A Brother's Bond (I)

Grisha and the shade-ling appear in the middle of an empty road, surrounded by a vast, dark forest.

The trees twist and turn, all appearing interesting and unique. Wolves and foxes scurry around, hopping between the bushes. And perfectly placed skulls and bones of various creatures scatter across the greenery, creating abstract designs of faux creatures.

"Wooooah, where are we now?" The young shade exclaims, his pupils expanding as he takes in the view.

Smiling at his brother's excitement. Grisha responds, "you like it, huh? We're back in our homeland."

"Is mom going to catch up soon?" The child asks, pausing for a few seconds, then looking back up. "Hey, why did you take me away when the show got good?" He glares at Grisha, his cheeks puffing out.

Grisha, trying not to break into laughter, answers, "first, she should be here in a few minutes, and second... hmm." He taps his chin, muttering to himself, before finally answering, "and secondly... would you look at that scenery. My gosh, that's a nice tree." Grisha continues to walk forward, pointing at different trees.

The shade-ling looks to his palms. He puts his arms together, pushing them up. "What did she do next?" He mutters to himself. "Oh, right!" His face brightens up as he slams his hands into the ground.

They melt into the road as a dark puddle appears around them. His arms going deeper in. He suddenly feels something. He grabs at it. As soon as he pulls on the mysterious object, Grisha falls flat on his face.

"Ow."

The child, realizing what he grabbed, tries to hold back his amusement. "Oops, sorry."

Grisha picks himself up, mumbling, "ah, that's was why I didn't want kids." He wipes the dust off his pants, turning back to his sibling. "Even if you torture me, I still don't have an answer for you buddy," Grisha remarks, a tired half-smile spreading across his face.

"Awww fine," the shade-ling pouts. He taps his lip, "I have another question though."

"Of course you do," Grisha sighs.

"Why were those people so mad?" The child stares at Grisha with youthful curiosity. "I thought they were joking at first, but then they attacked us."

"Asking me all the hard questions, huh?" Grisha glances to his right, before returning his gaze. "Well, our people and theirs just don't like each other."

"Why's that?"

"Ever since our people and their people were bor..." His eyes widen, stopping, and starting over. "Ever since our people and their people started living, we were different. They liked things in the day, like the sun and light, while we enjoyed things like the night and dark. Slowly, this pushed us apart, and they began using how we look to bring other people against us."

"Is that why they all looked at me weird?" The child says, a hint of sadness in his eyes.

The look broke Grisha's heart. "Yeah... But don't worry about them. They're just dumb. I think you're an adorable little guy,"

The child's face lit up. "Really? You think I'm adora.. adorad.. adoradable?"

"Yep, really. You also got the best smile I've ever seen," Grisha says, patting his brother's head. With a sense of immediate regret, he pulls his hand back. "Forgot you had crystals for hair."

The child giggles.

The sign of joy brought a smile to the older brother.

A menacing, deep voice comes from inside the forest. "How cute, the monsters can play pretend emotions."

Grisha grabs his brother close, grabbing one of his daggers and standing defensively in front of him. "Where are you?"

"We're everywhere," another voice calls out, in a sharp, piercing pitch. "You can't escape the bane of creatures of the dark." The two voices laugh as shadows race across the dark forest.

"Damn it, how did they find out so quickly." Grisha curses.

The two forms jump from the trees, behind and in front of the shades, speaking in unison, "the demons of sunlight will end your life."

The one in front has a large muscular form. Wearing only tight torn pants and a green mask. The mask has huge tusks sticking out of a wide gaping smile, wide open bloodshot eyes, and an enormous nose, with nostrils flaring. His pose was wide, making him appear like a wild beast. His only weapon, his overgrown savage nails.

The one behind is slimmer but still has a toned physique. He wears loose-fitting black pants with a red long sleeve shirt and a red mask. His mask has its mouth curved into a ghoulish frown. Its eyes are narrow and nose sharp. He has long claw blades, his arms dangling in front of him as he slouches forward.

Grisha examines the form of the attackers as they circle their prey, whispering to his brother, "right when I attack the big guy, you are going to run into the forest and search for a tall tree. Hide there."

"But..."

"No buts, run and hide." Grisha hands a dagger to his brother. "Use this if, and only if, necessary."

The child nods.

Taking two more daggers from his belt, he bends his knees. His eyes narrow at the demon in front. "Go!" He yells, throwing out one of his daggers as he dashes towards the green demon.

The child runs into the trees, almost grabbing the attention of the red demon. A loud howl from his ally distracts the demon.

A dagger now stuck in his shoulder, the green demon only gets angrier, seemingly growing as Grisha gets closer.

Grisha tries to stab at the green demon's throat, but the demon blocks with his thick arm and punches back at his foe. Grisha dodges the fist, grabbing another blade and stabbing him in his ribs.

The green demon swings wildly, his claws barely missing the shade's skin. Before Grisha can get in a counterattack, the red demon sneaks behind him and slashes at his thigh, causing him to wince. That small moment was just enough for the big demon to get a hit in, knocking Grisha into a tree, the force of impact cracking the trunk.

The green demon charges at the fallen shade head first, the red demon following close behind. Grisha jumps to the side, and the big man to slam into the tree.

The tree bends under the weight of the blow, falling to the ground.

The red demon leaps onto Grisha, swinging the claws at his neck. A sword shoots from the shade's palm and blocks the claws inches from his face. He kicks the red demon in the stomach, knocking him off. He leaps to his feet.

The green demon tackles him back to the ground. The demon locks him down and pummels his face.

Grisha stops moving.

The demon grabs him by the throat, dangling his damaged body in the air.

The shade still grasps his blade.

"Feisty one, huh?" The green demon asks. "We probably could be good pals if you weren't born a hell-spawn. Real disappointing."

Grisha glares at the big demon in response.

The red demon flips forward, landing back on his feet. "Hurry up and kill him. We have to get the kid."

The green demon responds, "yeah, yeah. Always gotta ruin the fun, don't ya?" He pulls back his arm, aiming his nails at Grisha's heart.

Suddenly, something tugs at the demon's feet. "What was that?"

Whatever tugged him stabs into his heel. He howls in pain, stepping back.

Filled with the rush of a fighting chance, Grisha springs back into action. He breaks out of the savage man's grasp, and thrusts the sword into his chest, pushing him to the ground. The red demon yelps, retreating a step back.

Grisha turns back to the red demon, covered in bruises and exhausted. Two curved blades emerge from his arms.

"Alright, one left," Grisha says.

The red demon stands in an attacking position, noticeably still shaken. But before the demon makes an attack, he stops.

He looks up behind Grisha and shivers. His arms drop to his sides.

"Afraid of a weakened enemy, huh?" Grisha says, a smirk covering his face. "Guess you were the weaker of the two."

The red demon dashes away.

Grisha tries to give chase, but a hand pulls him back.

"You've done enough."

On hearing the familiar voice, Grisha relaxes. "Thank the gods, I did not want to chase him." He pauses, catching his breath.

The shadow mother strides towards the fleeing man, sending out an enormous claw of darkness towards him. The demon leaps out of the way, but she continues her assault, bending the dark claw towards him. He dodges again into a large tree. The claw cuts through the thick trunk. Before he can fall, he jumps to another. After a split second to regain himself, he leaps tree to tree, escaping through the dark forest.

The mistress turns to Grisha. She appears unbothered by the escape.

"Why'd you let him escape?" Grisha asks.

She responds, "letting them tell stories is a great way to dissuade them from attacking us by use of fear."

He nods. "Guess that makes sense."

The mistress strolls towards the body of the green demon and asks, "where's your brother?"

The question sends a jolt throughout Grisha's body. "Damn... Little bro!"

He runs into the thick of the forest. "Where are you?"

After what seemed to be hours, but was likely a few minutes, he sees the child crawl from a bush, covered in dirt. Grisha runs to his brother, embracing him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." The child notices the cuts and bruises covering the body of his brother. "Are you?"

"Yeah, just got a few scratches, they'll heal up soon." He swiftly changes the topic, grabbing his brother by the shoulders. "Why did you attack them? You could have gotten hurt."

The child responds defensively, "I wanted to help... was I not helpful?" He frowns.

"No, no, you were helpful, very helpful. I just want to make sure you don't get hurt, okay?" Grisha responds, going back into the hug.

"Okay." The child's frown weakens, and his eyes close, falling into a slumber in his brother's arms. Grisha picks him up, carrying him back to their mother.

The mother examines the green demon's body when Grisha enters the corner of her eye. "Can you tell who sent them?" Grisha asks, approaching with a slight limp.

"I have a few strong guesses," she responds.

"Enough evidence to gain more support from the neutral parties?" Grisha studies the man's mask.

The shadow mother turns her head to Grisha. "Not yet, but somehow this lug is still alive, so I'll make sure I get something from him." She lowers her head to her youngest child. "You're getting good at this big brother thing, Grisha."

"Yeah, I've had some practice. My explanations still need some work though," he chuckles.

"Have you changed your mind on being a parent?"

He scratches the back of his head. "I'm still going to give a strong pass on that one. Way too much of an emotional roller-coaster. Along with the fact that I'm pretty sure each of my siblings has used their powers on me at some point during their learning process now."

The mistress laughs, "They are quite the handful." She rises to her feet. "While we're on the topic of you getting hurt though, you should get some rest. Looks like you got quite a few wounds."

"Fair point, can you hold the little guy?" He hands his brother over to her.

As soon as she grabs hold of him, Grisha faints, falling into her other arm.

She chuckles to herself at the way they snuggle up to her and places them on her shoulders. "Like two snakes in a nest."

The shadow claw grasps the unconscious demon as she heads towards the dark, Gothic castle, resting deep in the forest.