The sun rose in the sky bidding goodbye to the darkness of the night that covered the earth. Kiyan and Raten were sleeping soundly. Well... Raten was sleeping soundly, Kiyan was about to die.
"What is this? What is this pressure? Why is it so dark? Why can't I breathe?" Kiyan wondered worriedly, struggling on the bed.
He tried calling out for help but his voice came out in muffled sounds as though something was restricting his lips from moving.
Each time he tried to speak, Kiyan noticed he would hear a subtle chuckle followed by continuous snoring.
"Wait..."
He hurriedly freed his hands from the same hold on his face and pushed the body that lay horizontally on his face off him and off the bed.
The body, which was his soundly sleeping brother's, fell with a thud, while Kiyan sat up breathing heavily.
"What is wrong with you?!" He shouted at his brother. "Are you trying to kill me?!"
"Ugh!!" Raten groaned and got up from the floor. "Hm?" He scratched his head and looked around him. "Hey, what are you on the bed while I'm on the floor?! Did you push me off?!" He shouted angrily.
"You moron! You tried to kill me in your sleep!" Kiyan shouted back. "How did you even end up on my face?"
Raten's eyes were fixed at the window as he completely ignored his brother.
"That's odd," he said.
"Is father not here? It's already this late into the day and he did not wake us up for our daily training." Said Kiyan.
"Perhaps, he did not return last night." Raten assumed.
"How could you sleep till this hour Kiyan? It's unlike you." Raten shook his head disappointingly.
"Look who's talking!
Raten yawned and stretched his limbs.
********
*Knock knock knock...
Demas sat in the living room when there was suddenly a knock on the door. He put down the cup of tea he had in his hold on a table in front of him and moved to answer the door.
"Hm? What brings you here, lad?" He said after gazing upon the person that knocked.
"Greetings, Mr Silverstone." The young boy greeted Demas.
"How is your mother doing?" Demas asked.
"She's feeling better." He replied. "She sent me to give you this since you didn't accept payment. The boy handed a basket full of fruits and spices to Demas.
"She didn't have to. Many thanks to her," Demas received the gift with a smile.
The twins walked into the living room and took a peek at whom Demas was talking to.
"Hey, it's lever," Kiyan said to Raten.
Recognizing the voice, the boy named Lecter tilted his head and looked in to see who spoke.
"Kiyan? Raten?" Lecter said as he set eyes on them.
"Wait, am I the one you just called lever?" He asked, glancing between the two.
"You know each other?" Demas asked.
"We met yesterday." Lecter replied.
"So then, he was the one you two spoke of," Demas said, letting Lecter in while he called on Marie and handed her the basket.
Lecter was about stepping in when a shadow was cast over him.
"Father, you're back." Kiyan said.
Lecter slowly turned back to see a towering man of about two hundred and thirteen centimeters in height standing directly behind him.
His build was large and very intimidating. Lecter was visibly sweating and shaking just by standing in front of him. Agnar looked down at him with his grey eyes seemingly staring into his soul.
"Wh-what s-sort of man is t-this?" Lecter stuttered inwardly. "G-G-Grr.. Greetings sir." Lecter failed to speak properly.
"You treat them at home too, Demas?" Agnar asked with his gaze now on Demas. In his eyes Lecter looked sickly.
"He's not sick." Demas replied with a chuckle.
"Mm." Agnar stepped inside and went straight to his room.
"T-That's your father?" Lecter asked in a tone of whisper.
"Mhm." The twins nodded in response.
"It's no wonder they're already this tall at their age," Lecter muttered quietly. "I will be going now. Can we meet later today, by the town's square again?" He asked.
"We'll see if we can," Raten replied.
"Thank you once again, Mr Silverstone," Lecter said to Demas and left.
Later that day...
Kiyan and Raten were laid on the grass in Demas' backyard huffing and panting. From the side of Raten's head, blood was gushing out from a recently placed cut. There were a few bruises on his body.
Kiyan had a few broken bones and bruises as well.
'I increased my speed a little and they could still keep up. They're improving.' Agnar muttered to himself. He sat a small distance away from the twins with his legs folded and his chin resting on his right arm.
'I want to keep going, but those fragile bodies might just end up six feet below the surface of this earth if I push any further. They already went past their limit today.' Agnar let out a sigh watching in boredom as his sons bled away on the grass.
"Why are you still laying there? I thought you were going to the town's square today," Agnar said to the twins.
The twins' bodies twitched on the ground hearing him speak to them. They painfully got back up. To stand was most hellish for Kiyan. Raten was already very dizzy and the sore he felt from his swollen eyes was not helping.
"We will stop here today."
Agnar suddenly stood to his towering height when he saw Demas approach the boys.
"Remember, just cover up the wounds. Don't take the pain away, I want them to feel every ounce of it." Agnar said to him.
"Even the stitches?" Demas questioned.
"Yes, especially the stitches." Agnar replied. "And don't heal the scars."
"You two really go through a lot," Demas said quietly and immediately went to work as the healer he is. Agnar watched every single process carefully.
"In a week..." He said.
"In a week?" Demas questioned.
"In a week, we'll leave your home." Agnar said to Demas.
The twins were too tired to make out anything that was being said at that moment.
Demas only smiled at him and carried on with what he was doing.
"You've found a place already? Just don't take all the food I have when you leave like last time."
"Don't act like you can't afford to get a restock," Agnar shrugged.
"I am done."
The twins rested for a while before eating the meal Marie had prepared. It was the one out of the two things they loved ever since stepping foot in Raldon. The second not getting cursed at by everyone.
"To think that in a week we'll go back to eating slop." Raten said with tears in his eyes.
"Perhaps, you should cook more properly," Kiyan said, stuffing his mouth with food.
"Why can't you cook properly?! All you do is burn down the kitchen," Raten retorted.
"Anyway, it seems father does want us to see that leopard kid." Kiyan said changing the topic.
"Leopard? Oh, you mean Leonard." Raten tried to correct his brother but was also very wrong. At least he didn't think the lad was named after an animal.
"It won't be bad to familiarize with this place though." Raten said. But, to get to the town's square, they had to push their aching bodies to move.
And that they did. Their movements were wobbly. They kept stumbling and stopping at intervals to rest.
"Remind me how many times we ran those laps with those rocks tied to our wrists and feet," Kiyan said while panting. "I feel as if I'm going to die."
"Huff huff huff.."
The twins breathed heavily.
"We made it. We're here," Kiyan said weakly and rested against the wall of a shop. Raten did the same.
"Yes, but he has to find us here. I don't think I can move any further. I still am surprised that I am conscious." Raten said, resting his head back and closing his eyes. "Well, barely conscious."
********
"I've been here for a while now, maybe they won't come." Lecter thought disappointedly.
While the town's square was usually crowded, Lecter sat in a corner with less people and a clearer view of the place. Next to him was a man selling fake jewelry.
Lecter had been waiting for a long time and eventually grew tired. 'They never said they were coming,' he sighed and decided it was better to just leave.
Just when he was about to leave, he noticed two lifeless looking, bandaged up boys seated on the floor with their backs resting against a wall.
Lecter moved to them quickly and knelt beside them.
"Kiyan! Raten! What happened to you?! Why are you this way? How did you get so many bandages? You were fine just this morning, what could have happened? Did you get into a fight with someone? What could have caused this?"
The twins slowly turned their heads to meet his gaze. He looked at them with honest concern. And in all honesty, the twins were taken aback. They just stared at him without saying a word.
He kept bombarding them with questions which began to annoy them a little.
"Are you done with your questions or are there more to come? Listening to you hurts more than these wounds." Kiyan groaned trying to rise to his feet.
The twins recognized the look on his face. But it looked odd coming from a stranger. From someone they had only just met. This was not a reaction from people they usually got.
It felt unreal to them.