Twin brothers Frei and Qionne are separated by a cursed mirror. The younger is forced to shoulder the burden of the throne, while the older must learn to have courage and return to his world. In their wake is an empire at the brink of war, and a dar...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Frei couldn't sleep.
Judging by the gradually crystallizing terrain of their surroundings, Frei guessed that they had been flung to the North of Torin, where all was ice and dirt, and stone. The steep slopes and the winding path of its gem-like mountains and rock formations were oddly similar to how he remembered Torinhime. The soothing, earthy scent of pine trees, the balmy fragrance of turquoise thistles, and the sweet odor of the mountain flowers that littered the roadside was still the same as he recalled it. But then again, he couldn't say the same for the creatures that he encountered along its path, as they all looked too colorful and deformed to be considered as anything but monstrous.
He and Eloise set up camp under a small rocky overhang. The air was chilly, and if not for the sun-like magia that constantly radiated off his skin, they would have frozen to death. Frei had cast a small fire spell and let it hover slightly above the ground. They'd roasted deer (or what Frei assumed was deer-It was Eloise who did the hunting, to his morbid surprise) over the flames and ate. It didn't take long after supper for Eloise to let out a tired yawn and curl into a ball a few paces away from Frei.
Frei smiled. He has been observing her for the past hour while he laid on his side, trying to sleep. Some part of him felt that Eloise was trying her best not take magia from him, but it was also that same fact that bothered him for the duration of the night.
He was begotten of the sun. He was a firstborn who came into the world on the first sunset of Spring. To be a sun child meant he was blessed by the fey, to be able to conjure power without the aide of rune stones like any standard mage. To be a sun child meant he had the Power of Words, of Authority over the spirits of the morning. He was the Maribagoth, and yet in the company of a small, helpless child, who had this strange ability to suck out his magia, he was still vulnerable.
The smile on his face disappeared. I have always been vulnerable, he thought as he let out a depressed sigh. He turned, facing away from Eloise as he gazed at the dark, starless sky of the Otherland. He could still see the curved rune pillar that he conjured from the distance; a structure he would not have had the sense to build if not for Lotus. His thoughts led to his canine companion, wondering where he was, thinking about what he was doing.
It's been a few days since Lotus Fenrir left them, and though it wasn't the first time the wolf left, he had never gotten used to him disappearing. Perhaps it was because he barely recalled the previous times they talked or the times they traveled together and got separated. Still, he felt the phantom comfort of his presence, that he was a familiar company in spite of the times Frei forgot. Now Lotus was gone, and he didn't know when he'd return.
Frei curled his hand around the pendant on his neck. Perhaps that's why he needed Lotus here. Perhaps some part of him was afraid of Eloise, of her capability to potentially hurt him. Perhaps his body had always known she was dangerous.
