He stepped back and wiped his brow, heaving a large sigh of exhaustion. With just one sweep of his magic, he had leveled an entire acre of forestry, uprooted the trunks, and set all of the wood down in neat piles off to the side of the clearing.
"Damn, dude. You never cease to amaze," a voice chimed as a hand clapped down onto the young man's shoulder. He quickly pulled his hand away and grimaced, wiping his palm along his shirt. "Gross. That's all it took for you to break into that hard of a sweat? I gotta go all night to get that soaked!"
"Twyn, I don't want to hear about your pre-martial escapades. Really." He avoided looking at the 18-year-old behind him. He closed his eyes and raised both hands to the cleared field and took one more deep breath. "If you don't mind, would you stop being a sarcastic jackass and be helpful for a change? Lend me some of your source."
"Funny. But seriously, your shirt is disgusting to touch," he scoffed but obliged, setting his hand gently down on his friend's shoulder. He huffed a disgusted sigh feeling the sweat soaked t-shirt, "All yours, Shay-Shay. Take what you need."
Even being a little more than two years younger, Twyndis Sherson stood almost a foot taller than Shej who was only 5' 7". Twyn was the talk of the town with his red hair and intensely green eyes, and every Lady Of Age wanted him to take their hand as his. Shej on the other hand had hair black enough it seemed to devour sunlight, but his dark blue-gray eyes shined as if they had taken that light to shine brighter. Unlike Twyn, Shej preferred to stay...single. Ladies Of Age cooed at him every time he turned around, especially since he had been Of Age himself for a while, but he would smile, wave politely, and continue on with a sigh.
"If you don't like helping me, don't talk me into these ridiculously immense projects."
"Building a new hospital was needed. I'm doing this for the children."
"...yeah, the hundred soon-to-be children that will look just like you..." he muttered under his breath. He took a slow, deep breath and his hands started to glow, Twyn himself having a soft aura as Shej pulled from his source to strengthen his own. The ground started to roll like water, dirt and stones turning into paths and flower beds, the cut trees splitting into beams and creating a structure on top of a foundation as it finished forming. Water began to crawl across the ground from the nearby pond, mixing with the dirt and becoming clay before adhering itself to the beams to make walls and floor. The new hospital was much needed after the old one partially collapsed from age only two days ago. This one didn't need to be anything extravagant, their little village was home to only about two to three hundred villagers, but he created it to be a little roomier and more resourceful than the last. Just as the last of the shingles were about to set themselves down onto the roof and finish the structure, he let out a groan. "Shit...not again."
"Shej?"
"I'm sorry." Shej's voice creeped out of his throat like it was riding the last tiny ounce of air left in someone's lungs before his whole body collapsed straight to the ground.
"Sorry? For wha—shit, Shej!" He was able to hook his hands under Shej's arms before he fell too far and he strained as he tried to lay him down on the ground gently. He startled at a loud, clamoring noise and looked up to see the last few shingles having tumbled to the ground and break into pieces on the cement. He turned his focus back to his best friend, pressing his hand down hard on Shej's chest, sensing Shej's heart wasn't beating. "You asked me for some of my source, why didn't you take more, you IDIOT!!" His hand started to glow red and then shifted to green before to gold, the light seeming to leave Twyn's hand and fill Shej's chest. After a few moments, he stopped and sat up seeing Shej regain color in his flesh and though his friend was still limp and unresponsive, his body promised life. After taking a short breather at the sudden adrenaline rush, he stood and picked his friend up in his arms and carried him back into the village to their home.
"Leena! A little help please?" he hollered as he kicked the front door twice.
A young-looking red-headed girl opened the door and gasped, "What happened this time? Is he okay?"
"He was building the hospital. But instead of taking it slow and building it over a few days, he opted to build the whole thing in under an hour!" He pushed past the girl who was just barely shorter than Shej, walking straight to his and Shej's shared bedroom and laying him down on Shej's bed. He growled, anger in his eyes as he walked back out to the living room and flopped onto the couch. "He asked for some of my source, I told him to take whatever he needed. He barely took any! Does he not know he could kill himself overexerting his source like that?"
She stood in the doorway to Shej's room, looking in on him, softly playing with her lower lip before speaking. "As long as we've known him, he's always been an overachiever, always putting more on his plate than he can handle alone."
"You're ogle-stalking him again." The tone of anger was gone, as if it never existed.
Leena jumped and turned towards her brother, "I am not!" she scowled in a hushed tone, forcing herself away from Shej's doorway, closing the door behind her.
"Leena, you're my twin sister, I know what you're thinking." The corners of his mouth curled into a grin, "We're coming Of Age in a few weeks. Are you thinking he hasn't asked anyone for their hand because you think he's waiting for you?"
She blushed several shades of red, sending Twyn into a fit of laughter. She flopped down into a chair across the room from Twyn. "He's been 21 for a few months now and we're just barely turning 19. He's not going to ask me to marry him, it's tradition to ask someone close to or within your own year."
"When has Shej ever followed tradition? He's been Of Age for two years now and he's still not married. And tries to kill himself on what feels like a daily basis."
"The last time he did this was over three months ago, when you had him help with herding Mr. Sauers' cows. That man has more cows than there are villagers in all of Sundres."
"You digress. My point is, what's to stop him from asking you? Hmm, maybe I should bring it up to hi—"
"No!" she exclaimed as she hurled a square decorative pillow at Twyn, hitting him square in the chest with an "oof!"
Twyn laughed loudly at his sister's embarrassment. After Leena retreated to her bedroom to hide from her brother's torment, he sighed and recollected about when they were all children.
Shej had come to their village about a decade prior, friends of Twyn and Leena's parents taking in the stray boy who seemed lost not only in his journey, but in his own mind. The twins came to try visit and play with him daily, and Shej slowly seemed to come back to life and even began speaking. Once he seemed to function normally, he proved to be incredibly intelligent and always did well once they allowed him to attend school. When the twins turned 16, both them and Shej decided to build a two-bedroom house of their own and live together until they each would decide to go their own ways with marriage, leaving the house to whoever married last.
Shej had always been Twyn's best friend, and he honestly didn't know if Shej was just waiting on Leena to turn 19, or if he had other plans for marriage. Nineteen, the year of becoming Of Age—the age when a child becomes an adult and signifies it by marriage...courtship not always being a foundation first. Such a stupid tradition... he thought to himself, even though he already knew who's hand he was going to ask for and was excited about it. He had planned to marry quickly, knowing the house would then eventually be left to Shej or Leena. Or both...he secretly kind of enjoyed toying with the thought of Shej becoming his brother-in-law.
"What are you doing sleeping out here?"
"Huh?" Twyn looked around, realizing he must have gotten lost in his thoughts and fallen asleep. The room was dark, except the fireplace crackling and the flame dancing on the candlestick in Shej's hand. "Oh, hey...you're awake. You weren't out as long as I expected you to be this time."
"Yeah, sorry about that." He came and sat quietly in the chair Leena had occupied before she went to bed. "I didn't realize I had overdone it until it was too late. I'm not sure what happened."
"Well, you completed the whole thing. Minus a few shingle tiles. I will go finish that in the morning." He sighed heavily, his breath laden with frustration, "Dude, you should have used more of my source. Why didn't you?"
"...I was afraid of taking too much." He sat the candle down on the side table and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees and fingers through his hair.
"You barely took anything. Do you think I have next to nothing to spare?"
"No, I didn't mean it li—"
"Shej, you nearly killed yourself today. For a moment, I think you did," he strained to not yell, getting to his feet and pointing in the approximate direction of the hospital.
"I..."
"You were practically lifeless and I didn't know if forcing any of my source into you would help..." Twyn turned away, there was a long silence and a soft sniffle. He was crying but would never admit to it. "...thankfully, it did." He wiped his face then turned and looked back at Shej who was staring quietly. "Don't you ever do that again. Don't ever put me in a position where I might have to come home and tell Leena you're dead."
"Twyn, I'm sorry."
"Damn right you are. And you'll make it up to me by marrying my sister on her next birthday."
Shej coughed, choking on the glass of water he had just summoned and taken a drink of. "Wh-what?"
Twyn laughed. "I'm joking. I mean, that would be awesome having my best friend become my brother, but I'm just kidding." He looked over to the hallway that lead to Leena's bedroom, giving Shej a moment to stop sputtering. His voice was soft and serious, "Are you not married yet because you've been waiting for her to become Of Age? You haven't courted, but we've all been such close friends for over ten years."
Shej sighed, "No." Twyn turned a steel gaze at him. "Honestly Twyn, I haven't asked for anyone's hand because I believe marriage should be saved for someone you really...I don't know...spark with."
"And you don't spark with Leena? I've seen you two get pretty close."
"I've never put thought into it."
"Bullshit, Shej. You're lying."
"Excuse me?"
"You're lying. I said it. Fight me."
Shej laughed, "No. I've done enough work today. Kicking your ass doesn't need to be on that list as well." He stood up, heading back to the bedroom. "Come on, we should get some sound sleep. We have an early start tomorrow."
Twyn stood and held his hand out to the fireplace. As the fire died out, the candle Shej picked back up was the only light left in the room. "Leena and I have an early start; you're resting your source tomorrow. We can handle finishing the hospital without you."
"Leena? She's a female, she doesn't have magic. How is she helping you finish?" he asked, sitting down on his bed, Twyn walking across the room and taking off his shirt before laying down on his own bed.
"She can still help decorate and carry light items in. You've done enough, we will finish tomorrow without you just fine. Now go back to sleep."