They used to live here. Kallin and all his siblings did. His mother’s home. Of course, he hadn’t referred to her as his mother for some time now – even before his death. Still, with the revival of him and his siblings, he knew this place held some sort of sentimental value to some of them.

  Approaching the premise of the old worn-down two-story home, Kallin hadn’t accounted for how long they had been dead. But by the looks of their childhood home, a decade had passed without their presence. Kallin was surprised the place was still up and unbothered.

  Entering the home, Kallin refused the stairway upstairs. He closed the door behind him and began to search downstairs first. The windows allowed for the moonlight to come in, so that’s what Kallin used to guide him through the place.

  Reaching the front room where his third youngest sibling used to reside, there he was…Devin. He stood near the wall with his back facing him. Kallin couldn’t account for what was in his brother’s hand. Whatever it was, it had Devin’s undivided attention.

  Kallin called out to his brother, with his brother asking him what he wanted soon after. He still hadn’t turned to face him.

  Kallin reminded him that they weren’t supposed to be in this world anymore. Devin blew what he said off, responding by saying that he wished their mom was here. Kallin held his tongue, knowing that Devin was more attached to their mother than he was. Devin finally turned around to face his brother, during the disturbing silence.

  Devin placed a picture frame down on the nightstand, admitting that he hated the way things ended between all of them. However, he adds that even more so…he hated Kallin for how he treated their mother in the end.

  In a single blink, Devin broke the distance between the two. With a strong punch to Kallin’s face, Devin staggered Kallin, before following up with another punch and then a straight kick to Kallin’s torso. The kick sent Kallin through the wall into the dining room. It became quickly obvious to Kallin that Devin’s sorcery was teleportation. For even when he staggered Kallin, he almost immediately closed the distance once again.

  Kallin rose back up, seeing his brother walk through the newly formed hole in the wall. He cared nothing for what his brother had to say. He wasn’t too fund of Devin either – sometimes even more than their mother. Devin didn’t know what he was talking about, so it was easy to blow him off.

  Kallin quickly cut his left wrist before his brother could teleport again. His blood armor took over his left forearm, though he wasn’t able to do the same for his right. Devin once again used his teleportation powers to zip back and forth around the room, going in and out as he avoided being hit by his older brother’s power fist. Devin hit Kallin a series of three different times in between his high speed movement. A punch to the face, then teleport. A punch to the other side of the face. Then teleport. Finally, a strong hook came through the air.

  Kallin looked as if he was going to stagger again, though he managed to catch himself and raise his crystal arm to the open hook that Devin threw through the air. Devin’s mid-section of his arm crashed into the blocked projectile. Devin grunted as he felt the full force of the self-made armor his older brother held on to.

  Devin’s arm bounced off his brother’s arm, closing his eyes in the shortest amount of time, to manage the sudden shrill of pain his arm wanted to scream. Now was my chance.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  I went in for a punch of my own, but either out of pure instinct, or his truly cowardness nature, Devin teleported. Fuck.

  He was further back again, holding his arm with a concerning look on his face. He wanted to talk all of a sudden, asking me why was I turning against them yet again. He would always see it this way. Devin was selfish like that.

  He didn’t account for the catastrophe that would take hold from our existence. Living in a world of rumble, just to stay alive. We had our lives. We weren’t even much of our former selves.

  Every time we came back, we might as well been shells. We were on our eighth life cycle. I couldn’t explain any of this to him. Out of all my siblings, Devin was the shallowest. I couldn’t argue who was worse in this nature, him or mom.

  I responded to him with a simple apology. I told him I apologized that after all these years, he still felt as if I was turning against him. There was nothing else left to say. I slit my other arm, forming my crystal armor on that arm as well. But I wasn’t done.

  A set of crystalized spikes burst through my knees and my lower legs, engulfing them in blood armor soon after. I was now at forty percent of my full strength. Though I knew I couldn’t stay in this form for long. I wasn’t going to play with Devin at this point.

  I charged Devin with full force, predicting that the first thing he would do would be to teleport out of harm’s way. He did just that – attempting to make it for the door.

  I grabbed him by the back of his shirt, knowing that he could only teleport short distances. I slung the weasel through the wall and into the hallway that resided next to the staircase.

  I ran to give him a quick to his face, kicking the wall instead as he teleported out of the way and caught me with a clean one-two punch to my face and gut. If only he would continue to fight this way.

  I walked him down with my guards up at this point, the hallway being linear than the previous rooms were in as he walked backwards slowly.

  I threw a punch, seeing him dodge it instead of teleporting. This was the verification I needed.

  Devin had always been a sloppy fighter, so I knew he would burn himself out sooner than later. I immediately pounced on him for this.

  Taking the punch and going in for a grab, I locked on to him. My hands made their way from his neck to the back of his head. I wasn’t about to allow him to teleport again.

  Using my weight, I dragged his face down into my knee as I drove my knee into his face. His head bounced up as expected.

  I caught him twice to the chin before he could collapse, diving on top of him as soon as he fell on his back. I raised my fist before coming down with a series of punches. I didn’t stop.

  I knew if I had stopped, even once, I wouldn’t be able to do it. I wouldn’t be able to finish.

  I struggled with myself as my younger brother struggled to be freed. The blood didn’t seem to stop pouring from his face either. Each punch carried my might in it. My anger. My sadness.

  I’m sorry Devin. I’m sorry. I should’ve been better. I’m so sorry. I didn’t tell him any of this. These were all thoughts.

  He eventually stopped moving. He eventually became a memory again. I rose from him, catching a tear just as it left my eyes, before it could drip on him. I had always stressed to him that no matter what, the struggles of life had to be fought through. He just never listened.

  The Last Witch: Plague Storm