"It's well into the day now, Uncle One-eye and Uncle Raymond must have taken out of father's booze," Kiyan said.
"He is probably looking for a way to take it with him now," said Raten. The twins had witnessed it happen different times and were also accomplices in the act of surreptitiously taking their father's booze. It was Raten who had showed One-eye and Raymond were Agnar usually kept it. The twins did steal from it from time to time. If they were going to be punished in form of training, why not have some fun with his brew? They thought.
Currently, the twins were on their way back to school. Their planned nice day to roam the magical town was spoiled by their ruined moods, all thanks to Torrance. They still roamed a bit before returning to school.
They returned to their room and the one expected to be there was not. Rodney eventually went out. They pondered on the words of Torrance and were now more curious than ever to read the stories written about their family. Also, who was the brother they had heard of? They asked their uncles but they didn't give an answer. If Agnar didn't wish to speak of it, then those two wouldn't never speak a word of it.
"What do we do now? Go to the library?" Raten asked his brother whom had already taken off his shirt and lay down on his bed.
"You can, but I want to have some rest." Kiyan replied. Raten said nothing after that and also went to his bed. He lay in thought for a while before opening up the books in his drawer. He glanced through some spells. But didn't want to risk trying them so he wouldn't do something like set the room on fire. Eventually, he too had fallen asleep.
They had remained asleep for the entire day and only awoke at night when dinner was served. When everyone went to sleep, they snuck outside the school's vicinity. It was hard to bypass the six men, two at either gates of the school keeping guard. Having taken notes of their schedules and how they moved at nights when they would stare out the window, the twins knew the right moment to scale through the walls and out of the school without being caught.
They made their way to the edge of the island and stared at the sky.
"I thought we have escaped that life of bodily torture. But, father was right. Seeing Torrance and hearing his words, if we were to be weak and defenceless then our lives, in a second, will be gone," Kiyan said.
"We took a vow when he was revived that night, didn't we?" Raten said. "He is not here and can not ensure our safety and so we will have to do that ourselves. No more weak and defenceless little boys," said Raten.
"Ready?" Kiyan asked.
"Always," Raten replied.
One of the reasons they had decided to take a walk around the island was to find a place they could have their spars and train as much as they wanted to with no prying eyes. In all the parts of the island, this one was the least used and had more forestry. They stood facing each other in the small open grassland a few metres away from the tall trees.
In their hands were the weapons they brought with them from home and used in the entrance exams. They decided to have a little spar before running some laps, doing sit-ups, pushups, as much body building as they wanted, and importantly, concentrating on their mana build.
"You mean, Always ready to lose right?" Kiyan teased. Whenever they fought one another, it would most of the time end in a tie, and sometimes Kiyan would win.
"Tsk, let's see who loses today." Raten readied his short dual blades, and Kiyan held his sword firmly.
They ran forward and clashed weapons together. Obviously, size of weapon didn't matter, the strength of the wielder did. It was safe to assume they both were equal in that aspect as they only struggled in place. No one was losing out.
Their blades made clanging sounds as they clashed against each other while they fought. From weapons to fists, to abilities, they were going all out, but where still trying to keep it subtle so as to not alert the citizens in the area.
The twins kept going, pushing their bodies to the limits and this time, they didn't have to be told what to do and for how long they had to do it. It was all their own will and eventually, all these would pay off.
After hours of training, their weak bodies lay on the grass while they breathed heavily. Their chests rose and fell in successions. They were sweating profusely. On their bare chests were different scorch marks they had given themselves. Little blood splatters were on the grass beneath their feet and on their bodies too from the cuts and deep wounds they had given themselves. To avoid burning their clothes off, they fought only in their shorts. Leaving their shirts and the cloaks they wore while sneaking out, hanging on a tree.
Kiyan painfully walked to where his shirt was and reached in its pockets. He took out of it, a small bottle. He poured a small amount of its liquid substance onto his palm and passed the bottle to his brother who did the same. They smeared the contents gently on parts of their bodies that had gotten injured to heal the wounds and clear the scars, but it did nothing for pain.
It was something they had gotten from their cousin, Demas and were now putting it to good use. Once they were done, they put on their shirts and cloaks back on and tried to walk back to school, but their feet failed them. They were too weak to move.
"Choosing somewhere this far might not have been a good idea," said Raten.
"We should rest for a while, before going back." Kiyan suggested and that they did.
They only looked at the sky in silence trying not to fall asleep. If they did, they would be found out and definitely would be in a lot of trouble. They already have a bad record with attendance, adding sneaking out of school, which was breaking one of the school's rules, would only make things worse.