Brothers

BEN GRAY

My life has been miserable for the longest time I can remember.

My earliest memory was when I was about two years old. The start of my miserable life.

"You will see!!! You all will see!!!"

My father shouted as he spoke to several people in the room with a giant round table; I peeped in and saw him from the giant door.

Apparently, my father was tossed out from the Grail family, one of the most powerful military families in Blivern, for joining the Druids of the East.

My mother was always against him joining the druids because it caused our family's downfall.

My father could no longer bear even hearing the name 'Grail', so he changed our surname to 'Gray' and my real name 'Hancel' to 'Ben', because it was my grandfather that gave me the name 'Hancel'.

A year passed and my father became more and more obsessed with research and experiments to prove what he said was right to the Grails. He so badly wanted them to believe him that the so-called 'Saviour' will come and stop the 'Apocalypse' the greatest mage of all time, Merlin, prophesied.

But all to no avail. The Grails still believed that there is no Apocalypse and there is no Saviour. And then, out of the blue... He committed suicide.

My mother, Marlene, didn't know what to do with her life because she was a non-mage human, that means she didn't have a mana core in her heart, which means her body couldn't harness mana, and solely depended on her husband.

Although the current and former Overlords made drastic changes to the world that made non-mages just as equal as mages by creating countless ways non-mage humans can earn a living, my mother didn't know how to do anything since she was betrothed to my father since she was a teenager and was only taught how to be a good wife. We lived in abject poverty ever since.

The Druids came back again, and in their words, showed my mother 'the light'. She became as fervent in the association as much as my father was. He always told her every single detail of the results on his experiments and research, so she became one of the heads of the group.

After all their research, they found a way to drain the power of the Deathgod of Cursed magic and transfer it to an actual person.

They finally decided to stop looking for the Saviour but instead create the Saviour. So, they chose me to be part of the twelve candidates for their Saviour.

To be honest, when I heard I was chosen to be a candidate I was greatly overjoyed that I will be able to get my revenge on the Grails for making my family miserable.

They conducted various experiments on us, of which made my blue hair grey; and unfortunately, the majority of the twelve didn't make it, and we were down to only three candidates remaining.

They conducted the final experiment on us; it was about infusing the hearts of beings loved by mana to our bodies and replacing our original heart with it. The hearts that were meant to be infused were an elf-orc-apeman heart they artificially combined, a dragon heart, and a black heart.

The operation was successful, so I became a chimera dragon because I was given the dragon heart. I figured the other two candidates couldn't make it as the druids immediately started preparing for the Ascension Ritual.

This was the final step into becoming, literally, a God.

The ritual kicked off about twenty minutes after I successfully became a chimera dragon.

The ritual was going fine until the druids asked for what they wanted, which made the Deathgod emerge from the shadows and ask,

"Curse or cost?"

We weren't even given enough time to answer but the Deathgod went on a rampage and started feasting on the lives of everyone that was present. How I saw people die was by grey smoke bursting out from their eyes and mouth, then they're body slowly turns to ashes.

It was a gruesome sight to behold.

Everything happened so fast when some mysterious men entered and disrupted the ritual. One of them wore a battle uniform that was sleeveless and a white cloth with designs covering his lower half and harbouring six sheathed slim and long swords hanging from his waist, three swords on each side; the other one wore something similar but looked more muscular than the former and didn't have six swords hanging from his waist, but instead had a giant one on his back.

The one with the six swords started fighting off the DeathGod that was already on a rampage. I saw him say something, but I could only hear:

"....part of my lifespan for sparing the child."

I heard this and turned to my mother who was slowly getting affected by the smoke.

"M-Mom?" I didn't even know what to do at that point. Was I to cry? Was I supposed to beg the mysterious men to save my mom's life? But why would they? Since I started suffering I saw the harsh truth that no saviour exists for me to bring me out from the pain called living, so why would they save her? If there is a saviour to save the world, why isn't there one to save her?

Mom probably already knew what was going through my mind. She smiled at me, which expressed her beauty in its full glory; she had long blue hair, round brown eyes, and a slim face with a pale complexion.

"My dear son, you are now the Saviour of mankind from the Apocalypse. I would be lying if I said I wasn't proud of you." She paused and tears started rolling down her cheeks profusely.

"But that is sincerely not where my heart is. The druids lock me up in a room, so I won't disturb their experiments on you. How could I ever sit down quietly when my son was knocking on death's door? But this is how we had to live because we had nowhere else to go, and I had to endure because I know you so badly wanted to be chosen as the Saviour to avenge your father. So, have you seen the result of your doing? I have seen mine and it is death. Ben, my dear son, please don't ever let your mind run on your emotions. I'm so sorry for everything, son. I love yo..."

She turned to ashes and faded away. I could feel my insides gnawing at me and I felt committing suicide knowing it is my fault mother joined the druids and let me be a candidate.

'Have you seen the result of your doing?'

Those words played in my head as I cried, screamed, wailed, and cursed the world I have come to know. I kept on asking the air where the saviour is and why he just let my mother die, why he just watched, and why he let my life turn out this way.

I caused her death, and now I have to live knowing that.

'That... is the result of my doing.'

***

The six-swords man said to took me to his house after the Deathgod left, while the other one stayed at the ritual ground.

On the way, we rode a dragon, and he told me his name was Kreiss, and that he was the current Overlord.

He was pretty much talkative and only spoke about his how great his son, that is about my age, is and how his wife is so loving and caring.

When I got there though, it was pretty much the opposite of everything he said; his son is an arrogant and stubborn brat and his wife pounds him into the ground every day with her punch. I think the man just doesn't have eyes to see what is actually happening.

From then on the question about if I've seen the result of what I've done kept on playing in my mind when I feel at home with this peculiar family.

Until last night at least. Kreiss only saved me because of some fatherly sentimentality due to the fact that I am his son's age mate.

Now he's dead. And the guy who killed him was his most trusted aide.

I will fulfil his role in keeping his son safe and I will make sure he actually becomes as great as he wants him to be.

Protecting him will be my top priority. Since, right now he wants to avenge his father I have to be there to help him have a cool-head at all times, so he won't make mistakes and ask himself if what he is experiencing is the result of what he has done.

This is the path I've chosen for myself and I will do it how best I know.

"Danton. I will follow you to anywhere you go, and we'll get revenge for what happened to your dad."

"Ben. I... didn't know that you've already suffered this much, and I promise you one thing: I am not doing this for revenge." Danton said it with so much sincerity in his voice. I'm really happy he doesn't want to seek vengeance any longer.

"From now on we're brothers. So let's grow strong together." He added with a meek smile on his face that made him look just like his father.

"Yeah." Not only have I got a new family, I have also gained a friend I can trust with my life, a brother.

"And now if you'll excuse me, I will love to get back to sleep." Danton spoke without realizing how long we've been awake.

"Uhh! Danton. It's already morning." I stifled a laugh and pointed at the window, so he could see the blue silhouette of the window.

"Goddammit!!"