Stronger After Being Broken

The old man's words sunk deep within both of the children. Without even being able to understand the extent of what the man was saying, they were easily able to gather the majority of his message. The clothing someone wore didn't effect themselves nearly as much as it effected those around them.

It was all actually relatively simple. Looking a certain way effects the way that those around you perceive and interact with you.

"But… If people know your face, then it doesn't matter what you wear." Loki said after sinking into thought. The concept sounded flawless but there was a gaping hole in it. "If the man walks down the street and a friend meets him, they will treat him the same as they always have. And if it's an enemy then they will still do the same."

Clothing only made sense if you were in a place you wouldn't be recognized. This trick may work for many, but for those like Loki and Rykar, who's descriptions are probably already circulating rapidly within the city, it was pointless.

"very good point young one. However, a costume doesn't stop at just the clothes. This shop didn't garner its name nor reputation for no reason." Walking back towards the counter, he led the twins past the first half of the shop and farther in.

After passing this point, they saw that the latter half of the store was much less furnished while having less racks and tables than the first half. Instead, there were shelves upon shelves lining the walls which housed masks of all descriptions.

The patterns and colours lining them almost made the twins breathless as they laid eyes upon the intricacy.

"These… are masks?" Loki asked while reaching out to one of them. The designs on the mask seemed fantastic despite bearing no semblance to a real face. The proportions of the features sat together perfectly, with each of them marked out with different tones which were brought together on a metallic white base.

Before he could touch the mask, the old man gripped his arm with his ever present smile still on his face, however his eyes twitched slightly as he answered the question.

"If you will, please don't refer to these as mere masks. A mask can be made from anything. Tear a strip of cloth from your shirt and you have a mask." He then released Loki's hand and took the mask from the wall with delicate movements.

"This is a 'face'. Every face you see before you is completely unique. You will not find another with the exact same design no matter how similar. Just like between the two of you, there are many similarities in your faces, however the differences in expression and subtle tones make your faces completely unique unto themselves."

The twins nodded in unison while scrutinizing the masks before them once again, trying to pick up on the smallest details on the seemingly identical facades. "So what about those ones, are they still even faces?" Rykar asked while striding across the room to a shelf packed with 'shattered' faces.

The faces stood out among those of the rest of the store. Rather than resembling human faces with the delicate features of eyebrows, lips and noses all in the correct places, these looked more like a plate that had been dropped and places back together perfectly.

There were no features, only two eye holes sculpted into the white material which made up the base. The only other feature that could be picked out were the cracks which filled the entire face.

These cracks were filled with various tones of gold, red or black depending on the mask.

"Their… broken?" Loki asked after the old man stuttered for a second. He reached out towards one of the masks without reservation yet the man didn't stop him this time round.

"What?! How come he gets to hold one but I can't?" Rykar's outburst prompted a chuckle from the man in their innocent and forward attitude.

"These are a little different. Call them test products if you will." A sigh floated through the room before he continued. "You know, there are cultures within the sea of stars that believe that once a plate, bowl or vase shatters, it shouldn't be thrown away but instead, repaired.

"These repairs are often carried out by using precious metals or other materials such as gold. After the repairs are done and the cracks are filled with gold, the piece once again regains its previous shape yet it also becomes a beautiful piece of art!

"Due to the way the cracks are formed at random, none of these would be found to be the same across any two of these pieces. Just like ones face, it stands alone within its identity.

"These metals and materials that now run through the piece also serve to reinforce the base material. By breaking and then overcoming the original damage and blemish, the piece is once again able to be reformed and strengthened.

"I find both beauty and resolve in this and wanted to embody it in the form of my faces but, as you can see, they haven't exactly caught on." He laughed to himself once again as he looked fondly at the masks clustered together on the shelf.

Shivers ran through the twins as they listened to the elder's monologue. Whether it was an emotional and well thought sales pitch, or his real feelings, they felt an emotional attachment towards the masks on the wall.

"How much are they?" Loki asked as he inspected the mask in hand. Carefully turning it over, he was surprised at how smooth the surface was. If he had closed his eyes, he wouldn't have been able to tell where the cracks were located.

"Aha, if you can bring out one gold, its yours. Two gold coins and the whole shelf belongs to you!" Even with his composure, he nearly burst into laughter at Loki's question.

The boys before him presented themselves in tattered clothing, cloaks which resembled torn rags and wet strips of cloth in the place of shoes. It was a wonder if they were even wearing anything under the clothing.

They had wondered in from the street without even their wits around them. Years in any profession allows people to develop certain skills and looking into people was something that the clerk had prided himself in.

"I beg your pardon, please excuse my manners young ones. Howev-…"

*Tink*

For a while, the soft sound of two coins colliding with a wooden surface was all that could be heard within the store.

...

After leaving the store, each with a dark wooden box in hand, the twins quickly made their way off of the main road and found themselves a secluded corner.

Not only had they bagged themselves over twenty faces with two golden coins, the attitude of the old clerk hadn't even faltered as he offered the twins a standard black cloak each as an apology for his rudeness.

Laughing within the awkward situation, he pocketed the two gold coins and accepted Rykars excuse of having 'sold off his family's livestock' with a wave of his hand before sweeping the shelf clean and loading up the 'discount' purchases into the boxes.

Rummaging through the boxes, it took the twins over five minutes to decide on which mask they wanted to wear.

"This one is better than yours, it has more gold"

"No, mines way better, it's got red, black and gold in it."

By the time the twins had gone back and forth a dozen times, they both settled on nearly identical masks with veins of black running across the smooth white surface. Once putting them along with the cloaks, the twins were totally unidentifiable.

Unnaturally black hair trailed out slightly from their hoods, helping to mask their ash grey skin. The pulled up hoods covering half their foreheads while allowing a strong impression of the mask underneath.

The white masks ominously revealed themselves from within, coupled with black veins and a pair of red and grey eyes staring from the two openings, this made Rykar and Loki look like a pair of short ghosts.

The only thing limiting their sense of mysteriousness from reaching the level of intimidating was their lacking stature.

Using each other's appearance as a 'mirror' to judge how they themselves looked, the excitement could be measured by their shivers and clenched fists despite their faces being covered by the masks. It took most of their self-control just to prevent themselves from shouting and rushing back onto the main road and into the hoards of people.

"Do you think the boxes are too big for you to hide them?" Loki asked while inspecting the box in his hand. While it wasn't very large, it was around twice as big as the box that Rykar had stashed earlier, containing the gold coins.

Rykar also frowned as he pondered on the question. "Should be fine, it's not that heavy… F*ck it, I'll just try!" Giving up on trying to compare with any other object he had managed to store, Rykar crouched on the ground and stared intently at the box before slowly experiencing the familiar feeling of 'infusing' himself with the material.

It was a weird sensation, as though the box was a sponge and he was pouring himself into it as though trying to fill it up with water. Slowly the 'water' leaked into the wood, tracing the outline of the box before sinking further into the centre.

By the time he had traced the outline of the box, miniscule beads of sweat were already forming on his forehead as the inside of the mask became humid. However, after breaking through the wood, the process was much smoother as the 'water' sank into the internal space before sinking into the masks simultaneously.

From the outside, Loki watched Rykar sitting on the ground with the box on his lap and his palms pressed firmly against the sides.

Three seconds later, Rykar began to tremble softly as he pressed his whole body closer to the box as though he was to hug it.

Two seconds after that, the box vanished as though it had never been there. Apparently Rykar had been overly tense during the process seeing as, after the box disappeared, his arms flew together as though embracing himself as he doubled over into his own lap.

"I know no one loves you but hugging yourself is a new low, even for you." Without giving Rykar a chance to recover, sounds of mockery floated out from behind Loki's mask, causing his face to go red as he hastily released himself from his own embrace.

Stifling his heavy breathing, he stood up with the help of the wall next to him before grabbing the second box from his brothers extended hands. The process once again repeated itself and Rykar was visibly grasping for breath as beads of sweat could occasionally be seen dripping from the chin of his mask.

After only a minute of rest, hunger once again gripped Rykar as his stomach loudly grumbled. He stood up from the ground expressing his desire for more food.

"I'm not even joking this time, there's something wrong with how much you eat." Looking his brother up and down, Loki seriously contemplated how much food he had put away earlier and how much he would be eating again soon.

Thinking back on it, it can't have even been two hours since he had eaten three servings of the roast! "Wait a minute. You can save and bring things out from your storage right? Why don't you just put in loads of food in there and take it out… instead of going out to get food every time…"

"Sorry 'genius' how many chances have you seen for me to throw shit loads of food into my pocket without anyone seeing?" Rykar spread his arms while looking to the sky. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Shrugging without giving an answer, Loki tidied up his clothing one last time before the twins made their way towards the end of the ally.

"I can't wait to eaaaaaaaaat!" Rykar put his hands in the air, exhailing loudly as he rounded the corner.

"I got something tasty for ya!"

A deep voice hummed from the other side of the corner, just out of sight. Jolted by the sudden interruption, Rykar didn't even have time to bring his arms back down to his sides when a leg whipped round the corner and collided with his stomach.

Like a ball being blasted, his feet left the ground by over an inch while he doubled over in mid-air.

The inside of his mask had barely had enough time to dry from his sweat before being caked once again. This time, instead of sweat, it was a pool of saliva and snot which had been blasted out from Rykar's mouth and nose as the rest of the air within his lungs had been forced out.

"Damn this brat's heavy. Didn't even fly that far."