Dancing with Fists

2. Adventure

Kal and Ek are best friends. Not only because they are twins and have to depend on each other, but because of how well they complimented each other. While Ek is far quicker on her feet, able to dodge just about everything, Kal could really pack a punch. Where her temper ignites and she resort to violence, Kal keeps his cool. Ek truly believes that the reason they've managed to survive is because they stick together and fight together. Many kids in the outer ring didn't have a person that is what Kal is to her, and she pities them. They carry each other when the other struggle, and that's a rare trait out here, even among siblings. When families struggle overall to survive, hostility and competitiveness isn't rare between siblings. The entire mentality in the fifth ring does nothing but encourage this kind of behaviour, it truly is survival of the fittest.

Or survival of the selfish.

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The first time Kal came home with a bloody nose, he was around six years old. Ma had freaked out completely. She spent longer freaking out than what it took for Ek to get a bucket of water and an old rag to start swiping, not necessarily so gently, at her brothers face. His dirty face had splotched of blood on it, mixed in with all the dirt that was already there. Tears had left streaks on his cheeks, taking dirt and mud with them as they fell from his eyes.

The twins had been playing on the other side of the fifth ring. They hadn't started venturing this far until very recently, just a few weeks or so earlier. The outer ring was a big place, and for two little kids, it took time to discovered everything, and the twins? They were thorough. Not a single corner or alley were left undiscovered, which would end up saving them more than once. The opposite side of the fifth ring was fascinating, because the houses changed shape through the ring, so it was a lot of new things. So fascinating, in fact, that Eks dear beloved brother Kal didn't look where he was going and ended up walking right into a kid much older than them. Ek was further away when it happened, but when she heard Kal scream, she didn't hesitate to rush to his side. She found him on the ground, with blood dripping down his face and sobs wrecking through his tiny body. Ek was so infuriated, she didn't even hesitate to send her fist flying into the older kids jaw. Being six, she didn't have much muscle strength, and it was clear it didn't hurt him very much. It did surprise him though, and gave her and Kal enough time to scramble away.

It wasn't their first encounter with bigger kids that were out to assert their dominance in a feeble attempt to cover up their own fears and insecurities, and it wouldn't be their last. Yet it was one they have yet to forget. After Ma took over Ek's attempts of cleaning her brother up, along with a proper scolding, they ventured outside the house and sat on the ground, leaning against the house, holding hands. Kal seemed to shrink against the wall, shame wrecking his entire body. The fifth ring demands you grow up quick, and Kal was upset that all he did when getting hit was cry. He didn't fight back, but reacted as a child. Sitting shoulder to shoulder, with each others presence as comfort, the twin's eyes met and a new sort of resolution reflected in both of their eyes. They wouldn't be beaten next time. They would hit them straight across the face and make them bleed!

The next time, they both got pretty badly beaten up. And the time after that, and after that. But they never gave up, even though they probably should've, and started sparring with each other. Ma wasn't happy, oh no. She'd be furious every time they came home bruised, bleeding and sometimes crying. It took about two years until they didn't brutally lose, and from then their reign in the fifth ring just spiraled upwards together with their confidence. Today, they'd always come on top. Experience from fighting together, knowing each other in and outwards, and having complete faith in each other; it was nothing the other in fifth had.

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April the 7th
Year 2042
The fifth ring

Ek woke up to a familiar ache in my stomach. Lying on her back, she opened her eyes and quickly shut them again as the light blinded her. Normally she slept on a wooden plank just about as big as her body, which isn't very big, with a couple of blankets on, located in a crook next to the door. The roof was pretty much whole, except for one part where clay and wood covered up most of a hole, with cracks running all over. It never permitted in enough light to blind her, so confusion ran through her entire body.

Lifting her upper body and leaning on her elbows, she slowly adjusted to the light and realized very quickly that she, in fact, was not inside her home, but rather outside. Suddenly an arm came flaying, straight into her face. Blinking a couple of times, she looked down next to her and saw her twin laying sprawled out. Taking hold of his wrist, she quickly pushed him over so he laid on his stomach. In a fluid movement she straddled his back and brought up his arm behind him. Kal woke up by this and started thrashing, successfully kicking her off. She landed next to him and burst out laughing at his grumpy face from being woken up like that.

"Ek," he whined, "you know I don't like being manhandled in my sleep". She snorted and slapped his head. He groaned and begrudgingly sat up. He reached up to his short, dark hair and pulled a hand through, accompanied by a yawn.

"Let's go on an adventure today!" Ek sat up on her knees and pointed at her brother. "We never got a chance to see if we can sneak into the third yesterday, you know, with you pissing off the guards and everything." Kal glared at me, before his face erupted in a giant smile.

"You're the one that ran straight into a soldier! That's even worse than pissing of some guards!" Kal exclaimed and it was Ek's turn to glare. It was true. Guards aren't the brightest, and they are often quite slow. At least for the twins. They have grey armor of low quality, armed with clumsy spears and stationed around the third and fourth ring. There are some in the fifth, but they aren't exactly guarding, with the exception of around the outer gate and the gate to fourth. Soldiers, on the other hand, are trained in the first ring. Their shiny steel armor glints in the sun, their swords sharp enough to slice without resistance, and can't be compared to the guards. Ek and Kal could probably fight a guard and win. A soldier? No way. Even the low ranking soldiers in fourth, "trash duty", are leagues above them.

"You know what, I'll bet you half a loaf of bread that you'll be the one running about soldiers today." Kal didn't respond, but threw her a sour glance. Rising up, they ventured inside to say morning to Ma, only to find that she had already left. Thinking nothing about it, they headed to the breach of the wall between fifth and forth.