September 25th, 2025

It was the night before the wedding - a night where it was typically expected for the bride and groom to be out having a good time celebrating the coming union with their half of the wedding party and friends. Normally it would be the wedding party who had planned the outing, but Dom and Amaranth were doing things differently. They had chosen to forgo a wedding ceremony in favor of signing at the court with his family present, then a day of pictures (his grandmother's insistence, and Amaranth seemed quite excited for it) and prep for a grand reception.

That said, while Amaranth chose to do whatever she had planned, Dom now stood with his two brothers, narrowly containing his excitement, although the bright expression on his face perhaps betrayed his casual calm.

They both looked at him expectantly.

Marks had been living with him for a while now - he moved in along with their grandparents. Being the lively and adventurous youngest brother, he had been eager to immigrate to Destiny City. To the US in general, but Destiny City was rather...infamous. He had been rather busy settling in and looking for a job, so it's more eccentricities hadn't hit him yet, but that was about to change.

Recks, on the other hand, had remained in Belgium after his family moved. Dom was disappointed, but he wasn't about to give up so easily on having his whole family with him. Especially Recks - his 'irish twin,' born a mere ten months after him. They had been thicker than thieves as children, and just as mischievous. It was dreadful circumstances that had put a rift between them. The love as still there, deep and pure, but buried underneath layers of difficult feelings. Well, mostly on Recks' side. Recks had put the distance, emotional and physical, there, but Dom would bridge that gap or die trying. Tonight, hopefully, would be a good start.

"Okay, I guess I'll get this show on the road," Dom said, taking a few steps ahead of his brothers, turning around to face them and a couple more steps back. Then, with any lack of real fanfare, a real 'blink and you miss it' moment, he was Hierapolis. Full knightly garb - a fairly new development, but a proud accompishment none the less.

Both Marks and Recks stared with mixed expressions. Somehow, if they had not witnessed it themselves, they would have not have known this person before them was their brother, despite all the obvious features. The dissonance between the brother they knew and the person before them no less confusing then what they had just seen.

"What....?" Marks was the first to attempt to ask, but he couldn't find the right question to ask. There were so many, but they all swirled about like confetti slipping through his fingers.

Recks, who internalized many of his feelings and words, somehow managed a bit better - perhaps spurred on by the protectiveness he had for his brother, no matter how deeply he tried to keep such things buried. The auburn haired man stepped towards Hierapolis and, with a brief moment of hesitation that had nothing to do with nervousness, and just his own distant nature, touched one of the fluttering lengths of fabric that draped down Hierapolis' shoulders.

"You look ridiculous. What silliness is this?"

Dom, who felt no offence at his brother's criticism, chuckled and placed a hand on Recks' shoulder, "Silliness indeed. Rather, I wish it were all for fun. But this isn't the place to talk about it. Come-" with his free hand he reached for Marks- "I have a place I need to show you."

Before further words could be said, before any protests could be made or questions asked, they were spirited away to a place all of their starseeds knew deep down, but which now called Hierapolis it's protector.

644 words


pt2 2 coming soon....