Voltiana

Chapter Seven: Generals Of War

Marachii saw Dachii's eyes go slack, and he tried to pull his brother's hand off the crown, but the hand wouldn't budge, and his own hand got attracted to the crown like a magnet, coming into contact with it.

His vision went hazy, and he himself was pulled into the same sight Dachii was in.

There was fire, destruction, and death all around. They were in the ruins of a black and purple castle, with shadows dancing all around them. Marachii looked to his left and saw Dachii buried under rubble, and as he reached out to touch him a horrific scream was heard, and an explosion of purple came after, knocking both back to reality and away from the crown. Marachii got up and assisted Dachii.

"What the hell was that?" Dachii said. He looked at the crown with lots of nervousness and unease. As Marachii helped him away from the crown, Dachii decided:

"Maybe...we should just leave it be."

Marachii nodded, sweating. They both decided to put the sight out of their minds, and they went up to get some sleep for tomorrow's big event. When Marachii couldn't fall asleep, he went to the bathroom to grab some of his grandfather's sleeping pills he'd seen.

Unbeknownst to him, for a faint moment, when his face crossed the mirror, his eyes were a glowing red.

The next day, Marachii was surprisingly woken up by Dachii, who was standing on his own. He still had a limp, but otherwise he was supporting his own weight. The sight of this fully woke Marachii from his sleep.

"WHAT? You can stand now?"

Dachii stumbled a bit. "Yeah, my legs felt a little better today, so I was able to get up. Still hurts though."

As Dachii went to get breakfast, Marachii got up and got dressed. He came down to the perplexed faces of his mother and grandfather, who both were equally as confused as Marachii was when Dachii sat down at the table on his own.

"Oh, hey you guys."

"Dachii, are you...okay?" Their mother poured him some orange juice, and he nodded. "Yep, legs feel better! Great, right?"

Kia and Morino shared a look. Dachii scarfed down the waffles and bacon on his plate. Marachii joined them. "Dachii, speaking of your condition, your grandfather has found you a new doctor." Kia patted him on the head. "But how are you able to walk better? Did you take a drug?"

"Nope. I guess that exercise yesterday helped me!" he said.

"Exercise?" she replied, studying him with a suspicious look.

Morino didn't say anything, but he excused himself from the table. "Well, glad to hear you're getting better, kiddo. Now then, I'll be off to go handle work." Before anyone could ask, he went to his room, grabbed a bag, and left the house. The boys finished their breakfast and prepared to leave.

"Where are you two going?"

"To get more exercise!" Dachii gave her a wave with his surprisingly more flexible arm, and Marachii also said goodbye. She told them to be back in an hour, and they agreed. They walked to the nearest bus stop and found Tomoko there waiting for them. "Woah, you can walk now?"

"Uh, yeah. Exercise, am I right?" he said. Marachii found this all weird, but there was no explanation otherwise, he figured.

"But anyway, why are you the only person here?" Dachii asked, not seeing anyone else outside at all. It was just Tomoko and them. "Oh, I'm always the only one that attends!" he replied, with a bit too much eagerness. Dachii lifted an eyebrow. "Why?"

"You'll see!"

And at that moment, a bus came. There was no one else in it but the driver, and the driver was unmistakably NOT human. As the three boarded the bus, Dachii saw the full extent of the (man?)'s appearance: glowing white skin, long, silver hair, gray eyes, and a smile so bright that it quite literally hurt to look at.