Two Weeks Later

Elias’s eyes widen as he is interrupted by the knock on the door. He turns off the screen in front of him in a hurry. “Oh, gods. This isn’t the day.” He groans. He turns and glances at the door, trying to decide if he should take his chances with whoever is at the door.

“Elias, you have to open the door. It’s Civics,” his little brother, Evritt pipes in. His brown eyes nervously look to the door before settling back on Elias. “I’m underage, remember?”

Sighing, Elias stands fixing his shirt a bit and then steadily walking to the door. He looks around to make sure his screen can’t be seen. It would be a bit awkward for everyone if civics caught him doing something he shouldn’t.

Everything is fine, everything is just fine. He repeats this mantra in his head as he opens the door, revealing two civics standing impatiently. They do not look very friendly. One has a scar across his wide forehead while the other looks very generic with curly black hair and light brown skin.

“Oh? Good morning! Is it already time for another inspection?” Elias asks, his voice a bit sardonic. Each week, this area of Irion has inspections from the Citadel, which means Civics basically come around and check to see if there are any infractions of the safety rules, for instance being home without a suitable guardian, or housing an ajin. Which they are both breaking at the moment.

The civic on the left narrows his eyes at the young boy, not liking the attitude. He nods his head,” Good morning, I am assuming that your parental guardians are not present?” Elias clears his throat, glancing back at Evritt, who shrugs. Might as well be as truthful as possible.

He nods,” Of course, our parents are on an authorized trip for their studies. They will be at the Arch for two weeks.” He takes a deep breath. Ok, so far so good.

The civic on the right nods,” Oh, that is very fortunate for them, but I doubt either of you are at the legal age to be considered a suitable guardian. Please find one soon and have them registered fast.”

Both boys nod,” Yes sir.” Elias even offers a salute. Evritt takes a nervous breath. When Elias gets nervous, he has a habit of being a bit… sarcastic. And not in a good way. His jokes tend to anger people. Which isn’t good because he definitely can’t defend himself well. Hopefully, it won’t get them into any serious trouble.

“Also, be on the lookout. A prisoner escaped from the Citadel last week. Leaving no survivors but the General’s dog. If you see anyone suspicious, report it,” the meaner civic orders.

Elias sighs,” Of course. We will have our eyes peeled for any suspicious activity. Now, we need to get on that guardian search, so I hope you two have a good day.” And with that, he closes the door, with a relieved sigh. “That was close.”

Evritt looks at his genius brother in confusion,” How? It’s not like we haven’t dodged civics before.” Elias smirks as he moves back to his screen. That is true, but this time he was a bit more reckless than he anticipated.

“I was hacking into the main system to the Citadel, to see if I can find any updated information on Mother and Father,” Elias explains as he taps his screen to switch it on. He sits down so he can concentrate. “They’ve been gone longer than what they said. It’s been over a month.”

Their parents are a part of a group of researchers who are working on something for the Generals. It’s just a bit confidential so the Elias and Evritt have no idea what it could possibly be for. Elias even tried getting into the researcher’s database, to no avail. However, they got clearance to go the Arch for an assignment. Over a month ago and now there has been radio silence for two weeks. Which is not the most assuring thing in the world.

Evritt nods,” True, but they’re fine. Elias, they’ll be alright.” Elias covers his face, pushing up his lenses. There is a gut feeling that something is wrong. Very wrong here.

He nods,” Wouldn’t hurt to check. We’re going to go find them.” And get some answers because there are a lot of questions right now.

“We? There is a reason we don’t leave the house, remember? Me. We can’t risk being caught by civics. Or worse,” Evritt explains. Elias looks at his brother. He has a point. Civics are brutal with ajin and it would not be wise to try to leave with no plan. Especially since they are easily recognizable and associated with each other.

They both look exactly alike, with light brown skin, curly dark brown hair and a face full of freckles. Even with a large age difference between the two, they look almost like twins. Elias just keeps his pulled back in a ponytail in order to give himself a more mature look, as he defends. Not the best argument in Evritt’s opinion.

Elias sighs,” Well little brother, it is getting less safe for us here. That was the third civic inspection this week and didn’t you hear what this civic said? A prisoner escaped from the Citadel. With only one survivor. That’s a bit horrifying, especially since the Citadel is so close to here. I’m not risking you being found out, Evritt. So we are going to find our parents and then we’re going to the outlands. Where there is no civic or general jurisdiction.” That seems like a good outline of a plan. Elias is definitely not trying to stay here any longer. He is very worried and now hearing that a prisoner escaped? Not exactly reassuring. “Don’t worry, little brother. I got this all figured out.”

Evritt raises an eyebrow, a bit dubious but he agrees. Elias is right. It is only a matter of time before he is discovered and sent to Amaeus. They just have to figure out how to get to their destination.

~

Evritt jumps out of his sleep. He sensed a presence. A new presence. There is complete silence, but he knows that someone is outside. He moves to sit on the edge of his bed and concentrates. If he focuses, he can probably enter the person’s mind and nudge them away. As he focuses, he begins to see a door. Which is normal. But when he goes to open the door, he can’t. Which isn’t normal. Even the most secretive of people let their minds wander. He is normally able to enter other’s minds. But this person… seems to have experience. He tries to open the door a few more times, even going as far as picking the lock… it’s a bit complicated.

He sighs, but then tenses. What if it’s the escaped prisoner? Oh gods. It’s the escaped prisoner! How else can it explain them being able to easily close out other people. Fearfully, he scrambles to his brother, who is sound asleep in the bed next to his. Elias gets to enjoy peaceful sleep, while Evritt is stuck wondering if they’re about to be murdered by some crazy killer.

“Elias, wake up,” he whispers. He groans, waving Evritt away. Of course. Sighing, Evritt resorts to pushing him off the bed. He does not have time for Elias’s sleeping habits.

Elias groans in pain, annoyed at being woken up. He sits up, and rests his arms on the bed, glaring at Evritt. Well, the shape of him anyway. “You better have a good reason for this little brother,” he snaps. Evritt rolls his eyes. Elias is harmless, physically. Without technology, he’s a bit useless.

“There’s someone outside,” Evritt explains,” I think it’s the prisoner. Do we alert the civics?”

Elias blinks,” One: stop worrying. There’s nobody outside. Two: even if there was someone outside, why would we notify the civics? That is literally the worst possible scenario.”

“But I felt their presence. I even tried to enter the mind to see who it is, but I can’t even get in.” Evritt explains. Elias sighs. He isn’t going to let this up. Evritt will continue to pester him about this.

Yawning, Elias slips his lenses on his face and focuses on his brother. “Ev, I know you are a bit sensitive as an ajin but, maybe it’s an animal?” Just as he finishes this statement, he hears a thump against the side of the house. Both of them freeze.

“I don’t think that’s an animal, Elias. Too big.” Evritt begins trembling. He latches onto Elias’s sleeve, anxiety transforming into fear.

“Um, ok. Maybe it’s a slightly larger animal… I’ll go check it out,” Elias stammers, standing. He gulps down the intense fear as his brother’s words come back. Maybe it is the escaped prisoner. If it is, he does not know what they are going to do. This is not going to end well for them. Together, the brothers creep down the hall and peek into the open room. The darkness of the room just adds to the eeriness of the situation.

Thump.

Both of them jump at the sound. Elias trembles, moving further into the kitchen. He glances around in the dark, trying to pinpoint anything he can use as a weapon. His eyes land on a glint. A knife. Useful. Thank the gods because he is utterly useless. He hurriedly moves to get the knife, a sort of comfort filling him as he grips the handle.

“What are you going to do with that?” Evritt asks,” Can you even use that knife?”

Elias scoffs,” If I can cook, I’m pretty sure I can use the knife.”

That… does not give Evritt any hope, so he begins concentrating on the presence. His eyes widen. “They’re inside…” he trails off. His voice drops to a whisper as he begins to freak out.

Elias whips his head around to look down at his brother, terrified. Oh, gods. They are about to die. They are about die without finding their parents. This is not how he wanted to leave this world! He wanted to go to sleep in peace, but he can’t even do that! This has to be some kind of karma for something he did.

Evritt focuses on trying to enter the intruder’s mind. He keeps picking at the metaphorical door.

Then, suddenly, it opens! To a white room. A stark white room that smells like chemicals. It’s almost blinding him. He looks around. Different screens are posted along the walls. His eyes flit across all the screens, each one worse and worse. Whoever this person is has lived a very traumatizing life. He almost feels sorry for them.

“Ay! Quò haris?” a voice shouts. Evritt furrows his brows, confused. What is this language? He has never heard of it before. The voice seems to echo, even though it is raspy.

“Hello?” he calls out. No answer. He keeps looking around, his eyes landing on one particular screen on the wall. It’s showing a memory. One that seems a bit more light-hearted. He sees a group of people dressed for war. But they are all dancing. Fire trails behind them as they move and cheers erupt around them. Evritt is entranced by this. He hasn’t seen anything like this before. Not even in his history books.

Elias glances at his brother, seeing that he is concentrating, because his eyes are glowing an amber color. A common trait among ajin. He keeps a lookout, standing protectively in front of Evritt. One thing that is a fallback is when Evritt begins concentrating and entering others’ minds, his own body is left vulnerable since most of his power is focused on something else.

Suddenly, he hears a growl and a voice snaps,” Get out of my head!” Evritt lets out a cry as he lets go of Elias’s sleeve. His hands go to his own head and he sinks to his knees. That ad hurt! A lot!

Elias holds onto the knife looking around for the source of the voice. “Who are you?” he calls out. Hopefully, the intruder didn’t notice the tremble in is voice. That would be embarrassing. He turns to see glowing silver eyes. Right as he sees someone leaps onto him.

“AAAH!” he screams, trying to swing the knife. Missing terribly. He feels something grip his hand and the silver eyes get closer.

“Likai, that was bad… salgri.” The voice mumbles. He blinks, offended. He doesn’t know what this person said, but he feels like he was just insulted. How rude.

The light comes on. He blinks to readjust his eyes and they settle on the silver eyes. Staring back at him, he did not know what to make of it. It was a girl. With thick black coils of hair falling around them and glaring silver eyes. The intensity of her expression is coupled with her sharp jaw and what appears to be a birthmark on her face, making her look deadly.

“Uh… Hi,” Elias squeaks out, not knowing how to get out of the situation. He sneaks a glance at Evritt who is near the lamp. Evritt begins to move but a sharp glare from the girl has him staying exactly where he is. Elias stares at him, annoyed. “Oh, thank you little brother. I always know that I can count on you.” He struggles to move, but she is stronger. Much stronger.

“Sorry, she is very intimidating,” Evritt whines. Sometimes, Elias forgets that Evritt is only 10 years of age.

The girl begins speaking, but neither of them can understand what she’s saying. “Niàn em erie?” she bites out, struggling to stay conscious. It is then that Elias notices her state. She’s sick. Barely conscious. Her dark skin looks pallid, giving her a sickly look and the bags under her eyes are massive. “Um, are you ok?” he asks, before he can stop himself.

Suddenly, her eyes roll back and she falls onto Elias. He grunts,” Ow!?” she breathes heavily, her breaths labored. Elias glances up at Evritt, who looks confused. He shrugs, watching the scene in front of him.

“Ev, maybe help?” Elias asks, wheezing under her. He is not someone with a lot of strength; he has to ask a ten year old to help. Evritt quickly moves to help move the girl off of his brother and they both rest her arms around their shoulders.

Evritt glances at the girl then back at Elias,” We are going to help her, right?” Elias glances back at his little brother. He nods. Something about the girl is strange. He has the strange notion that she needs all the help she can get. What he doesn’t know is how intertwined their fates have become.