The King Plays Brother

The amount of work to be done was horrendous. It was a well-known fact that holding up even a feather for prolonged periods would cause one to eventually feel the weight.

Carrying half a ton heavy bags for eight hours with little to no breaks in between would definitely tucker out someone. Especially when they were not as strong as the beefy men with thick muscles effortlessly doing what you found so hard to do.

By the end of the day, Denva was looking like he was going to die, his body aching all over as if he had been to hell and back. In a way, he had. He pulled himself up from the ground where he had collapsed himself after the last bag.

Johnn laughed as he saw Denva, giving him an encouraging pat on the shoulder.

"I remember the reason you quit now. You could barely handle a few days and gave me that crappy excuse of this being beneath you," he said. "Let's see if you'll last longer this time."

"I hope I can last that long too," said Denva as he almost keeled over. His body felt so heavy that it was resisting his control.

"Haha! That's the spirit. A man must go above and beyond. If not, what's the purpose of carrying that title," he said.

"Those are fun words to throw around when you're not the one doing the heavy lifting," said Denva as he narrowed his eyes.

"Everyone has a part to play. Yours is making sure that the numbers in my journal add up," said Johnn.

"Fine. Take me home you bastard," he said.

*

Denva opened the door and walked into the house. As usual, he received a warm welcome from Charlie and Synthina. His food was already prepared and he ate hungrily. To his surprise, Charlie sat on the couch in the lounge while he ate instead of keeping him company or waddling back and forth.

After he finished his food, he thanked his mother and asked.

"Is something wrong with Charlie?"

"I think so. Unfortunately, she won't tell me. I let her go on and play with her friends today but she just came back with an attitude. She probably got into a spat with one of the other kids. I was waiting for you to talk to her. I wouldn't want to force it out of her now would I?" said Synthina.

She preferred for Denva to be the one to cheer up, not that she couldn't, but to give the two more room for a healthier relationship. She had enjoyed seeing how her two children had been interacting for the past few days...

While Denva loved his sister, sometimes he would neglect her, making her feel like the love was one-sided (before he died).

Leaving Denva to solve matters like these was her way of making sure that Charlie felt her brother's love.

"I'll talk to her," said Denva.

"How was work?" asked Synthina, her eyes showing the concern she had over the weary look on her son.

"It was hard. But I managed to pull through. I'll have to face tougher things than this when I become a Seeker. I'll get used to it as a start," said Denva as a smiled.

"I hope so. Now go talk to your sister," said Synthina as she pushed Denva away.

Denva walked over to the lounge and sat on the couch where Charlie was wiggling her feet while looking down.

He stroked her long hair and drew in closer to her.

"Hey, Charlie. What's wrong? You didn't come to keep your brother company today?" he asked.

Charlie shifted anxiously before turning to the side.

"I wasn't hungry," she squealed in a small voice.

'By Gadjkar's beard,' Denva thought as he almost broke into a laugh.

"What happened to you today? Did someone hurt you?" he asked.

Charlie didn't answer, continuing to avoid his gaze.

"Come on. You know, if you don't tell me I won't be able to help you. Don't you want big brother to help you, Chubs?" Denva said as he poked her cheek.

Charlie remained silent for a while. Denva knew this kind of behaviour from his past life. He had a daughter after all. Seeing Charlie like this almost brought on a memory that he was struggling to keep under wraps for his and everyone's sake.

He didn't continue to question Charlie. He drew her closer to himself embraced her from her shoulder. Whatever was troubling her would become too heavy for her to keep inside once she felt that she was not alone.

Surely, after a full minute, Charlie suddenly spoke.

"Brother, do you think I'll be beautiful when I grew up?" she asked in a small voice.

'Ah, I see,' Denva thought.

"Hmmm what do I think?" said Denva as he pretended to wear a contemplative look on his face.

Charlie raised her head look at him with a worried look on her face.

"Well, Charlie. There's a girl I know with nice black hair and blue eyes that look like two small oceans with twinkling stars. She always comes to wake me up every day and body slams me when I oversleep. She shares with me my food while keeping me company every day and I can't live for a single day without having her do all these things with me," said Denva as he mustered the brightest smile he could.

"Do you know who she is?"

Charlie blushed a little and hurriedly looked at her feet.

"It's my sister. She's beautiful as I look at her now and when she grows, her beauty will grow as well making everyone who looked down on her so jealous," Denva said as he lifted her chin with his finger.

"You really mean that?" Charlie asked while holding back a grin.

"Of course. You're even more beautiful on the inside. Only people like me and mom and dad can see it now because you're special. But one day, everyone will know that you're twice as beautiful as everyone else."

"Hmmm," Charlie shifted again before she hugged her brother.

Synthina's ear twitched.

She smiled as she heard the conversation in the lounge.

She had never heard Denva speak like that. He had done better than she expected to which she was very pleased.

"Alright, let's get you to bed," said Denva as he carried Charlie to her bedroom.

He changed Charlie into her pyjamas and tucked her in despite the fatigue that was gnawing at his entire body.

Charlie looked at him with a big smile.

"Thank you, brother," she said. "I'll be coming to wake you up tomorrow."

"What makes you think I won't wake up before you body slam me?" said Denva with a chuckle.

"You look so tired," she said.

"Oh. Then wake me up gently."

"Nope. Our agreement says it's all or nothing!"

"When was this agreement signed?!"

"Right now!"

"Fine. Just don't hurt yourself."

"Make sure your chest is soft so I can land properly."

"... I'll try."

Denva exited the room soon after and walked over to the kitchen where his mother was finishing up with the dishes.

"Smooth," said Synthina with a chuckle.

"I suppose," said Denva as he dragged his tired body.

"You made her happy. She was starting to feel lonely," said Synthina.

"I won't do that again. I'll do my best to make her feel like she can count on me."

"I'm proud of you. Go get your rest before you mess up my floor."

"... yes ma'am."

Denva walked over to his room and the moment his body touched the soft bed, his vision darkened.

The sweet embrace of slumber gripped him and the comfort rose to devour and wash away the fatigue.

For a few moments, he only remembered a successful day, tempering his body in preparation to undergo the strenuous process of cultivation again.

However...

"EEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" a scream tore him from the comfort and made him open his eyes wide. What he saw as he looked on wasn't the ceiling to his house, but a starry night sky that extended beyond the horizon.

Denva was puzzled, standing up to see a massive ball under him!

He was standing on air, nearly jerking forward as he was caught by surprise with the view that made him grimace a second afterwards.

It wasn't simply a massive ball, but a sphere that held images of screaming people, smiling faces that were extremely familiar to him, brilliantly shining men that held glares which could rip apart Worlds and a whole lot of other intertwining images mashed together in a mess, constantly playing around the surface of the sphere as it rotated.

The voices of those that spoke, the high pitched of those that screamed, others calling him different names with affection and spite resounded in an extremely high volume that shook Denva.

"Don't you think we can forget millennia worth of memories like this, Freidris?" said a voice that resounded from Denva's side making him turn hurriedly to it.

Denva turned and saw a figure he knew all too well.

"Why forget it? The whole point of being called the King of Bloodshed is to embrace the past that led to our future. No matter how dark," another voice said from his other side making Denva turn again to see another figure he was very familiar with.

"You...." he said...