† Yuen †
Thick wafts of rotten wisteria assaulted his nose as he turned down the corridor to his bedroom. Waxy purple petals had melted brown. It coated the floor in a thickening sludge that squished beneath his shoes.
Yuen sighed in discontent as he approached his door. The surface of it was coated in more of Eslai's flowers, beginning to mold and decay. Yet the ward had remained strong.
He looked over his shoulder, expecting his little brother to appear at any moment. It would only be a matter of time before Esali heard he had returned. And based on the state he found his public office in, he could only assume that the young prince was furious.
As if he had summoned him with his thoughts alone, his younger brother's voice boomed from behind him, "YUEN!"
Fists curled into the back of his robe and he was being spun around and slammed into a wall.
His face slackened in shock. Esali had been annoyed with him before, but this was the first time he had ever assaulted Yuen in such a manner.
"WHAT ARE YOU HIDING FROM ME?!" He shrieked.
His eyes fell on Esali to find his typically beautiful little brother had wilted. Amethyst eyes were red with veins snaking across their crystalline surface. Heavy dark bruises circled them. Dull purple curls were hastily tied atop his head and he had still not bothered to braid the underside and don his imperial silver beads. He was pallid and sickly.
Esali slammed him against the wall again as tears slipped from his eyes. "WHAT HAVE YOU AND DELTA DONE TO ME?" He sobbed.
"Delta?" Yuen's breath hitched and a chill swept over him. "What has Delta done to you?"
"I don't know! I can't find him anywhere but I can feel him EVERYWHERE!" Esali's breath came out ragged and furious; his emotions fluctuating in violent displays of power. His skin strobed and petals bloomed into the air around them. Vines of wisteria cracked through the ceiling, drawn to their god.
Yuen swallowed thickly, keeping his voice level, he made no move to stop his brother's aggression, "You can feel him?" "What is going on, Yuen? What- Why- Why do you not trust me?"
Yuen finally moved, lifted a hand and gently cupped Esali's face. "Ofcourse I trust you."
"Then please-" Cracking sobs cut him short as he released Yuen. "Please tell me what is happening to me."
A wave of questions and feelings swept over Yuen but the guilt reigned supreme. Coiling in his gut, weighty and hot.
One hand wrapped around Esali, the other swiftly gestured across the door and the locking ward collapsed. The battered piece of wood fell from its hinges in a loud crash. The ward had been the only thing keeping it in place after his brother had tried to destroy it.
He guided them into the foyer of his chambers and settled the hysterical man on a sofa while he went for his desk.
His nerves and blood turned sour in a way he had never thought possible. His heart beat unsteadily and his mouth dried up.
He thought about this moment before- having to tell Esali the truth. Having to tell him that he had used his powers on him and lied to him for the last twenty-two years.
The old desk was an antique, a thousand years old and still standing strong. Its ironwood build was designed to hide things.
Yuen traced along a curved edge of a thick wooden leg, fingers catching the latch he sought. Esali watched him as the secret drawer clicked open and he pulled out the file.
He slowly made his way back to the sofa, hesitancy softened every step. Only the soft clack of his boots on the polished pale floors sounded around them.
Esali had always trusted him. Admired him. Loved him. And Yuen was afraid he was about to splinter their bond. He knew it would happen sooner or later. The grip of fear nearly choked him.
So much so, that he didn't utter another word as he pulled one high-backed leather chair forward, sunk into its cushions, and held out the file to Esali.
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† Esali †
His brother's mycelial smell coiled thickly in the room. His silver eyes, usually sharp and cool, wavered with an emotion Esali had never seen from him before.
Guilt.
Esali took the file, the marbled folder heavy in his hands. He did not open it right away. Instead he kept his focus on Yuen, searching his brother's gaze for answers.
He could hear Yuen swallow. Watched as his mouth opened and closed.
"I-" Yuen took a shaky breath, his voice timid and low. "I have stolen from you."
"What could you have stolen that I would not freely give you?" Eslai looked down to the file and opened it.
Inside, on top of stacks of reports, health screenings, old clips and pages ripped from books, was the drawn depiction of a woman. A human one.
Oily black hair, pale skin dotted in beauty marks, and large yellow eyes gazed right off the paper at him. And something deep within him stirred. He picked up the picture, and tucked behind it was another drawing of her, but much younger. Her expression in both was blank. As if not a hint of emotion lived in her.
"She looks so familiar." Esali whispered, the pale image of the being at the top of the tower in his dreams coming to the forefront of his mind.
Then it hit him.
Yuen said he'd stolen something from him.
Purple eyes sharpened and snapped up to his brother. "You took my memory of her?"
His brother flinched, did not say anything, only offered a meek nod.
"You used your hypnosis on me." It wasn't a question.
"Not intentionally. I was young and couldn't control it."
"But you intentionally didn't tell me until now." Esali stared down at the woman and she stared back. His memory of her just out of reach.
"Esali…" Yuen swallowed. "I'm sorry."
The room was quiet for a while.
"Can I trust you to give them back? My memories?" Esali said, tone holding a cold edge it never had before.
"Absolutely."
"Then do it." Esali finally let his eyes leave the woman's and amethyst met silver.
Yuen already had his hands raised, ready to draw forth the spores that had lived within his brother's mind for a majority of his life. "I've never left my influence in a being for so long, so I do not know what to expect." His voice was still soft.
Esali snapped, "I've been going out of my damn mind because of this, Yuen. Look at me! I'm withering away. Do it. I need to know who she is." And why he felt Delta in every corner of the palace.
His older brother nodded and his hands began to glow as he drew forth his vyra and the control of his hypnotizing spores.
Esali's vision went white and his head felt as if it split open.
Visions flooded in from the past at his brother's command to remember.
🙙🙛
"No!" A high pitched shriek only girls could make rang through the little hollow. "I told you, I want to be the warrior!"
"But you have to be the princess." Asarath, young, just a scrawny kid, had his hands on his hip giving the girl a scowl.
"Why don't you be the princess?" She whined.
"Um, because I'm not a wimpy little human, and I'm not a girl."
She shoved him, hard, and Asarath sprawled across the ground. "You're always such a jerk, Rath!" She yelled.
Riel laughed at his brother and Esali stepped forward. "It's okay, Kohryn. I can be the princess."
She turned to him, face morphing sweetly. "Are you sure? If you want me to be the princess, I will." Her little head snapped back to Rath and she poked a tongue out at the glaring vypnyr. "But not for Rath! Only for you."
Esali shook his head. He didn't want Kohryn to be a princess. In fact he liked it when they played their kingdom game and Kohryn rescued him from the mad king and the evil dragon.
"Fine!" Rath jumped to his feet. "Then I'll be the dragon."
"But it's my turn to be the dragon." Riel spoke up, identical and indistinguishable from Rath. Or at least to most. The little human always seemed to know who was who.
"Yeah, Rath! It's Riel's turn to be the dragon!"
"Then it should be my turn to be the warrior! You can't be the warrior every time, just cause Esali has a big crush on you!"
"I-I do not!" Esali stuttered, crimson blush flushing his cheeks.
"FINE!" She threw her hands up, then held a finger in his face. "I'll be the princess this time, but you better do a good job saving me!"
Rath crossed his arms, lifting his head in triumph. "Don't worry, I'll rescue you, princess."
She gave him another mean glare, then took Esali's hand in hers like she'd done a thousand times before. "C'mon Esali, let's go wait in the tower."
Their fingers weaved together and warmth filled his chest, familiar and comforting. She pulled him along.
Their tower was a large boulder, Kohryn released his hand and scurried up to the top. Esali stared up at the little human girl, more like a warrior, a tyrant, and dragon, than a princess at all. But she still crossed one leg over the other and did her best to imitate a proper princess.
Riel had followed quietly behind them, while Rath went off into the woods to find a 'sword'.
And their little game of pretend commenced, messy and full of plot holes.
At some point Kohryn had abandoned being the princess and was fighting Rath right alongside Esali and Riel.
For all the vypnyr 'warrior' yelled at and bullied the girl, Esali knew he liked her most. When they were back at home it was always Rath whining about seeing her again. He was quick to find the first opportunity to gather the three of them together and go through the portal to midworld.
And if Kohryn didn't show up that day, he moped as if she had done it on purpose.
The two of them now rolled in the dirt, hissing and batting at one another. The quiet dragon and the timid mad king slayed, technically he had saved the princess. Though she was perhaps, aside from Rath, the most outspoken and rambunctious of them.
Eventually, whatever Rath was feeling overtook Riel and he jumped into the little scuffle, trying to pin his brother as Kohryn pulled at his hair and pinched them both.
She eventually rolled out of the mess, and snuck back over to Esali, the two twins now caught up in dominating one another.
"Are you okay, Esali?" She asked him quietly. Plopping down next to him, her hand weaved once more into his. It'd become so natural for the two young children, that when they were not playing they were clutching onto one another.
"I know you don't like to be the mad king." She whispered. "It's why I fought Rath with you."
Esali nodded and the two smiled at one another. "Thank you."
Her smile grew revealing rows of teeth. "You're my best friend. I'd do anything for you."
"Ugh! What about me?" Rath and Reil had ceased their play and now came to sprawl out in the grass besides the two.
"And me?" Riel added in.
Kohryn's head swiveled to each of the boys, "Yeah! We're all best friends."
"Then let's make a pact," Rath suggested. "A blood pact that we'll all be friends forever!"
Esali groaned and Riel frowned at his brother.
Rath wasn't just suggesting a blood pact. The mischievous little vypnyr wanted to taste her blood. He'd suggested it on a few occasions before.
They all knew, from their history tutors, that both vypnyr and fae alike had feasted on the humans. When Esali first brought along his cousins to meet her, it was the first thing Rath suggested once they were back in the twilight.
Esali, only six, fought the eight year old Rath and they'd both walked away with black eyes and bloody lips. Riel, calm and collected as usual, had just watched. He picked up the two, dusted them both off, and made Rath promise not to hurt Kohryn.
It took a few visits for Esali to fully trust him, but soon enough it became obvious Rath was obsessed.
"Aren't blood pacts like magic?" Kohryn's head tilted to the side, the way she did when she was nervously curious about the three supernatural and otherworldly beings.
Riel nodded, always the know-it-all. "It is a very elementary type of magic. Anyone can do it, even those who can't use vyra."
She looked unsure, "We aren't supposed to use magic without permission."
"Is that really a law?" Rath taunted.
"Well… for the Ipanish."
Rath rolled his eyes. "Ugh, that's dumb. You're with us so it's okay." He pulled out a small knife from his pocket.
"Rath!" Esali yelled with indignation. Of course his cousin had a knife on him.
"What? It's not a big deal. Look Kohryn, you're with us three and there are no humans around. Nothing bad will happen I promise."
"Are you sure about this, Rath?" Riel tugged on the sleeve of his brother's robe. They wore matching green ones, with accents of gold on the collar and sleeves.
"We'll be friends forever." Rath's voice became soft, as he looked between them all, then settled on Kohrynn. "Don't you want that?"
She nodded, a slow smile breaking out across her face.
Rath returned her smile, then quickly ran the blade down the tip of his finger, a bead of dark red welled on the surface
Kohryn looked a little shocked and in awe as Riel followed suit.
Then Esali took the blade, winced as he cut his finger and green blood leaked from the wound and ran down his hand.
"Woah! Your blood is green!"
Esali laughed. "All fae blood is green." As he said so, the grass around them vibrated.
Kohryn laughed as it tickled at her skin.
Esali held out the knife to her and watched as she fearlessly slid the sharpened metal across her finger without so much as a wince. The aroma of her blood hit the air, smelling of iron and autumn.
"Now we all press our fingers together!" Rath said, pupils expanding.
The three boys joined fingers, red and green mixing together. Then Kohryn brought hers forward, red, brighter and highly saturated blood joining the boys.
A shock wave broke through the air, whipping them all away from another.
Chaos ensued.