Vath hated this time of day. He stood in front of Kaser, his younger brother, and stared at the front door of their tiny, one-room farmhouse. There was nowhere to go, no way to hide. Not that it would help anyway. If Jalen had to come find them, that would just make him angry, and angering their father was never a good idea.
Today had been a day like any other. The boys had risen early to help Jalen in the fields for hours, and when the work was done, they had all headed to the village like normal. Vath went to the school, with its attached training center, Kaser tagging along, while Jalen ended up at the tavern, as usual. The Village Elder had decreed long ago that all children began schooling beginning at age 5, with combat training and cultivation lessons starting at age ten, and this was easily Vath’s favorite time of the day. Jalen was away, Kaser was with him, and the training was surprisingly fun, as well as useful, even if the schooling was a bit boring. Kaser was too young to join the martial and cultivation classes, being only nine, but it wouldn’t be long before he could begin to learn too. Vath couldn’t wait. His brother needed to be able to defend himself, just like he did. He hadn’t learned much yet, only the basics of what not to do, mostly; and his cultivation was slow, and hadn’t shown much progress, but that would change. Eventually. Every day was a step in the right direction. To self-sufficiency. To safety.
But training always ended. The time to go home always came. And the waiting began. Waiting for Jalen to come home. Hoping that this time that he wouldn’t be drunk. That this time he wouldn’t be angry. He knew it was a futile hope. He’d tried to find out what caused the anger. Tried to remove every reason for it. It took him years to realize, there was no reason. Not really. They were given, but they were all excuses. There was nothing that could stop his father, no, Jalen, except Jalen. And Jalen apparently didn’t want to stop. Whether someone said something at the tavern, or the food they made wasn’t good enough, or it was too cold by the time he got home, or a thousand other things; Jalen always found an excuse. And if he couldn’t find one, he would just make one up. No matter how absurd.
So Vath had stopped trying to appease him. He had only two goals in regards to Jalen at this point. One, to escape him one day, and two, to protect his brother in the meantime. He’d always succeeded at the second so far; He’d always drawn Jalen’s wrath towards himself. He could take it. He was older, and his cultivation, while still new, made his body stronger and recover faster than Kaser could hope to.
And so they waited, knowing it wouldn’t be long until Jalen returned home. Hoping today would be different, but expecting nothing. And today did turn out to be the same, at least at first. The door crashed open, and Jalen stepped in, stumbling just a little, his face flushed, and his eyes wide. He looked at them, around the room, and at the food still steaming on the table. “Soup, again?” he growled.
“We didn’t have any meat, Jalen. We did the best we could.” Vath answered. At the look on Jalen’s face, Vath knew he had made the wrong choice with his words. But then, he figured there was no right choice either.
“I told you not to call me that. I am your father, and you will remember that when you speak to me.” Jalen replied angrily. Vath didn’t even see the backhand, but he felt the sting on his cheek as he crashed to the floor. Blinking his eyes open, he began to circulate his essence from his core through his pathways in the manner taught in the village. He knew it was a poor circulation method, and he wasn’t very good at it - he couldn’t even circulate it directly to his face, but had to do the full rotation across his whole body - but when it came to fortifying himself against further blows and accelerating his healing, he’d take what he could get, no matter how meager.
Kaser spoke for the first time since Jalen came home, shouting “Vath!”, and rushing to his brother’s side. Jalen loomed over the boys, staring from one to the other, and then his angry eyes took on a thoughtful gleam through the malevolence. Vath shivered a bit; he’d seen Jalen angry many times, but he’d never seen him look so gleefully cruel as at that moment. “Well, Vath, you never seem to learn, no matter how much I try to beat it into your head. But I’m not stupid. I see how you protect little Kaser. Maybe if I give him a little tough love, you’ll learn to respect your father a bit, huh?” he almost whispered. He grabbed Kaser by the hair and lifted him up, dragging him across the room, ignoring his cries of pain. He was heading towards the switch he kept on the wall for Vath’s “discipline”.
Vath froze, even his cultivation stuttered to a stop. Kaser was screaming and crying. Vath had sworn long ago to protect his brother. To keep him from this. What could he do? He looked around for help, but no help was coming. They had no other family, and the villagers didn’t care. No one would hear them all the way out here on the farm anyways. His searching turned frantic, and then his gaze stopped on one item. In the kitchen area, where he and Kaser prepared meals that were never good enough, he saw it, lying on the counter. A knife. He shuddered. He couldn’t, could he? Wasn’t that going too far? Could he even manage it? A scream dragged his attention back over to Kaser. To his face. Terrified. Streaming with tears, and looking right at him. Vath’s resolve hardened. He restarted his cultivation and pushed the circulation of essence as hard as he could. He would need every bit of strength he could muster. He jumped up, lunged for the knife, and turned to run across the room at his top speed. Kaser’s eyes widened when he picked up the knife, and, staring into his eyes, rushing as fast as possible to his aid, Vath felt something bubble up in his gut. From just below his core, he felt a heat, and with a burst of strength and speed, he reached Jalen just as he began to turn around from the noise of his pounding feet.
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“Oh? Come to save your brother? What are you gonna d-” Jalen cut off, gurgling, eyes wide in disbelief as he stared down at the knife now embedded in his neck. The wound sprayed blood around the room, and down the front of Vath. All three of them stumbled back, Vath backwards in shock and disgust, Kaser into the wall he slid down after Jalen released him, and Jalen stumbling more than he ever had from drink. He tried to speak, but the only sounds that came out were horrible to the boy's ears. Sounds a human wasn’t supposed to make. His face was a mask of shock and pain, and he reached out towards Vath before toppling onto his face, unmoving.
Vath was too stunned to move for a moment. Had he really just done that? And then he heard a small sound, and rushed to Kaser. He wrapped his arms around him and hurried him out of the house. His brother didn’t need to see more of that, and he didn’t want to be in that room any longer himself. As soon as they reached the grass outside, they all but collapsed, Kaser still in his brother’s arms, and both cried as they tried to process what had just happened. Kaser was bawling, trying to bury himself in Vath’s chest, unconcerned with all the blood on it. Vath, while trying to be strong and comfort him, didn’t even try to prevent the tears pouring down his face. The way he saw it, some things deserved tears. They lost track of time. It might have been minutes or hours, but eventually, they calmed enough to sit up and take stock. Kaser opened his mouth to speak, but Vath held up a hand for silence and led him over to the well. They pulled up a bucket, and set to cleaning themselves. Vath wanted all the blood off them before they decided where to go next. It would be too distracting otherwise, and having it on him made him feel gross in a way that no simple uncleanliness ever could.
When they finished, Kaser looked up with eyes that wanted to cry but had no moisture left, and asked, “W-what now, Vath? Do we go to the village? We have to tell the Elder about something like this, right?”
Vath shook his head, “We can’t go to the village, Kaser. When mom disappeared, and I told them that I thought Jalen had something to do with it, no one believed me; and when Jalen hit me the first time, and I told the Elder, Jalen came home and beat me for telling on him. I don’t know what they will do about this, but I don’t trust them.”
Kaser’s swollen eyes opened even wider and his mouth hung open. Vath had never shared that before. “Then where do we go, Vath? We don’t have anywhere else.”
Vath took a breath and looked around. “We’ll have to go to the forest. Jalen taught me a bit about hunting, one of the only good things he ever did. I’ll be able to get us food, and the Beasts are rare in this part of the forest. We can avoid them. Probably.” Kaser looked scared, but he didn’t have a better idea. “Wait here. We’ll need supplies, and you don’t need to see that again. I’ll be right back.” Vath said before heading back towards the door. Kaser seemed like he wanted to protest, but after a moment he hung his head and nodded. Vath hurried through his gathering, not wanting to be there any longer than he had to. He grabbed what little food they had, their waterskins, blankets, and the few changes of clothes they had, stuffing them in the one bag they owned. He paused, looking at the knife. It would be useful, but he couldn’t bring himself to touch it. Just looking at it made him queasy enough that he ran from the room before he lost his dinner. He and Kaser filled their skins at the well, and headed in the direction of the treeline. They didn’t spend much time picking a direction. They didn’t have a destination, just someplace the villagers wouldn’t find them.
It was late enough that they hurried. They wanted distance from what had happened, and they needed to find shelter before night fully fell. Being out in the forest at night wasn’t a good idea, Beasts or no. With Vath carrying the bag, his slightly longer legs and cultivation didn’t outpace Kaser, and they both ran as far as they could before slowing to a walk to regain their strength. They repeated this for hours, the night becoming dark, and the woods more and more foreboding, before they finally found a cave. It was empty, and there was no sign of habitation on its ground. They could hear the bubbling of a river nearby, and there were some berry bushes not far outside. Deciding that they’d run far enough to avoid discovery, and fearing to continue, they huddled in the back of the cave, around a slight corner from the entrance, where they couldn’t be seen. Vath had so much running through his mind that he thought he’d never sleep again, but as soon as they’d set everything down and wrapped themselves in their blankets, he lost consciousness instantly.
He woke, feeling like hours later, with the cave still dark, but with the beginnings of morning light bathing everything, to the sound of soft crying. He moved to his brother's side, leaning against the wall in a sitting position, and pulled him to his shoulder. They had been through so much. He would never judge Kaser for this. He would be there for his brother. That was his job. It always would be. When Kaser finally quieted, Vath asked what was wrong. It seemed obvious, but he wanted to get him talking. He always felt better when he was able to tell someone. He figured it would help.
“It’s my fault.” Kaser said quietly.
Vath started. His fault? “What?” he asked in a shocked voice.
“It’s my fault, Vath. We’re only out here because dad, because Jalen, is dead, and you only did that to protect me. If I hadn’t been so weak, if I could just take one beating, we’d still have someplace to live. You-you wouldn’t be a killer. You took so many for me, and I couldn’t even take one. It’s my fault.” Kaser all but sobbed the words out.
Vath’s eyes watered, and he hugged his brother as hard as he could. Then he loosened his grip and replied, “Look at me, Kaser. No, look at me.” Kaser’s running eyes found his. “It’s not your fault. It’s Jalen’s. It’s the village for not stopping him. You’re not weak. It’s my job to protect you. Don’t ever think I blame you. I chose to do what I did.”
Kaser’s eyes, still red, dried a bit, and then they burned with resolve. “I’m going to get stronger. I’m going to protect you too. I promise, Vath. It won’t just be you carrying all the weight.”
Vath beamed, and pulled Kaser back in, speaking right next to his ear, “Good. I’ll show you how.”