Long ago, in a land far far away lived two brothers, two sides of a coin in more way than one, inseparable yet as different as a night and day.
They were kids born of strange circumstances because their mother, Irene, was never pregnant and neither was there any sign of pregnancy. They were often mocked, or more or less feared; people fear was they do not understand, and ignorance brings about hate.
Their names were Ash and Evan, Ash being the older, but it didn't really matter to them; to them, they were one in the same.
Although born of complicated circumstances, they were mysterious normal to a point other than your stared from everyone in town and the crippling isolation. They were normal kids, young, care free, reckless, at least that was what we all thought.
At school they were fairly average, with Evan being smarter and Ash being more street smart, but it never mattered to them, because to them, they were one in the same.
Ash was hot headed and protective, like any older brother would be, but most times wouldn't care for it, and they often found about countless things spanning from trivial to crucial matters. But let's not get ahead of ourselves in this.
Evan and Ash were mostly beaten and teased in their early years, like the townsfolk, like the aforementioned. Their mother tried tho; she used to stay with her parents before they threw her out because of the kids, and Irene didn't care; although she was young, she loved her children and would've done anything for them. She often said, "Although this wasn't the life I planned or dreamt for but with my kids it's the life I want."
She was the definition of a great mother; she was resilient, strong, doting, and unwavering.
Sometimes people felt bad for her, but Irene loved her life to a point; she didn't care what was being said of her kids, she knew what she wanted, and lived them with all her heart.
They lived in a tiny town called euphoria, and in a tiny town with few people, it's not exactly great to have two kids who were completely different from the rest, with narrow minded villagers and townsfolk.
Their life was not ideal, but it was all they knew; so to them, it was perfect until it all changed.
A few years, when they were, let's say, about sixteen, things started to change all around them.
What started as somewhat small occurrences started developing into stranger and stranger things, and with no one tracing it back to them at first; but slowly, as things kept progressing, they had no one to blame, and who better than the strange kids? Crops dying and mysterious deaths and diseases, and then all the townsfolk folk decided they had to destroy them, and they all gathered with pitchforks and torches and started marching towards their home. And when their mother say them from a distance, she knew what was about to happen; she took them and forced them to go without her, but they didn't want to, but she told them that she would never forgive them if they didn't leave her, so they reluctantly left her and ran.
Then comes the angry, ignorant mob, knocking at their door, and as she opened, they dragged her out and asked her where her children were, and she asked them, and that they had done nothing wrong, but they were not hearing that. The leader of the mob, who'll remain unnameless because this author refuses to give anger, hate and ignorance a name, decided to send some people achter them; so now, the innocent children were now on the run as well, and still they didn't let gheir mother go.
While over to the boys, they were running away and looking back, thinking of what would happen to their mother, and finally Evan stopped his brother, saying, "We have to go back and get her," but Ash was scared and reminded him of what their mother said, but Evan told him that he would rather have a mother that hated him than one who was died, and they argued back and forth for a while before seeing the mob still looking for them. Evan left Ash and went back to try and save their mother while also avoiding the crowd. It took a while for Ash to realize his brother had left to go back, and now he was faced with the decision of escaping or going back for his family and risking his life, and he chose to go back.
While all this was Happening, Irene was being tortured to give up the location of her boys, and she was not relenting tho, and then they thought they could set an example with her, so they decided to burn her alive the next day in the square for everyone to see.
The next day arrived, as everyone gathered about the square. Evan was at a distance, watching as they dragged their mother to the square, and was about to run in before Ash pinned him to the ground from behind and told him, "It's either her or us." Evan felt disgusted and kept trying to struggle out of the hold, buh Ash was stronger than him, so Evan had to stay there, as they dragged his mother to a stake to burn her, as the hatred for his brother and humanity grew more and more.
Had Ash known the repercussion for what he was doing at that moment, he would've just let him go. So then, Irene was asked her last words, and it was, "Wherever my kids are, I hope they find everything good in this life, and finally I hope you all grow pass your ignorance." Then they lit her up, and her two kids, at a distance, heard their mother's screams, and she was burned alive and died.
And then someone saw the boys, and Evan could no longer keep his screams in, and as they were coming for them, Ash, filled with fear, pushed his brother down and said, "It's him, it's all him, he's the witch, him and the evil mother, they are both responsible for everything." The mob was confused and took them both in, and during this, Evan said nothing, as the crippling shock of watching his get burnt alive and the betrayal of his brother left him speechless.
But even the townsfolk was shocked, which led them to take them both in and question them privately, and Ash, desperate to survive, said that it was all their mother and Evan's fault, and that they had being doing witchcraft and dark magic for years; but Evan, when questioned, was still completely speechless, and they said the only way to prove loyalty was if Evan would be the one to light the stake that would kill his brother, and he agreed.
In his head, he had no other choice, and so the day came for the execution, and Evan was dragged to the stake just like his mother. Then Evan came to light the stake, and there was a bit of hesitance, buh he knew that if he didn't, then he would burn with him; so, with no fear, he whispered into his brother's ear, "for survival," and lit him on fire. And Evan's screams would be the only thing he said since his mother's death, and so the story begins.