Little Brothers

It's been three weeks since our departure from the capital. With Yukio and Emihiko, we travelled through a village needing help. The task was simple for the three of us, so we solved it in under a day. Despite their hot-headed personalities, the boys have become quite attached to me.

"Is something wrong?" asks Emihiko, concerned.

I stare into the campfire we lit. "No," I reassure, "There is nothing wrong."

He looks at me suspiciously, then gives in and says, "Okay. If you say so." He gets up and sits next to me. "Hey, Ivy. Can I ask you something?"

"Anything," I reply instantly.

He looks down, flustered. "C-Can I... can I call you... sister..."

He looks up at me, and my eyes are filled with horror. He becomes uncomfortable and says, "No... forget I said anything." He returns to his spot and wraps himself like a burrito inside his blanket.

Why did I do that? The more time I spend with them, the more they look like him. My eyes become heavy, and I dose off. I wake up the following day. "Wake up, Yukio, Emihiko. We have to search for clues on Leviathan."

There is no response from the limp burrito. I walk to them and unfurl the blanket. From the blanket falls two pillows—my heart stops. I look around viciously. My neck nearly snapped from the frantic turning. "Clue," I mutter, panicked. "There should be a clue somewhere... Anywhere..." That is when footprints enter my peripheral vision. I swiftly examine the small prints. "Four," I sigh in relief. "And they fit Emihiko and Yukio's sizes. Did they go into the woods? Even with their strength, they should know to be careful."

A powerful explosion shakes the ground. Birds fly out of the forest in their flock. Dears hop from the direction of the explosion and run past me hurriedly. One of the dears falls to the ground. I notice ice coating one of its hind legs. I look back and start running. The magic from that ice is Yukio's.

I run past all the trees, roots, and animals in my way. The trees become charred the closer I get to the area of the explosion, and the smell of blood is ripe in the air. Finally, I reached the site of the blast. There is still a cloud of dust and smoke. "Yukio!! Emihiko!!" I yell. There is no response. I dive into the smoke. The ground is brittle, and as I land, it starts cracking. "Yukio!! Emihiko!! Answer me if you're here!!" Still no answer. I walk around for a while.

"...vy... I... vy..."

"Yukio!!" I scream, relieved. I run in the direction of the voice. "Yukio!! Yukio, can you hear me!?"

"I... vy... help... ther... in... ger..."

"Yukio!?" His voice disappears, and so does the smoke. I look around and see nothing but the charred ground. "YUKIO!!"

I search for the entire day but find nothing. I must focus on my current mission, but I can't stop thinking about those two. Where are they? Who would do this? "WHY!?" I scream as I punch a tree. Blood runs down my fist onto the ground. "Why did I not say yes? Why does this have to happen again?"

"You seem troubled, young lady," says an old man.

"What do you want?" I ask coldly. "I'm in the middle of something, so if you have business with me, make it quick."

"I see that," he says, looking at my bleeding fist. "But do you think punching a dead tree will improve anything?"

I ignore the man and start walking away.

"Are you sure you want to walk away? If you do, Yukio and Emihiko will remain captives their entire lives."

I turn to him with a horrified expression masking my face. "How do you...?" My expression becomes one of anger, and I walk towards him. I grab him by his ragged clothing. "What do you know!? Spill!!"

He places his hand on mine. "Calm down, Ivy."

How does he know my name?

"'How does he know my name?' is what you just asked yourself, right?"

I pull my hand away from him and turn around. "Go away, Old man. I don't have time for your phoney psychic tricks."

"Phoney, you say. Well then, how about I show you how real my 'tricks' are?" He walks into the woods and disappears from my sight for a few minutes before coming back. "So, you are curious, aren't you? If you weren't, you would have left long ago."

"Your prideful smirk annoys me."

"Now, now. Don't be so stiff." From his pocket, he pulls fur.

"What's that? Fur?"

"My dear, are you sure you're even looking for your comrades?" he asks sarcastically.

I'm going to paralyze this old geezer. I take a deep breath and scrutinize the green fur that waves as the wind blows. "Emihiko," I say, exasperated. "I've never seen his fur before, but knowing him, his fur would be a gentle green colour such as that."

The old man smiles. "Good, you figured it out. But you still haven't figured out where those boys are."

"No, thanks to the fur you brought, I can figure out their location."

"Oh," he says, intrigued. "And just how can you do such a thing using only the fur I found with my 'phoney psychic tricks'."

"I'm starting to think you're more than you're letting on, geezer."

"Why do you say so?"

"You know exactly what I will do, don't you?"

"Oh, you praise me too much, Ivy. I am, of course, a very powerful old man. GEHAHAHAHA!!"

This old man and his pride.

He hands me the fur. I hold it tightly. Emihiko and Yukio are beasts from Purgatory. Yukio a Pagoménos Lýkos and Emihiko a Lýkos tou Anémou. Because I have this fur, I can follow the mana trail. This is a technique used by elves and spirits. By focusing on an object's mana, we can follow the small path of mana that leads to the object's owner. I never attempted this before, but I have enough experience with mana to test it out.

The fur glows green, and a faint trail of smoke appears. "I did it!! See, Old man, I did..." I turn around and find no one behind me. "Where did he go? No, the question I should be asking is, when did he go?" I shake my head, "Now's not the time for this. I have two pets to save."

The trail leads to a bandit hideout just outside of the forest. "It's hard to believe bandits managed to capture Yukio and Emihiko, who were powerful enough to defeat a dragon." I climb a tree to get a better view of the hideout. "One, two... about ten guards on the outside." I raise my hand, "Plant Magic: Create Flower - Valerian." A bouquet of yellow-brown flowers bud from my hand. I grind the plant's root and mix it with water until it becomes a paste. "It's been a while since I've last used this." I remove my hat and reach into it.

I pull a large bow and a quiver filled with arrows from it. "Hawk's Bow and the Witch's Bottomless Hat. Two relics I scavenged from my village after it was destroyed. The hat has unlimited storage space, and the bow never misses a shot, no matter how impossible the shot." I smear the ground paste onto an arrow. "Usually, valerian root will be mixed with other ingredients to induce a sleeping effect, so to compensate, I will use my mana to boost the effect of the valerian root." I draw the bow and take a deep breath. I open my eyes and set my sights on guard on the post. If I take him out first, I can finish off the others. My vision focuses, and I get a clear shot. The arrow races from the bow into the guard's leg. He lets out a weak cry before fainting. I repeat this with the other guards until no one is left standing.

I sneak into the hideout. There are more guards here. If these bandits managed to capture those two, I must be careful. I sneak around swiftly, taking out guards as I move. I continue this, all the while searching for the boys. I finally reach a room that seems like a dungeon. I go down the stairs, and a rotten stench fills the air. I cover my nose and start looking around. After a long while of searching, I don't find anyone. I go to the last cell and open the gate. A flood of rats run past me, frightened. I turn around and look inside the cage. The scene before me turns my stomach upside down. A scene too gruesome and traumatic to describe. I leave the dungeon and continue my search.

After an hour of searching the hideout, I come up blank. They are nowhere to be found in this hideout. What could I be missing?

As I contemplate this thought, a man screams as he runs toward me. "INTRUDER!!" He swings the sword in his hand, but I kick him in the gut, and he faints. My reaction was too late. Bandits suddenly surround me. Giant footsteps come nearer as the other bandits move back.

"I sleep fer two hours, and what da I find ere? A rat scurrying bout in ma nest." A giant orc, at least two meters tall, looks down at me like I'm a bug. Hanging slanted over his shoulder is a giant axe, which he effortlessly raises with one hand. He strikes the axe into the ground next to me. He smiles. "Fearless elf, are ya?" He raises the axe again and lays it on his shoulder. "Ya 'ad some nerve breakin in ma nest, Elf. But I will commend ya fer humblin ma men. Ya came ere fer a purpose, didn't ya? I will ere ya out, an if it's somethin' ya lookin' for, I will let ya look fer it."

"But Boss. She killed..."

"Silence, ya buncha weaklings. She didn't kill nunna our men; they're just unconscious. This is an order; ya not gunna touch er, ya ere?"

The bandits fall back, and soon, it's just the boss bandit and me.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Doin' what?"

"I've met bandits before; whenever they see me, all they see is money. Why are you allowing me to do as I want?"

The bandit boss looks up to the ceiling. "When I were a yung lad, an elf saved me. She were beautiful, elegant, and powerful. Her hair was like yers. Green like a grassy field. I told merself that if I ever met er again, I'd thank er and elp er if she ever needed it."

Now that you mention it, I remember saving an orc from slave traders.

"Yer saved ma life, an now I can be of elp to ya. This is the greatest moment of mer life."

After telling the orc about Yukio and Emihiko, he led me to his room, where they were. When they woke up, they were crying.

"We thought we'd never see you again!!" screams Emihiko.

Yukio nods his head.

"Why would you think that? A sister should always protect their little brothers, right?"

They look surprised for a second, then start crying for a different reason. After they calmed down, we left the bandit cave.

"So, these two were handed to you by an old man?"

"Yeah. He were a powerful old man, with immense magic. When I refused, he threatened ta kill ma bandit crew. I had no choice but ta oblige. Sorry, Sis."

"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad he didn't harm any of your men."

But if it really was that old man, why would he help me look for Yukio and Emihiko? Just who is that man?