Gemini - Story 2

“Well done, Aurora!”

Dilucos watches as, yet again, father praises his sister. He wrings his hands nervously, his aura at his feet shuddering erratically. Luna places a hand on his shoulder, and Dilucos glances up at his mother to find her smiling kindly at him.

“You’ll do fine, Little Star,” she says softly.

He searches her eyes and sees the corners tighten slightly. She glances over at Sol and Aurora to find them busy, then kneels down beside Dilucos.

“You still can’t sense it?” she asks quietly, examining his face.

Dilucos shakes his head slowly, still watching Luna’s eyes. His aura ripples around his feet again, and his mother looks at it, her eyebrows pulling together in the middle.

“Are you upset with me, Mama?” Dilucos whispers, keeping his voice down so as not to disturb his sister’s exams.

“Upset with you?” Luna says, surprised. Then she pulls him into a hug. “Of course not, Little Star. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

Dilucos wraps his arms tightly around her in return, burying his face in her hair. He doesn’t understand the expression on her face, but this is a language he understands. His aura begins to gradually still, emotions calming again. Luna sighs. Dilucos can’t see what face she’s making now, but he’s certain that she’s watching his aura again. His fingers clutch the soft fabric of her dress.

“I’m sorry, Mama…”

“Sorry for what?”

Dilucos glances at Sol and Aurora. She’s almost done now. Soon it will be his turn. His brow furrows.

“I’m sorry I can’t see your aura…” he whispers. “I’m trying-”

Luna shushes him, stroking his hair.

“That’s not your fault, Dilucos. I’m sure you’ll be able to soon, these things take time.”

“Rory can see auras. And the other gods can see them too.”

Luna pulls back from the hug and looks him in the face.

“Do you remember how long it took you to find your animal form?”

Dilucos nods.

“It’s just like that. It will come to you, it just takes a little patience.”

“Your turn, Lulu!” Aurora calls as she skips away from their father with a grin.

Dilucos feels his heart drop to his stomach.

“What if Papa asks?” he whispers.

Luna searches his eyes for a moment, then pulls him into one last hug. Except this time, she whispers something in his ear.

Dilucos steps before his father, keeping his eyes lowered to the floor. The exam room is large and circular, designed specifically to help the twins hone their budding magic. Whatever they might need in order to use it, the room would supply it, shifting its form to accommodate them. At the moment, the room is in its base state: plain white marble floor and tall, circular pillars instead of solid walls. As with any room in Caeles, there is no ceiling, just an open view of the sky.

Sol sweeps his hand, and Dilucos watches as the floor changes from white marble to black. Something easier for his shadows to stick to.

“Do you remember what to do from last time, Dilucos?” Sol asks.

Dilucos nods, slowly lifting his eyes to meet his father’s gaze. Time passes differently in Caeles than in the mortal realm, simultaneously slower and faster. Dilucos doesn’t know what the official numbers are for how much time passed since his last exam, it could be months, or years, or decades, but he remembers how it went. Last time he’d had fewer abilities to display. Now, he’d had time to practice.

“Good,” Sol says with a cool nod. “Then let’s begin with your teleportation magic. Show me what you can do.”

One of the first of Dilucos’ abilities that manifested alongside his shadows. This test would be simple.

The shadow at Dilucos’ feet shivers, then splits, drifting up from the floor in a haze around him. Dilucos uses his hands to wrap the haze around his shoulders like a cloak, then swishes it before himself. He steps into the shadow, then re-emerges on the other side of Sol, his magic hissing softly.

Sol observes him silently, his blazing, gold eyes betraying nothing. Dilucos performs the move again, teleporting back to his original position. Sol sweeps his hand then, and several black pillars sprout from the floor, each stopping at a different height.

“Use these,” Sol instructs.

Dilucos paces around the pillars for a moment, examining them with glowing eyes, determining his route. Then he wraps his shadows around his shoulders again, and appears on top of the lowest pillar. He pauses to reorient himself before stepping into his shadows once more, appearing on the next pillar up. He continues until he’s finally on the highest pillar, hundreds of feet in the air. Dilucos looks down curiously and sees his family craning their necks to look up at him. He laughs at it.

They look ridiculous, he thinks.

One more step into his shadows, and he’s back on the ground next to Sol. His father looks down at him, not at all surprised to see him there.

“Good…” he says. “Try it again, a little faster this time.”

“Yes, Papa,” Dilucos says, already readying his shadows.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six pillars. This time he only stops for a moment between each one before once again appearing on the ground next to Sol.

Sol doesn’t look at him this time.

“Faster,” he says.

What, run? Dilucos thinks.

In the past, that hadn’t gone well. He still remembers the tumble he took down the stairs years ago. Dilucos looks at his father for confirmation, but Sol gives no more instruction. Dilucos hesitantly reaches for his shadows again, giving one last glance at Sol, just in case, then starts to run.

Fwsshhh.

One.

He allows only one foot to land on the pillar before launching into his shadows again.

Two.

Into his shadows again.

Three.

Dilucos starts to laugh as he bounds across the pillars, climbing higher.

Four.

This is kind of fun, he thinks.

Five.

Why haven’t I tried this before?

Six.

Dilucos takes his final step onto the last, tallest pillar… And finds it gone, vanishing right before he can touch down. He yelps as he suddenly plummets, the ground fast approaching. Dilucos registers Luna taking a step to catch him before he hits the ground, but Sol holds out a hand to her, warning her to stop. Dilucos flings his arms over his face, bracing for the inevitable impact.

This is going to hurt-

Suddenly, one of his shadows shoots up from the ground beneath him and solidifies under his foot, making a step. He instinctively launches off the shadowy step, and finds another shadow already meeting him for his next footfall. They’re slowing his descent, but in a way it almost feels like…

“Mama, look, I’m flying!” Dilucos cries as he jumps off the next shadow step.

Aurora whoops in excitement, and Dilucos gives his sister a giant grin. They’d both been disappointed when they realized his animal form couldn’t fly alongside her, but that just changed. No more waiting on the ground while Aurora explored the sky on her own.

Dilucos’ last step drops him right near Sol, and his father scoops him out of the air just before he touches the ground.

“Excellent, Dilucos!” he says with a wide smile, giving him a little spin before letting him safely on the ground again. “When did you learn how to do that?”

Dilucos bounces on his toes with excitement, adrenaline still rushing through his body. His eyes sparkle as he sees the approval in his father’s face.

“Just now,” he says.

Sol pats his son’s head fondly.

“Quick learner, as I suspected,” he says, giving Luna a small, smug smile.

Dilucos beams at his mother, and she smiles softly back at him. But there’s that tightness around her eyes again. Before Dilucos can say anything about it, Sol interrupts.

“Let’s see how the rest of your magic has progressed, eh?”

The rest of the tests proceed well, and Dilucos either meets or exceeds all of Sol’s expectations. Dilucos almost forgets why he was concerned at the start of all of this. Almost.

Just as he finishes his final test with flying colors, he prepares to step away and rejoin Aurora; they’re both excited to play around more with his shadow steps.

“One last thing, Dilucos,” Sol says, holding up a glittering, gold hand to stop him.

Dilucos pauses, looking at his father with wide eyes. There’s something in Sol’s voice that sets off a warning in his head, but he doesn’t know why. His aura suddenly flicks restlessly around his feet, waiting. Sol’s bright eyes land on Dilucos’ aura. He doesn’t look away from it as he speaks:

“Describe my aura.”

Dilucos’ hands tighten into fists, and his eyes flick to his mother, looking for assistance. Luna keeps her wide eyes on Sol, her body tense.

“It’s golden light,” Dilucos says hesitantly. “And… It fills the whole room.”

He watches Sol’s face, trying to see if he gave the right answer. It’s how Luna described it to him right before his exams began. His aura flicks at his feet again, and his father finally meets his eyes. Dilucos involuntarily shrinks back from those glowing, gold eyes.

“And what does it feel like?” Sol asks slowly.

I don’t know! Dilucos thinks in a panic.

Luna hadn’t described that part. Don’t auras change based on emotion? What would his father be feeling right now? What would that look like in his aura?

Dilucos’ own aura shudders again as he struggles to answer the question.

“It’s warm,” he says finally. Decisively.

Warm like the sun. That would make sense.

Sol says nothing, as though he’s waiting for more of an explanation that his son can’t offer.

“I see,” he says after a moment.

He absently pats Dilucos’ shoulder as he steps past him.

“You did well today, Dilucos. You and your sister can go play now.”

Dilucos hesitantly approaches Luna and Aurora. He’s about to reach out to Luna with a hug, but she keeps her attention on Sol, stepping past her son with a quick ruffle of his hair.

“Go play, Little Star,” she says softly.

“But-”

She’s already gone, approaching Sol with quick, determined steps. Dilucos looks over at Aurora in bewilderment, and Aurora watches him with wide eyes.

“What?” Dilucos asks.

“You really didn’t feel it?” she asks.

“Feel… Feel what?”

Aurora glances over at their parents warily, then leans in closer to her brother, lowering her voice.

“Papa’s aura… It wasn’t warm, Lulu, it was burning. The whole time.”

Dilucos is dumbstruck, rooted to the floor in shock.

“I didn’t know,” he says quietly.

Aurora nods, then gives him a hug, which Dilucos sinks into gratefully.

“You’re weird, Lulu,” she says.

Dilucos doesn’t answer, clutching his sister more tightly.

“I want to know what Mama and Papa are talking about,” Aurora adds brightly. “What about you?”

“I think they’re talking about me…”

“Exactly, but I want to know what they’re saying. Don’t you?”

Dilucos pauses, thinking.

“Yeah… I do.”

Sol and Luna pace through the halls of Caeles together, distance growing between them. They don’t notice their two children following along overhead, Dilucos balancing on the top of the wall like a tightrope, Aurora fluttering beside him as a little bird. Dilucos pauses when their parents slowly come to a stop in the middle of the hall, and he shoots a glance at Aurora. She lands on the wall beside him, transforming back into a girl in a quick flash of light. The twins each lean forward expectantly, waiting for their parents to speak.

Aurora’s eyes glimmer with orange light as she watches them.

“They’re speaking with their auras at the moment,” she tells Dilucos in a whisper.

“What are they saying?” Dilucos whispers back.

Aurora tilts her head curiously, watching them carefully, trying to arrive at a proper translation.

“Mama’s upset,” she says after a moment. “And Papa wants to argue.”

“Then why aren’t they talking?”

“I don’t know…”

Sol breaks the silence first.

“How long have you known about him?” he asks, his voice carefully neutral.

Luna is quiet, and Aurora watches the ground at their mother’s feet with rapt attention. Her aura must be doing something. Dilucos squints, as though it might help him see it. It doesn’t.

“Dilucos has a number of gifts-” she says softly.

“He can’t see auras,” Sol says bluntly.

Dilucos flinches at the words. Aurora glances at him in concern, her hand drifting to his, wrapping her fingers around his own. Dilucos squeezes her hand in return, but doesn’t look away from their parents.

Sol laughs and shakes his head.

“What kind of god can’t see auras?” he says.

“He will learn, it simply takes time-”

“Is that why you didn’t feel the need to tell me about our son’s condition? You thought he would just… Get better?”

“Dilucos has always been this way, Sol. You have had a number of years to take note.”

Sol freezes, and Aurora shrinks back, her face suddenly taking a sickly tint. Dilucos looks at his sister with wide eyes.

“What is it, Rory?” he whispers.

Aurora blinks away tears in her eyes.

“His aura… It hurts.”

Sol turns to Luna. He looks composed. Dangerously so.

“You’re really going to pretend like you didn’t just have him lie to me? Why are you hiding him from me, Luna?”

Luna is equally composed, ice to his fire.

“I will teach him to see and read auras. But he requires a gentle touch, which you do not possess.”

“You coddle him.”

“You are too harsh-”

“Too harsh? He discovered a new use for his magic today, thanks to me.”

Luna stares daggers at Sol, and he crosses his arms, watching her levelly.

“You underestimate his capabilities, Luna, and as such, you prevent him from reaching the same heights that Aurora has.”

Luna’s response is frozen and brittle:

“A fall from that height would have caused him immeasurable pain.”

Sol waves a hand dismissively.

“For a moment, until his body healed. You act as though our children aren’t immortal.”

“You act as though our children are not children.”

Sol steps up to Luna then, his eyes blazing with the bright light they always do. The twins balk at it, even from a distance. Dilucos might not be able to see his aura, but Sol’s power brims from his very eyes, a constant fire. There’s only one god who can stand it. Luna is immovable before her husband, though his height allows him to tower over her.

“Pain is a powerful teacher, Luna,” Sol says.

Luna tilts her head.

“Only lessons they are not prepared to learn. You cannot force Dilucos to see auras, he must learn in his own time, with careful guidance.”

Sol pauses, searching Luna’s face for a moment. His expression softens then, and he steps back from her, looking at the sky thoughtfully. Aurora and Dilucos duck down before he spots them on the wall, though he doesn’t seem to notice them.

“Then what’s your approach? How do you plan to teach him something that should come naturally? I’ve never heard of another god having this problem.”

Luna glances away, clasping her hands behind her back.

“I have a theory as to why he’s like this…” she says softly. “You… Will not like it.”

Sol looks at Luna, suddenly curious.

“Oh?”

Luna dips her head.

“He is a night god, Sol.”

Sol blinks, then laughs.

“He’s the God of Twilight! He’s both night and day. I don’t see where you’re going with this-”

“He is not of day. Our daughter’s magic draws from your domain. Our son’s magic draws from mine. You take one look at him and tell me that isn’t true.”

Up on the wall, Dilucos looks down at his hand in Aurora’s, watching the stars twinkle on his skin.

Sol scoffs.

“They are both equal parts mine and yours-”

“In many ways, that is true: Dilucos shares your mind, and Aurora shares my heart. But their magic stems from only one domain. I know you can see it, Sol.”

Sol watches Luna’s face carefully. Dilucos sees the same, cryptic expression on his father’s face as he saw on his mother’s earlier, the one that didn’t make any sense to him. Dilucos glances at Aurora.

“What are their auras saying?” he whispers.

Aurora’s eyes glimmer for a moment as she watches Sol and Luna.

“Papa is… Sad. And worried. And… S-something else I don’t recognize. And Mama is… The same, I think. Her aura is harder to see.”

“They’re not angry?”

Aurora shakes her head.

“No, that feels different…”

“If that’s true,” Sol says slowly, “you’re saying that Dilucos can’t see auras because he doesn’t have access to night.”

“Correct,” Luna says with a tight nod.

“But you can see auras just fine.”

“I am not a child. Dilucos is still learning his magic. If you restrict him from his domain at such a young age, do not be surprised if his magic is ill-formed, particularly those abilities that are most closely aligned with night.”

Sol begins to pace restlessly, thinking about Luna’s words.

“Then what do you suggest?” he asks.

Luna hesitantly places a hand on Sol’s arm, and he stops pacing.

“Allow me to unseal night again,” she says gently.

“What?!”

“Only while Dilucos is still learning his magic-”

Sol looks shocked.

“Luna… You swore me an oath. You want to throw that away?”

Luna’s face changes, as though she’s only just realizing the full implication of what she’s suggesting.

“It would only be until our son is trained, then…”

“That could take hundreds of years!” Sol protests. “And what about Aurora? Do you want to leave her too, or just me? Am I meant to raise her without her mother?”

Aurora’s hand tightens on Dilucos’.

“She wants to split us up,” she whimpers.

Dilucos looks between Aurora and his mother, heart torn. The twins had barely grown to understand what night was based on the stories Luna had shared with them in hushed tones. Dilucos knows that it would overtake the sky once a day, that day and night couldn’t touch, which means… The sun and moon could not share the sky. Unsealing night means their parents couldn’t be together.

But I could be normal, Dilucos thinks. Now that the possibility has been presented to him, he longs for it more than anything.

But not if it means losing Rory, he thinks. What if she was trapped with day like Papa?

“Mama said that we would always be together, Rory. She saw it in the stars,” he says softly.

Aurora looks at her brother, her eyes watery with tears.

“Gemini,” she says, remembering.

“Gemini,” Dilucos confirms with a nod.

Aurora takes a calming breath, wiping away her tears as they both look back to their parents to see their decision.

“That’s not what I-” Luna begins.

“Then do you have another solution?” Sol interrupts, “One that doesn’t require losing my wife?”

“It wouldn’t be forever, things would simply return to how they were before our marriage…”

“Hell, you mean.”

Luna’s brow furrows as she watches Sol. He looks darkly at the sky, then cautiously draws her into an embrace. The twins lean closer straining to hear his next words.

“A sky without you is a sky I don’t want, Luna,” he says quietly.

Luna says nothing, lowering her eyes.

“I will find another way,” she says softly after a moment.

Sol releases a breath and holds her closer.

“Thank you…” he breathes.

“Please don’t drop our son from any more cliffs.”

“You’re still worried about that? He can walk on air now, you know.”

“Sol.”

Sol laughs quietly and looks at Luna gently.

“I know. You’ve made your point. I’ll try to be more careful with them in the future.”

“Thank you.”

Sol’s face turns more serious as he steps away from Luna again.

“We will need to keep his condition a secret from the rest of the pantheon until you’re able to teach him aura magic,” he says darkly. “They will see his magic as a weakness in our rule, and I have no doubt that they will prey on his ignorance.”

Luna walks by his side, her face somber.

“Agreed. I will try to minimize both of their interactions with the rest of the pantheon until they’re equipped to deal with them. They are still too young, and the others are not trustworthy…”

Sol and Luna continue down the hall, but Aurora and Dilucos remain on top of the wall, staring at each other with wide eyes. All of a sudden, their world has grown much larger and much darker than they previously thought.

The birth of two gods was already an unprecedented occurrence, thus growing up was bound to have its risks. Perhaps fate was kind to give the twins one another as they face the trials ahead that can only accompany the life of an immortal. Perhaps not.

---

Aurora and Dilucos will return with the next segment of their story in September. Subscribe at the bottom of the page so you don't miss the next update!