Within the forest, there was no concept of day and night due to the absence of a sun in the sky. If one was to look upwards then apart from the textured grey clouds, there was nothing. This unceasing source of light was awkward yet perfect when it came to productivity.

At all times, nearly a hundred people could be seen scurrying around, practicing hunting skills, performing maintenance or simply socializing in the open. Now and then, the odd few would enter their huts at irregular intervals in order to get a few hours of rest before emerging again to continue their routines.

These short cycles of sleep allowed for there to be a constant, although lax and disorderly, surveillance of the area to be maintained at all times due to the busyness of the inhabitants. The only exceptions to this haphazard way of life were the regular intervals for training the younger generation or for food distribution which was signaled by a piercing whistle.

Without raising the alarm, the shadows of Loki and Rykar could be seen flitting through the trees on the outskirts while sticking close to the ground. Hesitation was evident in their movements as they constantly drew closer only to quickly retreat once again, as the slightest movements and sounds startled them. Their own tension was bouncing between themselves, feeding into each other’s fears of what was ahead.

Their goal wasn’t food or material values. They had come back solely for the purpose of taking their mother back to their new home and finally being free from the restraints which their father and the rest of the village had placed on their family. In their hearts, the village may as well have been completely empty aside from Lifa. There was nothing to be missed or longed for in a place like this.

Although they knew that they had to wait for the whistle to sound before they could actually sneak in, positioning made all the difference. If they were closer to their target beforehand, they would spend less time getting there and back out again, reducing the risk of getting caught.

For this reason, they were trying to get as close to the village as possible before the whistle sounded.

They were currently eyeing the training field with scorn plastered across their faces as they watched the instructors guide their half brother, Chris, and the rest of the children through their archery and knife exercises. It was like watching incapable teachers teach even more incapable students. The instructors were able to hit the targets most of the time but, even then their accuracy was questionable at best.

The majority younger generation were a far cry from being able to match up to the instructor’s rough skills and technique, but Chris was able to step above and beyond his peers, performing even better than those who were supposed to be teaching them.

Watching his successful performance while thinking back to his shameful display of cowardice in the forest only served to fuel the deep set hate the twins had already amassed towards him.

They had been loitering on the edge of the village for quite a while now, while watching the youths train for nearly two hours.

For those hours, the smiling faces of all present were burned into their brains. Every time they hit a target. Every time they cheered. Every time they hugged one another. Every time they praised one another.

Every action that was performed only went to remind the twins of how unimportant they were towards them. Maybe, just maybe most of the others did not know about the request to have them killed but even then, their disappearance was taken underfoot just like they had expected it to. The ones that bore witness to it all, the remaining three that had escaped showed no remorse or discomfort on their faces. They had survived and would live in comfort, what more was there for them to think about?

‘Do they not even care that their friend wasn’t able to make it back with them?’

They thought while crouched beside a bale of straw.

*Fweeeeeee*

Their thoughts were broken as a whistle tore through the air. Shortly after, the entire village could be heard stirring as everyone began moving towards the source of the sound, the largest structure which was neighboring the training field.

As the instructors and students began making their way, the twins finally broke past their hesitation and rapidly circled towards the blind side of the field. While looking at their backs from an outsider’s perspective, Loki felt like the villagers resembled mindless puppets as they one dimensionally drifted towards the tent after dropping whatever was preoccupying them or rolling out of their homes.

On the tails of these people, Loki and Rykar were slowly approaching the centre of the domestic space while checking the entrances of the tents they approached in order to make sure they were already vacant.

Stress built up rapidly as their hearts thundered within them. Despite moving slowly, the pressure made them feel as though their energy was being drained rapidly and Rykar, who was struggling to pull in enough air through his nose, had begun quietly panting from his dry mouth due to stress.

Their mother and the other wive of their father would be the exception to this situation. They had always stayed within the main tent or pre-occupied themselves around the camp when this time came, after all, there was no need for them to queue for their distribution if it all practically belonged to them.

This was their target.

After checking their old hut before hand and assuring themselves that she wasn’t there, this was the second most likely place they could think to find her. If she was still absent from the main tent, they would be clueless as to where to search next without going through each hut one by one.

Just as they approached the main tent, they paused. The chances were, it wasn’t just their mother within, but the first wife also and maybe even other people. This meant that they had to rush in, pick out their mother and get her to follow them while explaining what was happening… And this all had to take place under the chaos that may or not be caused by the other people in the room.

That’s how they had planned it out beforehand and they how no solutions to anything else that could happen.

Just as they were about to make a dash for the entrance, the piece mat that had been covering the entrance shifted open with a man who looked around forty years old stepping out. Despite the dark hair which covered the majority of his head and beard, traces of dark blond still remained as though reminding others that there wasn’t much time yet before his decline.

Grey wolf’s hide covered him from head to toe which had been sewn together using the tendons of animals along with a layer of cloth underneath which could be seen through the few areas of the weathered leather. The quality of his clothing obviously surpassed anything that anyone else in the village was wearing.

Despite walking out, the man’s eyes were concentrated down towards his waist as he struggled while fastening his belt. Taking a few steps from the entrance, he saw two dirty pairs of feet from the corner of his eyes.

“Didn’t you hear the whistle? Go get in line or go hungry.” Without giving it any thought, he growled in their direction before turning in the direction of the distribution tent and continuing on his way.

However, after walking for a short while he realised he hadn’t had a response from the two that were lagging behind. It had long since become a custom within the village to reply to his words with ‘yes chief’. A custom which he gladly indulged in at any opportunity. “Didn’t you hear wha-“.

As he turned around with the intention of withholding their rations for the day, the remainder of his words caught in his throat as he froze in fear. Before him stood two ash grey creatures which were staring at him dead in the eyes. Two pairs of oddly colored pupils shone while trembling softly as they locked gazes with him without blinking.

These figures figures could hardly be called dressed. On their bodies was only tattered leather and cloth, which was barely held together and dangling from their bodies. There were blood stains mottling areas of their clothing while mould and dried dirt was splattered on their limbs due to them crawling through the forest. These accumulated features caused them to resemble corpses which has clawed their way out of the ground before making their way into the village.

In contrast to their bodies and clothing, their faces were oddly clean, as though the rest of their bodies were irrelevant yet they had gone out of their way to make sure they were recognizable.

Which they had, in order for their mother to recognize them more easily.

This is when The Chief realised the most haunting thing about the creatures, that despite their repulsive appearance, their faces were immaculate while bearing a perfect resemblance to his unwanted sons… which were long since supposed to have been… disposed of.

“Gaaaaugh” Taking large steps, the chief screamed as he retreated while releasing his grip on his belt in favor of pushing his arms out in front of himself defensively. As he tripped over himself and fell to the ground, his wild shout drew the attention of everyone in the vicinity. Unfortunately, the shout was also easily loud enough to be heard from distribution hut as everyone in the village quikly ran in the direction of the commotion.

People appeared from all directions, quickly encircling the space and filling up the gaps between the tents in order to see what was going on. As the villages rushed over, they were shouting questions towards each other and hollering, however everyone fell silent as soon they bore witness to the twins stood within the encirclement.

“A-Are they demons”

An inconspicuous little girl muttered softly from the side of her mother, who then grabbed the little girl and held her closely against her leg. The girls girls were soft enough to have usually have gone un-heard in such a large group of people. But the pin drop silence was broken by nothing the sounds of caught breaths, which allowed the words spread out clearly my the majority.

From the back of the encirclement there was a strong movement as Chris, recognizing his father’s shout, burst through and ran to his fathers side, helping him up from the ground. “What happened?! Are you ok?” Without scanning the area, he checked over his father. looking for injuries while supporting his limp frame.

Due to not having tied his belt properly, the chief’s pants had slid to the ground as soon as Chris propped him up against his shoulder. This caused his sons face to turn red as he struggled with the situation. The chief of the village was laying limp across his sons shoulder while on full display to the entire village yet no one so much as chuckled.

“Someone help! Don’t F*ucking stand there you braindead idiots!” Chris began shouting into the crowd as the embarrassment began to turn into anger. A short, very short lived anger.

While staring daggers into the crowd, he finally caught sight of the duo which caused the disturbance. He was instantly able to see past the change of skin color and the eyes, easily recognising his half brothers who were still frozen to their places as they stared at their father who had ordered their deaths.

*BURGHH*

Without skipping a beat, Chris emptied the contents of his stomach over his fathers’ body while crumpling to the floor alongside him. His heart had run cold as it clenched tightly within his chest while his stomach squeezed itself like a wet rag.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, NO. This can’t be happening” his legs and arms had stopped working, not allowing him to put any more distance between them as he screamed in their direction with bits of sick still flowing down his chin.

“I saw them die! It wasn’t my fault, it wasn’t my idea!!” It seemed as though he was screaming at himself rather than anyone in front of him as his head bounced between the twins and the faces in the crowd. His sanity had betrayed him as he broke down, clinging onto the words the little girl had absentmindedly spoken

“DEMONS! They've been possessed by the demons! They have come for me! Father, mother you won’t let the demons take me, will you? HAHAHAH-”. The last thing to come out of Chris’s mouth before his head hit the ground was the crazed laughter which was cut short as he lost consciousness due to the stress of his mental breakdown.

Hearing the screams of Chris on the outside of the tent, the curtains once again began to drift apart as someone pushed their way outside.