The Brother

Chapter Nine

They walked down the stairs in silence and after reaching the bottom stair Jonathan turned to his brother and said “Ta-da!”.

“Is this something like the gate? I see nothing.” said Jace trying to sound normal and not annoyed. All he could see was an empty room which shone under the gold of the staircase. It appeared to be entirely empty unlike the previous room.

“Yup. Place your finger on this.” said Jonathan and showed a gold ball that looked similar to the one Minerva had handed to him earlier. “This will make sure that you won’t be incinerated as the gate will recognize you as an authority.”

“Is this the highest level of clearance?” Jace asked thinking about the significance of golden colour in this island and pressed the ball between his thumb and index.

“Good guess. Looks like you’re catching up pretty well.” he took the ball and placed it in what appeared like a hole on the floor. “I’ll say it again. Ta-da!”

“So, I take a step forward?” said Jace, a bit unsure of what was going to happen next.

“No.” said Jonathan and turned forward. There was a blue dot glowing on the ceiling exactly above their heads.”Step back”

Jace did so and saw that the blue spot had now grown into a line that stretched across the length of the ceiling and appeared to be slowly descending. When it was almost at the same level of Jace’s head, he realized that it was an invisible wall coming down. He could see the contents of the room in front of him. There were shelves, a large circular slab with faint white light gleaming from it. The slab seemed to be levitating at the waist level of Jace.

The blue light was at their waist length when Jace noticed that there was were three aquariums in the room with a couple of goldfish in each of them. One was directly in front of them, one was at the left and one was at the right, all of them pressed against the wall.

Jonathan noticed his brother looking at the aquariums and said, “They’re not actual goldfish. They’re just a security measure. If they don’t hear my voice or see me standing here, they capture images and shoot tranquilizers from their eyes.

Looking at the skeptical look on Jace’s face, Jonathan said,” You’re willing to believe in invisible walls that incinerate people and not a gold fish that drugs you?”

“You’ve got a point.” said Jace and let his brother lead him into the newly appeared room in front of him. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Shoot.”

“Are you fighting this battle despite knowing that it is suicidal?”

“I thought we went over this. I fight to inspire. If I have to die to save our world, I’ll do it without second thoughts.”

“Can I join you?”

“In the battle? Jace, I can’t fight the undead and babysit you at the same time. You’ll be in my room upstairs, the more presentable one, when I go out for a fight.”

“No. I’m asking if I can fight with you. I can’t imagine waiting in your room and praying for your safety.” said Jace.

“Nope. And we’re not having this conversation again.”

“Well, why not? Because I don’t know how to fight?” said Jace. “You know that I’m better than you with a bow. With a bit of training, I’m pretty sure that I’ll be your best man for the job.” said Jace with the anger boiling inside him evident in his voice.

“I know you’re better than we with a bow in hand. But this is a war we’re talking about. People die. I’ve already lost a father, my mother doesn’t look like she’s going to be normal anytime soon. You can’t imagine what will happen to me if I lose you too.” he said

“We’re brothers. I literally went through the same problems. I lost you for three weeks and I fell apart. Hell, I even watched Dad die in front of me and was unable to do anything. I just stood there watching him die. I can’t go through the same once more.” said Jace with tears streaming down his cheeks “Let me be with you in this war.”

“Hmm…. Fine. You can fight alongside me. But you’ll have to train extra hard. The next battle is expected to be in two weeks.”

“Why do you guys wait to be attacked?”

“Because this is our fortress. They can’t defeat us because of our traps. We’re outnumbered a hundred to one and the number is just increasing. The gates have killed around six hundred thousand of them and they’re still attacking in numbers.”

“Why not launch missiles??’

“None of the refugees that landed here are remotely related to that field. So we have no missiles or rocket.”

“So there’s no air force?” said Jace.

“I didn’t say there aren’t any airplanes or fighter jets. We’ve got them, but it’s not enough. Anyway, come look at this.”

Jonathan went to the white circular slab and pressed the top of it with both his palms. The table, which appeared to be levitating, dropped down until it was just an inch from the ground. He stood up on it and said, “Come on. Climb.”

Jace did so without a question. He was almost as tall as his brother. The circle seemed to be much larger than he had expected. He saw the ends of the circle curve slightly inward and watched it expand until it formed a bowl with the two of them in it.

“Is this thing going to engulf us?” asked Jace.

“Kinda. But you’ll love it.” replied Jonathan. He reminded Jace of a proud father who would boast about his child’s abilities in front of his colleagues.

The bowl had grown to be an almost completed hollow sphere when felt the white light increase its intensity and prick his eyes. He shut it as he felt it grow brighter and brighter and could a red curtain form on the inside of his lids. Then, all of a sudden, it went blank and he began to feel warm.

Jace opened his eyes and saw a beach in front of him. The blue sea reflected the hot sun. He turned to look at his brother who said, “Do you recognize this place?”

“Is this Panambur beach? The one which we visited when I was around eleven?”

“Yes! It’s the same beach. Look” said Jonathan and pointed at a family which was laughing uncontrollably.

“Is that… Dad!” said Jace.

He could see his father carrying a younger version of himself on his shoulder as a younger version of Jonathan was messing with his hair. Their mother stood a few feet away from them capturing the images. Jace recalled the day this happened and was delighted that he had gotten a chance to see this.

“This is sort of like the pensive from Harry Potter. The only difference is that it’s not just memories that you can watch, but also videos and simulations. One of my brainchild and it was inspired by the pensive.”

“I don’t care. This thing is awesome. Can I…” Jace said and took a step forward. Yes, I can. - he thought and started running towards the replica of his parents and stood in front of them. “Can I touch them?”

“No. Your hand will go right through them.” said Jonathan. “I come here whenever I feel stressed, reliving these moments relaxes me. Were you serious about fighting in the war alongside me?”

Jace gave an irritated look at his brother and said, “Do I look like an actor auditioning for a role in a soap opera?”

“I always thought you’d make a good one.” said Jonathan and made a gesture in his right hand that was too fast for Jace to comprehend.

The scene changed abruptly. The bright sun and clear sky was replaced with a moon on a cloudy night. There was a stench in the air. He looked around and noticed that he was in what appeared to be an abandoned city.

“Keep watching. This is the clip from the last battle. We had to retreat as too many people were injured.”

Two people, a male and a female appeared in front of them, as they came out of one of the buildings. ”This place has been evacuated. There’s no point in searching.” said the male to the female. Jace saw a red line run across the neck of the man. Jace realized that this man had his throat cut. The woman had a black eye and had a cut on her lip. Was she mugged?

“There’s no way they would have known we were attacking. I think we should report back to Naomi immediately. At least we can get rid of the snitch. But Cooper is careful enough to not sacrifice people.” she said and the she shouted at the top of her voice. “Alright everyone. No killing today.”

And Jace saw at least a thousand people, all disfigured in one or the other way, head out of the rest of the buildings. They looked disappointed as they placed their weapons on their back.

“Are you sure you want to fight?” asked Jonathan.

“You didn’t show me anything scary to change my mind.” said Jace.”If you’re going to scare me, try harder.”

“I didn’t show that to scare you. I just wanted you to know that they can think, just like us”

“I just want you to know that the only reason I hate my classmate Amit, is because he is annoying. Not because he’s good in chess.” said Jace.

“I didn’t know you hated Amit. He’s a nice guy.”

“You don’t even remember the man.”

“You have a point.” said Jonathan and smiled. “Remind me to take you to Wesley. He’ll have something to show you to help you change your mind.”

Jonathan made a gesture in his hand and the sphere they were in began radiating white light which faded slowly as the structure reduced to a circular slab. They got off from it and walked towards the stairs.