Two children ran along the sidewalk of a busy street, backpacks bouncing on their backs. No more than seven years old. They were twins — Alan and Felicy. And on their arms, tightly bound to their wrists, were golden bracers: solid, smooth, and mysterious bracelets, like symbols they didn't yet understand.
Even with cars passing by and distracted adults, the two ran as if fleeing from an invisible monster. In truth, they were running from other children — an aggressive group chasing them with shouts and stones in hand. But between the two siblings, something changed the course of the escape.
Felicy tripped over a fallen branch on the sidewalk and fell hard. Alan, who was ahead, stopped instantly and ran back. The boys were almost upon them.
Alan grabbed his brother by the arms, trying to lift him. But stones started to fly. Some hit their heads. Even so, even bleeding, they ran again. They ran until the sound of pursuit was lost in the wind.
When they finally stopped, exhausted, Alan turned to Felicy with tear-filled eyes. Felicy, with knees dirty with dust, just hugged him tightly.
"I hate them. I hate all humans," Alan said, his voice trembling with hatred and pain.
"I wish I wasn't human... I don't want to be," Felicy answered, crying loudly, his face buried in his brother's shoulder.
"No matter what happens... we'll always be human," Felicy said, trying to console his brother.
"But I don't want to! I don't want to be!"
VROOOM.
A black luxury car stopped in front of them. The window rolled down slowly, revealing the face of Lewis, their older sister. She smiled upon seeing them.
"What are you waiting for? Let's go home," she said, with a glimmer in her eyes.
Minutes later, they arrived at the building where they lived. A luxurious skyscraper, surrounded by an exaggerated aura of wealth — everything was shiny and extravagant. As they entered, Lucy, their mother, greeted them with a suffocating hug of joy.
"There are my champions!" she said emotionally, squeezing them tightly against herself.
"Mom... how can we stop being human?" Alan asked, his eyes still filled with tears.
Lucy smiled, visibly tender.
"Being human is the most special thing in this world, my love," she replied, gently touching the boy's nose.
"Yeah, but... wearing this bracer isn't cool at all," Felicy grumbled, looking at the golden bracelet on his own arm.
Lucy kept smiling, but her voice became firm.
"Listen carefully: no matter what happens, never take off your bracers. Understood?"
She hugged them even tighter, kissing their foreheads. At that moment, Bruce, their father, arrived and joined the family hug.
"What a stupid scene," Lewis muttered nearby, throwing candy into her mouth and pretending not to care.
---
Then it happened.
Since that day, ten years passed.
Alan and Felicy were now seventeen. It was their birthday.
The morning air was fresh. The smell of lit candles filled the room. They wore white clothes and still bore the golden bracers on their arms — as if part of them. With a single breath, they blew out the candles on the cake.
"Come on, guys! Time for the boys-only camping trip!" Bruce shouted, excited, as if it were the best idea in the world.
Shortly after, Lucy and Lewis got into one car, while Bruce and the twins rode in another. Before leaving, Lucy called out protectively:
"Boys! Do the usual: behave. And don't take off the bracers!"
"Alright! You got it!" they both replied in unison, trying to sound reliable.
The two cars departed, each in a different direction.
---
The road was calm. Bruce's car drove through an area surrounded by trees. Only the sound of the wheels and loud music from the radio could be heard. Felicy, tired, covered his eyes with his arm and drifted off to sleep. The wind blew gently through the trees, and for a moment, everything seemed normal.
But then, the birds in the trees began screeching and flying in panic.
BOOM.
An explosion of purple energy burst through the forest and struck the car with brutal force.
Bruce's head slammed against the steering wheel hard. Felicy, in the back seat, was thrown against the window. The car veered off the road, rolling multiple times until crashing into a tree. Branches pierced through the glass, and one of them hit Alan, breaking his bracer.
With another roll, Felicy was hurled through the front of the car, crashing through the glass until slamming into a tree trunk that impaled his belly. His arm struck a rock, and the bracer on his arm also shattered. His body was bleeding. His eyes saw everything blurry.
The car landed upside down. Bruce was motionless. Blood streamed from his head. Alan, trapped by the seatbelt and a piece of iron piercing his foot, looked around — unharmed, but in shock.
A female figure approached, calm and silent. Her arms glowed with the same purple energy as the explosion.
Alan struggled to break free, screaming:
"Dad! Dad, wake up!"
Nothing. Bruce didn't respond. In pure despair, Alan clenched his teeth, his eyes fixed on the iron. Without realizing it, he bent it with his hands. The seatbelt snapped. He was free, and the first thing he did was drag his father out of the car, even knowing there was no breath left.
"Dad, please... wake up..."
Blood dripped from Alan's hands. His gaze didn't leave his father. He barely noticed the approaching figure.
Felicy, still impaled, tried to see. Everything was hazy. He felt the heat of pain, but also something different. His eyes began to glow with a cold, white light. Vapor rose from his hands. The trunk that impaled him began to freeze. It cracked. It shattered.
His wound was sealed with ice. The bleeding stopped. He screamed in despair at seeing his father and brother in that situation. He tried to stand.
BOOM.
Another purple attack. Felicy was thrown against frozen trees.
The figure kept advancing, unhurried.
Alan tried to get up, but the figure raised her hand to attack again.
Then:
Shlach.
A golden portal opened in the air. From it emerged a woman with white hair, a magical shield in hand. The purple attack was blocked. The shield absorbed the energy, redirecting it back at the attacker and launching her far away.
The woman looked at the twins seriously.
"We need to go. Now."
Alan, trembling, stared at the stranger.
"Who are you?"
She looked him in the eyes and replied:
"I'm Cátia. Your aunt."
(M.L.P – Multiverse. Forbidden Legacies)