Alan's face was flushed with rage, and Ares could see he was straining to keep it in his body and not to completely lash out at Ersa. "I just cannot permit it!"

Ares' thoughts were interrupted by Alan's tone, and he noticed that Alan was just now fully aware of the situation. "She's out to wreck our life! Ares, do you realise how hard our family had to work to get here? How hard did our parents strived and worked to flee Yunyang, and how much sacrifice did they make to help us?" Alan struck the desk once again. "Do you really believe we can afford to sacrifice everything just so you may go to that land you heard about from that wretched woman who just.. showed up!?"

Ersa defended herself. "This isn't what I meant, Alan!" I-“ Ersa strained to find words and peered deep into the ivory ground of the shop before returning her gaze to them. "My main goal is to assist your brother. This world is full with evil individuals, whether they are bad guys, good men, or anything, and I've been schooled by the greatest. What I see in your sibling is a passionate star eager to explore." She stops before turning to face the store. "I simply believed it would be mutually advantageous for both of us..." Ares was surprised to see Ersa tremble because Ersa had a confident demeanor.

"The best thing that would be mutually beneficial for all three of us... is for you to leave." Alan said, in a stern deep pitched voice. "Come along," he pointed to the entrance of the shop. Ersa glanced a bit at Ares - before diverting her vision and her body towards the entrance that she had entered from, she took the book that she had pocketed earlier and placed it on the table, just as she was about to leave - a force shook... a reanimated mantis had been flung at her eye.

Ares made a large noise, the poor desk had been abused by desk slams too many times he thought, but he had to be absolutely sure that Ersa heard him... and he needed to say everything all at once. "Please wait!" Ares had said out loud.

Ersa turned her head around - and Alan looked directly at Ares. "Ares you...?" Alan seemed to be more concerned then mad, concerned about why his brother was making this decision.

"I... have already made my decision. I know it will require a lot of work, and i-it's a huge risk but..." Ares stumbled through his words, but he had to force them out to convince Alan. "I.... you know how bad I want this." The room was quiet for a while, no one really wanted to speak in the room, and everyone was afraid that the wrong words could ignite the whole room up.

Finally, Ersa spoke "I'll give you 24 hours to think about it - because the flight returning is three days from now, and Ares would need around a day to sort out stuff in order to go to Stelmaugh... if he so desires," she said while remorsefully looking at Alan - "I'll meet you at the café at 10:00, be there if you ever so fancy..." Ersa had a solemn nod before leaving.

The day at the shop that followed that encounter with Ersa was usual, well, that's a fabrication, a massive one at that. Alan handled clients normally and tried hard to delight those who came in, but the two brothers did not communicate at all to each other. Normally, the two would banter about anything at work, and Alan would be overprotective of him when other people tried to talk to him. But what about here on this cursed day? None of this seems to be the case for the two. The two of them never had fought like this before.

The day at the business eventually came to an end, and they both went home. The two men were still not conversing with one another, with Ares walking home in an angsty bounce. Ares looked at the house to see Eléa and Inez had already arrived, with Eléa making some dinner and Inez dozing out on the couch like a cat, with a book on her head. Eléa greeted them both. "Oh, this salted honeycomb pie is just delicious!" she said to the other two... and Ares noticed that a silence fell upon the room.

Eléa woke Inez up, and all four of them ate, and just ate. An odd sight in their family, usually there would be some discussing going on - whether it be a lively jovial drinking session, or a bickering banter. Today, none of that was happening. The chewing of the salted honeycomb pie could be heard by all of them, and the large crunching sounds just filled the ears of everyone in the room.

Eléa finally spoke up. "Why aren't you talking to each other, Alan and Ares?"

"What are you on about, there's nothing wrong?" Alan and Ares uttered it together, swiftly meeting and then shifting their gazes and eating their food once again with no talk.

"Yeah... nothing is wrong mhm! Just speak it out with each other, okay?" Eléa groaned before continuing to eat the food.

Ares walked to his room as soon as the supper was over, tinkering with the gears on his knapsack and contemplating the problem. He expected Alan to be sympathetic of the situation - and supportive of the switch, but he also expected his brother to be disappointed with him. After all, a complete stranger coming into his life, and the loss of his younger brother for a long period of time.

He held a bouncy spring on his hand which was roughly the size of his face, and he kept throwing the spring back and forth on the door. He was so conflicted, he wanted to pursue his dreams and escape this horrible boring monotony... but he also didn't want to disappoint his brother and his other siblings. He kept throwing harder and harder at the door - letting his conflicted mind be the catalyst for the strength of each throw, until a large slam was felt... by Alan.

"Shit! Sorry Alan!" Ares saw as Alan had a pained look in his face from the spring, he rubbed the area on his face the spring had hit.

"Ah... it's... it's okay Ares." Alan looked at him in a stoic expression. "Look I..."

"Yeah, it's okay - I'm alright with staying here." Ares said, anticipating the words Alan were going to say. In one way, his dreams were crushed, but having Alan be the one who controlled it made him feel fine. After all, it's not like he tried his dreams and utterly failed, his chance at his dreams just never happened in the first place. Ares let out a large sigh and fell on his bed.

"I... no, Ares - I thought long and hard about it, and... I know how badly you want this." Alan muttered, his forehead wrinkled... "We'll talk about it further tomorrow, good night, Ares." Alan then exited the room. Ares was stunned, befuddled, and perplexed - but hearing from Alan that everything was fine made him so thrilled that he yelled in delight, and he could hear Alan chuckling from outside his chamber.

"Thank you so much Alan!" Ares let out a loud scream. Ares called it a night and was waiting to greet Ersa tomorrow, but also - a part of him was wondering what had caused Alan's sudden change of heart. He thought for a while, but got sleepy and drifted away.

Alan gazed at his younger brother, who waltzed about the desolate waste terrain of the outskirts of Upper Nimbia, ready to play with his older brother. Ares bounced up and down, creating small squeaking sounds with his shoes as Alan took out some summoning salts and enchantments. He stared at Ares, who was gazing back at him with his big doe eyes wide open and interested, as if expecting something intriguing to happen. Ares had always enjoyed strange trinkets since he was a baby - whenever his mother would show him a trinket, he would always grab them and put it in his mouth, so he knew he liked them. The two siblings were playing in Earth's void. It wasn't particularly large or extensive; there were just a few dirt roads and deserts around the tiny region they occupied, and it was distant from Upper Nimbia.

It was one of the few areas in Upper Nimbia where no other humans lived close, and the air was chilly; it didn't appear particularly different from what people had described it as, but he knew better than anybody that the surface below them was the ideal spot for him and Ares to be alone and simply just entertain each other. It was a long day at the shop, and helping out his mother and father was getting harder.

He finally obtained all of the trinkets required to complete a ceremony. "Come on, Ares, look at this," Alan said, and in an instant, he put up the summoning circle and brought out several dead bugs, to Ares's delight. "See this one? It's known as the powderpost beetle!" He told Ares in a booming voice, who simply grinned and nodded before returning his attention to the dead bugs. Alan observed Ares' nose twitching and scrunching up as he went closer and as he scented the dead bugs. When Ares leapt into the pile of bugs with his tongue hanging out, he chuckled. "Ares, don't do that!" Alan remarked this while gently pulling Ares aside. "Let's reanimate these bugs now!" Alan cautiously extended his hand and raised it over the summoning circle.

He focused his complete attention on controlling and managing the dead bugs that laid before his eyes. He Alan eventually closed his eyes and chanted his spell casting phrase once he sensed the link of souls growing through their bodies.

“Excitare…“ He murmured quietly yet quickly and slowly opened his eyes, seeing nothing and frowning slightly. "That was supposed to work..." Alan said to Ares, who was sucking his thumb and waited for Alan to finish reviving the bugs. Alan was determined to impress his younger brother, so he tried again, this time modifying the sentence.

"Excitare!" He muttered this in hushed tones over and over, he had to think of his brother incredibly hard. Suddenly, the summoning circle began to light! He and Ares stood there in astonishment as the beetles sat up straight, starting rushing about and hopping around, their heads whirling, and they began singing their melodies and their own little ditties. He heard Ares give out a loud shriek of delight as the beetles began to dance about him, and he began to dance as well, bouncing up and down and shaking his buttocks in front of Alan.

"I did it... I did it!" Alan said in a jubilee, "I'm making them to walk!" Alan yelled gleefully as he flung several bugs across the clearing sky, and Ares laughed loudly as he chased them down. Ares and Alan continued to play for the rest of the day, until the sun set and reflected off their bright youthful faces.

Even though they had been playing all day, they were both exhausted. Alan grinned broadly and stepped up to pick up his brother when Ares finished eating the meal his mother had made for them. Ares was still beaming brightly as he clapped his hands together gleefully. 'I can't wait to tell my parents tonight... " He thought to himself as he glanced at Ares, who seemed glad to be carried. However, before he could carry his brother any more, he felt a force attempting to drag him and Ares backwards.

"Hey, Ares!" Alan yelled "Do not move!" Alan looked around, trying to figure out where that energy was coming from. It reminded me of when his parents would use minor black magic to draw him back when he was younger to keep him from bothering people at the business, but this time it was much more encompassing. He couldn't pinpoint where that draw came from, but he knew they needed to attempt to get away from it because whatever that wretched pull signified, it wasn't good, not good in the slightest.

Ares glanced at Alan, puzzled, and began to whimper loudly at him. Alan kissed his younger brother on the cheek, scooped him up, and cradled him against his chest in a gentle manner. "Don't be concerned; we're secure here!" He spoke quietly to his brother, while caressing his face more. He moved to the edge of the clearing and gazed about, seeing the trees swaying and the earth trembling. He returned his gaze to Ares, who was crying even more. Alan raced as quickly as he could away from the dark thing that was threatening him and his brother. His heart was hammering so hard against his rib cage that it seemed like it was clawing its way out of him.

But it wasn’t pain, no it was a sense of fear. This feeling terrified him, but in a way that he hadn’t experienced ever in his life. However, there was one thing that hurt the most - his brother clinging onto him and seeing him cry made Alan feel absolutely terrible. If there was anything that Alan loved more than anything, it was having his baby brother hold him tightly in his arms and make him feel safe. But right now, he was scared, he was alone with some dark unknown thing. And he was terrified.

The large cloud of darkness seemed to follow Alan everywhere he went, and all attempts to return to Upper Nimbia's main town were fruitless and futile; he had to confront this power straight on - using a large force. That thought... it may not seem like much, but when confronted with a monster of darkness, it's easy to lose your sense of reason, abandon rationality, and simply assault. As the darkness hung over his shoulders, he peered behind him. He could still hear it madly laughing, and when he turned around to face it, a big mysterious creature emerged before his eyes. It looked to be formed of a gigantic translucent black material, towering over him and Ares like a gigantic murky blimp.

Alan considered what to do, panicking but also caressing Ares' head to make him feel safe. The creature's head slowly turned towards Alan. It let out another chuckle and raced forward at full speed, its black eyes filled with wrath and anger at him. Alan took a quick right, then a left through the wastelands to attempt to throw the thing off of them, but it tracked him down despite his best efforts.

Finally, there was an insight. He learned from his parents' short discussion with partners that this location had buried dead from a long time ago... But if it was so long ago, he might be able to utilise them. He hurriedly placed Ares on his shoulders and began the process of reanimating the dead; he didn't want his baby brother to see what he was doing, or how disgusted or terrified his baby brother was by him, so he shouted at Ares to cover his eyes.

He quickly summoned a hurried summoning circle, his hands obviously moving like a lightning bolt, and he began to expressly pray to the god of the moon that he and his brother may remain for all intents and purposes alive.

He wished and desired, pleaded and prayed... and suddenly, a meaty hand in a deoxygenized skin sprang out from the scorched dirt of the wasteland, like a breakthrough of an animal rising out of its mother's womb, like a star crashing out of the ground... and then there was another, and then there was another, and then there was still another... And shortly, a large number of people's bodies appeared, whether they were powerful warriors or infants who died at an early age, Alan treated them all the same as he chucked them at the beast.

The enigmatic amalgamous thing in the shadows got closer and closer to Alan and Ares... He flung their bodies at them, allowing the darkness to swallow their souls. Each body that came into contact with the creature was eviscerated, yet the thing became weaker as a result. As it began to lose vitality, it let out a low grumble, its soul becoming whiter and paler with each passing instant, weaker and weaker, letting out enormous krailish hellish groans.

Alan didn’t stop, of course he wouldn't; instead he prayed on the moon god to create more bodies and continued on creating more bodies of humans from the ground, he commanded them to throw their bodies at the creatureon, he needed to do this unless if he could be absolutely confident that the creature had been defeated... and that his brother was safe.

And he had finally succeeded in performing this miracle; all of the human bodies he had hurled at it had vanished, and the beast had dropped to the ground, motionless. The earth shook fiercely as the creature's body slowly rose to its feet on wobbly legs. The legs trembled and shook till they finally collapsed on the ground.

“Ares…” Alan exhaled deeply. "Hush...don't say anything just now." Ares placed his small arms around Alan's neck as he brought Ares close to him and held on to his shoulders securely and with cold hands.

He took a big breath in and gently exhaled, attempting not to worry about what had just occurred; he would deal with it later. He needed to concentrate on his brother, who was clutching him hard. He gazed down at the ashes of the bodies he had disposed of with such ease that he had not given the beast a single consideration. He then glanced down at Ares and smiled broadly as he realised that his younger brother appeared to be quite cute and innocent, despite the fact that he knew Ares' innocence might bring him issues later in life; he just hoped that things wouldn't change too much. "Please... don't do what I did..."

But Alan looked at his brother, and instead of seeing a face of fear, he saw a face of awe - a face that was so happy and cheerful. His younger brother said with his innocent and pure heart...

"Cool!!!"