My lazy life as the protagonist's brother

Sacrifice

Under the dim glow of the moon, a young boy ran across streets and fields faster than the naked eye could see. His long gold hair trailed behind him, glowing like the sun. His destination? The church of light. Where his brother is.

After a few hours, he finally arrived in front of a huge church, lighted by magic stones. It warmed the boy gently as he dragged himself up the stairs and slammed his fists against the huge doors. After a few minutes, a young nun opened up the door to find a boy on the ground, covered in wounds. Barely conscious, he croaked out. "Bedivere. Head priest. Now." Then, he fainted.

***

"Young master, for what reason did you visit the church? Where are these wounds from?" An old man sat in front of me as he treated me with his light magic. He was the head priest and my godfather, Devin Winters, who took great care in educating me about god and magic. Despite his old age, he's still incredibly sharp, so he is the main obstacle I must cross.

"Godfather, I came here for my brother."

His hands shook. The head priest was exuberant when he had heard of my mother's pregnancy, and when I last visited a few months ago, he had childcare books and beginner light magic textbooks sprawled on his desk messily. If I said my words right, I might just have a chance.

"What do you mean?" His voice sounded unnatural. "You don't have a brother."

"Don't lie, godfather! I know he's here!" I stood up in anger, wounds in my feet tearing open and leaking blood.

He winced, as if he was the one experiencing the pain. "I don't know what you mean. Stop your tantrum and sit down, you're bleeding!"

"No!" Tears flowed out as I collapsed on my knees. "Godfather, please! I know he's here. Tell the truth, I'm begging you!" I know you can't bear to see me in pain.

"I! You!" The head priest's face went from red to white. As someone who personally raised me up with care, he could never bear to see me in pain. Finally, he sighed in defeat. "Yes, he's here. It seems that I was outwitted again by a mere child. Young master, why do you want to see him so much?"

I smiled. "He's my brother, so even if he's a monster, I'll accept him. And I don't just want to see. I want to save him, and you know how."

"What?!" It was the old man's turn to stand up in shock as I sat leisurely in my chair. "How? Why—no, absolutely not! Over my dead body!"

"Then," I grinned cheerfully. "I'll just destroy the entire church to search for him. Tell me the method, and the church will survive."

"Do you think I care about the church more than you, child? It's just a building anyways, we can build more! My godson is irreplaceable!"

"That's more the reason to do it, then." I condensed a dagger made of light and stuck it next to my throat. "That is, if you don't want your irreplaceable grandson to get hurt."

"What are you doing!"

"I want my brother, godfather. He is my family, and I won't allow anyone to harm him."

"You! You, you, you!" Devin shouted, knowing that I had won. He immediately softened his voice. "Son, why are you spending so much effort? He's fated to die anyways."

I thought of Rian's peacefully sleeping face. My little sister would have looked like that too, if I could see in my past life. I was a terrible and incompetent brother to her, but Rian was a new chance for me to start over. "He's my sibling, and I'll be the one to change his fate."

"But—" Godfather's voice grew weak as he perceived my determination. "Very well. I'll tell you. This method is very dangerous, and it is hard to control. Many years ago, a child was born in the royal family. He was the prince, heir to the throne. His fate was decided before he was birthed. But everything changed when he opened his eyes. They were red like Rian's and caused fear from everyone around him. The queen could not bear to kill him, so she summoned the priests and performed a ritual in secret. She sacrificed her power and sealed away his darkness, before misleading the king into believing that everything was an illusion. The ignorant citizens rejoiced at having a prince. However, the queen soon died, because magic is closely connected with the soul. Losing her magic meant losing the very thing that sustained her soul, and therefore, her life."

Devin saw my questioning eyes and nodded. "Yes, I was one of the priests that were summoned back then. That's how I knew. But you should know, the price isn't only magic. The sacrifice will also take away what you value the most. The queen lost her feet, because she loved dancing. You might lose an arm, a leg, or even your head. "

I smiled. I had came prepared. After all, even if there is a way, it would definitely be costly. Since godfather said the ceremony would take away magic, it will probably only take one. Since I'm a dual-magic user, I'll be fine. Although losing a body part is a bit concerning, it's fine since my plan was to be lazy and unthreatening anyways. I hope it won't hurt that much though, I'm not really a fan of pain.

With wobbly legs, I stood up. "What do I need to do?"

Godfather held my hand and teleported to another room. It was illuminated by a few spare torches, and in the center of the room, a baby was sleeping.

"Rian!" I ran up and gazed at his soft face. My heart felt a bit itchy. "Don't worry, your big brother will definitely save you!"

"Don't wake him up. Although we have suppressed his dark magic, it will still cause some harm to you." Devin placed a hand on my shoulder. I nodded.

A few priests filed in quickly and one of them carried a bowl and a knife. "Drip your blood inside. They will use it to make a mana circle."

"What's the probability of this succeeding?" I stabbed my wrist and blood gushed down, filling the bowl to the brim. The priests quickly got to work, drawing different symbols on the ground.

"You're a powerful magic user and your blood is similar to his. It would be better if a high ranking priest like your father is here, but I believe it will succeed even without him."

"That's good. What else do I do?"

"Inject your power in this stone." A ruby was shoved in my hand, and Devin placed a small one in Rian's hands.

"Done." The stone started to glow and the mana circle around me lighted up.

"Now, close your eyes. Can you see a connection between you and Rian?"

I searched in the dark. Soon, a red glow appeared and I could see a red string extending from my hand to a dark area in the distance. Rian's small silhouette appeared, in the center of his body, I could see a dark lump, though it seemed to be shying away...from me?

"Now, inject your power again."

I reached out my hand, now glowing with warm light energy and touched the dark center. A pair of red eyes opened and focused on me. In the darkness, it was just me and Rian. I could see the fear in his eyes, and hugged him, leading to a metallic taste filling my mouth. My light grew brighter as it overwhelmed the darkness inside him. "It's okay, Rian. I will always be with you."

Slowly, the light began to dim as my power ran out. But I continued. Drop by drop, I squeezed out everything in my body. Just as my vision began to blur, I heard godfather's voice.

"Okay! It's enough now, Augustus! Stop and pull back!"

"Haaa." I fell to my knees and opened my eyes. Rian was right in front of me, and I watched as his red eyes faded and was replaced by black. A nauseous feeling in my body made me spit out red liquid. Blood. A large puddle surrounded me. The doors behind me suddenly banged open. Turning around, I saw mother and father rushing in. My mouth painstakingly formed a smile. Mother, father, I did it! Look! Rian can live now! I wanted to shout, but my lungs failed me. And my vision blurred.

"Son!"