"When are we leaving?" Ser signed to her brother.
Mu qing:- Today
Ser:- At what time?
Mu qing:- Now
Ser nodded as she paced about to grab a few things from around the dilapidated cottage then turned back around and signed to her brother "Let's go" and the both of them rushed out.
They knew that they would definitely be killed before the start of the final year of the grand battle not due to any grand schemes of the royals but just due to the petty schemes of the other divisions for even if the weaker ones could get rid of two potential participants of the grand battle while they were defenseless and wouldn't be able to kill before the final year as per the rules levied on them for being the Assassin's family then also these small fries would feel a sense of accomplishment even though it was almost worthless effort but the twins were smarter than that.
They had survived until now so they knew better than to let themselves be killed like ants and hence they had decided after a lot of thought that they would leave their empire for the time being and not return until the upliftment of the divisions of the sections in the final year. This was the easiest and the most efficient method of survival that they could have come up with though they knew very well that it was almost similar to pushing themselves towards their own doom by wanting to go to a different empire just before the final year but it was still better than waiting for death.
After reaching the border of their empire after about 18 hours of running and a few hours of rest in between, it had already become dark again, almost returning to the time when they had left their cottage the other day. After finding a fairly decent hiding spot close to the border of their empire that was covered in thick canopies of huge banyan trees the two of them finally felt a sense of relief rushing in and only then did Ser ask , signing rather rapidly:- "Which empire are we going to? Where in particular? Are you hungry? Do you need rest, What about yesterday's injuries? Did you heal them before we left?". Mu qing grabbed her hand before she could ask any further questions and said in a soft voice:- "I'm okay. We are going to the Empire of death, we'll first try to get a hold of one of those weapons that you had read about in those books you picked up. The royal celestial of The empire of death has recently made an announcement allowing people from other empires to try their hands at controlling such a weapon because it has been causing havoc in their empire recently. This particular one is Known as the weapon of Wrath. We still haven't come around to find our spiritual manifestations and without that it would likely be impossible to compete against the others in the battle,so we have to come up with a solution to that quickly and who knows maybe this venture will be of help in driving out our spiritual manifestation, so we'll try to get it no matter what, then I'm thinking of exploring the area of mysterious magic, everyone says that the magic there is strange after that....,", he paused looking as if he were trying to find the appropriate words " I've not yet decided what to do after that so I don't know..." he added to it rather quickly " just yet".
Ser had listened to everything that her brother had to say quite intently and with patience. The sudden flicker of interest was also quite evident when she heard about the weapon in particular . The weapon of wrath was actually a far superior weapon than the other ones. Its apparent age was not known as only two people had ever managed to have its possession for the weapon was rumoured to be the one that chose its own master. Ser had read about this particular weapon with much interest. She had shuffled through several books and scrolls and was also able to find a hymn that could assist its destined owner to hold its possession. She thus felt an unexpected excitement rise within her at the thought of getting a glimpse of the weapon but as always keeping a calm exterior she simply signed a "Thankyou" to her brother to show appreciation for him to have been the one, to plan their course of action beforehand.
After a while she took out a rice ball packed in leaf wrapper of sorts from her pouch that she had tied to her waist with the help of a long black thick thread and gave more than half of it to her brother, he didn't argue for having the bigger portion maybe because of how hungry he was or maybe because he hadn't noticed it due to his exhaustion. Ser ate the other half in one bite and gulped some water, then with nothing else to do she sat down, both of the them didn't converse for quite some time then after a while of complete silence Ser drew attention by clapping her hands and when she had successfully drawn the attention of her brother she started signing again:- "You sleep for some time, we would not be able to travel at night specially to the Empire of death, so we'll start again tomorrow as soon as the sun is out. I'll be on guard while you sleep, let's take turns. It seems to be about midnight now, the sun won't be out before five tomorrow. I'll wake you up after 3 hours" and with that said she didn't wait for her brother's acknowledgement of her decisions then tightening her grip on the dagger that hung on her waist she moved to sit in front of the tree just opposite to the one under which Mu qing had already fallen into a slumber. Her eyes leaped from one side to the other like that of an eagle looking for it's prey, not resting for even a single moment. On the other hand the sleeping boy had already been surrounded by the horrors of his past as he delved deeper into his dream.
TRIGGER WARNING:- MENTIONS OF PHYSICAL ABUSE AND RAPE
In the dream he was not 18 anymore but 15 and all around him was a fire and amidst that fire he could faintly see the figures of two beings both male and those two figures were doing unspeakable things to his mother's dead body . The body was already in a bad condition, a sword was sticking out of it's chest , it seemed to have been pierced through her organs as the tip of it came out of the other side of the body, sticky with a mix of both blood and some unknown fluid , there was a long scar on her back where her robes seemed to have been slashed through. Her entire body was covered in burn marks and she had already breathed out her last breath. The dead women had skillfully hidden her children in a far away corner of her now burnt down house ,the flames were not able to reach that portion but from where they seemed to have been hidden away from the world was actually a place from where the children could clearly see their mother's clothes being torn apart, those two males laughed as they enjoyed their turns with the body. Ser had already lost all of her survival instincts at this point and was about to rush out when her brother had gripped her, tightly restricting her movements within his hold as he looked at her quite pleadingly as if telling her 'Not you....not you too, please don't leave me' but Ser still moved around maniacally trying to break out of that grip but it was to no avail, Mu qing was not going to let her go so in the end she could only turn to vent her anger and frustration by her silent sobs .....
This already disgusting dream like reality soon changed it's form into a more nightmarish quality as the two males seemed to be laughing a bit too loudly while thrusting their bodies in frenzied pleasure, the sound of their laughter coupled with the increasing sobs of his sister both were driving Mu qing to the point of madness ,he gripped his head and was about to smash it on something hard and heavy when he suddenly woke up with a start, half panting, half gasping for air. Ser was looking at him with concern in her eyes but soon averted her gaze when she saw that her brother had already woken up. She didn't reach out or try to comfort the other, they were both like this, never comforting the other when either of them was in a state of vulnerability. It was maybe because life was hard on them and every ounce of self respect had been forcefully peeled off of their bones the moment their father had been accused of the assassination. They had thus grown up with a shameless instinct of survival, never looking directly at others, never provoking others, never liking themselves and most importantly never valuing themselves but the only thing that they had given liberty of to themselves was in the way of holding their last bit of pride in the eyes of each other, so they would give each other this imaginary idea of holding their self esteem in front of the other by not noticing or pretending to not notice their moments of delicate and frail vulnerability for they believed those were the moments that were like past scars that didn't require any further poking.
After a long process of deep breathing and composing his soul core, Mu qing was finally feeling a bit better and he called out to his sister telling her to swap places with him so she could take some rest before they could start their journey for the day. Ser didn't argue she quickly closed her eyes and when she opened them again, the morning sun was already peeking through the grey haze of a waking sky that was still a bit sleepy, yet the sun had already wrapped the moon in it's sheer blanket of light and kissed it a pleasent goodbye for the day to begin in all it's glory. At a distance a murder of crows flew by, confirming the beginning of the day. Ser and Mu qing were already on their feet, ready to move on towards their destination.
The journey had started off on a rather pleasant note, with no one around to call them names or beat them down, it was like a breath of fresh air into their dampened lives. Ser walked in the front with My qing following just behind her. After walking for half a day they could see the Mountain of death at a distance, standing firm and tall but the closer they came towards it, the heavier the air got, a feeling of someone or something sucking out all the air out of their body suddenly occupied their minds, almost instinctively, a feeling of suffocation overtook their senses but the two of them didn't stop, forcing their way through, against what seemed like an invisible barrier.
This was the well known "Judgement barrier" that surrounded The Empire of death, not letting in people without perseverance or resilience into the empire. These traits were said to be the emblems of bravery according to the beings of The empire of death and were a very important aspect to them. After a great deal of struggle they finally had reached close enough to the main entrance of the empire and as soon as they got in front of the entrance they finally let go of their exhaustion and plopped down to take in a few breaths before slowly moving forward to enter The empire of death.
The empire of death seemed a lot different than their own empire, here all the houses were strangely painted black, even the palace of the royal celestial was painted black as it stood towering over all the other residences, at a great distance from the main entrance. The beings of this empire were a bit strange as well or so it seemed for all of them were dressed in almost the same attire, as if a uniform had been prescribed to them from children to elders everyone was wearing similar black coloured robes and all the ornaments worn, if any at all, were made of silver, thus with this uniformity of their clothing as soon as any outsiders would enter their empire then the stark difference in there outfits would make it clear that they didn't belong to The empire of death, that was ofcourse only if the person didn't enter to blend in with the crowds by already having access to this information but infiltration of empires was not a matter of joke and was a criminal offence that few beings wished to commit and as for the travellers from other empires, they didn't need to put on such a petty and useless act if they didn't have any ulterior motives.
The twins obviously didn't have such information neither did they have any ulterior motives so their outfits though a bit shabby ,still stood out amidst the sea of black, with Ser's mix of light pink and baby blue and Mu qing's faded purple and maroon attires creating a crazy contrast in representing the apparels of the two empires. Everyone's eyes fell on the two almost the instant they set foot in the foreign empire. The guards of the main entrance who were not at their designated positions earlier and could be seen at a nearby tea stall, laughing and gossiping, soon came rushing towards them, after giving the twins a careful look ,they finally asked , rather sternly "What are you two here for?".
Mu qing answered diligently :- "We came in search of the weapon of Wrath, we heard that the royal celestial of the empire had already made an announcement, in which he mentioned that anyone who's able to control the weapon can have it even if they don't belong to your esteemed empire,so we came to try our hands at it."
The two guards laughed heartily after hearing the reason and said "Oh so you've come to die, that thing isn't for young people like you to control, it's a terror in itself and not even our royal celestial could control it and it has been wrecking about the area near the Mountain of death for a few years now. It was only due to this reason that the announcement was made. I'd suggest you go back young boy, if you hold your life to be valuable "
Mu qing replied rather courteously "I'd still like to try but I thank you both for the warning"
The guards didn't argue with him rather they moved on to look at Ser with suspicious eyes.
"And what is a girl doing here?" They asked, the mockery evident in their tone. Ser didn't react nor did she get angry. She was used to such behaviour cause she knew that living was hard enough and living as a woman, in such an environment was harder. She stood still neither nodding nor signing and that is when Mu qing added on her behalf " She's my sister, she'll be going with me as well, to try her hand at controlling the weapon"
The guards were now laughing even harder than before, one of them fell to the ground and rolled around unable to contain his jest. The other one barely managed between his laughs to tell the twins to go ahead, thereby allowing them to formally enter the empire.