"What is it mum?" Ermand enquired, his mind had started over thinking. Tawarn always had mysteries and secrets dwelling in the hands of its mighty power.

"A war," she said with her lips trembling. 

"War? Like a fight?"

"Those battles that you had heard. Maybe a greater one," she replied in an uncanny tone that never belonged to her. She spoke like a ghost. Something was definitely racing through her mind.

"If this is true. I'm not prepared for it at all," Jack folded his arms, staring at his feet. It was once in a blue moon to see Jack with a serious look.

"Between?" Ermand wanted to know more. He was caught in such anticipation he had never thought of going through. After all, it was a war! Something that he has only heard through the tales people narrate. 

"Tawarn and Jordi."

The boys gasped except for Jason. It seems Jason had anticipated this or might've known the news already. He was always the first.

"Jordi?" Ermand managed to say, he failed to keep the nervousness in him away from his utterance. 

He remembers he had made many friends who belong to Jordi, and how close they had been when the whole year was about to end. 

This can't be real.

"We're safe somehow but not always. Since we're living in a village area, we might be the least to be affected by the war, but what if my prediction remains as just a prediction and not the truth in the end? So we need to act fast," Mrs. Chisel said, her voice finding a new determination.

"Act fast like how?" Jack finally spoke. His carefree tone has left.

"Maybe emigrate from Tawarn-"

"Emigrate!" Ermand gasped. "No. That's not possible. We grew up here mum! Tawarn is our everything."

"I know how much you love our homeland and we all do but there's no other choice, Ermand. It is the lower middle clan and the lower clan that'll be adversely affected due to the war. Maybe, they'll send my sons to get killed in the dreadful dragging," Mrs. Chisel replied. She is a woman where anyone could read what's in her mind just by the look of her face, and the boys clearly saw the seriousness of the issue she's trying to convince.

"Where are we going?" Jack's voice, queer to himself. His eyes cast somewhere on the ground, acting blunt.

"Probably to New Tawarn or maybe Scettre," she answered.

Ermand raised a brow. 

"Scettre is not a nice place. Especially for people like us," he suggested.

"Yeah, I've heard it too. Some of my friends say that excluvism can be really brutal in there," Jack interfered, nodding at the ground.

"We'll discuss it after dinner. Go finish your chores as soon as you can," she hurried, pretending to distract herself.

Jason immediately followed his mother while Jack and Ermand stood rooted to where they were. 

"I feel so damned," Jack said, as if it almost felt like he was whispering.

"Will anything change for the better?" Ermand replied, his tone matching that of his brother.

"Dead end to that. I just wish I could get away from this whole place."

"Please, talk something sensible."

"Maybe marry a girl from the high clan and live the way I want, if that could heal all our adversities."

"That's beyond the legal clan accustoming law and even if it is passed, you will have to forget all of us as your family."

"I'll be able to do that."

Ermand turned to see Jack staring at the ground. He imitated Jack's action.

"I wish I could too."

A deep silence followed until Jack broke it.

"Isn't it your birthday next month?"

"Yeah."

"You'll be nineteen. Your powers will become more deep and strong, only if you try. If that works right, you'll be one step closer to where you belong."

"And where do I belong?"

"Where Odisttes belong."

"There are rarely people like me out here."

"For the betterment of your future, my dear brother, you should conceal this truth from all those people you could. All of them, how dear may they be to you. And hey, you don't belong here of course, they'll kill you in no time."

"Really?"

"First they do some rubbish trial where the only outcome is two simple words no matter how innocent you are or even if you don't actually know that you're an Odistte."

"The words?"

"Proven guilty."

"For what?"

"For some dumb reasons the attorneys will find for you. Secondly, they'll take a second round of trial, for the public to decide your fate."

"Is there a chance to be proven that I'm not guilty?"

Jack chuckled.

"The public means those power drifted Qorders. Do I have to tell you what they'll decide for you?"

Ermand remained silent. His lips parted for air.

"Then, it's time for torture. A torture for you to proclaim that you're guilty and has done wrong. The torture will last for about fifteen days that will leave your bones peeping out of your skin, your blood constantly flowing out of your veins and onto the roughy texture of the floor and getting blind. Lastly, they'll just behead you in public. Your body will be thrown to the vermin or maybe to the Ficklefolks."

Jack could hear Ermand's heavy breath and the slight shake of his whole body through his shadow.

"What will happen to all of you?"

"Jailed. For the rest of our lives."

Ermand became silent.

"For this absurdity to not happen to you, you should become unrestrainable. Your powers should reach a level greater than the expected of ours such that you become uncontrollable and powerful. If you're able to do that, this will not happen. You will be free but maybe you'll change into someone you aren't now…"

"To what?"

"To someone who has lust for power and engraving magic. Ermand, Odisttes are extremely powerful that make them monstrous in mind like getting drunk. It'll make you do all the atrocities, forget love and compassion, become someone different because of something that controls your brain. You will not be the same anymore after. This is the main reason why they are killed but they do not know that there are many Odisttes who don't achieve that level and get killed. Innocent ones, like you.

In fact, only a very few, that you one could only count with their fingers have achieved this level. And what if there are Odisttes who have both the powers in their hands and still show love and compassion? The root cause to this law being passed is that the high clans are worried if their powers will be overthrown by the Odisttes."

Ermand slowly turned in Jack's direction, his lips still apart.

"I… don't want… to be that…"

"You know, you're the son of Ignis and do you know who he is?"

"I don't want to," Ermand's tone has changed. He always had a peculiar dislike for his parents. "Plus I'm not interested in knowing anything about them. Please."

Ermand shook his head and moved into the house through the kitchen door while Jack watched him leave the garden. 

Jack stared at the kitchen door Ermand left open for him.

I can't understand you Ermand. Why are you acting so different and dumb?

Jack's mind drifted to his memories with him. He remembers his father bringing a scrawny kid on a cold stormy and chilling night. He must've been three years old, holding a finger of Mr. Chisel and staring at him with his contrasting golden eyes. His neatly combed, long silky golden hair that reached beyond the nape of his neck was somehow waving along with the wind at the end. 

The boy didn't cry. In fact, he stared at all of the family members. His family. 

Jack's mother gasped at the sight of the boy while Jack and Jason stood frozen at the sight of the little boy. Jack was five and Jason was seven. The only thing that mattered to Jack was that he had a little brother to call.

"Jack, Jason. This is your little brother, Ermand. Welcome him to our home," Mr. Chisel said in a warm welcoming way. 

"Hi, Er… Er…"

"Ermand," Mr. Chisel told him.

"Ermand," Jack said, smiling at the little boy. 

While at the moment in his mind, Jack neither remembered Demand's name nor how old he was ; my little brother.

He was innocent back then, and still he seems so immature when he's at the edge of becoming nineteen. 

"You'll have to be what you should be and then there will be no coming back," Jack muttered, stalking the kitchen door.