Being a twin, one feels they are just two sides of a coin, not of any value. That is especially true for Malantha Sultan, who had to remain hidden for most of her life. She was not what one would call the "normal" twin. She had been marked since her conception, which was something no one could hide. One could not hide something that came from the blood that flowed inside her veins. Her twin Mihriham Sultan was beloved of Hurrem and Suleiman as well as all of the Kingdom. She was allowed to go wherever she pleased because she did not have the mark or gift Malantha had. Where her twin was just a person with no advantage, Malantha could speak to the shadows as if they were her friends.

At times, at least, that is what she felt, which was the illusion of the shadows. The shadows took pleasure in taking one to total darkness and building them right back up. Their gift or curse of them was to make one feel alone at the youngest age of one's life so they could reshape the person who would soon use them. That was what Malantha had to figure out, along with the truth of her abilities. None of that changed of the fact that she loved her family or would die for her family, for blood is thicker than water. Family is everything to her.

One summer’s afternoon, Malantha took a stroll into the large garden of the Sultan’s located in Istanbul. She enjoyed the smell of the flower come into her senses. It seemed like every other day which was a boring day. There was nothing out of the norm at least to Malantha as she walked through the beautiful garden. A smile appeared upon her face when she thought that she would get a peaceful day to herself without any issues. She took a deep breath as she picked a blood red rose and did not mind feeling a thorn prick soft flesh. It was interesting to her for normally she would have felt something, yet Malantha felt nothing. 

The Imperial Rose should have known that something was off, however, Malantha felt safe within the castle wall. The garden was peace and the place she went when she wanted to feel at peace. What she should have been was more alert, for what was happening was slowly dark shadows was creeping around her from all sides. There was guards of course but none could help what was going to happen. The shadows could smell the princess and they knew that she was marked. “Sultana” she heard one of them scream from behind her. Malantha’s pearl white eyes scanned around her and for a saw nothing.

Again she heard, “SULTANA!” but again saw nothing as if the guards were playing again, “What is going on?” she asked with a confused look upon her face. “Malantha!” she could hear her mother scream in the distance now far beyond on the balcony overlooking the garden.  She could not understand what was going on.  “Mother?” she said looking up to see her face looking ghost like. Her heart race as if something was surrounding her or she was running. She looked around once more. At last, Malantha could see the shadows surrounding her.  She couldn’t move nor would her body work with her to move for her. They were just shadows and yet they felt like a threat. “What do I do? What do I do?” she began to say to herself over and over again.

Her fears and the fears of those around her began seemed to feed them. Fear only seemed to make them grown stronger. They may look like normal shadows, but they were far from it. “What do you want?” She finally asked with a thick Turkish accent seemly to know that they were fully after her and her alone.