Trigger Point # 1

A plot point for the novel that leads to a major change in all character's situations and lives. Also, triggers major location change and pivots characters life course. Due to the neglect of her parents, Jade became an easy target due to lack of proper protection. She was kidnapped and forced to use her powers to fight as an assassin starting at the age of 9. The trio had been taken during the banquet celebrating Jade's 9th birthday after they had gone to the back garden for a break. Afraid of her captors harming the twins, whom she viewed as her sisters and only family left, she followed all orders and never tried to escape. She also complied to ensure the twins were not made to fight with her. They were only kept alive to maintain the powers shared between them. Constantly fighting with little food or proper rest along with overuse of her powers caused her body to deteriorate slowly and caused her to misstep in a fight losing sight in one eye at 12. This also caused her to stop fighting for a short time making her unable to stop her captors from forcing the twins into battle. Although Jade had fought to avoid this situation none could resist as they were kept highly sedated when not on missions for the first few years and were constantly fed a dangerous poison that would show effects and slowly subject the girls to extreme pain without regularly administered antidotes. This ensured they would have to return to their prison and preform each mission perfectly. The captors also knew of the strong bond between the three and would use the threat of punishment on others to keep them "in line". If Jade messed up on a mission or refused to obey, they would harm the twins or not administer the antidote for a period leaving them in agony. They also knew if they harmed the princess the twins would go into too strong of a rage to control, but the threat of harm would still work as gems cannot ever physically do anything they know could hurt their master. With no hope of her parents ever sending help to rescue them, they resigned themselves to their fate and retreated into their minds. Only communicating with the twins through telepathy, Jade stopped talking and showed no emotions. Only speaking and showing vulnerability to her sisters as they did the same. This also caused them to become like dolls on the outside, only moving when ordered. They soon developed the rest of their powers, giving them control over darkness and shadows, advanced telepathy, and control of the wind. Each gaining a power and sharing with the other two. The girls made sure to never reveal these powers to their captors, holding on to only the slightest hope that one day they could rebel and rescue themselves. Thankfully most nations had little information on the powers developed in Hali royalty and were unaware of the ability to develop more than one ability or that fact that they could be shared amongst those in the bond. This allowed the powers to go unnoticed as the captors thought their only abilities were simple telepathy and enhanced bodies due to missions. As her parents only cared for their child as a means of appearances and the necessity of an heir, they did not care what happened to what they viewed as a replaceable child, only sending one search team with no resources from the royal family as to not disrupt their reputation. Thankfully the captain of the team loved Jade and refused to give up the search. After hearing of an unkillable doll-like assassin with the power of darkness and seemingly 3 forms. It was said that they were extremely pale and weak looking with dead eyes. Their movements almost like puppets on strings, only moving when necessary, and almost unwilling but never yielding. He believed it could be the three missing girls, much to his dismay. He eventually found and was able to rescue them on their 16th birthday. The trio had been sent on a mission in their homeland although they didn't notice due to the mental blocks, they had put up to deal with their trauma. As they were retreating from the assassination, they received a instruction to go into a city close by to gather intel for a second mission. This was a hoax mission set up after 2 years of planning by the rescue team. They were able to quickly subdue the trio by jumping them in a forest with sedation darts. After much study and research, they had realized the trio rarely received additional missions and seemed more at ease the longer they were away from the hideout. This caused them to, ever so slightly lower their guard, just enough that they wouldn't first check their surroundings before waiting for mission directives in the designated spot. This allowed them to transport them to a safehouse and administer a temporary antidote to the poison. After ensuring the twins were safe for at least that moment, they worked on a permeant antidote using their blood samples to find out the exact poison being used. It took several months but they were able to get the trio to come out of their minds and recognize they had been rescued. Afterwards, Jade returned home and slowly began recovering from her ordeal in seclusion with the help of the twin's parents. Certain effects stayed though, the most prominent being her refusal to speak unless absolutely necessary. The solution to this was to use telepathy, transferring her thoughts to the twins, who would speak for her. Those around them, able to tell the difference between the twins' words and Jade's as their eyes would glow bright yellow when using their telepathy. The king and queen were extremely disappointed in this and almost decided to simply lock her away and create another heir who would be "Perfect" but decided against it as she proved herself in every other aspect and grew immense trust between both the commoners and nobility.