Üral Series Chapter 2
Even after this speech, Üral never ever could have guessed what was about to happen, he trusted his brother with his whole heart. He wanted to help his misguided brother.
So he took a step towards the research papers. Valen noticed the determination in Üral's eyes so he acted impulsively in an attempt to protect his research.
Üral was on the ground with Valen's hands wrapped tight around his neck. Valen clearly hated what he was doing yet he also couldn't bring himself to stop. Üral was caught by surprise, he never guessed his brother could attack him. Light slowly started fading out of Üral's vision, he was soon knocked out.
Valen sighed as he let go of his brother. His hands were trembling. He got up and backed away slowly from the sleeping Üral. He then turned to his desk and started gathering his research. He couldn't take everything with him so he smashed some of the bottles outside the shack and burned anything he couldn't take with him. He dragged Üral back home and tucked him in bed.
About 4 hours into the night Üral woke up in his bed, covered in dirt and scratches. It took him time but he remembered what happened. He immediately started running around in the house, yelling "Valen! Valen, are you here?" but nobody answered.
Valen's room was missing a lot, a backpack was gone along with some of his clothes. Üral ran as fast as he could to the shack, but all he found was charred remains. His legs hurt like crazy because they were covered in scratches from when Valen dragged him in the forest.
Üral didn't know what to do. Would his brother come back? Was he still continuing his research?
He quickly started writing a letter explaining what he was gonna do, but stopped before finishing. "I don't know where he went. I should get some rest and properly think about this before doing something."
So he mixed some herbs they had picked a few days prior then rubbed the mixture all over his legs and arms. "This should heal the scratches quickly"
Üral was sitting on his bed. He looked tired, or disappointed. His past that he chose not to remember slowly started leaking into his mind. Then the cracks widened and all of his bad memories came flooding.
There was once a man named Anden married to a woman named Vitosha. Their strong love blessed them with a child, then another one 2 years later. These children named Üral and Valen grew up freely running around in the streets of their remote village. They learned small spells from their father, the sorcerer of their village. Years passed peacefully; their life was tranquil compared to many other villages.
Üral had turned 7, and his brother Valen was about to turn 5. It was a tough winter that year. Trade with the nearest village stopped and their food stocks started withering away. It wasn't long before they learnt the reason: A brutal war had broke out and remote villages were being raided by soldiers trying to survive the winter.
Their village was no exception. Anden woke up to Vitosha's screams. Burning arrows were raining onto their village, the houses they made out of wood joined this growing fire. Anden rushed to get his two children but their door was broken down right as he started running. He turned to see three foreign soldiers standing in the doorway. Anden wanted to hide his children but his wife was standing in between him and the soldiers, so he rushed and hugged her. One of the blood hungry soldiers swinged his blade which cut through Anden's shoulder. He screamed in pain and staggered. This scream woke up Üral. He was a smart kid, he quickly woke up his brother and they hid under their beds. Anden wanted to warn his children so he rushed to their room, dragging his wife along with him. The same soldier that cut Anden didn't want him running away so he lunged forward and pushed his sword through his stomach. He collapsed to the floor in front of his children's bed. Seeing his children hiding under their bed made his last moments less scary. Two other soldiers that were waiting in the doorway walked inside and held Vitosha. She was yelling at the man who had killed his husband but she never mentioned her children in an attempt to keep them safe. The soldiers left the man on the floor and took Vitosha away, as the last one was leaving the room he heard sobbing sounds. Seeing the unmade beds he quickly connected the dots and caught the two children under the bed. He held them by their shirts and dragged them out. They were placed in a wooden cage along with their mother and their neighbors.
After 2 days of travelling without food they arrived in a military camp. They could hear the soldiers sitting around a campfire, bragging about what they pillaged from the village. They endured many cold nights. Every morning there would be at least one person that never waked up. After travelling like this, feeding on food waste of their captors, for a long time that they couldn't keep track of, they arrived at the gates of a huge city.
Without being explained their situation they were all restrained and put to auction as slaves. It wasn't long before someone came and made an offer for multiple slaves, including Vitosha. She begged the buyer to also buy her children. The slave trader whipped her for talking but the customer spoke up, "Don't you dare hurt my property, I'm buying the children too."
The family was put to work in the fields, they never had enough rest time to mourn their father's death. Üral and Valen slacked off many hours, but none of the other slaves reported this because they couldn't risk getting small children punished.
Their mother couldn't bear seeing her children as slaves, she couldn't handle not being able to properly mourn her husband's death. She got sick, she struggled to work. A veterinarian that worked alongside the field owner checked her and said, "She is extremely sick, curing her would require medicine."
Medicine was expensive, not something to be wasted on slaves. She fell out of power each day and could no longer work. The veterinarian was ordered to put her out of his misery. Knowing what this meant, Üral dropped to his knees, begging for his mother's life to be spared. Valen simply copied his big brother and did the same thing, he saw this as a game but Üral's face was covered in tears.
The doctor dragged the two children away and closed the doors to the barn that the slaves slept in. The last thing these brothers saw was their weak mother struggling to reach them. There weren't any screams but the door soon opened to a bare ground covered in blood. The doctor was gone and so was their mother, the only caring human left in their life, now gone for eternity.
Üral was lying on his bed the wrong way, his feet were dangling off the side and his tears were running down to his ears. It has been 12 years since we ran away from that field.
He couldn't remember his parents' face, all he had to mourn on were the screams of his father and the weak arm reaching out for them between the closing barn door. I can't be sad about things that happened years ago. And I definitely can't let my little brother Valen make the horrible mistake he is chasing.
He got up and rubbed his tears away, he prepared a small bag, finished his letter and left his house. He was travelling far from his house for the very first time. The only person he could see and talk to in the past 12 years was his brother.
This was how his journey to find his brother began.
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