Kiaran was Axel's everything.
His father was rarely at home. He would travel alongside his sister a lot, leaving the both of them waiting for their family to come back. Those things have happened since he was six until now.
It was a week at first. Then a week turned into a month, and a month turned into half a year.
It was always Kiaran and Axel versus the world. He taught Axel everything. He made Axel the best murderer. He made him do all the killing while Cain and Adreanna were gone.
Kiaran even let him go to school. He did forbid Axel to get out of the house without his permission, but it was for his own safety. Kiaran always knew what was best for him.
Kiaran knew Axel adored Adreanna. He knew how Axel always saw his sister as an idol. Kiaran also knew that Axel craved Cain's attention, trying to be the best out of the best so his father would see him.
And Kiaran was helping Axel by making him kill. His brother always knew what was best.
Kiaran used to read him book after book when they were kids. He would tell all the Latin phrases he learned and tell Axel about them.
Among all the stories Kiaran read him, the story of Tithonus, the minor Greek god, was his all-time favorite.
Tithonus was overlooked by everyone. He was not famous, and almost no one cared about him. He was a minor god. He gained immortality from the infamous Zeus just for his own doom.
His story was so simple. He was kidnapped by Eos, the goddess of dawn, and became her lover. The story was simple and interesting. Sometimes Axel wondered, did Tithonus accept Eos to be his lover, or did he have no choice?
That part of the story was never told.
Though the part where Tithonus gained immortality was told. One day, Eos asked Zeus to give Tithonus immortality. Zeus did give him what Eos wanted. But Eos did not ask for eternal youth. That made Tithonus grow old but could not die. He was withering away, but his soul stayed alive.
Everyone knew Zeus was jealous of how Eos chose Tithonus over him. That part was left unsaid.
Axel used to listen to the story all over again. Kiaran's sweet voice would lull him to sleep sometimes as he told him the story of Thitonus. He would make a theory about Tithonus in his head as he listened to his brother.
He missed how Kiaran would tell him his favorite story.
Kiaran stopped telling him stories when their father left. Kiaran became busy with his own mind. He was six at that time, and Kiaran was only seven. His father would only leave for a week because they were still young.
Though, as the number of their age got bigger, so did the number of how long Cain was leaving.
But lately, he was hearing the story again. Every time he wanted to go to sleep, Kiaran's voice would dance around his room, telling him about Tithonus. Kiaran acted like he did not do anything, and Axel did not have the gut to ask about it. So he let it be.
Turned out, it was probably not his Kiaran. It was probably the Kiaran voice he was hearing. It was probably another Kiaran if his theory was correct after his encounter with the demon version of the lieutenant.
Although right now, through his blurry eyes and bleeding forehead, he was staring at Kiaran, who had two widened red eyes.
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The fancy furniture was displayed as a demon stared at a two-way mirror. His dark red eyes glinted, watching the human version of his dead brother walk away from the identical room like he was in.
It was identical yet different.
'Just like Axel's eyes.' flew in Kiaran's mind. His little brother's eyes were red, like dawn after the war, full of determination and naiveness. While this Axel- no, while his other brother was blue like the ocean, empty with a drowning determination and naiveness.
But they were his brother. They still were. This Axel was his.
He finally made a conversation just a minute ago with his Axel. The blue eyes of his brother had been full of questions as they talked. Though, it was such a pity that Axel had to leave.
From the conversation they had, Kiaran believed that this was indeed his brother. The same naiveness, the same soft eyes, and the same loyalty to his family.
Kiaran did not want to think how his dead brother was not loyal to him anymore because he manipulated him, because he left him. He did not want to think about how they were against each other in that war.
In that losing war.
So he diverted his thoughts to the paper on the other side of the mirror. The paper with a project the humans were making. The paper that his sweet little brother was reading.
The humans had a demon in their world. They were trying to make their people become demons. It was ironic, wasn't it? They were meant to be different, but apparently, everyone tried to be the same.
Kiaran raised his eyebrows at that term. His red eyes went dark for a moment; a hint of sinister thoughts was showing in his demon eyes.
He then frowned. There was something missing from that information on the paper.
He stepped closer to the mirror in front of him, wings were dragging along the floor as doing so. The anarchist tilted his head as he tried to read the paper on the other side.
Someone already found out that there was another world then.
Kiaran fluttered open his dark wings, filling the room with black feathers. A smirk displayed on his face as he watched the other side of Axel's room.
Someone found out how to bring a demon to the other world.
Kiaran turned his back and walked out of the room. His black coat blew a little from the pressure of his wings. He straightened the collar that surrounded his neck and went over to his family.
They would find out how to bring Axel into their world.
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"How ironic." Kiaran spat as his hair swayed with the wind. Three pairs of red eyes stared down at the building below them.
"They always fight us and point us as the bad guys," The teen demon darted, standing beside his father. "Yet they are sacrificing demons to be experimented on."
Kiaran had told Adreanna and Cain about the experiments. It only took one day for them to gather all the information with a little... force.
They found out about the experiments the kingdom tried to hide. Every truth and dark secret was spilled on their faces as they killed the people that they captured to spill the truth.
"They work with the humans," Cain spoke, poker-faced as he spread his dark wings. "He has changed," The anarchist leader continued, face darkened as he spat his words.
Kiaran and Adreanna looked over at their father at the same time. They knew who their father referred to. It was Cain's old friend. A friend who had become blind after he received a high position.
"Now that he becomes the king, he forgets who he was." Cain ended his sentence and took off. He let his wings wide open in the air, illuminating the moon.
The head of the Vergessene family erupted some red aura from his body, making it dance around him. Something moved inside the ground as the red light that surrounded Cain became bigger.
Hands clawed out from the ground, making it rumble. The bodies were pale as they all erupted from the ground, mindless and obedient. They stood there facing the Vergessene family.
Cain smiled at his soldiers, eyes making a crescent moon shape. His only being screamed gentleness and warmness despite how deadly he was.
"Destroy the building and bring me the cursed arrows." He commanded, eyes opening wide and sharp, lightening up with bright red waves that flew across the ground.
In just a second, the undead attacked the building, making it shake and rumble. A siren rang in the air, trying to alert the guards that there was an attack. Not long after, all dressed-up soldiers came out of the building and fought with the undead.
Adreanna flew high with her black porcelain wings. Her stone face scanned the surroundings as she flew closer to the battlefield. Some arrows tried to shoot her, but she quickly covered her body with her glass wing, making the arrows fall back.
She gracefully flipped in the air, braided hair swung around before shooting the soldiers and guards with her sharp feathers.
Kiaran watched the battlefield with hidden determination. They were going to have Axel back. Their family would be whole again after this.
Some of the undead fell to the ground before another red wave sprouted from Cain, making them stand again. The undead's faces were oddly clean despite the shredded clothes they were wearing.
Kiaran's red eyes caught someone familiar. That certain someone was holding a boy's body, running away from the battlefield instead of fighting them. It perked his interest so he decided to approach the guy.
Like he always did every time he saw the guy on a battlefield.
Kiaran let his wings bring him to the air at an easy speed before landing on the ground right behind the man, making a soft 'thud'. "Hello, knight boy." He teased, making the knight stop at his track.
"Some knight you are for not joining the battle." The anarchist mocked the blond hair knight with a boy in his hands.
Valerian turned around and faced Kiaran with a death glare. "Stay away from me," The knight staggered back from the anarchist, holding tight the dirty blond-haired boy in his hands. "-before I kill you."
"Whoa, no need to be so violent, knight boy." The anarchist raised his hands to the air, smiling skeptically. "I just want to check on my favorite enemy, that's all."
Valerian gripped the back of Aster's head, trying to hide his sleeping brother from Kiaran. "What do you want?"
"I've said it before, haven't I?" Kiaran walked closer, dragging his black wings under the moonlight. "I just want to check on you."
Valerian gritted his teeth, red eyes unwavering despite his beating heart. He walked backward slowly as Kiaran got close.
"Ius ad bellum." The winged demon sang, smirking slightly. "Right to war, just war."
The wind blew harshly around them as the space between the two sworn enemies tightened. The air was so tight, making Kiaran's movement slow. His dark hair followed the wind's harsh dancing, making it messy.
"You should stop before I let the wind cut through you," Valerian demanded, eyes full of fire as the wind got even bigger.
"But this is war, isn't it?" The anarchist spoke, voice stayed playful despite the danger that surrounded him. "Just... war."
The wind pierced through Kiaran's cheek, making it bled a little. He put a hand on his bleeding cheek, wiping the blood with his hand before bringing his bloody hand to his mouth.
He licked the blood on his hands, wiping the rest of the blood with his tongue. He tilted his head to the knight. "You know I could just command you to-"
"-stop."
His word rang in the air, and the wind stopped. Valerian froze in his place, and he knew he couldn't move. A sweat ran down the side of his cheek as he stared at his sworn enemy's eyes.
"And look how the table turns."
Kiaran chimed in, putting his hands in his pocket while getting closer to the knight. His eyes darted for a second to the sleeping boy in Valerian's hands before diverting his gaze to the knight's face.
"Don't touch him." Gritted Valerian.
"Nah, don't worry, I'm here to check on you, remember? Not this sick boy." Kiaran waved his hand before gripping Valerian's hair, making the enemy face him.
"So tell me, knight boy." He spoke, red eyes met the red one with a glint of darkness. "Do you know the existence of another world on the other side of the mirror?"
They stared at each other for a while, waiting for the blond to speak. "And you think I'm going to tell you? The anarchist?" The knight retorted back, unwavering.
"Of course, you will." Kiaran showed his sinister smile. "You want him to live, don't you?" He nodded his head to Aster, making Valerian shut his mouth.
"I'm giving you options here, either you tell me, and then I let you both go." Kiaran brought Valerian's head even closer to his face. "Or I will use my power to make you talk after I killed the boy."
They stared at each other again. The sound of people screaming and fighting was in the background, painting the atmosphere.
"Fine, I'll tell you."
Kiaran let Valerian's head go as he took one step back. He waited for the knight to talk, standing patiently.
Valerian brushed Aster's hair before he opened his mouth to talk. "I found out about the mirror accidentally, I was not allowed to know."
"It was probably the minister that knew, I've been spying on them, trying to take more information, and I found out that they sacrificed so many of our people for this project."
Valerian looked over at his brother's peaceful face sadly. "And then they found out that I know about this, but I was stubborn, and they almost killed my brother on his sickbed." A dangerous glint glazed over Valerian's eyes as he remembered the memory.
"They black-mailed you." It was more a statement rather than a question coming out from Kiaran.
Valerian paused for a second before he continued. "Yes, they did."
"So I stayed silent and just let the experiments happen around me. Hell, they even moved me to the experiment building itself."
The knight clenched his jaw and diverted his gaze to the anarchist. "But then I found two humans in the building."
"One of them was identical to my brother. He was healthy and talkative. Annoying like mine was." He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. "It was like my brother before he fell ill."
"Who's the other one?" Kiaran asked. He did not know why he did, but he just had a weird hunch.
"I can't see his face. A white mask was covering half of his face. Though his eyes were blue, that's how I knew he was a human."
Kiaran could feel his heartbeat fasten at the statement. Adrenaline rushed through his veins as he widened his red eyes. "Does he have black hair?"
Valerian raised one of his eyebrows for a second before answering. "Yes, he did. How did you kn-"
Kiaran gripped both the knight's shoulders so suddenly, making him swallow the sentence before finishing it. "Where is he now?"
"He left with my bro- with my identical brother that I told you before, I led them to the experimental mirror so they can come back to their world again."
Kiaran quickly let Valerian go and flew into the air, making the wind blow a little below him. Valerian almost fell down at the sudden action. He tightened his hold on Aster and stared at the fading enemy.
The anarchist was looking around at the torn-out building. He was searching for a mirror inside, trying to save it from crashing.
He turned wide-eyed as he saw a black roots mirror falling down from the wall slowly. Kiaran quickly flew to the scene, trying to catch it before it was too late.
He was flying so fast that he could feel the world turn all blurry. He reached out his hand to the mirror that was an inch away from crashing.
Right before he caught it, the mirror crashed on his feet, spreading all around the floor as he stood in front of it. He sighed harshly, letting his wings flutter down, and finally looked at the shredded mirror.
His breath caught in his throat as he faced his Axel, bleeding on the floor, staring at him with tired blue eyes before fluttering them shut.