Chapter 10: Argax and Palis

“I’m sorry,” Jake heard himself saying,” I think there’s been some sort of mistake.”

“Oh?” The woman asked as she ascended the stairs at one side. The two boys, his brothers, met her in the middle and they walked towards the group, “What mistake could that be?”

“I’m…I’m not…” For some unexplainable reason, Jake was unable to get his words out. The woman before his, his supposed mother was more threatening in her presence the closer she came to him.

‘I’d rather face the sick beasts,’ Jake thought.

“His name is Jake, not Alexcyn,” Jake looked to his side and saw that Mimi had spoken up for him. He mentally thanked whoever was watching over him for this girl.

“And who exactly are you?” The woman asked, scrunching up her nose as she stared down at me. This time Jake found his voice and spoke up.

“Her name is Mimi, and this is Gale,” he motioned to the boy to step forward as well, “they found me in the forest and helped me come to this town.”

“Is that so?” One of the boys questioned, “I suppose we owe you thanks then, for bringing our brother back to us.”

“We should repay you for your service, no?” The other said, his lip turned up into a smirk as e regarded the twins.

“That won’t be necessary,” Jake spoke out loud to the shock of the his supposed brothers, who stared at him as if he had grown two heads, “I don’t believe I’m the person you’re looking for, I’m sorry. We should leave now.”

But before he could take a single step away, the woman walked forward and grabbed him at his jaw, then forcibly turned his head to the side to reveal a branded marking beneath his ear.

A branded R was etched into the skin there in a small font, “R,” she spoke, “for Ragvindr.” Then she turned her cold gaze to Mimi, “Blood and bones do not lie, little villager.”

From the corner of his eye Jake saw Gale tense up, his hand resting on the sword at his side as he watched the exchange between Mimi and his mother. Or rather his body’s mother or rather- Jake shut his eyes as his head began to throb. Thinking about it only proved to confuse him even more, so he instead focused on the situation at hand.

“Thomas,” she called out to the man who quickly appeared in front of her with a bow, “my dear son seems to have hit his head and forgotten where he comes from. Show him to his bedroom.”

Thomas was pulling on Jake- no, Alexcyn, before he could protest, but he yanked himself from the man’s grasp and spoke directly to the woman, “What about my friends?”

She turned to Mimi and Gale, then to Jake again and stared down deep into his eyes, as if she was looking at something she hadn’t seen before in him, but then she broke away and turned back to the staircase. With a wave of her hand she said, “Say your goodbyes, strangers are not welcome in the manor.”

She was gone before Jake could protest, and he was left with no choice but to part from yet more friends that day.

“I’m sorry-“ he began apologising, but Gale cut him off.

“Don’t be, it’s not like we’re friends,” he yanked open the large oak door with a huff and left. Mimi stayed and stared at Jake unlike her brother. Then she rushed forward and embraced him in a hug.

“Please be safe Jake,” he heard her whisper; “You know where to find us.” And she left him with a smile and a wave.

When Jake turned back around, the beaming faces of Argax and Palis stared at him, yet for some reason Jake felt the smiles on their faces weren’t because they were happy to see their supposedly dead brother again.

“So you survived the forest huh,” Argax began speaking as he moved toward Jake.

“Didn’t think you had it in ya to be fair,”

“Come on Palis, don’t be mean, our little brother is very resourceful.” Argax chastised Palis, to which he replied.

“If by resourceful you mean as food for the wolves,” Palis laughed, “then yes, I agree Argax.” The two sneered and chuckled at him as they continued to encircle him and comment on his appearance.

“What do you mean ‘so I survived’?” Jake demanded from Argax.

“Oh my!” Palis stopped dead in front of Jake and held his face between both of his hands, “Do you see that Argax? Look at that look in his eyes, since when did our little brother become so assertive?”

“Hmm, you really don’t remember?” Argax asked, then explained to Jake what had happened to him- no, his body, before he had awoken up in it.

“Mother had sent the three of us into one of those ugly little villages to procure something for her, and instead of listening to us like we told you to you had wondered off the path and out of our sight,” Argax ran his hand through thick raven curls, and Jake noted that that was one of the few differences between him and Palis.

Where Argax had black and curly hair, Palis’ hair was much closer to Jakes in colour and texture- yet it seemed both of them received their dark and hard eyes from their mother as opposed to Jake, who had lighter eyes. He wondered if he had a relative who shared this gene, or if it was from his father, “Not a while later,” Argax continued, “and we heard you screaming out into that beast infested forest, we had no choice but to assume you were dead!”

“Our poor system-less brother, what could you have done to defend yourself? We wondered,” Palis continued to tell the story, “that’s what we thought, anyway. It seems we were wrong.”

System-less? Jake thought. Did they think he didn’t have a system? Did Alexcyn not have a system before Jake awoke in his body? Jake kept his mouth shut at the misinformation of his brothers, not deeming it wise to tell them of his newly found skillset.

“Of course, perhaps it could’ve been avoided altogether if you didn’t rely on us so much to protect you,” Argax stated nonchalantly, “but then again it’s not like any of mother’s brothers or sisters wanted to give you their system. You understand why of course.”

Jake’s face remained blank as he stared at his brothers.

“Or maybe not,” Palis snickered, “do you really not remember anything from that night?” He knocked his knuckles against the side of Alexcyn’s head roughly, “I suppose that’s fortunate enough.”

In fact, Jake didn’t remember much of all if he were honest. Even the few vague memories he had of his life before he came to this world slowly began to fade as the days passed on and he found it harder and harder to remember who he was supposed to be.

He stared at his brothers for a short while, looking at the sneering and condescending faces that seemed to belittle him. Then with a puff of his chest he turned from then and back to Thomas, “I’d like to be shown to my room now.”

“Certainly, young master,” Thomas replied and led the way deeper into the manor.

Thomas led him through a labyrinth of doors and corridors, each leading to larger rooms with more doors and secret passages Jake was sure he knew the secrets of once- or rather, he was sure Alexcyn must have known.

Jake stopped in a larger room, a study of sorts, books were lined up neatly in shelves and above a roaring fireplace there sat a painting of a man. Jake stared at it for a while before Thomas seemed to notice his intrigue.

“Your father had that painting made when he was elected master of the manor,” Thomas explained, “The people of the nearby villages celebrated for an entire week when your father was elected.”

Jake furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and asked, “Why?”

Thomas tilted his head at the younger boy, and then walked closer to the painting as he began to explain, “Perhaps you might not remember it, but the town and the villages were not as peaceful as they are now. Your father’s family helped to restore a balance between those humans with systems and those who live their lives without- before… before everything was pure chaos.”

“Your mother’s family,” Thomas continued to explain as he lit the candles that surrounded other paintings depicting older men and women Jake did not know, “Helped finance the building of this city, from here people started to spread out, create smaller villages and thrive as independent communities.”

“I seem to be part of quite an important family line,” Jake hummed in admiration, and yet something else was laced in his words. A forlorn imagining of Alexcyn and the boy he must have been, what his mother and brothers must have seen him as, being both system-less and seemingly unimportant because of it.

“Yes, indeed.” Thomas agreed as they both stared at the long line of elders that had come before them, each contributing to the stability of the city and the beginning of a civilised community between those magic-imbued individuals and those without.

“Is it possible for people to have two of the same systems at the same time?” Jake heard himself ask.

“Of course, many people co-exist with the same system at the same time, such as those in the labour industries-“

Jake cut Thomas off, “No, I mean- is it possible for one to give their ability to someone else and still keep it? Like if my parents gave their systems to my brothers, would they still have it?”

Thomas was startled for a moment, and then answered, “Your brothers have already been given their systems.”

Jake was taken aback by the abruptness of the answer, but didn’t push it further. He followed Thomas through the rest of the house in silence until they reached the door of Alexcyn Ragvindr's room.