At home
We opened the door and shouted upstairs.
"PA, MA! WE'RE BACK"
"Zol, get down there and take care of them!"
It was the loud voice of a woman, the only woman in the house, and the most fearsome, even our father didn't want to mess with her most of the time.
"Right away, ma'am." A man answered.
"Stop calling me that!"
"Understood, ma'am."
"Whatever." She sighed.
A tall middle-aged man with short braided dark blue hair and golden eyes walked downstairs in his gray shirt and trousers. A huge scar resembling a jagged fissure embedded from the right temple of his face to the back of his head. For a man of such age, he had a young face with features as if in his 20s.
As his hand slid down the stair rails, a flash reflected on his right hand into my eyes. It was a shiny silver ring with delicate, detailed, carvings resembling a chain across its whole surface. Never had I seen him took off from his middle finger, as if it was part of his body, as if they were one.
As soon as he saw my brother's face, his eyes widened before slowly, worriedly, walking towards us.
"Boy, you good?"
"I suppose." My brother unconcernedly answered as he sat on the sofa.
"Where did you get that?" Our father said, staring at his son who although tried, did not hide the trails of the fight well enough.
"Oh, this? I slipped and fell, like, real hard."
Our father stared at him. His gaze saying 'Is that your best attempt?'.
Aeneas looked at me and whispered.
"Is it that bad?"
I nodded as our father asked in a serious tone.
"You two got into a fight?"
Aeneas sighed, hoping whatever came afterward wouldn't be so rough.
"Yep, Pa, with five dudes–"
"With what?"
"Ay but in my defense, they all would still be sleeping on the road by now plus the little guy didn't get hurt so that was–"
Our father looked at his oldest son with his eyes concerned and confused.
"Why don't you just … run?"
Aeneas tilted his head and innocently answered.
"Cause we couldn't? They are older than us and, probably, got a better pair of legs, no?"
Our father turned silent for a moment afterward. He sat down on the sofa and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"The cycle … repeating itself? Why? … O'fate, were all that you've taken from me not enough?" He mumbled to himself with his eyes clouded in a tangled mix of emotions.
Suddenly, he stood upright and took a deep breath, cleansing all that shrouded him before saying with his voice resolute.
"Aeneas, you will join The Rite."
Aeneas sat there like a statue, shocked by our father's words.
The Rite' was the only thing our mother prohibited. Only once had our parents mentioned it. That time I heard Ma say "Do you want our sons dead?" to our father. And for that, we hadn't heard of it since.
"And the first part of the Rite, The Feast—"
"The what? Wait—wait hold on. Is Ma ok on this?" Aeneas interrupted.
"No, of course, but I'll talk it out—" Father responded
He then walked out of the front door.
"Where are you goin', Pa?" I asked.
"To the tavern. Come."
We looked at each other for a brief moment before rushing to our father and followed his path.
And so, we followed our father to the tavern, the one and only in this town settling at its core. We chose our seats as Pa walked to the front of the bar.
"Ay! Zol! My man, what's your order for today? Same as always?"
The bartender behind the counter greeted.
"No, not today."
He sat down.
"I want a whole cow."
The bartender stood in silence for a moment
"... a what?"
"A whole cow."
The bartender went silent for a moment.
"Uhh can I ask why?"
"I'm hungry." He said with a blank face.
"... ok right, one cow, I got you."
The bartender rushed into the kitchen as Zol returned to our table and we all sat there waiting patiently.
Soon after, their cow arrived. From head to toe, the ribs, chucks, loins, every edible part of it was served, cooked to perfection. The smell of the meat mixed with herbs and spices made my mouth water.
"Uh, Pa, are we going to eat all of this?" Aeneas asked.
"Yep. Well, mostly you two."
And so, we began our feast. With just a chunk of meat, my belly was full. On the other hand, Aeneas still continued chucking meat down his throat until half of the plate was left.
"Pa, can I just … not eat anymore?" Aeneas asked as his belly was nearly full. It bloated so much that other customers started to look at us, oddly, like we were piggish.
"Well, I wanted to say yes … but no. You'll need a lot more energy."
"More? How much more? You want me to eat 'til I float and pop like a balloon?"
"Well, if you ain't eating up, a breeze would fly you to the moon after what we're going to do next."
My brother then continued eating until the plate was empty. And like he said, his belly bloated like a balloon.
As we finished our meal, Father took us to a huge building made of black stones, settled far away from the people. A lonely building sat on the edge of the town.