Hello you guys! Here is the second chapter of Shadow Trail. I updated sooner than expected, which is good, I think. My special thanks to everyone who reviewed/followed/favorited (I don't know if that's even a word) this story. Really you guys rock!
Oh yeah, before I forget it once again, like in the previous chapter:
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail in any way possible, it belongs to it's rightful owner, Hiro Mashima. I do own my OC's, though ;)
Anyway, let's begin with the story, shall we?
Chapter 1: Their peaceful, everyday lives
"Rhys! Rhys! Wake up, dad's calling!"
He woke up from the voice of his brother, like every morning. Unlike his brother, he was a rather deep sleeper, so his brother had to wake him up or else he would sleep until the evening.
Grunt.
He pulled the blanket over his head in an attempt to shut out the voice. No success.
His brother grabbed the blanket and threw it away.
"You know that's not gonna work, Rhys!"
Another grunt.
Great now he had no choice but to get out of bed, or else he would get really cold. The five-year old sat up, rubbing in his eyes in order to dive off the sleep. Rhys Werdus looked at his seven-minute older brother, smiling because once he was awake, he was happy to start a new day.
"Good morning, Zas!"
"Good morning to you too, little brother! Now let's go to eat breakfast," the slightly older boy said, also smiling. Together the two brothers raced out of their room and ran down the stairs. In just a couple of seconds they stood in the family's small, yet cozy kitchen.
"Good morning, mom, dad!" They both shouted in unison, causing their parents to look up from their previous affairs to smile at the twins and greet them back. Rhys looked at his dad, who had already put on his smiths uniform, consisting of a big, leather apron and a matching, black bandana. Turan Werdus was a tall, muscular man in his mid thirties with a roaring, light-hearted laugh that could often be heard booming through the whole house and smithy. The man had short, dark brown hair and gray eyes, sparkling with humour. A rough-looking, short beard in the same shade covered the lower part of his face. Turan was known throughout the whole village to be a kind, just man who would always put the needs of others before his own. For Rhys, his father was a paragon of strength and he respected him like no other.
Next to Turan stood Hadia Werdus, Rhys's mom. Hadia was only two years younger than her husband, but looked as though she was still in her mid twenties. She certainly wasn't small, but not as tall as her husband. She had long, black hair that was always tied in a ponytail on her back. Her chocolate brown eyes displayed kindness and gentleness. Even though she was a bit strict sometimes, Rhys knew how much she loved both him and his brothers and he, too, loved her unconditionally in return.
Rhys had always wondered why he and his brother didn't look at all like their parents. Zas and Rhys both had red hair, although Rhys's hair was just a shade or two darker than his brother's. Both had one, single black lock on the left side of their hair and amber colored eyes. Zas liked to let his hair grow, so that it now reached his back. Rhys preferred to keep his hair shorter, so his hair only came slightly past his ears. Despite these little differences, the two brothers looked exactly alike, which wasn't that strange since they were twins after all. Still though, the red hair and amber eyes, were did that come from? Weren't children supposed to look like their parents?
One time, Rhys couldn't keep his curiosity to himself anymore, so he had asked his mother and father why both he and Zas didn't look like them. At that question his mother had averted her eyes from his gaze, something she would normally never do, and had said that appearance doesn't matter and that if you love each other you are a family, even if you don't look alike. Rhys had only been three years old at that time and hadn't understood what she had meant by that, but before he could ask any more questions Hadia had quickly changed the subject and he had forgotten his previous confusion. Even now, two years later, he still didn't understand but he had never brought the subject up again, because he had noticed how much his questions had hurt his mother.
"Rhys, are you still sleeping?" His father's voice interrupted his thoughts, bringing Rhys back to the present.
"Huh, what, did you say something, dad?"
"Damn right I did! I just asked you and your brother if you'd like to come with me to the smithy, and who knows, maybe I could teach you a thing or two."
Sparkles appeared in the younger twin's eyes. "Really, dad?! You'd let us?!" Rhys had always been fascinated by his father's work. How he could make the most wonderful things out of just a pile of iron, Rhys had always questioned. It was his dream to one day be as skilful as his father and run his own smithy, then he would make the most beautiful things, worthy of kings and queens. But so far, both mother and father had forbidden him and Zas from setting even a foot in the smithy, in fear that they might hurt themselves. But now dad said that they could finally start learning how to do all those things. Oh boy! Rhys was almost jumping from excitement.
"Yeah, son, I've discussed it with your mother and we both think you're old enough now."
Rhys looked at his brother, whose eyes, too, were filled with joy. "Awesome isn't it, Zas?"
"Yeah, you betcha!" Zas answered. He hold up his arm and the two brothers high-fived.
"Now, just remember to be careful out there. I don't want anything to happen to you two," their mother stated, trying to sound strict, but it wasn't very convincing since she couldn't hide the smile that was forming on her mouth by the site the two extremely excited boys.
"Yes, mom, we will!" They answered her in unison.
Unlike their expectations, the smithy wasn't dark and messy at all. It was a rather large building located on the outskirts of town. The smithy consisted of two sections: one was the shop were customers could order thing or could buy things that were already made and displayed in the store. The other section was, of course, the smithy itself where all of the items were forged and crafted. The smithy was tidy and clean. All of the currently unfinished products were stored in a massive, wooden cupboard standing in the corner of the room. One wall was filled completely with a giant fireplace and in the middle of the room stood a big anvil. All of the tools needed for forging hung on the wall, side by side. There were two, large windows which sunlight was beaming through brightly.
"Whoa! This place is neat!" Rhys said to his brother, while he was looking at the site of the smithy, impressed by what he saw.
"This thing is so cool!"
"I wonder what this is for?"
"Dad, can you do with this?"
"How does this work?"
"Whoa, can I make stuff like this too?"
The two brothers were now shouting questions at random while they ran from one site of the room to another, picking up every little thing that they laid their eyes on.
"Now, now, boy. Calm down a little will ya? I don't want you two wracking this place before I can even start teaching you!" Their father said, smiling, for he found the site of his two sons getting all exited a very amusing one. Still, he had to grab the two by their shirts before they would calm down.
"Right, dad. Sorry 'bout that," Zas said, apologizing.
"Yeah, we just let all the excitement get to our heads, I guess," Rhys added, scratching the back of his head, a bit embarrassed.
"It's fine, it's fine," Turan answered, waving their apologies away with his hand. "Now, let's get started!" He grabbed to things that were standing behind him and handed them to the boys.
"Eh, dad, why did you hand us brooms, I thought you were gonna teach us how to forge and craft items?" Rhys asked his father, looking at the broom he was handed with a confused look on his face.
"Yeah, dad, how come?" Zas added.
At this a roaring laughter filled the workplace. "HAHAHAHAHAHA!" The red-haired twins looked at each other, still with confused expressions on their faces. Then both shrugged, while their father still continued laughing uncontrollably.
When Turan was done laughing, he had to wipe away a tear. "You really thought that you could start forging right away? Of course not! Now start wiping the floor with those brooms, before I start to reconsider teaching you!"
Two grunts could be heard from the two boys before they shrugged one again and started doing as they were told.
From that day on, the two brothers came to the smithy almost every day. And every day, their father would give them new chores to do, from keeping the fire going in the fireplace, to cleaning every piece of equipment their father possessed until the point that you could use it as a mirror. Still though, despite the usual grunts they made whenever a new task was given to them, the two young boys never complained about anything and just did as they were told.
For over three weeks the three of them repeated the same routine day after day: in the morning the two brothers would wake up early (well, Zas would and he would wake his brother up afterwards) and eat breakfast with their mother and father. When they were finished, the three of them would say goodbye to their mother, who gave them lunch boxes she had made in return after she had told them to be careful. Turan would give his wife a kiss on the cheek and afterwards the three of them would head for the smithy together. Once they were there their father would get to work after he had told the both of them what their chore was for today. The brothers would grunt, more because it had become some kind of habit, than because they really wanted to. When it was lunchtime both father and sons would go sit outside of the smithy and eat they lunches while enjoying the cold breeze against their skin and the sunlight on their faces. Once they were done eating, all three of them would go inside the smithy again and continue their own jobs. During the time inside the smithy, neither the two boys, nor their father would speak much, because they were all too focused on what they were doing to uphold a conversation. Because of this, the only sound in the smithy were the sound of Turan's hammer upon steel and the sound of wind being blown into the fire, therefore the twins came to recognize these sounds and got to know them better than their own voices. When the boys finished one chore, their father always had another waiting for them so they would never have time to do nothing. Like this, the hours would fly by while the three of them were working in the smithy.
At one point, their father would call it quits for the day when he thought that they had done enough. Every day, this point was around five o'clock and together, both father and sons would go home. Once they were there, their mother would always welcome them warmly and they would get a glass of freshly made, ice cold lemonade, which always refreshed them instantly. When the red-haired twins had recovered their energy from the long day, they would go outside to play with the other towns children, while their parents would make dinner. Because the two boys were always fun, cheerful and kind towards everyone, the townspeople had taken a liking towards them and they had lots of friends to play with. Together with their friends, they would come up with a different game every time, and there was never a boring day.
Occasionally, one of their friends would come over to eat dinner with them and their parents. Those evenings were always most enjoyable, since they would tell each other jokes and laugh all the time. After they had finished dinner, the two brothers and their friend would play a little longer before each of them would return home. Most of the time afterwards, the young boys would spend in their room, relaxing and doing whatever they liked. Zas would spend this time making woodcarvings. Rhys had always admired his brother for his crafting skills, since his brother could make almost everything out of an ordinary piece of wood. Rhys, however, would read some kind of book, most of the time, since he enjoyed reading ever since the time that he had learned to how to do so from his mother. He liked to read stories the most. Fairy tales were his favourite out all of them. Rhys didn't know why, but he just loved to read about dragons, fairies, heroes and princesses. He always pictured himself as the hero in one of his stories and in every story he came up with, he would heroically defeat one bad guy after another and save the princess in the end.
When it was around nine o'clock, their mother would come upstairs, saying that it was time to go to sleep. Both boys then quickly changed into their pyjamas and ran down the stairs towards the living room where their father sat in a chair, reading a book. They would wish him goodnight and he would give them a hug and ruffle through their hair in response, before wishing the both of them goodnight as well. Smiling, they would return to their room were their mom would put them in bed and give them both a kiss before wishing them goodnight.
After that the two would go to sleep almost immediately, because even if they were just chores, they were pretty tiring for the five-year olds.
Things continued like this for more than three weeks, but one day, something rather unexpected happened. The day started like any other for the past three weeks; they ate breakfast together and went to the smithy afterwards. But when they arrived, their father didn't give them anything to do, nor did he start working. He just stood there in front of the twins, looking at them.
"Uhm, dad? What are you doing? … Did we do something wrong?" Zas asked a bit confused, after a short silence.
The tall man began to smile at his two sons in response. "No, there's nothing wrong! In fact, I have to congratulate the both of you!"
Now the two boys really didn't understand what was going on. "Huh, congratulate us? What for?"
"Heh, you dummies! Did you really think I let you two do chores all the time for nothing?"
"Eh…you didn't?"
"Of course not! It was to see if you two had the determination needed for this profession. I mean, if you had complained all the time, I would've never even considered teaching you. But I have to say that the both of you passed with flying colours, and therefore congratulations!" Turan said, while patting both boys on their head, ruffling through their hair.
Zas and Rhys looked up at their father with eyes sparkling from joy and surprise. "You mean that was all a test?!" They shouted in unison.
"Yeah, that's right," their father answered, grinning.
"Oh man, we did all those chores for nothing then!" Rhys said, looking at his brother.
"Now, now. I think you've got the wrong idea there, buddy. Those chores were certainly not for nothing, can't you see that you've both become much stronger the past weeks?" This caused the red-haired twins to look at their bodies. Indeed, their young, boyish bodies had developed some muscles; only they hadn't noticed it because they were developing little by little. "When you're gonna learn the real work, this new strength will be something you're gonna have to count on all the time, so be glad you've developed some!"
"So this means, you're gonna teach us for real now, right?" asked Zas, formulating the unspoken question that went trough the twins' minds.
"Yeah, damn right!"
"Whoa! AWESOME!" Once again the two brothers gave each other a high five to celebrate this new development. Then, as though they shared one mind, they both tackled their father in a hug, causing the three of them to trip over. Turan started laughing again, and Zas and Rhys joined in. For a little while they just lay there, the brothers on top of their father who was on the ground, in the middle of the smithy, laughing uncontrollably. Then Turan picked up his two sons with the greatest ease and stood up from the ground, before letting them stand on their feet again.
"Seeing that from this day on, you're both smiths-in-training, I have something for the both of you." He walked to the wooden cupboard and took something from a box that stood on one of the shelves. He held the items behind his back, so that the curious eyes of his sons couldn't see what they were. When he stood before them once again, and after a dramatic 'tada' he let them see the items. They were two miniature versions from Turan's own smithy uniform, complete with bandana and all.
"Here, I figured that since you're gonna be the real thing from now on, you two might as well look like 'em."
"Thanks, dad, you're the best!" Rhys and Zas said, smiling brightly. After that, the boys immediately grabbed the apron and bandana, eager to put them on. But before Rhys put the bandana on, he swore a pledge upon it that he would work hard and do his best to make both his parents proud of him. After he was done with that, he put the bandana on, proud of the fact that his father trusted something so important to him, for the bandana wasn't just some kind of cloth, no it was proof that he was going to be a smith someday, just like his father.
Years passed, while the two boys learned everything there was to know about forging, crafting and being a smith in general. Their workdays became longer, so they had less time to relax and play with their friends, but it didn't matter, for they both loved the smithy and everything that came with it. They worked every day, except from Saturdays and Sundays because their mother insisted that they would have some free time also. On those days, they hung out with their friends, playing whatever game they could come up with.
Whenever Rhys had some free time on his hands, and there weren't any children around to play with, he would read about any book he could get his hands on. As the years flew by, he changed from fairy tales to reading mostly about the Magic of this world. The subject, in one word, fascinated him and it wasn't long before he had read every book there was to find in Sunflower Village about the matter. His curiosity only grew with every book he had read and so he would wait impatiently until some travelling merchants would arrive in the village. Once there were some, he would spent all the money he saved form working in the smithy – his father paid him and his brother half of what normal assistant would get – and buy every book they had about Magic. It was because of such actions that his book collection only grew, and grew to the point that he needed a new cupboard to store all of them.
Zas, on the other hand, was never one to study like that. Instead, he spent his time honing his wood carving skills, until the point that he could make every animal or plant he crafted so realistic that it would seem as though they were living beings, which turned to wood.
Years continued to pass by as the two twin brothers lived their peaceful, everyday life without a care in the world. And just like that, it was the morning of their tenth birthday.
Sooo….. that's the end of the second chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it, and if you did, please show it to me by following/favorite/reviewing this story, thanks! Also if you didn't understand something in the story or if you spotted any grammar mistakes, please report it to me by reviewing also. For now, until the next chapter (hopefully).
~ t.s.w.w
