War Is Madness

Chapter Five: Proving His Worth To Men

I must have slept for most of the day because when I next awoke the sun was setting. Once my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room, I looked for my Brother and found him nowhere in sight. Surprisingly, my body didn't ache this time I awoke.

As I stood I clipped my belt with my pistols into place and adjusted the holsters to rest comfortably against my hips. I looked at my scythe that laid against the boat wall and decided against carrying it with me. I didn't need the Humans to be any more nervous around me than they already were.

As I made my way to the deck, following my intuition to where my Brother would be. I somehow bumped into one of the crewmen and he fell backwards after smashing his shoulder into mine. It felt intentional but I didn't want to start a fight with an ally. As the poor man smashed his head against a nearby pillar. The noise it echoed made me cringe from its high-pitched ringing.

"R'za made ov bricks r' somzen?" The man hollered and cradled his injured cranium.

"Are you lacking a brain? I think I heard your head echo." I calmly fired back.

His fellow crewman burst out into laughter at my comeback and chastised him for trying to take on a 'brute' of a creature like me. I was able to surprisingly ignore many of their comments without exploding into a fury of flames. It was like a part of my old self had returned after talking with my Mate.

I even offered out a hand to the fallen man. To which he ignored and stormed off to his duties with his comrades close behind. All except for one. A smaller man who looked to be no older than sixteen.

"Hello. Pleasure to make your acquaintance your Majesty! I just wanted to say your Tokarev pistols are in great condition! How do you fire 'em with no ammunition though?" The smaller male questioned, gesturing to the death machines strapped to my belt in their black, leather holsters.

"You mean the death machines? Our more magically abled kinsmen made it possible. We use our own energy as ammunition."

"You have a magical model TT-33 Tokarev? You talkin' actual magic, Mister?" He asked, seemingly dumbfounded by the concept.

"Yes? What is so odd about magic?"

"O-Oh! Nothin' Mister!" He quickly replied before excusing himself to his duties.

The whole interaction made me confused and concerned there were one's so young around. Sure, our war started when I was but a year older than him. But it still made me feel ill there were basically children on the battlefield.

Then it hit me. How many young men had I unknowingly killed? How many lives had I been previously proud to claim before their lives had barely begun? I picked up my pace to make it to the comfort of my twin before I lost my mind.

Rastus was resting against the outer railing watching the waves crash into the side of the moving boat when I finally found him. He seemed completely absorbed in his thoughts as he didn't even hear me approach him. The smell of the salty air set my senses aflame as I relaxed against the railing myself.

"Brother?" I tried to gain his attention.

Rastus nearly jumped over the railing, I had startled him so bad.

"Ptolemeos! Damn Bro! You nearly made me jump out of my skin. Don't sneak up on me!" Rastus yelped and held onto the railing while clutching his chest.

"I didn't mean to. My apologies, Brother."

"I know. I'm sorry for yelling. You just caught me off guard."