A couple hours had passed and mist filled the house. Anecus eyes half lidded opened, the room aglow with soft gold from his radiant skin.
Not really talking to anyone he noticed his body was less hot "it…hurts less." my words must have been a relief to my parents. They both knelt beside me. I heard dads voice again. "Listen carefully. I want you to feel for the essence of water, your first Pillar. Let it move, not forward but inward."
'What does that mean?' I looked at him "my first pillar, what do you mean?" but it was my mother who answered "sweety, we know this is confusing but try. Try to bring the essence of water to your soul core. Wrap it around the fire, but don't let them fight."
'Fire? is that why I'm so warm?' I wasn't sure what they were talking about but I felt something cold within me but it was all over the place, there was no flow to it. So I chased after every last piece then I let it surround me.
All of this was instinctual somehow. 'Was it because of dad's visualization training? Good thing I payed attention.'
I was exhausted, but I managed to even out my breathing. The comfort of my mother aided the process. After a few minutes of visualizing what the essences of water was I slowly tore it apart into streams. Making them flow in all directions and finally I felt something, coolness flow through my veins.
With guidance from my father I let it flow to the area just below my heart, my soul core was currently like a raging star but the water seemed to know what to do. Faint halos surrounded my core causing a faint ripple of blue light escaped from my skin. It was so faint I don't even think dad saw it. He did
The temperature in the room began to drop. The water in the bath no longer steaming. His glowing hair dulls back to his silver white. His cheeks still warm lose the red flush.
Jane whispers in relief "..He did it."
Anecus now entirely limp with fatigue slips into unconsciousness, his head lolling to the side. Red catches it before it dips under. Without saying a word Red picks him up and sets him on a towel. Jane drys him quickly, carefully before wrapping him on clean linen.
Some time passed and the air was still. Jane and Red sitting beside Anecus, the lanterns flicker low. Outside the sounds of distant music and fireworks echoes the ongoing festival.
Breaking the silence softly Jane spoke "I always knew he'd be different. But this…"
Red in a low voice could only state what was clear to both of them "No human has ever done this. Not two."
Jane falls into worry "what if his soul can't handle it? No soul should be able to handle more than one Pillar…"
Red places a hand over her "I know…but I believe he was given two because his soul can handle it. The Divine circuit never gives more than one can handle."
A silence. Then Red leans forward, elbows on knees. "And who's to say two is the limit." he looks at their boy. "I think your hunches will be answered when his Divine circuit activates."
They sit in silence again. Outside, a flare of color, fireworks from the festival.
Another child just awakened. The cheers carry lightly through the night. Jane whispers "do we tell him? How different he is?"
"No not yet, let him rest. Let him grow." He reaches out and covers Anecus's hand with his own. "When the time comes, we prepare him for what the world will ask of him."
"But for tonight…" He looks at Jane, at the faint worry hiding behind her silver eyes. "He's still just our boy."
And so the world continued, unaware that within a quiet home in the Goldenfields…A child had not just awakened.
Early morning Jane sits at the table, half dressed in her robe eyes tired but soft. Anecus stirs in the back room, still asleep.
The front door creaks open "...Aunt Jane?"Naia peeks in, Cassia behind her.
A little more awake but worried. "Come in, girls."
They do, stepping timidly. Naia's gaze flicks around the house, scanning from someone. "Where's Anecus? Did something happen?"
Cassia was more alert "his awakening…it wasn't normal was it?"
Red exchanged a glance with Jane. No lies between them and these girls. "No it wasn't."
He gestured toward the bedroom "he's resting. He is alright but what happened wasn't normal at all."
Jane closes the book she'd been pretending to read and motions for the two to come sit. "There are things about Anecus we weren't sure of before. We had… suspicions." She looked to their room Anecus was in "But last night made one thing clear."
Naia steps forward, clutching the sleeves of her night tunic. "He has two Pillars, doesn't he?" Jane and Red just nod.
In a quiet voice that was cracking she asks "is he in pain?"
Red "He was but he managed it. He already learned to stabilize the conflict inside him."
Naia stands in silence for a moment, then she moves past Jane, toward the bedroom. Jane doesn't stop her.
Naia walks in, Cassia follows a bit slower. Anecus is curled up on the bed, damp hair against the pillow, face relaxed for the first time in hours. The light from the window hits his silver hair and for just a moment, it shimmers faintly like the sun on fresh snow.
Naia beside him gently brushes his cheek. 'Still warm.' She doesn't say anything, just stays there. Cassia joins her on the other side, "we'll figure it out, won't we."
Something in Naia's eye shined, almost like a finality was decided with her awareness. "We have to."
The boy who bore two curses now slept between the two who loved him most…each caught in a gravity they didn't yet have the words to name.
And while the world prepared to call him legend…
They would call him brother.
Bond.
Home.