As the forest around Genyou grew darker, he broke into a run, on the verge of screaming. “Brother! Are you all right?!”
When the greenery parted and the view opened up, he was greeted by the sight of an unfamiliar, shabbily dressed man swiping at Gomei with a dagger. He was almost certainly the sorcerer whom the emperor had put up to the task at last night’s banquet.
Gomei failed to dodge the attack. Though he’d twisted out of the way as soon as he sensed his assailant, he sustained a huge gash from the knee down.
As Genyou watched his brother collapse to the ground with a stifled moan, he felt his blood boil. This assassin was going to pay. “Get away from him, you cur!”
The moment the sorcerer spotted Genyou, he spun around and made to flee, but Genyou wasn’t about to let him. He flew into a rage, drawing his sword and lunging at the sorcerer.
Alas, faster than Genyou’s naked blade could hit its mark, the sorcerer whipped back around and shouted, “Rise, my flames!”
As if in response to his cry, gigantic flames manifested out of thin air. A blanket of clouds rolled into the sky, made more ominous by the solar eclipse, and a powerful wind whirled to life with the sorcerer at its center.
With a mighty roar, the fire formed a gale of red and descended upon its prey. Genyou nearly tumbled straight down the hill, but he braced his legs at the last minute and, a moment later, pushed through the hot blast like it was nothing.
“Your tricks won’t work on me.”
Water dampened fire. His whole body could be set ablaze, and it wouldn’t stop him from conquering the enemy before him.
“Wha…?!” Beyond the curtain of flame, the sorcerer was startled. He stood there, stunned, still facing his adversary.
Genyou plowed his way through the rest of the fire, then plunged his sword into the defenseless man’s gut without hesitation. He got close enough to feel the man’s breath on his face, only to run him straight through.
“Die.” Genyou’s eyes were cold as ice as he watched the man go wide-eyed with shock, blood gurgling from his mouth. “Good riddance, despicable sorcerer,” he spat, then attempted to pull his sword free.
“H-hey now,” came a hoarse voice of protest. “You should…pay a little more attention to what’s happening around you…”
Genyou froze. The line triggered a vivid memory.
Most shocking of all was that it wasn’t the wounded crown prince crouching behind him who had said it. It had come from the sorcerer right before his eyes.
When Genyou stiffly pulled away, he found the man gazing at him with a smile upon his bloody lips. “Wow… You’ve gotten so tall. Congratulations…Genyou.”
“Ooh! Your voice changed! Congratulations, Genyou!”
Memories of what he had said five years ago came flooding back.
A choked sound escaped Genyou’s throat. Faster than he could even process what was happening, the impact hit him like a barrage of punches, so strong that he couldn’t even blink.
No. It doesn’t make any sense. How could this man have known to say that?
“What are you…?”
“How many years…has it been? I had no idea…that’s what you looked like now. You’ve grown up so much,” the man with the sorcerer’s face murmured, eyes narrowed as though the sight of him was blinding—or as though light had entered his world for the first time in years.
Genyou released his grip on his sword, staggered. With nothing left to prop him up, the other man fell flat on his back.
He gasped, reaching a quivering hand toward the sky. “It’s all so…dazzling.”
Part of the sun was still engulfed in shadow, giving it the shape of a crescent moon. Even then, to this man—to Gomei—it looked radiant beyond measure.
“Is that you, Brother?” Genyou’s breath came in gasps. His ears rang, his head creaked, and his heart pounded painfully fast. “What happened?!”
It was a forbidden art—a body-swapping spell. As that horrifying possibility sprang to mind, Genyou whipped around, only to be once again startled by what he saw. Gomei’s body, which should have been crouched on the ground with a bleeding gash in one leg, was nowhere to be found. A bloody flute was the only thing left on the gore-spattered grass.
“How did…?”
Genyou couldn’t comprehend what had happened. Nor did he want to.
It was unbelievable. It was unthinkable. His brother and the sorcerer had switched bodies? But when? Was it when the sorcerer summoned that wall of flames?
Genyou recalled the stunned look on “his” face. The way he hadn’t made a single move to defend himself. The sensation of his own sword sinking deep into flesh. The spurt of blood. Those trembling hands. That listless smile. Those kind words.
“I… I just…”
“Say, Genyou…” The man wearing the sorcerer’s skin—Gomei—looked at his pale-faced little brother and spoke slowly. Or as slowly as he could when he was so short of breath. He wheezed feebly between words, but he kept his voice soft and soothing. “Look at that. Isn’t it almost like…a sunrise?”
Lying flat on his back, he looked to the sky. Half buried in the grass, his cheeks took on a golden glow. Now that the eclipse was over, the sun was gradually returning to its original size.
“I always loved the sight…of morning…gracing this kingdom.”
While the sun expanded, Gomei’s eyelids drifted shut.
“I’ve longed to watch it…from this hill…for so long.”
Those were his last words.
“Ah…”
Genyou reached out a hand, his fingertips trembling like mad. He didn’t recognize this face, but the body contained the soul of Gomei within. The blood trickling from his mouth was still warm to the touch.
“Ah… Aaahhh!” He heard a grating, almost bestial roar, only to realize it had torn from his own lips. “Brotheeeeer!”
Clutching at his own hair with bloodstained hands, Genyou screamed and screamed and screamed.