Amna didn't let Arash leave until his belly was about to explode. Even though he felt a sweetness in his heart, being over-stuffed kind of ruined the taste of bread for him. Soon, the men of the family woke up and they surrounded Amna like hungry wolves. Arash was surprised by the speed at which Adam and his sons devoured the bread; but what left him awestruck was how Amna handled these hungry savages. Soon, everyone ate as much bread as Arash ate in a whole month. They washed it down with cold water.
Being the favorite nephew, Arash was treated to Adam's special wine. Arash held the bronze cup in his hand as he swirled the black wine in his cup. He could tell by the envious gazes of his cousin, that his wine was a rare honor bestowed by his uncle.
"What are you waiting for? The air will spoil the wine. Drink up." Adam eagerly urged as his eyes shone with a strange light. He held the wine bottle to his heart as if it was some treasure. Intrigued by the behavior by his family.
Arash decided to take a sip. As soon as the wine touched his palette, he knew he had made a terrible mistake. He immediately cast the rune on his uncle and made it seem like he had emptied the cup.
"How was it?" Adam expectantly asked.
"What..." As soon as Khalid opened his mouth. Arash knew his mistake, but the little snake was quicker than him as he made the illusion same for the whole family.
"Best thing I have ever tasted." Arash coughed out loud as he spat out the wine, but to his uncle, he was religiously holding on to the cup as if it was the best thing in the world. His tongue still burned with the ash like the taste of the wine no matter how hard he rubbed his tongue. "How can he drink something like that? Arash hoarsely said, but his words were privy to no one. All everyone else heard was how good was the wine and endless praises that Adam wanted to hear.
"Cousin, are you coming with us?" Tamresh said his voice containing a challenge. He proudly raised his pick in some practice strikes. It was a monstrous thing, that pickax of his, decorated with countless strengthening spells. Arash looked around and found each brother holding onto a similar pickax. The one that Adam was carrying was even bigger in mass. He only needed to look to see how heavy that ax was, but his uncle was wielding it as if it was nothing. Arash had little confidence picking up Tamresh's pickax, but seeing the monstrosity wielded by his uncle. He doubted that he could even budge it.
"I am afraid, I can't--"
"You are a man aren't you? Come on, let us admire your strength. We brothers would like to see your vigor." Khalid added to the challenge as he wielded his pickax.
"Stop making trouble for your cousin. Is this how you treat your guests?" Adam said with a frown. He knew that his sons have been gifted with innate strength like him and even though his nephew overshadowed his sons in physique, strength and mass did not always go hand in hand. He knew that better than anyone.
"Father, I didn't mean it like that. I only--"
"Shut up! Not a word from you. I know what you mean. Go, take your brothers with you." Adam commanded his son. None dared to say a word as they snuck out of the house. Adam turned towards Arash as he wore a troubled expression. "Don't take your cousin's words seriously. They meant no harm from it."
"Uncle, I know what they said was in good intention. You don't have to worry about it. I was just surprised that's all." Arash said with a quick smile on his face.
"Still, no one has a right to taunt a man for what he lacks. I will see to it that they learn that lesson quick." Adam turned back as he glanced at his wife. "Look after your aunt will you?"
"Hey old man, go worry about yourself" Amna appeared out of the kitchen. Arash could see the weariness on her face. She kicked at her husband. "What are you still doing here. If so much as a scratch appeared on my sons. I will skin you alive."
"I know! I know!" Adam left the house and his words trailed behind him.
"...and you!" Amna turned towards Arash. "Don't let anyone ride you around. You have got such a big body, but you let my son talk to you like that?" Amna shook her head in disapproval. "You live with us, and no cowards live under this roof. Got it?" Amna fiercely glared at Arash as she paused for an answer.
"I un--"
"Then why are you still here. Go after your uncle and bring back the biggest haul that they have ever seen." Amna cut Arash before he could speak and disappeared into the room to their left and returned with a giant pickax. It was even bigger than the one Adam was carrying. Arash was surprised how such small women could pick something so big. "I saw you didn't have any pickax and seeing your size this one seems to fit you. It belonged to my father. Not even that old man can lift it. Take it and don't you dare dishonor it..."
'Strange...' Najwah appeared on Arash's shoulder as he studied the fierce little woman before him.
'What happened?' Arash talked to the little snake through their mental link as he pretended to listen to Amna.
'Why don't you see for yourself?' Najwah replied.
Arash entered Amna's sea-of-consciousness as he looked for something strange. After searching all he could find was the inner dialogue of Amna's mind. Which was a much less filtered version of what she was actually seeing. 'You are looking with the wrong thing. See with your soul.'
'Soul?' Arash frowned but did as he was told. He expanded his soul to his right eye-socket. Suddenly the scene around him shifted. The profound patterns of nature appeared in everything he could see. Arash mouth opened in shock as he says, four tiny little runes on Amna's right arm. 'How is this possible? How is she doing it?' Arash asked the little snake.
'I don't know. I have checked her memories, she must be doing this unconsciously.' Najwah replied.
'It that even possible? I have been training to form runes for almost 3 years and she can do it unconsciously?' Arash asked in shock. But the little snake only shrugged in reply. Arash shook his head as he tried to study the little runes on her body. Each rune was made up of almost 7 nodes. Even though the rune was made up of a seven-node, the way those seven nodes were connected was quite unique. Each node was embedded on Amna's skin as yellow light pulsed around her skin.
"What are you standing like mute for? Pick this up." She shoved the giant pick ax towards Arash. He unconsciously grabbed the wooden handle of the pickax, the first thing he noticed was the weight, his muscles cracked under the weight of the wood as his face turned red with exertion. The color drained from his face when he noticed the weight of the iron head was mostly supported by the ground.
'She wants me to carry it?' Arash bitterly shook his head.
"What are you doing? Pick it up!" Amna scolded as she stood with her hands on her hips.
"It's too heavy!" Arash faces burned with embarrassment.
"Nonsense! If I can pick it up, so can you. Now no more excuses. You are 13 years old. A whole year older than my boys." Seeing Arash slowly lowering the pick ax, she whacked him on the back of his head. "What do you think you are doing? I won't see this ax hitting the ground..." Seeing Arash trembling, she shook her head in disappointment. "You are too weak! How did you get so big and not able to lift this?" She sighed. "This is your first day so you don't have to carry it, but don't you dare leave it on the ground." She shook her fist in warning.
Arash didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the absurd demands of the woman before him. He was even tempted to tamper with her memories... He cast the rune on her, but as he dug into her sea of consciousness. He heard her inner dialogues. "Am I being to hard on him? He isn't like my sons, he doesn't have the blood in him. But those unruly brats are going to make it hard for him. No, this is necessary. He might resent me, but its for his own good..." Arash felt a bucket of cold water wash over him. He couldn't help but wonder, how a person's thoughts and actions could be so different. Even though his muscles still screamed under the weight of the pickax, but instead of running away from ordeal, he decided to overcome it.
"...Keep this up until the boys come back. I want them to see you holding on to this when they come back." Amna ordered one last time, threatening with her iron fist while praying for him in her heart. She disappeared back into the kitchen to make her sweet tasting bread. "...You need to eat more of this and you will be able to pick this up in no time."
'Why are you still holding on to it?' Najwah couldn't help but ask as Amna left the room. Arash flashed a weary smile as he slowly put down the pickax.
'Have you seen that rune before?' Arash massaged his fingers, trying to ease the pain in his joints.
'No idea. Funny thing is she doesn't know it either. She is doing it unconsciously.' Najwah said with a slight smile on his face. He brought out the memory of strength rune and shoved it towards his master. Seeing Arash's surprised expression he couldn't help but smile. 'Oh come on! You should know it by now that I know what you are thinking.'
'Knowing it doesn't mean I accept it. I have no choice in the matter.' Arash said with an exasperated sigh. 'You know what I am thinking, so why don't you keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't see anything doesn't need seeing.'
Arash adjusted his mental state and studied the strength rune before him. He couldn't help but compare it with the soul rune. The soul-rune had more nodes in it and was more complex than strength rune. But somehow he found it hard to create a strength rune. "Was, it because the soul-rune was one of Najwah's memories? He knew how to form it and so I knew how to form it." Arash's conjecture proved to be true after countless failures of forming the strength rune.
Arash reviewed the memory of soul-rune. He carefully studied it instead of just mindlessly following it. "What if I change the order of the energy nodes?" Arash manipulated the energy nodes in his memory, but this time he reversed the ordering of the runes. He formed the 9th node first and then moved to the eighth node. As expected, the difficulty of forming the soul-rune increased by a thousand times. He could feel the resistance of the energy nodes increase if they were connected in a different order and the rune would be overall unstable.
Arash focused on the complex rune in his sea of consciousness. Even though he had seen the rune before, it still filled him with awe. 'Do the runes gain sentience when they reach this level?' Arash couldn't help but wonder as he thought about the little snake. In the meantime, time Amna came out of the kitchen and found Arash grunting as he used all his might not to let the pickax touch the ground. She nodded her head in approval as she watched him struggle for a while.
Arash couldn't help but smile, he saw the little snake weaving a face-flushed grunting version of himself for Amna while he comfortably sat on the ground. He once again focused on forming the strength rune, this time instead of forcing the nodes to come together he chose a path of least resistance between the two nodes. He performed countless iteration in his mind, calculating the best path for two nodes to connect based on the little snake's memory. Even though Najwah's memories proved to be a great source of information, they were practically useless when it came to forming the strength rune. It didn't take long for Arash to recognize that each rune was unique in its structure and the way that it came together. Similar runes could be extrapolated from one another, but Najwah's runes were about the soul, while the strength rune was of a different category.
With the passage of time, he found it harder and harder to concentrate, as a failure upon failure resulted in frustration in his heart. Just as he was about to give up, he felt a strange sense of emptiness; the kind of emptiness that came from lack of emotions. Along with the silence, he got a small amount of soul-nourishing white mist. 'He can be handy sometimes.'
'Sometimes?' Najwah couldn't help but scoff as he appeared beside him in his soul space.
'Do you understand anything?' Arash asked in exasperation.
'I... No! Mother's rules. This rune is all but a yellow fog to me. Easy to spot, impossible to understand.'
'Why?' Arash asked in confusion.
'My existence originates from this rune.' Najwah pointed to his rune. 'It follows a certain set of rules. Imagine, I add this body strengthening rune to this. There would be a conflict in the rules and the stronger one, in pursuit of stability, would destroy the weaker one. We can't coexist; that's the nature of our existence.' Najwah disappeared and reappeared in front of Arash. 'But you, you are born with nothing and yet have the ability to have everything.'
'Everything?' Arash scoffed and pointed at the rune before him. 'I have been at it for about an hour and all I have gotten is a headache.'
'An hour is nothing compared to nothing the time that I have spent... But, it's up to you if you want to study it or not. You have access to all my knowledge and if you are lucky you might be able to harvest memories from someone who actually knows how to form a rune.'
'Luck has never been my strong suit. I would very much like to take my chances with this rather than waiting for a miracle.'
Arash once again started his experiments as the cycle of failure upon failure thwarted his progress. Soon the men were back at first they were surprised, but no one said anything as they left Arash forcing himself to pick up the ax. It was only during dinner when Arash chose to rest. Although each and every member of the family secretly applauded his determination, the brothers couldn't help but be gleeful at his inability to lift the ax. Arash excused himself after eating dinner and checked up on Mehru. 'She hasn't woken up yet.' Arash asked as his face was heavy with apprehension.
'Give it time and she will be fine...' Najwah was once again upto his habit of weaving lies, but feeling Arash peeking at him through their mental link he shut his mouth and forced a smile on his face.
Arash carrased the soft skin of the unconscious girl and once again left to meditate on the rune. Hours turned to days, while days turned to weeks. Arash persisted in his pursuit. Even Amna was touched by his perseverance. Adam was disappointed about losing his active debate on the blessed, but after constant glares for his wife and the determined look on his nephew's face, he chose to keep quiet about it. However, this didn't stop him from shoving the wine down's Arash throat.
Najwah proved his worth as every time the wine mysteriously disappeared and a slightly tipsy Arash praised his uncle's wine brewing skill. Although the much-dreaded wine was handled by the little snake, Arash was more than happy to shove down the bread.
Whenever he looked at Mehru, his heart bled as the little girl had shrunk to bare bones, even though he fed her sweetened milk, but it was not enough to sustain the little girl. Amna had long since started to treat the little girl as her daughter and looking at the wasting figure of the little girl often made her cry.
'Why isn't she waking up? The first day she woke up. I know it. She was sleeping on the bed and when I woke up she was with me on the floor. Why isn't she waking up now?' Arash choked on his words. Najwah helpless looked up to him as he bitterly shook his head.
Arash glowered at the little snake and entered Mehru's sea of consciousness. He looked at the small vague silhouette of Mehru, floating in a sea of darkness. Her soul slowly faded with each passing moment. He tried to nourish the soul with the mysterious white mist realized by Najwah. It slowed down the wasting of her soul, but no matter how hard he tried, she didn't respond. He roared in frustration as he saw the little girl slowly drift away.
'Why is this happening?' Arash helplessly turned towards the little snake beside him. Fear gripped his heart as he thought that this little girl would turn into the same emptiness that once was his brother. 'I told you... reconstructing a memory is dangerous. She has shut herself away, she is trapped in the memories that we weaved for her.'
'Trapped... there must be a way to get out.' Arash pleaded.
'Arash... she has to come out on her own. We can't do anything. In the end, she has to decide to live or to die.'
Arash wanted to say something, but the words refused to convey his feelings. He could almost see that little girl, holding on to her little brother, refusing to let him go. He could remember the fear in her eyes and the way her body trembled when he hugged her. Her tiny little hands wrapped around him.
'Hey Mehru, I am here for you. I will protect you... You don't have to scared anymore. I won't let anyone harm you. I will protect you...' He called to her for hours, swearing to protect her, to love her and take care of her. But all his pleadings, all his promises fell on empty ears. Helplessness washed over him as it became hard for him to look at her wasting figure. He closed his eyes as tears of sorrow dripped down his cheeks. 'Mehru... your brother is scared. I... I don't know what to do. Please don't leave me... please don't. I don't want to be alone. I don't.' Arash choked on his words…