Thankfully the weeks passed quickly and became months and with each passing day I was gaining bits of control over my own body. During this time I also learned what I looked like, mother having held us in front of a mirror to show us. While Arthur had the eyes of our father and the hair of our mother, I had the reverse. Brown eyes with ashen brown hair, rather plain, but still cute if I do say so myself.
Not long ago Arthur had already been crawling and causing quite a bit of trouble for our parents as he explored the house. I wasn't too worried, as the cool stuff was outside anyways and mother tended to take us with her when she went to town. Which I found out was named Ashber and was a small village near the Grand Mountains. It was fascinating what you could learn when people thought you couldn't understand them.
This world was something else, and the show couldn't do it justice. Everything seemed brighter and more vibrant. Even with the medieval style of living, whether it was due to the presence of magic in this world or something else I couldn't be sure, but it was beautiful. I happily allowed myself to be bundled up each time she went shopping. Oohing and ahing as we passed by people that had weapons as large as themselves strapped to their backs. And magic… Magic was awesome.
Reynolds had accidentally cut Arthur's knee while spinning him around, I thanked Arthur for his sacrifice, as I got to see Alice heal the small injury with a glowing energy. Pretty soon my curiosity got the best of me and I knew that I needed to learn how to use magic as soon as possible. From what I remembered Arthur learned how to form a core from a book. The only problem is that he came from a world where he was basically doing that already, so it surely must have been a lot easier for him.
At 7 months old our journeys to become mages had begun, unbeknownst to our parents their sons were going to become mages soon. Before I knew it 2 years had passed in this new world.
I found this monotonous routine surprisingly fun as I spent any free moment meditating trying to absorb the surrounding mana. Throughout this time I was beginning to become more at ease around Arthur. Before I was too worried about how he was in his past life, but as time went on I slowly forgot about that and only knew him for as he was now. Which was a kind and helpful brother.
I don't know if he knew I was like him or not, but he would let me sit beside him while he read the books. I tried to show interest I really did, but a lot of the books was a bunch of boring textbook style information and I couldn't help but get bored despite the kind of thing it was covering. I found more joy in just sitting there and feeling the mana, which I was slowly but surely becoming better at.
Finally there was one day that the roles were reversed. I was looking over one of the books about Dicathen and I could tell Arthur was meditating in the middle of the room about 10 feet away. It was nice just hanging out with him and I was finally convinced that he was someone that I could grow to truly like and call a brother as we got older.
And then he shot me? Blew me up? What was this betrayal?! One second we were peacefully existing next to each other as I skimmed over the different cities of Sapin, and the next I was sent flying out the room. Splinters and chips of stone pelted me, some digging in other just scraping my skin as I was rolled until I was forcefully brought to a stop by the wall of the kitchen.
My ears rang and my head hurt along with several aches springing up across my body. My vision was blurry and I was sure this was my end. My brother had just bided his time, pretending to not notice that I was reincarnator like him and now that he had caught me with my guard down he was finally taking me out. First it was me and then it was going to be the rest of the world. Well I guess that was a bit of a jump in difficulty, but I'm serious!
"Arthur! Roland!" I could hear my parents yell and I tried to warn them of their psycho killer son, but before I could they were knelt next to me and I could already feel the warmth of Alice's healing power spreading throughout. My vision cleared and I was met with their worried and tear filled gazes. Yes, I'm sorry to tell you my dear parents, your other son is crazy.
Alice lifted me into her arms and they ran to the room that looked like it had been hit with a bomb. I squirmed and tried to warn them, but it was too late, the room wasn't far from where I had been flung. Inside was Arthur and he was floating with a barrier surrounding him and my brain slowly began to catch up.
"Oooooooh." I accidentally said aloud as I watched him. Heh, it seems my brother hadn't intentionally try to kill me. Sorry for doubting you, Arthur. Well that's a relief at least, though a little warning would have been nice.
Reynolds knelt to the ground as he watched and I soon felt motion as Alice ran towards Arthur who was finally looking at us with a small satisfied smile on his face.
"Art! Oh my baby! Are you okay?" Mother yelled as she ran, tears had already been flowing when she found me and they had renewed at the sight of Arthur in the middle of the destruction of the house.
She squeezed him into a hug which I was unfortunately forced into and found that while most of the injuries were gone there were still some pain.
"Ow." I hissed quietly and Alice immediately released the hug, Reynolds appearing beside us.
"Oh, I'm sorry Roland. Are you alright dear?" She asked tenderly as she looked me over again and I nodded softly. Arthur seemed to finally notice his surroundings.
"What happen?" He asked dumbfounded
"Congrats, Art. You awakened, Champ." Reynolds said as he ruffled Arthur's hair.