"There were no signs of struggle, none that he even tried to put up a fight. His body just lay there with that sa old smile we all rembered. Can you believe it? He was smiling even on his deathbed!"
Jin Wang stole a glance at Albus and he seed unnaturally calm about hearing of his demise.
'Maybe he really is an imposter.'
Hyde was about to continue but Jin Wang stopped him.
"That's enough. Since you knew him so well there should be a lot of things that only you two would know, correct? Nothing too special, the more ordinary the better, sothing you wouldn't ever ntion to anyone else. Ask him and if he knows the answer then we have no choice but to believe him."
Hyde obviously didn't like the way Jin Wang was talking to him but at this mont it didn't matter. He also wanted to know the truth.
It took him a mont to co up with a question but his eyes lit up the mont it ca to him.
"My na. The na father gave , I rarely ever used it, why?"
Albus instantly smiled when he heard the question, for more than one reason.
"You always did like to play tricks on ever since you were a child."
Hyde's fist clenched in fury. To him he was nothing more than a stranger trying to use his brother against him. And seeing him about to pop off Jin Wang quickly stepped in once again, "Please answer the question if you don't mind. It would really help push things along."
Albus nodded with a deep sigh before eting Hyde's gaze.
"You used the na all the ti, at least with us. And from what I can rember you never told anyone to call you by anything else either but I rember how much it bothered you."
He then looked over at Jin Wang, "He was always a hothead but whenever sothing really bothered him he kept it bottled up inside. The na 'Tragon' ant 'greedy' in the primary language that was used throughout the empire. He always thought father nad him that because he was greedy as a child but that's not true."
Even though Hyde wasn't even looking at him anymore Albus still talked to him like in the past.
"The language on Solum evolved as ti went on and beca simpler, sotis seeing significant change when other worlds and cultures were brought into the mix but both father and I are still scholars of the old ways."
"I asked Father the sa thing when he gave you that na, I was there. I was concerned about how it would look but he told that in the old language it ant sothing completely different. Do you want to know?"
He craned his neck to the side to try and et Hyde's gaze but he turned away completely.
"It's fine, I'll tell you anyway. Back when Solum was just a bowl of dirt ravaged by war on all sides, there was a ti that no greenery grew on its surface for several decades. The first plant that was able to adapt to this environnt and bloom in the harshest of places was called Tragon."
"Once a month it would give birth to a very small purple flower that blood with the first light. I have heard that father loved its scent more than anything else but unfortunately, it went extinct soon after. The na, however, remained. Father coined it himself and it ant 'First light of the Sun' back then. I never told you this myself but-"
"HAHAHAHAHA," Hyde burst out laughing.
"What a load of SHIT! Now you're just making up things that can't be proved either way just to appeal to my emotions? Do you really think I'm stupid enough t-"
"Would you let finish?" Albus glared at him which imdiately silenced Hyde.
"The birthday present I gave you when you turned ten. It was a book, 'History of the Empire'. On its second last page was a drawing of a small purple flower with a note detailing its origins, and the true etymology of its na. It beca a running joke between us but do you rember what I asked you every ti we t on your birthday?"
His words rang like thunder in Hyde's ears who absentmindedly repeated them out loud.
"Did...you finish the book yet?"
Albus only gave a silent nod in return.
***
Author's Notes:
This went on for a bit longer than I expected but it was a very important mont that will have a significant effect much MUCH later on in the story, both this one and so of the sequels. Because of the 'ti travel' troupe I have a lot of new things to try before the conclusion.
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