"Luke, your little 'die-hard' scheme is gonna get us killed one day."
"Well, it's better than your play-it-safe crap, Mikey."
Luke's words felt like an attempt at deflection to his brother, Michael, who laid back on a bench in the middle of the city. Next to Michael, sitting on the rails of the bench, was his brother, Luke.
No matter how miserable life felt, they were always happy to be by each other's side, but that wasn't important right now; they hadn't seen the sight of food for days now.
And coming back from a failed mission, they needed money.
Thirteen years had passed since they began living together on the streets. Luke was the eldest, and he did everything in his power to ensure he and Michael had a chance of survival.
They survived thanks to a number of side hustles they pulled off together.
They've lived off the streets as far as they can remember. Life was brutal from the get-go, and on top of all that, they had been cast out by society and branded as worthless just because they were born commoners without as much as a drop of the 1st king's royal blood.
Luke bit down his fingernails, his eyes darting from the pavement to Michael's face and then slowly toward the sky. "Hey Mikey, I found a job for us." His words sounded tight, as he couldn't directly look at Michael, instead fixing his gaze on the passing crowd. "But you're definitely not gonna like where it comes from."
As Michael heard those words, he snapped and threw his hands up. "No. No way. I know exactly what you're thinking, Luke. We can't trust him. He's a noble; you know that those people have a grudge against us just for being alive."
"Mikey, listen—"
"Ohh God." Michael interrupted him as he slapped his own face. "Listen I want a better life for the both of us, not ending up as corpse in the middle of nowhere."
Luke looked Michael dead in the eyes, as his face hardened.
Luke stepped closer. "Michael. Caution doesn't save you out here, neither does luck. Only Hardwork does that."
He put a heavy hand on Michael's shoulder. "You want a better life? Say your with me. I'm not asking you to die. I'm asking you to trust me like you always do."
Michael's shoulders dropped as he let out a long, shaky sigh.
"Fine" Michael whispered, as a smile appeared on his face. "If I don't go with you, who's gonna make sure you come back alive, idiot?"
As the sun dipped down, The two brothers went out into the nearby forest, and headed straight for the Omasian Ruins.
Luke had found a request from some snot-nosed noble to come out here and find some hidden treasure full of various items, and in exchange, they'd get 50% of the loot.
The weary sounds of the forest faded out as they came near two large stone pillars in the middle of the forest.
Michael felt his stomach tighten from the inability to see in the darkness; he wasn't afraid of the dark, but not being able to see was his least favorite thing in the world.
He raised his hand up high; mana began to flow through the pathways of his palm and began coalescing into a sphere of flames that was bright enough to illuminate the surrounding area.
Luke's head turned to look at Michael as his face frowned. "Watch it, you don't have enough mana to spare, so be careful, okay."
Michael noded as he rolled his eyes behind his back.
◇◇◇◇
The two brothers ventured deep into the ruins and after walking for what seemed to be a long time they arrived in an area where a tomb sat in the center and was illuminated by light coming from the moon.
Luke deliberately took slow and steady steps toward the tomb trying to avoid any traps.
Without hesitation he extended his hands and dragged his palm across the surface of the tomb, feeling the ancient carvings bite into his skin. The stone was unnaturally cold, its chill seeping into his bones.
He took a heavy breath, hooked his fingers under the heavy stone lip, and heaved. The sound of stone grinding against stone was soon cut short a sharp metallic clack.
As they heard that sound, they knew something was about to happen. Suddenly a cold and unnatural wind hollowed past Michael's ears, blowing out his flame.
The two slowly made their way backwards, Across the room, a serpent-like creature slithered out gracefully, deliberately infront of the moon light that cut through the ceiling. It's scales were massive, sharp and hard as mountain rock.
Luke moved first, extending his hand and summoning a series of black spears shrouded in black smoke from beneath his shadow.
He then took aim and attacked the monster.
The monster charged toward Michael in an attempt to dodge his attack.
Fortunately, Michael took his brother's attack as a sign of bravery.
He sidestepped the monster's charge and pulled his right arm back. And—woosh—landed a powerful punch to the monster's flank, cracking some of its scales.
"Nice move, now do you mind getting out of the way I wanna kill this bastard." Luke joyfully embraced his brother.
Luke gathered mana for the next strike as he focused intensely. Tens of shadow spears formed violently behind him, sharp and ready. He targeted the creature's flank, where Michael's attack had left it vulnerable.
The beast faced him and stared at him intensely and prepared another charge. As it began to move he released the spears.
Swish
The spears pierced the open wound, causing the creature to hiss in pain, as it's tail trashed out of control, breaking everything in its path.