A/N: This chapter contains a sure-fire spoiler at the end so if you haven't gotten around chapter 81 of the Sinbad no Bouken manga, I suggest you read first before seeing this. Just in case!
The wind hit him suddenly like a sledgehammer yet the fresh feeling against his sweaty skin made him sigh in pleasure. The way his bare feet lightly sank in the warm sand or the way he enjoyed stepping on the occasional spots of cool mud. The sound of his brother's feet pounding along beside him and the earthy smell of dirt, herbs and strange plants. The sun beating down on him, probably tanning his light skin. And excited laughter, music to his ears.
But no.
That wasn't true.
It was the cold feel of steel on his wrists, ankles and neck. The immense weight of the steel balls attached to his chains, making his body feel as if it weighed tons. The way his body jolted with every bump and swayed with each turn of the carriage. The sound of his brother's light breathing as he slept in his lap and the different smells of other children mixed into one dizzyingly strong scent.
He looked down at Murad's sleeping face, gently stroking the spiky mess of hair. Considering how the buildings around them looked, they must have been somewhere like Reim. He wasn't exactly sure seeing as he had never been there, but he had been told many things by their father. At the thought of his father, his face contorted into a pained frown.
"Myke?" His eyes snapped down to his younger brother, surprised that the boy was awake. Murad attempted to raise his arm to rub at his eyes before his arm slammed back down. He glared at the restraints around his wrist. "Why am I chained up?"
"Slavers." Mykelti responded quickly, wincing when he noticed Murad's horrified expression. Mykelti was tempted to hug his brother and soothe him silently but decided against it. He had other priorities. "Give me your hands."
Murad sluggishly shifted his position so that his chained hands were on the floor in front of his twin. The boy noticed Mykelti's look that clearly stated 'don't move'. Mykelti lifted his arms before bringing them down onto the chains.
"What are you doing?" He got a grunt in response as Mykelti continued to hammer against his restraints. The loud noise had gotten the attention of the four girls sitting in the far corner. They stared in fear and wonder as his brother kept on hitting the chains.
"I'm trying to break these. Once they're broken, you can free me."
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Murad cheered as the steel broke away, setting him free. He rubbed absentmindedly, at his bruised wrists before quickly moving to smash his foot shackles. After a short while, he managed to shatter them, allowing him to crawl over to Mykelti and begin breaking the restraints, denting them a lot faster than his twin because he didn't have the extra weight.
But no.
That wasn't true.
Mykelti was much stronger than Murad, physically, emotionally and mentally. But still, he couldn't break the chains that locked his brother. He tried but the weight was too much for the 9 year old. Even with the strength of a Fanalis and the scarce training he had gone through, he couldn't do it.
It was strange. Usually, even with the weights on, he should have been able to break the shackles with enough time but instead, his movements were not only weighted but also lethargic and slow. Instead he had needed to stop periodically before going back to punching, proving that something was wrong. Considering the bitter taste that stuck to the roof of his mouth, it must have been some kid of medicine.
Eventually, he quit, flopping onto his back and closing his eyes. The younger twin immediately moved so he was kneeling next to his brother. He grabbed Mykelti's hands, causing him to hiss and retract them from Murad's grip. Murad gasped as he noticed the red blooming on his brothers fists and moved over to blow on them in an attempt to help.
...
"Oi, all of you! Get out of there!" The two Fanalis didn't bother listening to the shout, instead, Murad stayed focused on bandaging his brother's hands with his ripped tunic. Mykelti noticed the other children begin to get out but didn't care too much. He had other priorities, like trying not to look weak even though he was in a lot of pain.
Mykelti glared at something behind them and Murad turned around to see a man with a white ponytail moving over to grab him. Murad snarled, causing the man to scowl deeply. As the whip was raised, Mykelti hissed at the man. The whip was swung down. Mykelti leapt over to cover Murad.
"Maader!"
Mykelti and Murad tried to calm themselves while the two adults were occupied in conversation. He hadn't even needed to protect his brother as a woman with long hair, and the creepiest smile he's ever seen, stopped the older male.
"He was going to whip us?" Murad murmured quietly, looking into his brother's red eyes with worry.
"Nobody is going to hurt you. I won't let them." Mykelti reassured. "We need to find a way to get out of-"
Mykelti was cut off as he was suddenly grabbed. Fatima tugged at the boy's clothing, causing Murad to angrily kick at him, while Mykelti bit his arm. Fatima shook Mykelti off, throwing him to the ground and throwing Murad towards him.
"Very good. I see we have gotten quite a few! There's children from Imuchakk, Atrixa, Heliohapt, Naybeth and even two Fanalis. Twins, maybe? They will sell well once they become more obedient. How did we even get all of them?" The purple haired woman said, giving each child a look. Murad's eyes looked in wonder at the different children. One with blue hair, four with red eyes, one with white hair and one with mocha brown hair and dark gold eyes. Once he heard Mykelti hiss, he turned his gaze to the purple haired woman.
The twins glared at her, when all of a sudden, a teenager grabbed them from behind. He forced open their mouths before pouring a liquid down their throats, making Mykelti cough and gag. He cursed his strong gag reflex as he watched Murad struggle but not choke as badly as the older twin had.
He looked at Murad, reassuring the boy, making sure he didn't freak out. Once the teenager let go of him, he stumbled over to his brother and sat next to him. He reached out to comfort him, they would be fine.
But no.
That wasn't true.
Instead, he had pathetically fallen to the floor on his way to his brother. He had hit the ground hard. He had felt the world spin out of control. He couldn't move his body, he couldn't talk. He had been affected faster than his brother, who had called out to him through a slurred voice.
His eyes shut.
...
He woke up to see a familiar looking face hovering over him. The bright red hair, the matching red eyes, the lightly tanned skin. But suddenly, his sight cleared as he stared blankly. It was a Fanalis, but not his brother. The child was smaller but had more muscle tone, not to mention his eyes were different. Something that set him apart from them. The eyes of a true warrior.
"Who are you?" He croaked, voice still scratchy from sleep. He cleared his throat before repeating his question and saying another one. "And where is Mur?"
The child looked at him strangely, quiet for a while. "Masrur."
"Where is Mur?" He asked, rising from the floor into a low stance in preparation to pounce. Masrur stood up, causing his chains to jingle. Mykelti's eyes dropped to the weights on his chains. They were bigger than his...
"Probably with the others." Masrur said. Mykelti noticed the child didn't seem to like talking, a lot like him. He didn't stop glaring at Masrur but he did raise from his battle stance to stand straight. He smirked when he noticed he was taller but quickly masked it.
"What... Why am I here? In fact, where am I?" He didn't want to have to rely on this boy but there was nobody else in this strange room. He noticed the armour and swords that littered the room and briefly wondered if the mounted beast head was real or not.
"The coliseum." Masrur stated. Mykelti's eyes widened.
"Coliseum?"
"You're going to fight." Masrur said blankly, moving to a corner of the room and picking up a huge sword. He didn't seem bothered about the sword was easily three times his size. "You should warm up because you probably haven't something like this."
Mykelti was about to say the joke wasn't funny until he saw the child do a few experimental swings of his weapon. The child was fast, even with the added weights on him and the gigantic blade in his hands.
So, Mykelti took his word for it and stretched while trying to pick a weapon. His eyes darted to the guard at the door before trying to formulate an escape plan. He could take a weapon, get rid of the guard and run. Who was stupid enough to only leave one guard with a Fanalis?
"Is there any more armour in our size?" Masrur nodded and pointed at a cupboard. Mykelti went and grabbed a set of gold armour to match Masrur's. Glancing around, his eyes landed on a war hammer. With that, he could knock someone out without killing them if he was gentle.
A grin broke out on his face. Masrur stared blankly before looking away.
...
He couldn't believe that it worked. He sprinted out the doors, feet pounding against the concrete as he escaped from the coliseum. The guards were yelling as they chased after him but he knew it was no use. The Fanalis were naturally stronger than the average human. He should have been at the speed of any regular adult man, if his estimate was correct. A laugh escaped him as he ducked into an alley and watched the men run past.
But no.
That wasn't true.
Not true at all.
He hadn't even brought the hammer down before the plan was in ruins. He had lifted the weapon above his head, ready to knock out the unfocused guard. But just as he was adjusting his strength so he hopefully wouldn't kill him, he felt strong hands wrench the weapon away before he was knocked to the ground.
He had reached out helplessly to grab the hammer before a weight settled on his chest, causing him to wince. He looked up to see Masrur, foot on his chest to pin him down. The boy's eyes were still blank, like he didn't seem to care at all about how he knocked over someone bigger than him.
"What are you doing?" Masrur asked, eyes darting to the weapon, to the guard who had jumped in surprise at the noise and then back to Mykelti's face.
"I was trying to escape." He responded to the younger child's question, glaring as he managed to push the grimy foot off his armour.
"Not yet." Mykelti didn't speak, he just raised a bushy eyebrow, asking Masrur his question without even saying a word. "Maader won't be happy. Your twin will be in danger."
"How do you kn-"
"It happened before."
They stared at each other heatedly for a long time. No words were shared, just the silence that was filled with a battle of authority. Mykelti turned around, scrunching up his nose in annoyance.
"Where do I go?"
"Follow me."
...
The coliseum was huge. At least, to a child like him, it felt way too big for him to stand in alone. He had hoped that just maybe, that Masrur kid would be fighting him so he could show him who's boss. For someone even slightly shorter, he should act less superior.
Back to the point, he was marvelling at the size when he heard a deep grumble. He turned to face a huge lion with a stripy mane, probably a mutation through magic. The beast had crawled slowly towards him, peering at him as if to understand him.
He didn't give it a chance to find out what it was looking for. He had charged, knocking the lion to the side with his hammer and sending a death glare at the monster, prepared for the fight.
But no.
That wasn't true.
He had been so startled that at first he didn't move. The crowd was screaming, most of them for the lion to tear him to shreds, the minority for him to show the beast his Fanalis strength. His hands gripped the handle of his weapon tighter, suddenly feeling the weight dragging him down. How is he supposed to fight when he can barely lift his arms?
He was snapped back to reality when he was knocked upwards, sent flying into the sky. He gasped in sudden pain, tears springing to his eyes before he pushed them back.
He couldn't cry. He was the strong child.
He had to stay that way.
Snapping out of the teary mood, he looked down to assess the area. He lifted the hammer as he fell back down, feeling the wind in his hair as gravity tried to stop him from his task. He kept the hammer above his head.
Falling...
Falling...
Falling...
Crunch!
The resounding noise as he brought the hammer down on the lion's head was sickening. He immediately felt his arms shake as he fell back to his butt on the ground. The lion was done, no way it was alive after its skull made that sound.
The crowd erupted in cheers but he felt disgusted.
He had killed it.
...
Masrur had won his match, another sickening victory. He had watched, utterly still, as the battle had progressed. The purple haired man (Boy? Young adult? He had no clue.) had seemed to be winning and Mykelti believed that until he had heard the crunching and cracking as the Fanalis' fist met the dungeon capturer's ribcage. He was out for the count after that, slumped to the floor with obviously a few broken ribs.
Well, obvious to him, nobody else believed it was that bad until the healers said so. Apparently, only the Fanalis boys and the man himself heard the sound and Mykelti thought he must just have very good hearing.
The man was chained and enslaved, giving Mykelti more reason to want to viciously attack Maader.
But no.
That was only partially true.
He had other priorities.
His hands had gone red again from the amount of washing he had done in the hot water. He couldn't get rid of the fact that he had killed something, human or not. As a Fanalis, battle was in his blood, but as Myke, Mur's older brother, killing was rarely justified. His hands had gone red as his hair, his eyes gone as cold as the washing water that had cooled over the hour and his heart ached. Oh, did it ache. He needed Murad to comfort him with his boyish smiles and gentle nature.
Mur? Are you all right?
I have a friend, I guess. I'm okay. I'll survive this.
But no.
Is that true?
Will it ever be true?
A/N: This chapter is focused on the Fanalis twins but mainly on the older twin, Mykelti. A recurring part of this chapter is how Myke always lies to himself to see a better world but towards the end he starts to question this way of thinking. Some more of the manga was introduced in this chapter, Masrur was introduced while Sinbad was mentioned.
Next chapter is going to focus more on Mur as well as the other children. Emuishere will appear again and the reason the twins were separated will be revealed.
This was meant to be a onetime thing but I sort of like it. I'll keep updating this every once in a while.