Weiren stood staring in shock. He hadn't seen his brother in over a year. Puren was trouble that Weiren couldn't afford, Weiren seemed a coward to Puren, and their last fight had driven a wedge between them not easily forgotten. Yet here he sat, one eye swollen shut, cuts all over his arms.
"My word! What are you talking about Puren, what's going on? You're a mess!"
"Don't start Weiren, just listen to me. We don't have much time." Puren pulled a yellow bloodstained packet from beneath a black leather coat, "I need to you to take this."
"No! No, Puren, don't you involve me in this, whatever *this* is." Weiren gestured to all of Puren.
Puren went on as though he hadn't heard, "I need you to deliver it to someone Weiren, please. It's important!"
"What could be so important that it's worth being bludgeoned half to death?! What have you gotten yourself into?"
"I can't tell you the specifics, but I figured it out Weiren," he laughed, "I know why the winds rage, why the storm won't end. We can stop it! Galen can be like it was, like in the story. We used to love that story. I see you still do too," he leaned forward and tapped the book Weiren had left sitting open on the coffee table.
"Those are just stories Puren! Did you get hit in the head too hard this time or something, on one of your crazy illegal vigilante 'outings'. You're not making any sense."
"I know you get scared Weiren, but what I do isn't crazy. Somebody has to stand up and do what's right. The Enforcers are corrupt, the legislators are rotten to the core, that leaves us, us faithful few citizens still committed to righteousness to do something about it! Mom and dad knew that much, that's why they gave their life for..."
"Don't talk about mom and dad," Weiren butted in, raising his voice, "They tried to stand and they got chopped down, and you will too. Just look at yourself Puren! You can't change this city anymore than you could make a river run uphill. Now I think you should leave."
"Mom and dad gave their lives for something righteous and true, and I would be honored to follow in their footsteps!" Puren shot back, "And you could help too, you could always produce a stronger gale than me, Weiren."
"Don't talk about the wind here, Puren," Weiren said, suddenly hushed, eyes darting around as though someone might be watching. "From where I stand you're the one who's full of hot air," he hissed.
"Darn it Weiren, you have a good heart, I know you do! I know you see the pain around you and it breaks your heart, but one of these days you need to learn to step up and do something about it. Anyway, we're getting off point, Weiren, I have no where else to go, I need you to take this to..."
Puren suddenly went silent.
"What..." Weiren started, but Puren shushed him and scrambled to the floor to look around the edge of the chair. Shouting sounded from the ground floor, followed by the sound of the lobby door slamming open and glass shattering. Wide-eyed, Puren jumped up and grabbed Weiren by the shoulders, looking fiercely into his eyes.
"We're out of time, I thought there'd be more time." He took the packet and thrust it into Weiren's hands. "The fair wind blows from the east," he said with urgency and fear shaking in his voice, "Bring it to the fair wind. Weiren if you ever considered yourself my brother do this for me." Was that a tear streaming down his face? "You won't see me anymore Weiren, I can't come back here. I hope you know, for all our fights, I love you, and I'm always your brother."
With that Puren stumbled across the room and slipped out the door. Footsteps thudded down the hall, growing softer. Excited shouts soon followed from the other direction, and a cacophony of running feet rushed past Weiren's door.
Weiren ran to the window, heart pounding, as the yelling poured out into the streets below. He saw Puren sprinting toward an alleyway. Hot on his trail was a group of... were those Enforcers? "What have you gotten yourself into Puren?" Weiren groaned with worry, ready to throw up. Puren was approaching the alley when a fiery ball of light lit up the street, colliding with the building in front of him in an explosion that sent large debris flying everywhere. Another followed, striking the base of the streetlight next to him, leaving a semicircle hole in the trunk. He ducked, cowering for a moment as dust and bricks fell around him, before getting back up and pressing on.
"What was that?" Weiren wondered aloud. Then he saw, running at the front of the pursuers, someone wearing a different uniform, light gray with intricate black patterns embroidered all across. Weiren shuddered. Sometimes, someone with a useful enough talent, rather than obtaining a regular permit, might enlist to train as an Enforcer. The one hunting Puren was one of these, an Elemental Enforcer. What information could Puren possibly have discovered to bring upon himself such wrath?
Suddenly, the tall metal streetlight began to creak and groan. Puren stopped running a meter or two short of the alley and looked back.
"What are you doing?! Go, Puren! Run!" Weiren screamed internally, the words never quite leaving his lips. The streetlight began to bend and fall, and that was when Weiren saw him. It was the man; the one being robbed in the alleyway earlier. He had made his way back to the main street and hobbled along to this point, only to watch in shocked horror as one misfortune gave way to another. The streetlight was going to fall right on top of him! With a quick look at the Enforcers, the fear in Puren's face transformed into a look of fierce determination. He ran toward the light a few paces, planted himself in a solid stance, and thrust his arms out with a yell. The wind suddenly howled. A green decorative banner which jutted out from the pole billowed up, catching a strong breeze, and the streetlight bent sharply away from the man. With a *SCHREECH* the last twisted metal thread released itself from the base of the light, and the long light pole soared through the air to land bouncing and rolling noisily some ten meters away.
Puren brought his arms down, then turned his head to meet Weiren's gaze. At that very moment, another spinning sphere of fiery light flashed through the air and struck Puren in the chest with a sickening sound, sending him barreling toward the buildings behind him. Such was the force of the blow that it drove Puren's body through the bricks into the shop nearby. The Enforcers ran to surround the hole peering into the darkness. The grey Enforcer barked some orders, and two men crawled into the hole. A long silence followed. After what seemed an eternity, the two men stumbled out of the hole, dragging with them Puren's mangled body.
"Clean this up," the Elemental Enforcer said, "Take him with with us."
A vehicle rolled to a stop nearby. A rare sight, since only the Enforcers, or those rich enough to bribe the authorities, were allowed to own them. The men shoved Puren's body into the back of the car, and within seconds they, and everyone else, were all gone, leaving only the man who had been robbed, weeping on the sidewalk.
Weiren watched all this with numb shock. Had he just watched his brother die? Now he stepped back from the window and stumbled over the trashcan to throw up. Sinking to the floor with his back against the wall, he too began to weep. What shame, what guilt, what loneliness he felt in that moment! These demons barraged him until his mind could take no more, and there on the carpet, he slipped into a troubled sleep.