The Drogen's Law

Before Dark (Edwin)

Edwin opened the door of the smithy and went towards the room where his twin brother worked and practised his blacksmithing skills. He opened the door of his brother’s forcing room. Ignoring everything else, he did not even notice Chris who has following right behind him. The wave of heat from the forge struck him.

He ignored the anvil, forges, barrels of oil, and the other solution and forging tools that were around the room. His eyes were fixed on his bastard of a father and the most valuable person in the world—his twin brother. He heard someone gasp behind him. Edwin ignored that, too.

His blood was boiling. He wanted nothing more than to twist that thick neck of his father when he saw the condition his brother was in. His brother lay there sprawled, his right hand twisted at an unnatural angle. He could see the bone protruding out of his broken arm, slick with blood. He had a blunt wound on his head, and his lower lips had split open. And worst of all, there was a pool of blood beneath Jimmy’s stomach. The wound on his stomach was still seeping blood. His brother was weeping soundlessly through his red eyes that were once black.

His father, Simon Wright, was looming over Jimmy—his one leg crossing against Jimmy’s throat. Simon was holding a hammer in one hand and a soft metal piece in another hand. Both weapons were dripping red, sticky blood.

His father was a very powerful man—not just physically, but he was second only to the leader of the tribe. “Stop it, Father,” Edwin screamed. “You are killing him.” Edwin had never shouted at his father before, but when he saw Jimmy, he could not help himself.

Simon removed his leg from Jimmy’s throat. Edwin rushed towards Jimmy and held his head, brushing his hair. “Eddy, it hurts. It hurts so much. The voices and images in my head just want to stop.” Tears did not stop flowing from his eyes.

“It’s going to be alright,” Edwin said. “I’m going to heal you like always. You just have to bear with the pain for a while. Can you do that for me?” Jimmy wasn’t like other people. You had to be very careful with him. Regular nightmares and migraine at broken him into a very fragile soul. If it wasn’t for the threat of their father, Jimmy would still be sleeping in the same room as Edwin. Jimmy, however, preferred waking up alone drenched in a cold sweat after a bad dream to his father’s beatings.

Jimmy nodded at Edwin’s words and stopped moving. He had passed out.

“What are you doing here?” Edwin heard his father say. At first, he thought the words were for him, then he realised there was someone else in the room. Chris was covering her mouth with both her hands, tears streaming from her eyes. “This is none of your business. Go back to your—whatever you were doing.”

Chris did not move.

“I said get out of here,” Simon snapped

Chris stumbled back wide-eyed, trembling slightly. She gave Edwin a very painful look through her teary eyes and scuttled away.

Simon turned towards Edwin. “Did you know?”

Edwin blinked at his father.

“Did you know your brother’s blood was corrupted? Did you know he was a vampire?”

Thousands of thoughts began to race through Edwin’s mind. ‘How did father figure it out? Chris and I were so careful.’

“Yes, I knew,” Edwin said in a very weak voice.

“How dare you,” Father said. He grabbed Edwin by the scruff of his neck and dragged him to the corner of the room. His grip was so powerful he had lost his hold on Jimmy, and he could not breathe. His veins and eyes were popping. Edwin struck the hand that was gripping him—he clawed at it, to no avail. His body began to spasm, vision blurring away.

When his father let him go, Edwin gasped for air—air that was like acid to his throat.

“Your mother was corrupted. Corrupted blood that destroyed the world, blood that brought the monsters to this world. We had to survive hiding behind the walls because of their mistakes—their treachery. Your mother was from that same bloodline that brought chaos to this world. She was that same nasty blood. When I found out about her true nature, I killed her. Now, even in death, she won’t stop meddling, making my life more miserable.” Father’s eyes were dancing wildly, his spittle everywhere.

“How can my blood, my son, be a vampire? Nasty corrupted blood that reaps life-force from others. No, He is not my son. She must have eloped with someone else. Yes, that must be it. I can’t keep birth to such disgusting blood.”

“Father,” Edwin snarled. Simon was talking about their mother, not some stranger. Mother was many things, but she was a very lonely person. She would never do something like that. Never. “You are out of your mind? If Jimmy isn’t your son, how can I be? We are twins, we look alike.”

“Yes,” Father hissed. “You must be as foul as your brother, as disgusting.” Father stumped his feet, stabbing Edwin with his index finger. “Show me your true colours. Show me your red eyes.”

“Father, please. You are hurting me.”

“Show me your true colours,” Simon bellowed, planting a kick on Edwin’s stomach.

Edwin doubled over in pain. The force of the kick lifted him into the air and sent him crashing to the wall. He slumped, groaning, and his entire body throbbed madly. Father did not stop there. He grabbed Edwin’s hair, lifting him. Father punched him under his chin. His body slammed into the ceiling and crashed back to the ground with a loud thud. The pain was blinding.

He saw his father throwing an axe at him. ‘Father is going to kill me. Father is going to kill me.’

Edwin rolled over, trying to dodge the axe. The axe buried itself in front of his face, vibrating ominously. His heart nearly exploded. The axe had managed to draw blood from his nose.

He watched as the looming figure of his father approached him. Father’s shadow that was touching him was like an ominous hand of death. He watched his father towering over him, slowly raising his fist—murder in his eyes? But then, surprisingly, father let his fist drop.

Father rummaged through his pocket and fished out of the vial of green liquid. He threw it at Edwin. Edwin’s eyes widened when he realised what it was. It was an ordinary-level potion. It could not only enhance your body for a while, but it could also heal your wounds almost instantaneously. Spirit cores were used to brew such a person. Even the ordinary-level spirit cores were rarer than the epic-level cores of another affinity. What his father had just handed to him was a gold mine. But why?

“You have till dark,” Father said. “Take your brother and go. If you aren’t outside the tribe’s wall by then...” There was a pause. “I will kill you both.”

Father turned and left the smithy.

What father had told him to do was basically a death sentence. There were dangerous creatures outside the walls, deadly creatures. He and his brother wouldn’t last a week outside the walls.

 Edwin grabbed the vial of spirit potion and downed it in one gulp. Icy cold washed through his body that seemed to want to rip apart. Edwin shivered. The sensation did not last long. The pain, all the soreness in his body, vanished like a puff of smoke. Edwin jumped up and down in disbelief. His body was as light as a feather. All the weight in his body, as if he was carrying a mountain, had vanished. Edwin could not remember the time when his body was in such good condition.

Maybe he could survive outside the walls. But that was not possible, and Edwin knew it.

Edwin hefted Jimmy in his soldier and walked to his room. He ignored the strange stares and murmuring people were throwing at him.