11

Enway's POV

I wake up happy. But when don't I now that I found my heart mate. I know that in coming days I will have to tell Maddie what I really am. Let's tell her now. I want to show her the better side of you. Sure because you are the best part of me😒.  As I get up I wait in line for the bathroom.

"Good morning Enway." Says Amkay.

He is in the kitchen and is making breakfast for everyone. He went to the bathroom on the second floor since Jupei was taking too long.

"Good morning. How long has Jupei been in there?" I ask.

"I don't know. But my guess is a while seeing the looks on yours and Finax's faces."

I laughed and walked to the bathroom on the second floor. I hear the bathroom door open downstairs and hear Amkay and Finax yelling at Jupei. It makes me laugh. I love this family like group. I think about my life before I met my brothers and my dragon.

FLASHBACK

I sit outside. I got in trouble again. Who would have thought that fighting with your twin would get you put outside and told to think about what you did.  At least I wasn't the one who got soap in their mouths. Today me and my twin our going to bond with our brothers. They have already come out of their egg. My brother told me his name is Zeikiel. He is very nice but has a big ego. He is also a ladies man. My twin Weston told me that his dragon was tough just like he is. But what a lie that is. I can easily best my twin in fighting. Anyways his brother is named Saum. Its seems like a weird name but whatever. We will be leaving to go to the ceremony in a little bit but my parents are scared for us. We can sense it. Me and my twin our seven years old and we are the youngest known in the village to go through the bond. My dad comes outside and takes my hand. My mom has my twins hand and our brothers come outside. We are ready to go now. We reach the center in two minutes. I start to get nervous. Knowing how unlikely it will be to both get through this and live. I look at my twin and he looks at me. I give him a tight hug and say that I love him. He does the same since we have no idea if we will live past this point. We clasp hands and walk together into the circle. We face our leader.

"Weston and Enway Bowden, and dragons Saum and Zeikiel, please begin the bonding process."

I gulp and look at my twin one last time. Hopefully not for forever. I face my brother and close my eyes. I connect my soul to my brothers. He responds immediately and sends me reassuring waves that we will get through this together. He connects our minds and I gasp in wonder at what he shows me. Us flying. I smile and reach my power out to his. I go slow to try and avoid any mishaps. We connect easily until I feel a sharp pain in my heart. I collapse and cough up blood. It spills out of my mouth at an alarming rate. I feel something warm coming from my eyes. I wipe the wetness away and find more blood on my fingers. I look at my parents who are horrified and are knelt down on the ground. My father holds his hand out for me. I want to reach out but know it would break the ceremony. I look at my brother and he is nowhere to be found. I'm right here Enway. When you finished the process I am transferred inside of you. I am trying to counteract the damage so bear with the pain for just a moment. Man was he right. I felt nothing but white hot pain. Nothing could be compared to this. I coughed up more blood but at this point I was just drooling it out in a constant stream. I look for my twin. He has finished his bonding and is staring at me in horror. He will be the one to live and I will die with that image in my mind. He rushes to me and brings my body into his arms.

"Fight! Don't leave me when I still need you. I can't live without you. Our souls are one and if you die I will lose my soul. Please stay Enway. We still have to see the world together and grow old like the others. Please." He cries in anguish.

I am trying to stop the bleeding as fast as I can but there are too many wounds. You have been sick for quite a while. The bond sent it into overdrive though. I don't know if I can save you. If I close all these wounds you will still have significant blood loss. That's ok Zeikiel. You tried your hardest. I know now that I was the one meant to die while Weston lives. My twin is crying heavily as my body grows colder. My lips turn blue and I look at my family one last time. My mom is in hysterics and is being held back by the other village people. They all look at me in pity and varying degrees of sadness and horror. My dad though. He is devastated and is in his dragon form. He is roaring and breathing fire. Our village leader is blocking his way into the circle but my dad is using every resource to get through to me. The last person I look at is my twin.

"I love you Weston. You were stronger than me. Please don't blame yourself and be happy. I wish you the best of luck in your life." I smile at him. It was a gruesome sight since my smile was filled with blood and I had blood running down from my eyes and now my ears had hemorrhaged to where I couldn't hear anything. Just white noise. He is crying harder and is trying to keep me from closing my eyes. But it is inevitable. The blood is almost drained from me when I hear my brother in my head. I'm sorry Enway. I just couldn't stop the blood from coming. I tried really hard. It's ok Zeikiel. I lived a full life since I was able to bond with you. I feel my body start to shut down. I know that I have condemned my brother to death even though he is healthy unlike me. He sends me reassurance and I feel he is telling me that he is ok with dying together. Everything goes still and I take my last breath. It is painful to die but I know soon there will be peace.

Weston's POV

I watch my twin go still. My parents are crying out in rage. We all feel his loss. It tears through us like an earthquake. Splitting us up and creating a void in our minds, souls, and hearts. My brother speaks up. There is one way we can still save him. But it can kill us as well. I will take that chance. He is more important than me and is the light in our house and I know without him life will be bleak and unfulfilling. My brother shows me what I have to do. I change one finger on each hand into a talon. I make a slit in each of my palms. I do the same to Enway. Everyone is watching what I am doing. My parents know what I am doing and are nervously quiet with anticipation. I clasp my hands to Enway's.

"My blood is yours. Soul to soul and heart to heart. I offer my life force to you. May you accept the offer and rejoin the land of the living." I feel a drain to my life force and know that he is going to be ok. But too soon I feel him taking to much and that if he doesn't stop soon I will be in his position.

"Enway can you hear me. You are taking too much of my life force. You need to stabilize now or I will die too."

He makes no notion that he hears me. I start to get dizzy and feel weak. I lay down next to my brother. My eyes close as his open. He gasps in breath and looks over at me. I smile and close my eyes, feeling really tired.

Enway's POV

I see Weston laying down beside me. I smile at him but see him close his eyes.

"What are you doing. Wake up Weston." I say.

He doesn't answer. I shake his shoulder and nothing happens. He must be really tired. I curl up to him, happy to be with my family again. I fall asleep and wake up again in my room. My parents are curled on the floor and their checks are wet. But it is ok now since we both lived and can be here with them. I look around for Weston but don't see him. I get up quietly and try to find him. I can't find him so I go back to my room.

"We have to tell you something Enway." My mom says.

She looks grim and a little mad with me. My father though is happy to see me and opens his arms to me. I smile and run into them. My twin walks in the room and I wave at him. His eyes widen and he comes to sit by mom.

"What are you waving at?" She asks.

"Weston." I say.

She gets angry at what I say.

"What are you saying. Weston is dead. We had to bury him this morning while you slept." She replies angrily.

I laugh at her thinking it is some kind of joke.

"What do you mean mom. He is sitting right next to you. He is making a face at me and dad right now."

They look at me like I am insane. I look back at my twin and he vanishes. Now I know that they were telling the truth. I feel tears running down my face. My mom wipes them away gently and hugs me to her.

"I'm so sorry Enway. He thought that he could bring you back safely. He died bringing you back to this world. But your gift and curse is that you will be able to see him when no one else can."

I break away from the hug and run out of the house. I have tears streaming down my face. I run into the forrest and find our favorite hiding spot. I see Weston there.

"Why did you do that! I don't want to be alive if you aren't here to share life with me!" I shout angrily at him.

It's ok Enway. I will always be with you. You took my life force when I saved you. I won't ever leave you. I can always be here when you get lonely.

"But no one else can see you. You will always hate me for making you like this. How can I live knowing that?"

He smiles and comes closer.

You are my brother and I couldn't watch you die in my arms. You are needed more in my parents lives than I am. I could feel their anger and depression when you died. But when I saved you they were so happy. I am happy to change places with you so our parents can be happy. I will always be with you, even when you can't see me. He vanished again and I cried out in agony. I lost the best part of me and my other brother. Me and my brother could feel their absence clearly. Like nothing will ever fill the void they left behind.

END OF FLASHBACK

I always see my twin whenever I call to him. He ages like I do and he is still immature. He plays pranks on my friends and I always get blamed for them. I look in the mirror and see the changes I went through after the stress of my bonding. Ever since I walked out of the forest I was given one gift from both dragons. Zeikiel gave me red eyes that could be adjusted for whatever I needed them to do. And Saum gave me bright orange hair since it was the color of his scales. He wanted his twin to have something to remember him by because he couldn't materialize like my twin could. Everyday we feel them even though we can't always see them. I try to always be happy and not waste my life with depression but every once in a while I break down and cry. I also get night terrors about my death and Weston's but none of my friends know since I keep that side of me hidden. I don't want to burden them since some of them have been through traumatic times as well. But so far Maddie has been my universe and keeps me in orbit if only for a little bit. I still get dark moments when I'm by myself but try hard to keep that part in control. My dark side is something too frightening that even I get scared by it but it calls to me relentlessly. I feel a touch on my shoulder and see my twin in the mirror. He smiles and whispers to me. We are doing well. I was able to reconnect with my dragon and we are going to be used as new souls for newborns. But we are waiting in a long line so I will be with you for a little bit longer before I have to say goodbye.

"That's great Weston. I hope you can live longer this time."

My heart clinches and I feel tears coming. He gives me a sad smile and dissipates. I quickly get rid of my tears, which are red and go outside to be with the others. I put on a false smile as I brave the day.