“Stop it Nyac, I’m trying to focus on this.”
“What are you doing?”
Cayn showed a shiny turquoise coral to his brother. “Uncle gave it to me earlier this morning.”
“What? He didn’t give me anything!”
“There are two actually.” Cayn split in half the coral, previously held together by his hands.
“Are you gonna glue them together?”
“No, I was just looking at its complete form. I’m gonna make necklaces for us.”
“You really love corals huh. Gonna wear it on your neck all the time?”
“You’re gonna too.”
“No thanks, it’s ugly.”
Cayn gasped. “What? No it's not.”
“I prefer my figurines.”
Their uncle came up to them. “Hey, it’s dinner time, get going.”
“Hey Uncle, did you get anything for me?” Nyac asked, getting up.
“I got you the coral, didn’t Cayn give it to you?”
“That’s Cayn’s present, not mine!”
“I thought you both liked corals?”
“Whatever.” Nyac ran to their home.
“Let’s go Cayn.”
They had porridge for dinner that day, it wasn’t tasty or rather it tasted , to be polite.
“Ma, it tastes rough,” Nyac said.
His mother replied, “You— I guess… at least you didn't say it was gross like last time.”
“I’m gonna start saying that if you keep up the bad work.”
“Come on Nyac,” their dad scolded, “we are eating, be polite.”
The family resided in the Mainland, as kids were only allowed here, decree of the System. Xorac, the uncle, just got recently appointed as the [Archpriest] of the Third Land, and he was here to celebrate with his sister and company.
Cayn’s mother brought out the cake, she didn’t bake it, thankfully, it was their dad.
“For my dear big brother and his very high paying job!”
“Don’t make it sound like that, I didn’t take the job for the money. I do it to help people.”
“I know, and that’s why you’re gonna give a big portion of the money to us, right?”
Mother was money-hungry.
“Sure, but only for the kids.”
Cayn’s dad cut the cake with dexterity, five perfectly equal parts. They ate without reserve and enjoyed this little party.
Night came and it was time for their Uncle’s departure. Cayn clung to him as a big thank you for the gift.
“Won’t you hug me too?” Uncle said to Nyac.
“I will hug you when you’ll give me a cool figurine.”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Alright, which one do you want?”
“Jastrea!”
Uncle's smile flickered for a second before he put it back on. “Roger that, I better get the tightest hug.”
Nyac smiled. “Sure!”
Bedtime came up and the twin brothers waved goodbye. Their father tidied things up while their mother put them to bed.
“Don’t talk too much tonight and go to sleep, alright?”
Nyac and Cayn nodded, knowing damn well they wouldn’t do that. They waited for their mother to quit the room to talk.
“Hey, I have an idea,” Nyac said.
“Your ideas are weird.”
“I didn’t even say anything yet.”
“Go on.”
“Wanna join Uncle to go to the Third Land?”
“What did I say?”
“Nah, listen, it’s a good idea because I got ” He pulled out an item from under his pillow.
“What is that?”
“A [Protection] talisman!”
“And?”
“It will protect if anything happens, we just have to hold on until we reach Uncle.”
“I’m not doing it.”
Nyac lifted up their window and stepped a foot out. “I will go either way.”
“Stop it, you’re crazy.”
“If you tell Ma and Da, I’m gonna crush your coral,” he took out the turquoise corals from his pocket.
“When did you steal them?!”
“When you were hugging Uncle.”
Cayn ran to him, trying to get his present back. “Give them back!”
“Nah! You either come with me or stay here, make a decision.”
“What if you run into monsters!?”
“I won’t, there are no monsters around here in the Mainland. I will just stop at the Blue Line if I don’t find Uncle.” Nyac got fully out of the house. “So, you’re coming or not?”
Cayn pondered. Yes, he wanted to see the Third Land, as the biggest coral in the world covered it all. But he’d have to wait until he is old enough to have a System before seeing it. Maybe just seeing it quickly under their Uncle’s protection, a strong adventurer, wasn’t so bad? Just a quick glance.
“Fine, but we hurry, ok?”
“Ok!”
They ran away, trying to catch up to their Uncle. Little did they know, they trespassed the Blue Line and entered the Third Land. Neither of them had seen it as it was way too dark to distinguish colors. The twin brothers held hands.
“Where are we?” Cayn asked.
“In the Mainland, don’t worry.”
“But we entered the forest, aren’t wolves going to eat us?”
“Nah, only monsters do that.”
“Animals are dangerous too, you know.”
“It’s fine, we have the talisman.”
Bats flew by, hunting in the night. It startled Cayn who held his brother’s hand even tighter.
Nyac spoke, “I think we should run again to find Uncle faster.” His hand trembled and he let go, running ahead.
“Wait!” Cayn barely kept up.
They ran and ran again.
“Let’s go home,” Cayn said, on the verge of tears. “I’m tired.”
“Just a little more, I saw a light.”
They kept going and before long, a sight to behold greeted them. Sea, going for miles ahead. And in the middle of it all, the magnificent pearl-white Great Coral. Gigantic, looking like it held the moon as its tentacles reached for it. Cayn was rapt with wonder.
Wolves howled and he came back to his senses. Nyac was staring at him instead of looking at the view.
“You had a funny face.”
“Shut up.” Then came the realization. “Are we in the Third Land?”
“Yeah, we are lost.”
Cayn threw a fuss, “Are you kidding me? I thought it was safe! Where is the Blue Line!?”
“It’s fine, we’ll just go back, nothing happened on the way, right? Plus, you got to see the bigass coral!”
Well, he was kinda right.
“Let’s hurry then, I’m sleepy.”
Without a break, they ran their way back until Cayn tripped and fell. “Ow!”
“Whoa, careful, I can’t carry you home y’know.”
“I just tripped.”
Nyac helped him back up and as Cayn cleaned himself, a bat charged Nyac. He got knocked down, hit in the head.
“Nyac!”
“I’m fine, come to me.”
They got close to each other and crouched. Nyac activated the talisman, “[Protection]!” A bright barrier surrounded them.
The bat persisted, trying to break it. Eventually, it gave up and fled away.
“Hehe.”
“Don’t ‘hehe’ you’re bleeding!” Cayn cleaned his brother’s blood.
“Let’s hurry again.”
Cayn stress rushed up after that encounter. His heartbeat could barely keep up with the running, it felt oppressing, like a nail driving down his chest. His only solace was Nyac, as long as Nyac was here, everything would be alright.
The twins kept on going, Cayn believed in his brother’s sense of direction. He had to know the way back, surely.
Then they saw something. Blue, long, visible under the moonlight. The Blue Line.
“Almost there! See? I told you it was safe! I’m a hero after all, hehe.”
Cayn wanted to tell him off but couldn’t, he was kinda right again. They pushed for a last sprint, Cayn taking the lead.
Nyac screamed behind. Cayn turned around; a bear had pushed his brother. He was about to go back to his brother so that they can use [Protection] again, but Nyac thought otherwise.
“Run! I’ll be fine!”
That’s right, they were too far apart to use the skill, Cayn shouldn’t have run off so fast on his own, it was a mistake. It’s fine, Nyac had the talisman, he just needed to use the skill and wait for the bear to back off like the bat earlier.
Cayn ran off on his own, passing above the Blue Line. He found a hiding spot, where he could see the Blue Line but bears couldn’t see him. It was an old tree with a cavity at the bottom. Cayn hid there, and waited, praying to the System as time passed.
He waited. Still waiting. More waiting. Did they miss each other? Or did— No. Cayn crawled out of the hiding spot and headed back to the Blue Line.
There, he saw some body parts. Blood stained the grass and trees alike. Talisman on the ground. Nyac was in a state he’d never describe to anyone.