Aaron yawned underneath the ever present suns, their lights illuminating the violet leaves of the trees above them. A cool breeze swept through the company, their many rides and carriages becoming covered in falling leaves and sticks as the trees swayed in the wind. From either side and up above the chattering of the world's pitch black rodents squeaks were heard, drawing Aaron’s gaze upward. Ryker jogged up to his brother, and playfully pushed him with his shoulder, his beaming smile shone like the lights above, Aaron gave a small smile back.

“Tired,” Ryker asked sarcastically, Aaron gave a dejected glance at his older brother showing his annoyance. He yawned as well, stretching his good arm skyward, his other still bound in a cast, the verdant green cloak on his back shifting as he did so. He let his arm fall back to his side, letting the cloak obscure his form as it wrapped around him like a blanket.

“Only a bit,” he answered, “How long have we been walking?”

“Probably a couple hours, hard to tell with this never ending day after all,” Ryker replied. It had been hard to distinguish the days from each in this world, twin suns prevented the natural day and night cycle from occurring and the circadian rhythm was only so reliable. By Ryker’s estimates it had been a week since they had been rescued by the military company; throwing a quick glance behind him sure reminded him as he saw their two guards behind their mothers, both of whom were riding this world’s versions of horses: Strange monoculus horses with wide mouths and three toes on each foot; the left one was brown and speckled with black spots, the other pure black with a white head. Ryker adjusted his own cloak, a darker pine green one compared to his brothers; he wrapped the ends of it around him to protect him from the chilling breeze.  

Anjali and Ulia were up ahead, watching the front of their little caravan in their usual plate armor and weapons. The company had split apart into smaller groups to navigate the thick greenery of the woods around them and to avoid drawing the ire of any imperial scouts if possible.

Aaron yawned again, his jaw stretching out wide like a python and his eyes began to droop. Ryker pushed his brother again, jolting him awake.

“Come on now Aaron, we can’t have you falling asleep now,” he teased, “You’re getting too heavy to carry you know.”

“You do know Ii’m eighteen right?”

“Yeah I do.”

“So why do you guys keep treating me like a child whenever I get like this?”

“Because you have the body of a thirteen year old and still into cartoons is why.”

Aaron looked offended, his face full of childish disgust as he felt Ryker insult him. He turned and faced his offender, ready to defend his beloved medium, the fire in his eyes reflecting onto Ryker who simply chuckled at his brother’s behalf. He threw his hand up in surrender while still laughing, from behind Aaron heard his mothers also stifling a chuckle; Melissa burying her face in Sarah’s brown cloak. Anjali glanced back with Ulia, the two of them quietly laughing amongst themselves, Ulia holding his hand over his mouth to stifle his chortles. 

“Okay okay, calm down. Anime isn’t cartoons, alright?”

“Hmmmph, says the guy who unironically likes Berserk.”

Ryker felt attacked at that statement, he rushed in front of his brother and folded his arms in disdain. Aaron stopped in his tracks as he and Ryker got into another of their staring matches, eyes locked in their argument. Melissa and Sarah stopped their giggling and sighed a breath of resignation; they knew nothing would stop the boy’s argument now, Aaron had pushed Ryker’s own button. 

“Says the guy who unironically likes Please don’t tease me Nagatoro-san,” Ryker spat back. The guards behind the family gave a worried look but starred onwards in silence, their armor clanking in the still air. Anjali gave a cautious glance back at her wards, her hands on her hips she threw her own cloak back around her and continued the march with Ulia, who was side eying the boys as best he could. 

“Yup, its trash alright,” Aaron retorted, “Just like Berserk.”

“I-That's not fair, how am I supposed to argue that now,” Ryker admitted with defeat, “It's no fun when you admit you’re into trash.”

“The perfect counter argument: the admission.”

“You do have to admit though, Guts is pretty cool right?”

“Oh yeah, definitely. That sword of his is awesome.”

“Hell yeah it is, giant swords are the best.”

Melissa and Sarah relaxed their strides as the boys continued their conversation about their love for their respective shows. Their conversations echoing through the dense underbrush of the forest canopy. The guards rode up next to the boys parents, parched high above with their mounts, one of them dismounted and kept pace with Melissa, the other remaining on duty. The carriage behind them bumping against the rough trail the group was drowning out the boy’s conversation. 

“Do they get like this often,” he asked, “Their arguing I mean.” 

“Oh sometimes they do, but there isn’t anything to worry about,” Melissa answered, “They’re brothers after all. They get into squabbles like this all the time.”

“Huh, I didn’t think they were brothers. They look nothing alike.”

“Well they’re adopted after all,” Sarah clarified, “They aren’t blood siblings.”

“Adopted? Sorry, but I don’t understand.”

“Do your people not do adoptions?”

“No, i’m afraid not, adoption is something that we Anuri don’t have here.”

“Well basically, we’re raising someone else's children as if they were our own. We are these boys' parents.”

“Oh I see,” the guard on the mount relaised, “Here on Nelt those children who lose their parents are taken in by the various churches to be raised under the god’s guidance. 

“Our world actually does something similar, though it's not always churches that take in orphaned children. On occasion, the government does the same thing, albeit with poor results.”

“Well what happened to their birth parents? Why are you two raising them instead and not your own orphanages?”

The two of them gave a grim frown towards each other before turning back towards the interrogating guards. They slowed their pace and hushed their voices to avoid their children overhearing them up ahead allowing them to be mixed with the rave of a caravan that was going on behind them; the two brothers still engaged in their friendly debate and conversation, no attention to their parents behind them or their guard in front. 

“Aaron’s family died when he was very young,” Melissa explained, a sorrowful tone in her voice, “A burglary gone wrong in their own house. He was only a few weeks old at the time and has been in and out of the adoption service nearly his entire life.”

“Gods preserve the boy, the poor creature. What of Ryker?”

“We don’t know much about Ryker’s past unfortunately,” Sarah said mournfully, “When he came into the system he wouldn’t give much besides his name and that he was eleven, apparently he had been the son of a homeless woman his entire life, and when she died he had nowhere else to turn. It just so happens that the two were put into the same orphanage.” 

“Hebril’s mercy, he was only a boy. How did the two of them enter into your care then?”

“Technically only Aaron ever entered our care,” Sarah responded, she gazed towards her sons, drenched in the light of the suns the clouds above brought a shadow upon Ryker leaving him in darkness. She continued, “Soon after we were married we wanted to become parents so looked to adopt a son of our own. We decided on Aaron after much deliberation, but we were kinda shocked when he wanted to refuse to go with us.”

“Why is that,” the guard questioned further, leaning into the conversation. Even his horse behind them seemed invested in the story, its single black eye gazing in eagerness. Melissa squeezed her wifes hand and continued the story.

“He refused to go with us because he had been promised by Ryker that he would take care of him as his big brother.”

“How was that possible? Wasn’t Ryker still in your so-called system when you were looking to adopt? Why couldn’t you just adopt him as well?”

“Wow, so many questions now,” Melissa said in frustration, “Calm down and i’ll explain.”

The guard snapped his mouth shut, the boys debate filling the awkward silence of the woods. He looked to his other partner who only shook his head in disapproval, staring onward as he continued his watch. 

“Anyways, as I was saying,” she resumed, “Aaron had refused to go with us because Ryker had promised to take care of him. We figured that it wouldn’t be right to separate two obviously close brothers so we wanted to adopt both of them. Problem was, Ryker had aged out of the system when he had turned eighteen. So we couldn’t adopt him as well since he was an independent adult at that point, at least in our world.”

“It took some tracking,” Sarah said, “especially since he did not want to be found whatsoever, but we managed to find them after a draft had occurred in our world. There, Melissa was able to easily find him in the system.”

“And when you found him,” the guards urged, “What happened next?”

“When we found him we were expecting to put up a fight to get him to help us, and he absolutely did at first, but he became cooperative after proving that we could easily provide for Aaron and give him the love and care he needed. He came back with us to that orphanage and tried to convince Aaron to come and be our son.”

Melissa finished the story, the gaze fawning over her sons up ahead, their cloaks billowed in the wind as a storm of dead leaves drifted down from the canopy above. She breathed in, taking in the smell of the forest, “Aaron had one condition for becoming a part of our family: Ryker had to become his older brother.”

“Well isn’t that a sweet story,” Anjali said. Melissa, Sarah, and the guards all jumped back in surprise at the sudden appearance of the elf, the guards immediately taking up a more proper formation contrasting their haphazard form they took while listening to the wife's story.

“That's better now,” she said satisfied, she crossed her arms and walked over to her other wards, “Your boys really are that inseparable huh?”

“Yeah, they really are,” Sarah said, “Ryker especially, he's extremely protective of Aaron. More than us probably, they really do love each other, I just wish we knew what brought them so close together in the first place.”

“Oh I'm sure it's something triv-,” Mellisa was cut off by the sound of Ryker yelling up ahead, his hand in the air with a look of disappointment at his younger brother; Aaron stared back up at him, his veins seemingly bulging in anger. 

“Ice is clearly the cooler power, Aaron,” Ryker argued.

“And i’m telling you,” Aaron yelled back, his veins and face flush red with blood,” Fire is way cooler than lame old ice!,” 

“And I'm telling you, Ice is far more versatile than fire could ever be.”

Aaron’s veins were now glowing with a magnitude of lights, his whole body aglow Ryker’s annoyance quickly dissipated into concern. A chill fell over the Anurians as the magic levels in the area plummeted, Ulia and Anjali suddenly taking off towards the boys as the guards formed up around Melissa and Sarah, who struggled against their bodies to reach their sons. 

“And I'm telling you, “Aaron shouted, the magic forming around him, Ryker’s face turned white in fear. Anjali was nearly to the humans, she could still stop Aaron.

Aaron took one more breath and finished his argument with his brother. A single wail emitting from his body as the spell was completed, and with all his heart he shouted, “its Fire!”

Flames burst into being from the falling leaves as they were set alight, the guards tackling the women onto the ground and shielding them with a hastily made spell of earth. Smoke filled the area as a loud booming sound came from Aaron, sending hundreds of avian creatures into the sky.

The smoke stung their ears and obscured her sight but Anjali found them in the epicenter of the spell, Ryker holding his brother below him as the burning debris of leaves and branches fell around them like a slow motion bomb blast. Anjali prodded them from afar, Ryker did not move and Aaron did not respond.

“Ground, come to me and be surrounded by those who care about you,” Ulia gagged out, his lungs filled with the last remaining traces of the smoke. The ground around the boys moved a few feet before stopping just shy of Ulia, he cursed and brought himself to the boys, brushing off the embers from Ryker’s singed cloak and hair, Anjali settling down next to them. 

“Ryker, Aaron, are you two alright,” she asked, reaching out for them. Ryker’s eyes shot upward and bored into her, like those of a feral animal he stared her down and kept Aaron close to his body; he was a mother wolf protecting his young cub and was unresponsive to Anjali. 

“Ryker,” a voice spoke out from under him, “it's alright now, i’m fine.” Ryker relaxed his grip and drooped his eyes, a thousand yard stare forming on his face as he gazed into the treeline. Ryker got up from Aaron and sat on his legs, dropping his head towards the ground. Aaron brushed the dirt off of clothes and embraced his brother.

“I’m sorry,” he quietly spoke, “Is anyone hurt?”

“No, no, everyone is fine,” Ulia explained, “Iit’s you were worried about now.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean too… I’m sorry,” Aaron cried into Rykers chest as he continued to sit and stare into nothingness. Melissa and Sarah approached from behind and embraced their children.

“It's gonna be okay now, don’t worry,” Melissa said, attempting to comfort her children. The four of them hugging themselves quietly on the trail’s path. Anjali and Ulia stood up and inspected the area, which was now devoid of magic and any dead foliage. The two of them approached the guards, who were ready for a fight as they raised their spears prepared for anything. 

“It doesn’t make sense,” Ulia stated, “That amount of magic should have killed him.”

“And from such a simple spell too,” Anjali responded, “He needed so little concentration to use up this much magic and theirs not a single magic rebound effect anywhere on him!”

“Humans, what exactly are they?”

“I have no idea, but we need to report this to captain Argust.”

“Agreed,” Ulia turned towards the guards and stood over them, they stood at attention in response, “You two, you’re orders are two make it to the main caravan and report what just happened to the captain. I fear our position will be compromised so we shall meet everyone at the secondary rendezvous point on Jii’ stream. Tell him to prepare for the worst.”

“Gods be with you sir,” the two of them said in unison.

“And they protect you,” Anjali completed the prayer as the two guards hopped onto their mounts and galloped into the woods behind them.

Anjali and Ulia looking away from their subordinates' mission, they turned to face the family in front of them, covered in ash in embers with the aftermath of Aarons spell finally fading. There, they cautiously approached them, and prepared for the upcoming attack.

“Alright you four,” Anjali ordered, “break it up. It's time to move.” She fell in front of the Gale family, a short sword in hand and her helmet firmly positioned on her head, the runes on her plate armor glowed a familiar blue hue as magic coursed back into the area. Ulia took up a position behind the others, his spear outreached in front of him and his visor blocking all traces of the Anurian’s face. 

An uneasy silence fell amongst the humans as they broke apart, Ryker unconsciously making sure Aaron still stood next to him as he continued his thousand yard stare. Aaron looked up to his family then back towards the ground, his own head held low in shame.

“This is because of me, isn’t it,” he asked sheepishly, his voice cracking. Like a mother bear, Melissa patted her son's head in assurance hoping to instil a sense of confidence back into her son.

“What's done is done Aaron,” she said, “Now’s not the time to be fretting about what could have been though.”

Anjali nodded in agreement. Aaron could face a punishment later for his reckless use of magic in such a dangerous area. The entire woods around them were patrolled by Imperial soldiers, all to protect the prison the company had rescued the family from before, and Aaron had set off the equivalent of a rescue flare in the middle of their yard, putting a bullseye on their whole operation. The anurian scoffed at the thought of having to fight them all off.

“Alright, this is the plan,” Anjali started, everyone in attendance listened intently, “We’re gonna try and give them the slip and, hopefully, avoid fighting whatsoever.”

Anjali pointed her sword at Aaron and Melissa, “You two will go with Ulia and head north towards the river, make sure to travel in the river where possible to hide your tracks. Ryker, Sarah you two will be with me, we’re heading northwest directly towards the rendezvous point.”

“Seems kinda backwards to me,” Sarah commented, “Why bother separating us?”

“We’re still valuable targets,” Melissa answered, “Splitting us up ensures that there won’t be a complete loss if one of us gets ambushed.”

“Hate to say it, but she’s right. I don’t have enough resources here to ensure everyone’s survival so I'm splitting my load and praying to every god I can think of that we don’t get caught. With any luck this will be a funny story for us to tell over a meal to the captain.”

“And the alternative?”

“Let’s not think about that now.”

Melissa and Sarah sighed. The family gave one last group hug as they split apart again; Aaron and Melissa running off into the violet wood cover of the forest, leaving Anjali alone with Sarah and Ryker. Ryker’s blank stare continued as Anjali became increasingly worried. 

“Is he gonna be alright like that,” she asked, gesturing at the man.

“He’ll respond to requests, “Sarah answered, “But his awareness is shot right now so we’ll just have to keep him close as he isn’t gonna be able to fight.”

“Joy,” grumbled Anjali, “In that case take this.” She threw Sarah her dagger, who caught in with ease. She stared at the weapon for a second before shaking off her doubts. With her free hand she grasped onto Ryker’s wrist and gestured him forward as the three of them took off into their own neck of the woods, the silent leaf fall of violet giving way to the crunching of dead leaves from underfoot.