ORIGIN

This wasn't a bad start.

Carni sat next to the two stones he'd found, each one settled neatly onto the stone ground side-by-side. He admired them, their yellow gleam, how alike they seemed but even as he looked closer now, one was less translucent than the other. Not quite the same, and certainly shaped very differently.

Enough of stones, though. He didn't know the first thing about giving life back to a fallen gembound. He knew now, in his age, that he must've been a revival. His brother was, too. Azazel had never taken any mates that he could remember, and so far he'd never met a cat like himself, or like his brother- except Amaria, but she'd already insisted in having no relation to the pair, not really.

So instead, he would work on his ability to protect these precious stones, until he figured out what to do with them. That, and his home. It needed some serious cleaning. What a mess it'd become!

He'd start by sorting out the scattered bits of bone and stone all over the place. A sweep of his wings oughta do it. He willed his magic to spring to life, blue light shining from his stone...

...only to watch a few roll but otherwise no real wind came to carry anything away. Another try, then. He did better once warmed up, anyway. Maybe another position, too. Hard to carry wind in Canis.

The hybrid pinched up his nose at the poor attempt but moved to a better spot, between the mess and the cave entrance. Back to the tunnel, he stretched his wings out for another try...

...and as he willed his magic into his wings and swung them forward, a trusty gust of wind came whipping through the tunnel and into Canis, carrying the mess of scattered bones back against walls and piles. The floor was more or less cleared, with a few heavier bones still lingering in places. Those, he could carry into place.

Carni took a moment to check that the wind hadn't scattered his stones. The two sat quite unmoved in their little divets. Perfect. Now for the rest of the cave.

It was a big job for such a small hybrid, but as he took to the air on the still swirling breeze, he felt confident that he'd get it done in good time, so long as his stone held out. He circled, looking for more easy scatters to clean...

The cave below him wasn't as bad from above as from the floor. Maybe this was why he'd never noticed before, in all the cycles he'd spent here- sleeping, mostly, but even awake he'd failed to notice the decay of his home. Shamefaced, he swept down over another mess, willing his magic to bring forth that gusting wind once more...

...and to his delight, it came naturally now. He soared along with the winds that his will summoned. As he swept between piles of bone and stone, the small scattered bits were carried with him, until caught up in piles and out of the way of walking paws. He urged his magic to carry the winds in a more constant way, his movement looping in angled circles and figure-eights around the cave's various structures and nooks.

In just a few minutes, a few laps, the whole of Canis had already been improved. The fresh air also helped to flush out the smell. For the first time in a very long time, he noted, Canis smelled just like any of the other caves. No lingering smell of decay or death.

It felt new again.

He could get used to this.

Carni came to land beside his precious stones a few minutes later. With most of the mess tidied, but energy still rearing to go, he felt restless... and now, these were his only distraction from the emptiness of Canis cave.

Empty...

...the stones! They were empty!

"Of course! You just need a jump start!" He cheered, suddenly sure of how to go about reviving these little specks of hope. He pawed his way over to the first, the jagged opaque stone, and willed his magic forward through his stone... it was different that the usual flow, the intention changed... and...

...and it felt like a spark of flame suddenly rushed through him, coming to a head at, well, his head, as his stone lit up with a brilliant light like never before. He felt a spark, then stumbled backwards in surprise at the light faded. He blinked at surprise at the stone he'd just casted on. Already, it had cemented itself, and glowed softly from the after-effects of the spell. He'd done it! It was alive!

But, could he manage it a second time? He looked over at the other stone with a grimace.

It wouldn't kill him to try, at least.

He stepped up to the other stone and willed his magic forward again...

...and oh, it was draining. The spell cast just like before, with a flush and rush and light and then, as it faded away and the skull-shaped stone cemented itself to Canis' floor, the hybrid toppled sideways and let himself fall onto his side, wing bunched up beneath him and offering padding and control as he settled there.

Tired again.

Honestly, he liked it better this way.

Proud of his accomplishments, Carni brought his wing to rest over the newly sparked crystalids. With a wing rested protectively, his body settled in his halcyon state, it was time to nap. He closed his eyes, knowing any disturbances to his newly sparked friends would be felt by those protective feathers that covered them now.

Tired, dizzy, but still somehow wakeful enough to listen. The scraping of claws against the floor, the clack of a beak, were not familiar but the voice that followed, scratchy and soft, was. Eythan!

Carni sat upright in an instant, a flurry of feathers as he moved to find his feet again, though the strain was obvious as his legs shook to hold him up.

"Eythan!" His voice was both delight and scolding. His brother's words were harsh, biting. He didn't care. "If you mean the King's Cloak, yes, it's still something I use." He retorted, rather tartly. "I don't know why you hate the thing so much." He pouted, sitting down much to the delight of his tired limbs. "I'd expect my fur to be sewn in too, y'know. I'm not above tradition." Tradition.

He wasn't sure what had compelled him to do it, honestly. It hadn't been him carving through flesh and fur to make the cloak. He'd forgotten doing it entirely until he'd found the thing, finished, at his bedside. It had only seemed fitting to make use of it; why else would he have gone into such a state to make it?

"You're one to talk, abandoning everything Dad had worked for, just to go sulk." He scolded, sounding bitter suddenly. He'd been alone all this time, thinking his brother no better off than dead, expecting to come across his stone at any dreadful moment. Who was he to come home finally, only to bitch and moan all over again? "I carry them, Eythan. I don't drag them through the mud like you seem to think I do. They stand with me, and I stand for them." He sat up straighter, prouder, bolder, despite being so much smaller than his twin, now that they were grown.

"My duty is to Canis. The home our father left to us." He knew Azazel would still be here, if not for... "It's your duty, too, brother. So, where have you been?" His teeth were bared in the last of his words, lips peeled back in anger that looked like pain or fear. "Why did you leave?"

Carni stayed quiet as Eythan threw lashing words back at him. His ears pinned back and for the first time in front of the brother, but not for the first time recently, his expression became steeled, aged. Hardened by the time he'd spent in Canis, alone, watching, observing from the darkest corners.

How dare this brother of his talk to him as if he were a child, still!? Optimistic, yes. Perhaps still naive; but not an idiot. He'd figured out that he'd been reincarnated on his own just fine, and he was fine with it. In fact... Those blue eyes drifted to where his two newcomers sat, beginning their lives in gilded stone. His heirs.

Eythan continued to press, saying that it had been their father who'd ultimately let the Bonebound down. For once, Carni whole-heartedly agreed. It hadn't been Azazel's fault.

"...I saw you, Eythan." His eyes narrowed, accusation and deep regret in dark blue. "I found him, still settling, and you fleeing into the caves like some, some, criminal." The white hybrid stood then, looking a mixture of resolute and pained. When he looked up from his claws, it was to meet Eythan's gaze precisely.

The voice that came from his mouth next, with a subtle glow of his eyes and horn, wasn't his own.

It was Eythan's. Younger, but the brother's own, loud and clear- if noticeably distant sounding.

"You hurt me. You hurt Carni! How was he supposed to be the Bone King without proper guidance?" He strained, teeth bared at the harsh feeling in his throat as he spoke with sound instead of voice. "I wish you'd quit with the lies and be honest, just this once!" He yelled the last part just as loudly and as screeching as Eythan had, but unlike the past, when Carni threw his claws out, it was to slam into the stone floor with a solid THACK of claws and skin. He panted as his magic faded, but not before a final, gut-wrenching shrriiiip!, which wheezed from the boy only to become a wet sob of his own once more.

"WHY!?" He looked defeated, his exhaustion from before wearing on him, the grief of bringing this out into the open... He shook as well, but his wasn't anxiety. The softer brother wasn't afraid.

He was angry, now.