Apart from the red eyes, Lieut’s brother was virtually identical to him, with similar features, the same clothes and the same silver hair. Although, his brother’s hair was cut short, and his brother was also near on a foot taller than Lieut’s six-foot frame. Lieut’s brother also had much broader shoulders and a bulkier frame.

“Why are you here, Nen’on?” his brother asked him in a deep monotone voice.

“I need your help Nar’to,” Lieut replied cautiously.

“You were given a hundred percent success rate with your mission,” Nar’to said. “You do not need aid.”

“Not with my mission,” Lieut clarified. “I am ill. Events happened that had not been accounted for, my ship crashed and somehow I ended up with Fog inside my head.”

His brother yanked his axe from the Magi’s chest and returned it to his shoulder.

Nar’to shook his head, “You should not be here. It is disobeying protocol.”

“Did you not hear me? I am ill,” Lieut replied forcefully. “I need to get home, I need to be cured. I need your help. I can no longer make any communications. Help me.”

“You would abandon your mission?”

“No,” Lieut said emphatically. “I just want to be the way that I was before the Fog invaded my mind.”

“If you abandon your mission, you must be destroyed,” Nar’to replied simply.

“Brother, do you not understand me?” Lieut asked in confusion. “Listen to what I am saying and not to the commands in your head.”

“You are beginning to sound like our youngest brother whom we had to destroy,” Nar’to remarked, taking a step towards him.

“Please, my brother.” Lieut was bewildered. “I just want to go home, I just want to be cured. Will you not help me?”

Nar’to took another step forward. “If you abandon your mission you must die. You are a danger to the success of our people and you must be destroyed.”

Lieut’s shoulders slumped in despair and he felt tightness across his chest. He hardly registered that his brother was striding towards him, brandishing his axe. At the last second Lieut’s instinct for survival empowered him and in the blink of an eye he brought his sword down from his shoulder to block Nar’to’s attack.

The power of the blow sent Lieut flying backwards and through the wooden door that led out of the study. Crashing to the ground he rolled to his feet and was ready to face his brother.

“Why are you doing this brother?” Lieut asked desperately, backing around the table and chairs that sat at the entrance of the room.

Behind him was the door that led out of the Grand Magi’s quarters, and in front was a large desk in front of a huge stained-glass window where the Grand Magi met visitors.

“We follow commands,” replied Nar’to as he stalked him around the room. “We do as instructed and do not question.”

“If you would just listen to me brother,” Lieut tried again to reason with Nar’to.

“You are no longer my brother,” Nar’to cut in as he attacked viciously.

Lieut could feel his world shattering around him and it was as if all the air had been blasted from his lungs. His brothers were the only things he had ever held dear, and the only ones he could ever relate to. He could feel his stomach grow heavy and beginning to churn as all strength seemed to leave him with the utterance of those words.

At the last second Lieut ducked under Nar’to’s attack and countered with a spin, forcing his brother backwards. Despite how bleak it all seemed at that moment he was not about to be defeated in battle.

His despair turned to anger and Lieut forced Nar’to backwards, his sword slicing at his brother from all possible angles. But his brother was no novice in battle and skilfully deflected each attack, using the impetus of Lieut’s attacks to move his own blows. Lieut gave Nar’to no chance to counter and continued to push him backwards until the large desk of the Grand Magi was right behind his brother. With a quick shift of his feet he slammed Nar’to’s axe high and sliced across horizontally.

Nar’to was up to the task and rolled backwards across the top of the table. Moving quickly Lieut kicked the desk, sending it sliding towards Nar’to. With a roar his brother chopped at the desk and sent it tumbling to the side and crashing into the huge stained-glass window.

“You will not defeat me this time Nen’on,” Nar’to declared loudly and a red glow appeared along the razor edges of his axe.

Lieut narrowed his eyes and summoned a similar golden glow to the edge of his sword.

Lieut’s eyes flashed as their blades connected, sending sparks raining through the air and scorching whatever they landed upon. His brother came at him with renewed ferocity causing him to back-pedal around the room dodging and weaving away from Nar’to’s axe. Lieut knew he was faster and more agile than his brother, but Nar’to was much stronger. He also knew that during the days when he and his brothers had nothing to do but spar amongst them, none of his brothers had ever beaten him.

But there was a difference to sparing and fighting for real, and as it was he was working furiously to stay out of reach of his brother’s powerful strikes. Every time Nar’to’s attack missed and connected with a bookcase or other such object, that object would explode in a shower of burning debris. The burning debris were causing the room to slowly catch alight, and if the fight did not end soon the room would turn into a furnace.

As the fight continued Lieut found that he could not press the attack for fear of actually beating his brother, for he knew that that victory would only come at the death of Nar’to. The thought of killing his brother turned his stomach. He could not bring himself to kill one of his own blood ever again.

Lieut’s mind continued to contradict itself and tie a knot in his gut, and he knew that he was becoming distracted from the fight.

A chair exploded as he just moved his head out of the way from a chop from Nar’to. The burning bits of wood flew into a pile of books and old papers at the base of a bookcase. Instantly the old parchment caught fire and the books and wood above it were soon burning.

Nar’to pushed Lieut backwards with a combination of heavy strikes that he barely deflected and avoided. This had to stop, he had to put aside his personal feelings else he would lose his head.

By now the fire raged around the room and had spread into the Grand Magi’s bedroom that was adjacent to the meeting room they were fighting in. The feather bed and thick rug quickly caught the flames, adding to the heavy smoke that hung in the air and stung Lieut’s golden eyes.

This had to end before they were both burned alive. With a growl of anger and despair Lieut took a stand against his brother’s attacks on the raised platform where the desk used to stand.

Behind him the fires turned the stone black and in front of him he could see the glow of the coming dawn through the large window.

Lieut had managed to pirouette and weave around Nar’to’s attacks, deflecting and countering where he could using the momentum of Nat’to’s great swings to spin into his own slices. Suddenly their weapons locked together. Putting him at a serious disadvantage to his stronger brother, and Nar’to knew it as well and pushed ahead.

Stubbornly Lieut pushed back, but he knew it was no use. The fire burned hot behind him and he knew that unless he could get out of this deadlock he would start to burn. Nar’to’s eyes bore into him emotionlessly as he pushed him further towards the fire.

Lieut thought about using one of his weapon techniques to break the combat, but not enough Fog had accumulated within the Anther crystals of his sword.

“No longer will you be considered the greatest of us,” Nar’to said through clenched teeth. “You will die a traitor.”

Lieut heard the words but he was not listening, for he began to feel the pain at the side of his head and blood began to trickle down his cheek and behind his ear.

Nar’to’s eyes widened in surprise as the Fog began to flow out from Lieut’s head. It swirled in front of Lieut’s eyes and was absorbed by his sword. Only a small amount went into the Anther crystals but Lieut felt a sudden pulse in power. Suddenly that energy burst forth without his command and blasted Nar’to backwards through the air and he crashed through the stained-glass window.

Pain shot through Lieut’s chest as he heard his brother’s yells, which were suddenly silenced. He tried to move to the window to see, but the pain in his head forced him to his knees as strange emotions and feelings racked his mind.

Distantly Lieut heard someone call to him, but he could not respond as the pain was too great. Finally the pain subsided and the Fog returned to his head. The heat from the fire seemed to suddenly vanish and he heard some words being spoken, but he was too groggy to attempt to respond to them. Suddenly he felt a heavy blow at the back of his head and his world went black.

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And that concludes Book One of Chaos of Choice.

Thank you all for reading, if you want me to upload Book Two make sure you comment and support buy buying Book One from any good online bookstore.

- Kaeleb LD Appleby