The Virtues' Magecraft

Page 31: The Night of the Forest

Matthias was confused. Kafka's magic had always weirded him out, but what he had just done confused him even more.

"Okay, so..." he finally said, his eyes still fixed on the ground as they walked. "Explain to me what the hell you even did."

Kafka spat out a sigh before he cleared his throat. "So... The soul is malleable or whatever. Since I am capable of molding the soul however I see fit, I chose to mold it into some kind of unnecessary anger. Y'see... Instead of the usual physical/meta-physical molding that I do, I went deeper. Kind of into the mind, I guess. But that's not really my specialty, so it became undone in a couple of minutes. So thank Alonso for that bad idea."

"Hey, it was a great idea," Alonso said. "Because it's just that. An idea."

Matthias paused. "Okay, but... Okay." He sighed. "But why?"

"Quit dragging your feet and hurry up," his brother ordered.

Matthias nodded and scurried forth.

They walked in a straight line, with Alonso in the front. Kafka stood in the middle and Matthias dragged himself from the back. The three were brothers. And just like everyone else on that godforsaken realm... They were after the God Crystal.

That "commotion" they produced among the Hunters was all part of an intricate and expectedly useless plan "orchestrated" by Alonso. The eldest brother.

All of his ideas were put into action at his command. And it was all executed by Kafka.

They all wore similar clothing. All black clothes, topped with a brown robe that Alonso had stolen for each of them. Kafka knew it was a horrible look, but as usual, he didn't care.

Kafka was the tallest and slenderest of the group, standing a few whole inches above his brothers. His hair was dark and curly and drooped over his forehead. He had darkened circles under his eyes and sunken cheeks, all with his pale and cold skin.

Unbefitting of his general appearance, his eyes were very much alive. His irises were amber and glimmered when under sunlight.

The trio kept on walking through the forest until Alonso halted.

That was his self-enacted role as the older brother. The "leader", he called himself. He gave strange orders and came up with even stranger plans to achieve their goals.

Well, his goals.

Kafka followed because he simply didn't care enough to object or speak his mind. As for Matthias... Well, the bright-eyed and optimistic young man wanted to stay with his brothers no matter what. He still retained the belief that his brothers knew what they were doing.

"We should rest here for a bit. Besides, we need to discuss the new plan I've been working on."

Matthias nodded with excitement and a slight smile, while Kafka swallowed the urge to sigh. Alonso was already thirty years old but he hadn't changed at all from when he was ten.

Unable to restrain it, Kafka spat out a sigh as he threw down the bag he held around his shoulder.

"This is a good spot for a picnic, actually," Matthias muttered.

Kafka stared at him. "You've said that about half the spots we've seen."

"That's just because Vanaheim is an incredibly nice place."

Alonso cleared his throat and interrupted his brothers. He sat down on a pale stone and motioned his brothers to do the same. Kafka couldn't find a rock suitable enough to sit on so he plopped himself down onto the ground.