Banks sat in the lotus position in the cold cell room staring at his recently severed hands with a feeling of annoyance towards past Banks. The loss of his hands, while advantageous at the time in that it completely shut down their threats of torture was also incredibly uncomfortable. While his body would restore to it's optimal state at the end of the loop that didn't mean it was any less comfortable before then. The throbbing pain of his wrists, the coldness of the cell, the genuine tiredness he felt, all combined to sap his strength which led to some unforeseen circumstances. He dabbed his arm across the corner of his mouth noticing flecks of orange as he moved his sleeve away. The Festering Stream had deigned to descend upon him apparently, taking his weakness as an invitation and now his lungs felt like they were full of confetti. Gods dammit this whole situation sucks. This fucking loop was such a pain in his ass.

  Moving his legs into the lotus position, he hung his head, breathing in and out slowly, shallowly, shakily and with each labored breath he felt the mana in the air. It was criminally low, causing him to wince at his inadvertent pun. Mobilizing the scarce mana into his lungs he started to squeeze out the orange and black fluid. Mistakes were made, again and again, and each move that ended in more loss than gain was reverted, sometimes by a second, sometimes by a dozen, but after nearly half an hour the vast majority had been expelled, causing the room to start to smell sweet as the fluid moved from his cells to his cell. Why did he always start making puns when he was exhausted. Shivering in the cold, he attempted to draw the mana in the air and start the slow process of healing up his body, feeling a slight warmth as he did so. Warming up his body with mana was one of the first things he ever learned to do with it. Staving off hunger pains was a close second. It had been so long since he had used it for either of those purposes. Slowly he closed his eyes, his breathing slowly steadying, the cold in his extremities slowly fading, the aching in his stumps slowly receding until nothing existed but the darkness and small specks of blue that his body eagerly drank in. It had been so long...

  xxx

  "We sort of messed up didn't we," Banks said, staring at the ruined remains of what was once a vegetable patch. Every syllable was accompanied by a puff of white smoke from his lips as the surrounding air seemed to take offense to even the suggestion of warmth.

  "Yeah," Agua said staring at the ruined crops, victim of a sudden overnight freeze. "Are you going to send your memories back?"

  "And what, try to get us to hurry the process even further, harvest it yesterday?" Banks asked rolling his neck. "I think we got the calculations wrong from the start. Maybe under optimal conditions we could have shortened the growing time to two weeks, but the weather's gotten even worse lately."

  "It really has, the fish have grown scarcer in the river," Agua admitted as she raised her hands and tiny droplets of water, fell on the dead and dying crops. "I've been attempting something lately. It may be able to revive some of the crops if it works."

  "I wish you luck, for both of our sakes," Banks admitted as his mana cleanly flowed through his veins sending warmth through his body. "When I scooted past the market earlier it looked barren. The few people that were even selling were doing so at sky high prices. I'm worried that we might be skirting a famine."

  "That could mean trouble," Agua stated, her eyes not leaving the ruined crops. "Don't know why they are having such trouble growing their own crops. People can get mean when they're hungry."

  "A simplistic observation, but I don't disagree," Banks stated. "We're not well liked by most at the best of times, I doubt their regard for us will increase when hungry." It was the main reason why they eventually moved out to the outskirts of the village and not just because the pair of them wanted a treehouse. Two extra mouths were never welcome and even once they were able to feed themselves the stigma of two bastard children didn't go away and they received the cold shoulder and worse from all but a few. Those few small acts of kindness, some glimmer of knowledge of how to be a decent fucking human being did in no way outweigh the care shown by the rest of these fucking villagers.

  And truthfully in a way Banks was glad that the coldness never went away. Objectively, maybe he did owe them something slightly for taking care of them when they were younger but honestly, fuck those guys. It was a lot easier to discard any possible debt when you hated the creditor and they were weaker than you. And ever since the twins had reached the ripe old age of ten there were none stronger than either of them in this little rinky-dink village. That was when hatred...well it didn't diminish, but a healthy dose of fear was added to it, when they discovered they, or more precisely his sister were far stronger than even those in the village that were considered strong.

  "They don't matter Banks," Agua said. "It's just us...and the fish, but mostly us."

  "Thanks Agua," Banks said, as his mana formed into a string, linking with the lingering mana in his axe nearby, and the tool flung itself into his hand. "I'm going to chop down a few trees and see if those winterberries have now ripened. It's about time to make some winterberry wine."

  "That sounds nice," Agua said as she scrutinized the plants her eyes gazing intently at the mana flows, her farsightedness proving no obstacles whenever it came to the topic of magic. "Do you think the booksellers will come through before the snow comes in?"

  "Hmm," Banks said, blinking as he tried to make out the shape of the future. "No," he admitted after a while. "They won't. It's actually too cold for snow this year so it comes a bit later. Nevertheless most of the caravan's head to warmer climes due to their not unfounded fears of poorer weather. I can pop to a nearby town with our savings if you want me to take a look."

  Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  "It's not as fun browsing through the stores," she admitted. "I wish you could just carry me when you teleport."

  "You're just too strong sis," Banks admitted. Her mana was so vast and so dense that it actively put a strain on his movement through the river. "By the way I think we may have bigger problems, soon."

  "Bigger than my lack of reading material throughout the winter?" she asked.

  "Closer at least," Banks stated as he lifted the axe over his shoulder, frowning at the sight of slight amounts of chipping and rust before ran his hand over it, siphoning off the droplets of the river and watching as it seemed to slowly reverse, chips filling in and rust fading away, until it looked as good as new.

  "Are we going to have to be violent?" Agua asked tilting her head as she stopped her magic.

  "Yes," Banks stated. "In some way or another violence will find us. You're about to come face to face with one of the reasons that people can't fucking feed themselves."

  "I'll follow your lead, Banks," Agua said, her voice completely serious as she leaned against the tree that had been her home for so long. Despite her nonchalance the mana built inside her like a typhoon, ready to flatten anything that he pointed out to her, a trust that he appreciated. For a long few moments the twins sat, one sharpening his axe, one sharpening her mana until the silence was broken as a half-dozen armed and armored figures exited the forest proper and infiltrated their clearing.

  "There, we've found them," one of the men in front said. "A pair of young magician twins. Those villagers were right." He paused as if scrutinizing Banks and Agua, waiting for some response that Banks wouldn't deign to give them. "You there, young children. What are your names?"

  Agua looked at Banks, looking for some response and Banks looked at the shape of the future. There was no way that this was going to end peacefully. After a while, he sighed.

  "You're not going to get what you're looking for here," he said firmly, tightening his grip on his axe. The man's face tightened at that.

  "We are looking for a pair of twins rumored to be proficient in magic, even at a young age," the man stated grandly. "Prince Rivers the future king of Rhanim has issued a conscription order aiming to reunite the scattered and feuding cities under his benevolent rule. You two, with your magic could be valued members of the Rhanim army, especially at your age. In the army we are always well fed and taken care of."

  "Unless we die in the process fighting for this so-called king of yours," Banks stated, his words dripping with venom. "I'm going to..."

  "How dare you," the man said cutting him off, causing Bank's eye to twitch in annoyance. "That is your king. The ruler of the lands that your little village sits. This village only exists because it is protected by the king who you insult. The army which you should be honored to be a part of ensures the sovereignty of the lands which you call home. This is a conscription order given by Prince Rivers calling on you to do YOUR duty. This is not something that..."

  He paused, his words dying on his lips, as Banks had disappeared at that moment and reappeared a second later full swing. While it wasn't the most well made axe it didn't have to be, because slashing forward with that amount of force, even a block of wood could do some damage and the average quality armor proved little resistance. With a tearing sound the man's lower and upper halves were severed at the waist and Banks stepped forward frowning at the now chipped to hell axe.

  "Captain!" one of the other soldiers that hadn't spoken until now yelled as he fumbled for his sword and Banks turned towards him raising his axe. "You will_" Words didn't manage to fall from his lips as a jet of water thinner than a hair cut him in half from top to bottom. Banks stepped forward as another one of the soldiers lunged at him before their head was erased by high-pressured water and he stepped to the side, teleporting forward, kicking at the kneecap of another offending soldier and beheading him as he stumbled. In less than two seconds only two guards remained, both clutching swords, but too afraid to draw them, as they rightfully should be.

  "You want to continue?" Banks asked, deliberately debating within himself whether to just finish the remaining two off, before whichever war they sold their lives to did, or they survived and inflicted misery on countless others.

  "You've just attacked King Rivers army," one of them said, as if trying to rebuild their shattered courage.

  "I heard, I'm not deaf," Banks stated coolly. "How many more did you bring with you?"

  "There is an army of thousands," one of the men said, trying to be intimidating. "We're merely the scouts."

  "Thousands is a lot," Agua admitted, staring at the cloudy weather.

  "Yeah, pity you were killed by a monster and never make it back," Banks said. "Aggy." Her response was instant and two more guards were dead without a sound. "We dump their bodies in the lake, grab our food and head out. This area is no longer safe."

  "It's too early for our revenge," Agua stated in her usual dispassionate voice. "Do we head to a far off city or deeper into the wilds."

  "Our money situation is good," Banks said after a moment's thought. "We go into the city during winter, back into the wilds after the thaw. Let's head to Skyneck. It should be uninvolved with all this war business." His sister didn't respond, instead just nodding as she picked up a body.

  "I'll follow you Banky," she said, giving him a subtle look. Wait was that because he used her childish nickname before. Was she holding a grudge. He stood for a moment as she headed towards the river, breathing in the cold air, contemplating the shape of the future.

  xxx

  Banks woke up in a cell, his mana circulation having long ended, leaving an icy chill throughout his body. Still maybe he did feel a bit warmer, just a little. He raised his head, just in time to see a familiar figure descending the stairs and then another. It was both the Commander and Jakk, the two lovebirds had faces that seemed to contain exhaustion, sadness, worry and just a tinge of despair. Sighing and filling his lungs with cold air again he straightened up his body and gave them a stumpy wave, preparing for whatever further questions they wanted to ask him.