Caiellis's eyes snapped open, the remnants of the dream slowly fading from his sight as he sat up in the plump bed, pushing the soft covers off him. He checked the time on the ornate but not ostentatious watch next to him on the cabinet to the left of his bed – 07:02. His dad would probably already be awake and ready to start the day's long list of objectives; the man barely slept anyway, kept conscious by his worries and grief.

The boy yawned, wondering whether he should go back to sleep – he didn't need to get up for another three hours, but although Caiellis couldn't quite remember what had happened in the nightmare, he subconsciously knew that he had no intentions of returning to the realm of dreams. Sliding over the side of his bed, he started to do what he had done every single time he had woken up.

Caiellis stepped sleepily across the room towards the long purple curtains in front of the window, tiredly rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He yanked the drapes open, and was greeted by the expansive city of Capitalia Lux stretching out as far as he could see. He sighed as, once again, the city was swathed in darkness, the feeble lights of those already awake like faint and distant stars in an obscure constellation. Of course. Of Course, he thought vaguely dejectedly, used to the feeling of disappointment, It hasn't been sunny any day in the thirteen years of my life, why would it be now?

He looked up, meeting the reflection of a youthful-looking pale boy with high cheek-bones and dark green eyes shrouded by slightly messy brown hair staring coldly back. His eyes were drawn to the birthmark on his cheek – the eight-pronged Black Sun was imprinted on the boy's left cheek, and Caiellis's hand automatically went to his right, his thin fingers lightly stroking the conformation of royalty, the twinned blessing and curse of the specific angel his heritage had gifted him with.

Trapped in his silent contemplation, Caiellis spun around in surprise when a hand gently tapped him on the shoulder. He glared at the grinning face of Alexander, Caiellis's calm features becoming guarded, who smirked even wider at his younger brother.

Alexander had a stern face that was offset by the fact he often wore a grin or smirk, and had inherited the pale blue eyes and short blonde hair of his father. He was a tall and muscular seventeen-year old, much stronger than his smaller sibling. His birthmark was the crossed Swords of Flame stamped onto his right bicep, matching his fiery angelic Summoning, Aurelia.

"I didn't know you still did that, squirt," he laughed, motioning towards the window. Annoyed that his brother had been able to creep up on him like that, Caiellis replied curtly: "I don't know why I do. Why are you up so early?"

"I could say the same to you. I heard you open the curtains. I suppose I just wanted to check if you were alright," Alexander sighed at his brother's incredulous expression. Only a year ago, they had been extremely close, Caiellis would share anything with his brother and Alexander would always be there to protect him. His little brother was the one of the most open people he had known (towards him at any rate), and as their father hadn't really had the time for them (well, more accurately he hadn't seen them once through no fault of his own), Alexander had basically raised his four-years younger brother. But as soon as Caiellis hit his thirteenth birthday and the war that had swept throughout the entire Kingdom of Light ended, he became guarded, keeping his emotions and thoughts to himself - coinciding with the return of their father.

"Sorry if I woke you up," the boy apologised quietly, and the older fondly ruffled his messy dark hair.

"Nah, it's fine, I'd already woken up hours ago," he said. He slept in the adjacent room to the smaller boy, as when Caiellis was younger he had been terrified of the eternal darkness (with good reason) and had needed to share a room with the protective form of his big brother. That was another thing their relationship had recently lost, in the past the little brother always wanted to be with Alexander, craving the comfort of his nurturing sibling, but now he seemingly shied away from physical contact.

Alex knew that a lot of Caiellis's change was down to their father, King Marik Ensis Lucerna, returning from the war. Alex's brother had been having troubles passing the test his Summoning had set for him, but the older boy had been supportive of him, constantly reassuring him that one day he would be able to do it. That had changed when Marik came back, annoyed at his youngest's failure to Summon, telling him that he would be useless as a king if he was not able to even complete "the simplest of tasks".

Alex knew that his brother worked extremely hard to pass the test, exhausting himself by attempting it as much as his fragile body would allow. If he looked deep into Caiellis's green eyes, past the barriers of determination that would easily fool anyone else that didn't know him so well, he could see the hurt and pain of rejection.

"Are you even listening to me?" Caiellis inquired loudly, gracing his brother with the inquisitive eyes he used often as an innocent child.

Alex remembered his friend's fear of the perpetual night, and had often told him stories about brave heroes venturing out into the dark and protecting young children like him from monsters. Caiellis had always wanted to see the sunlight, and as such Alex and their mother, who had invented the game, had carried him to the window of their room every morning so that they could check for light. Even when the smaller boy was old enough and tall enough to complete the task himself, every time he would wait for Alexander to wake up, wide-eyed anticipation etched onto his youthful face. He found it nostalgic and incredibly cute that his brother still adhered to that old childhood habit.

"Sorry, shortie, sometimes it's hard to hear what you are saying from up here," he teased, grinning at the daggers Caiellis sent him. Although the smaller boy had grown quite a bit the past few years, he was still a slight four feet and eleven inches feet compared to his tall 6'3'' brother. It didn't help that along with the increase in height, his only ever vague childhood pudginess had also faded away, leaving him gaunt and thin for his age.

"I was thinking about trying the test again," Caiellis muttered bitterly, not wanting to meet Alexander's concerned eyes, finding them full of pity.

"At least have breakfast first," he suggested, putting a large arm around his sibling and dragging the reluctant boy with him, "I'll make you pancakes."

Alex beamed as he saw his brother's eyes light up slightly – even though the palace had access to some of the most proficient chefs of the kingdom, Alexander's pancakes were still his favourite breakfast from the days where they were not able to have others cook for them, despite the fact that the older boy was a mediocre cook at best. Caiellis stopped struggling and his brother pressed on, eager to not waste the precious time he would be spending with him before he attempted the test again, and then was inevitably comatose for the rest of the day. "Cai, I'll add extra syrup, just how you like it."

His plan of coaxing his brother out of his shell seemed to be working, and Alex slung the boy over his shoulder and carried him out of the room.

.*.*.*.

After a filling breakfast of the promised pancakes, Caiellis once again made to go to his sanctum and attempt the Summoning, but Alex again stopped him.

"What do you want?" the younger boy demanded in annoyance, and Alex shrugged his shoulders, trying to be as nonchalant as he could, replying: "I just want to spend a day with my little brother. Is there a problem with that?"

"You know full well that there is," Cai snapped, his eyes full of irritation and he tried to pull away from Alexander, who asked: "What, then? What is the problem?"

"I can't do a Summoning! How can I be trusted with anything if I can't even do that? I need to try every day until I can! Let go!" he shouted, tears gathering at the edges of his vision. He wiped his eyes quickly on the back of his sleeve; he didn't want his brother, or anyone in his family for that matter, to see him crying, but the action was not lost on Alex.

"Calm down, Cai. It's going to take a long time for a Summoning as powerful as yours," the larger boy soothed, and playfully thumped his thin shoulder.

"Ow! What was that for?" Cai yelped, though by now he really should have been used to his brother using far more force than necessary. Your Summoning is just as powerful as mine, Alex, and you were ten when you passed Aurelia's test.

"Don't be such a girl," Alex teased, and moved a hand round to Caiellis's side, who started to stifle a giggle as his brother tickled him. He had needed to lighten the situation or Caiellis was just going to leave, so he resorted to something he had not done in years. The older brother then went into full-on attack, running his fingers up and down the boy's abdomen, who was laughing hysterically, his frustration gone. Perhaps I should have let him in earlier, he thought, as Alexander thrust a hand underneath his shirt for maximum tickling efficiency.

His finger brushed over a mark on his brother's skin, and Alex stopped tickling, stretching out his palm across Cai's stomach and instantly switching from tormenting brother to alarmed. Caiellis stopped laughing immediately, and tried to pull away, belatedly remembering one of the reasons for shutting Alex out.

"Shirt off. Now," his brother commanded, his blue eyes full of concern. Caiellis sighed and acquiesced to the older boy's wishes, knowing that Alex wouldn't leave him alone and would continuously press the issue until it was resolved. He pulled off the shirt, and heard his brother gasp.

The younger brother's abdomen was covered with a large amount of small criss-cross knife-wounds – the oldest couldn't be older than around a month, whereas the most recent could easily have been inflicted yesterday, which it had been. Worry turned into anger as a sick feeling wormed its way through Alex's gut and Caiellis couldn't meet his piercing glare.

"Who did this to you?" he demanded, roughly grabbing hold of his brother's bare shoulders (wincing at how thin and bony they were) and examining the wounds. Luckily, the vast majority of them wouldn't leave scars, as they weren't very deep and the skin would heal back over them, but it didn't remove that fact that someone had hurt his little brother without him knowing about it.

"I...I" Caiellis stuttered shakily, tears beginning to well up in his sad eyes, and Alex hugged him comfortingly, whispering: "You can tell me, little brother,"

Taking a deep breath, knowing what Alexander's reaction would be and wishing that he had just pushed his brother away earlier, Caiellis steadied his voice.

"I did it to myself," he uttered softly, his tone becoming blank and losing personality as he started to retreat back inside his shell. Stunned, Alex took a second to process the information, but when he did, his mind filled with rage.

"You did what? Why?!" he shouted, dropping his brother who scampered away from his sibling's wrath.

Alex took a deep breath, mimicking his younger brother's actions from a few seconds ago, and composed his tone. He wouldn't get any answers from shouting at Caiellis, and he needed to know why he had done it before his brother rebuilt the fortifications and would refuse to share any information. Caiellis was impossible to talk to once he had done that – one particular moment of their childhood that he regretted was once beating up the youngest Lucerna after he kept hiding something from his brother – even then, Caiellis hadn't shared anything, and didn't speak to Alex for an entire day afterwards.

"Cai, please talk to me. I'm not angry at you," Alex pleaded, knowing from his brother's blank eyes that he was almost out of reach, and he tried to keep his voice soft despite the fact that rage was welling up within him at the fact that his sibling's life had got that bad that he felt he needed to cut himself, "I just need to know why you would do that. You can share things with your big brother."

He already had an inkling of the reasons behind the boy's self-harm, but needed to hear it confirmed with Cai's own voice. The thirteen year old stared vacantly through his brother for a few seconds, and Alex was about to repeat the statement when Caiellis's head snapped upwards, eyes locked despairingly with those of his brother. Alex saw clearly the fear and pain Cai kept bottled up inside, and wished he had pressed the issue sooner, instead of waiting for things to resolve themselves and leaving his younger brother to his recovery. But in the past month after the end of the civil war, Alex had wanted more time to himself because of the fact that he had spent just more than nine years in the presence of his little brother, and as such had left mostly Caiellis alone apart from occasionally checking on him and focussing on his own education and development.

He of course still loved his baby brother, loved him more than anything else in the world at the current moment in fact because everything was better with the little guy around, but they were both teenagers now and both needed personal space after having only each other for company for nine years. He should have pushed to make sure that his brother was ok sooner, instead of assuming the fact that Cai wasn't talking to him was because of the fact he was no longer just a child and wanted independence as well, and to pass his Summoning trial.

"It just ... helps," Caiellis tried to explain, and Alexander motioned for him to elaborate, "The pain distracts me from the feeling of failure, the feeling of stress. Every time I fail, I know how disappointed you and dad will be. It helps me ignore the crushing feeling."

"How many times have you done it?" Alexander asked, wiping the tears away from Caiellis's face and moving his long dark-brown hair out of his eyes, silently promising that his brother would never again feel the need to cause himself pain. He was the one supposed to take the pain, he was supposed to protect his little brother from harm. The fact that Cai was hurt meant that he had failed.

"Only after each Summoning attempt the past month," Caiellis admitted, looking down ashamedly and tracing his fingers along the wounds, wincing at the pain from some of the most recently acquired. He started to slowly put the shirt back on, waiting to see whether his older brother would stop him or not, and continued after a few seconds.

"Never again," Alexander stated flatly, determined that he would prevented Cai from getting hurt again. "If you ever want to self-harm again, tell me and take it out on me instead. Ok?"

"But-"

"OK?" Alex asked, his voice brooking no dissent. The eldest prince knew that he was very protective of his sibling, but when they had lived the life that the two youngest Lucernas had he had to be.

"I suppose," Caiellis relented, shaking his head at his brother's stubbornness. Alex grinned and clapped his brother good-naturedly on the shoulder, although his eyes were still full of smouldering anger not targeted at his brother, eliciting a scowl from the youngest. He snapped, "Fine, now you know my problems. Leave me alone."

Alex shook his head, knowing that he would have to do something that Caiellis would probably hate him for.

"Come with me," he ordered, gently directing his brother towards the doorway of the dining hall and smiling encouragingly at Caiellis as the boy realised where they were going.

"Don't try to resist. He needs to see this."

At the end of each chapter, I will leave the name of the card each newly-introduced Summoning is based upon. Type this name into Gatherer, a MtG card search engine (or just google it) to find out what they look like.

Liber Sancturia:

Aurelia, the Warleader: Summoning of Alexander Ensis Lucerna