This forest would normally be to dangerous to wonder around in during the night time, if ill prepared one might wonder straight into the jaws of one of the many semi divine beasts that lurk and live in it, but if that were the only thing to be considerate of any person with enough strength and experience would be able to carelessly walk about, the real danger is the darkness of the forest, darkness that swallows the presence of anything lurking in it, only the swift eyed or the overly paranoid would catch a glimpse of the red hunger filled eyes that dwelled within it, but most would feel the bone chilled breath that would creep up along the spine only for the weight of its pressure to pin you down.

However, to Aluric this did not apply, he made his way through the beautifully dark forest as if he was taking a leisurely stroll. He knew that there was nothing in the forest to threaten him, so for him the forests was tranquil, serene, the calmness harmonized with the darkness, which brought an ease to his mind. He was in his own world, separate from everyone, everything else and that was the most apparent to the three who were following behind him,

“umm not to be a bother kiara, but I’m starting to doubt how safe we are in this forest right now, I know you said that once we stick close to Master Aluric we would be safe, but it feels like something is watching us”, Serene said, drawing closer to Kiara, practically gluing herself next to her. Kiara though fond of her new, and strongest student, still couldn’t help but feel annoyed as she wanted to use this time to cozy up to Aluric, so because she couldn’t she decided to cure her boredom she would lightly mess with serene,

“it’s probably because something is watching us, well watching you, I’m willing to bet whatever it is, it’s salivating at the thought of biting that cute head of yours off and nibbling on it”, Kiara said, broadcasting a cold smirk on her face, which only made serene cling even tighter to her,

“but you needn’t worry, that filthy beast wouldn’t even dare come close to us right now, it knows when to cower in the presence of it’s superior, I guess that’s one advantage to being a beast that doesn’t know any better”, Kiara said, fixing her gaze on the back of Aluric’s white coat,

“don’t forget that I’m also here “, pix stated,

“Sure, your unwanted company is always a pleasure pix”, Kiara said, gritting her teeth,

“my bad Ki, I’ll leave as soon as I’m done doing my job”, Pix said, hopping over an overgrown tree root, a snap and metallic jingle, like two pieces of old scrap slightly moving, filled the air when he landed,

“it’s not like you being here is a necessity, Aluric is all that is needed and those beasts just go running away”, Kiara said, continuing her praise,

“ughh Al explain to me again why I’m stuck with the job of using my divine energy to ward off the monsters”, Pix said, wiping the sweat off of his face, it had been around an hour since they had entered the forest, and even less than that when the prince’s newly acquired servant came back to them,

“That just proves how much greater he is than you, you’re using your divine energy as a deterrent, while he just has to”, Kiara fell silent, he eyes fell upon Aluric’s back once more, he had stopped moving, his shoulders slowly rose and fell, synchronizing with his breath,

“Enough”, he spoke, “we’re here, so get into position”, Aluric ordered, the behind him retreated into the tree tops, he knew this forest well, from the time he was made guild master he hunted the beasts of this forest, some for the unique traits their pelts and furs gave, some because they guarded an area where he wanted a particular herb from, but others he hunted for sport, to alleviate boredom, he didn’t care whether or not they had value to others, to him their value lied in the fact that they could give him a challenge. How lucky Aluric had been when he learned that his brother made camp in this very forest at the abandoned outpost he passed so very often, this familiarity led him to chose this particular spot, Aluric continued, his seemingly peaceful walk, within the darkness, he walked out of the darkness into a small patch where the moonlight shined through, staging it perfectly for what was about to happen, it sloped harshly to one side and below it at the end of the slope was a shallow river, if one were to fall they would tumble right into it. As he stepped fully into the open a smirk grew on his face, the calmness and tranquility that the dark forest comforted towards him rapidly disappeared, being replaced with an excitement that felt electric, and out of the other side of the shadows came his older brother.

“so you actually decided to come alone Amon”, Aluric said, Locking eye contact with the older brother he once respected,

“that’s surprising, you normally don’t go anywhere without that big oaf, and that sniveling sycophant of a spy closely behind, even if you are told to not bring them,”, Aluric said, drawing closer to his brother, the smirk grew into a grin,

“sorry to disappoint you, but krio is off somewhere right now, and well Bard never did like you, and if anyone we know is a sycophant it’s kiara, I’m almost completely sure she would drink the water you bathe yourself with as sustenance”, amon retorted, resting his hand on the hilt of his sword, his eyes carefully following every move his brother made. Kiara looked down at Amon with ire in her eyes gripping onto the branch of the tree a little harder.

“I’m surprised though, I don’t remember you being such a forthright hypocrite, you’re the one who always has people following behind you everywhere you go”, Amon said, his eyes darting throughout the surrounding tree line then quickly back to his brother.

Aluric took one more step, leaving barely more than an arms length of space between him and his brother, he looked pass him for a moment, looking for a shadow shifting or tree branches rustling, for a moment he thought he saw an odd looking bump in the trunk of a tree but soon brushed it off as nothing, resuming his focus on his brother,

“that may be true, but they accompany me out of their own desire, but I guess I just inspire that kind of loyalty, something you wouldn’t know about, besides, if I brought all four of them that would be overkill, I don’t need a mountain to crush a mole hill”, Aluric said, he looked on even more intently into his brothers eyes. Behind Amon bard breathed a small sigh of relief, his and Aluric’s eyes had met for a brief moment, but the darkness had managed to conceal his presence, ‘he’s way to sharp’, bard thought to himself, pressing his back against the large tree trunk, he quieted himself listening in to the rest of the conversation,

“really the five of you are the bare minimum needed to entertain me, and the only one besides you is saw any value in was Pix, and he’s a stray that you felt pity for and brought home after a mission, or, as it Ea that felt bad for him”, Amon said shrugging his shoulders, “you both have that habit of taking in strays, I mean its what he did with you”, Aluric stomped forward folding his fist as he did,

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“oh, say that again brother”, aluric said, stopping his hand, he lowered his fist, instead, the divine energy around his body began to swell , it rose and dipped violently, like a torrent of rushing water, in his moment of rage Aluric saw movement in the canopy and from the tree that caught his eye earlier,

“I commend you Aluric, you tried to rouse my anger through your words, but it seems like you failed, and instead it was you who got angry first, like always because you know that your natural blessing is stronger than mine you resort to threats and violence to get your way, the tantrum of a child”, Amon said, his other hand now gripped the handle of his sword preparing to draw it at a moment,

Aluric’s brief spat of anger subsided, his divine energy began to reflect the calmness he regained flowing smoother than before. “you’re only so confident because of those two hiding behind you, always so eager to protect”, Aluric said, Amon gripped his Sword even tighter as those words left Aluric’s mouth, he could feel his anxiousness rise, the bead of sweat running along the side of his face, but it quickly subsided as he regained composure. The night was cool, a soft gentle wind blew down the slope from the direction where Amon came,

“well I guess I do inspire some kind of loyalty”, Amon said, a small sigh escaped his breath, “honestly”, amon continued taking a cigar out of his pocket with the top cut off already, “I really was going to come here alone, I still have, had, hope that you would be willing to stop all of this madness”, Amon said, the silver lid of his lighter flicked back the small flame illuminating his face briefly as he lit the cigar, Aluric could see the sadness reflected in his brother’s eye, and with a sharp ring of the metal lid closing the light went out, Amon inhaled sharply, exhaling once his mouth filled with smoke,

“Bard, Yumi, come on out”, Amon shouted, Bard was the first to appear, both of his swords drawn, even now he towered over both brothers, he held a look of contempt in his gaze, that was solely fixated on Aluric, over head one of the lower branches shook, Aluric looked up to see a pair of golden eyes looking down onto him, he could feel her malice from here,

“now tell those three with you to come out”, Amon demanded of Aluric. Aluric chuckled at his brother’s request, “even if we are on opposing sides, I guess I can’t deny my blood”, Aluric said, “it’s comically stupid how similar we are”. From the darkness of the treetops Kiara and serene descended landing in a kneeling position as they awaited orders from Aluric, the silvery blue light bathed everything, the moon had reached its zenith,

“you three have certainly gotten a lot bolder since we last met”, Pix said, he hadn’t moved from one of the higher branches, so only the unnatural glow of his orange catlike eyes peered through the shadows. Even from that high up Amon felt the animosity pouring down from Pix through the large waves of divine energy he was emitting,

“what’s that you were saying about me being a stray”, Pix said, holding onto the tree with one hand and in the other he summoned his reapers scythe,

“As a rapid dog you should stay out of your owners quarrel before I put you down, even if you are a reaper”, Amon said, his own divine energy flaring off of him to combat Pix’s,

“ignoring pix, I am here to give you one last chance for you ad all your rebels to surrender, we do not need anymore bloodshed between us, it’s not to late for me and you to fight on the same side again”, Aluric proposed to his brother, he gave pause for a moment, but, he stretched his hand out for his big brother to take. However He was not expecting the irate look to appear on Amon’s face, it had become twisted with wrath,

“it’s not to late, Aluric you ignorant asshole, it became too late when you murdered my best friend, you have spilled the blood of women and children, just because they weren’t from Dracht, in your blind loyalty and patriotism towards our home, you spilled innocent blood”, Amon said, even to his own surprise, the seething rage he felt towards the person he loved most in this world rose to the surface. Amon stumbled backwards, taken by surprise just how vexed his own brother seemed,

“I…I…no”, Aluric stuttered, ”he was a casualty of war, I asked him to leave, let the children go, but you know how he is, but what would you have preferred if I were the one to die instead”,

“no I would have liked it if you two didn’t have to kill each other at all, this is a war that you started with Ea, you are the one who went to fight him, he was a valiant person, honorable, what good man would leave children to defend themselves against an army of savages”, Amon

“One who wanted to live”, Aluric snapped back, “Amon, I’m serious, if you, Ea and I join forces, we could end this war in a heartbeat, unify the continent to make it stronger against any outside threat, protect everyone against any other nation that would wish us harm”, Amon said,

“I would prefer if you left me out of the genocidal plans of you and that homicidal prince”, Amon said, “he wants for nothing his father took everything including our parents lives, and what, Prince Ea still craves power, lusts after the very throne his father stole, and has set his greed on to the entirety of the continent”,

“that’s because he knows what is at our doorstep, people and nations who see us as a threat and wish to destroy us before we grow stronger, if only you could see what we see, you would be jumping at every chance to help us”, Aluric said. Amon slowly dragged his hand down his face, his eyes still and unwavering, numb from the excess of emotions,

“do you know what I see, what bard and yumi are seeing, what everyone else back at the base or across the other kingdoms see, two young greedy upstarts and an old mad king, filled with ambition and selfishness, me personally, I see my younger paranoid brother being manipulated by the only friend he has left, you tell me of enemies at our doorstep, but I see no foreign soldiers, I see no foreign ships and I see no foreign conquerors, I only see you”, Amon said.

Aluric paused, his own brother, all but called him a monster, all but said the words to disown him, he knew that lives would be lost for their vision, but he never thought his own brother would be so unforgiving to his actions, he touched his cheek, it felt wet, but he hadn’t been cut, Amon’s sword was still sheathed, Bard hadn’t moved neither had Yumi, it was tears, the feelings he pushed down and held at bay escaped, briefly, he wiped his face, drying his eyes, his emotions were getting the better of him, after all this was his brother he was dealing, one of the three people he felt true deep love for, Aluric inhaled deeply, slowly releasing his breath.

“I came here expecting it to be difficult to persuade you, I knew it was highly unlikely that we would see eye to eye, but I came anyways”, Aluric said, his voice trembled a little, this small falter spoke volumes to Amon, he knew somewhere inside of his brother through all of the twisted ambitions and paranoia, that somepart of him wanted them to be on the same side, that he had a chance to convince his brother to stop what he was doing, but the anger inside of him spoke louder than concerns for his brother, his mournful anger at the loss of his bestf riend, at the countless innocent lives he saw lost screamed for retribution. He locked yes with his brother once more, and chills ran own his spine, not only from the surprise at his own resolve to harm his little brother but at the cold expression he saw Aluric wearing, which allowed him to steel his own heart,

“since I knew that the chance to convince you was slim I sent a parting gift to your base, a final present to represent our severed brotherhood, and one more present I have here with me”, Aluric said, he raised his hand, and with a loud metallic bang, a gold and purple, mangled gauntlet fell from the tree where pix stood, it’s dull dust covered gold barely shimmered in the moonlight, dried blood stains spattered across it,

“you heartless bitch”, Amon spat at his brother, he felt a large gentle hand touch his shoulder as he knelt before the broken gauntlet of his best friend,

“I know Amon, but look”,Bard said pointing above the canopy of trees, in te clear moonlit sky was a plume of black smoke rising in the air,

“i’ll see you in two days time Brother”, Aluric stated, as he turned around and disappeared back into the darkness,