The sky split open the night they were born.
Half the moon burned red. The other half stayed white. No one had ever seen anything like it.
Inside a small house at the edge of the village, two baby boys were delivered one after the other.
The first one came out screaming. His hair was white, his skin glowing like soft light. The midwife smiled and whispered, "A child of grace."
They named him Aelric.
Then came the second.
No crying. No sound at all. His eyes opened slowly, staring at the ceiling like he already knew something was wrong with the world.
The midwife stepped back. "This one… something's not right."
He had black hair, cold eyes, and a calm face that didn't belong on a newborn.
They named him Kaien.
Their mother, Serenya, died just hours later.
The rumors started fast.
They said Aelric was blessed by the gods.
And Kaien? Cursed by something darker.
By the time they were five, everyone treated them differently.
Aelric was trained by knights. He was given clean robes, warm meals, and stories about saving the world.
Kaien got silence.
He played alone. Ate alone. Watched people whisper when he passed by.
He didn't get bruised like the other kids. He didn't bleed when he fell. One time, someone pushed him into a sharp rock—he stood up without a scratch. The rock was split in half.
After that, they stopped calling him cursed.
They started calling him dangerous.
One day, when they were ten, Aelric asked, "Why don't you ever talk back?"
Kaien shrugged. "Why would I? You already know they hate me."
Aelric wanted to say something comforting. But nothing came out.
Fifteen years passed.
Aelric became a hero in training. People praised him everywhere he went.
Kaien became a ghost in his own home. He walked the ruins outside the village. He read from torn books he wasn't supposed to have. He trained with weapons no one gave him.
And every time he looked at the moon, still split in half like the night he was born, he felt something boiling inside.
Then came their twenty-fifth birthday.
The sky turned red again.
The moon cracked louder this time. The temple bells rang three times… then silence.
Aelric stood at the edge of the balcony, sword in hand.
He looked at the flames rising far away and whispered one name:
"Kaien…"
He knew.
Deep down, he always knew.
Everything was about to change.