Gluttony’s last words reverberated through the space, causing the scenery to twist and distort violently. It wasn’t long after that point that Loki and Rykar once again felt their consciousness stir. The familiar suction feeling gripped them as they were drawn out from the current world’s greenery and cast back out into the emptiness of the void, the scene before them fading away rapidly.

Their sense of self flooded their minds once again as the feeling of returning to their bodies assailed them.

The feeling of the wooden floor below them and the strong smell of wood brought them back to their current situation as their minds reeled, recalling even the finest details of their unconscious state vividly. It truly felt like they had spent an incredible amount of time drifting, to the point that their own states of mind had been altered and somewhat matured due to the things they had seen.

The feeling of their minds being tied down and constrained within their bodies once again felt… Uncomfortable.

Opening their eyes, they were once again faced with the vibrant red and grey pupils on left and right sides respectively. These eyes were highlighting a face which was familiar yet different. There was a sense of familiarity as they squinted while piecing each others features together.

“Greed? Wait… Loki?!”

“Gluttony? No... Rykar?!”

They exclaimed simultaneously as they jumped up from the ground. Originally, they had been laying side by side while facing each other however just a moment later, they were sprawling away from each other in shock. What was facing them was no longer the patchy skinned, pink eyed and dark-haired counterparts. Instead, they resembled grey-skinned and almost demonic looking beings!

Despite their facial features being similar to what they had before, it was as though the colour pallet that made up their bodies had been reversed. Instead of their dark hair, long inky black hair flowed from their heads and down to their waists like glossy tendrils of shadow. All of the scratches and bruises from before had vanished, even the injury on Loki’s ankle was fully healed without any traces.

Their frames were no longer as haggard, with the faint traces of bone deformities which used to hinder their posture. Without realizing it, they were now leaning comfortably without the slight awkwardness present before.

After a short pause, the tension in the air was smoothed over while the twins mulled over the recent events. It was still weird to look at each other’s new appearance, but they began organising events them from the moment they stepped into this strange tree:

The bodies in the room.

The cloud of darkness surrounding them after the bodies dissipated.

The scenes from the visions.

The great war and sacrifices towards the egg.

The birth of Greed and Gluttony.

So… were the two men the original Greed and Gluttony? Are they human? Who were the people that fought the war and why did they sacrifice themselves? What was the egg and where was it from? What did it do to our bodies? Are we still human?’ All these thoughts were spinning around their heads but there was only silence in the room as they looked at each other, neither of them knowing where to begin.

After speaking for a while, they were quick to understand that the scenes that they saw were identical to one another.

‘I’m scared. Why are we monsters. Why did it have to be us? WHY IS IT ALWAYS US?!’ Tears flooded from Rykar’s eyes as he started weeping silently. Despite trying to hold it in at first, muffled sobs echoed through the room, the disruption causing Loki to almost break down too. However, his expression remained calm as he stood up and walked to the opposite side of the room towards Rykar, who was now propped against the leg of a desk.

“It’s ok, mom will know what to do! We're still close to the village. We can go back and find out how to fix this. She knows so many stories, she just hasn’t told us about this one yet.” Holding onto Rykar’s shoulder, words of encouragement flowed out of Loki’s mouth like a cool stream in an attempt to give Rykar a brief respite from his depression.

“Mhm, when we get back she can help us.” In between the sobs, Rykar’s reply came out as a whisper. Wiping the tears from his eyes, he looked up at his brother seeing his familiar yet unfamiliar face next to him.

An ugly excuse for a smile was covering his mouth as his lips also quivered. Despite the certainty in his voice as he reassured Rykar just moments ago, Loki’s entire body was trembling as began to stream from his eyes before rolling down the side of his face and planting themselves on the floor.

*Putt*

*Putt*

*Putt*

As their eyes locked, their final defences crumbled as they both erupted into loud wails while tightly embracing each other as the fear of the unknown gripped them in full force.

This was the first time in years that they had let themselves cry. They cried for the unfairness. They cried for the fear. They cried for being abandoned. They cried for being alone. They cried for being unwanted. And finally, they cried for once again being different.

It all came out in this moment, the tension that they had been living in recently had collapsed, leaving them broken and unable to hold it together any. Hours passed as they remained clasped together on the floor. They sobbed without knowing when exhaustion had overcome them, allowing them to descend into a dreamless slumber as peaceful as the void they’d just awoken from.

. . .

As the twins awoke once again, the familiar warm light was pouring into the room from the entrance to the hollow. Said entrance was now easily two meters high and over a meter across, completely different from the meter-high hole they attempted to scramble through.

Stirred by each other’s groggy movements, they broke away from the warm embrace, looking between themselves without the same shock from before. After the constant storm of emotions bouncing them between being terrified to safe and then back again, there was finally calmness in the warm cabin-like space.

As usual, rather than interrupting the moment, they both went through a moment of reflection, going back everything that had happened in a new light and with a fresh mind. Unlike previously, their states of mind were amazingly bright, everything in their pasts was laid out before them in perfect detail.

What was weird was that even when thinking back farther, they had no issues with memory… If asked to recall the first story their mother had ever told them, they could have recited it word for word without pause.

It was as though a veil was lifted from their memories, giving them the ability of perfect recall without hinder, no matter how long ago things had taken place. This also caused some of the more recent happenings to come together that they hadn’t taken notice of, like watching a play for the second time and catching onto the hidden details that didn’t seem to have had any real purpose originally.

The exact route they had taken through the woods before and after the wolf attack.

Every time the youth holding the rope had coughed into his hand, alongside his habit of wiping his wet hand across his leg when no one was looking.

Many more occasions where they had missed the group of teens stealing glances at them.

Instead of ignoring them as they had initially thought, everyone in the group had been spying back at them constantly before murmuring amongst themselves in voices low enough to be missed…

An odd thing that had occurred starting few hours into the second day of the journey, Chris had begun to make hidden movements every few minutes. Strangely enough, he had been carrying two flasks on him. One wrapped around his back next to his bow and the second, smaller one, on his waist bound by a thin leather band. He never drank from this second flask, instead he would find time to slightly speed up his pace before spilling a few drops of its contents on the ground, then adjusting his pace once again and re-joining the others at the leisurely pace.

Concentrating more on these moments, most of the time there was no indication of what was in the leather flask because he would have his body positioned in a way that blocked the sight of the twins. However he wasn’t able to block the vision of both twins at the same time on multiple occasions. It was just that they had never paid attention to the slight change in behaviour as it took place over just a few moments of time.

Now, as they combed over the odd behaviour with their perfect sense of recall, there were so many different occasions where they could see the dark liquid dribbling to the ground from the mouth of the flask.

Loki’s heart clenched as he relived the moment in more detail than he had when he was actually there. Light broke through the branches before glancing over the liquid, sending dark red glimmers beaming quietly before droplets shattering on the ground.

Again, and again, and again he watched his own relative spilling blood onto the ground.

At that point it was as clear as day why everything had happened. Their father had sent them to be taken out for a hunt for the first time after years of estrangement. After being taken against their will, blood was spilled onto the ground as they made their way towards the territory of wolves. The rope was then attached to them and would most likely have been used to tie them up or even pull them to the ground as the others were making an escape, left preoccupy the wolves as they made their way back to the village.

The only thing they hadn’t counted on was that there would be a lone wolf stalking them even earlier than they had expected, probably outcasted due to its own weakness, which was the only reason they had lasted made it so far while under its pursuit. Had it been at full strength then they wouldn’t have stood a chance.

Everything had been set out perfectly and this only made them break out in a cold sweat as they realized how close to death they had actually come.

“Loki…” Rykar started, looking dead into his brothers’ eyes with a sarcastic smile plastered on his face. “You know when we were running from the wolf, all I was thinking of was how to get back to the village in one piece.” He then breathed deeply before letting out the breath. “Now, I can’t imagine what would have happened if we actually made it haha. I don’t know, it’s actually kind of lucky don’t you think?”

Loki stayed silent while listening to his brother vent. Half of his mind was listening to Rykar while the other was thinking about what they should do from now on.

“They sent us to go get eaten, but who knew we would end up turning into monsters instead, this is probably the next best outcome for them anyways.” Rykar laughed. “Hmmm I guess it is what it is.” Rykar took off the last bag that was strapped to him and tipped the contents to the floor muttering. “We may as well see what presents they left us.”

He then threw the empty bag to the ground, revealing a short claw mark on its side.

While taking the two he was carrying, Loki didn’t look up at his brother as he unhurriedly laid out the contents onto the floor with a groaning heart. “Rykar, we need to get mom.”