It had been nearly a month since Loki and Rykar had returned to the village, in a failed attempt to bring their mother back with them.

During the first few days, the atmosphere was bleak as they lost motivation to go to do anything. They passed the time by sitting or simply laying there while staring vacantly into nothingness. Occasionally breaking the cycle to numbly nibble at a piece of bread or some berries.

During this time, it was only when they were completely out of food that they came to a mutual decision to venture out in search of sustenance. Often returning with a variety of roots, berries and fruits along with their refilled water pouches.

Such became the routine.

Days would go by without a word being spoken between them. Under this lack of communication, functioning as a pair was mainly made possible due to the intimacy they had built up over the years of familiarity with each other.

Their bodies and needs were all but identical in terms of their bodily functions, strengths and weaknesses… However, this began to gradually warp as subtle abnormalities began to surface.

At first, it was barely noticeable, but it became increasingly apparent that Rykar’s eating habits were becoming increasingly dramatic, while he left the cabin in order to relieve himself less and less frequently. By the time three weeks had passed, he was eating twice as much as Loki brother while having completely lost the urge to relieve himself.

It was as though he became a bottomless hole, with food pouring into him and simply disappearing without. Coming out from the other end. At first, he became worried over this, thinking he had fallen ill while anticipating the discomfort it would cause once the constipation hit with full force, however instead of feeling as though he was constipated or bloated, he felt full of energy. His previously hallow and depleted frame began also began to show mild traces of vitality.

He then threw the matter to the back of his mind after consulting his brother, who’s answer didn’t leave him with much to dwell on.

“Are you dumb? We sucked in the ashes of dead people, have grey skin, red and grey eyes, my foot magically healed, and our bones are fixed… but you’re sitting there worried about eating more and feeling better than before?” As usual, sarcasm dripped from Loki’s answer however the familiar response helped to ease Rykar’s mind.

After that short conversation, it was as though the clouds blocking the communication between them had been brushed aside. It served as a turning point, opening up conversation between them and largely bringing things back to the way they had been before.

Unlike in the past, there was never a mention of their mother. Since the conversation they had after returning, it was as though her presence had been erased. Without having to bring it up, her name had become a taboo between them.

There had been an unspoken understanding on this as they both consciously tried to block her out while distracting themselves with anything they could think of. Through idle conversation, collecting food and water, or just rummaging through the cabin, they actively distanced themselves and repressed their longing and sadness while finding ways to preoccupy themselves.

With nothing much else to do between gathering food and sleeping, aside from exploring the forest regions around them, their attention had turned to the collection of books that was spread along the long shelf.

The shelf itself was curved around the circular wall of the room and took up around a two thirds of its surface. Its length was divided into five segments around two metres wide, with each of the segments having 10 rows extending from the floor to the ceiling. It wasn’t possible for the twins to reach the top shelf with their short statures, but they eventually worked around this by pushing the table over to the wall before stacking a chair on top of it, creating a make shift step ladder.

Browsing through the books was just a random thought at first, of course neither of them were able to understand any of the symbols within them, but eventually their curious natures began to find a lot of joy in looking through the pages and finding images among the symbols. Some of the books were even entirely made of images with vivid colors depicting vast lands, fire breathing serpents or unidentifiable beings made of weird materials or plants.

Monsters and wonderful creatures that had been isolated to their imaginations were given life in the books, given a projection in a lifelike manner which left them fascinated.

It became an obsession, a thirst for knowledge of the fantasies within, despite it consisting of things they couldn’t even comprehend. It was like studying art, without knowing the intentions of the artist, they began to bring their own meanings to the pages.

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They would look through the pages of text and analyze the shapes and curves of the lettering, while sometime practicing copying the characters onto the ground by using the ash from the central fireplace. This quickly became a game they played, choosing a character to then see who could copy it the most perfectly. Some looking like blocks, some like hieroglyphs, and some had shapes that flowed like serpents across the pages.

It wasn’t necessary for them to understand what they were reading, sometimes they even decided to give meanings to the stories themselves, moving they fingers across the page while pretending to read by narrating on the fly. It was just a matter of needing to see something they hadn’t seen before.

Among these books, there were also many which depicted the human body in various poses with arrows and symbols covering the blank spaces on the page as though trying to gesture and explain the contents of the diagrams.

From then on, it became a part of their routine to sit and simply flick through the books and scrolls, page by page, book by book scroll by scroll. Whether the cover was glamorous and decorated, plane and unadorned or even ripped and tattered, they had no intention of leaving it unturned.

. . .

“When are we going to go get some meat?! You decided you wanted the bow but what have you done with it besides whisper b*llshit and play soldier. You couldn’t hit a rabbit even if it seasoned itself and sat on your plate.” Rykar groaned out loud as he threw the last of the berries into his mouth.

By now they had lost track of how long they had been staying in the cabin, yet they hadn’t eaten anything apart from berries, fruits and roots. Even while back in the village, this was their staple diet, however their mother would spice it up every now and then by sneaking some rabbit or boar from the distribution tent if they asked often enough.

As Rykar’s appetite had been expanding rapidly, he began to feel less and less content with their current vegan lifestyle.

Hearing his brother’s complaint, Loki payed no attention. Continued to slowly flick through a large book with metal corners with one hand, while using the other to precisely pick out berries from his pile of fruit and deliver them to his mouth.

“I said that I want the bow and you agreed. So, the bow is mine. Why should I go out of MY way to go get meat for YOU with MY bow? You have daggers sitting on your waist doing f*ck all, go get yourself some meat.” Loki mumbled back with a disinterested voice while putting not so subtle emphasis on the ‘my’ and ‘you’.

“We already agreed that all food is shared. If I go get some, I know you’ll say you want half so I ain’t going to get it on my own.” Rykar huffed while throwing himself onto the bed before looking up with a glint in his eyes. “Actually, fine. I will go. But from now, all the food we get doesn’t have to be shared unless we want to. Deal?”

Loki paused for a second before looking up at Rykar with a dazzling smile plastered on his face, “Not a chance.” he directly declined.

When they initially started gathering food together, they agreed that the food they collect would be split evenly between them when they get back to the cabin.

This arrangement was a good way for them to share their earnings in the case that one of them found fruit that was tastier than the other bad managed to, they neither of them would end up miserable. They also devised this way of equally sharing so that one wouldn’t go hungry due to bad luck while searching or in the case that one of them was injured or sick.

At first this had worked perfectly and there were no complaints but recently this arrangement had turned into a shackle for Rykar and a blessing for Loki. Due to Rykar’s bloated appetite, he left the tree house two or three times more often than Loki in order to find food, causing him to bring back a substantially larger amount.

There were many times when Loki would join him, but realistically he could simply spend all of his time in the tree house reading books while still living comfortably off the efforts of Rykar after he returned and grudgingly split his spoils.

Dissatisfied, Rykar had complained many times but once they made a deal between them, unless they both agreed to cancel it, they always held to their words.

However, rules are meant to be broken.

The deal had stated that the food they collect was to be split on their return… didn’t that just mean that he should eat the food on the spot instead of collecting it? In this manner, Rykar ate his fill while he was out by extending his gathering sessions. After which, he would bring back enough food to last a while, which would then be split between himself and Loki.

“Ah, I have a secret I forgot to tell you! Do you wanna hear it now or later?” Rykar questioned but without giving Loki a chance to decline, he continued, “You’re a f*cking leech.”

“You realise we’re twins right? Takes one to know one.” Replied Loki while directing his attention back to his stockpile fruits, which just happened to be brought in by Rykar earlier.

Jumping off the bed, Rykar Began to pack a bag with a water sack and other supplies before strapping it to his bare upper body. He then reached under his sheets and pulled out the thing he had deliberately been keeping concealed.

Making a point of his latest achievement, he twirled it between his hands before slinging it over his right shoulder, which was now without any traces of dirt and free from the previous tattered clothing. This caused it to display a shocking black tattoo running from his shoulder down his entire arm, forming a complete sleeve which concluded at the back of his palm.

“Fine, I made a net earlier, I don’t need your help. I’ll just go catch something and cook it there. Don’t worry I’ll make sure not to wipe my hands before I come back, that way when they come back with juices on them, you can suck your half of the meal from my fingers like the leech you are.”

“Now that you mention it… you’re right. Our berries are pretty boring latel- I mean, it can’t be healthy to only eat stuff like this. Mhm. I guess we should hunt together aye brother… for health reasons.” Loki hollered, dashing off his bed and readying a bag before snatching his bow, with a similarly tattooed right arm, and chasing after Rykar who had already left the opening.