Not long after her children had been taken from the village on the ‘hunting trip’, Lifa had come terms with the fact that she may never see them again.

After returning to the central village and confronting her husband, he played it off as a simple hunting trip with nothing to worry about and forbade her from leaving the tent from that point.

Refusing to listen to the blatant lies, she had attempted to escape and catch up to the hunting party, only to end up restrained and tied down. Even with these confinements placed on her, multiple times had she made attempts to leave forest, however that only caused her husbands other wife to come up with a more shameful way to bind her.

The ropes were no longer used, leaving her free to move around as she wished. However, along with the ropes, her shoes and clothing had been taken from her. Leaving her with nothing but her bare skin.

Within the tent this was barely acceptable, seeing as it was not an irregular occurrence as it was a warm environment, but when it came to being made to run through an entire village full of people and then into the forest without even knowing which direction to search in… Even with her conviction, the thought made her grow limp.

She may have been here a long time, yet her upbringing was still firmly rooted within her.

And so, hours passed by which consisted of non-stop arguing and shouting before ending in an uncomfortable silence which was followed by even more quarrelling. This had caused everyone to steer clear from the Chief’s tent while even driving his other wife away, taking up temporary lodging elsewhere in order to avoid the tension which haunted the room.

In contrast, her husband made a point of sticking to his routine. Hunting, eating, sleeping and training while returning to the hut to sleep regularly, in order to make a point of being unfazed by her anger. Stubbornness ran deep between the both of them as the confrontations degraded into the silent treatment, with words no longer being exchanged as she sat naked in the corner staring at him venomously whenever he entered the space.

. . .

Linda woke up startled as she heard shouts and screams from outside. She as curious as to what was taking place outside the tent, wanting to go out and take a look yet she was held back by her lack of clothing.

The cries of Chris came next, indicating that there was something wrong with his father which had left him alarmed at first quickly transformed into a warm feeling when thinking of the man’s misfortune.

‘The world is a circle after all’ she hummed to herself while stretching comfortably along the ground like a cat before bunching up some of the straw beneath her back for a better posture.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, NO. This can’t be happening” more of Chris’s shouts came through the door causing her to feel even more intrigued with the situation. As there was no one else screaming, it was obviously not something which had alarmed the entire village. Despite a few shouts from the others, it was generally quiet outside, leading her to believe that the incident was isolated to her b*stard of a husband.

But what could have silenced the man?

“I saw them die! It wasn’t my fault, it wasn’t my idea!!”

It took a second for the next few words to sink in. It was like a firework went off in her head as she bolted to her feet and rushed towards the exit of the tent, completely ignoring her appearance.

The next words from Chris’s mouth went completely unregistered in her mind as she became oblivious to everything besides the faint hope that her children were outside.

Without slowing down to move the mat which covered the entrance, she barrelled straight into it which caused it to be ripped off from the top of the door frame, entangling her as she fell to the ground.

“…”

There was silence outside as all eyes swivelled round to focus on the latest unexpected development.

After crashing to the ground with the mat barely hiding her body, Lifa hurriedly propped herself up using her arms in the search of Loki and Rykar. She didn’t even flinch as she browsed past the sorry state of her husband and his son before continuing, her head darting around rapidly, only adding to her already disorientated state.

“Rykar! Loki! Are you here? Please!” While gathering herself, she began to call out to her boys while desperately praying for a reply.

“Mom?” her reply finally came as the twins called in unison. Covered in the matting, it wasn’t obvious to the twins at first but as they took a step in Linda’s direction, the few people that were partially in the way had moved aside hastily allowing for a clear line of sight.

“Oh my god, my babies! Come here! I thou- AAURGHHH” As the crowd had parted, the first thing she was greeted by were a pair of oddly colored eyes and grey skin. Due to a combination of falling due to being entangled and her own frantic searching, she wasn’t thinking steadily enough to have realized their true identities before reacting to the beings in front of her.

The mind can be a scary thing. Due to her preconception of seeing her children once again being so strong, she couldn’t fully comprehend the situation. If she had simply put two and two together, the voices that called out to her, the crowd parting for her children, the heights and ages matching up… instead, before even taking a pause, she began crying out once again. “W-where are my boys!?”.

Loki and Rykar stopped moving. Physically and mentally rooted to the spot once again as their mind collapsed on itself.

Looking at the two figures once again, Lifa was about to ask them directly where her children were but stopped herself as she came to realization. It felt as though a bucket of cold water had been thrown over her.

When looking into their eyes, she saw the previous appearances of Loki and Rykar over lapping, quickly becoming one and the same. Tears flooded from mother and sons all at once as the three pairs of eyes intersected with the ring of observers still watching on dumbfounded.

“Loki! Rykar!” Lifa struggled to wipe the straw and dust from her eyes as she called out to them. “What’s going on? What happened?”

After quickly finishing using her palms to wipe away the tears, she became silent. It only took a few seconds but she was already left with her sons’ backs facing her as they sprinted in the opposite direction while weaving in and out of the tents.

Wherever they moved, people would flee in a desperate attempt to avoid any contact.

“No! Rykar, Loki, come back! Why are you leaving me again!?” Confusion struck Lifa as she tried to free herself from the matting while crawling in their direction and shouting after them. Tears still flowing from her eyes, she became frantic as her naked body finally broke free.

Rising to her feet, she attempted to break through the rest of the villagers and give chase to the fading figures only to be stopped and held down by those closest to her.

“Why?! Let me go you con of a b*tch, get off me!” She rained curses and punches down on those around her indiscriminately as she struggled.

“Lifa stop. They are demons now.”

“Maybe that’s just their true appearance!”

“They aren’t the sons you know.”

“Please forgive me, this is for your own good.”

“Please Lifa, you have to get a grip!”

The surrounding people constantly shouted at her, trying to get her to see sense, but all she saw was emptiness as she finally lost sight of the twins who had by now departed the village and vanished into the woods…

. . .

Laying on their separate beds, Loki and Rykar were staring vacantly at the ceiling without having spoken a word on their return.

Their tears had long since run dry.

The scene from the village had been replaying in their heads with painfully amazing clarity. Every single detail had been captured and recreated via their perfect recall, to the point they could count the number of breaths they had taken.

They couldn’t forget it even if they’d wanted to.

Taking a step towards their mother’s figure. The villagers slowly parting.

Their mother calling their names…

Her scream of horror upon seeing her children.

Her denial of them, as she continued shouting for her sons.

And finally, her tears upon seeing what they had become.

“Hey Loki, you awake?”

“Yep.”

“What do you think she thought when she saw us?”

“Does it matter?”

“I don’t know… She always said that everything looks different through someone else’s eyes.”

“But does it matter?”

“You think it doesn’t?”

“Food tastes different to everyone, right?”

“Hmm, yeah I think so. You like some things I don’t.”

“Right. But when you eat something you like, you react to it in a certain way right? If you like something, you wouldn’t spit it on the floor. Likewise, if something disgusts you then you wouldn’t swallow it.”

“Well yeah… but I didn’t ask you if we taste good.”

“My point is, it doesn’t matter what we looked like. What matters is how she reacted to us. If she thought of us as her sons and wanted to come with us, she would have at least called us after screaming… like, I know we look different so that’s one thing. But she looked right at us, and still turned away.”

“But what i-“

“Rykar, It took Chris about a second to recognize us and spill his guts out on top of dad, you’re not about to tell me that he is more familiar with our faces than mom is… are you?”

“No. I know you’re right don’t worry… but still, I wish I could have seen myself through mother’s eyes.”

Silence once again took over the room as they shut their eyes, trying to drown out their own thoughts.

“Me too.”

…

“Because, I think we look pretty cool.”

…

“Dumbass.”