There lived an aristocrat with his family in a famed manor dubbed Hawkthorn by the residents, the family has lived there for ages. The little household consisted of a father, a mother, and their two twin sons that they adored dearly. Outwardly, the father was very stern and his methods of disciplining were rather controversial.
The mother, on the other hand, was very kind to the twins, pestering the young boys with everything that they wished for. The father didn't like the way the mother treated their sons, he wished that the mother will be a bit stern with both of the boys.
"Mother, look what I found!" the younger son exclaimed, he was holding a tiny chirping bird in the palm of his hands. The mother observed the bird, it was injured.
"Aurel, give it to me," the young boy handed the injured bird to the older woman. She was a practicing physician till she got married to her husband. Later, leaving her profession to pursue the seat of a housewife.
"Mother, is it going to be okay?"
"It is, Aurel, once I put a bandage on its leg," she scanned the bird for further injuries, "once healed, would you take it to where you found it?"
"Yes!"
The woman smiled ruffling his hair, "now, go play with your brother,"
"but he is busy studying," As they conversed in the gardens, on the other side of the manor the older son was sitting studying or rather daydreaming.
"Focus, boy," the tutor had a frown on his wrinkled face. Silvas sits up straighter in his seat, "I'm focusing... Sir,"
"Alright, I'll check on you in fifteen minutes," the old bald tutor went to the other side of the room, plopping himself on a chair. Just as expected, not after five minutes he was snoring.
"psh, Silvas, under here!" a familiar voice of his brother whispered from under the table, Silvas peeked under and sure enough Aurelius was sitting beneath the wooden table.
"what are you doing here?"
"taking you out so we can play," the boy got out from under the table, slamming his head in the process of the hasty retreat, "ouch, what are you reading anyway? Is it one of the fairytale books?" Silvas hid the smaller book under the big bind of language studies.
"no, it's not, and I can not leave."
"You can't say no! The girls are waiting for us outside!"
"Anna and Ane are already here?"
"yes, and they are waiting for us,"
"Alright,"
The boys sneaked out of the study whispering about their plans for the day with their friends. They ran to the gardens where the girls stood waiting.
Anna and Ane were the daughters of their father's associate. Anna was the older one while Ane was younger.
"Hello! Aurelius!"
Ane turned red at the sight of the younger Schwarz. She wasn't very discrete about her infatuation.
Silvas rolled his eyes, looking at Anna whose eyes betray the bitterness she was feeling. Her infatuation with him wasn't discrete either but when Ane joined Aurelius by the hip whenever they were within feet of distance, Anna preferred admiring from a distance. Silvas wasn't certain why the girls liked him to begin with. They shared the same face, but none of them seemed to show any interest in him. It irked him to an extent.
"Ane, I saved a bird today!"
"Wow, so remarkable! Can I see the bird?"
Anna joined in, "Yes, I would like to see it too,"
"Alright, follow me,"
____________________________
"Silvas!"
The voice set fear deep in his stomach, the boy meekly followed the man in the other room as the three children looked concerned for him, "Father, I---"
*slap*
"is it true that you left the study without completing your task?"
The young boy stood silently, all his words seemed to fail him at the moment. A scream erupted from the other side, "why would you hit him!?" his brother yelled at the older man.
"Get out! This isn't about you," the older man barked, "and you, you are supposed to be the face of this family! Have some shame! Aurelius is a far better choice,"
"Stop it! He is trying---"
The younger boy clasped the legs of his father, and the older man was seething with anger, "I said get out, Aurelius!"
"No! Why can't you---"
"Aurelius, get out of here,"
"But, Silvas..."
"It's alright, it was my fault anyway, shouldn't have left the study."
Aurelius looked at the man and then at his brother, the red mark on his cheek was grimacing. He softly spoke to the older man, "alright, just... Don't hit him."
_______________________________
"what's wrong with the boy? Why is he crying?"
"The bird he rescued just passed away,"
"Aye, make him stop crying, it's unbecoming not to mention annoying,"
"Shhh, Aurel," the mother cuddled the boy in her arms, whispering all sorts of words of tenderness to him, "the bird is free of any pain it faced in this world, it's in a better place now,"
"Really? Do you think it'll be happy?"
"Yes, sweetheart, it'll be most happy there,"
"Is it that good of a place?"
"yes, it is,"
"Wow, do you think I'll go there---"
The mother stopped him from continuing his sentence, she shook her head, "don't say words like that, Aurel, don't ever say something like that ever again,"
The boy did not understand why his mother scolded him for such a simple question. He was too young to comprehend the concept of death, too naive. He never saw death until the unfortunate passing away of Ane and later his parents. But he did face death, on a day that was too bright and too cheery.
A day too optimistic to be a day of death.
The day his brother sacrificed him to please the otherwordly being.