The Invisible Prince

Chapter 4 - Birthday (Part 4)

Arden's POV-

After Elvis left the room with the tray, Arden closed his eyes and attempted to rest. However, after barely a minute, he felt someone's breath tickle his nose. He slowly opened his eyes to see...two nearly identical children? To make matters more confusing, the children in front of him looked like him as well, aside from their size and eye color.

Subconsciously, he reached out with his hand and muttered, "You look like me..."

Then, he furrowed his eyebrows and attempted to think of a reason as to why the children looked so similar to him. In doing so, he accidentally strained his mind and body, resulting in a small cough.

The looks on the children's faces were strange, but not in a bad way. They seemed...determined?

Arden cautiously looked at Arien and Arjen's faces, feeling uncomfortable now that he saw the uncharacteristic glint in their eyes.

"Who are you?"

The pair of siblings looked shocked, as if they hadn't expected such a reaction from the small boy. Then, they looked at each other and nodded.

"We're Arien and Arjen, and you are our younger brother by a few minutes. We came here to see you because we were curious about what you looked like."

Arden's response was a blank face and a small "oh".

The two older siblings were disappointed by his lack of reaction, and decided that it was because he had not registered what they had told him. They promptly left the room, giving him time to absorb the information.

With the twins gone, Arden was once again left alone to collect his thoughts. He laid there, deep in thought as he wondered why his siblings' existences were hidden from him.

He remained like that for nearly twenty minutes, before the door slammed open and familiar violet hair appeared in the doorframe.

'Rurahel', he recognized. His mother had returned with his present and another vial of poison. Arden braced himself for another round of torture (or what his mother referred to as treatment).

[327 words]