After saying goodbye to his siblings one last time, Amaro met up with the rest of his party. Anitus had been lost in his own thoughts. It only made sense, though, he had nearly perished a few hours ago. Amaro knew his brother well enough to know that he needed time to think on his own.
Septis and Shiira saw them off, along with Kadmus, Kaara’s mother, and Arik’s parents. Amaro scanned the crowd. He wished his mother had come along to see them. He wondered what she and Tulos’s mother were doing right now.
Amaro found a strange comfort believing the two had abstained from visiting the ritual because they knew what would happen. It probably wasn’t the truth, but Amaro longed for that to be the reason just the same.
Their travel did not last very long before exhaustion hit them. Trudging through waist deep snow was bad enough, but between magic fatigue and having not slept last night, it was time to set up camp.
Amaro was not too tired, he had at least gotten a few hours once those gray cloaked warriors had rescued them. That was exactly why he took up the first watch. It was still daylight out, and the rations left much to be desired. Hopefully they would be able to hunt things in the future and get something that tasted a bit better than weeks old Malaki jerky.
Amaro hardly wanted to smell the jerky let alone eat it after what happened. Still, there was yet another strange comfort knowing this horrible monster was now his next meal.
Having the first watch gave him some time to think. He thought about what it must have been like to be a human. To never know of the Malaki’s existence until it was too late. Until their world was rotted from the inside out, and completely consumed by the horrid creatures. He felt a strange empathy for it. What could be done in a scenario where true monsters revealed themselves? Not all humans were capable of casting magic like xiozians were. They were not as strong, but they were about as smart as xiozians were.
Humans often had high populations, but those populations varied widely in strength. Much more so than xiozians did. They could be anything from a powerless peasant with no magic to a demigod or an immortal with incredible divine blessings. Other races often coexisted in human worlds too. Though they were all made in the image of the gods. Amaro wondered what it would be like to visit a world like that. Where humans roamed freely and where someone like himself would be considered a strange anomaly. The lands of divinity were a strange concept to Amaro. Their worlds were two sides of the same coin, and yet Amaro had only ever heard of Itaro’s superiority. They slayed their gods, conquered their lands, and eradicated Malaki from their worlds. Even dragons who lived in human worlds were not nearly as ancient, nor powerful as their Itaro counterparts.
Amaro reflected on the months leading up to the ceremony. He really had thought he had trained well for all of it. Every day competing against Lorshiir in an attempt to escape his imprisonment within their manor. Every day failing, and yet he had never felt bad about it. The truth was, he could have tried harder. He could have cared more. He did not want to escape badly enough.
What had become of The Crow, and The Jackal? He had only gotten a brief taste of the truth which lay hidden beneath the surface, and up until now he had forgotten all about it. The more he explored about the world, the more he learned about it, the more he had left to learn.
He laughed to himself. He really thought he had all of the answers until now. Someone like The Crow could have beaten him bloody and left him to die in a ditch, but because of his family he was safe. Even getting kidnapped likely was not a viable option for anyone. If he got taken, his father likely would have told the kidnappers to just kill him.
Maybe that was why his father never cared. All so he and his siblings could not be used against him. So that Kadmus Xirxus, Godslayer and Grand Duke of Yvian did not have a weakness to exploit.
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Then there was the darkest thought of all. One which Amaro hated to entertain, but which crept into his mind just the same: Raktus was the product of nobility poaching Venator Knights. Although, somehow, Raktus’s mother had maintained her independence through some sort of loophole. Two houses of equal power both had heirs with her, and therefore neither could force her to assimilate into the clan.
But now Raktus was dead, and the Alveridans had a right to claim her. Whatever children she had outside of the Alveridan clan would soon be poached and put to death. Amaro had never met Raktus’s mother. He did not know if he would be met with disdain, or hatred. He likely would be.
Just the same, Amaro wanted to see it. He wanted to know the darkness his family inflicted upon others with his own two eyes. As much as he did not want to see it, he needed to.
“Lost in thought, brother?” Tulos said with a yawn as the sun set over the horizon.
“It’s the only thing I have to entertain myself while I keep watch. Nothing lurks about during the daylight.”
“Perhaps it’s best that the one most easily distracted keeps watch during the most peaceful hours.” Tulos snickered, sitting down in the snow next to him, “I could not sleep with my thoughts either. I believe I’ll need this time to untangle them properly before I can.”
Amaro looked ahead, wrapping his arms around his legs, “Thank you for coming along with me on this journey.”
“Don’t mention it. In fact, I have a feeling Sancta and Anitus will inevitably make the same journey on their own. If they can muster the courage to do so, that is.”
Amaro nodded, “It’s weird. I forget that Raktus is dead for a few moments, and then it hits me all over again. I haven’t cried yet, and I feel like I should, but I just can’t.”
Tulos clapped a hand down on his shoulder, “I feel the same way, honestly. It doesn’t feel real.”
“I’m thinking about how we might be received when we visit. Since Raktus is dead, the Alveridans will likely make their move.”
“And there’s nothing we can do to stop it either.” Tulos said, arms crossed, “This was Raktus’s journey to make, and here we are making it for him-” Tulos’s voice hitched, “Ah, there it is.” He chuckled, wiping his face, “You know what’s weird? I didn’t cry over anything sad I remembered about Raktus. It was just- I remembered how excited he was when he first learned he had other siblings. He told it to me with such a glimmer in his eye even though he had so much more to worry about.”
“He never was someone who cared about the details.”
“You know, I’ve resolved to think of Raktus’s siblings as my own, even if we share no blood,” Tulos looked down, “Even if they might hate me.”
“Then we’ll adopt them together.” Amaro grinned, “I wonder if they’d act anything like Raktus. I might cry if they do.”
“You and me both. Raktus was always a weird one among us.”
Amaro leaned on his palms, “What do you think Syno is up to?”
“Probably struggling with the fact he’s now the eldest child of the Xirxus house.”
“That’s right, there’s a new ‘batch’ on their way, right?” Amaro said, scratching his head, “I hope they’ll be good to Syno. He’s always been a skittish one.”
“I’m sure they will be. Although I don’t know if Syno can handle people looking up to him.”
“How do you think he’ll take Raktus’s passing?”
“Poorly.”
“Yeah, I’m worried about him too.”
“Yvian is on the way, so we might as well pay him a visit. Before he has to go through the Siren Ceremony all by himself.”
Tulos nodded, “As tragic as it is that Raktus died, at least we were together. He did not die alone.”
Amaro laughed to himself, “Are you saying we’re lucky?”
Tulos pointed at the horizon as it darkened. A great swath of stars littered the sky more beautiful than any jewel. A wondrous path of swirling light cut across the speckled canvas of the night sky. An aurora stretched across the cosmos, a river of light in the endless void above.
“Are we lucky? Of course we are. Very much so,” he said, “We’re still here to see the beautiful world that our brother lived in, and enjoy it on his behalf.”
Amaro choked up, tears welling in his eyes, "Ah, there it is," He laughed.