Too Young

Marsden grew too.
Harder.
Sharper.
Colder.

He trained alone now, often vanishing for days into storms of his own making.

Ray would watch from the broken rooftops,
silent, unseen,
as Marsden drove himself into the ground.

Lighting gauntlets ripping trees apart.
Thunder cracks shaking valleys.

All fueled by something Ray could feel but not fix:

Guilt.

Marsden had been closest to Dean. Those two were once inseparable. Then Dean found video games.

Marsden had believed that they would all be together like a family.
And now Marsden carried that betrayal like a weight chained to his heart.

Ray tried to help once.
Tried to train with him.
Tried to keep up.

Marsden flashed past him at the speed of a falling star —
lightning cracking the air apart.

By the time Ray had frozen the moment to adjust, Marsden was already gone.
Ray sat alone on the stone steps, head bowed, fists clenched.

The world was moving forward.
And he was being left behind again.
Then came the breaking point.

As Ray and Marsden crossed into The Shield Nations territory. They came upon a burning village.

The sky was heavy with ash.

The village burned quietly around them,
a handful of crumbling homes blackening under a gray, uncaring sun.

Ray and Marsden stood at the edge of the devastation.
Silent.
Still.

The only movement came from the smoke curling into the endless northern sky.

The ground was littered with broken things —
shattered plows, spilled baskets of grain,
small wooden toys trampled into the mud.

Banners lay abandoned in the dirt —
the red of The Legion soaked by blood,
gold coins of The Kingdom scattered like garbage.

Marsden stared at it all.
Lightning crackled faintly at his fingertips.

His fists clenched and unclenched,
over and over.

"What could they have gained from this?" he muttered, voice hoarse.

"They weren’t warriors.
They weren’t soldiers."

He kicked a shattered toy away, sending it spinning into the rubble.
"They were just people."

Ray stared blankly at the wreckage.
"I have no clue," he said softly.

A long silence.

The smoke twisted between them,
slicing the world into broken shadows.

Marsden turned his face skyward.
The sun glared down like a blind, merciless god.

"This place..." Marsden whispered.
"It was supposed to be safe.
The Shield Nation promised peace.
Promised protection."

His voice broke.

"They don't even have an army yet."

Ray swallowed hard.

"Brother... please," he said, stepping closer.
"We have to stay focused.
We have to find the Totems."

Ray's voice shook —
pleading, desperate.

"That's how we save them. All of them."

Marsden laughed.
It was a broken, hollow thing.

"Save them?" he said.
"Save them with what?
Empty promises?
Maps to nowhere?"

He looked at Ray, eyes wild, rimmed with unshed tears.

"We’ve been walking for two years, Ray."

He jabbed a finger at the burning village.

"And what do we have to show for it?
Another graveyard."

Ray’s hands trembled.

"Please," he whispered.
"Don't leave me."

Marsden stepped back.

Lightning sparked under his boots,
scorching little black holes into the dust.

"I'm not leaving you," Marsden said, voice softer now.
"But I can’t waste my life chasing fairy tales anymore."

He pointed north, towards the rising mountains where the Shield Nation was rumored to be building their great steel walls.

"They need help.
They need protectors."

He clenched his fists tighter.

"And I refuse to stand by and watch them die."

Ray shook his head violently.
Tears blurred his vision.

"We can still fix this, Mars.
If we just stick together—
if we just—"

Marsden cut him off,
voice like a blade.

"No."

Ray’s mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Just the endless roar of the flames behind them.

"Come with me," Marsden said.
His voice cracked —soft and pleading.

"We could build something.
Protect the weak. Together."

Ray took a staggering step back.

"I can't," he whispered.
His heart twisted inside his chest.

"I have to find the Totems.
I have to fix this family.
I have to fix us."

Marsden’s shoulders slumped.
Something inside him — something bright — finally gave out.
He turned to leave.
The air around him humming with raw electricity.
And that's when it happened.

Ray screamed.

"WHY?!"

Marsden froze.

"Why the hell have you all abandoned me?!"
Ray’s voice tore out of him,
a raw, broken thing.

"In the real world...
after Mom and Dad died...
you were all supposed to be taken away."

He was shaking now.

"I fought for you!
I sacrificed everything for you!
Worked two jobs!
Lied to the courts!
Fed you!
Clothed you!
Raised you!"

Tears streamed down Ray's face,
lost in the smoke and light rain that had begun.

"And now when I'm the one falling apart...
you leave me to fucking rot?!"

Marsden turned, slowly.
His face was unreadable.
But his eyes —
his eyes were shattered glass.

"You thought of us as burdens," he said.
Flat. Final.

Ray staggered forward.

"No!
I didn’t mean it like that!
I just—"

Marsden shook his head.
The lightning around him pulsed once —
then died.

"Fuck you, Ray," he said quietly.

And then — without another word —
Marsden shot forward, becoming a flash of blinding white,
and was gone.

Ray fell to his knees.

The rain finally came.

Soft at first,
then harder,
pounding the sand into rivers.

The village burned in silence behind him.
The world spun on without him.

Ray pressed his forehead into the mud.
And for the first time since the day their parents died...

he realized he was truly, utterly alone.