The sun slowly descended, dyeing the world in rays of orange and red. As the silhouette of a house became bigger in their view, a beautiful girl stood on the road, waving to them.
"Good evening, Kayla." Kealos greeted her while yawning, clearly sleepy.
"Hey guys, welcome back! How was your time in the village?"
A blond-haired girl greeted the two boys as they approached a small house. She had a bright blonde hair color much similar to Troy's; her long hair fluttered in the air as it shone with the sun's rays.
"It went fine, Kayla; that old grandpa came back again to tell more stories about the Spiral again."
A deep sigh came out of his mouth as he finished that last sentence, thinking about how the old grandpa told him not to chase his ambitious goals.
Kayla gave a deep sigh; as the older sister of Troy, she knew about his ambitious nature. But no matter what type of talk she gave to him, her little brother was always dead set on his goal. She gave a small smile before responding.
"C'mon, it's getting late; let's get inside and eat dinner together."
Nodding, Kealos and Troy walked over to the small house as they conversed with Kayla about what the old grandpa talked about today.
Eventually they arrived at the house, a small one-story house far away from the main village with farming supplies lying around the house. The house was situated on a small hill with several farms situated around it.
The house was relatively old; the surface of the wood was peeling off, while in the windows that lay on the walls, Kealos could see the warm glow that lighted up the room. Although the house was small, it also felt comfy to Kealos. The warm light that was emitted by the candles. The soft pillows and blankets on beds. The simplistic yet messy rooms that made the house feel natural; even without extravagant decorations, it felt so real to him, it felt like a true home.
Thinking of this, he thought back to the times when he was a stray in a major city and the wealthy homes that he had seen, which held expensive furniture with paintings that felt fake to him. Perhaps it was the idea of trying to show off, to put on a facade. Or perhaps it was something else that Kelaos himself did not know, but what he did know was that he felt at home here.
Now sixteen, he managed to survive and eventually ended up in this village. Although he had spent only one year in this village, he felt nothing but gratitude; unlike the big cities that discarded the lives of the poor, the people were kind here. Kids offered part of their lunch when they saw his skinny body, the adults often helped him out whenever he needed, and the elderly were willing to let Kealos learn with the kids, such as how to read or write.
Due to this, Kealos wanted nothing to do with the Spiral of Chaos. Living in this remote village while finding someone to settle down with and slowly age—that was what Kealos had in mind for his future.
Even though the village was kind, the Stoneheart family still did so much for Kealos. They were the ones that gave him a place to live even though they didn't have to. Now, one whole year later, Kealos truly regarded this place as his home.
But even with all of this, sometimes Kealos questioned himself on if this was really what he wanted, if this life was what he really desired. Snapping out of these thoughts, Kealos glanced up before realizing that they were approaching the house.
Kealos, Troy, and Kayla entered through the door as they walked into the dining room. Inside the dining room was a big circular table with over seven seats in it. Suddenly a chaotic scene appeared in front of Kealos' view. Three brothers chased each other around, yelling and talking over each other
"Hey, get back here, you!"
"Give that back to me!"
"Haha, come catch me if you can."
As Kealos and Troy watched Kayla walk in the room, they saw the expression of annoyance on her face. Her previous smile had changed into a scowl. Her face lit up with anger as he glared at the three brothers with a gaze that could kill on the spot
Suddenly, as if the world had ended, the three brothers' eyes suddenly had a sense of fear. They froze on the spot, slowly turning their heads as if they knew what was going to happen next.
"..."
Kayle looked at them with an angry gaze, clearly having experienced this multiple times before. As the brothers stared at her with fear, she looked them up and down before saying with a heavy tone,
"Clean up right now, and get back to your seats before I make you do it."
After a bit of shock, the brothers suddenly jolted before giving awkward smiles and started apologizing to Kayla
"Sorry, Kayla, we—"
Cutting off one of the brothers, Kayla's face twitched as she said with a louder voice,
"Do this one more time and I'll make sure you won't get dinner next time."
"Wha—"
The three brothers suddenly stopped talking as they processed what she said before they became extremely quiet as they silently picked up their mess and returned to their seats. Their faces showed signs of fear and shock, not thinking that their older sister would become so ruthless all of a sudden.
"..."
The room fell into a momentary string of silence, but two muffled laughs suddenly cut through this silence like a sharp pair of shears.
"Pfft."
Kealos and Troy let out a muffled laugh as they saw this scene, Troy looking at his brothers with a mocking gaze as he covered his mouth. Hearing this, the brothers looked back with an angry gaze before seeing Kayla's expression, which very quickly changed their attitude as they all started looking down and avoiding gazes with her.
Now Kayla's previous smile had completely disappeared; she appeared to be a completely different person. Slowly turning around, she looked the two best friends in the eye as she spoke in a low tone.
"So what do you think you are laughing at?"
As if the world had ended, the smirk and laughter completely vanished off of Kalos and Troy's faces. The previous mocking expression was quickly replaced with a sense of fear. Shivers were sent down the two's backs, their hair standing on end as they hurriedly headed over to the dining table as they sat down.
Kayla let out a sigh of disappointment as she walked to the kitchen, grabbing out a pot of soup and a basket of bread. She walked into the dining room and started serving dinner a moment later. Kayla grabbed the bread and passed it out to everyone that was at the table but when she was scooping the soup out of the pot, she saw a new figure entering the room.
A scrunched-over figure with delicate golden hair and a cane in her hand slowly walked into the dining room. Even though she didn't seem that old, something about her was off. Her figure was fragile, while her face appeared sick; she shook from time to time, and her coughs echoed within the walls of the house.
"Mom! What are you doing out of bed? Your body is still in a fragile state; you need to get some rest."
Kayla recognized the figure before quickly rushing over to support her mother. Kayla was worried sick, as her mother had been ill for an extremely long time, and with her getting out of bed by herself, Kayla was worried she would injure herself.
Hearing this, the mom responded with confidence as she tried to stand upright to respond.
"Nonsense, my body is perfectly fine. How could I miss out on time to spend with you guys after—cough! cough!
"Mom!"
The Stoneheart family and Kealos all stood up as they gathered by Troy and Kayla's mom. Helping her to sit at the table. As she sat down, she quickly waved for the rest of the family to sit as well.
"Quickly sit down and eat, otherwise the soup will get cold." Hearing this, the family all sat down, but each member of the Stoneheart family had a worried gaze. As if ignoring them, Troy's mom started to break up this awkward situation, asking about how their day went or making small jokes occasionally, slowly getting them to calm down and have a good meal.
The Stoneheart family, along with Kealos, enjoyed this simple dinner. Even though Kayla seemed stern and strict at times, she deeply cared for her family. Troy, although naive and ambitious, wanting glory and excitement, always put his family first. The three brothers, although always seen arguing with each other and messing around, often worked harder than any other kid in this village at their ages.
As the sun completely set, the night was dyed black as the family started to disperse. The three brothers headed off to get ready for bed for an early day tomorrow. Kayla helped her mom to get back into her room, holding her hand and supporting her as they slowly walked back.
Eventually only Kealos and Troy remained. Troy had already finished his food while staring at the empty bowl and spoon. Kealos, on the other hand, wasn't able to completely finish his food yet; he was lost in thoughts, staring at chunks of vegetables in the soup.
Each of the two best friends was lost in their own ideals. Although no one knows what they were thinking, it was clear that each of them had important thoughts as they tried to navigate through their memories.
"Knock! Knock! A moment later, a loud knock could be heard on the door. Jolting the two back to reality, they headed over as Troy opened the door while Kealos stood behind, seeing a young boy dressed in plain pants and shirt holding out a letter for them
"Good evening, was there something that you needed?" Troy asked in a confused tone, clearly not expecting a person to visit this late at night.
Opening his mouth, the young boy spoke in a shy and timid voice.
"H-here you go. My dad wanted to give you this. It was quite urgent, so I came to deliver the letter. Due to an emergency, he wasn't able to come personally."
Troy received the letter and thanked the young boy. The young boy left as soon as he appeared, speaking as little as possible while scurrying off to the horizon. Troy and Kealos looked at each other in confusion before walking over to the table to sit down. Kealos and Troy looked at the letter in confusion as Troy muttered,
"Surprising, did something important happen that required a letter to be delivered so late?
Opening the letter, Troy quickly read through it, but the more he read, the graver his expression became. After finishing the letter, Troy fell into deep silence as his colors of despair painted his face.
"…"
An ear-ringing silence could be heard in the air as Kealos finally spoke in a low tone, not being able to tolerate waiting around much longer.
"What is it? Is it something that is serious?"
Troy held a deep gaze as he shook his head; after hesitating for a bit, he replied solemnly.
"It's about mom and her condition. The village doctor has finally found the reason behind her illness, but according to his statement—"
Choking on his words, Troy found it hard to say the next words, so instead he passed on the letter to Kealos as Kealos quickly read through the entire letter.
Kealos finally understood without needing Troy to finish the rest of his sentence and felt a heavy pressure weighing on his heart as he thought of Troy and Kayla's mother. In the letter it said that she only had a month left to live if she wasn't able to get treated.
Kealos knew something was wrong; it was quite obvious that Troy's mother was sick, but Kealos himself wasn't sure exactly what the problem was, only that it was getting worse.
Troy and Kealos both felt like they were in a daze as they read about what type of problem Troy's mother had; it was a condition that was developed from prolonged exposure to Chaotic Energy from the Spirals of Chaos. Mortals like themselves were different from Chaotic Voyagers; they couldn't be exposed to the Chaotic Energy that the Spirals of Chaos held.
Remembering the stories that Troy had told him, he remembered that they used to be mortals that were forced to work for a wealthy family. They worked as transporters, carrying materials from the Spirals of Chaos to the surface.
However, unknown to them was that this prolonged exposure to the destructive Chaotic Energy that lay dormant within the Spirals of Chaos would enter a person, corroding them from the inside; they would experience small amounts of pain as this happened, organs would slowly fail while the muscles deteriorated, and conditions would gradually get worse as time passed. This abnormal disease is known as Chaotic Energy Aberration.
This was a particular disease, often hard to identify. Although the symptoms were simple, they could pass for thousands of other diseases. If not for the serious condition that Layla and Troy's mother was in, the village doctor might not have even figured out the right disease.
Although sounding horrible, there were ways to treat this disease, but the options were truly cruel. The most known method was to become a Chaos Voyager; your body will adapt to this energy and be able to harness it; thus, the disease becomes irrelevant. Aside from this, less common methods could also be used, but they were often expensive and used precious materials or artifacts, often only reserved for the higher-class people, not for commoners like themselves.
Fortunately, when a disaster occurred, Troy and Kayla's parents snuck out of the town. Using the money that they had accumulated, they eventually came to this remote town, a town far away from all the worldly conflicts. But since they weren't exposed to too much Chaotic Energy, the symptoms of this disease were not yet transparent.
Choosing to live a quiet and simple life, they found some land to raise crops and live a peaceful life; they could watch their kids grow up and retire eventually, telling stories to their grandchildren. But their fate was already set in stone when they were exposed to Chaotic Energy. As their oldest child, Kayla, turned ten, her dad passed away from organ failure. As the mother of the family had not been exposed to as much of the chaotic energy as her husband, she was still living nine years later.
Due to how no symptoms had yet appeared after the death of her husband, she assumed that she hadn't spent enough time being exposed to Chaotic Energy; thus, she hadn't contracted the disease. But unbeknownst to her, she did have the disease; only the condition got worse and worse over time and wasn't apparent at first, only becoming extremely serious this past year.
She passed off her early symptoms as muscle weakness or a sign of aging, but the conditions slowly got worse and worse before she finally consulted the village doctor. Although she consulted him, they quickly found out that the symptoms were simply too broad. Her symptoms seemed too light to be considered Chaotic Energy Aberration; thus, the doctor made the logical decision that they were caused by other diseases.
But even if the doctor could identify the disease somehow, would it have changed anything? Could they do anything to help her? Although the answer was cruel, the fact was no. They couldn't do anything about it, and Troy and Kealos knew that fact clearly. The only thing they could do now was spend as much time with her as her days came to an end.
That was also why the message was delivered with such urgency. The doctor knew how precious time was, and since he couldn't go personally due to patients he needed to take care of, he sent his son to do it for him.
Both Troy and Kealos sat at the table in silence, trying their hardest to process the information that was given to them as well as their own rampaging thoughts. Troy's own mother dying in a month was something that completely shook his soul. His mouth felt parched, and his heart trembled. Sadness welled up in his heart as he stared blankly at the letter.
During this time a small creak could be heard as they heard two footsteps walking back towards them
"Sigh, I finally got Mom to bed; that took a bit longer and more effort than I expected."
Stretching her back, Kayla walked back to Troy and Kealos as she talked in a small voice, trying not to disturb anyone sleeping. But suddenly she had a bad feeling in her gut, as if bad news was about to strike her. Seeing Troy's and Kealos' expressions as well as the letter, the uneasy feeling only grew deeper. Gulping, she asked in a worried tone, her eyes flashing with the reflection of soft lights as she stared at the letter that was still being held in Troy's hand.
"D-Did something bad happen?"