The world felt bright enough to sear the eyes of the two Drakon as they walked their way up and out of the valley that had been their home since they were hatchlings. The sky clear of clouds allowing the suns rays to bounce off the snow and then off their very scales.

But if they turned, with the Sun to their back, they could see the whole of their home. Every home and shed, seeming both painfully small from the view.

It made the whole process of living more difficult, both physically and emotionally, but they trekked on. It would be easy to put off leaving, and then put it off a bit longer, and then they'd never leave at all.

Instead, they walked half-blind from home, till the Sun rose high in the sky, and rocky terrain turned into the denser forest where frozen trees protected them from the suns blinding rays

—-

Tink, a smell pebble, clinked off Asgar.

He shook awareness back into himself before squinting at his brother and picking up the little stone.

"Why have you done this?"

"You looked like you were monologuing."

Asgar's eyes narrowed, "I don't monologue."

Argus rolled his eyes.

"You always monologue, I can tell. You get this look in your face."

"What look?"

"This one,"

Argus crossed his eyes and made his best impression of someone terribly constipated.

Asgar threw the stone back at him while Argus laughed. He sighed, thinking of mother... father- tink. "stop that, Asgar."

"Is it so wrong to think of home?"

"We've only just left it, now is the time for exciting future thoughts! Not mopey 'I miss mama and papa' thoughts."

Asgar smirked, "Are you saying you won't miss mama or papa?"

"Don't you put words in my mouth." His brother scowled.

Asgar shrugged. "You are right, of course. even if you sound like a terrible parent hating son."

Argus took a not-so-menacing step towards him, shaking his fist. "Brother, I will punch you."

Asgar lifted his hands in mock surrender, his mood lifting with them. Before beginning to think- "Don't you throw that, Argus."

"You have the face."

"This time, I'm thinking about future things."

The brothers were prepared for the future, still adorned in their best clothes, and now equipped with suits of leather armor overtop. Both were burdened large packs, and they proudly carried new shields, valuable metal ones. A new axe for Asgar and a sword for Argus. Gifts from the tribe to aid on their journeys to come.

But more than that, both felt the thrum of power from their Oaths.

The question of how one grew into their Oath ever changed from one Oathbound to another. But universally, to make a muscle grow, you had to work it. So too did one work the boons granted by Oaths.

—-

"Woah," The brothers were crowding around an acorn, a sprouting one. It had not been doing so just moments before. Argus shook his brother by the shoulder in excitement. Chanting softly, "look at it, look at it!" all the while.

Argus had been playing with the frozen acorn as they walked, tossing them to at brother. Then he'd felt a pull, a sense that he could do something- and then it had happened, the acorn had suddenly cracked, a blast of warmth from it as Argus's Sun suddenly encouraged life into it.

Had they been traveling with anyone else, the brothers would have been too embarrassed to show this much excitement over a seed sprouting rapidly, even if it was supernaturally quick.

But there wasn't anyone else here. It was the two of them, and a sprouting seed- a handful of them actually. And so they both acted like children seeing magic for the first time- and in a way, they were.

And Argus had done it. Or rather, had been doing so the last thirty minutes.

It wasn't a grand magical spell or the divine working of a god. In fact, any half-decent druid could probably achieve this minor feat. But the brothers had never met a druid, and even if they had... Well, this was theirs- Argus's specifically. But theirs. And more than that, it was life. Life that was strangely fascinating to watch swiftly burst into motion and sprout.

—-

Next, it was Asgar's turn, and his event was more accidental than his brothers, as he watched a new batch of seeds sprout unnaturally fast for the thirteenth time that day.

"Asgar, your eyes! Look at your eyes!"

Asgar blinked, looked at his brother, then checked his reflection in his arm's scales.

"My eyes are green."

"Your eyes are green!"

"I can make my eyes green?"

"You can make your eyes green!"

"Why can I make my eyes green?"

"I don't know. Try a different color!"

Asgar looked back on his reflection and focused on his eyes, feeling the Mantle upon his back lighten ever so slightly. And then his eyes shifted once more, once a dark green, now a deep red.

"That's amazing, brother! Try more!"

Asgar smiled at his brother's praise but could not help but feel that making seeds sprout was far more 'amazing' than just changing one's eye color.

Though he had to admit, perhaps lesser to his brother's, it still felt good to make a Working with his Oath.

"Try two different colors at once."

Asgar focused again, and his eyes turned green. He switched them back to red and tried to focus only on his left eye. And yet, they both turned green. He gave a small growl of frustration, letting his eyes turn back to the natural pale blue.

"I don't think I can change one at a time."

"Try making them different colors at the same time then." He raised a scaled brow skeptically before trying his brother's suggestion. He pulled on his Mantle again, imagining not a single eye changing color, but both changing at once, one turning red, and the other green. To his immense satisfaction, it worked. His eyes changed. A pair of mismatched orbs stared back at him from his reflection.

"Good job, brother!" Argus slapped him on the back.

Asgar shrugged, "I think your Working is more impressive than mine," but smiled still. Even if he couldn't think of a use for changing his eyes or why his Oath had given him the ability, it still sent a thrill through him to create a Working.

"True, I am pretty great," Argus smiled ruefully as Asgar poked him in the side.

"Aren't you supposed to make people feel better or something?"

Argus took on a serene and severe look. "never at the cost of truth." Quickly breaking into a grin and ducking back as Asgar batted at him.

"But come. Help me pick up some more acorns so I can work on this while we walk."

—-

The brothers spoke amongst each other as they traveled. They were now well out of the valley despite their detours to experiment. The suns were still high but wouldn't be much longer. If they wanted to eat something other than dry rations tonight, they'd have to start foraging soon.

The two hesitated, however.

The Sun of warmth in Argus's chest and The Mantle laid atop Asgar's shoulders still felt..full and wanted to be used besides. They felt inclined to use it too. They had become overly excited over the length of the day.

But their stomachs rumbled in protest.

"I think we should start looking for dinner now." Asgar spoke while glancing at his brother.

Argus looked up from the thirtieth-ish collection of sprouting acorns. Both had long since lost track of the exact amount. They stopped as he knelt down and cleared a patch of snow before digging a series of holes, gingerly placing a seed in each. He nodded to his brother and dusted his hands off, he knew they likely wouldn't survive the cold, but it felt wrong to simply throw them aside without giving them a fighting chance.

"Ready"

The brothers headed off into the forest, the Ternach Woods. At least that's what was marked on the maps. The brothers didn't know the name. Their tribe had been here before the maps, and they just called it the forest. It was massive. One could easily get lost in dense dark woodland. And it was known for being particularly dangerous.

Two suns bathed the forest in the last of their rays. Now the first of this world's eight moons rising over the horizon, it would only be a few hours before another one rose and night truly began to claim the sky.

Hill sized clouds dotted the skies, and birds slowly drifted back to their old homeland as winter's grasp on this land started to wane.

Back on the ground, one of the brothers spotted one such bird, a Screech Goshawk. A bird smaller than it looked, covered in thick feathers which allowed it to be the first to return to these cold lands and be the last to leave.

Hunting as a silver Drakon during the day would be difficult, the suns reflecting off metallic scales and would make hiding from prey difficult. But the Screech Goshawk, an avian predator, had one fatal weakness.

They liked shiny things.

It didn't make hunting the creature a sure thing by any measure, but it gave them an advantage. The brothers hid behind a pair of trees before Argus nonchalantly stepped out from behind. Not toward the poor bird, of course, it wasn't stupid. Shiney or not, if the seven-foot Drakon had headed towards, it would have quickly taken off.

Instead, Argus moved away from it and a bit to the right, drawing the Goshawk's sightline away from where Asgar was sneaking up upon it, sling in hand.

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He had to move quickly enough to give Asgar the opportunity before the bird lost interest in the shine of his scales.

It was a skill to move just the right speed, to avoid startling the bird. But also not so slow as to make the bird think you were stalking it.

It was also a skill to quietly sneak up on one close enough to strike it with a stone from a sling.

Unfortunately, the brothers were not masters in either. Their quarry abruptly screeched and took off into the sky. Either alerted by Asgar or wary of Argus.

Argus breathed out a disappointed sigh while he watched their dinner take off into the sky. His brother walked up beside.

"Berries?"

"Berries."

—-

Finding berries would take much longer than it had to find a bird.

The brothers kept their eye out for another bird, in case a potential prey was unlucky enough to fall for their laps.

Really, they didn't need either berries or birds. They had rations and were well stocked.

But they weren't in a rush to get to where they were going, nor did they entirely know where they were supposed to go. Other than into warmer climates where there were more people and thus more opportunities to pursue their Oaths.

But it was..fun to live on the land, in its own way. They weren't too terribly concerned to be successful in their endeavors, not now at least. They were enjoying doing what they were doing.

And so they were looking for berries or prey.

Two types grew this time of year. One was a lost cause; the Triffid bush, It masqueraded as a common plant, looking not unlike a raspberry bush. But it was a carnivorous plant too dangerous to be bothered trying to harvest from. Once its prey gets close enough to it, it would uproot itself and throw itself at it. Or, if provoked by a significant enough threat, it would promptly pluck itself from the ground and run, albeit not very quickly.

It made harvesting or hunting them hardly worth the trouble, which was a shame as its berries were the only sweet-tasting foodstuff in this region of the woods.

Asgar and Argus had never had anything 'sweet' before. They'd heard the term used by those who'd traded for such food items from humans or orcs, or even the odd nomadic druid tribe. But it meant little to the brothers other than a vaguely understood concept of it being "good."

The other berry was bitter, tasting more like a root than how one would imagine a true berry should. And it was terribly, terribly poisonous. Just not to Drakon.

The plant was known as a Pitcher's Fig. It was this plant that the brothers were looking for, as not only did it carry berries, its roots and pitchers were edible as well.

The roots were largely tasteless but filling. But the Pitcher is what made it most desirable, as it offered a somewhat refreshing taste after it was cleaned that cleared the palette well after eating the berries.

However, finding one took a while, it's not like the plant left tracks one could follow, and its light blue colored berries did not stand out on the white and brown landscape as obviously as a Triffids might. But before it got dark, they stumbled across one, not due to any unusually keen observational skill between either of them. But due to the sound of an animal screeching.

They found the Pitcher plant struggling to pull in a horned rabbit; Because like most things in this forest, this plant was dangerous, though, unlike the Triffid, the Pitcher's Plant was a hunter of small game.

The rabbit must have attempted to eat the Pitcher's berries. But hadn't eaten enough to be knocked unconscious, or the plant had taken too long to drag it into its pitcher, thus the struggle happening before them.

Asgar and Argus exchanged a look before jogging into the clearing. Argus stepped on the vines drawing in the rabbit as Asgar lined up his axe. The plant tensed, and the rabbit redoubled its efforts to escape, as Asgar struck down, cleaving the vines in half. The rabbit shook itself free and sprinted into the overgrowth.

The brothers look at each other, and then the Pitcher's fig, retracting its severed vines at a snail's pace.

It was odd. They had both felt satisfied in freeing the rabbit. Had they run into it before the Pitcher's fig had gotten it, they would have assuredly killed and eaten it given a chance. Argus shrugged, drawing an end to their silent philosophical discussion about why the Pitcher doing the hard work for them was for some reason, intolerable.

Asgar nodded, beginning a cursory investigation of the plant. Revealing a rabbit, this one freshly dead, inside the Pitcher. Which explained why the other rabbit had been given time to wake.

Asgar and Argus gripped the plant, and on a count of three, pulled, uprooting it, and causing it to twitch and shake as it expired. One brother fished out the rabbit, so the plant's acid didn't spoil it anymore than it already had.

They could clean it. They just needed to find water. Which was plentiful around the two Drakon in the form of snow, so really all the needed was a fire. Asgar began to unpack once the plant stilled, and they placed it down, pulling out the cooking gear. "Can you get wood?"

Argus responded with a nod, dropping his pack beside his brother and began to seek out some decent firewood. Asgar pulled out a board for cutting and cut the three pitchers from the plant. Although two were smaller and not yet mature, they'd still serve as food. From there, it was a case of plucking the pale blue colored berries from the stems and gathering them in a neat pile.

With that done, he pulled the small cauldron from Argus's pack and filled it with snow. There was already loose earth from where the plant had been plucked, and it would serve as a good start for a fire pit. By then, Argus had returned and aided in digging another hole beside it to allow the fire to get the air it would need, conjoining the two with a short channel.

Night had begun to fall, and three moons were out as the brothers filled the first hole with wood, and Argus reached for the tinderbox, then stopped. Staring at the fire pit, almost questioningly.

"What?" Asgar asked

Argus hesitated. "I feel like...I can do something here."

"With your oath?"

"Yes." Argus reached out, thinking for a moment. As the wood started to spark and catch fire.

"Ha, HA!" Argus called out, jubilant once more

Asgar smiled but felt oddly annoyed at how useful that trick was, then felt a strange pull from his Mantle towards the flames.

"I think I can do something too."

"Do it, do it, DO IT!" Argus hopped around, even more excited.

Asgar stretched out his hand, hopeful, thinking of the eye color changing situation earlier this morning and how put out he'd been when comparing himself to his brother. Maybe he could control fire? Though he didn't know why his Oath would allow him to do that, maybe put it out? Maybe-

As he thought of that morning's event, the fire changed color, the flames turned a dark green.

"Woah! Brother, Brother, it changed to green!"

Asgar stared at the fire a moment, looked at his brother, and threw a handful of snow at him.

"Hey, hey, easy! Don't shoot the messenger. If you don't like it, change it again!"

Asgar squinted at his brother, then focused on the fire again. He could change the color of his eyes, and he could change the color of flame. Maybe he could see through the flame? Or set his eyes on fire? He canceled that line of thought as he felt a tug on his Mantle, and simply tried switching the fire from green to a dark red.

"Brother, are you okay?"

Asgar looked at his brother, which oddly caused Argus to flinch. "Is something wrong, Argus?"

"Your eyes are on fire."

Asgar checked his reflection, and sure enough. Where his eyes had once been, now two orbs of red flaming rested, they even produced a bit of light!

"All right," Asgar said, "that's pretty great."

He blinked and canceled the flow of his Mantle to his eyes.

"Are you okay, Asgar?" Argus asked, now a bit more concerned in his voice.

"I am fine. It isn't even warm. I'm not sure how useful it is. But it is exciting."

"I would say, I bet you could scare bandits away with that."

"Who would rob two armed Drakon in armor, Argus?"

Argus shrugged, then set the cauldron above the flame. As Asgar began preparing the rabbit.

"Someone must be stupid enough to do it, and then you can scare them off."

Argus waited for the snow to melt, then began to clean the pitchers with warm water. He emptied the dirty water and replaced it with more snow, trading the clean pitchers for the rabbit, once Asgar had finished preparing it and skewering it to cook.

Asgar got the large pitchers and sliced them open them into strips, layering them into the cauldron, so they could be boiled, piling some of the plants own cleaned and crushed roots in, and a very conservative pinch of salt from his pack. Waiting till the rabbit was finished, they sliced it into parts, crushed the bitter berries over them, filled their bowls with the slices of the pitchers, and laid the meat stop before giving a prayer each to Tavig and eating.

"You should see if you can do anything else with the fire."

Asgar chewed his food and nodded in agreement. Enjoying the warmth of the meal and bowl in his hands if not genuinely need it.

Focusing on the flame, Asgar pulled on the Mantle, he imagined the fire growing..increasing in size, and lapping around the cauldron. The blaze grew brighter, and then… nothing, it was just… brighter somehow, but not larger. It pushed the darkness around the camp just a little bit farther then.

"We could make very bright torches. Was that what you were trying to do?"

Asgar shook his head. "Was trying to make it bigger." then tried the reverse. To shrink it, make it smaller, put it out even. It grew darker, now the darkness around the camp lapped at their backs, but the fire still burned, the same size yet. Just dimmer.

"Or very dark ones, maybe if we need to be sneaky, but still need some light?"

Asgar shrugged. He was feeling less upset than earlier. So his brother could make fire, and he could change its color. While he felt that again, this boon was less impressive than his brothers, there was something profoundly satisfying in having abilities so clearly meant to suit each other.

Argus, reading him, seemed to agree. "I am surprised, the oaths work together on this. I hope this continues." he smirked "after, I've been stuck with you so long. I doubt I'll get rid of you soon."

His twin rolled his eyes at him. "Put out the fire Argus, we should rest now." Asgar reached into his pack and unrolled a bedroll. Laying it beside the soon to be smoking fire.

Argus reached for the cauldron to pour into the flame, then stopped, stared at the fire, then glanced at his brother.

Asgar met his gaze, looked at the fire, then sighed. "Just do it."

Argus at least had the decency to look sheepish as he looked at the flame and reached into the warmth in his chest, the fire shrunk and puttered into smoke as he did. Allowing darkness to fall.

Then with another tug on Oath, the fire relit, blazing once more.

"Huh."

"You can make fire and put it out."

"Why is it so focused on fire, though?"

"You did say you would 'Be a light,' Brother. If anything, I should be asking why mine seems to be so set of changing things colors. Try putting something else aflame."

"What do I try it on?"

"Just pick up a stick or something."

Argus did as instructed, picking up a twig from the ground and pulling on his Oath.

Asgar watched as his brother furrowed his brow, slowly beginning to glare at the stick.

"It's not working?"

"No." Argus shifted his focus to the flame, causing it to sputter and then go out. Then moments later, making it burst alight.

"I think I can only make things catch flame that is… supposed to catch fire."

Asgar furrowed his brow. "What does that even mean?"

"Things people make to catch fire. Like a hearth or a fire pit."

"That seems strange. Maybe the stick is just too wet?"

Argus threw the twig over his shoulder.

"Maybe." he shrugged, then unfurled his bedroll. "I will test it more tomorrow." And put the campfire out once more with yet another tug.

Darkness fell, and sleep followed it.

—-

Crack. The sound of a twig snapping awoke Argus, though he didn't yet move. He looked around from his prone position. The sound had been loud and close. He glanced at his sleeping brother without moving his head before taking a moment to plan his course of action.

He could hear them now. They had been silent for a moment after the twig snapped but had begun to move again. He mentally marked his shield's location beside him and watched as Asgar stirred, perhaps sensing something in his sleep. He must have, because he tensed as Argus had, both quickly sobered from their slumber as the realization hit.

Argus took a slow, steady breath and leaped from his bedroll, roaring. "The fire!" as he reached into the Sun stored in his chest and pulled at it. The scorched wood roared back into life, then flaring even brighter as Asgar poured his Mantle into it.

Argus scooped up the sword and shield and slid with his back to the fire, and Asgar took the other side, his own arms at the ready.

Orcs, at least a dozen, maybe more.

Each over six feet tall, hundreds of pounds of muscle and sinew, tusked, and with eerie red eyes that glowed with the reflected firelight.

Most of them stood still, blinking away the sudden blindness of the flame, but the closest one seemed unphased as it narrowed its eyes. It wore a suit of polished scale mail, and on a closer glance, the scales quickly looked very familiar...

Drakon scales, silver ones.

The Orc charged them, slamming a suddenly glowing Greataxe into Argus's rising shield, knocking Argus into a crouch and denting it.

Asgar rushed forward and bodily shoved the Orc away, or attempted to as his opponent met his shield with their axe's length and held ground his ground.

Argus looked around at the orcs, now rubbing the blindness from their eyes, and shouted "North!"

Asgar dropped low, turned, then leaped over the fire.

A run turning into a sprint northward as Argus joined alongside him, pushing a still blinded orc aside as they fled away from their campsite.

Mere seconds passed, and an orcish roar echoed from behind, joined by a dozen more a moment after. They were gaining ground.

The orcs were nocturnal hunters, and the brothers knew this. They could see far better in the night than any Drakon could.

But where the orcs had their sight, the brothers had a cold. Unbothered by it as their kind was, they wore light clothes and leather armor. Whereas the orcs wore thick hides that slowed them as the freezing air bit at their lungs.

An arrow thumped into Asgar's back, borrowing into leather armor, piercing it but not keeping enough momentum to get through his scales once the leather slowed it.

Argus tripped as a spear flew through where his head had been moments ago. Asgar caught him before he fell and yanked him to his feet.

A glowing Greataxe swung at them in the dark, cutting the frigid air and breezing past their backs with a whoosh.

They could feel something from the Orc that made their Oaths thrum.

He was Oathbound, like them. But bound to an Oath contrary to their own, both felt a desire to turn and fight as Argus's chest burned, and the weight on Asgar's back increased.

But they couldn't do it here, not with the numbers so stacked against them. Nor at the fire where they had been surrounded. They needed some way to level the playing field.

Argus pulled at his Oath, imaging the orcs' weapons bursting into flame. But the Sun's heat didn't obey his command. Instead, it responded to the tug of his will in another way.

"it's going to rain!" Argus panted as he swerved around a tree.

Asgar dodged a twirling axe. "How do you know?"

Argus shouted back, "Oath!"

—-

It's the middle of the night. Five moons lay in the dark sky, now covered in a layer of black clouds. It is quiet, aside from the war cries of bloodthirsty orcs and the panicked conversation of two Drakon brothers chased by them.

The owls hoot in surprise as the disturbance breaks the calm silence of the night.

Thunder strikes, it begins to rain—the first rain of spring.

And down on the ground, two brothers were now soaking wet. The two who had spent the day joking, laughing, watching the workings of their Oaths with wonder, and freeing a rabbit from its otherwise assured doom.

Now running for their lives.