reflash: (Default)
Yukio Okumura ([personal profile] reflash) wrote2018-04-27 09:28 pm

Stories for the Athenæum


Creation Myths (a fragment)
...and he, Loki the trickster spake unto his brethren, saying to them
"I see your suffering and know it full well, and your pain causes me the greatest sorrow. So, my beloved family, for ye have I made new bodies, bodies which shall be replaced as quickly as they decay, that your presence in Assiah may continue."

The Twins (a fragment?)
Once there were two brothers, twins by birth and raised by the same man, though they were the sons of a far-away king. The man who raised them was a priest with a soul like a desert, but he had learned to care for the boys he called his sons, and loved them as if they were his children by blood. The elder son was wild and reckless and kind, while the younger was cunning and cautious and ruthless. It was this younger son that the priest chose to train as a warrior, though he was weak in body and fearful in his soul, for the priest knew that the king would one day return from his far-off kingdom to claim the elder brother as his heir, and the priest knew that he could not allow that to happen.

From childhood, the younger brother trained without ceasing, learning the use of plants and guns and magicks, while the elder brother remained ignorant of his twin's struggles and of the darker world around him. The younger brother loved his brother and swore to protect him, but as the years passed he became jealous of his brother's easy life, though it was founded on ignorance, and his heart secretly grew twisted and cruel. The elder brother loved his brother and swore to protect him, but as the years passed he watched his brother grow and felt himself falling behind, and dreamed of surpassing his younger brother.

One day, while the younger brother was away, the king of the far-off kingdom appeared at the monastery where the twins had been raised and tried to carry the older brother off by force. The priest fought the king, and was killed by him, and the brothers were sent away to live under the care of the priest's friend, a powerful wizard in a neighboring town.

Morality Tale
A man had two sons. One he raised as a normal boy, and the other he raised to fight demons alongside him. After he died, the sons both began to fight demons together. The one son found joy in protecting his friends from the demons, but the other began to feel that he was not strong enough to protect anyone, and desired more power. When he felt that his brother was becoming stronger than him, he grew angry. One night, after hurting a friend he loved, the boy decided to betray the exorcists and side with the demons for strength. When his brother tried to stop him, he raised his gun against his brother in anger, and shot him.

The moral of this story is that favoritism is dangerous.