Reincarnation... something I dare doubt.

   Reincarnation is a term I know well, and I know some people who think it's real. However, my vision of death is dark for most people, but for me death is not the end of the life, but its completion, so if I have completed something, I shouldn't start it again. It's like finishing a book, and then rewriting it again from the beginning. But this is not the case, in every book, even in unfinished books, there is a point where there is no more text. I see the life of each of us in the same way. We are, we write our lives, but in the end our pen stops, and we no longer have ink to continue. And we cannot refill the ink called life, it’s just impossible. Life is meaningful because we know that it’s temporary, so we want to give it meaning, to exist... and when we are aware of reincarnation, that our life repeats itself, can we give it meaning? After all, if I will live forever, I don't have to worry about the meaning of my existence, because I will simply exist. If however at some point my existence ends forever, I can feel the determination to give it meaning. Of course... I don't feel any need of it. I want to live, I live, but I don't need to be remem

  ‘Shit.’ Ed growled to himself. He started looking for ink, but couldn't find any. He sat down, put the pen down and read what he had written. ‘Funny, my own comparison has just come true. Well, I indeed can replace the ink in the pen, but I couldn’t do the same with my life if I died. When I think about it, it's a little sad. But everything ends, after all.’

   He got up from his desk taking a candle with him, it was already late in the evening. He left the room and started walking through the corridor near the courtyard. He looked into Kasei's room – she lay on the bed, cuddled up in a blanket and sleeping in her human form. Ed giggled quietly and closed the door. He looked into the next room. Peter slept, wrapped in a blanket all the way up to his nose. Today they asked their „grandmother”, though she was not blood-related to them, Cassandra, who was also a medic, to take care of the patients. Considering the circumstances, she agreed, so Peter could rest peacefully today. Ed closed the door quietly and walked away. He leaned against the railing that was in the hallway, and looked at the courtyard.

   ‘But if reincarnation was real... would Peter meet anyone he was treating? As healthy people? Would we meet our mother? Ah... It sounds like a beautiful fairy tale... too beautiful to be true. Meeting those who are gone...’ he thought with his eyes closed.

   „Something lost once... doesn't come back.” He said out loud. After a while he walked away from the railing, opened the door to his bedroom, which was right next to Kasei's room, and laid down on the bed. For the first time in a week he decided not stay up late. After a while he fell asleep.

   He was walking through a forest of dried trees. Everything around him was grey, the sky was covered with clouds, the leaves were rotting under his feet, there was no place he could go without seeing this image. He walked on, through the endless dead forest, looking for a way out. But all he could see after a few minutes of walking was... blood. More blood. And then he heard a scream, the second one, third, then more screams… And then he woke up.

   Ed opened his eyes wide. He was breathing deeply, but after a few minutes he calmed down. ‘It's just a nightmare,’ he thought. He got up from the bed together with a blanket, with which he covered himself tightly and looked out of the window. The sundial indicated six o'clock in the morning, Ed took off the blanket and threw it on his bed, and left the room. He wanted to go and write down his dream, as a new thing to think about today, but unfortunately his plans were quickly thwarted. As soon as he entered the library, Kasei appeared.

   “ED!” she screamed. The golden–haired man turned around and looked at her, she was terrified. “Peter... THEY ATTACKED HIM AGAIN!”

Stolen story; please report.

   He ran out without even waiting for her, but Kasei was running fast enough to show him the way. After a while, they found themselves near the clinic, where their grandmother was cleaning the blood off from Peter's face – he had a black eye and a nosebleed. His clothes were dirty, the rest of his body was full of bruises.

   “To hell with those little bastards!” Growled Cassandra, gently wiping Peter’s face with a wet cloth. She had brown eyes, grey hair and was dressed in a long dress, her body was curvy and a bit chubby. “My grandson, also a member of military, they got him for punishing one of them. I will never understand their sick "solidarity" of revenge!”

   “Is he all right now?” Peter asked.

   “Yes, except for a broken nose” she said, as she lightly touched his nose, Peter quietly squeaked from pain. “Fortunately, the same didn’t happened to you, as I see.”

   “Peter!” Edward yelled. He opened his eyes wider when he saw the condition of his younger brother. “Is it them again? What did they look like?”

   “There was one” The grandmother answered. “Had a hood on his head, I chased him away, but I noticed it all too late.”

   „Didn't you see the face, grandma? This gang of theirs is placed all over the country, but we also have some „natives” here, so maybe I'll know which one, because they chased me more than once.” Ed replied, clenching his fists.

  “I didn't see the face because of the hood” she answered and sighed.

   “It's nothing. If that’s the case, I will deal with each one I meet.”

  “What? Ed, don't do this...” Peter begged.

   “I will do it!” He answered furiously. “I once let one of them cut your face, I can't let them do what they want! What about the other people? They're throwing themselves and attacking others too! Damn fanatics! And most importantly... Where the hell is Mateo?!” Peter opened his eyes more widely when he heard his name. Edward took a deep breath just to calm down.

   “I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, Peter... that I let you down again... Come on, Kasei, we have a few mugs to turn to pulp...”

   Kasei, with a serious expression on her face, jumped on Ed's shoulder. Peter watched them go away. He knew they were doing it for him. He didn't feel comfortable with it.

   ‘And as always...’ thought the gold–haired. ‘I'm the problem... My older brother has to defend me forever... I can't cope with anything... I'm pathetic...’

   “Edward, son of Carolina...” Cassandra sighed with a smile. “I knew that he had her character, just as right and brave. And like you, he has a big heart, doesn't he?” She looked at Peter, who was crying quietly. “Peter, don't be so soft”.

   “I'm sorry... I'm sorry to be a problem, grandma...” he said, wiping his face from tears.

   “Stop it, sweetheart. Your mother has helped my son and grandchildren many times, and so has this country. You always have my support, and now you better look at your injuries carefully, because I know you’re a better medic than I am.”

   “Okay... I'll do that. Thank you...” he said and stood up. He started walking away slowly, barely stpping the tears that were gathering in his eyes. Cassandra took a bucket of water with a cloth soaked in it. It coloured the water red.

   ‘Oh, dear children... You are so young and your life is already stained with blood.’ She thought of Edward and Peter, then she poured the water on the ground and took the cloth home.