The shuffling of feet and the smacking of wooden swords could be heard through the rising stalks of the Wimber trees that populated the area. Their dark twisted trunks rose from black hard soil while their small leaves shaped like cusped hands gently swayed in the calm breeze.

Through them, in a small clearing, two young men could be seen duelling against each other. One was half a foot taller with parted hair that touched his cheeks, and a skinnier frame. This dark wooden sword, which seemed to be made from Wimber trees, gracefully maneuvered around his more brutish opponent, a stocky, well-built young man with hair whose length teetered above a crew cut

Aside from their main differences, they both shared many features, from their striking pitch-black eyes that say no separation from their pupils and iris to their shiny black hair and facial features. Anyone looking at them might assume they were brothers, and they were.

Their sword styles couldn’t be more different, however. The skinnier man employed many parrying techniques and stances to evade and maneuver throughout the fight while striking back with quick strikes and stabs from many unassuming angles that were difficult to defend against. To say the other used techniques at all would be generous, to say the least. His saving grace was his speed and power instead, using it to pressure his opponent.

Despite the skinnier man’s greater techniques, a hastily positioned sword would always manage to keep the more muscular man from receiving a strike that would kill him assuming the sword was made from a deadlier material.

The burly man struck back, forcing his opponent to try and parry or evade his strike. Parrying it, he managed to step back, but even still, his hands shook from the weight of the strike.

As the duel continued, the two men started to differ in physical ability.

The skinnier boy started to heave, sweat soaking his red and black stylish uniform. The burly man, however, seemed to be fine.

“God dammit Zane don’t you ever get tired?” The skinny man groaned.

“Hah! This is light work! Your defence is getting sloppier Jay, you better prepare yourself because I’m not gonna hold back!” Zane grinned.

Jay could see how this was going to end, just like the countless other times they had duelled, with him on the floor gasping for air, and his brother gloatingly staring down at him.

‘But not this time!’

Suddenly, as Zane’s forward strike falls on him, instead of parrying or evading as he normally would, he simply holds his sword horizontally and braces for a block.

Zane’s eyes falter for a second. ‘What is this idiot thinking?’

Continuing with his strike, their swords clash. Jay almost stumbled against his brother’s incredible force, and he could feel the strength leave his legs.

But instead of retreating, he twists his body, forcing Zane’s sword underneath his. Sliding his sword against his brothers with the full weight of his body, he swipes to the hilt and strikes Zane’s hand, causing his brother to yelp and drop his sword.

“YES!” Jay shouts!

For so long, he had to cower and dance around his brothers’ mighty strength, but he had finally gained his first victory over him!

He glanced over at his brother, who was grudgingly cradling his bruised hand.

“You asshole! That actually hurt!” Zane grunted.

Jay rolled his eyes at what sore loser this brother was acting like. This was how he felt every time he lost.

“Fine then, you wanna play rough? I’ll make it rough!” Zane snapped as he began to clench his fists.

Thin black and red wisps seemed to surge from his body, forming an ominous outline around him.

The blood drained from Jay’s face.

“Wait hold o—”

“NOPE”

Zane suddenly leapt, causing a small blast underneath him scattering the dirt and causing a small crater where he had just been.

Jay, too tired to move out of the way, meekly tries to block with his wooden sword.

As he landed, Zane swung, splintering the sword into a million pieces and hitting Jay right in his sternum, knocking him a couple of inches into the ground.

Jay lay there for a couple of seconds, unable to breathe. Those short moments felt like his lungs had collapsed as it seemed he couldn’t breathe. This only lasted a short few moments until he could breathe again, gasping like he was trying to breathe all the air.

Cough, Cough, “YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ME!”

“I’m good at controlling my chaos, I only used enough to give you the face pummeling you deserve,” Zane remarked back, holding out his hand.

Jay grabs it and uses it to pull himself up.

“You know we aren’t allowed to use chaos outside, right? Father will kill us if he ever finds out!”

“Don’t worry, we’re in the middle of the Wimber forest, no one’s here, that’s why we chose this place remember?”

Jay hesitantly agreed. They didn’t mind if others saw them duelling, but the last person they wanted seeing them was their little sister Camila”

Dusting themselves off, they began to walk back, but only a few steps in, they hear the snapping of a twig.

They freeze in their spots.

“A shoboar?” Zane quietly asks.

Turning their heads while expecting to see a large six-horned boar, what they instead see shocks them to their very core.

The innocent face of an 11-year-old girl.

“Oops!” Camila quipped.