Eleven Years Later
Like every other day in the kingdom of Mulgard, people peacefully moved about the villages, going about their businesses. The little ones could be seen running around, as well as trying not to lose sights of their parents as they walked.
In the course of running, two brothers - one with spiky black hair and the other, black flowing hair - bumped into a lady who held a basket of fruits in her hands causing her to spill them on the concrete ground.
"Look what you've done!" She yelled.
"Sorry ma'am!" The boys apologized still running forward. Making her wonder, what exactly was making them hurry off in that manner. Bending over to pick up her fruits, she saw five men run in her direction, or rather, chasing after the boys.
"Stop right there, you thieving brats!" One of the men yelled.
Hearing his words, the lady realized who they were that had bumped into her. "Just what did they steal now." She shook her head in disappointment.
Running as fast as they could, the little boys didn't look back. Hoping to lose the men in the town's market, they ran in that direction.
"You won't get away with this one!" One of the men said, seeing the direction they were headed.
Jumping over carts, pushing goods on the floor, the boys were hoping to slow down the men but it wasn't working. The men continued to close the gap. Running as fast as they could, taking different routes every chance they got, the boys only grew tired. Eventually, one of them tripped and fell.
Unbeknownst to his brother, he had been caught.
"Let go of me!" The boy with a spiky hair yelled, struggling to get out of their grip. "Raten help!"
"Kiyan ?" Hearing his brother's voice, the little boy stopped and turned around. He immediately hid himself.
"You little rat, we've finally caught you." The man said pushing him on the ground. The people angry about their sales the boys ruined began to gather.
"This is bad." Raten thought watching from a distance, as he hid.
"Give us what you stole." One of the men with an odd voice spoke. The people called him long beard because of the length of his beard even in his young age.
"I don't have it." Kiyan replied.
"We'll have to beat it out of you then. Or at least till that brother of yours shows up with what you both stole." Longbeard hit him across the face and held him up with his hair.
"Let me go." Kiyan shrieked. Looking at the people in front of him, he stuck out his tongue in a mocking way.
"Little rat!" The man threw him hard on the ground and kicked his side.
"Aahhh!" Kiyan yelped in pain as he continually got beaten by the people.
"Huh ?" Longbeard looked confused as he saw the colour of the boy's hair begin to change into a lighter colour. In that instant, a orb-looking beam of light had appeared out of nowhere. With immense speed, it hit longbeard, pushing him back and causing him to crash into a store.
Everyone was stunned for a moment but immediately took to their heels as more beams of light appeared. As quickly as they appeared, the little boy vanished.
"Dammit! I forgot they could do magic." Longbeard said getting up. He hurried back out but found no one.
*******
Sitting in a field beside a rock, the two boys rested.
"Are you hurt too much ?" Raten asked his hands over his brother's ribs.
"I wouldn't be hurt at all if you had done something earlier. I was almost found out. My hair began to change back, my appearance as well!" Kiyan complained.
"I'm sorry." Raten said. "I wouldn't just leave my twin to get hurt on purpose. Besides, you hesitated last time. Now, we're even." He said and Kiyan let out a huff.
Whenever they went out stealing, they would always change their appearance so they wouldn't be recognized by the people. Rather than black hair with hazel brown eyes and a round face, they had snow white hair that fell just below their shoulders, eyes with a solid green hue and a straight face.
"You don't seem to have much injuries on you." Raten noticed after scanning his brother's body. "I'm sure your body still hurts after receiving those beatings." He sighed and placed his hands over Kiyan, slowly muttering some words.
Beads of sweat could be seen on his forehead and his eyes would constantly twitch showing that whatever he was doing was causing him pain.
"You should stop, i feel better now." Kiyan held onto his brother's arm. "You should really stop using that, what's the point if the pain only transfers to you."
"Well, we've been unable to learn a spell that will heal us and it's not like we have a healing balm with us. At least, now I share in your pain and will not let you get hurt again." Raten replied rubbing his palms together slowly.
Kiyan then picked up a pouch next to him. Taking out the jewelries inside, he had a large grin on his face.
"It was hard to get you, but you are worth the beating, I can tell." He placed it back and leaned against the rock. "Twenty gold coins ?" With a grin he asked his twin.
"Fifty." Raten corrected. "We would be practically rich if we had that."
They used the coinage mode of exchange -bronze, silver and gold. One bronze coin equaled ten silver coins, while ten silver was equivalent to one gold coin. Also, a platinum coin, which equaled ten gold coins, was also used to recognize those in relevant positions.
"One more thing..." Raten said.
"What is it ?" Kiyan sat up. As soon as he did, Raten's fist collided with the back of his head. "Ow! What did you do that for ?"
"You called me by my name when you asked for help." Raten explained.
"Oh, that was a mistake." He smiled nervously, scratching the nape of his neck.
"I hope no one paid much attention to that. There's only one Raten that can perform magic in this village." He sighed and looked at the pouch. "There's no time to waste. Get up, let's go." He stood up, giving his brother a little kick.
"Let's just rest for a while." Kiyan said, leaning back on the rock with the back of his head resting on his hands.
"The longer we wait, father's situation only worsens." Raten reminded. "With what we have obtained, we can finally afford to heal father. We can't rest now, we still have a lot to do."
"You're right, let's go." Kiyan said, getting up.
Pulling a bag from behind the rock, they changed into different clothes. They placed the pouch in the bag, and headed back to the village. Having planned on heading to one of the cities in the kingdom, they walked to the border of the village where a carriage was waiting.
"Good day, Mr. Edward." They greeted the owner of the carriage.
Looking down at the boys, he replied, "I'm glad to see you're both okay. You took more time than usual, I was beginning to worry." He gave a warm smile.
"Your real reason to worry, is where we are headed." Raten said climbing into the carriage, Kiyan followed. Edward said nothing else and began riding.