Koma stood in his darkened room, hands clenching and unclenching. The hatred that had formed in the courtyard was no longer just a cold weight. It was a living heat that demanded action.
He couldn't stay in these walls any longer, listening to the muffled sounds of a household built on lies.
Leiya was already in the secluded wing, playing the part of Kota's watchful shadow. Her presence only reminded him of the special treatment his younger brother received.
He turned toward the heavy oak door. He needed to find Kova. His younger brother was the only one with the spatial affinity required to bypass the wards. Kova was likely in the library, lost in his own quiet observations.
Koma stepped into the torchlit corridor, moving with a predator's silence.
He found Kova hunched over a desk of ancient maps, his fourteen year old face lit by a single flickering candle. Kova looked up, his pale eyes reflecting cold curiosity. He didn't seem surprised to see him.
"They're hiding the truth from us, Kova," Koma whispered, leaning over the table. "Look at what happened with Kota. They call it a sickness and lock him away, but you saw that cocoon. You think that kind of energy just comes from a fever?"
He gripped the edge of the desk until the wood groaned.
"Father and Mother are keeping the real secrets of our bloodline under lock and key while we starve for progress. There are scrolls in the inner vault that contain the true history of our house. Everything they refuse to teach us is sitting right beneath our feet."
Kova remained silent for a moment, his gaze fixed on the flame.
The vault is off limits for a reason, Koma. To enter is to betray the House. If we're caught, there's no coming back.
"We've already been betrayed," Koma countered, voice low and urgent. "They've made us into regulars while the baby manifests powers that defy everything we've been taught. Are you content to spend your life practicing basic rifts while the real power is kept in a cedar chest? Help me open those doors. Use your Void to slip the locks and I'll handle the rest. We deserve to know what we are."
Kova stood and extinguished the candle with a quick pinch of his fingers, leaving them in total darkness.
The two brothers moved through the manor like ghosts, slipping past the human guards using the Void to bend the light around them. When they reached the heavy oak doors of the inner vault, Kova used a refined Void rift to bypass the physical locks.
The air hummed with a localized distortion that silenced the clicking of the metal tumblers.
Inside, the air was stale and smelled of ancient parchment. They found what they were looking for in a cedar chest wrapped in silk. They grabbed the brittle rolls of parchment and slipped back into the night.
Safe within the shadows of Koma's room, they unrolled the first scroll by the dim light of a lantern. As Koma began to read, his eyes widened. The silver scars on his chest began to itch with phantom heat.
These weren't simple techniques. They were anatomical maps of the human spirit.
"So Father and Mother have more than one heart," Koma whispered, voice cracking with awe and anger. He pointed to the illustrations of the Zen hearts.
"Why haven't we been told this, Kova? Look here. It says some are born with two hearts out of luck, and to have three is extremely rare. The twins… Hykee and Lokee have two each."
Kova scanned the text with clinical intensity.
"Why is Void a Forbidden Act?" he muttered. "They preach to us about the dangers of the Void, but we were born with Void Yen. Father said it's in our blood."
Kova stopped at a specific passage near the bottom.
Koma, look at this. His voice carried a rare edge of intrigue. It says those with Zen hearts can live for hundreds of years.
The strain on a single heart is what limits a mortal life, but multiple hearts cycle the essence so the body never truly decays.
He looked up at his brother.
Does that mean our parents are older than we think? If they have three hearts, they could've been alive since before the founding of the kingdom.
Koma stood up straight, his face contorted in a snarl.
"Does Uncle Jaeren and the other founders have three hearts as well, or just our parents? How come our family has the Void, but they treat it like a disease?"
"I feel like they've hidden so much from us. What is the Void power really? And why are the Blood Acts hidden away like a shame?"
He slammed his fist into his desk, the sound echoing in the silent room.
"We have to figure out how to do these Demon Acts and unlock the Zen hearts. I can't believe the twins have two hearts."
"We don't tell them right now," Kova said. "Not until we know for certain what this Zen power is."
This was their first true act of rebellion.
They realized then that their parents weren't just protecting Kota and his supposed sickness. They were actively hiding secrets from everyone.
The tension finally boiled over shortly after when Koma confronted Kalamity in the study. He questioned why Kota was being hidden and why they were being denied their bloodline's power.
Kalamity stood his ground, his voice like iron as he spoke of responsibility and restraint.
To Koma, restraint was just another word for weakness.
He could feel the stolen scrolls hidden nearby. A secret power that made his father's words feel like the ramblings of a fearful old man.
Koma stormed out and found Kova waiting in the darkened corridor. The two brothers shared a long look that solidified their alliance.
Koma walked to his room and stood by the window, looking toward the secluded wing where the moon illuminated the silent stone walls.
"One day I'll be stronger than the founders," he whispered into the dark. "I'll be the strongest in the Kingdom. The strongest in the World. I'll go beyond those lights in the sky. No one will ever suppress me again."
He looked toward the wing where his younger brother slept.
Especially him. Kota, just wait. That little power you possess… it won't be enough.
Kota bolted upright in the limestone cave with a sharp gasp. The violet light of the memory faded, replaced by cold, damp air that bit at his lungs.
His hand flew to his chest, tracing the smooth skin where the burns had once been. The phantom pain lingered like a ghost.
Beside the dying fire, Leiya watched him with wide eyes, her hand resting on the hilt of her blade.
"You were tossing and turning," she whispered.
Kota didn't answer right away. He just traced the place where the scars used to be, feeling the weight of the resentment that had started on that autumn afternoon.
It wasn't a gift, he thought bitterly. It was a target.
Miles away, Kaola stood on a high branch. She drew the string of her Void bow. There was no arrow, but the weapon hummed with a hungry vibration as it filtered the wind. Her eyes glowed with a faint, clinical light.
"The wind is heavy here," she said to the twins. "It tastes like old rot and medicine. There's a town just past the ridge. He's heading for a crowd to hide the scent, but the bow doesn't lie."
She lowered the weapon, her gaze fixed on the valley below.
"Move out."