Half Brothers

Chapter 4: The Journey Begins

~.Astral/Nova.~

The ninja carries me to the back exit of the town to avoid the other people he must have passed on the way here while he holds me firmly. Under the hood, I relax against his steady breathing and strong pulse.

"By the way," he murmurs so that only I can hear him, "my name is Number 12 Crimson Shadow Armor Ninja. You may call me Crimson for short."

I nod. "In the letter Blackie first sent me, he addressed it to Number 100 Red Nova Sorcerer. Why? I know for sure that I'm not a Number."

Crimson doesn't answer my question until we're well out of the town. Then, he loops around to walk beside it in the safety of the forest, where a strange pull seems to be guiding him.

"Of course you are a Number, and that is your Number name. He always called you Nova to shorten it. In fact, all Number names are shortened since they are normally long," he explains.

A cold wind hits us. My body immediately trembles violently, which causes Crimson, who's also shaking slightly due to the cold, to hold me closer.

"The wind bites like Freezerdon's attacks," he chuckles. "You would not want to get into a battle with him without the proper way to counter his freezing attacks."

I can't help but laugh a little. Even though I don't know who Freezerdon is, I imagine that he's a Number who solely conjures up freezing attacks and may even play tricks on people with those attacks.

"Well, we have to hustle." Crimson quickens his pace to a trot. "I'm fairly sure this is his doing. It may be a prank or something."

~.Black Mist.~

I pace around my room anxiously, searching for Crimson and Nova's energy throughout my range of sense. There hasn't been a word from Crimson yet, which worries the crap out of me. What if they got caught? What if he failed to find my brother? What if...?

I shake my head and stop pacing. I can't be thinking like that if I want to stay calm! Just keep it in. No need to worry over a simple matter like this. I'm sure Crimson can handle this.

From the balcony, biting wind slaps me. I shiver and curse Freezerdon, crossing my arms tightly. He always does this in the middle of fall or winter! Shivering intensely, I make my way to the balcony doors and close them. Their insulation helps keep the warmth in.

I sigh, sit at my study, and prepare to wait for the possible days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries...

~.Crimson.~

Even with the insulation of the cloak, little Astral still shivers violently. We carry on across the now freezing plains toward a forest that may provide some cover from the wind. Night falls fast, dropping the temperature, and as the night becomes ever darker, Astral seems to shrink away from it, as if it scares him. I wonder why. Oh, well. Whatever it is, it is none of my business.

I soon find a tree with a hollow that faces away from the wind. Surely, it will provide enough protection from the excess cold and winds, which it does as soon as we enter.

I take off my cloak, wrap it solely around Astral, and set him down on the soft, flimsy grass with the warmth. After that's done, I set to work making a wall to block the cold out of the hollow. I expertly weave leaves into each other and hold them together with ropes and sticks. Since they are tightly woven, it will not be a bad place here to rest.

"Crimson?" Astral's small voice rings out in the howling silence.

"Yes?"

"Is the reason that I'm a Number why everyone hates me?"