The sizzling rice, still far too hot for the three young boys to eat, cackled in the golden-plated pan as it sat on the floor, its raucousness deafened by the intense yet soothing voice of the triplets' mother, whose eyes oscillated between the book she was holding and her three children.
The children's eyes glistened. Their mouths frozen in awe. Not even blinking was worth it when their mother was narrating the valiant life of their father, King Ibraheem.
Desperate to have the best view of the bloody pictures that graced the numerous pages of the book, the boys constantly nudged each other, squeezing into the oddest of positions.
Then something in the mother's voice suddenly changed. The calm in her voice vanished, abruptly shifting into a firm, more intense speech rather than storytelling. Her eyes, for a moment fully black and dotted, remained fixated on the book as a page of substantial text caught the full attention of all invested in the story.
"An impenetrable mind and body. The Incarnate Beast of the Avian Realm. Prince Ibraheem's ability diverged from the rest. His power teetered on the edge of reality, scathing those who set foot in the way of his transcending power. A champion like no other, the outer world was all but safe once he stepped foot into the depths of their land. The battlefield was his playground… The graveyard his trophy collection.In the chaos of battle, Ibraheem emerged as a living storm, his every strike akin to thunderclaps, and his presence comparable to that of Avia's very own army. Even the bravest foes faltered in the tempest of his onslaught. Your fate was sealed at the mere glance from his eyes."
The mother finally raised her head from the book, delicately closing it after reading what seemed to barely be the fifth page of a book someone of her frailty couldn't hold for much longer. She cast excited yet playfully shocking looks to each of her three children as they hadn't yet moved from her side.
An awkward silence briefly hit the room. Each of them looked at one another with a confused awe, before Amin, his face brimming with pure excitement, shot up from the ground unable to contain the thrill that was shooting through his body. He clasped his chest through his purple and black fighting gear, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Woah! Did father really used to be like that?!"
The mother nodded with a reassuring smile.
"Too bad he's all old and grumpy now. Even though we're only five, I don't think he'd stand a chance against us!" Amin cheesily crossed his arms while grinning at his mother. She reciprocated with yet another smile, but this time it was more than just a smile.
"That's right, Amin. Perhaps once you're all grown up, you'll be able to read a book like this about you to your son."
Amin blushed, half-turning his face away from his mother while scratching the back of his head with his favoured right hand. Amidst this, and to Amin's fortune, Karim lunged into the conversation, "It would've been so awesome to fight alongside him in battle," he bellowed even louder than Amin.
Karim continued, simultaneously indicating with his hand that he was ready to be fed some rice by his mother, "My fire would've helped father destroy his enemies even quicker!"
"Not if you were fighting on an empty stomach, though," the mother jokingly interjected as she flew a spoon of rice into Karim's mouth. Enticed by the perfectly cooked rice, Karim sat back down and lost himself in the richness of the long-grained rice, the volume in the pan telling him its supply was limited.
Seeing this, Hamid, cross-legged, pushed against his knees and staggered to his feet, desperate to get in a word like his brothers. After wiping his blue and black gear, ridding it of ounces of dust collected from the floor, he thrust his right arm into the air, staring upward toward the ceiling of the room. The loudness of his voice triumphed over Amin and Karim's. Both his face and voice were more resolute than the others.
"I'm gonna be stronger than father…and make everyone bow down to me."
A similar silence to earlier struck the room. Hamid didn't move from his position, breathing intensely as his eyes fixed on the light above him. Amin and Karim side-eyed one another, their mouths plump and their cheeks having tripled in size.
"Pawahahaha," Amin and Karim let out a snotty guffaw.
Even the mother let a snort slip, her hand covering her mouth proving useless.
Hamid's eyes changed course from the light above to the floor below. At least for him it was shiny, clean and reasonably nice to look at. His resolute expression wiped from his face and his face turned red, finding anywhere to look but up and at his brothers.
Amin, still lightly chuckling, smirked, placed his hands on his hips and leaned toward Hamid, who did his best to keep himself from locking eyes with Amin.
With a hint of playfulness but a much stronger splash of arrogance, Amin sought to undermine Hamid's few seconds of resolve, "You can't make someone bow down to you if there's someone stronger than you who will make you bow down to them. You understand that, right?"
Amin leant in closer, sniffling in Hamid's ear. Hamid finally caved in, turning his head to scornfully look at Amin. But as he did, Amin had set his eyes on something else. He squinted, acknowledging something on the floor in the distance instead of his own brother who he had skillfully convinced to look at him.
"Ummm, Amin. What are—"
"Can you pick that thing up for me? That cloth over there," Amin pointed to a cloth no more than five metres away from them. It was equidistant to both Amin and Hamid, so Hamid rightfully questioned his ask.
"What? Why can't you pick it—"
"Just do it, Hamid. Be a nice brother," the mother softly interrupted, apologetically glancing at Hamid.
Hamid scoffed, choosing to listen to his mother as always and headed directly for the cloth. Though only a few steps was all it took to reach the cloth, Hamid took all of the time he had to mutter whatever he could think of under his breath while clenching his teeth. Regardless of how annoying Amin could be, he didn't want to upset his mother – father even – by opposing her request. And so he reached down for the cloth. Upon closer inspection, Hamid realised the cloth had been more than used. It was dark, grey and far too disgusting to even be allowed to reside in one of the Palace's rooms, let alone their own bedroom.
Before he could question its existence in the room, however, a thin, short piercing bolt of purple lightning zapped his hand, forcing him to jolt upwards and wave his hand in the air in order to suppress the pain. Hamid clutched his hand, yelling in mild discomfort. "Ow! Why'd you do that Amin? That hurt!"
Amin, holding his stomach, once again burst into obnoxious laughter. But before he could continue, a minuscule glacier of ice darted across the room, clasping around Amin's mouth, silencing any more of his hysterical laughs. Enraged, Amin's eyes widened as he frantically pointed towards Karim and then straight back towards his mouth. Karim rolled his eyes, opened his right fist and shot a small ball of fire that propelled towards Amin's mouth, encompassing it for only a second before it vanished and, along with it, the ice covering Amin's mouth, too.
"You're gonna regret that!"
Immediately after being freed from the confines of Hamid's ice, Amin charged toward Hamid, frowning and shouting. Hamid reciprocated, hurling himself towards Amin once he was close enough. As purple sparks of electricity randomly emanated from Amin, fine bits of mist hissed out of Hamid's as they rolled around on the floor in an attempt to assert dominance on the other.
While this ensued, Karim patiently awaited another spoonful of rice. His anticipation, however, was not satisfied. The mother had seen enough. She rose to her feet and aptly walked over to her two bickering children, grabbing both of them by an arm and hoisting them to their feet.
Despite being separated from each other on the floor, this didn't stop Amin and Hamid from being at each other's throats. Hamid kicked Amin. So Amin kicked him back, but harder. Then Hamid headbutt Amin, so Amin did exactly that as well, but harder.
It wasn't until the mother finally raised her voice that they stopped.
"Boys! If you continue, I'll have no choice but to tell your father about what has happened!"
The pair froze, stood up straight and conformed without a second thought.
"And, besides, the annual tournament is only two days away anyway. So, can't you just do your sweet mother a favour and wait until then to settle whatever silly little differences you have?"