It was just another normal day, or so Cota had thought. Then he had decided to get curious about what his twin did on his secret outings alone. Maybe, he should have just gone to bed….
~
Wind whistled past my ear as I sprinted, the pounding sound of pursuing footsteps was just audible over the blood rushing in my ears.
It was another typical day in Dunston. The sun was shining. Birds were chirping. The dust was flying on the dirt roads as I raced for my life.
“Get back here, smart guy!” Came the clearly audible shout, too close behind me.
“Stupid, Kalen.” I groaned out as my lungs burned, trying to put on more speed.
One day his desire to help every person he happened across would get me killed. Possibly him, too, if he weren’t this good at disappearing on that day. Remembering how Aunt Lyra complained about Kalen’s excessive use of his favorite orange shirt, I frantically glanced around, hoping for any sign that might point me to its whereabouts.
The small, hilly mountain town whizzed by me, but I still managed to nod a quick, yet polite, hello to old lady Cronwell making her way to the bakery. I dodged down the next alley, planning to circle back around to see if Kalen would eventually join me. I also decided that this was the perfect time to check how close my pursuers were.
The sensation of rough stone against my arm let me know I had been wrong. While looking over my shoulder, I hadn’t turned wide enough to avoid the side of one of the buildings that led to the alley. I couldn’t stop myself from stumbling forward and falling at my speed. Pain lanced through my wrist as I fell on it and rolled across the dirty, trash-strewn alley.
I would have laid there for a few moments longer, but the malicious chuckles from the alley entrance told me it was time to move. I forced myself up only to notice that I had taken the wrong turn in my haste. This alley was blocked!
The old butcher had gotten tired of kids like him running around, and sometimes through, his shop. To stop this from happening, he had thrown a makeshift wall of boxes, barrels, and heavy grain bags had been thrown together in the cluttered alley. As I glanced back to see the leader standing tall and proud, even with his black hair been windblown and messy, as he blocked my way. Flanking him were his usually two friends who looked like brothers, but weren’t, with their similar brown hair and mean smirks.
“You have a problem with how I talk to you magicless losers?” Dez cruelly cheerful voice called from behind me.
“We all have magic,” was my half-hearted reply as I slowly half turned back to face my pursuers. I was just trying to buy some time as I continued to scan for an escape as their ringleader, Dez, went over why he was so much better because he went to magic school and was allowed to use his magic.
As reluctant as I was to admit Dez being right about anything, I had to admit that he was right about one thing. He was unique for being chosen to learn how to use his magic.
“Psh.”
It had been a soft sound, one the ranting Dez probably hadn’t heard. But I was used to the sound and the voice that made it, so I caught it. I angled my body towards the left as I backed away from the bullies who followed me further into the alley.
“Your brother isn’t here to save you this time. Guess you have no luck at all, cursed twin.” Dez said with a mocking chuckle as he began to come at me in earnest. “Now, I’ll decorate the walls with your blood.”
“I see your magic isn’t in prophecy. I’ll always be here to protect him!” A voice called out.
I took the bully’s momentary distraction looking for the speaker to climb on the box closest to the way I had been angling. Once I stood up, I immediately grabbed onto the knotted rope hanging over the barrel and grain bag. I climbed over as quickly as possible and hopped down to safety on the other side.
“This isn’t over, freak twins!” Dez shouted.
I let out a sigh before turning to Kalen. We were identical twins, tanned skinned with blonde hair so light it was hard to call it blonde. Our faces were the same, save for a few scars Kalen had. And our eyes. He had blue-green eyes that everyone complimented him on, while I had black. It was seen as a bad omen in our town, proof that I was the cursed twin.
“Close call on that one. Lucky!” Kalen said with his usual easygoing grin and hand raised for a high-five.
The expressions we made on our faces were also rarely identical. “My arm disagrees with you,” I replied, holding none of my annoyance with my carefree brother out of my voice or expression.
Kalen yanked my arm around to look closer, and I swatted at him.
“Doesn’t look too bad. Just a scrap and a bump while we were roughhousing. Aunt Lyra will believe that, no problem.”
~
We walked into the house, and as usual, Kalen started telling Aunt Lyra and Uncle Simon about our day and what we had gotten up to. This time, like a handful of others, the whole time Kalen told his story Aunt Lyra had me pinned to the floor every time I so much as fidgeted as if I would leave. It wasn’t even a terrifying look or anything. With rich brown hair and kind hazel eyes it was hard to imagine Aunt Lyra ever looking the less bit scary, even with the build of a woman who helped on the farm.
She didn’t glare at me or give me a disapproving scowl. She would fix me with a blank, no-nonsense face and wait for Kalen to finish his tale. When Kalen finished talking, Aunt Lyra turned and walked over to stand in front of me.
I had promised myself I would be strong and withstand this, for once. I was sure I had steeled my nerves to do what I had to do, here and now.
“Cota, what happened to your arm?” She asked as she stared into my eyes.
“I…,” paused that one fatal moment, and it all came rushing out.
“We saw these bullies picking on some younger kids, so we,” I fibbed a bit, trying to save my twin a little after my instant betrayal. “Decided we should intervene. The bullies didn’t like that, and I ran into a building while running. But we got away fine other than that.” I whispered the last weakly.
I could see Kalen facing me behind Aunt Lyra. His shoulders were slumped, but he had a dopey, resigned grin like he had expected nothing less. But then, I hadn’t passed the Aunt Lyra stare test once yet.
“You both decided to, did you?” Aunt Lyra asked, sounding perfectly sure of the true answer.
“Yes, ma’am.” I piped up before Kalen could begin condemning only himself, the usual.
Aunt Lyra hummed a sarcastic affirmative before rounding on Kalen. Who, for his part, had already straightened back up and was trying to look less…smack-able?
“Simply a scrap from roughhousing?” Aunt Lyra asked cheerfully.
“A spirited round of chase with others after a brief debate?” Kalen questioned as if to ask if that would fly. Aunt Lyra opened her mouth but was interrupted from her tirade by a slight, forceful cough.
“Lyra, dear, the roast?” Uncle Simon spoke up for the first time from his favorite chair in the corner. He ran a hand through black hair that was just beginning to thin, probably from that very same action over one thing or another we had done. But I noticed the small smile hidden in the thick beard as he glanced my way.
She paused, then turned a fierce look on us both. “Go get cleaned up for dinner.”
As we made our way down the hall, I whispered. “I’m sorry, Kal.”
“Quickly!” Aunt Lyra shouted behind us, so we picked up the pace.
~
Once seated at the table for dinner, Aunt Lyra didn’t hesitate to pick the conversation back up. Albeit calmer than she seemed like she would have earlier.
“So, were these pals you had your spirited game of chase with the McAlister, Dodwell, and Pierre boys?” Kalen paused before taking his first bite.
I, however, didn’t hold back. Pot roast was my favorite, and I wasn’t technically included in this interrogation.
“They were, in fact,” Kalen answered begrudgingly.
“This is about magic again!” Aunt Lyra barked. Kalen said nothing and simply looked down at his plate. “Why can’t you let this go?”
“Because it’s not fair!” Kalen burst. “Our parents, who had actual magic enough to be chosen by the Gate, died helping this country. Yet guys like them treat us like dirt for not having enough magic to be chosen when their parents paid for them to be. That’s stupid!”
“Kalen, you don’t know that! The Gate is a powerful artifact created to uphold the Uprising Accords. Money doesn’t sway the Gate.” Aunt Lyra said persuasively.
The Uprising Accords. So many of my Aunt and brother’s “debates” lately seem to circle back to the Accords or the Uprising itself as they clashed on their viewpoints when it came to magic.
About 50 years ago, a rebellion took place due to the poor living conditions for the working class. The Elite had their city to live in and didn’t often trouble themselves with the affairs of the rest of Seradaun. Except when they desired to pass down new laws and taxes for the rest of their citizens. Citizens became malcontent with the state of their world compared to that of the Elite.
That’s what began the Uprising.
The citizens had marched on the capital city of Daun and attacked with the might of their magic. The death toll for the six-month Uprising was said to have been in the tens of thousands. While the citizens had the advantage of numbers, they didn’t have much well-trained magic. They were workers who had dedicated themselves to their way of making a living, not the study of magic that didn’t make that simpler.
They had, however, had enough power on their sides to force the Elite to take them seriously, as well as most of the goods the Elite needed. The agreement they had signed to end the rebellion had been known as The Uprising Accords. For improved living conditions throughout Seradaun, a high price was demanded of all to ensure nothing like the Uprising happened again.
From that day forth, magic would be sealed for all to prevent magic from being used to cause such bloodshed ever again. Only some selected Seradaunians would be allowed to have the seal broken. To keep this process “fair,” it would only be those born with true magical gifts chosen. That way, it wouldn’t only be the Elite who got selected. A magical artifact called the Testing Gate was even created at the end of the Uprising that could check this in an unbiased way.
But Kalen, and truthfully, many others doubted how that was being handled. They believed a new wave of Elites was being created.
“You don’t have magic, and you need to leave those boys alone before you both get seriously hurt.” Aunt Lyra huffed and moved to begin clearing the table, leaving Kalen to finish his untouched food.
I got up to help her since it was my night to help clean the dishes.
~
After finishing up in the kitchen, I found Kalen on his hands and knees, peering under his bed when I returned to our room.
“What are you looking for?” I asked.
My brother was distracted because he was startled by my voice and hit his head on the bed frame. “Ow!”
“Sorry,” I whispered as I closed our bedroom door. “Can I help?”
Kalen merely waved me off with a quick smile. “That was the last place I was looking. I think I lost my lucky medallion while we were out running today.”
I glanced out the crack in the curtain to verify that it was, in fact, dark now. “We can go look for it tomorrow.”
“Don’t worry,” I began to relax. “I’ll go look real quick by myself. I think I have an idea where it might be.”
I hesitated to admonish him for the idea after getting him into trouble earlier. Mistaking my hesitation for consent, and had his jacket on, and the finicky window open as quietly as possible within moments like a pro. I sighed and flopped onto my bed, and let him go.
Most people thought that Kalen and I spent almost all of our time together as twins.
It was true.
Lately, however, Kalen seemed to be wandering off on his own more with one excuse or another, so I didn’t need to go with him. Aunt Lyra seemed to think it was normal and nothing for me to be concerned with. But I could admit some curiosity, especially on a nighttime trip without me! Anything could happen at night. Safety in number, and all that.
I raced to put on shoes and snatched up a coat with that unpleasant thought. I quickly turned off our room light and put some clothes and other odds and ends lying around under our blankets if a quick inspection was done. Then, I, too, was out the window and onto the night streets of our town.
I would just follow behind Kalen and make sure nothing happened to him. Then, when he seemed to be heading back home, I would race back to get in bed first.
Just to watch his back and make sure he was safe. And nothing more.
~
Kalen made his way through town, mainly keeping to alleyways and side streets. Being on a stealth mission, I realized this was very good. However, I wasn’t sure how much longer it would be a “stealth” mission if we kept it like this. The last gasp I couldn’t contain after a rat had scurried over my foot had been particularly loud.
The intelligent part of using less used streets only increased my nerves. Being my first time sneaking out of the house, this was the first time I had seen this eerie side to our little town. Though the days were warming up, the nighttime air was chilled enough to catch a hint of my breath. A low fog also seemed to have rolled, drastically changing the view that I often had to double-check my landmarks. In a town I had lived in for as long as I could remember.
As the fog grew thicker, I decided to stay a little closer to Kalen.
In case he needed me quickly!
After jumping for the third time at the sound the wind or some rat scuttling about made, I began to notice my brother’s relaxed demeanor. The nervous tension I felt was clearly not being shared by my twin. He moved smoothly, unhurriedly, and confidently as he made his way to wherever he thought his lost medallion was.
Which was another thing that had been bothering me; this lucky medallion, that we were out here at night for was a new thing. Kalen didn’t usually put much stock in “lucky” stuff. Since the very people who considered such items lucky thought I was cursed, Kalen scoffed at “such a ridiculous notion,” he usually didn’t go for such things.
He had been given the medallion by a “seer” at the last Winter Solstice festival.
It supposedly had the power to “help you protect that which was most important to you.” I had teased him when we had gotten home that night when I had found out he kept it.
He had simply said: “Who knows, maybe it’ll help me be there when you need me one day.”
I had teased him more.
Now I wondered if my twin had bought into all that after all? And what could have convinced him?
The fog began to thin as we move towards the center of town. Until, we eventually came to the rescue side of the blocked-up butcher’s alley. I peeked as Kalen moved to grab something near the boxes. I decided, now would be an excellent time to get started on the ‘run back and don’t get caught’ part of my plan.
I began to jog back to the house and was about halfway there when I turned a corner and saw them. Dez, and his crew, slinking down the street.
I darted to hide behind a large round topiary before they could spot me.
“Please don’t turn left,” was my barely audible prayer as I moved around the bush to escape Dez’s sight.
They then turned left.
No, no, no.
Kalen was back that way, and I doubted even Dez would have forgiven and forgotten about today that fast. I glanced back in the direction of home and the corner they had just turned down. If I went now, I was going in alone. Home I could get help…by betraying Kalen for a second time today.
I headed back for my brother.
~
I had deliberated my decision longer than I was proud of and had then taken an extra minute to gather my courage for a potential fight. So, by the time I had caught up with Dez, he had found Kalen already.
Kalen was heading off the road, of his own free will, and towards a trail into the forest, which wasn’t the way home. Dez and his crew were skulking around the library, slowly following behind Kalen. It was an ambush! And they all had magic, while Kalen didn’t.
As they left the corner of the library to head into the woods, I quickly moved to follow, yet stay quiet. I could jump in and surprise the gang of bullies so Kalen and I could get the best of them, as we had done on occasion, but only if they didn’t suspect I was here.
“-left your cursed brother tucked in bed, did you?” I could hear the mocking grin on Dez’s face, even though I had come up to a tree behind him.
I stayed low to keep out of Kalen’s view as well. No reason to get caught if this turned out to be nothing. But as I leaned around my tree to see the group, I caught sight of the annoyance on my twin’s face. It looked thay so rarely.
“I suggest you go back to your bed, Dez,” Kalen said, voice sounding flat despite the evident anger in his eyes.
“Before we pay you back for today? I don’t think so.” As Dez raised his hand, blue streaks of magic began to appear. The blue raced around his hands, giving off a beautiful dull light.
I pulled myself up, ready to move when an opening came.
“My patience is in short supply today. I suggest you try again tomorrow,” Kalen said with a threatening tilt to his usually carefree grin.
No one said another word, but Dez’s goons moved in with their own faint glows. I grabbed a pair of thicker branches lying around, one for me and one for Kalen, and stepped from behind the tree. Dez’s hand stretched forward, and the magic raced towards Kalen!
I took a running step or two forward before a blast of dark red magic bursts forth in a wave knocking me back and causing me to hit my head, hard, on something.
My eyelids felt heavy and scratched at my eyes as I tried to open them. The smell of metal and green things filled my nostrils, reminding me that I was outside following my brother. I moved to rub my eyes, hoping to clear them, to get a better look at what had happened after the blast.
Pain shot up my arm, and I groaned as my stomach flipped with the waves of pain. I held my breath, trying to preserve the wonderful pot roast Aunt Lyra had made for us. My sprained wrist might have just become a broken wrist.
When the pain lessened to a degree where I could breathe again, I carefully used my other arm to wipe my eyes and push myself up. The scene before me was something straight out of a nightmare.
Dez and his goons all lay sprawled in the new small clearing created by the blast. All of them lay bleeding and motionless. With threads of red magic still crackling off him, Kalen stood unharmed.
Kalen…had magic.
And the scene before me was a blatant abuse of magic. Which made my brother a criminal. How had his seal been removed?
As Kalen surveyed the scene, his eyes were unusually blank. Finally, his gaze landed on me. I lay prone on the ground but not so hidden with all the damage to the trees. Pure panic entered his eyes, unlike anything I had ever seen before.
“Cota…” he whispered as he took a step towards me.
I could only stare, wide-eyed, at him and the bodies around him. He turned to look at them as well, and when his gaze turned back to me, the panic was gone from his eyes. Yet suddenly, it was strangling me, as he moved toward me with red magic crackling across his fingers.
“K-Kal?” Was my squeaked response as I tried to scramble back, only to collapse as pain coursed through my arm.
He said nothing as he moved to kneel over me. I could do nothing, but stare at him helplessly.
Fingers sparking with magic, Kalen grabbed onto my head. His grip was tight, and his nails dug into my scalp. I couldn’t even move my hands to try to loosen his grip. The force of his magic as it slammed into me held me motionless.
Scenes of the day flew through my mind, quick as lightning.
Confronting Dez.
Running through the streets.
Kalen is smiling after the save.
Then memories that I couldn’t clearly remember being flashed in began to flash in scenes.
A cloaked woman in the woods was speaking of a prophecy.
Aunt Lyra’s face was red with outrage.
Magic sparked in my hands as I practiced.
In the background of the flood of memories, mine and not was a litany of quiet, insidious thoughts underlining everything.
My brother had magic. He had never told me. He’s turned it against me.
He never told me.
As the thoughts drifted through my mind, I stared at Kalen’s face. It was set with lines, determination, and fierce desperation. I had no choice but to submit to his magic as the background thoughts and memories all began to fade away.
The boy above me suddenly cursed and pulled his hands back from my head and stared at them. They were covered in blood.
“Cota, are you alright?” The boy asked, sounding frantic.
“I’m a little worse for wear. Can you help me home… what’s your name?”
A look of horror crossed the boy’s face. I tried to ask him what was wrong, but my mouth wouldn’t cooperate, and my eyes grew heavy. The pain was taking a toll. I would just rest and then tell the kind boy where my house was.
~ Present Day ~
I opened my eyes again to see a different face hovering above mine, backlit by fluorescent lighting instead of moonlight. This man had black hair salted in patches, sharp but plain blue eyes, and a paler face—nothing like the mirror image of a young me that I had seen a moment ago.
“Hey, are you alright?” The man asked.
Was he alright?
“Yeah…fine.” I managed to grumble out as I shook my head to reorient myself, trying to think despite the vicious throbbing in his head.
The violent flashback I just had, happened the day before I had been told my brother had been kidnapped. Traumatic as that was, I had suddenly been diagnosed with a case of magic-amnesia. A severe case that had caused me to forget said kidnapped twin completely.
“What’s your name,” was the next question from the man.
“Cota Bellamy,” the answers were coming more quickly.
“Who do you work for?” My partner, Walt, asked.
“Magic Police Department as a detective.” A career path I had been driven towards to continue the never-ending search for new information that might lead me to the twin I had always had an incessantly tugging feeling was still alive out there.
“Where are we? What is your current assignment?”
“New Daun’s 5th shopping district. Investigating a previously flagged magical signature.”
The MPD flagged a magical signature recorded in an old cold case, my old cold case, just this morning. It was the one moment I had been waiting for all this time. I had been fortunate, and stubbornly annoying, enough to have been part of the team dispatched.
As my partner and I had walked through the bustling streets of New Daun’s shopping district, I had caught sight of something. A mirror image of myself walking down the street. We had made eye contact before my head had exploded and the magically stolen memories had returned.
I quickly scanned the crowd for a shock of white hair or the raven-haired beauty that had been by Kalen’s side.
I saw neither.
So, it would be a “spirited game of chase,” would it?
I pushed myself up from the wall my partner had placed me against, out of the way of traffic. I dusted myself off before offering a hand to the other man.
“I’m fine, Walt. Let’s get going. I believe our target has already left the area, but we may still be able to get some clues.”
Walt looked at me confused but trusted me enough to take my hand and follow me to where the sign had been reported.
Game on, brother.
~
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