The weight of time

That same day, a few hours after the factory where he worked had burned down, Nathan stood at the door of his house in the village but was reluctant to knock. He didn't quite understand why, but for some reason he didn't feel like seeing his family, even though he wanted to.

"Ahhh, never mind..." Nathan sighed, knocked three times on the door and waited patiently for it to open.

Half a minute later, it was his younger brother Cristian who opened the door to greet him, smiling as soon as he saw him and saying cheerfully "You're back!"

The dark circles under Nathan's eyes were obvious, but Cristian pretended not to see them and let him pass without asking any questions. They both passed and arrived in the dining room where Miriam was waiting for them.

Nathan explained what had happened to him and that he would be staying in the village for the time being. Life in the city was difficult and Nathan had worked for almost ten years in the same factory he had seen burn down.

He had no desire to wake up in the morning to go to work, walk through the crowded streets and breathe the toxic air of the black city. Nathan just wanted his first long holiday in ten years.

His mother just smiled when she heard the situation, obviously understood his situation, and agreed that he should stay. She then sent him to look for Doran, who was working outside the house.

His family were farmers, so at that time-of-day Doran would be having lunch, while his sister would be at a friend's house in the village.

Nathan walked for about ten minutes until he reached the fields where he saw his brother lying in the shade of a large tree. He walked over and when he got there, he just stood there in silence, looking at his brother.

"You know, it's a strange thing to stare at people in silence. If you keep it up, you'll never get a girlfriend" Doran said, watching Nathan through the slits in his fingers as he covered his face.

Nathan sighed: "Shut up"

Doran laughed gleefully and removed his hands from his face before sitting down cross-legged. Then he looked at Nathan and studied him in silence before saying, "You haven't changed a bit. I should visit the city, the air seems to do wonders for the skin"

Nathan remained silent, not knowing what to say, he could only fake a slightly sour smile as he replied quietly: "Yes... it really is special"

For 25 years of his life, when Nathan looked at his brother, it was like looking in a mirror. Normally, twins could be told apart by at least one difference, but these two were so alike, you could be forgiven for thinking they were the same person. But all that changed the day Nathan received his divine body.

The lines on the skin around Doran's mouth were more pronounced, his features had changed a little. Now it was clear who was who, after all Doran had aged five years while Nathan had not.

Still, Nathan would not admit it, so he took the lines on Doran's skin as a sign that he had been smiling constantly for the last five years, something he had forgotten how to do.

Months passed, and the time came when Nathan should have returned to the city. Instead, he devoted himself to the land, spending time with his family. But after the months came the years, and another 5 years after he lost his job in the city, his 35th birthday came.

Doran also turned 35, but instead of Nathan, his life moved forward. He got married, had two beautiful children, and moved out of the house to live with his wife and children. Although the house was in the same village, Nathan felt that things had changed and would never be the same again.

His younger brother Cristian had left the village a few years ago to seek opportunities at Black city, while his sister Catalina had also married the son of the village leader. She too had a daughter and had moved away.

The only people left in the house were Nathan and his mother, Miriam, who was getting older every year.

Sitting at the table, Nathan could not help but feel uneasy as he noticed the strange look on his mother's face. It had not been noticeable at first, she could excuse it by saying she was taking care of her skin, but now it was different. At 35, Nathan still looked 25.

But she never said anything, just gave him discreet glances from time to time. And it was not just her, his family and friends also looked at him strangely. Something that, over time, Nathan began to feel like an invisible weight on his shoulders.

Finally, when he turned 40, everything changed; the discreet glances were no longer so discreet. Now Nathan was seen as a freak, an abomination of nature. The only person who still treated him as normal was his twin brother Doran, to whom he barely resembled.

His mother had fallen ill in bed, his brother Cristian had died in a work accident a few years ago, and Catalina avoided him to avoid being recognized as his sister.

Nathan stayed in the house all day, never going out, just looking after his mother, until one morning she simply did not wake up.

The news shocked the whole town, especially her brother Doran and sister Catalina. Miriam was 68 years old at the time of her death, which was expected given the mortality rate, but in rural areas she was too young to die.

In the evening of that day, Miriam was buried in the local cemetery, where the whole village came to say their goodbyes and prayers. Meanwhile, Nathan could only watch from a distant tree, hidden from the moon's shadow.

Nathan closed his eyes and moments later he heard footsteps approaching. He did not need to look to know who it was, he just remained silent, waiting for Doran to say something.

His brother looked at him in silence, not knowing what to say. But after a minute, he finally opened his mouth and said in an apologetic tone: "I'm sorry..."

Nathan opened his eyes and looked at his brother aggressively before shouting: "You're sorry?! Sorry for what?! That I'm an abomination? That I can't grow old? That I'm cursed?"

Doran bit his lips and remained silent as he listened to Nathan continue to vent.

"What do you think I feel every time I look in the mirror! Do you think I'm happy to look like I did almost 20 years ago?" Nathan finished shouting, only to find tears streaming down his cheeks.

15 years of pent-up frustration had been too much, he had endured the stares, the whispers, the criticism behind his back. But with the death of his mother, the last pillar supporting his heart, Nathan collapsed.

Wiping the tears from his face, Nathan looked at his brother before declaring: "I'm leaving, I can't stay here any longer. I can't stand being a martyr to you and Catalina any longer"

"You are not!" shouted Doran, trying to refute Nathan's words.

Instead, Nathan just sneered and replied: "I know your wife is suffering because of me, she is branded as the Devil's familiar. Look at our sister, she has to forget my existence to live in peace. Even you..." Nathan pressed his forefinger against Doran's chest. "I know you've had a hard time at work because of me... I just can't stand it"

Blood spurted from Doran's lip at the force with which he clenched his jaw. He had nothing to say, everything Nathan had said was true, but he would not accept it.

He was his brother, and even if he looked exactly the same as he did fifteen years ago, he had never treated him badly. Just like the outside, the inside was the same. Whether he was 25, 35, 40 or 1000 years old, Nathan would always be his brother.

They both stood in silence as the first drops of water began to fall from the sky, dispersing the crowd and leaving them alone in the graveyard.

Doran closed his eyes for a few seconds, remembering the past, before opening them to look at Nathan for the last time.

"I understand. Just... visit me sometime, even if it's in secret" Doran said, his voice muffled.

Nathan's finger slid down Doran's chest and he lowered his head as he whispered: "...I will"

With those words, Nathan turned and walked away from the graveyard. Doran stood in the rain as he watched him walk slowly away.

The years passed, and sometime later, Nathan fulfilled his promise. They met in the same place where they had said goodbye, only this time Doran was not in front of him, but underneath him.

In silence, Nathan read the words written on the stone tomb, small tears streaming down his cheeks. Turning, Nathan walked to a large tree far from the cemetery and sat down in its shade, taking in the view of the city that had grown in the years he had been away.

Nathan leaned against the trunk of the tree to rest, and minutes later, just as he was about to get up, he felt that part of the ground was dead and without grass.

He frowned and tried to dig to see why, when after a few minutes Nathan pulled out a small metal box buried a few inches above the ground, where anyone could pull it out, but he was the lucky one.

The box had no lock, so Nathan tried to take a look at the contents. If it had nothing to do with him, he would just bury it again.

There were only two things inside, a photograph and a letter. Nathan looked at them out of curiosity, only for tears to stream down his face seconds later.

Nathan had forgotten about this many years ago. He and Doran had buried that box in the same place, it was impossible that the grass had not grown over it, unless someone had taken it out before.

That was why Nathan only remembered keeping the picture in the box, because the letter had not been there originally, but had been placed there by Doran some time before he died, leaving him his last words, knowing that they would not be able to meet again in his lifetime.

Nathan bit his lips as he looked at the picture, it was his whole family together. When they were children, a photographer had passed through the village and his father, who was still alive, had used all his savings to take a photograph, which they had kept here after his father's death.

Opening the letter with trembling hands, Nathan realized it was short. The paper was not cheap and, as far as he knew, Doran could not write. When he saw the terrible handwriting, he realized that his brother learned to write just to leave him his last words.

Nathan struggled to make out the handwriting, and as soon as he finished reading, he closed the letter and placed it in his coat, next to the family photograph. He buried his face in his hands and vowed that after that day he would never cry again because he had lost something precious.

***

Hundreds of people walked through the busy streets on a Friday night. The sun had set, and the moon was shining beautifully high in the sky. At the end of the street, a large screen attached to a high building suddenly stopped showing an advertisement and instead showed the image of a man in a white suit.

Behind him, other figures stood at attention, leaning on their swords. All the people turned to look at the big screen, not understanding what it was about. They thought it was some kind of announcement, like others that had been made in the past, only this one was a little different.

The man behind the screen cleared his voice and announced: "Good evening to all the Empire" The man closed his eyes, sighed, and continued. "Tonight, will be the moment when our great Empire takes a different path to the world, today we will begin to move forward, we will begin to evolve as a species"

Not only that street full of people, but the whole country was watching the same video, and they all recognized the man behind the screen as the emperor. But none of them could understand the strange speech he was giving.

Without knowing the thoughts of any of the citizens, the emperor continued to speak: "But in order to achieve my ideals, we must have things... things that a group of people are taking away from us. For this reason, I order the arrest of anyone who possesses a divine body"

Murmurs began to fill the country, the vast majority of the country had no idea what the speech was about. Some thought it was a joke, others thought the emperor had gone mad, while others listened carefully to the emperor's words. Among them was Nathan, who was watching the big screen from the side of the road, his face pale and his hands shaking.

Nathan felt his lips dry and swallowed as he tried to understand what was going on.

'A warrant and arrest for the divine bodies? Why?' He looked around and, seeing that no one was paying attention, turned back to watch the emperor speak, though he was no longer paying attention to his words.

'Does the emperor know about the heavenly bodies? Does he possess one?' Nathan was lost in thought when suddenly everything around him changed and he found himself in a red world full of death.

Looking around in surprise, he noticed someone staring at him, only to turn and see a large, red, malevolent eye staring down at him from the sky, as if it were a god judging him.

Nathan froze, not knowing what was happening as he heard a macabre voice echoing in his head.

"Found you"