Immaculate
Copyright© 2025 by Daelyx Len Auphydas
Chapter 1: An Idyllic Childhood
2890 P.C., the First of Autumn, Hylicia’s Vale.
Alunya’s eyes spring open, a bright smile already on the boy’s face. Throwing the blanket off of himself, he leans down from the top bunk and climbs down towards where Antares is sleeping, his hair dangling towards the ground. Holding himself up on the top bunk with one arm, with the other he reaches forwards and nudges Antares’s sleeping form.
Antares’s eyes blink open, and he flops onto his side, meeting the excited face of Alunya staring at him. “What is it?” Antares murmurs, rubbing his eyes sleepily.
Alunya clasps his hands together excitedly, holding himself anchored to the upper bunk by his legs, upside-down, giggling. “It’s the festival day! C’mon, c’mon, c’mon!”
Antares groans and rolls back over to face away from Alunya. It is indeed the day of the fall festival, but that isn’t until sundown, and it is quite apparently nowhere near sundown. “Let me sleep in, I’m tired!” Antares complains, throwing a pillow at Alunya before burrowing back down into his blankets.
Alunya grips the upper bedpost and swings down onto the lower bunk, nudging Antares from behind. “Aww, c’mon Ant! I haven’t gotten to play with you in ages!” For weeks, Antares has always been too tired from his chores to play with Alunya. But today is different; nobody works on the day of the festival!
Antares delves even deeper into his blanket, grabbing one of his remaining pillows and hugging it close to him. “Just lemme rest a little longer and I’ll come play with you.” Antares pleads, his voice muffled by the pillow.
Alunya looks down at Antares with his characteristic big doe eyes. “Promise?” He asks, pleadingly.
Antares rolls over, his gaze softening as he looks into his brother’s eyes. “ ... I promise.” He replies earnestly.
Alunya smiles and claps his hands together. “Yay!” He jumps up and runs a lap around the room, holding his arms outstretched like wings, before rushing out into the kitchen, running two laps around the hearth before Reia manages to get him to slow down.
“Someone’s in a good mood today!” Reia laughs as she picks him up and spins him around, eliciting a “Wheee!” sound from the boy. “Where’s your brother? I made pumpkin scones for you two.” The table is already set with them, amber-colored biscuits with a very light amount of honey drizzled over the top, making it a real treat.
“He’s being a big sleepyhead! He didn’t want to get up yet!” Alunya announces, his legs swinging idly in the air beneath him.
“I’m here, I’m here!” Antares proclaims, dragging his blanket behind him as he trails into the room, yawning.
“Good morning, sweetie!” Reia sits down at the table and smiles at Antares.
Antares sniffs the air, his stomach audibly growling. “I heard you say ... pumpkin scones?” He asks, hopefully, as he climbs up onto his chair where he can see the tantalizing treats laid out on the table.
“Now, now, don’t eat too many- You’re going to eat plenty tonight at the festival, I’m sure.” Reia lectures, though it is doubtful either Alunya or Antares hear her by the way they’d already started stuffing their faces.
Reia snickers and holds her hand up to her mouth while Alunya chews on his food, crumbs covering his cheeks. She reaches over to wipe them off, while Alunya blinks up at her with his big silvery eyes.
“Doesn’t your hair get in your eyes?” Reia asks, brushing it out of the way. “Do you want me to cut it so it’s not in your face?”
Alunya shakes his head vehemently, whipping the hair in question from side to side. “Nuh-uh, I can see just fine! See?” He blows a huff of air up, clearing the strands from his face.
“But don’t you want to look nice for the festival?” Reia asks. “Everyone else will be looking their best, you don’t want to stand out, do you?”
“No, I like my hair!” Alunya protests, holding his hands over his head protectively as if worried she would steal it. It had grown out past his shoulders and over his face over the past year, Reia had tried to cut it several times but every time Alunya struggled too much.
“Alright, alright!” Reia throws her hands up in mock surrender. “At least let me comb it out for you. Everyone’s going to be at the festival, you two need to look your best.” Antares, of course, is largely left out of this, since his hair is quite short and he can brush it himself just fine anyways.
Alunya struggles against Reia as she tries to brush it out. His hair would just get messy again by the festival anyways, so what does it matter if it’s brushed now? Alunya looks desperately over at Antares for help, but Antares is just nibbling on his scones, watching his little brother and mother struggle with bemusement.
Finally, Reia finishes combing out his hair, and Alunya sighs in relief. “I need to head out to get everything ready for the festival. Antares, take care of your little brother while I’m gone, alright?” Reia announces, standing up. The scones have all disappeared by now, with a coating of crumbs still over Antares’s mouth while Alunya’s is spotless after receiving Reia’s attention.
Antares looks at Reia pleadingly and tugs on her coat. “Aww, do you have to go? Can’t I come with you?”
“Well...” Reia hesitates. “I don’t know...”
“Ooh, me too, me too!” Alunya jumps up and down, waving his arms to get Reia’s attention.
Reia looks uncertain, but eventually relents. “Oh, alright. I guess you two might be able to help. Alright boys, then follow me.” Reia swings the thatch door of their stone hut open before the entourage of three march off towards the outskirts of town.
“Where are we going, mama?” Alunya pipes up, prancing along following Reia as she puts up a good pace.
“Just out to the pastures, sweetie. I’m not sure our old guanaco will survive over the winter, so it’s best if we take care of them now.” Reia responds. “It’ll be alot of work to prepare the meat before the festival, so we’d better hurry, alright?”
When the three of them reach the pasture on the side of the village, Antares goes to find their guanaco- Watching the village’s pasture was one of his most common chores, so picking out an individual head from the herd was a skill he had plenty of practice with.
The family’s guanaco is an old female, distinguishable by noticeably being the oldest of the herd, well past reproductive age. Most guanaco’s were butchered well before this point, but since it is likely the family’s most valuable possession Reia has held off until now.
Antares leads the old doe back to Reia, shivering a little at the mellow, tired look in the guanaco’s eyes and averting his own. The guanaco is older than he is, completely oblivious of the fate that lays in store for it. Taking a deep breath, Antares steels himself; Reia thinks it’s best for them to butcher the guanaco now, so that’s what they will do.
Reia takes the guanaco from Antares, and leads it back with her boys, stopping only once they had reached just outside of their home.
“Alright, now watch closely you two! You’ll need to know how to do this one day, too.” Reia instructs, removing a long, slender, single-sided copper knife from her satchel. Once the guanaco sees the knife, it goes stock still before trying to bolt, but Reia has a firm grip around it. “Antares, help me hold it down! But watch its hooves, I don’t want you getting hurt!”
Antares nods dutifully. He had said he wanted to help, after all. The boy grabs the guanaco’s hindquarters, restraining it while keeping at an angle where its legs can’t kick him easily. Once the guanaco is held suitably still, Reia carefully places the tip of the knife against the side of its neck, and pushes it in.
The first attempt goes awry. Reia, not having had much practice in recent years, misses the vitals, the blade catching on a bone as the old guanaco makes a horrible screaming sound which can surely be heard over half the village. Antares blanches and looks away, a little bit sickened.
“Damn ... Come on, you’re only making this harder on yourself.” Reia hisses to the guanaco.
“Ooh! Ooh! Let me try!” Alunya reaches up and wrenches the knife free, eager to help.
“No!” Reia shouts, sternly, and grabs Alunya’s wrist with surprising strength, making him drop the knife. As the copper blade clatters across the ground, Alunya’s chipper expression almost immediately gives way to crying as Reia’s grip lessens, and she leans down to pick up the knife. “I mean, don’t pick up sharp objects, you could hurt yourself!” She says in a panic, half-scolding and half trying to calm him down. With a frustrated sigh, she places the knife back against the guanaco. “Just stay there, I’ll get it.”
Alunya blinks up at her blearily and curls his legs up, his blubbering mixing with the guanaco’s screaming to make an unholy cacophony.
Finally, the guanaco’s wailing is cut off as Reia drives the knife through the jugular. The struggling of the animal, already not very strong, as it was old and scrawny to start with, gradually diminishes as it loses consciousness before collapsing. “Alright.” Reia sighs heavily, and gets down on her knees over Alunya. “Come on, little ‘Lunya ... I just didn’t want you to get hurt. You’re not old enough to use a knife.” Reia chides gently, while Alunya rubs his eye, his lip quivering.
Antares hesitantly uncovers his ears. At least it isn’t screaming anymore... He sighs with relief, while Reia tries to comfort Alunya.
“Antares, can you help me stretch the guanaco out? I have to go take Alunya inside.” Reia asks. Antares bites his lip unsurely, looking at the still-warm corpse with a degree of queasiness, but uncertainly nods his head.
Following Reia’s instruction, the guanaco is lifted and placed on its front, stretched out so that it is easier to work with. Reia soon comes back outside to relieve Antares and take over. “Go try and calm down Alunya, I need to make sure we get this thing butchered in time for the festival.” Reia instructs, calmly but authoritatively.
Antares frowns. “But, I can help...” He starts, but Reia wags her finger, interrupting.
“Now, now, what did I say about knives? I’ll show you how to do it one of these days, but I don’t have time right now, with the festival tonight. Plus, I don’t want Alunya running off somewhere while I’m working. Please, Antares, I’m counting on you to be the responsible one, ok?”
Antares puffs out a cheek, upset, but nods. Be mature. Adult’s don’t cry over silly things like this. Antares reminds himself, reluctantly heading inside.
“Alunya?” Antares calls out, finding the younger boy sulking in the corner by the fireplace.
“ ... Huh? Oh, what is it, Ant?” Alunya’s voice is unusually dull for the normally indefatigable young boy.
The corners of Antares’s mouth tug down in an empathetic frown, and he slides down to sit next to his brother. “Are you OK?”Antares prods, unsurely. This isn’t really his forte, if anything Alunya is usually the one trying to comfort him when he gets upset.
Alunya crosses his arms, puffing out a cheek and looking off into the distance before replying in an unmistakably pouty voice. “I was just trying to help...”
Antares sighs. What would Mom do to cheer him up...? He doesn’t really know. But then, he remembers that morning, and an idea pops into his mind.
“You said you wanted to play with me today, right? Mom’s out worrying about the guanaco. If we are quiet, we might be able to get outside without her noticing, as long as we aren’t gone too long.” Antares suggests. Should I really be thinking this? I’m supposed to be the responsible one. But when Antares sees how Alunya perks up at the suggestion, he knows that it’s too late to take it back.
“Really? You mean it, Ant?” Alunya squeals. “I mean, you did promise you’d play with me today!”
Antares hushes Alunya anxiously, glancing out the front door. “Y-yeah, we should have at least a couple hours before Mom is done dressing the guanaco. But keep it down, we don’t want her to hear!” Antares hisses out.
Alunya beams up at Antares, throwing both arms around Antares, overbalancing the older boy. Despite the differences in ages, Antares notes with some discomfort that Alunya is nearly the same size as him now.
“Oof. Alright, alright, let’s go.” Antares crawls out from under Alunya and up to his feet. “Quiet now!” Antares hushes Alunya, as the two of them delicately sneak out of the window in the back of the hut. Where are we going to go play? Antares wonders, but Alunya has already taken his hand and drags him excitedly onwards.
“C’mon, now that you’re with me, we can go into the forest! Mom showed me what things are good to eat a week ago, I can show you now!” Alunya proclaims eagerly.
Antares hesitates again. Should he try to talk Alunya out of going into the woods? Their mother is counting on him to be the responsible one, after all. But ... How long had it been since he’d gone exploring? Alunya isn’t the only one who was bored from Antares having chores every day, after all. Before long, the argument in Antares’s head resolves itself in Alunya’s favor, and the two boys vanish into the woods behind their home.
[... ]
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