Words to My Fallen Brother
It might seem strange in itself to speak to a brother bound by death. Of course it did. He knew full well that his own act of telling the already dead to "come back" was abnormal. Once joined to the army of death, there was no returning. But he couldn't bring himself to say anything other than "come back." He had nothing else to say—he just wanted to talk to his brother, who could never return.
The result was tragic. What came back was nothing more than a moving corpse that didn't remember him. So he swung his sword even more fiercely. Blue flames wrapped around the sword energy. Runes were engraved into the Ice Blade, filled with frost. Did the sword sense Rowen's emotions? The blue flames, which should have been cold, burned hot. The blue inferno swirled wildly. Blue fire bloomed along the sword's trajectory. The flames consumed the air. The superheated air scorched his lungs. It felt just like spinning his core.
"I know words won't get through."
"...Shut up."
"I know you're being cold to me too."
"..."
"...Still, don't you think you should at least see your family's faces before you die?"
Not you too, right, brother?
Before the words could escape, Kael's sword traced its arc. The blue frost light was corrupted by demonic energy, casting a murky haze. It was like smoke. In an instant, it darkened Rowen's vision.
Bang!
"Arahan!"
"Yes, your Arahan, young master."
Arahan's gust of wind swept away the fog in a flash. Kael felt no anxiety. He simply moved according to his master's command. Eliminate the impurities before him. That was all the thoughts of Kael, now the Death King, amounted to. The stray thoughts merely clouded his vision.
'Who the hell keeps barging into my head…!'
'Snap out of it. That's your little brother.'
'Past memories are just obstacles blocking action.'
'Kael, do you really think that?'
'Shut up. I don't need ghosts from the past.'
Kael tracked Rowen's movements with eyes turned blue. Eyes that should have inherited Kadan's red hue. Now they were dyed by the power of extreme cold.
"...Rise."
At that single word, the vast army of death awoke from their long slumber. They howled ferociously under the high moonlight. Their forms were grotesque, terrifying, the epitome of revulsion. Rotten flesh hung in frozen tatters. Bones pierced through skin, and their iced bodies were caked in frost.
"Damn…!"
"Young master, I'll handle them."
"There are too many. Can you manage?"
"Hehe, are you worrying about me now? I like seeing you like this…"
"This isn't the time for jokes!"
"No. I know when to joke and when not to, young master."
"Then!"
"Yes, don't worry. You just focus on the eldest young master."
"...Got it."
Fragile shards of memory, like thin ice, kept forcing their way into his mind. He knew the cause. The man before him.
"...Who are you?"
"Make me remember."
"...Words won't get through."
When Rowen slashed down from above, Kael deflected it with his faded shield. They distanced themselves again, wary. They repeated this, then unleashed waves of demonic energy and mana.
Bang!
The air exploded! Space warped, creating temporary rifts. The mountain range crumpled, triggering a real avalanche. Rowen created an ice platform in midair and planted his feet on it. Arahan did the same on Rowen's ice. Back-to-back on the narrow frozen surface, they looked down at the collapsing ground below.
"What did you do to make the mountain crumble?"
"Demonic energy clashed with mana."
"Does it have to be this bad?"
"Opposing energies expand and cause rifts naturally."
Whumm!
His core spun smoothly. Frost on Rowen's arms began morphing into armor. It felt simple. He still couldn't match Kael's raw strength. Age was a factor, but inheriting ancestral power from the Soul Spring played a bigger role. Rowen was the impressive one for taking Kael's attacks barehanded.
"Brother's dead."
"I know. No living person looks like that."
"I just thought maybe we could talk…"
In that instant, a wave of snow spread in a circular blast. A massive shockwave. Kael had simply amplified his demonic energy and leaped.
"No way we can talk when he comes at us like that."
"...Sadly, I agree."
As Kael made his massive move, Arahan and Rowen leaped from the ice platform. They created a new one and ascended. The old platform cratered under Kael's sword strike. Runes swirled around Rowen. Blue fire pillars flickered nearby. In this frost-laden wasteland, the only fire attack possible: Rowen's frost flame magic.
"Burst Ice."
Ice that truly burst. Ice in the form of flames. Meaning, it combined two attributes at once. When the fire exploded, so did the ice. It inflicted frostbite and burns that wouldn't fade. An original spell blending two mid-tier magics—rivaling high-tier. It strained his mana circuits a bit. At his young age, his body couldn't fully handle it. He had plenty of mana, but his circuits, the device for calculating spells, hadn't fully matured.
But it didn't matter. Even if just for a moment. He just wanted to talk to Kael.
*
Kael thought. What was this light blocking his path? Why did it make him so sorrowful? He already knew the answer. But even confirming it stirred no emotion in Kael. A dead body already. Even if he regained his memories, he had to pledge loyalty to his master, the King of Extreme Cold. Wouldn't that just make it more miserable?
'Rowen.'
He pieced together the fragmented memories that had shattered. He knew better than anyone there was no going back. Yet an invisible hand kept groping for memory shards. Like a blind man reading braille. Like feeling an object's texture. He doubted his own desperate flailing to sense unseen memories.
'The soul is already gone. Why struggle like this!'
'You know, don't you?'
The voice echoed from nowhere. He realized it came from his own depths. No—precisely, from himself.
'You don't want to hurt him, right?'
'Hurt who?'
'Who else? Our cute little brother.'
'Little brother?'
'Don't play dumb. You already know. You're just overtaken by the extreme cold, but the memories with that kid linger as fragments.'
Kael approached the light. The surroundings brimmed with frigid cold. Dark as pitch black. The cold, ruthless air clung like dampness.
'Don't mind it.'
'What?'
'If you care about that, you can't turn back. Well, you can't return to human anyway.'
'...Then what do I do?'
Kael's mouth moved mechanically. One mind, two memory sets—his mouth had no choice but to be busy. Memories of Kael Valenos, not the Death King, stirred his spirit.
'We're already dead anyway.'
'...Loyalty to the king…'
'Bullshit. You don't want that.'
'How can I be sure?'
'I'm you. You're me. Of course? I'm the memories from when we were human. I know better than anyone the King of Extreme Cold is a threat.'
He smiled faintly.
'We've seen it.'
'...'
'In the King of Extreme Cold's memories, we saw his father.'
'Yeah.'
'We saw the essence of his soul. How great that guy was.'
The great knight Rian Rose. At the crossroads of life and death, Kael glimpsed a memory. Because their blood connected? He saw the man born to a tragic fate.
'So tell Rowen.'
'Tell him what…'
He smiled brightly, as always.
'You know.'
'...You.'
'Aren't me, right?'
'I…!'
'Yeah, Kael. Tell Rowen.'
With that, Kael's mind floated toward the light.
*
Rowen sensed something off as Kael's movements slowed oddly. His eyes seemed more alive now. Whatever. It didn't matter anymore. He wouldn't listen to Rowen's words. He was already dead. What moved him was the King of Extreme Cold's command. Nothing more, nothing less.
So he resolved himself. No, he clarified what he'd already decided. He'd free him. Free him from the curse, give him peace.
Kael—his brother—shouldn't suffer like this even in death!
"Sorry."
"Why apologize?"
"Because I have to end you with my own hands."
"Don't apologize."
Rowen and Kael. The two Valenos stared straight at each other. Though dominated by the extreme cold, in a fleeting moment, Kael had met his past self. Maybe that's why. Looking at the man before him—no, his half-brother—he felt a smile rise.
'You've grown so much.'
It pained him not to watch that growth by his side. Above all, he hadn't kept his promise to him. So he resolved.
"You said it, right?"
"...What?"
"Let's spar if you come back."
"...Kael?"
Rowen couldn't process what he'd heard. The opposite of the Kael about to unleash a massive attack. It was his kind brother's voice, as he remembered.
"Ready?"
"...Brother. Is it really you?"
"Rowen, don't cry. Look ahead. Your enemy is right there."
"He's not an enemy…"
"He is. You know that. You, who hates demons more than anyone."
"...!"
Kael smiled softly. A forced smile. His memory fragments were gradually being overtaken by the cold. Little time left. With restraints lifted, his body could only hold for an instant. So he approached Rowen first.
"Let's dance together."
"How do you know that?!"
"Think easy. Cast aside stray thoughts."
"But…!"
"Having the man I admired as my little brother? I'm a lucky guy."
Clang!
Ice sword met ice shield, sparking friction. One destruction. Rowen swung a newly forged sword at Kael. Kael swung his shield, forged of ruthless demonic energy, once more.
"Don't cry."
"...I'm not."
"Liar."
Their swords clashed again. Kael moved. His flurry of strikes created afterimages slicing Rowen's form. Rowen matched him. A bit lacking perhaps, but drawing all his strength, he countered the afterimages. Mana was plentiful. But fighting Kael wasn't about mana management. It was physical prowess and capacity. Rowen used every strength-enhancing spell he had. Countless runes orbited him.
For a moment. Just a brief moment. Rowen's strength matched Kael's.
"Rowen, no time."
"...No way!"
"Yeah, what I planned from the start, right?"
Rowen trembled. How agonizing to pierce family with his own hands. Even if once dead, a brother was a brother. Plenty had piled up to fill him with sorrow.
"It's okay."
"Okay my ass!"
"You can go on without me."
Kael smiled.
"You always say I reached out, but it's not true."
"What're you talking about…"
"You saved me. Back then, and now."
"I…!"
"Smile."
Kael thrust the flame-wreathed sword into his own gut. Even after death, he felt his organs rupture. The weather was cold. A mournful blizzard whipped their white hair.
Drip!
Black blood poured from Rowen's hand. Demon blood, surely. The old Rowen would have recoiled, but now it just felt like his brother's warmth.
"...What did you do?"
"Sorry."
"You told me not to apologize!"
"Sorry I couldn't stay by your side."
This, he had to say. Rowen. My little brother.
"The North isn't over yet."
"...No."
"You inherit the North's will. You know. Cain's not the vessel."
"...Why're you closing your eyes?"
"Valenos is the North. That's our very reason for being."
Rowen caught Kael's shoulder as his legs gave out. So cold. He couldn't stop the extreme cold from flowing.
"And teach Karin the sword. Our cute maknae still can't be tamed."
"Brother, snap out of it! We just reunited, why…"
"...You know. I've been dead a month already. Just staving off decay with the extreme cold."
He knew. He'd planned to end Kael himself from the start. But grief-stricken Rowen cried like a child, pounding away. Anyone would. Nothing matches the despair of losing someone precious right before your eyes.
Rowen's tears trailed down his cheeks onto Kael's pale face. Perhaps melting the extreme cold that clung to him, just a little.
"So yeah."
"..."
"Live. Be dirty if you have to. Endure, run, fight to the end…"
Kael's lips trembled. Strength fading. His spirit struggled to move the dead flesh.
"...Protect the North."
"I will…"
"The King of Extreme Cold's seal is breaking."
"I know."
"As the hero, you'll understand. You need the holy sword."
"...I…"
Kael mustered his last strength to stroke Rowen's head. The first time. Transparent liquid flowed from Kael's eyes. Showing it to Rowen.
"Ah… I don't want to die."
"Brother…?! Hold on a bit longer. We have so much to talk about…"
"Rowen."
The stroking hand moved to Rowen's cheek. Precious little brother. Precious family. The cherished child he'd thought of in despair. Emotions he shouldn't feel broke free of the cold's bonds. Feeling warmth, however briefly, Kael finally smiled peacefully.
"Warm."
"...Brother?"
"...I love you. My brother. More precious than anyone in the world."
"No. No no no no no!"
Rowen didn't hold back his unstoppable tears. No need to. He'd expected it. But reality doubled the sorrow.
Soon after, the entire army of extreme cold lost power and vanished. In the center of the ruined snow mountain, only sobs near wailing filled the air.
The moon shone. Its stronger light than usual illuminated the blizzard. It was cold. Unlike the warmth Kael felt, the oblivious weather chilled Rowen's heart once more.
A month passed. Rowen still kept his heart's door firmly shut.