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I often wonder how things could have been if our situation never came to be. If I hadn’t become trapped. If Phel hadn’t become an assassin for the Lunari survivors. Maybe we would be side-by-side, as always, on that ridge behind our main settlement high up on Mount Targon, making up stories for any constellation we spied in the night sky. Perhaps Phel would have one day brought home that herder’s strapping young son. I, myself, wouldn’t bring anyone home. I’ve never found an interest, really. And maybe I cooked my favourite Goat Stew recipe for the pair of them before happily leaving them with their mooncandle-lit meal.
The what-ifs are possibilities that my mind ponders frequently. Like right now, while I watch my brother infiltrate an Elder’s residence built high in the rocks overlooking this Solari settlement.
Raising a hand to my right and channeling the energies that flowed so abundantly around me, Severum disapparates from this realm. My eyes are closed, not needed to play witness to Phel’s actions as I focus on my connection to my twin brother, the bladed weapon slipping into his expectant grip.
He’s older than me, you know? By nearly ten minutes. It shows, I think. He’s always been the more serious between the two of us, always protective over me no matter the circumstance. And myself, even though I was given the responsibilities and expectations of a priestess, couldn’t help but find myself distracted and enamoured by the wonderful and whimsical aspects of the world around us.
Even here, I occasionally see these funny little furry beings running through my temple and I always find myself staring at them. They rarely stop by to say hello. I believe my physical presence here is unnerving to them.
Oh! There was, however, this one curious fellow who tried to touch one of the temple’s weapons. The moon mustn’t have appreciated that. The poor little guy was sent flyi-
Ah, sorry. I went off on a tangent again.
Apologetically, I focus on the sense of annoyance in Phel’s mind at my delay in sending forth Crescendum, which he utilises to set sentries at entrances to the home. Calibrum returns to it’s shrine, it’s ranged capabilities no longer desired now that he was inside. I send it a warm smile of praise for it’s assistance in helping Phel quietly remove the Elder’s evening security, and sense it’s pride over a job well done.
Well, I like to imagine I sense it anyway. It’s just a weapon, after all, but it sure can get lonely here…
…What was I talking about?
Oh yes, my brother’s protectiveness. Looking back now, I scorn my younger self for ever finding it overbearing. For 19 years, Phel rarely left my side; never faltered to jump to my aid in even the most menial of instances. Thinking about it now, the one-sidedness was the aspect that I found the most suffocating. I always tried to reciprocate but he never allowed it. It surely must have become bothersome for him occasionally too, considering how scatterbrained I could be sometimes. But he always has been a stubborn one.
…I don’t know how long I’ve been separated from him at this point. Time is more of an abstract concept here. But after however long I’ve now spent away from him in our respective realms, I’m now familiar with the painfully unbearable need to assure my sibling’s safety. Here in this temple of our goddess, I am safe, and out there completing task after task, Phel is not. But now I have all the means to be the protector, and as long as I exist within this veil no harm shall come to him.
I watch as Phel ascends the stairway leading to the Elder’s chambers, his footsteps practiced and silent, and my mind wanders once again to those persistent what-ifs.
Maybe we would still be gazing up at the stars. Maybe Phel would bring that boy home and maybe I would have cooked them my favourite stew.
My smile wavered as Severum strikes downward, swiftly ending the Elder’s life before he even awoke.
Maybe. But we won’t.