Chapter 38: Siblings

Chapter 38: Siblings

A tall, gigantic shadow darkened over a boy who laid on the dirt road. The blonde boy's face was so covered in blood that the giant of a man had to check if he was still breathing. Honestly, the dried blood could have even blocked his nostrils from having so much of it around.

The first thought that came up in his mind was how he was going to break the news that their son was found dead on the dirt path. Luckily, when he put his fingers beneath the boy's nostrils he found that air was still rhythmically coming out.

In one smooth but rough motion, the massive man grabbed the boy from his feet and slung him on his back. It was dawn, and the Loya family had sent their dogs to look for the blonde boy who did not come home last night. At least they found him. Yet…the consequences that would follow by finding him in such a state…it made the man grin with a vicious smile.

…

"Ughhhhh!"

Winds whistled through the forest and the scarlet hair of a beautiful young girl was thrown back in an ever frustrating cycle. Elea was taking her daily commute through the forest to reach the river and in her arms, she clutched a stack of new books that her mother had given her. Knowledge and food were one of the only things she would not let her go without and Elea frankly didn't mind as she liked to read.

Yesterday, her uncle even showed her the "borrowed" books he got from a trading caravan, delaying her commute back to home. In all fairness, the books were quite interesting. Self proclaimed famous explorer, Sev The Phantom had written all the books and they spoke of his amazing fictional journey through the wide world. The books detailed things like clans with innate superpowers, giant monsters made of metal and various dreamlike locations in the world. Amazingly, he never broke character once! It added to the fantasy that all those things were real.

Elea became so intrigued by the stories that she stayed over at her uncle's house for more than a few hours just reading the first book. And she didn't even finish it yet! Noticing that it was much later than she had planned, she "borrowed" the whole selection of books from her uncle and made her way out of the house. To her surprise, she found a certain red haired boy waiting by the door.

"Brother? Did mom and dad send you? Were you waiting for me this whole time?"

"Uhhhh no. I just got here, actually."

Elea flashed a joyful smile at him.

"Let's walk back together then!"

Ecstatic, she hopped and skipped along the dirt road before a big hand grabbed her arm.

"Wait! I uhh know a shortcut. This way's much faster c'mon."

"A shortcut?"

Zan led her to a formation of dense bushes before proceeding to basically whack the surrounding vegetation, making a rough path through the denser parts of the woods.

"...You're hurting the forest."

"Take this path from now so you won't be late."

"Uhh well okay."

She was confused at his forwardness, but more than happy to oblige. That way she wouldn't have to go through what she did yesterday…

"It's all in the past, snap out of it!'

Breathing deeply, she smelled the fresh air of the falling leaves, looked at the trees spotlighted by the bright sun and listened to the chirping of birds.

"Yeah…everything will be just fine."

The girl smiled, before continuing on her path. Unlike the forest near her uncle's house, she and her brother played here for years, Elea basically knew this forest like the back of her hand. Currently, she was heading towards the huge sycamore tree that she would climb to read in everyday.

That sycamore tree…Elea remembered the event like it was yesterday. Two years ago they were wandering the forest when they saw a huge tree sticking out among all the rest. It was colossal! When they finally managed to find their way there, they could only be more astonished, just the trunk of the tree was ten feet wide.

And then…that doofus started to climb it. She was always afraid of heights, but her brother had basically pulled her into climbing the towering thing, completely disregarding her panic attack when she frequently looked down. In the end though…she never regretted it. The view from a hundred feet was nothing short of magnificent.

From so high up above, the whole forest and even the horizon couldn't escape her eyes. Easily, she watched the rising and setting sun enhance the colors of the forest like an ever changing painting. It was so high that she could see her house from here! But her favorite thing to watch above all was the wide and deep river, flowing endlessly through the forest as far as the eye could see. The fact that she could look down at her feet and see the river, then look at the distant horizon and still see it, was amazing to Elea.

'I really wish my brother still came with me to the forest though.'

Emotions welled up inside her at the thought and she immediately became downcast. Lately…it's been lonely. Reading by herself all day made her happy, it was like an escape from the loneliness but…sometimes she just missed having company. Though, she didn't want to be in low spirits when the day was just starting. So in the end the little girl brushed off her feelings and went forward, stepping on the falling leaves as she made her way through.

…

"Here we are."

The tall tree covered the skies and Elea took in the shade it offered. Coupled with the raging river next to it providing cool humidity and the sound of the flowing water, her senses were all but pleased.

'The water's pretty strong today.'

"Okay…"

As she was preparing to climb the tree however, she heard the sound of crunching leaves.

Her heart skipped a beat and immediately she turned around to look at the disturbance. A random sound in the dense forest was never good. Elea hoped it was just a rabbit or a deer. Definitely hoping it wasn't a bear. Hopefully it was a deer though, she always wanted to see one up close…

Out from the trees, a red haired boy walked out.

"Sister."

"Brother!? What're you doing here?"

She asked.

"Well I…"

"…I've come…to play."

"…AHAHAHAHA."

"Why are you laughing!?"

"You're just so serious all the time so it's kinda different."

"Serious?"

"We used to run around and play in the forest a lot…"

"But lately you've been so busy…and I…MMMPH!"

A ball of crumpled leaves from the past autumn hit her straight in the face.

Elea stood there speechless.

"ZAN!"

"HAHAHA!"

"Do you think I'll let that slide!? Huh!?"

The little girl grabbed a bunch of leaves from off the forest floor and crumpled them into a ball, she looked up to aim at her target but instead was introduced to another smack of crumpled leaves.

"..."

"..."

"...Pfft!"

Elea shook from head to toe at her brother's restrained laughter before running at him with the full force of her fury.

…

Catching their breath, the two siblings sat at the base of the sycamore tree, enjoying the relaxing atmosphere that nature gifted them with.

"Mother gave you those books?"

"Yeah, most of them. The other one I got from Uncle Zil."

"You brought four of them today, you used to only bring one."

"I could only fit in one because the rest of the time we ran around the forest or swam in the river when it was calm."

"…"

"Brother?"

"Hey, who do you think could climb this tree faster now?"

"Pssh. Obviously me. I've been climbing this thing everyday while you were lifting your water buckets."

"Oh yeah? Well–"

"Hey! That's cheating!"

The red haired boy started to rummage and race up the tree before even telling his sister. Elea quickly dropped her books and scurried after him. As the boy felt like he put a good distance between them, he stopped to look back and his eyes widened. The scarlet haired girl was already rapidly approaching him, only around three feet separated them and she wasn't stopping.

'She used to be much slower…'

'Even used to look down every few stops and get scared.'

'I can't let you win though, my pride as a man depends on it!'

Zan let her catch up with him, before using all of his strength and focus on reaching the highest point of the towering tree.

"So! You! Wanted! A! Fair! Fight! Huh!?"

"Stop! Talking! And climb!"

…

Inhaling and exhaling, Zan breathed in hard and Elea did the same. To his surprise, his sister was able to match him. They glimpsed at each other from time to time on the climb, and he had noticed that her movements were nothing short of extremely effective and efficient. She had no wasted motions. Each extension of her arm and push off her leg carried the utmost precision to push her forwards while skillfully maintaining her stamina. In comparison he was obviously less skilled but had the advantage of his pridefully bigger arms.

'Water-bucket lifting really helped me out…'

Together they stared at the amazing view while catching their breath. The sun was climbing the skies to reach its highest point while they had already reached theirs. The beauty of the bright sun's climb however, was clearly evident. Maybe that climb of theirs was beautiful in some way too?

"He– Hey."

"Wh– What?"

"Thanks."

"What? For what?"

"Being here with me."

"..."

"Stop being a softie."

Zan turned around, obviously embarrassed.

"Hah. You can't fool me! I know you're–"

"Hey look what's that in the river!"

The boy pointed downwards in a desperate attempt to hide his unnecessary awkwardness.

"Pfft. You really think you can trick me with tha– what the!?"

The girl's eyes widened, and the boy's quickly did too.