Adam stared at the night sky, staring at the vaguely familiar sight. The stars iher world had been so different he had almost fotten what the stars of this world looked like. ‘Staring sombrely into the night sky… who am I, Lucy?’
Jurot stood nearby, keeping an eye on his brother. Adam was leaned up against a wall, staring at the night sky. Adam had his arms crossed, having chosen the position after awkwardly shifting his hands about.
“Jurot, I stopped ting after a hundred,” the young half elf whispered.
Jurot remained silent, his eyes still glued to his brother.
“I don’t think I reached a thousand, but there were definitely more than a hundred. It might sound bad, but when it was the nobles, I didn’t mind as much. I still didn’t like to do it, but I didn’t feel that guilty over them. Still, there were a lot of oners. A lot of them. Most of them, actually. Farmers and cooks, probably forced into fighting. I just had to give a word. I just had to wave my hand. That was it. It was so… easy. I killed them like they were, they were those birdcats, remember?”
“Yes.”
Adam slowly nodded his head. “I’m lucky, Jurot. I think about that a lot. I died twice, but I was revived both times. I… I found you both times. Your family looked after me both times.”
“Our family.”
Adam’s lips twitched for a moment, but they remained a frown. “I was gifted a lot of great abilities. I was gifted a lot of great children, some of them teically sharing the same blood as me, apparently, but as far as I’m aware, I didn’t sleep with a dragon. Not yet, anyway.” Adam shook his head, his lips having formed a smile by the time he mentioned his children. “I’ve had such great lud I went around killing the most unlucky people around. It’s a little… it’s a lot bad, you know?”
Jurot bowed his head as he fell into thought. “No. I do not.”
Adam gowards his brother, who had been born within the Iyr. It was, as Adam would have politely described it, a unist death cult. They worshipped one god above all, Baktu, or as he was only known across the nd, Lord Sozain, the God of Death.
“For most people, death is perma. They won’t be lucky enough to find a God of Chaos, who does any more, to save them twice. They won’t be lucky enough to have some idiot with a diamond worth more than their entire life’s earnings to save them. Three hundred gold, Jurot. That’s the worth of a person’s life if you want t them back. More if you take too long. If you want to kill a man? That doesn’t cost anything.”
“Death is a part of life.”
“What right do I have to impart death?”
“You are chosen by Baktu.”
“…” Adam reached down to his amulet, rubbing along it. “I only picked him because I wanted some abilities.”
“He also chose you.”
“I don’t thiher of us made a bad choice. I’m, well, me, ahe same god who protected me from the Lord of Order. I suppose I should thank Strom too, since he ended up killing the Champion of Order too.”
“…”
“Do you…” Adam paused for a long moment. “Lanarot won’t remember him.”
“She is too young.” The fshes of Jurot’s first memories struck him. It was raining that day.
“If I died iher world, would she remember me? Would they remember me? Konarot, Kirot, Karot? Jirot, Jarot? They’re smart, too smart, but they’re still young.”
“I do not know.”
“If I died, what would you have told them? Would you have told them that I killed a bunch of people? I’d be dead, so I guess my opinio matter, but I wouldn’t want them knowing that. I’d want them to know that I loved them very much. I wouldn’t mind if they knew I was an idiot, but a killer?” Adam shook his head. “I’m no Iyrman, Jurot.”
“You are my brother, Adam.”
“Yeah.”
“If you ot kill, I will.”
“Does that make me aer?” Adam frowned. “It’ll make me feel better, but the sin is still on me. Does a ki off scot free because his servants killed?”
“You are no king, and I am not your servant.”
“Don’t turn it back around like that,” Adam’s eyes so Jurot, who remained as posed as ever. “That’s not what I meant.”
“You were a duke, and I am your brother,” Jurot said, and while Adam was thinking, he added, “Was I also a prince?”
Adam’s thoughts quickly fell away to Jurot’s question. “I don’t know. How does it work here?”
“They would hold the rank below that of a duke, a marquis, and would be heir apparent uhere was a child born to the duke.”
“Oh.”
“I am an Iyrman, Adam.”
“Yeah.”
“I uand why Sir Vonda does not wish to kill, for she prays to Mahtu above all others, but I do not uand why you do not kill when you follow Baktu.”
“I guess I’m not evil?”
“Do you believe me to be evil?”
Adam winced as though he had spped across the face. “No. I…” Adam furrowed his brows. “I don’t think you’re evil, but I guess you do have no qualms with killing?” Adam hadn’t thought about it previously, the fact his brother didn’t mind killing in a fight. “I don’t know. I don’t think you’re bad.”
“I have killed many.”
“Yeah, but they were all beasts.”
“Is killis different?”
“Yes?”
“Why?”
“They’re beasts, not people.”
“You have killed a dragon too.”
“Yeah but they’re… higher beings, so I guess I see the justification behind it? Especially si was self defence, well, the sed time. The first time was to make sure Princess Mina was okay.”
“If a beast kills a person, is the beast evil?”
“No, they’re a beast.”
Jurot remained silent in thought. “Mahtu believes life to be sacred. Even within her believers, there are some who take lives to eat. Some do not take the lives of animals, but take the lives of fish. Some do not even take the lives of fish. Mahtu breathes life into all, but we take such lives.”
Adam tapped his bicep with his fingers, thinking on his brother’s words.
“When I die, I will enjoy my time in paradise.”
“You believe in an afterlife?”
“…” Jurot blinked. “Yes?”
“Why did you reply like that?”
“You sound as if you do not believe ierlife.”
“Well, I haven’t seen anything that suggests it exists.”
“It does exist.”
“How do you know?”
“Baktu watches over it.”
“Yeah, well…” Adam fell silent. He furrowed his brows, his face twitg in thought. “There’s an afterlife?”
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Adam blinked. He looked up towards the sky, the twinkling stars, the streaks of colour all across the dark sky. “ht. Gods. They exist in this world. So does magic.” Adam blinked again before he threw a look towards Jurot, though his face was still full of fusion, having not thought of the obvious es between the world and how it was so different to his first life.
Jurot remained silent as Adam tio think. He had heard of Adam’s first life, where there were giant carriages of steel which could fly the masses without magic, at a pace which could cross the entirely of Aldnd in hours rather than days.
“Jurot, I think, after pretending to be an idiot for so long, I’ve actually bee stupid.”
“You think too much of your children and not enough of the world.”
“So… you know how Sa-, I mean, granduncle Sarot died, does that mean he’ll be ierlife? Paradise?”
“He will enjoy his time reliving his wonderful memories and he will fight and hunt creatures which are not native to this realm.”
“I mean, will he really exist? With a body and all?”
“Yes.”
“ people travel to the afterlife without dying?”
“Yes.”
“Oh.”
“The afterlife is another realm, like ours. It has its own rules, like the rules of the previous worlds we have explored. Baktu admihe realm, and so do his many guards.”
“Oh.” Adam blinked as he tio think. “How strong are the guards of Baktu?”
“Most are strohan the Night Lords we faced.”
“Damn…” Adam blinked again. “I feel a little bit better knowing that death isn’t the end of someone’s existence, but it still feels bad.”
“Adam?”
“Yes?”
“Would you kill me to protect your children?”
“What?”
“Would you kill me to protect your children?”
“Why are you asking something like that?” Adam frowned, feeling his body heat up, partly from the shock of the question, and partly because of the answer.
“You must answer.”
“I don’t want to.”
“You must.”
“…” Adam caught Jurot’s eyes, which stared deep into his eyes expetly. “Of course I would.”
Jurot nodded. “I would do the same.”
“I would never hurt my children.”
“I know.”
Nothing says brotherly love like promising to kill one another.
