Chapter 32: The Emptiness that Speaks Back to Me

Jake’s eyes stayed on Argax, eyeing his brother as he looked back at him.

Palis held his arms in his hands, tightly behind his back. Jake could move if he wanted to, he could channel that strength that rested in him now- but he didn’t. Not yet, and not if he had to. So he listened to the way Argax spoke with bitterness in his tone.

“Father was really proud of you, you know,” Argax paced back and forth in front of him, his body was shaking but Jake didn’t know why, “Finally, a son who was just like him,” The words were spat in Jake’s face, as if Argax was insulting him, “The son he always wanted.”

“But then you just had to go into the woods that day, you just had to follow your big brothers into places you weren’t equipped to go into, didn’t you?” Argax looked at him now, and Jake’s breathing hardened as Argax kept speaking, behind him he could feel Palis tense for some unknown reason, “You just had to go and be the hero.”