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Cw: family death
Here's a bit of backstory I've been meaning to post.
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"Dinner time!" Ticon, one the guardians, called out. Xisuma stood up from where he and Xenos, his brother, had been playing. They had been trying to build a sand castle on top of his head.
"I'll race you there," Xenos challenged X.
"Yeah!" Xisuma answered, accepting the race.
"Ok. Ready, set, go!" Xenos declared. Xisuma ran forward as fast as he could manage in his five-year-old legs. He couldn't hear Xenos behind him. I'm gonna win!
He came to a skittering halt outside the door to the dining hall and opened it, ready to brag about his win to Xenos.
His hopes were squashed when he was greeted with Xenos right on the other side of the door, a massive smirk on their face.
"No fair! You teleported!" Xisuma accused Xenos. It was not unfounded. Xenos had learned how to teleport two days ago and hadn't walked more than three meters since.
Xenos answered, "It's not cheating if you didn't say so before." Xisuma just humphed.
"Children, calm down," Ticon said, "Go sit down and eat dinner." They listened to xem and went to sit down and serve themselves. Slowly, everyone else from the village trickled in. They all sat around the table and chatted. Zara and Lunlace had started a new farming project and were excited to talk about it.
A few minutes in though, the ground shook. It was just a little, but enough to cause some curiosity.
Then it shook again, but harder. Ticon stood up and walked over to the door. Xe opened it and looked outside.
"They found us!" xe shouted. Everyone but Xisuma and Xenos stood up.
"Who's they?" Xenos called out, but nobody answered. Everyone was in a panicked hurry.
"Fortify the walls!" someone called out. "Make sure the strands are tied off!" another ordered. "Don't let them set off any chains!" shouted a third.
All throughout though, nobody paid attention to Xenos and Xisuma, until Ticon turned suddenly towards them after a shout from Xenos. "Xenos, Xisuma, listen to me very carefully. I need you two to go hide. This is not a game. You'll be alright, we just need to deal with this."
"But I want to help!" Xenos exclaimed.
"Rescuing and protecting people is helping, right?" The brothers nodded. "So, the best way you two can help is protecting each other. Keep each other safe. Stay together." There was a scream from outside the dining hall. "I need to go help now, ok? You two got this. Protect each other and you'll be ok." With that, xe ran out the dining hall.
Xenos immediately turned around and started running for the kitchen. Xisuma knew where they were going. It was his favorite hiding spot, in the pantry.
Inside was packed and smelled dry. It was almost completely dark, except for a lone endrod up in the ceiling. The brothers clambered in behind some chests.
"Xenos, I'm scared," Xisuma whispered into the quiet dark. The only sounds to be heard were their breathing and the shouts from outside.
"So am I."
"Will we be ok?"
"Yeah. We will be. I've got you," Xenos promised, handing Xisuma some seeds to snack on. Xisuma popped a few in his mouth, but pocketed the rest. The fear had eaten his appetite.
"You sure?"
"Yeah. I'll protect you. I'll protect you," Xenos repeated. He kept repeating it, even as the shouts of orders gradually turned to screams of fear. They repeated it even as strange, purple eyes began to come into the closet.
"I'll protect you. I'll protect you."
"Xenos, what are those?"
"I don't know, but whatever it is, I'll keep you safe from it." The screams had almost all gone silent. All that seemed to be left to the two brothers was their silent hideout and the eyes circling them.
Suddenly, light and sound flooded the area as one of the walls was ripped away. They both screamed.
On the other side of the gaping hole was a figure. It seemed ten meters tall with a billowing cloak flowing behind it. Its body was an illogical haze with two massive wings stretched out behind it. Its face was covered with a pearly white mask, but hundreds of thousands of purple eyes spilled out from behind it.
"ᓵ𝙹ᒲᒷ ⍑ᒷ∷ᒷ, ᓭ!¡ᒷᓵ╎ᒲᒷリᓭ.," it beckoned them in a broken, twisting voice.
"Xisuma, run!" Xenos shouted, scrambling up and pulling Xisuma with him. Xisuma didn't say a word. He followed along with his brother, trying to keep up as best he could.
Xenos reached their hand out. "I'm gonna teleport us!" He did, sending them to the next island over. They kept running, as the horrors followed close behind. Another jump and they were a little farther away.
Xisuma turned back. He needed to see what happened.
The village was in ruins. More horrors were flying around it, looking at the fire and wreckage. Smoke billowed in the air. None of their family was moving. Some of the horrors were carrying cages and crates, not seeming to pay any attention to the atrocity.
However, the thing that drew the most of Xisuma's attention was in the sky. Dozens of ethereal animals kept through the sky like it was a prairie. They were beautifully haunting and mysterious.
Before Xisuma could say anything, Xenos announced, "I'm going to do a long jump. That should buy us a lot of time." With that they teleported.
When Xisuma looked again, there was nothing to be seen except empty End islands stretching out for eternity into the void.
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