[piosenniel]

Regin Hardhammer’s post

Eric watched sadly as Eli and his dad walked out into the fields after lunch, leaving him all alone to reflect on the horrible time he’d just had. Eli had kicked him in the shins under the table and left a blue bruise. His parents hadn’t even seen what happened and made him return the shiny rock that he had borrowed from his brother the day before. “It’s not fair,” Eric muttered. “My crybaby brother always gets what he wants.”

Eli was a sickly and frail boy, so his parents naturally felt the need to pay more attention to him. It seemed to Eric that whenever he did anything to his brother, the older boy immediately whined about it to his parents, who always sided with Eli. Nor did he like being called a “younger brother” when he was born only two hours later than his twin. “Life can be so unfair!” he noted with a grimace.

His father always took Eli to help him with the work in the field, but never Eric, even though he was probably tougher and could work harder. A couple of times he had thought about asking his father if he could come too, but stopped himself because he was afraid that his father would say no. Anyways, Eric reflected, he probably wouldn’t want me to come, since he likes to be with Eli.

Determined not to sulk in the house all day, Eric decided to go for a walk in the meadow near the lake. Maybe he could gather frogs there that he would later put in his sister’s bed. She always loved his little surprises, he thought with a grin. Walking through the tall grass, he noticed that a grey shadow had suddenly appeared on the ground and swiftly crept closer until it finally enveloped him. Eric looked up curiously and saw a very strange looking, monstrous bird. I didn’t know birds had scales and I’ve certainly never seen one that large before. Enchanted with this new creature, Eric sprinted gleefully after it, giving no thought to how he would get home. He whispered proudly to himself, “I bet Eli has never seen anything like this!”