[Rin's POV]
'my arms, legs, chest all ached. This was inhumane, torture.' I thought, as I did my 34th pushup.
Meanwhile, my twin brother, kael that didn't look like me whatsoever was on his… god knows how many pushups he's done, but definitely more than me.
He was always physically better, though I was faster, but besides that he was superior to me.
But when it came to being smart? definitely me. I was smarter all around, I knew the capitals of the five monuments, Velmaris, the one we were in, its capital was Saprin, the strongest and biggest. I was also way above in education, already in grade 9th at 12. I couldve been higher but i didnt wanna be too far ahead of my brother. While my brother, Kael was stuck in 6th grade.
"Alright, 100 pushups done! How many ya on, Rin?" Kael said, standing up, dusting his hands off that had nothing on them.
"Thirty…Eight." I said, slightly stunned at how strong Kael was physically. I'd seen it a thousand times before, yet each time it stunned me.
Kael stood there, nodding slowly. "uh huh… see, I'm gonna go shower now, bad luck on your pushups!" Kael said with a slight smirk as he walked off.
I sighed. 'do I HAVE to do this..?' I thought. Though my thoughts were in vain as I unfortunately continued through the pain.
{1 Hour Later.}
After showering, I went to mine and kael's shared room. Ah, good 'ol resting time. My favourat-
"wanna train?" Kael said, interrupting my thoughts.
"no. no. shut up. no." I said, as there was no possible way I was training once again today, what were we even training for? Meika, our older sister didn't allow us to do missions anyways.
"cmonnnn, I'll have to do it alone if you don't come with me!" Kael whined as always.
"well dude, I'm NOT training, I don't have unholy physical capabilities like you, and there's no point anyways, go train alone if you really wanna!" I retorted, my point was valid, I didn't have such crazy physicality like kael, and me going wasn't necessary
"come on, there is a point! we can train and get strong!" Kael insisted even further.
"and then do what exactly? its not like meika allows us to do missions and go outside of velmaris, and even if we did we're not gonna be strong eno…" I said, my voice trailing off as my last sentence validated kael's request to train.
"ha! see? even you know there's a point to training right now!" Kael said, flaunting my accidental validation of his point.
"well.. fine, there's a point, but Im training my mind, you can be the brawns, and ill be the brains!" I said, still regretting my previous choice of words.
"jeez… fineeeee. ill go alone." Kael said, definitely not pleased. 'but hey, that wasn't my problem!' I thought, as my train-aholic brother left to go train.
[Kael's POV]
i left the Sorin complex, it was way too big in my opinion, I knew that my parents and older sister were solstices but God was the complex big, Either way, I went over to the training grounds to do some training, Now, should I train my body… or try to control nyth?
controlling my nyth would be too dangerous, I heard some rumors that if you don't control it properly it can like… explode? yeahhh no. definitely not tryna explode right now, I'm barely 12! and somehow a hot guy like me is still single!
Either way, I should train my speed, I do need to get faster, somehow rin is faster than me even though I should be faster…
But NOW how do I train my speed? leg exercises? ooh, I should full on sprint and try going as fast as I can! yup, that'll work for sure!
after a few minutes, I was ready to run. give me a week Rin… just one week.. I thought, as I started sprinting.
a few hours passed, and damn I was exhausted, I might as well have showered in my sweat, my legs were sore.
I''ll probably see the effect of this in a few days, but I have to do this again tomorrow' I thought, as I walked stealth-ly… was that even a word? stealthiliy? steally? stealithy? agh! I walked QUIETLY to the Sorin complex, I didn't want anyone to see me like this, cause hey, believe it or not I had a reputation to maintain!
I finally came to the Sorin complex, now to sneak through the corridors, this was easy peasy, after a bit of tip-toeing I arrived at mine and rin's shared room, entering it, my brother, Rin immediately ran his mouth.
"god you stink and I don't think it rained. go take a shower you look like a raccoon in a wet garbage can." Rin said, looking at me with a very purposeful disgusted look.
"ohhh, want a huggggg" I said, walking to him. slowly.
"NO I DO NOT WANT A HUG GET AWAY FROM ME" Rin yelled. immediately getting off his bed, to the balcony.
"now hey, either a hug from me, or you can jump out of the balcony" I said, my smirk growing.
"yeah I'd rather the latter but GET AWAY FROM ME" Rin said, in-between the balcony and the room.
"yeah yeah okay, ill go shower I guess..." I said, I wanted to annoy Rin but he might snitch and then I'll get lectured by Miss Mia or something.
After an hour or so passed, the sun was setting. I was REALLY in the mood for a mission, but of course there was my sister... what if I asked her?
"hey rin, wanna ask meika if we can go on a mission?" I asked him, he'd probably say no. but WHAT IF today was a miracle and he agreed.
"you think shes gonna say yes?" He replied.
"see... uh, that's not the issue right now" I said, rin did kinda have a point, meika would probably say no if I asked..
"you know what, I recently finished a book about kindness, so yes i suppose ill accompany you in your futile attempts" Rin said, with a few overly fancy words. But either way, hooray!
"Yay! lets go then!" I said, as me and Rin went off to meika's office to ask her, she'd probably deny but hey, no pain no gain? or would risk it for the biscuit be good for this? agh!
Anyways, after a few minutes we arrived as me and rin stood infront of her closed office door,
"you go." i said, i didnt wanna go first..
"it was your idea!" Rin shot back, he was right but come onnnn...
"oh cmon dude.. dont you wanna fight demons and stuff?" i said, trying desperately to convince him
"i mean- yeah but it was still YOUR idea!" he shot back once again.
"ah fine! ill go.." i said, very reluctantly, as i opened the door, meika's long black hair in a high-ponytail as usual, and her brown eyes glaring at me, if she wasnt in that solstice suit she'd definitely seem like an ordinary girl...
"What?" She said, her voice sharp, she sat up, her golden buttons on the white suit highlighting alongside the golden shoulder pads. Damn that suit looked so great... the Famed solstice suit... And that REAL gold badge on the right shoulder for solstices... Chefs kiss.
"uhm.. me and rin wanted to ask if we could go on a mission-" i said, moving onto the topic. as she cut me off.
"No, not right now, kael. Strange incidents have been happening, i dont want to deal with you and rin alongside the incidents." Meika said, like it was a fact. which kinda ticked me off but whatever...
"What kind of incidents?" Rin chipped in from behind, besides the mission denial, i did wanna know what incidents aswell.
"That is non of your concern. Go to your room both of you." Meika said, fanning my curiosity but rin sighed lightly and nodded, as he walked away i reluctantly followed, closing the door as we walked side-by-side.
"What do you think the strange accidents are?" i asked rin, genuinely curious.
"Strange 'incidents' not 'accidents'. and unfortunately for both of us i cant read minds, but neither do i know what these so called strange incidents are" he said.
"Accidents incidents, tomato tomato, potato potato , same thingggg, but still, try speculating" i said, cause like what was the big difference anyways.
"sure bud... it could be like a new demon or something, or maybe some new demon tech? ooh if that's the case i wonder if it'll be revealed to the public..." Rin said, getting excited over complicated demon tech.
"i dont think thats the case, actually it could be. i hope its a new demon breed!" i said, i hope it was a new demon breed, once i became a solstice i would definitely fight it!
"So you can fight it? uh huh." Rin said, it was like he could read minds! except he couldnt...
"yup..." i said, confirming his suspicion.
"Wanna grab some food from Abba's?" He asked, i was hungry. and i could definitely use Abba's fantastic food.
"hell yeah! you got money right?" i replied, i never saved up so i kinda didnt have money...
"yep, because unlike you, i actually save up" he said, as i put my hand on my chest, mock offended.
"well unlike you... im.. im stronger!" i said, since it was the first thing that came to mind.
"that can be fixed unlike your issue" he snapped back. My 'issue' could be fixed!
"mine can be fixed too!" i replied. because as i thought earlier, it could be!
"sure..." he said, definitely not believing me.
[Rin's POV]
i stirred in bed, stretching. it was weekends so I didnt have to worry about school, last nights food was amazing... Either way the morning sun spilled through the curtains making mine and kael's shared room scenic.
But there was still something on my mind, meika's 'strange incidents'. She seemed slightly worried and a bit too serious, which was unusual for her. Though I checked the clock, it was 5 A.M, I should probably wake kael up.
I stood up, brushing my teeth and cleaning myself up before waking kael up.
"hey, kael wake up!" I yelled to him, as he stirred slightly. I sighed, going to the bathroom and grabbing a cup of water and came back into the room, dumping it on his face as he shot up.
"What?! what happened?!" he asked me in a loud voice as I couldnt hide my laughter, with his surprised and slighty horrified expression.
"nothing!" I said, laughing.
"did you splash water on me!?" he said, standing up, his shirt and bed soaked. as I backed away while chuckling.
"I meannnnnn maybe?" I said, not really confirming it.
"dude!" Kael said a little loudly, his hair was dripping all over the sheets, and that only made it funnier.
Kael stood there, soaked, staring at me like he was trying to figure out if killing me was worth the cleanup.
"You know you're dead, right?" he said, voice flat.
"Oh nooo, the mighty Kael Sorin is angry," I mocked, stepping back with a grin.
He lunged.
I spun around and bolted down the hall, laughing. "Too slow!"
"Get back here, Rin!" he yelled, feet pounding the wooden floor.
I didn't plan on it.
I cut the corner near the living room just as he threw a pillow—it missed by an inch, hit the wall, and slid to the floor.
"Nice aim!" I shouted.
Before Kael could fire back, a sharp voice froze both of us mid-step.
"Would one of you like to explain why the house sounds like a herd of bulls?"
We both turned slowly.
Meika was standing by the kitchen doorway, arms crossed, hair tied up in her usual high ponytail but with that one rebellious strand falling loose. She wasn't in uniform, just a black shirt and loose pants, but she still had that Solstice glare.
Kael immediately pointed at me. "He started it."
I scoffed. "You chased me!"
"Because you drenched me!"
Meika pinched the bridge of her nose. "You're both idiots."
Neither of us argued.
She walked past, grabbed a towel off the counter, and tossed it at Kael. "Dry up. You're making puddles again." Then she looked at me. "And you, stop encouraging him. I'm tired enough without babysitting the two of you."
"We're not kids anymore," Kael muttered.
Meika raised a brow. "Then act like it."
That shut him up fast.
She sighed, pouring herself some coffee, eyes half-open but sharp enough to slice through anything. For a second, I noticed her hand tremble slightly as she held the cup.
"Hey," I said carefully. "About yesterday… you said there were strange incidents. What kind of incidents?"
Her expression stiffened. She didn't look up.
"It's nothing you need to worry about" she said quietly. "Just don't wander off for the next few days,"
"Fine.." Kael said, but I could tell he didn't mean it.
Neither did I.
Because if Meika, one of the strongest people we know looked that uneasy, then whatever was happening wasn't. couldn't nothing.
And there was no way we were sitting it out.
After a few minutes, she went back to her room, muttering something about "paperwork" and "children with death wishes."
As soon as her door shut, Kael looked at me.
"So."
"So," I echoed.
"Whatever those incidents are… we're checking it out."
"Obviously," I said.
He grinned. "Thought you'd say that."
"Not right now though," I said, leaning against the wall. "She's on edge. If we move too fast, she'll catch us."
Kael sighed dramatically. "Fine. Then what? Wait around?"
"We wait," I said, "and we listen. You know how fast rumors spread around the dorms. Someone's bound to slip something about it."
"...Or we could ask the other Solstices," Kael said
"They'd just report us to Meika."
"Not all of them." He smirked. "Arden owes me."
"Arden owes you for what?" I asked.
"You remember that little bronze charm with the cracked star? He dropped it in the market last year." He said, smirking
Kael nudged me. "I found it shoved under a stall and handed it back. He's not the type to forget that."
I raised an eyebrow. "You returned someone's keepsake?"
"Borrowed it briefly to see if it was cursed," he said, deadpanning.
"Kidding. I gave it back." He said with a proud smirk on his face.
"Kael-" i said, kind of annoyed at his activities.
"Relax, I gave it back! Eventually." he said, acting like nothing wrong had been done.
i sighed, as he stretched lazily before standing straight.
"Anyway, Arden's usually patrolling near the northern yard around dusk. We could go 'hi' normally."
"'Casually' as in interrogate him? and how do you even know his patrol route?" i asked, as far as i knew, he had no genuine source of this 'info', if it was true.
"no like, ask friendly questions with maybe a little bit of curiousness," he said, grinning.
"Right. That always ends well." I said, i wanted to go, but i didnt want to take the risk of getting caught.
He stood up, already slipping on his jacket. "C'mon, Rin, we'll be back before Meika even notices."
I sighed, but followed. If meika came back and if she caught us, we would only get grounded at worst.
[Velmaris — Outer Barracks, Northern Wall Sector]
It was Kael's idea.
That was the first thing I decided I'd say when Meika inevitably found out. Because she would find out, she always did.
"Relax" Kael whispered as we slipped through the fog-swept corridor behind the barracks. "No one's up this early."
I didn't answer. He was wrong. The patrols at the Northern Wall rotated at dawn, exactly when we were sneaking out. But trying to reason with Kael was like arguing with thunder. You could shout all you wanted, but it would never stop roaring back.
The cold hit sharper out here. The Northern Wall loomed ahead. a stretch of gray that swallowed the skyline. No one talked about what lay beyond it. They just called it the wall, and that was enough. But the northern wall wasn't the wall, the man protecting it was called the wall.
We stopped where the stone road turned to packed dirt. Kael crouched, scanning the ground like he actually knew what he was looking for. "Rin, over here. Look, prints."
I leaned in beside him. Snow, partially melted. It snowed a week ago but there was still some... Two sets of footprints, uneven. The smaller ones led away from the wall, then looped back again. "Could be old," I said.
"Could be something." He grinned, the kind that usually came right before we nearly got killed. "C'mon. We'll be quick."
"You said that last time."
He didn't reply, which meant we were already doing it.
We followed the trail through thin fog, the snow crunching under our boots. The footprints wound toward a half-buried structure at the edge of the outer ring. A supply outpost, abandoned years ago. Most of the roof had caved in, leaving blackened beams jutting out like ribs.
Kael brushed snow from the rusted gate and peered through. "Looks empty."
"Places like this always look empty," I said. "Right before they aren't."
He smirked. "You think too much."
I wanted to tell him that was why we were still alive, but he was already moving.
Inside, the air was stale, carrying the faint sting of metal. The walls were marked with frost patterns that didn't form naturally. curling lines like veins, all centered toward the middle of the room.
I knelt, pressing my hand against the stone. The chill bit at my skin. Ice-threaded Nyth flickered faintly at my fingertips, and the cold deepened. Something had passed through here recently.
"Fresh," I murmured. "Too fresh."
Kael glanced back. "Meaning?"
"Meaning we should leave before we find out what made them."
He didn't even pretend to listen this time. He took a few steps further, squinting toward a broken archway. "Rin. Look at this-"
He stopped.
His hand hovered over the frame. Frost, or something like it spread along the wood, but the surface beneath his palm was warm.
he frowned. "That's not-"
"Normal?" i said. i knew we shouldn't have come here-
Before I could answer, a voice sliced through the silence.
"Explain why the two of you are trespassing on restricted ground."
My stomach sank.
Kael straightened instantly, the way a child does when they know they've been caught stealing bread.
Meika stepped out from the shadows of the gate, crimson Nyth glimmering faintly against her coat. Her presence alone felt heavier than the air. She looked between us, expression unreadable. though the faint twitch in her jaw said enough.
"...Morning," Kael said, voice too casual.
Her tone was flat. "You're both out of bounds."
Kael opened his mouth to explain, but I cut in before he could make it worse. "It was his idea."
He shot me a betrayed look. "Seriously?"
"Yes," I said. "Seriously."
Meika sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Of course it was." Her voice softened, but only barely. "You two can't keep testing limits like this. The Northern Wall isn't some playground, not for trainees, not for you, and not even for Firecrests."
She turned back toward the road. "You're coming back with me. If the northern patrol catches sight of you here, they'll assume infiltration protocol and won't ask questions first."
Kael exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Guess that means we're lucky you showed up."
"Lucky isn't the word I'd use," she muttered.
I followed a step behind her, the wind carrying faint echoes against the stone. Just before we left, I looked back once more. The footprints were still there, two human, one smaller, leading into the shadows. But this time, only one set came back out.