Under a sleeping moon, as waves gently meet a sandy shore in a dark forest, a young boy stirs against the starlight. His hands brush sand from dark linen, dirt in his nails and an ache on his neck. As he slowly rises, footsteps tickle his sensitive ears.
"Who's there?" He calls, his voice raspy and uneven, as if he hadn't spoken in a while. His eyes adjust to the moonlit scenery as a small girl jumps into his arms.
"Roe!" The girl sobs into his chest. "Is it you? Is it really you?" She grabs his shirt with small hands, tugging and squirming against him. Baffled, he grabs the girl by the shoulders and gently pushes her away from him.
"Uh, who -?" She pulls him close once more, wrapping her small arms around his back, nails nearly digging into his skin as she clenches on for dear life. "Sorry, but who are you?"
She turns her head up at him, blonde curls and green eyes wet with tears. "It's me, Letty!" She pouts. She drives her head back into his chest, snot and tears dampening his shirt completely. "Stupid Roe! Stupid stupid stupid…" She relents.
Roe? What is a Roe? Is he a Roe? And who in the world is this snively little brat…
"...stupid brother." She releases him and nearly trips over her own feet as she takes a step back to look up at him. She wipes at her eyes with those little hands of hers, her cheeks burning scarlet. "Where have you been, Roe?"
Taking a moment to collect himself, the boy looks around. Still in the bank of what was a small lake, large trees spread in every direction. Water lapped at his feet helplessly, monotonously. Where were his shoes? Where is he to begin with?
"Roe." He breathes. "Roooeeeeee. Nah. That doesn't feel right. Are you sure I'm this Roe?" Letty's eyes shine like emeralds, her little hands balling into fists in a quick burst of anger.
"Yes!" She exclaims loudly. "My older brother, Rosen Thorne! What, did you hit your stupid head on a rock or something? Jeez…"
Feeling obligated to do so now, he reaches a hand up and feels around his head. No bumps or cuts, but he did feel a strong urge to get a haircut.
"Look," he says softly. "Maybe you got the wrong guy…" His voice trails off, looking into the saddened eyes of this little girl claiming to be a sister he has no memory of. Taking into account everything he can remember at present, though, and it pretty much adds up to zero. "Okay."
"Okay?" She mimics questioningly.
"Fine, alright, I'm your brother Roe." Saying his own name with confirmation sends a shiver down his spine. "What the hell am I doing in the middle of the woods at night, and why are you here?"
Disregarding his questions entirely, she reclaims her spot in his arms and adds to the dampness. "You remember me?" She asks excitedly.
"Not a bit." Roe admits. She loosens her grip on him until she decides to let go. "Where are we?"
"Lake behind the house…" She sounds defeated. She wipes her eyes one more time as she turns around and begins walking away. She stops a few steps in and turns back to Roe, holding out her hand. He takes it, however reluctant.
"Letty." Roe tries the name. Nothing familiar springs to mind, but he does get a curious look from the little girl. "Short for something?"
"Leticiana." Her hold on his hand tightens. "Where have you been, Roe?"
"Sleeping, apparently." He jokes. Letty doesn't laugh, and for some reason, the urge to bury his head in the sand is quite strong. "I don't know. How long have I been gone?"
She thinks about it for a moment. "Like, uh, months. Maybe a year?" She looks confused.
"How do you not know how long I've been gone for?"
"Shut up." She squeezes his hand again. "I was away at school when you disappeared."
Disappeared. Not 'left' or 'ran away', but disappear. Strings on the same cord but dissimilar in a way that left him with a weird feeling.
"How did you know I was out here?" Roe asks again.
"Saw a light from the balcony." She shrugs. "It was weird."
Roe lets out a laugh, and it feels good. Letty looks at the boy curiously for a second before breaking and laughing envelopes her as well. Looking at the girl now, something began to stir. An image… no, that's not right. A feeling of glee. A smile.
After what felt like an eternity of walking, the two came upon a break in the trees. Lights flickered and twinkled around the space like tiny moving stars. Soft music ruminated the atmosphere and adornments lined beautiful sculptures. Animals his brain blanked on the names for,food that he could smell from all the way over here, and hundreds of people gawking at the strange boy who just stumbled onto the property.
Roe diverted his eyes, scanning legs and shoes and eventually returning his gaze to Letty. "I don't feel good, suddenly." But she just smiled.
"Guess that didn't change." She snickered. "Come on!" She gripped his hand and began dragging him into the haggle of bodies.
"Wait, Letty!" He tried, but it was already too late. A hand touched his shoulder as they made their way through the crowd. Roe shrugged it off violently, feeling the space becoming smaller and smaller as people began to flock towards the two of them.
His breathing raked hard through his chest, his lungs breathing fire and ice simultaneously. "Stop…" He struggled, his free hand clawing at his chest. "Stop…"
"Roe?" He froze, a fuzzy itch scratching at the back of his mind. Raising his eyes from the ground, he found a woman in a white gown, glowing as radiant as the moon above them. His lips struggled to push out a single word, but before he knew it, he was being embraced.
Tears fell down his own cheeks. A swirl of emotions rocked his balance and he felt like fainting, a sudden ache tearing a path through his mind.
"Vi," his voice was small, smaller than it had any right to be. The ache grew more, and so did his tears. The woman held him tight, nearly falling over him as she cursed him under her breath.
"Damnit, Rosie. Don't ever do that again."
Rosie. That felt familiar. Something he had answered to countless times before. A nickname only one person had used for him.
Roe's knees buckled. The pain too much, consciousness began to flee as his eyes fluttered close. "...my baby brother's come home." Vi says as he slips into nothingness.
When he came to, Roe was surrounded by more unfamiliar face. They all share the same blonde hair and green eyes as Letty, who was among those faces now. She held onto a middle aged woman with smile lines seemingly sculpted into her face. Makeup was smeared under her eyes, but she wasn't crying like Vi.
"I'm awake." Roe struggled to a sitting position. Eyes were trained on him, but they weren't unnerving as they had been before. In fact, he felt rather calm. "Good morning."
Vi immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and brought him in close. She smelled nice, like flowers. "Where have you been?" She asked.
Looking at her now, he can't remember why he started crying before. She looked like an older Letty, for sure, so they must be related. Sister, most likely.
A gruff voice cleared it's throat, and the man attached placed a hand on Roe's shoulder. Greying hair and a vicious scar permeated the older man's visage. "How are you, my son?"
A lump formed in Roe's throat. The man was his father, yet he had no memories of him. Yet this warm feeling burned in his veins, spurring the boy into the man's arms. Just as quickly, he released the man and back away from his family, not without noticing a small smile on the man's face.
"Look," Roe breathed raggedly. "I don't know what's going on or what happened or whatever, but I don't know who any of you are. Or, at least, have any memory of you. I'm sorry."
Without skipping a beat, arms entangled Roe in one more hug, this time encompassing the entire family. Heat rang from his cheeks and more tears threatened to disperse. Clearly, Roe's absence has weighed heavily on their hearts. It made him smile, to be missed like this.
"That's fine, my boy. We're just glad you're safe." The old man says. He scratches a scraggly beard, looking down at his son with confusion written over his aging features. "What happened to your hair?"
"His eyes are different, too, papa." Letty chimes in, poking at his face with her index finger. "And he's got a tattoo."
"Let me see," the matriarch says. She takes Roe's face in her hands and shifts his head to either side, inspecting the changes her son has incurred. "Hmm."
Vi runs her hands along his arms and shoulders, pushing him forwards and back as she performs her own inspection. "You don't seem hurt, at least."
"Thanks." Roe smiles. "Just brain damage." Looking around, he sees an empty yard where a party had been just a bit ago. The moon still shone brightly above the Thornes. "Where'd the party go?"
"Kicked 'em out." Vi says briskly. "I was getting bored anyway."
"Bored." The old man snorts. "A Thorne wedding is never boring, Vi."
Roe spots a lone man at a table, staring at a slab of meat like it might grow legs and run off.
"Thomas," Vi calls to the man. "Come meet your new brother!" She waves the man over. Tall and muscular under the wedding garments, this clean shaven brunette man slowly lifts his gaze from the table and locks eyes with Roe.
"Rosen." He says simply. He turns back to his meat.
"Do we know each other already?" Roe asks.
"Aye. But what an opportunity to say, well, I just got married. Congratulate me."
Roe looks back and forth between his parents, Letty, and then over at Thomas before going back to Vi. "Uh, congrats?"
"All right, enough." Mama Thorne says. "Let the boy alone, Violet. Roe," She helps him to his feet. "Maybe we should head back to the house so you can rest? Are you sure you're fine?"
"Don't know what I was like before, but I feel okay. Physically, at least." The Thornes leave the now empty lawn and make their way towards the house, which is absolutely massive. At least four stories high and windows everywhere, the building was a testament to art itself. Statues of warriors came from the stonework, perverting the natural masonry and transforming the whole house into an abstract depiction of wealth. The thought of cost alone gave Roe another headache.
As they entered massive marble doors with more soldiers depicted on its surface, light flooded from inside and revealed a mirror reflection of what the house had looked like from the outside, with stone warriors erupting from the walls, stairs, ceiling and floor in almost awkward angles.
"Time." The old man says, and suddenly the stone warriors descended back into the walls, back into the floor and ceiling until their absence left something to be desired. "Protection spell, Thorne specialty."
"Hell yeah." Roe says, genuinely surprised. "Wait, did you say magic?"
"Don't worry about it right now, my boy. Leave it for tomorrow."
Roe catches himself pausing at a picture of two boys, one slightly taller than the other and a much wider smile as he ruffles the smaller boy's hair. A sad smile crossed Roe's face for some reason, so he looked away.
When they arrived at Roe's room, it was a flood of hugs and tears and 'Don't ever do that again, stupid brother' from Letty. Roe pats her on the head and gives her an honest smile. "Wouldn't dream of it."
Closing the door as his family stood outside silently, maybe waiting for him to tell them it's all a joke and he remembers everything - suddenly being alone felt heavy. He slides against the door all the way down to the floor.
A rather large bed sits under an open window. A dresser with a sword leaning against it. Inside were just clothes, nothing that gave Roe any idea who he was before today. Nothing was hidden under the bed or behind the dresser. But there was a mirror on the side of the wardrobe.
He sucked in a breathe. Roe had the same soft features as Vi, and his hair did curl a bit at the ends, but it was black instead of blonde. And where Letty's eyes were green, his own were stormy grey. If the boy in the picture he had seen earlier had been him…why does he look so different now? What could have happened to change a person's eye color, and why weren't his family more concerned? He brought a hand to his face to inspect it further, but physically he was fine. The only thing that stood out, besides the eyes and the hair, was that strange mark on his neck Letty had mentioned earlier.
As he put a finger to it and traced the linework - a sword through a crown - something called to him as faint as a whisper from the nether, and it sent a chill down his spine.
Nightsworn…