Chapter 199: Don’t Leave

- A few short minutes before the storm...

"Ladies, ladies, please! I promise you, there’s more than enough of the kid to go around!"

Everett laughed obnoxiously as women from the village showered him in adoration.

Whether or not he could understand what they were saying was completely irrelevant. He was fluent in body language, and that seemed to be enough to get past certain barriers.

But as he soaked in the adoration of the tribespeople, he saw a silhouette at the very back of the group.

Lia was far in the back, making a slightly anxious expression as she palmed something back and forth in her hands.

Suddenly, Everett was no longer having quite as much fun as before.

"Ah... scuse’ me, ladies..." Everett slipped past the wall of bodies in the way.

As he started to make his way toward Lia, their eyes momentarily met.

However, Lia quickly looked away before moving away.

"Ah..." The horseman wanted to chase after her, but his feet remained firmly in the dirt.

He was so distracted that he barely even flinched when a sharp pain seized his left butt cheek.

"You giant horse’s ass..." Dakota’s cheeks were puffed like a chipmunk’s as she twisted her knife in her brother’s behind. "Stop giving sweet Lia mixed signals. She’s not like the cheap whores you’re used to."

Everett plucked the knife out of his backside with a grimace. "I know, I know."

Dakota pushed her brother hard. "Go apologize. Now."

"W-What do I even say?!"

"Apologize for being a slut and tell her she’s pretty!"

"O-Okay, okay!"

Shuffling forward, Everett slicked back his hair and took a deep breath.

Just before he could call out to the young Lia, he heard her excited voice call out to another.

"Brother! You’re back!"

At the entrance to the village, Tavian and Raizel arrived on horseback, both men looking weary from their travel.

Slightly relieved, Everett turned back to his sister with a shrug. "I should... probably let them have their moment, right?"

Dakota unsheathed her knife again.

"Okay, I’m going, I’m going!"

Wary of getting another knife somewhere it didn’t belong, Everett trudged over to Lia and the returning knights.

As he walked over, he wracked his brain for meaningful words to string together into an apology.

He didn’t even care what Tavian and Raizel had learned while they were doing recon in Komen. All he wanted was to know that Lia didn’t actually hate him.

He talked himself up like a man preparing to head into a fearsome battle.

Even still, he couldn’t stop himself from stuttering.

"U-Uh, Lia..! Could I talk to you for..."

Everett could tell when a mood wasn’t right. Body language was second nature to him, after all. There wasn’t much that people could hide from him once he laid eyes on them.

Even still, Lia, Tavian, and Raizel were really bad at hiding things. As soon as they saw him approaching, their bodies stiffened.

They stared at him with matching, pitiful expressions. Everett would have been impressed if their antics didn’t border on creepy.

"...What? Why are all of you looking at me like that?"

The stares somehow turned even sadder. And Everett was beginning to wish he’d never asked.

- Present...

Solomon raced back to the village on wings of flame. The fearsome wind of the storm chilled him all the way to the bone, worsening the closer he got to the village.

The source of the storm was a great blue pillar near the entrance.

Solomon could see his brother surrounded by thick sheets of ice.

Everett knelt in the soil, his eyes completely unfocused and his large, gray body unresponsive.

Solomon barreled into the ground beside his brother and immediately tried to rouse him.

"Everett!"

Solomon called for his brother but got no response.

"It’s no use! We can’t get him to listen to us!"

Nila trudged forward through the blizzard with her hand against the wind. Behind her, Dakota shielded many of the villagers from the bitter temperatures.

Gritting his teeth, Solomon trudged forward through the ice and wind. His body immolated spontaneously, becoming a glorious man of flame like the sun incarnate.

His body temperature was so high that he was easily able to walk through the ice without breaking his stride.

Solomon reached his brother, their two body temperatures colliding to form a strong gust of steam.

He knelt beside his brother, his expression deeply troubled.

Everett’s face was slack and unfocused. An azure light overwhelmed his eyes, giving them an inhuman glow. Tears like liquid crystal ran down his chiseled face, and yet he showed no trace of anguish.

Solomon placed his hands on both of his brother’s shoulders and shook him. Though Everett did not react, Solomon could feel something change.

A link seemed to be established between the two. Before Solomon could do anything to stop it, a wave of foreign emotions flooded his brain, nearly knocking him off his feet.

The emotion that hit him the hardest was the one Solomon was most familiar with. Loss.

In that moment, a set of memories were traded between brothers.

Solomon saw the faces of individuals whom he could only assume to be Everett’s family. The man he believed was his father, the woman he thought to be his mother, and the brothers with whom he had a tumultuous relationship.

They faded almost as quickly as they appeared in Solomon’s mind. When he came back around, Everett had begun to slump over; the shock he experienced had rendered him unconscious.

Before he could even hit the ground, Nila appeared at his side to support him.

The pillar of blue light, as well as the winter storm both disappeared from view.

As the sky slowly returned to normal, Solomon’s flame also went out.

He started to explain to his sister what had happened when he paused to watch her instead.

"It’s alright, brother... I have you. Your big sister will always protect you..."

Solomon realized maybe he didn’t need to say anything at all. The most important parts were already understood.