Young Writers Society

“Teach them to endure weather, temperatures, and climate to understand that they may miss the frost…” One of the gods murmured to Xáos.

"Frost?" Xáos repeated the words in a simpler tone.

"And then when heat comes forth, they will miss snow. They will miss rain when dry winds form, and winds when all it does is rain..."

"And we start with a frost?" Xáos looked towards them. "Very well. Let’s see how well they can harvest."

***

Xelos ran through the fields, playing chase with Solex when a cold, white speck landed on his nose. "Huh? What's this?" His eyes lit up with the knowledge he achieved from the gods. "Snow."

"Snow?" Solex asked, suddenly holding her bare arms and shivering.

"Yeah, frozen... rain," he replied, scratching his head "Hurry Solex, the gods have given us shelter and warmth to survive this trial. It's not too far from here." He quickened his steps, changing direction.

"How do you know all of this?" She followed, looking up at him.

"Because the gods told me so." He grinned.

***

Xelos shivered and put on a sweater. "They just continue, don't they…?"He turned away from the frosted window he was watching through. He walked into a bedroom, seeing a mass of blankets.

“Solex, wake up.” The sheets didn’t budge.

“…Wake up.” Xelos said louder. The blankets remained stiff. He sighed, throwing a book at the mass. The sheets then shifted as Solex, now fifteen like her brother in god years*, stuck her head out of the covers. She rubbed her eyes.

“Mmm… Is it morning already?” She scratched her head as she looked at Xelos with heavy eyes and noticed his stony expression. “What’s wrong? Is it too cold? Should we ask Xáos if-”

"No," He sighed. "But in fact, this is a sign… it's near."

“The war?” She shook her head from sleep. “Aww, but I like this planet…”

"Well, you know what this planet was made for," He shrugged. "Or, at least you would if you did your job."

“What are you saying?” She gave him a slightly offended look, lifting herself up.

“Well tell me, sister. When did you last check my book?”

“A week ago.”

“See?! You’re slacking!” He threw his hands up. “You are supposed to check it at least once a day, and I shouldn't have to tell you this.” He growled, putting the book in front of her in annoyance.

More angered than him, she snapped back, “Well it isn’t such a big deal! It’s just a simple book, a simple journal. It’s not as if you said “I caught a fish” and it was written as “I killed a fish” that it would make much of a difference.”

“Solex, you don’t understand.” He huffed. “What I write in this book happens or will happen in reality. If I write “I caught a fish,” I caught a fish. And if I write “I killed a fish,” well… just… just look." He pulled a flower from a vase by the nightstand and showed it to her. “I’m going to pick this flower up and smell it.” He did so. “Now I’m going to write that instead of me picking it up and smelling it, the flower…just all of a sudden ... caught on fire.” He scribbled into the pages.

“This is ridiculous! There is no way that a fl-“

The flower was now in flames. Xelos looked at it in confusion. "Well, that was weird… When did that get here?"

“Xelos, you picked up that flower.” Solex looked baffled.

“I-I did? When?” He stared in oddity as the lily reduces to ashes.

Solex shook her head, laughing harshly. “This is just stupid, There’s no way you could’ve forgotten that!”

“...Wait, I forgot something? See? I told you!" He snapped at her. "Everything I write in these pages affects and effects me, you, and this whole world; word for word.”

"Why don't you just tear the page out?" She shrugged.

"Because what is written in this book changes everything. If you tear part of it out it may not exist anymore! Not only that, it’s also my lifeline, Solex. Our lifeline.” He looked into her eyes with an unnerving silence. “The lifeline to everything… Now, do you have any other questions?”

“W-Well,” She gulped. “Can’t you do it yourself?” She murmured.

“No, I can’t.” He sighed. “You and I were made for two different purposes of the book; I can write but can’t edit. You can edit, but can’t write.”

“Sure I can!” She put her hands on her hips.

“Really?" He challenged her. "Okay, here’s the book. Write out, ‘I am Solex and I am deciding to write for once.’ ” He gave the book to her.

She nodded and opened to a blank page but, as soon as she placed ‘I am solex', the words immediately faded. Confused, she wrote again. And again. And again. Her body started to shake. Her arms became lead, her head groggy. She felt weak, but didn’t stop. "I.... I am... I am S-S…" Her nose began to bleed. Her panicked writing looked like chicken scratch by now.

“Enough!!!” Xelos pulled the book away in concern, and threw it onto the bed and grabbing her arms, lightly shaking her until her senses returned. “But now do you see?! The same were to happen to me if I tried to edit the words myself… Only you can edit, and only I can write!”

“Oh, gods!" She took a deep breath, the feeling in her hands returning. "I swear I won’t slack off again! I’ll check every hour… Every minute!” She panicked.

“Good… Please, Solex. This is not going to look good on my part and definitely not on yours…” Xelos hugged her tightly. “Remember, there are two of us for a reason: to balance each other out. Now, read through what I wrote today.”

She slowly nodded, grabbed it off the bed and cracked it open.

***

One day, Solex decided to go and get food for them, because they realized that even without the need to eat, it calmed them. She opened the door, a bag of apples hanging from her arm. Apples were almost unable to be found after the frost so they had an abundant amount in a root cellar.

“Xelos! I’m home!” She shut the door behind her. Silence filled the room.

“Xelos?” She walked down the hallway in worry. “Hello? Are you here?” She continued to walk down the house.

“You know Xáos told you not to leave witho- Oh there you are!” She noticed the door to his room was cracked open just a bit. Anticipating, she opened the door.

The bag of apples dropped at her feet.

Xelos was curled up in a corner, clung to his book, and was muttering words under his breath. “I can’t let them… I shall show them… I must teach them…”

“Xelos! What happened?!” She slapped the book out of his hand. The words looked forced and almost out of his own writing.

He continued to rock. His eyes were paled as if he were in a trance. “Must teach them pain… Must show them sorrow…”

“Xelos?! Snap out of it!”

“I must… I must…”

“No!” She slapped him hard in the face. He quickly lifted up his head, the color rapidly returned to his eyes

“…Oh, Hello Solex.” He blinked, smiling obliviously. “When did you come in?”

“Do you even know what you wrote?!”

“I… I wrote?” his smile faltered.

“Damn it, gods!” She looked at the book in fear, flipping the pages. She gasped when she saw one of the lines.

“…And then the family adapted the child to their liking…”

What did he mean by that?! She closed her eyes as her hands moved over the words, and her mind took her to where this event was happening.

***

A woman muttered ancient words to what seemed to be her husband as she came back inside their house, carrying a child in and shutting the door. She seemed to be worried about something, pointing at the little one's legs. Frostbite lead up to the boy's knees, a crystallized black. The man sighed with a grim expression, pulling the bag off his back. He started to rummage through it, the clinking sound of metal loud. He slowly pulled out a saw. The woman stared at it along with the boy, both of their eyes were wide with fear. He heated the blade and walked over to the boy. The woman tried to stop him, talking about other options, but then he pushed her aside and tapped the kid's legs. They let out a crystal bell sound. She held back a sob, looking away. He took the tip of the tool and pressed it against the soft flesh of what was left of the boy's knee. The woman, with tears running down her face, put a cloth in his mouth and held his arms down to restrain him. The man began to cut into the boy’s leg, the boy letting out shrill screams of pain.

***

“I-I-I need to stop this!” She pulled out her paint, ink, and pen, and fixed the one word that was flawed. It turned into:

“…And then the family adopted the child to their liking…”

Sighing in relief, she looked back to the family. The scene now shows the woman walking in with the boy, hand in hand to meet the man who was now his father.

Xelos knew what was happening himself and his eyes stung with tears. “S-Solex…”

“Yes?”

“P-please do not leave my side… when the war begins.”

“I won’t, but I’m taking the book away from you before you hurt anyone else!” She shook her head.

“…They made me do that.”

She sighed. “I…I know.”