JRWI stories :)

My Dear Brother, Sylnan (Arc 2 spoilers)

Br'aad woke up. He had just had a nightmare. It wasn't uncommon but this one was particularly unnerving. It was about Sylnan and that terrible demon.

He got up off the cot in the shared room. Mountain, Velrisa, and Hilltree (somehow) had scored the single rooms. That left Br'aad, Sylnan, and Taxi. The Tabaxi was nowhere to be found, he must have run off to look at the bright stars.

Br'aad shot to his brother to wake him, just like he had all those sleepless nights in his childhood.

"Sylnan." He kept his voice low, it was still dark after all.

His brother pushed him away, his eyes flicking open. "What?"

"I just had a bad dream and I thought that maybe I could talk to you-"

"Seriously? You should be old enough to take care of yourself-" He swung his legs off his cot. "-You disappeared for a year on your own after making that stupid, idiotic choice."
"I- I didn't mean to. I just wanted-"

"I don't care. I've never cared." Sylnan shot up. Br'aad curled into himself, looking up at his brother. "You were always so weak."

Br'aad watched as the purple that stuck to his brother's skin tranced up the other hand. It ripped up his neck. Craws pulled from Sylnan's fingertips. He raised one up, jamming the sharp nail into Br'aad's skin, blood leaked down his chest like a brand new tattoo.

"No wonder you went to the gods for power," he laughed, "you were always too weak."

Br'aad felt tears burning at his face and blurring his vision. The purple was slowly etching its way up Sylnan's face.

"I'm the one who got us out of that orphanage. I'm the one who got us all that food. I'm the one who kept you safe. And as soon as you stepped back in the picture, want to know what happened?" Sylnan's gaze was much like a knife, it cut away all the confidence and bravery that held Br'aad together.

"What?" He whispered.

The purple tore across his left eye and forehead. Horns ripped from his skin, blood trickled from where the skin had broken. His eye turned to a black void, a purple pupil cutting through, staring down at Br'aad.

"I died."

One of Sylnan's clawed hands ripped into Br'aad's chest, holding him still. He brought Br'aad close to his demonic face, a horn punctured into his forehead.

"Maybe you were better off staying with that god in some land far away."

Br'aad breath quickened as he woke up. The pain in his chest still felt like it was there, but when he looked, there was nothing but the golden tattoos tracing his skin. He threw his head back onto the pillow, pulling at his face with a sigh.

He got out of the bed, breath still shaky. Taxi was curled up in the corner this time. Sylnan was still in the same spot he had been in the dream.

"Sylnan..." He poked at his brother.

"Go away." Sylnan grumbled, pushing Br'aad back and rolling over in his sleep.

Br'aad looked down with a worried eye. It was better then what had happened in that nightmare... both of those nightmares, but this wasn't Sylnan. Sylnan would have shot up to comfort him and tell him stories of worlds far away. He would have asked what was wrong at least. He would have listened.

He would have cared.