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"Hysta, you need to focus more on your magic." A woman's voice echoed beside the young boy in a ray of light.

That boy, Hysta, glanced elsewhere, where his mirror image practiced his magic. Compared to Hysta, this other boy flawlessly manipulated all the elemental magic in the world, with additional sparks of something unique only to him.

"You do so well, Whist." A young woman's voice resounded from the surging water waves around the other boy, Whist.

As Whist responded with a chuckle, Hysta smiled at the sight.

"Hysta, there is no use if you simply watch your twin rake all the glory." The woman's voice whispered.

Hysta shook his head, a smile still on his face. "He deserves all the glory, Lady Emeruse."

Emeruse sighed. "And that complete acceptance of his capabilities far surpassing yours might be why you can't focus on yourself."

"That's not true." Hysta turned to face the ray of light where Emeruse's voice came from. "Look, I can manipulate all the basic elements just fine."

Emeruse echoed a scoff, then a clanging noise followed from where she was.

"Dear me, what is the aristocracy up to this time?"

"Lady Emeruse?"

"Apologies. I shall be back for further training with you later. Humans are making a mess of themselves in my continent again." Frustration lingered in the last bit of what she said, which brought a little smile to Hysta's face.

"Take your time, Lady Taurus." Hysta mimicked a bow as his tone shifted to how Emeruse's human subjects referred to her in Julisie.

"Hmph. For a youngling, you seem to have much knowledge of Julisie."

Hysta's smile widened as he clapped his hand, the magic he was performing fading. He reached out to the ray of light and moved his fingers up and down around it.

"Your other half is approaching, Hysta."

"Mhm. I can feel it." The ray of light slowly thinned and then disappeared. "I'll see you later, Lady Emeruse."

"Brother!"

As Hysta turned around, Whist had reached him. From behind, where Whist came from, the water had evaporated.

"How did your training with Lady Ish go, Ameme?" Hysta started, walking down to the fields from the hill where they trained.

"It went well as always! How about yours?"

Hysta pursed his lips but retained a smile. "It's not bad. Lady Emeruse might be noticing my interest in human conflict, though."

"In Julisie? The world of humans?" Whist peeked at Hysta's face. "Is there something in Julisie that brother likes?"

Hysta waved a hand, "Nothing in particular. It just interests me how different they are from us. Especially the land we rule—they seem to have many conflicts with one another the very moment we stop checking their status."

"The Great Gemini?"

"Mhm."

"Hmm... I don't think I understand them very well."

Hysta stopped walking and brushed Whist's hair. "It's okay. You'll get it soon enough. You're... special, after all."

"Brother!" Whist pouted. "You are, too!"

"..I wonder about that," Hysta mumbled as he turned to face the other way.

"Brother?"

Whist silently followed his older brother as they returned to where the other gods resided. In that wordless moment, Whist was sure the expression on his brother's face had darkened somehow. Hysta's fists balled, then trembled and released.

As if he was trying not to feel something that crept up to his soul no matter how much he wanted to push it away.

But whatever it was, as his and Whist's soul were the other half of each other, it slipped Hysta's mind that Whist could practically feel the same negative emotion as well.

-

"You two have special souls. Treasure it and each other well." Garnet started, then he turned to look at Whist. "Whistiameme—ehem, just Whist will do just fine."

The crowd of gods and goddesses before Garnet shared pleasant sighs and laughter. The Gemini gods' names were too long for everyone's liking. No one, even the twins themselves, might fully remember their complete names.

"Whist," Garnet called.

"Yes." Whist bowed his head once more.

"You... have an extraordinary soul. Power and talent reside within it—within you—that gods and humans alike may have thought of but never thought possible."

Since that day of the Gemini gods' eighteenth birthday, the rule of The Great Gemini officially fell under them. And as Whist practiced, trained, and kept improving his magic, Hysta focused on the other side of the spectrum. He studied human conflict, politics, and every knowledge he could garner in Julisie.

Gods and goddesses referred to him as a genius with every feat Hysta accomplished, but then they'd turn their heads towards Whist in a blink to congratulate him on the simplest things he had achieved.

It didn't matter. To Hysta, it didn't matter that he didn't get enough attention as his younger half. All that mattered to him was seeing the smile on Whist's face every time he saw him.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Rare for you to be here, Ameme." Hysta briefly turned to smile at the arrival of Whist in Paradise's library.

Whist sneaked close to Hysta and snuggled into his free arm. "I knew I'd find you here."

Hysta offered a pat on his brother's head, which got him the brightest and most adorable smile he'd see in anyone as a response.

"Did something happen?" Hysta's voice and hand caressing Whist's hair reeked affection and sincerity that Whist almost forgot the tiny ball of dark energy in his brother's soul.

Whist shook his head. "Nothing. It's just that...." He leaned his head on his brother's shoulder. "It's always Whist this, Whist that."

"Well," Hysta chuckled and closed the book in his hands, directing all his focus on Whist. "that's just how it is."

A noise of disapproval and a pout came from Whist, prompting Hysta to pinch his cheeks.

"They don't ever mention you unless you do something big," Whist mumbled.

Before anything else, the clouds acting as the doorways evaporated as a group of minor gods and goddesses barged in. As soon as they spotted Whist, they sped up toward him.

Whist let go of his brother and faced them, recognizing them as the ones he had helped many times in the minor lands they ruled in Julisie.

"Gemini god, Whist!" They all greeted. What followed were their praises and thanks, worship, and more praises. All for the younger Gemini god.

Hysta smiled a little as he stepped back to give them space. This wasn't anything new. This often happened and was the core reason for the disruptions of their brief time together.

And he's gotten used to it already.

At the end of their boundless vows, Whist would reply to them politely and with a big smile. And after all that was over, he would always glance at Hysta, then back at the others, with a determined look as he said the same thing with pride and intense devotion.

"But I think brother is still the best!"

Whist would always answer people that way, like now, and the people would mention Hysta then, too. But before leaving, they'd only look at Whist and wave farewell at him. And Hysta wouldn't say anything as he smiled and shook his head.

"Ameme." Hysta placed a hand on Whist's shoulder, his voice low. "I need to stop by Lady Emeruse to discuss issues with her aristocracy in Julisie. I'll see you later."

Whist stared at Hysta's figure as he went away. With a closer look and understanding of that bulb of darkness in his brother's soul, he ran after Hysta.

"Hm? Ameme, the palace grounds are the other way."

Whist shook his head and hummed disapprovingly. "I'm coming with you!"

"Eh? But... don't you have training with Lord Reh and Lady Ish?"

"I'll skip it!"

"Ameme."

"No!"

Hysta wiped a hand across his face and sighed. Between his fingers, Whist had an adorably determined and serious look on his face.

"Ameme-"

"Brother... do you envy me?"

Hysta blinked in response.

"People... some people say you must envy me." Whist lowered his head, but his blue eyes still shot back at Hysta's same but sharper blue eyes.

That must be it. Hysta pushed the darker part of his soul to the side that Whist knew of: envy.

Hysta crossed his arms and offered a faint smile. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel envious sometimes."

"But, you're-"

Hysta patted Whist's head, "You are talented—extremely talented. Your soul is Garnet's most treasured soul. You are his masterpiece."

Fear choked onto Whist's lungs as he stared back at his brother. Hysta's eyes were clear, almost like a glass. He didn't see Whist ultimately. What he saw was what everyone else saw.

Whist hated it.

He bit his lower lip. "But I'm incomplete alone. I'm only capable when you're around."

It was half-true. But most true in the sense that Whist couldn't take it when Hysta wasn't around.

Hysta shook his head, "You're so modest, Ameme." The look of adoration came clear in his eyes each time he called Whist by a nickname he allowed only Hysta to call him. "Know that you don't need me there, and you'll still do a magnificent job."

"Brother..."

That's not true.

Whist wanted to say it. But it wouldn't come out. Because it was also true.

The dampened expression on Whist's face, his eyes gleaming with a sense of despair and sadness, prompted Hysta to squish his brother's cheeks and force him to look back at him.

This time, all Whist could see in Hysta's eyes was himself. Like a reflection of who he was.

"Yes, I have my own capabilities. You have yours. And when we're together, we become something else." He sighed and looked down. "But yes, you are far, far more powerful than I could ever hope to be."

Hysta looked back at Whist, a crooked smile and a streak of pain and jealousy now evident in his eyes.

"And that does sting."

Whist held his brother's hands on his cheeks. "So, you... do envy me?"

"Ameme." Hysta's smile changed. It was the warmest smile Whist had ever seen from his brother, and what came next triggered tears from Whist's eyes to surface. "I am more proud of you than I envy you."

After struggling not to let his tears fall out, Whist jumped to hug Hysta, who hugged back almost immediately.

For countless times, again, a strong sense of protecting Hysta's kindness and warmth crawled onto Whist's soul.

-

"And seeing as the guzzaroks are running wild in our territory, I finalize that we be the ones to step into Julisie to stop them."

Garnet placed a finger from his third hand on his chin, eyes sharply ingrained into the map of The Great Gemini Hysta drew on the spot to show the situation in Julisie.

"You make an excellent argument. As always. I shall bless you both before you depart out of Paradise."

"Of course." Hysta bowed his head.

"Wah!" Whist voiced a joyful noise as he clapped his palms once. "Brother is so cool! So calm and collected! So smart-"

Hysta grabbed Whist's head with one head, a glare forming from his fake amicable smile and expression.

"Ameme."

Whist froze and covered his face.

"Eeee..."

With a sigh, Hysta's hand dropped to Whist's shoulder.

"Let's bring back order to our continent, Ameme."

"Mhm!"

-

"Is that everyone?" Whist yelled with urgency in his voice.

"Yes. Thank you, Lord Gemini!"

Whist nodded and turned back, "Reinforcements from Paradise will come shortly. If you'll excuse me, I must return and aid my brother."

Not waiting for any response, Whist dashed back to where he saved all the humans in harm's way. Colorful light flashed from his existence as he flew past the corpses of guzzaroks scattered in the southern region of The Great Gemini.

As soon as they finished off nearly every guzzaroks in existence, a man wrapped in green and gold robes and light appeared at the very south. From just that one encounter, Hysta deduced it was a minor god from The Unified Scales—wreaking havoc after the Libra God's death.

Whist was reluctant to listen to his brother's orders when Hysta said his overwhelming speed was unmatched, which made him the perfect candidate to rescue all the humans in the vicinity, while Hysta would deal with the minor god.

But when Hysta reassured Whist with a warm smile and his affectionate nickname for him, he couldn't resist.

And now, as Whist returned, both the minor god with his robes all tattered and revealed face cracked and Hysta brimmed with scratches and dirt.

"Eve." Hysta hissed, recognizing the minor god that did this to their land. "Why? Aven would never approve of this behavior."

Eve laughed, eyes full of hate, gazing back at Hysta as he clutched his severed arm. "He's dead! He's dead... all because of the people in this land!"

"What?"

As Whist reached the area, a broad flash of green light passed by swiftly. Whist stopped in his tracks. He wasn't injured, but something in his soul reverberated a seeping sense of discomfort.

"...Brother?"

Everything that came after was a haze.

Hysta's body trembled as blood splattered to the ground with every cough and move. The world had gone to a blurry mess, and when he laid eyes on the only person he wanted to be alive for, tears welled up in Hysta's eyes.

He reached out a weak hand to Whist's bloodstained face, pushing his voice to call out to him one last time.

"I'm... sorry, Ameme."

Everything Hysta had known for quivered, and all his senses had numbed. Whist screamed and shook his brother's body, his vision blurring, his soul ripped apart every second.

The world vibrated, the ground quaked, the skies turned red, and the colorful light that Whist emitted had changed to their contrasting hues—all but a shade of black and white.

The striking pain from losing half of his soul crawled to Whist's being, the last words of the most important person in his life echoed in his remaining senses, and the image of Hysta's smile throughout their entire lives he failed to protect flashed like a massive bomb in his newfound insanity.

That day, the south edge of The Great Gemini had been turned upside down, and people centuries later referred to it as the land where the Gemini gods died to save the continent against an unknown force. Since then, the twin gods disappeared entirely from the face of both Julisie and Paradise.