"Um, sir, who are you?" I asked, my voice tingling with my confusion.
The man's eyebrows slowly raised, and he looked at me with confusion. "Well, can't you tell I'm your uncle?"
"Huh?" Me and Darius said in sync, echoing the disbelief.
He smiled back at us with the signature hearty grin that Father had. It was most likely true, but... I'm surprised that he would come here all of a sudden instead of going to save our Dad. Before I could finish my thoughts, Darius jumped straight into interrogation mode.
"Why aren't you out there going to rescue Father?" Darius demanded, his voice edged with frustration.
Our Uncle burst into laughter but then he stopped and turned to a serious expression. "We will talk about that later you little idiots."
Mother appeared, her expression irritated
"Constantine... watch your foul mouth around the kids." She commanded sharply
His eyes lit up with joy and delight, he dropped to one knee remarking. "It's been so long, Diana looking beautiful as ever."
Mom rolled her eyes in disgust turning on her heel to return to the kitchen . Uncle rose awkwardly from his position, scratching his head to dispel the embarrassing moment we had just experienced. It was clear that they knew each other before although either way it's not my place to intrude, but damn is it funny watching an uncle I don't know be scolded by my mother.
Uncle had settled and eminently refused to sleep over. He told Mother that he had only planned to stay up until night where he would leave and set out for travel. Now of course this didn't sit well with Darius who kept on remarking that he had given up on his brother, but Uncle Constantine refused to even give him any sort of attention. It hit mid-day and the two of us were sitting silently in our bedroom with Uncle lying down on the piece of mattress Mother had offered him earlier on.
Getting bored of the silence, I decided to spark up a conversation starter. "So, I heard you and Father had a falling out in the past."
My attempt at conversation fell flat, the silence remaining unbroken. I tried sparking numerous other discussions, but they all met the same fate. Finally, Uncle Constantine spoke, issuing a command rather than engaging in conversation.
"I want you both to show me your skill," Uncle said abruptly.
It was a genuine surprise. Darius, usually so arrogant was gone and he accepted with gentle words, even leaving first and waiting for us both outside. Being left alone in a room with an Uncle who wasn't present at any period of my life up until now felt awkward. It wasn't that I didn't like the man, but it's the fact he came to our house and has barely spoken to us the entire day, instead being left to his thoughts, but I guess that's just the way he wants it.
Constantine got up from his mattress and remarked, "Your brother reminds me of mine."
"What do you mean?" I asked standing up to follow him.
He sighed, preparing to exit the room not before proclaiming, "That look in his eyes, the thirst for vengeance, it says it all."
I followed behind him and just as we began to make our way down the stairs, he threw a book of some sort at me. Upon further inspection, I realized it was Father's Journal. He'd kept a log of his life, personal thoughts, and ideas, but skimming through the last page of the book I realized that the last entry had been written when he was 17. We stepped outside. Darius stood there with his wooden sword, already beginning shadow fighting in the air, but man when I look at him now, it's like he's not even the brother I once knew. The prideful, sensitive, and hard-working Darius is no more. I guess I changed as well. Before I treated this life like some power fantasy tale and centred it all around me without closely paying attention to my family or even considering anyone else before myself. I don't think that I have actually changed. It's more like my mind was deluding me into believing that I'm this make believe person that I conjured up in my head, but the truth is I'm not, no matter how many lives I live, that is one thing that will never change.
Uncle assumed his stance and so did Darius. But before I could even prepare to watch the duel, woosh, Uncle had already struck Darius in the gut, sending him to his knees. Darius began desperately gasping for air. It was a sight to behold. My eyes couldn't even track how fast Uncle had been going and it looked as if he had been holding back too.
"On your feet, son," said Uncle Constantine.
"You're not my father, in fact you are the one choosing to abandon him!" Darius yelled, his voice trembling with anger.
From that moment, I knew Darius was going to lose the duel. Blind rage had consumed him and just as soon as I sighed, Uncle delivered one single blow to the head of Darius, knocking him unconscious. It was truly a spectacle. To be completely honest, there was clue to what what sword style Uncle just used right there, but it was something that I had never seen before, not even from my own father. Carrying Darius on my back, I noticed that Uncle stayed outside, on top of the grassy hill, putting down my brother. I carefully listened to Uncle berating himself.
Tapping his head with a wooden sword he said, "Idiot, Idiot... I should have been there, I'm such an idiot."
He noticed me and called out my name. "Alright Lucius, its time we spar now."
I mustered up the courage and stepped outside. I assumed my stance like usual and put my mind at ease. I locked my nerves and feelings into a mental box, like Father had taught me. There was nothing left clouding my judgement, just my sweat palms slightly sticking onto the handle of my sword. I pounced but Constantine quickly dodged. Before I could react he was behind me, but I evaded just in time. He laughed and complimented me. "Good footwork, kid."
I assumed back my stance and waited for him to rush in but it was no use. He didn't even move an inch from his spot. Falling for his trap, I rushed in with my sword and I blinked just for a second and thump, my head hit against the ground. I didn't lose consciousness and got back up and waited for him to attack. We stood there moving in a circular motion for about 10 minutes. Uncle vanished and then it appeared he was right behind but instead throwing his sword away he tapped me lightly and I fell to the ground. It was exhilarating. Even the duel with Darius wasn't this exciting. He was on a whole another level. This type of swordsmanship I only witnessed in old samurai movies in my previous.
Constantine put out his hand and helped me get on my feet. I smiled at him, with sweat drippling down my chin.
"This was amazing, Uncle thank you."
He patted me on the back. "You move just like your father kid, he was always better than me at sword style though."
I grinned and took his compliment, and he gave me that peculiar grin right back, savoring the moment. Darius appeared, stumbling around and in a groggy fashion.
"You two are out here smiling whilst Dad is out there somewhere being tortured."
That snapped me right back to reality. Me and Uncle were having so much fun and I hadn't even considered my own Dad's wellbeing for a second there. The guilt washed over me like cold wave crashing onto a sandy beach. Uncle came to both of our defense.
"Huh? You think this whole sparring session is for games? I'm evaluating your skills, it seems like you're not very bright up there," said Uncle whilst pointing to his head.
Darius bit his lip in frustration. His eyes were cold and shallow. He returned back inside and disappeared out of our sight. Before we knew it, it was time for dinner. I already had a feeling it was going to be the most chaotic one yet. We all sat in unpleasant quietness. No offense to my dear old Uncle but he really eats like an animal, chowing down on the meat and discarding the vegetables like some type of carnivore. We didn't even start the prayers for dinner this time. All we could hear was Uncle downing his fermented honey beer and chewing his food loudly.
"So, how have you boys been holding up so far?" Uncle inquired.
Enthusiastically, I leapt to answer. "Well, to be honest Uncle, it hasn't been good, but we have been managing so far."
Darius scoffed at my reply and decided to comment on it. "You call what's been happening recently managing? This family's on a brink of collapse without Father and I'm only the one who gives a damn!"
Mother looked down on her plate in shame and said, "Darius, go to your room."
He slammed the plate and ran up the stairs and shut the door behind his room with quite a bang. Uncle finished up his plate and thanked Mother rather passionately and got ready to leave our home. I didn't bother asking him why he decided he was going to leave early and I handed my unfinished plate over to my mother and walked up the steps to head to sleep. Night had nearly finished and I couldn't fall asleep, not even close my eyes without seeing the same scene replay in my head, me being pummled by my own brother and humiliated.
My mind filled with a voice telling me to take action and rematch him. It was for my honor and in this world, honor is placed highly, so I mustered up the resolution and got up from my bed, tapping my brother awake. I looked at him with such tenacity.
"We are going to have a rematch right now."
It didn't bother him that it was practically 4 in the morning and he nonchalantly walked down the steps and put on his robe. We exchanged looks before we head outdoors. I got into my form and stood there with a determination-filled look. We clashed swords, clank it went when the wooden swords hit together, hitting him right in the eye. It filled my brother with rage. He responded with a thump to the gut and I moved back to defense where he rushed into me. I hit the handle on top of his head, knocking him to the ground. At last, I had him where I wanted. He resumed his position and I tried to finish it as quick as possible. He hit his elbow on my face, which was not allowed. I responded with a kick to his groin and a knee to his pevelisive, but he stood there unfazed, pummeling me down with the wooden sword, using it at full force. My legs gave in and they became woobly. I fell to the ground where he didn't let me get up but instead started to go down and hit me with punches.
Had he gone mad? Raced through my mind, it seemed like he was a man possessed. I repaid him with an elbow to his teeth, nearly chipping at one of them. He had shut one of my eyes, the swelling increased, and the feeling came rushing at me.
"You humiliated me, it was supposed to be a duel but you made it a beat down!" I said whilst rushing at him.
I managed to get him in the gut but he responded with a kick to the knee. Fatigue began to wear us both out. This seemed like it would never end, but despite the current scene, I knew we weren't equally matched. I got him with a twist and turn as he tried to go for a liver shot instead I managed to hit a nerve centered in the vagus area. He couldn't move. His face was filled with humiliation and disbelief. Instead of walking away and letting myself take this win, I decided to turn back and kick his face in. I knelt down and began to strike down on his face, punching him repeatedly. A whipping sound came from him, hearing the knuckles of mine smacking against the meat of his face, made me wracked with guilt.
Taking a good look at him, I noticed that his usual cold expression had faded into one of sorrow. His eyes filled with disappointment not in me or Uncle but in himself. I stood up and deciding to walk away, Uncle appeared right behind us.
"Alright, it's time you boys come with me?"
Darius tried to speak but the swelling in his mouth had made it difficult, so I spoke for us instead. "What for?"
"Haha, what do you think? We are going to rescue your father?"
Me and Darius both exchanged looks of puzzlement.
"I thought..."
"Ah, buh-buh, It doesn't matter now come inside and get dressed, we are leaving right now."