[Kitsumi]

His brother's words stung Rylan much more than he had expected. The insinuation that he was useless most of the time was not lost on him. He knew exactly what it was that the elder man was implying, and he resented it.

But for once, he held his tongue. Hurt caused him to recede into himself. There would be no more witty remarks, no jokes, no teasing. All emotion faded from his expression as he simply stared blankly into the fire. He stirred the food cooking over the fire absent-mindedly. Meanwhile, he began tracing random shapes in the dirt below him with his free hand.

[16]

[Kitsumi]

Roman had thought that he wanted silence. The quiet should have been a blessed relief from the constant wisecracks and complaints that his brother was always spewing. And yet, oddly, he found that it felt too quiet. Sure, Rylan's incessant chatter may have been annoying, but its absence was alarming. This wasn't like the younger man, not in the slightest.

"Ry," the elder brother began, speaking in a gentler tone. "I'm sorry that I snapped at you. You know that you aren't useless, right? I just said it because I was angry."

When he was met with silence, he realized that he had really fucked up.

[17]

[Kitsumi]

"Look," Roman began to try again, but his brother stood up abruptly, causing him to forget the words he had been about to say.

"I'm going to take a walk," Rylan said. The words were clipped. His voice, which had always been so expressive, was replaced by monotone. He turned on his heel, beginning to stomp away.

Roman began to panic. "Wait, you'll get lost!" he said the first excuse that came to his mind, desperate to keep his brother from leaving. "Your sense of direction isn't as good as mine. Let's wait until after this is done cooking, and then we can take a walk together."

[18]

[Kitsumi]

The words had the opposite effect on the younger brother. His jaw tightened, the muscles in his shoulders and back tensed. Speaking through gritted teeth, he spat the words at his brother, "Wow. So not only am I useless, but now I can't even find my way back to camp."

"Wait," the other man quickly tried to backtrack when he realized that his words had only made things worse. "That's not what I meant, Ry, and you know it. I'm just concerned about you. I don't want you getting lost and then ending up getting hurt or something while you're out there by yourself."

[19]

[Kitsumi]

Rylan bristled. "I can take care of myself, Roman," he growled. "You seem to have forgotten that I've gone through the same training with dad as you have. I have just as much experience as you."

"I know," Roman tried to calm his brother down. "I'm just saying-"

"You know," the younger man interrupted him. "I'm really sick of listening to what you have to say. Aren't you the one who wanted me to shut up? Well it's your lucky day. I'll walk around this god-forsaken forest and you'll finally be free of me, at least until the sun goes down and I come back."

[20]

[Kitsumi]

At this point, Roman gave up on trying to convince his brother. Instead, he decided to lean into his role of older brother and take control of the situation. "Rylan, I'm not letting you go wandering out there alone," he said firmly. "If you want to go on a walk, we can-"

"Shh!" Rylan interrupted. Any other time Roman would have been upset at the rude action, but the concerned expression on his brother's face was enough for him to realize that something was wrong. "Listen, do you hear that?" The younger man looked around for the source of whatever noise he had heard.

[21]

[Kitsumi]

At first, Roman thought that the younger man was just hearing things. But as he quieted down and focused on the sounds around him, he realized what it was that Rylan had heard. The noise was like thunder, but constant, without a single pause. It was obviously coming from far away, but as he continued to listen the noise was slowly but steadily beginning to grow louder.

There was an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach. On a whim, he turned to glance down at the spot where he had set the device. His eyes widened as he immediately noticed that the crystal was now glowing.

[22]

[Kitsumi]

"Look!" he points at the object which is now shedding a small amount of light. "The crystal is charged. Do you think it could be causing whatever we're hearing?"

Rylan simply shrugs. "Don't know, don't care. It doesn't matter what's causing it, all that matters is that whatever is coming doesn't kill us." The wound was getting much louder now, and he thought he could feel vibrations coming from the ground beneath his feet. "I think we should get up somewhere high!"

Without hesitation, Roman agrees. "Good idea. Here," he crouches down in front of a tree, hands cupped together. "I'll give you a boost, and then you help me up, yeah?"

[23]

[Kitsumi]

Although he would never tell his brother, Roman feared that whatever was coming was moving too swiftly for both of them to reach safety. All that mattered to him in that moment was making sure that the younger man was out of harm's way. And as for him... well, he would deal with whatever was coming the only way he knew how: he would fight.

For a moment, Rylan hesitated. He had a strange feeling about this, like something was off. But wasting time would only cause the danger to grow, so he quickly moved over to where his brother waited. Placing a foot in Roman's hands, he allowed the older man to lift him up so that he could reach the lowest branch of the tree.

[24]

[Kitsumi]

As Rylan grabbed the branch and pulled himself up, the ground began to shake in earnest. Once he had a steady grip, he reached down towards his brother. "Grab my hand," he said. "Quickly!"

But to his surprise, Roman turned and ran back to the crystal. "What the fuck are you doing?" the younger man shouted. "Forget about that thing and get up here!" There was a hint of panic in his voice, an uncharacteristic sound for him. "Please, Rome."

His brother returned, but rather than taking his hand he held up the device with the crystal inside of it. "Hold onto this," he commanded. "I don't want it to get broken."

[25]

[Kitsumi]

Before Rylan had the chance to answer, a stampede of enormous animals began running towards the two of them. He desperately reached for his brother, but it was clear that there was no time to pull him up into the tree with him. With only a split second to react, he finally grabbed the device that was being offered to him, watching with wide eyes to see what the elder man would do.

Roman barely had time to spin around to face the stampede before it was upon him. They had barreled through the trees as if they were toothpicks. He only hoped that the tree his brother was in would not suffer the same fate.

[26]

[Kitsumi]

"Roman!" The younger man shouted from his position in the tree. His view was partially obscured by leaves and fog, but he didn't have to see what was going on to know that his brother was in danger. His chest rose and fell rapidly with quick, shallow breaths. Was there something he could do to help? Was it already too late?

The elder brother didn't even hear his name being shouted. He was too focused on coming up with a plan to avoid being trampled. As the first beast came barreling towards him, he noticed that the creatures were covered in a long, thick coat of hair. Perfect. As long as he timed his actions perfectly, he knew how to survive this... and hopefully how to make sure that Rylan remained safe in his tree as well.

[27]

[Kitsumi]

Right before the animal plowed into him, Roman leapt to the side. Reaching towards the creature, he grasped two handfuls of its hair. His arms were nearly ripped out of their sockets as he was dragged forward, but he managed to retain his grasp. It was no easy feat to climb onto the back of his unlikely steed, but he finally succeeded in doing so. Yanking on one of the horns that grew from either side of its head, he managed to steer the beast to the right, away from the tree in which Rylan was perched. He looked over his shoulder, hoping that he had been correct in assuming that the rest of the stampede would follow the one in front.

[28]

[Kitsumi]

To his great relief, Roman found that his guess had been right. The entire herd began to follow this new direction. With the animals successfully diverted, he had managed to ensure his brother's safety.

However, his own fate was still undecided. When he had pulled on the creature's horn, it had realized that there was an unwanted guest on its back. Now, it began bucking and jolting as it continued to run forward, attempting to throw the man off. Roman was holding on as tightly as he could, but his arms were beginning to ache and he knew that it was only a matter of time before he lost his grip.

[29]

[Kitsumi]

Roman knew that jumping off would hurt far less than being bucked off by the animal. The only problem was, jumping off would put him directly in the path of the rest of the herd. He'd have no time to stand and flee before they were upon him, and he would likely end up crushed beneath them. It wasn't a very appealing option, but he wasn't sure if he had any other choices.

Finally, he made up his mind. He would jump, and hopefully his momentum would allow him to roll out of the path of the stampeding animals. He only hoped that he wouldn't be injured by the fall to the point where he wouldn't be able to move.

[30]