The silence that followed Andrew's departure felt heavier than the pressure of his strange ability.
Only when his back completely vanished from sight did Xaryus feel like he could breathe. Taking a deep breath, he released Zadius' shirt and collapsed to the ground, his knees shaking violently.
"Rations once a week?" Xaryus whispered. "He's going to let us starve." He continued, his voice cracking.
Zadius didn't sit down. He remained standing, his gaze stuck to the spot where Andrew stood. His body still remembered the feeling of dread clearly, but his mind was just as sharp as it was before.
Shaken but not broken.
"He doesn't want us to starve, Xaryus." Zadius said, his voice flat. "Starving people are desperate, desperate people are unpredictable. He wants us weak; he wants us too tired to think and too hungry to resist."
'But to resist what?' Zadius thought briefly.
Turning his attention to the shack, Zadius' mind wondered why he didn't just hand them the rations and leave.
"He was looking for something in there." Zadius muttered to himself as he walked up the steps.
"But we have nothing, they took everything when Dad…" Xaryus said as he walked up the steps behind his brother, but he couldn't finish his sentence.
"But what if they didn't?" Zadius asked, stepping into the dim, cramped interior.
The smell of stale air and the lingering scent of dried wood filled their nostrils. On the table sat a small, sealed parcel and next to it, the table surface was wiped clean of dust in a jagged, thin streak.
Noticing the streak, the brothers continued to look around. It was very subtle but almost everything within their home had shifted ever so slightly.
"He really was looking for something." Xaryus said, placing his hand on his mother's favourite chair.
"And I might know where it is…" Zadius responded, moving past Xaryus and towards the pile of rags that served as their bed.
Without a second thought Zadius began to pull away at the rags, throwing them to the side. With each cloth that was thrown into the air, flashes of a distant memory played in Zadius' mind.
He remembered it vividly, just as he remembered all his memories around the time his father died. They were just escorted out of their home and pushed to the edge of the settlement.
Everything that they couldn't carry in their hands were confiscated. He remembered the disgusted looks on the people's faces as they walked through the streets.
They were berated with slurs and insults.
"Traitors!"
"How could their father do such a thing!"
"Execute them!"
"The sins of the father must fall on the sons!"
Zadius clenched his teeth as a burning sensation grasped his heart. He was struggling to keep it all in and he could feel himself breaking down.
Yet the memories of that day still felt clearer than ever.
It was a quiet evening when Xaryus was playing outside of the shack, undisturbed by their lowered standard of living.
Zadius had made his way inside their home only to see his mother suspiciously piling up their bed of rags as if she had previously scattered them.
"What are you doing, Mommy?" He asked, his voice soft and naive.
His mother turned towards him anxiously, her anxiety only vanishing when she saw it was only her dear son.
Moving over to him, she grasped Zadius in her warm embrace and whispered in his ears.
"My dear prince, I don't know if I'm strong enough. But as your mother I will always care for you."
Her words were soft and full of love…
…But she lied.
She lied to Zadius.
Where was she to care for them now?
It was as Andrew said.
"How could you be so selfish!" Zadius roared, tearing away the final strips of cloth and rags revealing the wooden floorboards.
However, Zadius had not noticed he had removed all the rags in his way. In a rage, he continued to scrape away at the floorboards, bruising and cutting away at his fingertips.
His frustrated grunts subtly turned into whimpers and his eyes were shut as he tried to hold back the flood of tears, but he had utterly failed.
Everything he had tried to suppress had finally come loose.
Then, he felt warmth at his back.
Xaryus knelt down behind his brother with tears running down his eyes and did the only thing he could think of.
Hug him as tightly as he could.
"...Remember what dad used to say… When they are both gone, whether it be sooner or later…" Xaryus spoke, quoting his father's words.
"We have to be there for each other." Zadius added, finishing Xaryus' sentence.
"I'm here for you brother." Xaryus continued, grasping Zadius even tighter.
At that moment, neither of them could hold back their tears.
They had cried for hours on end. So much so that they had exhausted themselves, falling asleep on the bare wooden floors.
***
Slowly, Xaryus' eyes began to twitch before opening ever so slightly. He grimaced as the evening light shone into his eyes and grumpily turned over towards Zadius.
Sleepily, he gazed at his brother then at the scattered pile of rags. He stared at it for a few moments before his eyes shot apart and he quickly raised up.
It seemed they had forgotten their intentions of searching below the bed of rags due to withheld grief.
"Zadius, wake up." Xaryus called out to his brother as he shook him violently.
Zadius winced in annoyance at his brother's voice before slowly opening his eyes. He looked over to Xaryus who was already prying the wooden floorboards open.
The creaking sound of wood woke Zadius up like a strong dose of caffeine.
Just as he rose to his feet, Xaryus had successfully pried a piece of floorboard away and another by the time Zadius was by his side.
Down below the floorboards was a small hand dug hole with a rectangular parcel wrapped in a once white cloth that had a beautifully stitched pattern.
The mysterious item wrapped in what Zadius could only assume was a once eloquent piece of cloth was then bound by a silver string.
There was a moment of silence between the two before Xaryus lunged towards the parcel and roughly ripped the cloth away.
It seemed that the quality of the cloth had long faded as it teared easily under his grasp.
But there was no time to appreciate the once articulate handiwork of the cloth or the string. Both Xaryus and Zadius were brimming with curiosity.
What was it that their mother hid that would cause them all this grief.
What was it that their father, a mundane man, would willingly battle against an awakened to protect?
"It's… a book?" Xaryus said in somewhat disappointed fashion, raising the thick leather-bound book into the air.
Taking one hand, he began to wipe the dust off the cover and proceeded to read its title.
"Basic properties of Animus; An Introduction to One's Awakening." Xaryus continued in a curious yet confused tone.