Eote - Chapter 22

As the trio walked into the small hut, Rykar looked around expectantly but ended up being slightly let down. Compared to the house within the tree, Chance’s house was very, no, extremely plain. There were three beds laid side by side on the back wall, across from them was a desk and two wardrobes. Other than these simple wooden furnishings, the room was bland and played down, a far cry from the “neat house” Chance had described.

“Don’t look so disappointed lil’ bro, this is the sleeping room, the room in the back is more where I usually relax.” Finishing his introduction, Chance led Rykar into the second compartment of the house where he then found three comfy looking bags.

“This is?” Rykar was stumped. He began to ask the use of the bags but stopped himself as he saw Loki and Chance jump onto a bag each. Smiles plastered their faces as they sank deeply into their respective seats.

“It’s a chair but its so comfortable! Come try it!” Loki called out with a rarely seen trace excitement on his face.” Both Chance and Loki watched expectantly as Rykar approached the remaining bag, cautiously lowering himself into it.

“It’s a chair If that’s all that here, we could have just stayed in th-” The latter half of his sentence was cut off as he sank into the embrace of the soft bag. It felt as though he was being sucked in! The outside seemed to be made from some kind of a smooth cloth, but it was firm and didn’t threaten to tear. The inside was soft as could be, he suspected it was either feathers of something of the like.

“Hahaha, haha.”

Within the room, only laughter could be heard for a long time as both twins finally took a moment to relax their pent up tension while in the company of another.

A while later, the laughing fits finally subsided as they let out a sigh in unison. “Loki, are you ready?” Rykar got straight to the point. Moving in and experiencing the new chairs were not nearly enough for him to completely trust Chance, but Loki’s method of making deals, if it worked the same as with the wolf, would give him peace of mind.

“Chance.” Loki didn’t respond to Rykar and directly called out to chance instead.

As Chance sat up straight and turned his head towards Loki, he was shocked to find a palm sizes book within his hand all of a sudden. His eyebrows raised in surprise, but he didn’t ask any questions. Reading the mod, he simply decided to wait for Loki to proceed with his actions.

“Chance, me and Rykar are willing for the three of us to be recognised as family. In exchange for this, you will have no evil intentions or aim to betray us now or in the future. Do you swear?” Loki kept his wording short and concise. His words came out slowly as he put thought into every word. As he spoke, it seemed as though the air in the room started to vibrate ever so subtly, giving a solemnity and seriousness that had been absent previously.

While eating, he had already put thought into phrasing the promise in a way that wouldn’t allow Chance to find a loophole. In the end, he decided that the best course would be to keep it direct and envelope many conditions at once, while also allowing a wide amount of freedom. This contract would allow Chance to act as freely as he wanted as long as he had no intentions to harm the two.

“Mhm, I agree.” Rykar voiced his approval of Loki’s rules set. Seeing as this promise had him included, he felt as though it was only right. As Rykar’s voice faded, a lifelike portrait in his semblance engraved itself onto the paper before their eyes.

At this point, Chance froze for a moment while looking into the eyes of both Loki and Rykar one after the other. He already figured out that this was anything but an empty promise. Loki did nothing to hide the pages of the open book from his view, hence he was able to see the bright red symbols materialising one by one as each word was spoken.

The severity of the situation dawned on him, yet after thinking about the terms of the deal, he became confident that the only reason that he was seeing the book in the first place, was because they were seriously hoping to trust him. “I swear.” He finally agreed after the moment of silence.

Sighs once again cut the air within the room as a whole extra set of tension was released.

“Loki was that guys eye always like that?” Rykar was staring at Chance’s Left eye with his mouth gaping.

He could have sworn that Chance had hazel eyes all this time, but now it was totally different. One eye had taken on the same blood red hue as theirs, while the other had remained as it was.

“What is it?” Chance asked while turning away from Rykar and toward Loki. The second twin only had the same expression on his face after seeing his red eye.

“I- Your eye is red. Its just like ours!” Loki exclaimed as his hand began to trace the outlines of his own eye. “This never happened when we did it with the wolf.”

With the lack of a mirror, Chance had no way to see what was actually wrong with his eye. However, in order not to escalate the situation and to dispel the traces of guilt that he could see making themselves onto Loki’s face, he quickly changed the subject despite his own nervousness.

“Haha, the eye thing doesn’t really matter, its just a colour anyway. More importantly, now that were brothers and you’ve shown me your book, I have a secret to share with you.” After speaking, he began to draw a series of precise lines on the floor with a sharp stone. As he scratched away at the wood, the lines gradually transformed into a complex mix between a diagram and a piece of art.

There was a figure of a human sat at its centre with big and small circles twisting around it. These dots and circles were evidently being drawn into the persons figure, straight through the skin and diffusing into the body.

“Ok, this is the best I can do for now, it’s Just so you get the idea! Now, sit on the bags so that your back is up-right and your hands are on your legs, like this.” He then instructed the boys after making sure that they had the image firmly planted in their minds.

“Ok, I need you to concentrate on my voice. Clear your minds entirely of everything besides the image you just memorised. Slow your breathing. Breathe in, 1, 2, 3, 4 and out” Chance began to adjust their physical and mental states into the most relaxed condition that he could. As their shoulders sank and eyelids stopped fluttering, he revealed a cheerful grin as he found his experiment to be a complete and utter success!

Finally, he sat down himself and began to recollect the words he needed. He sat for a few minutes in silence as he forced himself to recall everything word for word without the slightest of mistakes.

When he finally began talking, he voice was plain without the slightest hint of emotion. There was a strong rhythm to his words as they rocked out one by one without any faults in the tempo.

“Before void, there was nothing, no end nor beginning.”

“Before chaos, there was void, the emptiness which birthed everything.”

“Chaos became the essence, the source of physical manifestation, the original element.”

“Your body will has become the abyss, a black hole connected to the void.”

“The black hole within the centre of the world, consuming without relent or satiation.”

“”

Chance’s words continued on without pause as he eventually joined the twins, slipping into a hazy state between consciousness and unconsciousness. As his eyes closed, he felt as though he was a boat in the middle of the ocean, insignificant against the limitless expanse.

The insides of The twins consciousness were identical at this moment. As they relaxed their bodies and minds, they quickly found themselves back in the strange state they entered when the two bodies disintegrated in front of them. Darkness surrounded them completely as their sense of time faded into the nothingness.

Specks of light once again illuminated the world around them, whirling around like fireflies in the night. These seemed completely different than before. The last time they were in this place, it was as thought the lights were their own little worlds. These lights were a far cry from the vitality and vibrance demonstrated back then. Despite their colourful appearances, they were simply insignificant in comparison, like cheap imitations.

“Your body will has become the abyss, a black hole connected to the void.”

As these words reverberated through their minds, they felt the world shake intensely before the specks began to rotate with them positioned firmly in the centre of this phenomenon. Beginning slowly, the motes of light picked up speed rapidly as they rotated before converging into their point of consciousness with a sensation of warmth flooding in.

It was a feeling of fullness, like that first bite of food after coming out of isolation. Just, this was a kind of sustenance that they hadn’t ever felt, something so amazingly vital yet they hadn’t realised they were missing it.

Within the room were now sat two boys and a young man. Sat on these seats with their eye closed, the room was a sight of tranquillity and calmness. As time passed slowly, a low current was felt in the air, slowly rotating through the room almost unnoticeably with their figures at the centre.

This current immediately vanished without a trace as two low tones blasted through the air, startling them all awake. Chance opened his eyes calmly as he gazed at the two in front of him, however they had totally opposite reactions.

Being shaken out of their delicate states by the violent horns, their minds went into disarray with them not understanding where they were or what was going on around them. Bolting to their feet, they staggered around the room while bumping roughly into the walls, grasping at anything for support but finding nothing.

“Rykar, Loki its fine! Trust me there’s nothing here it’s just us, you’re awake and you’re fine. Calm. Calm.” Trying to placate them, Chance rushed up while helping them up from the ground but moved away slightly straight after, allowing them to get their barings without invading their space.

They finally looked up after a few moments with sweat on their faces but excitement in their eyes.

“See, told you my secret was pretty cool.” Chance grinned mysteriously.