Chapter 57: Brothers

"I suddenly feel bad," Gust sat on the bed and stared at Aries with guilt. "I should be helping you but I ran away with my twin brother."

"It's okay," Aries was not comfortable having a long conversation with anyone, even with the people fated to become a Zodiac Knight like him. "You already saved me earlier. That's enough. I need to leave."

Gust quickly grabbed his hand and seriously told him, "Don't move around."

Immediately after hearing those words, Aries had become paralyzed from his shoulder down to his feet.

"What did you do?" Aries glared at Gust.

"You are not fully healed. You need to rest," he strictly answered.

"Please, Aries. Just listen to my brother," Gale had begged. "You can leave after having three to five days of rest."

"Okay. I will rest. Just leave me alone," Aries closed his eyes.

"Lie down on the bed," Gust said and Aries realized that the twins had different voices. Gust had a firm tone while Gale had a gentle pitch.

Aries also noticed that his body was no longer paralyzed. He quickly opened his eyes, jumped off the bed, and dashed towards the door.

"You!" Gust bellowed behind him and Aries heard it again. A strong wind had blown.

Without slowing down, Aries glanced at his rear. He was surprised when he saw Gust only a few inches away from him. The latter grabbed the former by his arms.

"I said take a rest!" Gust yelled impatiently and as he leaned backward, a whirling mass of air had formed right behind him. It pulled him towards the bed, and he dragged Aries along with him.

The force and speed of that momentary pull made Aries a little dizzy but he ignored it with a shake of his head. He could not waste any more time in that place. He yanked his hands away from the grip of Gust and made another run towards the door.

Then it happened again. This time it was Gale who had dragged him back to the bed using that wind vortex.

Aries repeatedly attempted to exit the door. It was only a few meters away from him but he could not even touch the handle. Gust and Gale kept dragging him back to the bed. That foolish cycle started when the sun was still up and ended at sundown. The three of them could no longer lift their body out of the bed.

"Aries, I beg you. Listen to us. We only want you to get better. We will not bring you any harm," Gale, like Aries and Gust, was catching his breath.

Aries was too exhausted to argue. He could not do anything but lie down on the bed and his rumbling stomach gave him further shame.

"Gale, you have to help me prepare dinner," Gust slowly sat up. Even though he was also breathing unevenly, he still looked better than his twin and Aries.

"Okay," Gale wearily obeyed.

"You stay there and rest, please," Gust seriously demanded before leaving the house.

Aries felt bad. He wanted to leave that place and avoid becoming a nuisance but in the end, he turned into one. He was failing a lot lately. It was annoying. He closed his eyes and finally listened to the twins. He gathered as much rest as he needed.

^#######^

Aries was awakened by the tasty aroma of grilled fish. He also felt much better. He sat up and saw that the house was empty. The delicious smell was coming from outside the door. He moved out of the bed and carefully pulled the door open. It was a little dark outside. The moon and stars were shining brightly and there was a bonfire near the river. There was enough source of light for Gust and Gale. They were grilling a few fishes in a stick. And more smoking pots were near the crackling fire.

"Why are you just standing there?" Gust glanced over the door. "Sit here and eat."

Aries joined the twins and his stomach growled hungrily from the mouth-watering aroma.

"Here," Gale gave him a stick of medium-sized fish, a bowl of rice, another bowl of neatly cut fruits, and a glass of water. "Enjoy your dinner. We caught a lot of fish. Just take whatever you can eat."

"Thank you," Aries told himself that he would only take a few bites then he would be leaving but the taste of the fish only made him hungrier and ended up consuming another fish on a stick, two more bowls of rice, and three glasses of water.

"Thank you," he said once more as his stomach bulged with satisfaction.

The twins had also eaten a lot and the three of them lay down on the grass-covered ground. They were quietly gazing at the starlit sky.

"Aries, I know I don't have any right to tell you what to do," Gust had broken their silence. "Though what you are doing is important, you should not forget to give yourself some time to enjoy. You are still young. You should play a lot and worry less."

"Like what you two are doing here?" Aries never spent time with any stranger. He would eat and sleep at an inn but would avoid conversation with anyone.

That was the first time he allowed himself to have a chat with other people.

"Yes," Gust shamelessly answered. "Like what Gale and I are doing. We are enjoying our childhood."

"How can you enjoy when you know that the threat is only outside the barriers of Serestral?"

"I only care about myself and my twin brother. Nothing else matters," Gust bluntly answered.

"Why did you help me? I might bring danger to this place."

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"As you said, time will come when we can no longer avoid danger," Gust rolled to his side and stared at Aries. "If things worsened, I can easily take my twin brother away from this place. I helped you not just because you are dying. There is another reason to it," he grinned mischievously before revealing, "I am learning magic spells and potion-making. I cannot try it on my brother. There are also no animals that needed saving. Right at that moment, we have met you. The timing is perfect. I already tried some on you and it is effective."

Instead of getting angry, Aries found himself smiling.

"He could have killed you," Gale finally said something. "But my twin brother is just too confident that he can save you."

"It is something that I can be proud of," Gust grinned wider. "I just saved someone that can probably save the entire Serestral, if the rumor about you is true."

"I want to make it true, but I guess I will die before I can save Serestral," Aries sighed and shook his head. "For how long are you practicing magic spells and potion making?"

"Longer than your battles with the corrupted souls," Gust proudly answered. "I am doing it for five years."

"How about you, Gale?"

"Learning magic is only for my twin brother," he answered with a smile. "Guardian Aika only has one room for a disciple and that is Gust."

"I told you that I can teach you everything that I learned from her," Gust stared at his twin brother with annoyance.

"I'm already satisfied with wind vortex traveling," Gale happily smiled. "I think Guardian Aika had sensed that I don't want to learn magic as much as you do. Don't worry, my dear brother. I'm not jealous. I'm happy that your skills can save a person. If we can, we should help Aries. The safety of Serestral is the safety of our little home."

"How can you help if you will not learn magic?" Gust sat up and raised an eyebrow at Gale.

"Aries can teach me," he simply answered.

"Teach you what?" Aries was surprised.

"Aren't you a sword wielder? I want to learn it," Gale crawled towards Aries and leaned his head closer as he begged, "Be my master. Please?"

"How can I be your master?" Aries bolted upright. "We are of the same age. And if you learn things from me, you might end up a loser."

Gust gave Aries a hard tap on the back and whispered to him, "You cannot win if you are not confident."

"Believe me, confidence will not help you win a battle," Aries remembered what happened when he recklessly jumped out of Serestral.

"Of course, confidence alone is not enough," Gust agreed. "But believe me, it helps. It's normal to lose. That is how you learn to improve whatever skills you have at the moment or even want to acquire new abilities. No matter how many times you fall down, just get up stronger. But, of course, it will be hard for you to continue striving if you will lose your confidence."

"How can you know such things?" Aries glared.

Gust laughed and answered, "Of course, I learned it from Master Aika. I am still learning a lot from her. I told you, I've been doing this for five years. I have more failures than triumphs but at least I can see myself progressing. I'm sure it is the same with you. Share your knowledge with others. Maybe you and Gale can learn together."

"Who is your master?" Gale curiously inquired and leaned closer to hear the answer.

Aries was uncomfortable with such close distance that he leaned away before answering, "I don't have a master."

"You don't?" Gale gazed at Aries with suspicion. "Where did you learn to wield a sword?"

"I learned it from someone that always wears a cloak, a hood, and a mask. He doesn't want me to call him master or anything at all. He doesn't even want to talk to me unless it is about swords. But he did save me from dying uselessly. That is enough for me."

"That's sad," Gale lay down again on the ground. "If you don't want to be my master then that will be fine with me. But you have to teach me how to wield a sword. Let's be sparring partners."

Aries cleared his throat before saying, "If you insist."

^#########^

The plan to stay at that place for three days had been extended for a few more days until Aries realized he had been there for three months.

Aries could not remember his family or if he ever had one but Gale and Gust were easy to get along with. For a short time, they were like brothers to him and he could feel that the twins also felt the same way about him.

They were together most of the time. Aries and Gale would practice swordsmanship for nearly an entire day while Gust would focus on his spell casting and potion-making. They would prepare their meals together. It was mostly fish and fruits. If Gust would be successful in magically growing rice, they would be having rice to go along with the fish.

Gust would sometimes make potions and Aries would be his test subject. If it fails, he would be having a stomach ache for a day. If it succeeds, the three of them would be having an energy boost for an hour or so.

"I'm just curious," Aries said in one of their dinners, "Where are your parents?"

Gale was nervous while Gust looked furious.

"Let's not talk about them," Gust said and put more fish in the bowl of Aries. "If you want to talk about family, you can share your story with us."

"Well, I don't have one," Aries simply told them as he emptied his bowl of rice and fish. "I should not have asked. I'm sorry."

^#######^

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