It was the scenery of beauty poisoned by the venom of death. It was a world contained in an unsuspecting cave. The ceiling was a purple sky with murky clouds resting above the ruined kingdom hidden behind the eyes of the seeker.

There was a narrow canal trailing towards the floating ruins. Some parts of wooden infrastructures that had witnessed the history of ruin were scattered on the chipped floors. The background of the suspended castle was a wide wall of waterfall where dead trees sprang in some parts— splitting the angry downfall of the stream.

I could see a variety of races scurrying around and playing, bringing life to the deceased Kingdom. Almost all of them were very young children and some were adolescents.

The scent of rot hanged in the air and it was no wonder why Slade was the way he was. The smell of this place must have clouded his sense of reasoning which caused him to become violent and stupid; a complete baka.

Once the children saw Slade, they immediately brightened up and ran to greet him.

And here I thought they would scamper away for their lives.

"Welcome back Slade-onii!"

Sevor picked up one child with tiny transparent wings and threw her up in the air only for her to fly away and giggle. Slade ignored the greetings with a blank look on his face showing the contrast between Sevor's warm attitude and Slade's cold one.

Wye Fye was beaming sweetly at her lover who was interacting with the children. I diverted my eyes at the sickly display of affection and assessed the decomposing surroundings. I will revive this place later and leave when I get the chance.

Now that I think about it, why do they live here? They can travel anywhere they want with the twins and migrate to where there was actual life. Why do they agonize themselves?

A little boy ran up to me with wide eyes. He had a green bandana wrapped around his whole upper head with strands of purple hair peeking out. His clothes were ragged and dusty and he smiled at me with his incomplete teeth.

"A new nii-chan!" He cheered.

Soon the rest of the kids flocked around me with their little hands grabbing me eagerly. The teenage girls fussed about how attractive my skin was in which Wye Fye decided to comment on.

"He must have grown up with a silver spoon in his mouth," she stated before smiling at me and following the comment with a "I'm kidding!"

Jokes were always half meant just as her existence. Her parents didn't give much thought on making her did they? 

"I do not understand. My mouth is currently unoccupied and my kind has always had glowing skin. "

Wye Fye crossed her arms over her breast. "You mean your kind that's always had been selfish and arrogant?"

"Yes, my kind who seems to be on the same league as yours," I replied in approval which just angered her even further. Why was everyone infuriated when I agree with them?

"You better watch your mouth ancient. You are in OUR territory and unless you want to get your wounds checked, you better show respect."

Ah, she had lost her calm composure. Her false skin just peeled off at the right time.

"I do not have a mirror to watch my mouth. Will you care to provide me one? And to correct you, I was forced to come here against my non-existent free will. I do not want to get my wounds checked. I only desire to return back to my werewolf companion," I deadpanned.

"Slade, do me a favor and get your mate out of my sight!" She snarled while shutting her eyes tightly and holding the small bump on her stomach. Ah, I didn't notice that.

That bump must be a severe case of constipation. She must stop consuming garbage and eat cleanly.

Slade glared at her and snapped away once his brother called him out.

"Do what she says Slade," Sevor commanded.

Despite Slade's distaste to his brother and that woman, he still had a string of obedience in him.

"Fine, I'll take our mate. Be sure to calm your perfect tik (bitch) before she explodes with that abomination inside of her and how I wish she will."

"Slade!" Sevor growled and attempted to lash out on him, but Wye Fye placed a hand on his chest to interfere.

"Don't my love; don't stoop to his level. After all, a failure will stay as a failure," she told him.

Sevor held his anger in and turned away. "You're right."

He would just let that unpleasant wind get away with blowing insults at his brother? A true brother should not let a woman with indigestion fart at your brother's face.

I can see how different my own brother was compared to him.

I felt my arm get grabbed by Slade roughly. I was dragged out of the small and short crowd of children and was taken to one of the small crumbling buildings.

Slade slammed the chipped door shut and I was thrown to the mushy bed that smelled like moss. I listened to every profanity that he spurred out and silently watched him throw things.

When his tantrums were getting too long, I decided to focus my attention on a small and fragile creature with many hairy legs and one big red eye as the center of the legs. It was found at the corner of the ceiling that was opposite of me. It reminded me of Bebe. Its one eye blinked and then it began to cry thick webs which pooled down to the floor. May Bebe rest in peace.

After awhile, Slade plopped down beside me and sighed I'm exhaustion.

"I hate them..." He murmured. "I hate that woman even more," he breathed out.

Not knowing what to do anymore, I decided to dive into the man's problems. He may allow me to go back to Caleb if I try to tolerate his ridiculousness.

"Why do you hate them?" I asked him.

He stayed silent for sometime before answering me. The aura of rage switched into something more depressing.

"Sevor always sided with me but when he met that tik, he always sees me as a failure now." He rubbed his eyes roughly in denial of his tears. "Heh, I guess I am a failure. I'll always be one."

I looked down on my feet and compared it to Slade's huge ones. Base on my observation, there is no permanent permanency in this life. There will always be change especially if a living creature decides to make that modification. It can be the living creature itself to make that change possible for him or change can be influenced by other living things around him.

"A seed will never stay as a seed unless it is watered and taken care of. Life will go and death will come. Night ends and morning starts. Change can occur to anything and anyone, even you."

I never thought that change would come to my life but it did.

He scoffed. "Well I tried but no one even acknowledged it."

I looked at Slade's taut abdomen and then raised my vision to see his unique eyes staring at me in question. Was he trying to pull out answers from me that will satisfy him?

"Did you acknowledge your own effort?"

He narrowed his gaze at me. "Of course," he replied in a snappish way.

"Then there's your someone."

If you truly want for others to value your hard work, you should at least be delighted by your own effort.

"That doesn't make me feel better," he huffed.

"I'm not trying to make you feel better. I'm just trying to show you how stupid you are, baka (stupid)."

Before Slade can snap at me again, the door opened to the small room we were at. Sevor entered with a bowl and a look of hesitance in his expression. He was now fully clothed compared to Slade who was still naked.

"What are you doing here?" The twin beside me bitterly questioned.

"I'm going to treat him. I already figured that you will just let his wounds get infected or worse— you'll just inflict more injuries on him."

Slade stood up and snatched the bowl from his brother. "I will do it myself since you don't even want him."

"Even though I won't accept him anymore, that doesn't mean that I'll let him die in your hands. Once he is treated, I will personally return him to where he belongs. You don't deserve anyone until you decide to stop being a brat."

"Rahat! (Bullshit!) When will you stop meddling with my life? Stop treating me like I'm as useless as a corpse!"

"Dead creatures are good fertilizers for plants. They are not entirely useless," I commented. I hope he finds my words inspiring.

"I will interfere with everything you will do especially if I know when you'll fail," Sevor scolded.

Slade clenched his fists in anger. The tension between them was as thick as Wye Fye's ego.

"Why can't you trust me this once?!"

That broke Sevor's patience as his voice raised even higher."Because trusting you is like trusting a catastrophe! Everything ends up in a mess!" Sevor snarled.

With that, Slade was silenced. He dropped his chin to his chest as stood paralyzed for a little. He then shoved the bowl to Sevor's chest and left the argument hanging on a cliff as he walked out.

That was thoughtless. How can he say such things?

Sevor pulled an unsteady chair under him and sat. There was a mashed green disgrace inside the bowl and I narrowed my gaze at it. I hope that wasn't what was inside Wye Fye that made her look so bloated.

He began to apply the green mash on my face and the scent of herbs delighted my nose. Sevor was lost in his thoughts as he treated my wounds. He was nibbling his lips while looking so absent-minded.

"I am lucky," I stated which caught Sevor off guard. "I am lucky that Lucius is my brother."

A sad smile formed on his lips. "You're implying that I'm a bad sibling?"

I shook my head in disapproval. "No...not bad."

He gave me an unsure look. "Really?"

"You're not bad because you are the worst. You are terrible. You are a lost cause. I know that I said that there is no permanent permanency in life but your stupidity is an exception to this rule."

"Hey!" He protested. "I am supporting him in a way that I see fit. He needs to be disciplined," he reasoned out. The force of his rubbing became a bit harder on my face.

"But you are disciplining him even before he commits a mistake which is wrong in your part."

Lucius was always so encouraging. He believed in me and pushed me to my limit.

"You can do it otouto! Onii-chan believes that you can!"

"And besides, are you being cold to him because you believe that he can change or is it because you already lost hope for him?" I questioned.

Sevor raised my shirt and began rubbing the mushy medicine on my torso. It felt icky but I did not complain any further for I was curious for his answer.

"You don't understand..." He whispered. His eyes held anger.

"I don't want you to understand," he murmured.

I sighed.

"Then nothing will be resolved and the two of you will continue living on with knives behind your backs."

He never spoke after that and I chose to stay quiet and observe more. It would be better if I gather enough information before saying things. Valid information will enforce the impact of my words. I would like to say things that will make people see their stupidity in the nicest way.

After Sevor treated my wounds and left, I wiped off the thing he rubbed on me with a shirt that was scattered on the floor. I got out of the small house and wandered. Children's laughter filled the place. They reminded me of that dwarf detka. I wonder how he was doing.

Huge bugs with pointy stings flew around. They chased one chubby boy who ran and sought help from a group. A boy from the said group released a breath of fire from his mouth which burned the bugs into ashes. Despite the food crisis that I had been hearing frequently, the children here seemed well fed.

But where do they drink water? How often do they set out to hunt for food? Why here of all places?

There were only three adults among the plentiful of children. I applaud them for providing protection over these kids.

The little boy who acknowledged my presence earlier ran up to me with a wide smile. His fangs were more visible with how wide he was smiling at me.

"Hello onii-chan!" He greeted.

"Domo," I greeted back with a slight bow of my head.

"My name is Buck, what's yours?"

"Lucian," I replied.

This child was awfully cheerful like Caleb. I now wonder how my fluffy companion was doing.

I heard Buck's stomach rumble which made him blush in embarrassment.

"Big brother Slade isn't done cooking yet. I didn't get to eat properly these past days since big sister Wye Fye was the one who did the cooking."

"Was her cooking as intolerable as her rabid behavior?" I asked.

Buck gasped and placed a finger against his lips. "Shh don't say that! She's sooo scary when she's mad."

"She must be scary in both ways. I am not surprised," I stated flatly.

The children were with a living nightmare. They must be evacuated as soon as possible.

"Is Slade a decent cook?" I asked.

Buck nodded enthusiastically. "Yep! He is the best! I like him more than big brother Sevor. Rui will tell you the same thing!"

My lips formed a smile and I saw Buck blush. Slade may think that he was worthless to everyone, but he did not notice how much the children adored him. That said a lot about his character and his capability to connect with others.

"Where is Slade?" I asked.

Buck pointed at the other side of the canal and I followed him to the fallen log that connected the two sides. Indeed, Slade was mixing the contents of the pot in the outdoors. He was wearing some pants now. The pot was cooking over the pyram.

"Is it cooked yet?" I questioned. Slade turned around and looked at me blankly.

"Almost," he replied.

I stood beside him and watched as he stirred the huge amount of porridge with his long wooden stick. The vegetables looked scrumptious.

"Tsk, I forgot the salt from the storage room," Slade sighed.

He left to go to a nearly collapsed establishment that was two destroyed houses away from us leaving me with the uneaten food boiling beside me. Buck followed Slade and once he left, I took the opportunity to grab a fork from the table beside me.

I had a hard time puncturing the broccoli until I cornered it against the side of the pot. The fork was getting hot but that didn't stop me from pursuing my target.

The vegetable oozed with steam and I blew some of its heat before taking a bite.

"Oishii (tasty)" I murmured. Though it may lack saltiness, the savory taste was enough for me to fish another piece.

Slade returned with a little brown wolf running after him. He gave me a puzzled expression and snatched the fork away.

"That's not done yet."

I stared at him while I chewed. "But it is delicious. This is the best vegetable I have ever had. You are now one step ahead from your talentless twin."

Slade's mouth hung open. He seemed to be speechless. He pursed his lips and then looked away. "Don't be stupid."

"Don't return my insult," I retorted and took another bite. "Bien joue (well done)."

If he can cook this well then he may not be a bad man after all.

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One of my best friends drew this for me.

Modern Lucian:

@anotherpasserby ｡◕‿◕｡ arigatou!