-Break-
-7 months later-
Location: Cróga Soilsithe
With my shield in hand, I clash against my father's sword. Using the blade on my shield I counterattack him after I deflect his blows, and I am successfully able to strike him.
Stopping my father says, “You really have gotten better.”
“Thanks, but it is all due to finding a weapon that suits me.”
“That is still an achievement. When you first started using that weapon I thought you were crazy, but now it has become so effective that even I struggle to deal with it. And it works better with your legacy ability than a sword does, I really am sure you will become a strong warrior.”
“I promise I will, and I’ll make sure to keep you and everyone protected.”
“That’s good to hear, now let’s go get some rest.”
-The next morning-
Hearing a loud voice on the other side, I get up from my bed and take a walk outside. Where I see a group of adult’s, including my parents, talking with pure fright and terror in their eyes.
As I approach I hear, “You can’t be serious no way is that possible.”
“It is, the soil has been damaged, from the preliminary tests about 75 per cent of the land is no longer usable for farming.”
“That’s impossible no way such an event can happen overnight?” My mom says.
“It seems this issue has been existing for a while, but it was only just made public since a lot of the farmer's yield was awful this year. It seems someone has been covering this up!”
My father immediately says, “I need all of the Fanalis parliament members to follow me immediately, and everyone else to go and gather up all of the Fanalis scattered around Nialathrú, I have a horrible feeling.”
“Daddy, is everything ok?”
Hearing my voice, my father walks up to me and says, “Yes everything will be alright. But what I need you to do now is to gather up all of the kids and watch your brother, ok?”
“Ok.”
As I walk back inside, I hear someone say, “We were already suffering from serious overpopulation for Nialathrú, and now that we have lost most of our farmable land, only the worst can happen now.”
-Break-
-Sometime later-
Location: City of Ceathairéad Miongháire
Seeing Proteus and Malachy standing by a wall chatting away, I run up to them and say, “We all have to go home.”
“Why?”
“Aren’t we supposed to meet up with Dumnorix today?”
“I know, but we will have to postpone this.”
The beetle brothers make worried faces and say, “He is going to stand here for the rest of the day, if we don’t show up.”
Conflicted, I say, “I know, but Dad said we all have to return now.”
Suddenly from down the street, we hear a loud noise, that takes our and everyone else’s attention.
Looking down, we see a Fanalis on the ground and one of the Tuatha holding what seems to be bread.
The Fanalis says, “That’s mine you bastard give it back, I bought it!”
“So, what, it is your people's fault that this is scarce. So, the least you all can do is hand over the remaining bread to us.”
“How do you know this is even our fault, for all we know it was the government that is mostly Tuatha, so if anything it was your people's fault.”
“Says the beasts who used to keep us as pets, this is just another one of your ploys the get back at us.” The man then turns around to all of the people around us, and says, “Rise up my brothers, we can’t let them take from us again!”
All the people in the area surrounding us, start to look at the Fanalis with wary eyes, including us. Seeing this I feel frightened, so grabbing the brothers I start to run away at full speed.
-Four days later-
Location: The grand hall of Eche
Walking through the school, Proteus asks me, “Why isn’t Dumnorix around today.”
“His parents are farmers, so he is probably helping them now that things have gone awry.”
Malachy says, “But without him, things feel a lot scarier.”
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The beetle brothers were afraid, and rightly so. Word of the incident has spread like wildfire, and just as quickly as it has spread, the rumour that it was the Fanalis who caused this has also made its rounds.
This has caused hostility to be spread to all of us, far more than usual, and normally it is mind-breaking. That plus the fact that my parents haven’t returned from Parliament makes it all so much worse than it should be.
-1 week later-
“Most fields are completely useless.”
“How are we going to survive?”
“They say it is the Fanalis who caused it?”
“Apparently their tiny providences have a lot more farmable land?”
“But wasn’t their land already poor in the first place?”
“So what it doesn’t change the fact of what happened.”
“Fanalis can eat less food and survive for longer.”
“This might be a ploy for them to starve us out.”
“They are trying to dwindle our numbers!”
“These bastards are plotting something.”
“They need to be kept under a close eye.”
“But we also need to protect our kids from them?”
“We need to close down the schools, and kick them from the shared areas.”
“School is important we can’t just close it down, and the government still hasn’t made any announcements.”
“Then we need to get them to move, we need to make them not want to be there, far more intensely than ever before.”
The harassment towards all of the Fanalis got worse incredibly quick, to the point where each and every one of us decided we couldn’t be in school anymore.”
We all stayed in our cities and in time, slowly moved towards our exclusive cities.
During that time, our cities and houses underwent raids for food, as this year lack of food started to rear its ugly head, and still during this entire time my parents hadn’t returned.
Lots of us lived in fear during this time as we felt that any retaliation against our attacker could lead to even worse attacks. It truly was a horrible time, and our empty stomachs made the whole experience hundreds of times worse.
Eventually, in the dead of night, my parents returned and woke me up.
Dragging me, by my hands my father brings me to the egg holding my brother, and says, “Abbán I need you to protect your brother with your life, his power will without a doubt be important to us one day.”
“Daddy, what is going on?”
“Something that we have to do, but during this long time I am going to need you to take charge of the children.”
My father spoke with an eerie calmness in his tone as if all doubt and restraint within him had disappeared. “Will I see you again?”
He pauses and then places his hand on my head, and says, “I don’t know the next time we will meet, but I am sure we will. Now be strong my son and make me proud.”
Filled with energy, I say, “Right!”
Guided by another Fanalis I am taken outside with my brother in hand, but as I am I hear some of the Fanalis talk.
“They plan to blame it all on us.”
“It was the Tuatha who spread those rumours.”
“We are going to be squeezed dry.”
“But we won’t let ourselves be beaten like this.”
“If they plan to destroy us, our only option will be to destroy them first.”
-Sometime later-
Location: Fanalis hideout 9
We declared war on the Tuatha Dé Dannan. In a swift move, we attacked their major cities and struck each and every one of them down.
After this, they were met with full retaliation and just like that war raged everywhere. From morning till night as we hid we heard the screaming of others.
Then during the day when we moved from hideout 9 to 30 to 57 to 132, we were met with the sight of dead bodies and blood running through the soil.
Nialathrú was packed to the limit with people and now it was packed to the limit with corpses. The stretch these bodies let out became what we all knew as fresh air for years on end.
Sometimes we even had to hide in those dead bodies as we fled from our enemies. If one of us made a noise we all had to run and during that time I saw many of the children whom I had to take care of fall to the swords of my enemies.
Yet whenever this happened I couldn’t turn back or look for their bodies, I just had to keep running even if it meant running over their bodies.
The adults who guided us eventually had to join the war, and I was left alone to take care of everyone. I had to bandage up those who got hurt during our escapes and care for the minds of those who couldn’t stand the sight of all of the bodies.
I wasn’t able to handle all of them, and some chose death over life. Seeing their bodies made me want to break down and cry, but if I did I knew it would make the other kids give up, so I had to kill my childish heart.
I took the clothes of the corpse and distributed them to those who needed them. I had to use force to stop people from running and giving away our positions, I had to force food down the mouths of those who rejected it.
And I had to train each of the kids, so that when one of us where called to the battlefield we would be ready.
Our lives were hard, and this existence went on for years, and one day when scavenging for food we ended up on a farm.
While looking through the storage for food, I hear one of the other kids say, “Abbán it seems some of the other ran into some adults.”
“What happened? Are they ok?”
“Yes the adults surprisingly didn’t fight back, and we were able to kill them.”
“Huh? Bring me to them.”
Getting up I run all the way over to the place where I see my allies standing over the bodies of those they had just killed, and when I see them I fall to the ground over the bodies of the two dead adults.
Suddenly words flash into my mind; “Please continue to be friends with our son.”
Looking down at the two bodies, I see both of Dumnorix’s parents, and seeing this I break down and start to cry. They were truly kind to me despite being a Fanalis.
-Break-
-Sometime later-
While hiding in a cave with the rest of the kids, I hear someone enter the cave and prepare to attack them. But then I say, “Dad?”
“Abbán, this must be a miracle by Danu.”
“Where have you be-.”
Cutting me off, my dad says, “Where is your brother Abbán?”
“What do you want him for?”
“We will unleash him, and use his power.”
“Dad, where is mom.”
“Using Advent she was able to take a lot of them down in exchange for her life, truly a brave woman. And now I need all of you kids to come with me, and show the same bravely.”
“What?”
“We need some forces as a distraction as we go and recover some of the weapons we have kept in a hidden storehouse.”
“But that will put everyone in danger.”
Enraged, my father shouts, “WE HAVE BEEN FIGHTING ALL THIS TIME FOR YOU, THE LEAST YOU CAN DO IS DO THE SAME NOW THAT YOU ARE OLDER! WE NEED THIS MISSION TO BE DONE OTHERWISE WE WILL HAVE TO LOSE, WE NEED TO WIN!
Scare I step back, and as I do my father tries to walk forward in the cave, and as he does the images of all bodies I have had to walk over appear in my head, and I step forward and stab him in the heart.
Falling to the floor he looks down at me, and asks, “Why?”
“Today is my birthday Dad.”’
-Present day-
Soon after that I brought the head of my father to the Tuatha Dé Dannan and surrendered. Happily, they didn’t choose to wipe us out, but all of the freedom we had before was all but taken from us.
On that day countless responsibilities and restrictions where placed on us, but none of that mattered to me because all I remember is the face of Dumnorix who was standing in the crowd of people yelling for the death of us all.
And so like that, my life turned into what it is. Happily, my brother was able to finally hatch a few years down the line, and even though it is binding we have been able to attain quite a bit more happiness.
Opening a door, I look inside a room filled with weapons, the ones my dad wanted us to reclaim on that day long ago, and I say, “Nothing but a tool of death, yet I have truly never been able to bring myself to throwing them away.”