination may be. Mira's plan to only provide the travelers that arrived on their doorstep with illusions and not actually provide them with the necessary supplies to recover was as if Mira was purposefully signing the death wish for each and every traveler. Aziza started to protest against her brother's plan and advocated to provide proper hospitality to the travelers, but after a sharp look and harsh reminder of their minimal supplies from Mira, Aziza fell silent and stood out of Mira's way. As he continued to enact his illusions for each group of travelers that arrived on their doorstep, Aziza began to distance herself farther and farther away from him, opting to just stay in the sitting room to read while the travelers were there instead of interacting with them like she had originally wanted.

They crossed the one-year mark since their parents' murder with Mira continuing to use his illusions on every aspect of the feasts he provided to the travelers and was constantly upgrading them to become grander and of higher quality to better match the ideals of the travelers. At first, he had Aziza's fear of the Gods bringing their wrath down onto them for him using his illusions to provide fake hospitality. However, as each group came and went without so much of a whisper from the Gods, Mira began to view Aziza's fear as nothing more than childish paranoid musings. He rationalized that if his illusions were truly against the guidelines laid down by the Gods, then they would have done something by that point to stop him from continuing, yet he only continued to grow stronger with his illusions. Mira was easily able to establish a routine for how he provided the illusioned feasts to the travelers, so much so that he barely needed to focus on creating and maintaining them, almost as if his actions were becoming second nature. Beyond his haze of illusions in his mind, he was thankful that Aziza transitioned to staying in the sitting room away from the travelers so he didn't have to be stuck in a state of constantly worrying about Aziza's safety while he attended to the travelers.

During a particularly lengthy feast of a group of rather rowdy travelers that had already extended far past dusk despite arriving at high noon, Aziza began to get uncomfortable with her own hunger. Normally she ignores her hunger while the travelers are in the dining room so that she doesn't have to slip by them to go to the back room to prepare a meal for herself, but since the travelers had remained through the twins' traditional time for their evening meal, Aziza was quickly growing restless with hunger. She hesitated for a long time at the door of the sitting room, unsure if she should actually continue to sneak over to the back room or if she should just continue to hold out until the travelers actually left. Her stomach growled loudly, interrupting her internal debate, and ultimately caved in, heading to the back room as discreetly as possible.