The Brother

Chapter Eight

“Alright. Wake up. That’s enough for a nap.”

Jace slowly opened his eyes to look at his brother pouring water to a pair of glasses. He needed a little longer to adjust to his brother’s much older look.

Jonathan brought the two glasses and handed the one he held in his right hand to his brother and said, “Drink.”

Jace raised the glass to his mouth and instantly realized that it wasn’t water. “Vodka?” he said.

“Yup. Why? You don’t drink?” said Jonathan. “I can get you a glass of milk if you want.”

“No, it’s alright.” said Jace. The idea of trading vodka for milk did not appeal to his mind as he took a sip and felt the burning liquid run down his throat. “What year is it?”

“Jace, you’ve been asleep for four hours. You don’t need to ask that question.”

“You said that we’ve time travelled to the future. So what year is it?”

“It’s 2234. The calendars are still the same. Come with me, I’ve got something to show you.” said Jonathan and emptied his glass with a big gulp. Looking at him, Jace decided to do the same, and immediately regretted the decision. The burning sensation made his eyes well up with tears.

They moved to Jonathan’s office. Jace noticed the details that he had missed earlier. The floor had a carpet, dark red in colour. The walls were bright yellow. There was a window which spanned from floor to ceiling on either side of the bookshelf behind the desk.

Jonathan stood in front of the gray couch and said, “Help me push this thing to the side.” He stood at the right end of the three-seater couch. Jace hurried to stand beside him.”Usually my assistant lends me a helping hand.”

Jace didn’t say anything as they pushed the couch on the count of three. It was unusually heavy, or he felt so because of the carpet underneath it, and he could feel the sweat forming on the pores of his forehead as they pushed the couch a couple of feet. “There it is.” said Jonathan and pointed to the floor.

“See what?” said Jace and looked at the floor. He could see a few dust particles on the fluffy carpet and tried to focus his eyes. He saw a thin golden strip, which was almost completely enclosed by the carpet. “Is that…” gold? - Jace wanted to ask.

“Yes it is.” said Jonathan as he held it with a couple of fingers and pulled it a couple of inches off the ground.

So that’s a handle? Thought Jace as Jonathan used a bit more force than before to pull the trapdoor open and fixed it on its hold open arm. How the hell did he get a trap door up here?

“Which floor are we in?” asked Jace.

“27th. And we’re gonna be moving to the 26th and 25th.”

“Why can’t we use the elevator?”

“Because there’s no door that leads to this room. There are rooms on either side. But the place where the door should have been is covered with a couple of paintings.”

Well… That’s slightly sensible.

“Go on.” said Jonathan and pointed to the trapdoor.

“But there’s no light.” said Jace who could make out only a couple of steps in the light of the room.

“Wimp” said Jonathan and took a step. All of a sudden, the staircase lit up in wonderful golden light. As the room underneath them lit up under its brilliance.

Wow! Jace wanted to say as he took a step forward. “What’s with the gold?” he asked as he recollected the number of stuff he had seen in gold.

“In Prayot, gold is a symbol of power. So I chose half of my stuff to be in gold. Including the lights. This is the 26th floor” said Jonathan and spun on his heels with his arms outstretched and a smile on his face.

Jace looked around the room. There were photographs. A lot of them. The walls were filled the with photographs of his brother which were framed. There were around five of them with his brother kneeling on the ground next to a green line which ran in front of him.

Jace recognized that it was the gate and remembered Alby saying that this was one of his brother’s many ideas. He next took some time to notice the photographs of what he assumed was the aftermath of the war. He could see his brother along with three others smiling at him from the picture.

They were all in uniform, made of brown and lined with gold. “That’s me and my comrades after our first win together. We took down an army of six hundred with our skills and were awarded the medal.” he said and pointed to a medal placed a few inches to the right. It was gold with a silk ribbon which had alternating stripes of gold and red attached to it.

“How long ago was this?” said Jace and turned to his brother who held his thumb up. “Six?”

“Yup. And I went on to fight every single battle that took place.” he said. “Later, I became a member of the Elite team.”

Jace saw the photograph again and found that his brother used a bow as his weapon of choice while the others held weapons which seemed to be an alteration of guns.

“Till you became the Chief” Jace prompted.

“No. I continued to fight even after I became the Chief. That’s why the people here adore me so much.”

No kidding - Jace thought and remembered Alby calling his brother a messiah. “Why would you do that? Why continue fighting when you have to rule a country? Aren’t you putting your life in danger?”

“I do that for a reason. When people look at me fight alongside them, they recognize that I’m just like them. When you are ready to sacrifice yourself, you inspire the people to win a fight. Inspirational speeches are just temporary measures.” said Jonathan. “But this is just one of the reasons that we’re here. I’ve got something to show you.”

Jonathan started to climb down the stairs as they lit up under his presence. He turned back and said,”What are you waiting for?”

Jace saw his brother’s blue eyes reflect the gold light and smiled. Sure, he looked different,but it felt great to have him back. He would trade anything in his life just to be with his brother.

“Coming.” said Jace and started climbing down the stairs.