Crimson droplets spattered the dirt into patches of bloodied mud. The sound of his struggled breathing rasped in his own ears. His heart pounded, one azure eye open wide with terror, the other stung and clenched closed by the flow of blood running down over it.

"Little brother." Virgil hissed above him with a smile, small flecks of Koi's blood still patterned on his face. "How I've missed you."

Even with everything that was wrong in this situation it was hard to forget that there was a time when that might have been true. Virgil wasn't like this when they were kids... Not always, anyways. There were days back then when Koi could be happy to be around him, and his brother was in one of his rare accommodating moods. As the years went by however, those peaceful moments grew less and less frequent.

Virgil changed. He was the little boy their father wanted him to be. Cunning, strong, and talented... However with the disciplines and the beatings it took to get him there, he took on a darker side. He would torment Koi almost as much as their father would. Only he did so without any disguise or explanation. He knew he was the favored child, and made sure Koi knew it too.

"G-go to nether..." Koi whispered.

He flinched, covering his face as best he could with his forearm as Virgil went for another strike. Koi managed to avoid it by rolling onto his back to protect himself, but Virgil advanced quickly trying to pin him down. In the struggle Koi suddenly planted his boot to his chest, kicking upwards and throwing Virgil off and scrambling to his feet. Desperately, he tried to wipe the blood from his left eye in a panic, not being able to see. Had he gone blind in that eye? There wasn't time to think about it as Virgil stood with sword in hand once more, giving Koi just enough time to collect his own.

It was the emotional pain that had made him leave home so young. The pain from his brother, and his father both targeting him, breaking him down to fear and depression. He felt so alone each day in passing. So vulnerable, even when he got peace to himself to rest in his favourite hiding place.. A simple swing hung from the branches of a large oak tree overlooking the fields that surrounded their home. A peaceful spot, where he could feel the wind and hear the leaves and the grass. He loved that spot more than anything else in the world.. But it, and his solitude like many things was taken from him. As punishment after Koi slipped away the spot to evade his father's training once again, his father cut the swing, and the tree down.

Their swords met with the ring of steel once more. Blade against blade as Koi staggered back in a panic. Without being able to see from his left eye, half of his vision had become a blind spot, each sword stroke that Virgil pressed with either disappeared out of his sight or came from it, coming closer to cutting him down with each advance, despite Koi's constant retreat and flustered parrying.

"You were always the weak one, brother." Vigil sneered with triumph, seeing his victory approaching clearly. "Slacking during the sword lessons, hiding from father like weak willed vermin!"

Koi stumbled after managing to retreat backwards so long. He found his back pressed against one of the merchant stalls in the market, his free hand finding something firm and round. He barely managed to see the sword stroke come in from out of left field, ducking and letting his brother's sword smash through one of the corner posts of the stall. Koi staggered to the side and proceeded to hurl the object he'd grabbed in the panic at his brother... It was an orange. Regardless, his brother deftly dodged it. He approached again, raising his sword up with a sneer.

Koi raised his as well to parry, but his brother's blade darted under his guard and into his blind spot. Suddenly pain erupted on Koi's upper thigh, and he fell back to the ground with an agonized cry.

By the time he'd recovered, gripping his left hand over his bloodied thigh, he looked up to find himself at the tip of his brother's sword. He began to shake.. He began to tremble with fear. This was it.

Virgil was going to kill him.

"It never was -interesting- to spar with you brother. It's always so easy to win.." Virgil said, a wide smile returning to his face. "I thought that these bandits might have taught you better, but I was wrong, I see."
Koi sucked in a shaking breath as he stared up and awaited his fate with the last bit of defiance he could muster. He remained silent however, not trusting his voice to carry his words with the strength he wanted to show, all the while clenching his fist against his blooded pants.

"Nothing to say?" Virgil taunts. "Pity... And I was looking forward to hearing why you ran from home like a disobedient dog." He spits, the tip of his blade leering closer to Koi's throat, who's shaking deepened in response. "...It's a good thing father passed. If he could see you he'd be rolling in his grave... You're such a disappointment, Koi. Look at yourself." He says, narrowing his eyes into a glare. "Laying on your back in the dirt, bloodied and defeated.. Your opponent untouched, with you at his mercy..."

"...A-as if you ever had any." Koi hissed quietly, focusing up with a fearsome stare.

"Oh but you're wrong... Little brother... This time." Virgil responds, his smile growing. "I'm going to give you a choice, just like the one you had... Run away.. Or stay and fight, and die."

Koi's eyes widened a little with surprise... And after a few moments he reached a hand for his sword... Virgil smiled wider, and the tip of his sword dropped to press against Koi's throat..

Koi swallowed once... His face beginning to burn with shame as he took his hand from the sword, pushing back and trying to get to his feet.. Staggering away as his victorious brother stayed in the middle of the street. "I suppose it's as they say... Cowards never change." Came the taunt from behind him as he staggered away, towards the city gates and passed shocked, but apathetic people in the streets.

He'd have to find somewhere to run. Somewhere his brother would never find him...

~~~~
Notes on Koi:

Family:
Koi was born to a man named Arthur Graveth and his wife, Merriam. His elder brother Virgil, the family's first born, was born two years prior. However, during Koi's childbirth there were complications, and Merriam passed away not long after. They lived together in a remote claim on the edge of a village known as Dolores, which was primarily an agricultural community belonging under the control of the nearby city-state known as Magnus.

Arthur was not a local to this village. He had been born in Magnus during times of slavery, and after fighting to liberate it in the Veld War, he was inducted as a hero into a new formed knighthood, dedicated to protecting the city state and it's citizens from lingering Xitian influences. However, peace did not last, as eventually the citizenry grew restless and emboldened from injustices that the new rule brought with them, such as the imbalance of power and wealth.

It was for that reason that a civil war broke out within Magnus and it's surrounding holdings. Arthur fought valiantly for the side of Magnus' regent. Coming loyally to the call of war. However, the knighthood and military of Magnus was undermanned to deal with such a revolt, and the city crumbled. Arthur, like many on the wrong side of the war, fled to the outlying holdings to seek refuge and exile...

It was there that he met Merriam. A seamstress in Dolores, she fell for Arthur and supported him and convinced him to stay. To make a life with her there. Within a year they had their first born son, Virgil.. And a year and change passed.. With her second pregnancy Merriam began to grow ill. Complications arose, and by the time she finally birthed her second son, she was succumbing to death. With her last pained words, she called the boy Koi.

Arthur kept the name, but with the death of his beloved wife he grew increasingly depressed, turning to alcohol to numb the pain. He focused his anger and hurt on Magnus. If he hadn't been forced to flee, Merriam would still be alive. He would have never have met her, and she would be there still.

Childhood:

Arthur became abusive, and harsh towards his sons. He put them through an extremely austere upbringing. The boys were expected to be men from an early age. Expected to take after him, learn the sword and to fight. To be warriors. Both of his sons were talented, and smart. Blessedly so, because for every bit that he had to correct them the 'discipline' would be instilled into them forcefully. His eldest son, Virgil, being more mature and with a head start on learning how to deal with their father became exactly what Arthur wanted out of a son to avoid the beatings.

Koi however, struggled and often broke down from the abuse.. And from there it would only get worse. Arthur was even harsher to Koi, bitter at the son Merriam named -- her little boy could grow up to be weak. He was determined to make Koi a 'man', at any cost. Virgil bore scars from the abuse as well, but in a different way. He became cruel and sadistic like his father had.

At the age of fourteen, Koi finally gathered the courage to run away from home.

Adolescence:

Koi ran to Magnus, and quickly finding that he had no marketable way of taking care of himself, he began begging on the streets, homeless... And like other refugees still suffering from the civil war, he began stealing. Were it not for Magnus' recently ended war against it's neighboring states, Koi likely wouldn't have had other refugees his age to befriend and relate to. Koi however, could only related to a certain extent. He'd been ran from home by his family and not by a restless war. He managed to scrape out a decent, though still homeless living in the city.. Eventually, Koi became to be respected by his friends for his impressive swordsmanship, which Koi thankfully began to link less and less with his father and identify himself more with it. He started training once again, but this time of his own volition.

However, when he was sixteen he tried stealing a sword from a smithy's.. The smith was a wily old man who'd seen combat in the Veld war, and caught Koi in the storeroom. He threatened to get the guard, but after begging and pleading Koi was allowed to apologize and repent for trying to steal from him. He began working as the smith's apprentice. And.. As a result he started to grow more distant from the thieves, though they were still his friends... He wasn't quite happy at first, but after a few months he adapted and learned to enjoy his work a bit more.

Flight:

All good things must come to an end, though. One day, Koi had word that the city was planning to execute one of the thieves for a minor offense, his best friend. Despite his master's stern warnings and protests, Koi grabbed a sword from the rack of a nearly finished order, rushing out to the square to try and protest and stop it.

His brother was there however. A new knight of the city after these years, he jumped at the opportunity for one last victory over his younger brother. For revenge against leaving him alone with their father.

After a painfully one-sided fight, Koi was forced to flee Magnus... Heading to a port city and boarding a ship to the forbidden lands, where he was certain he'd never run into his brother, or reminders of his past again.