Lecter was quite happy when he saw Raten and Kiyan again. The twins didn't understand why he was so happy though, his reasons were best known to him.
"Where have you two been?!" He asked.
"We've been in town," Kiyan answered.
"You look to be in a hurry." Lecter noticed from their body language and how they were dashing off before he stopped them.
"Not really, but we are," Raten replied. Their father had given them a specific time to return stating he had something to tell them. They didn't want to be late in any way.
"Oh, okay. How about we meet tomorrow?" He suggested. He did want to spend time with them. "We meet right here?"
"Uhm.. sure. Tomorrow it is." Kiyan answered. "We'll be here at noon." They hurried off.
Lecter had a grin that almost went from ear to ear when they agreed to meet. He then walked off, whistling away.
*******
After lunch, the twins met up with Marie who had been busy. She crouched down to their level when they came to talk to her. She was gentle and ever-smiling as usual. Although not rejecting the necklace, she hadn't outright accepted it.
"Come on, Marie. You have to take it. It's just a simple thank you gift." Kiyan insisted.
Marie had taken the blame, as well as covered up for them at different times in the while they lived here, just so the boys wouldn't get into trouble with their father or Demas.
"I do appreciate the thought of getting me a necklace. But, how were you able to afford it?" Marie asked, keen to find out where they got the money from.
"Well, back in the village we lived, we used to do little chores for people and got paid for it. We used part of what we saved to buy you this necklace." Raten answered.
"You didn't have to get me this."
"Of course we did," Kiyan said, moving closer to her. He then held onto her blonde curly hair which wriggled at her lower back, making it so Raten could put the necklace on her.
"Since you won't take it, we'll put it on for you," Raten said. Kiyan let go of her hair as soon as Raten was done.
"See, beautiful." They both smiled.
Placing her hand on the piece of jewelry around her neck, she gave a smile of her own, her blue eyes glittered a bit. "Thank you." She said. They then left her to go meet their father who sat in the backyard. It had become his favourite place.
"Father. You had something to tell us?" Kiyan said as they neared.
Agnar didn't spare them a glance nor did he reply as he kept staring at seemingly nothing.
"Father?" Raten called out but he still didn't respond. This was something they noticed he did often and it bothered them. Most times, it looked like he was communicating with someone or something.
After this, he usually forgets a lot of things, and asking him any questions will be a lost cause, so they left him and returned inside.
"I always wonder what goes on with father." Kiyan sighed.
"We are left to do just that, wonder. Asking him yields no answer." Said Raten.
*******
The next day came. Having informed their father and Demas of their outings to see a, not so recently made, friend, they set off to meet him at the appointed place. After meeting with him, he lead them to a nearby lake where they stood, throwing stones into it as they conversed.
Lecter had a bit of a frown on his face, with his hands pulling his hair a bit. "You have to listen to me, please. I need you two to teach me."
"We're sorry, but as I said before, even if we wanted to, we can't," Raten stated with a sigh.
"Well, why can't you?"
"Because we can't. We don't know how."
Pacing back and forth to calm his nerves, he took a deep breath and grabbed hold of one of them.
"Listen, Raten, I need to know now if I'll stand a chance going to Darkmoon Academy."
"First of all, I'm Kiyan." He corrected. Lecter had no idea who was standing closest to him as they both looked alike. Raten had long ago turned his hair to its normal colour. "Second, what do you mean 'stand a chance'?"
Letting go of him, Lecter sat on the grass filled ground. "What I meant was, if I'm unable to break my mana shell, I won't be accepted into Darkmoon Academy, you see. I just want to know now if I'm eligible for it, so I don't waste my time."
"Oh, I see. Well, we can't teach that." Raten said and sat as well.
"Don't they teach that at the Academy?" Kiyan asked.
"They don't. You are expected to already have mana flowing inside of you to be eligible for the exams. I hear the exam is harder than it was before. My uncle says it has something to do with building a stronger generation of magic casters."
"Building a stronger generation?" Kiyan asked, now sitting as well.
"There's a family of demons out to destroy humans. So we have to be ready." Lecter answered with lackluster.
"A family of demons?" Raten asked. "That sounds absurd."
"You two haven't heard of the men that made a deal with the devil? They conquered different kingdoms forming two great empires. The cause of misfortune in the land for over twenty-five years? The three hundred years old tale, you don't know of it?" Lecter raised a brow.
"We have never heard of this demon family," Kiyan replied shaking his head slightly. Lecter was surprised to know some people hadn't ever heard of the tale of the evil brothers. Parents often told their children this story and in one place or the other, someone was talking about it.
"You both must have been living under a rock or should I say another planet, for even the rocks have heard of it." He said.
"You said they ruled for over twenty-five years, correct?" Raten asked recalling their father mentioned a demon ruling for the same period three hundred years ago. Lecter nodded. "The men, just what were their names?"
"Well, as for their names, no one knows. What we do know is their last name, Ten, teft, tef- something, I keep forgetting." Lecter answered.
"Teferi?" Kiyan said softly staring at Lecter hoping he was wrong. But Lecter confirmed him to be right. The name both men bore was Teferi.
"If you both have never heard of the story, how do you know of the name?"
"I heard the name somewhere before and guessed it should be the one," Kiyan answered in a surly tone.
"As far as I know, everyone has been prohibited from using that name. Some people even believe if you say the name too many times, they will appear." Lecter chuckled at the last statement.
He then noticed the downcast look on the twins' faces.
"Is something wrong?" He asked.
"Yes, I mean no. Everything is fine." Raten replied. He looked over at his brother who glanced at him as well. They had around the same thoughts going on in their heads. Was what Lecter telling them the rumour their father spoke of that was spread or was this just the plain truth?
They refused to believe their father was telling a lie. Also, Lecter said there were two men, and as far as they know, their father didn't make mention of any other relative that could be bearing their name and be involved in all this.
"Is there anything more about the Teferi family you know of?" Raten asked trying to get more answers.
"Well, not much. I don't pay attention to those things anyway. To me it's only a folktale and nothing more, so I don't know much." Lecter replied.
"All I know is everyone in this empire and beyond has heard of that name and might just loathe them as well. In the story though, there is one highly respected man, our Emperor - Arik Lennon. He was the man who defeated the brothers."
"Wait, brothers?" Kiyan asked, getting even more confused.
"Yes, the two men from the Teferi family were brothers and they met their deaths at the hands of the emperor," Lecter replied. The more he spoke, the more confused they got.
Their father never mentioned having a brother. Just what were they hearing? They were beginning to think Lecter is talking about two different men just bearing the same name and their father had nothing to do with this.
The emperor defeated them? This was what confused them the most. If it were Agnar, Lecter spoke of, then everyone was wrong as he was still very much alive.
Having a lot to ponder about, the twins decided to head home.
"We have to go now," Kiyan said standing to his feet.
"W-why?" Lecter asked looking up at them.
"There is uhm, something we have to help our father with. We'll see you tomorrow and talk about your mara problem." Raten said.
"Oh, okay then." Lecter stood up as well. "Also, it's mana shell." Lecter corrected.
"Yeah, whatever." Raten shrugged it. The twins left Lecter and returned home.
When they thought they had gotten answers, things only got more complicated. They were going to do some questioning and hopefully, their father would give them the answers they needed.
They got home and neither Agnar nor Demas were there. They had to wait to get their answers.
Later in the evening, both men arrived while one was visibly sweating and panting, the other looked relaxed.
"I don't know how you do this, Agnar." Demas, with his arms on his back as he crouched a bit, said and made his way to his room.
Agnar relaxed on the chair next to the window in the living room with both hands behind his head. For a moment there, the men had not realized the presence of two young ones.
Moving closer to their father who had his eyes closed and eyebrows a bit furrowed as if deep in thought, they made to ask him the question lingering in their minds.
"Father?" Raten called out to him.
"What do you want?" He asked not taking the time to look at them.
"We were out today and heard of the tale of the Teferi brothers.."
"And?"
"We heard a story about a demon family. It said two brothers made a deal with the devil and caused suffering for the people three hundred years ago. This isn't true, right? It was just a demon that you accidentally set free that caused all this." Raten said softly as he watched his father's expression.
A slight smile etched on his face before vanishing almost immediately.
"You will hear a lot of stories about the Teferi family. Pay no mind to them. When the time is right, you will understand everything." Agnar replied still not sparing them a glance.
As Kiyan was about to say something, their father spoke again.
"Yes, I do have a brother."
Surprisingly, yet not to the twins, his words were the answer to Kiyan's hanging question. His statement made it clear his brother was still alive. The emperor must be deceiving the people then, they thought.
Agnar opened his eyes staring at the ceiling as his sons left. He had a wide grin on his face as he seemingly reminisced about the event of three centuries ago.
"It's nice to know our work is still being acknowledged." With a smile, he uttered a soliloquy.
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Author here: Sorry for the slow updates. More chapters will come in, and more often as well.
Still a novice here, you can point out my mistakes in the comment section.
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