Stranger places

Malus formed a schedule to train his body and mind better. Wake up, read till breakfast, breakfast, train martial arts with Zal'tai till lunch, lunch, read literature and history till dinner by orders of mother, dinner, train stealth with Zal'tai till too tired, sleep, repeat. This lasted for 4 years until Malus's tenth birthday when he was informed he would be going to the royal academy, where the best and brightest common folk and all nobility go for school. Malus leapt at the opportunity to leave the house. Although he had mixed feelings about going to this school, it would teach him much about this world, but it would also be a waste of time and effort considering the people he would be forced to deal with.

Mallory was never a people person. He was abandoned in a orphanage as a child and never grew close to anyone despite his best efforts.

Malus sat alone in the carriage to the capital. His mother had seen him out but did not accompany him and Zal'tai expressed extreme disinterest in sitting around waiting to "move at breakneck snail" pace. Shortly after leaving the family estate, Malus felt his eyelids grow heavy as he drifted into sleep. Malus found himself standing in a sunny ocean of green grass that whirled and whipped in the breeze. The field seemed to be perfectly flat, with nothing to be seen for miles in every direction, except for a single apple tree Malus could see a ways away. [This place is peculiar, something doesn't feel right.] Malus started walking toward the tree. As soon as he took a step, he realized the grass was whipping and making waves as though a strong breeze was blowing but he couldn't feel one. As Malus approached the tree, the whole world seemed to slant and warp, the tree was now on a hill instead of flat land. [What is wrong with this place?] Malus began to climb the hill with great difficulty. After climbing for some time, he reached the top, flopping onto the top of the hill. Malus could feel every muscle in his body ache from the climb. [Why does my body hurt? Is this not a dream?] He stood up and looked back to see that the hill he had just climbed was gone and instead the world behind him was heavily forested and dark, with the exception of beams of light that poured through the canopy above. He turned back and the tree was surrounded by bright green grass that starkly contrasted the brown earth and bark that covered ground around it. Malus didn't know what to make of the situation, feeling extremely confused with the situation. [How did I get here?] Malus was about to step onto the grass toward the tree when he heard a voice creep up behind him. "Don't go that way." The voice sounded like a young boy, who was very familiar but Malus could not recognize it. Malus whirled around to face to voice, but found nothing but silent forest.

"Who's there!" Malus shouted raising his fists the defend himself if necessary.

"Right here." The voice rang out again from behind a nearby tree. Malus went to walk toward the voice but only made it one step before he heard another voice from behind him, the voice sounded very similar to the first, but with a different intent. "Don't go, you'll regret it" Malus turned sideways so neither voice was behind him and turned his head to the newcomer, He saw leaning against the tree from the field was what appeared to be a mirror image of himself with the exception of the eyes. One of the boys' eyes was pure white and glossy. the other was bright green like the grass around him. "He'll get you and you won't even know it." The boy spoke again, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Who is he? Actually, who are you?" Malus asked, glancing back and forth between the boy and the forest where the voice had come from previously. "Haha, don't you mean who are we?" the boy walked to the edge of the grass, at the same time a boy who looked exactly the same,except his eye was red instead of green and on the other side, emerged from behind the tree where the voice had come from previously and stood side by side with the green eyed boy. "We are you" the boys said in unison, Malus jaw dropped as he stared. "That doesn't make any sense, I'm me. You can't be me."

The boys looked at each other for a second and looked back "Yes we can, and no we can't," the boys continued to speak. "We are parts of you that have been sealed, pieces that will slowly return to you as the seals loosen."

Malus stared blankly for a moment. "Wait, why did you say he would get me? And why were you sealed in the first place?"

The green eyed boy spoke alone first. "Because he represents your malicious nature, parts of you that you probably don't even know you have."

The red eyed boy spoke alone next. "How should we know why we were sealed? We are you, and you don't know. I thought that was obvious."

Malus looked on for some time, seemingly lost in thought before eventually asking, "Wait, if you're bad," Malus gestured to the red eyed boy, "I presume you're good, but why are you here?"

The duo look at each other and turned back to Malus with a smile. "We have a gift for you." The boys reached up and placed a hand over their red and green eyes respectively before rushing toward Malus, jamming something into each of his eyes. The objects were round and blunt, causing excruciating pain as they were jammed into his eyes. Malus could feel blood drip down his cheeks. He worried if he opened his eyes what he would see. After some time, long enough for the blood on his cheeks to start drying, Malus slowly opened his eyes. He looked up. His eyes felt strange but he could see no difference. The two boys stood with their arms crossed out in front like butlers waiting for a command. "What did you do to me?" The boys looked at each other but said nothing. Malus noticed that the eyes that had color were missing from each boy, leaving empty sockets like nothing had ever been there to begin with. Malus took a step forward towards the boys and as he did the world trembled and a thunderous cracking sound filled the air.

"Our time is up, you must go now. We will meet again." Malus reached out towards the boys, but instead found himself reaching out and jamming his hand into the butler who had been driving the carriage.

"Young sir, we have arrived."