The Brothers Three

By Gilean - Wordsmith

Chapter 1

The cold glow of the lamps shone down as the three stood in front of their father, Lord Bahuji. Standing in a line, the soft light glinted off of their faces, all blank, and devoid of emotion. The tallest one, known by the name Gato, absentmindedly brushed a lock of his dark black hair out of his face, and looked up at his father patiently. Medio, the aptly named middle son, shifted restlessly, anxiously awaiting the reason why their father had called for the assembly. Bajo, as usual, stood there beside his brothers with a rather detatched aire, not caring why they were called at all.

Bahuji stood from his throne, with a stern look on his face. The head scholar of the tribe stood beside him, his face enshrouded within the darkness of his cloak. Bahuji looked at his three sons, the light glinting off his golden crown as his gaze moved from one to the other. Finally, he spoke.

"Gato, Medio, Bajo, I have called you here today for an important reason. You have all came of age, and as of yet, none of you have chosen your path in life. Be ye hunters, or scholars? You must decide, so you may prove your worth to the tribe."

"But father, neither path fits us..", Gato began, "we have no need to study new arts, as the scholars we already have are doing that rather well.", he said, bowing slightly towards the head scholar as he spoke.

"And we believe that there is something more to the mares than it seems. " continued Medio, picking up where his brother left off. "We believe that these mares should be studied, so that we may learn more about them."

Bahuji looked at his sons in amazement. "MORE TO THEM?!?!" he roared, "THEY ARE MERE BEASTS, MEANT FOR SLAUGHTER, THERE IS NOTHING MORE!!!"

"But father, if you'd only listen...", Bajo began, but was cut off.

"I'LL NOT LISTEN TO THIS HERESY IN MY HOUSE! THESE CREATURES SLAY OUR BRETHREN, AND YOU WANT TO PROTECT THEM FOR STUDY?!?!?"

"Father, if we could learn why.." began Gato.

Bahuji's hand swung in a slashing motion, effectively cutting off Gato. Bahuji's voice dropped to a low, barely heard growl.

"Your choice is this. Become either a hunter, or a scholar, or leave the tribe. We'll not have worthless baggage, be it my sons or not." Bahuji glowered at his sons. His brow furrowed angrilly, as each brother shifted on his feet, and looked questioningly at the others. Gato finally spoke up.

"Father, we believe that the mares need to be studied. We will not slay them mercillesly, so we cannot be hunters. We will not research arts to harm them, so we cannot be hunters. Therefore, you leave us with no choice, but to leave the tribe."

Bahuji's face flushed, and his strong, well muscled body trembled with rage at the defiance. "Gather your things..." he muttered, barely heard, "and get out of here."

"NOW!", he roared, seeing the brothers pause.

One by one, the brothers filed out of the stronghold, with their precious few posessions strapped to their backs. As they walked over the rise, Gato turned back, and looked sorrowfully at his father's house, his only home, for the last time. Then, he turned his back on it, and walked away.

Chapter 2

Bajo opened the large stone door to the stronghold. The dank smell of stale air flowed into his nostrils, the familliar scent comforting him. He wandered into the chambers of study, finding his brothers there.

"Greetings, bretheren, I have returned."

Gato looked up from the tome he had been reading, and smiled. "Good, I believe that we should now have enough of the essences to begin studying. You did find 12 more, didn't you?"

Bajo nodded, sadly. "It is quite easy. All one has to do is follow a hunting party, and pick up what they deem as trash."

Medio nodded, and took the sack from Bajo, relieving him of the weight. Setting the pack down, he opened it, and took out the twelve small miniature statue-like essences. He picked up what appeared to be an agoknight, and could almost feel the spirit of the creature contained within.

"Okay, my brothers. How shall we go about our study? We all agree that we must rid the world of the threat presented by these creatures."

Bajo and Medio nodded, and Gato continued.

"It is my personal belief that they should be sent beyond the walls of the dream, so that they may return to the chaos that spawned them. That way, they may be given freedom, and be in their home environment. They are clearly unhappy and confused within the order of the dreamscape, so I believe that they will stay content in chaos."

"Brother, if I may interject my belief.." Medio started, and Gato nodded.

"It is my belief, " began Medio, "That these creatures are of chaos. I know that we are all agreed on that. However, I do not believe that they will be content in chaos. It is the nature of chaos to destroy order, is it not? I believe that if we did banish them beyond the walls of the dream, they would only re-enter it through another way, in order to complete their goal of the destruction of the dream. I believe that the only way to solve the problem is to imprison their spirits within powerful talismans, to contain the chaos so it does not run rampant."

Bajo began to speak, "Brothers, I have travelled the breadth and width of this land in search of essences. I have witnessed many mares in my travels, and have taken time to observe them carefully. I believe that they may be put to use. Just as we would force another dreamer to do chores to teach them responsibility, so I believe that the mares would react in the same manner. We must train them, and make them work for us, as a form of rehabilitation."

Gato looked at his bretheren. "All good and noble plans, and ideas. None of us can say for sure which view is correct. Time only will tell. I say that we all proceed in studies relating to what each believes is correct, and keep the others updated of any progress we make. Only by study, and sharing our knowledge will the truth be revealed."

Bajo and Medio looked at each other, and nodded. "Speaking of knowledge," began Medio, "Shall we look in on the tribes?"

Gato nodded grimly. "Let me get the orb."

He walked over to a darkened corner of the study, and lifted a dark object. As he neared the brothers, the light began to illuminate the object. It's soft round edges glowed darkly with power, seeming almost as darkness within darkness. It had a small wooden pedestal attached to the bottom of it, as a base. Inscribed upon the bottom were various symbols, symbols of power. Gato set it gently on the table, and spoke mysterious words. The small orb began to glow with an inner light, and slowly began to take form. A face appeared within.

"Yes, m'lords?", spoke the figure within.

"Greeting, Balthur, is there news of Calatar's Tribe?"

Balthur nodded, slowly. "Word is that his son, Calenture, is looking to usurp him from the throne. There is deep inner conflict within the tribe, and many are looking to other forces for answers."

"Thank you, my friend. That will be all."

Balthur nodded, and his figure slowly faded away. It was swiftly replaced by another, a female dressed in dark robes.

"Greetings, m'lady." said Gato, "Is there news of Ambidar's Kingdom?"

The female dreamer smiled, and reported, "Sorry, m'lords. This has been a rather uneventful week. Little has been happening, and many of the members are starting to grow restless. Beyond that, nothing."

Gato smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, m'lady, that will be all."

They continued this way through all of the tribes. There were no noticeable events going on in any of them, and the brothers felt at ease.

"Well, my brothers, let us begin our research!"

Chapter 3

Many months passed, and the brothers studied laboriously, and tested their theories. Each proved moderately successful, however, neither proved to be the answer that they sought.

Gato successfully created the art of "banishment", and could now send mare essences beyond the walls of Underlight. At first, he was overcome with joy and pride, being the first of the brothers to come up with a solution. To test, however, he began to mark each essence with a magical symbol of power, to mark it for it's entire existence. He was dismayed when he went gathering essences, however, as he noticed a few of the mares he found displayed the mark he implanted within it; proof that they did not stay outside the walls.

Medio, while daunted by his brothers failure, continued on his project. He finally created the art of "imprisonment" after many months of study, and began to create the artifacts for the essences to be stored in. Finally, with the help of his brethren, he was able to construct three powerful artifacts to store the essences in, and began putting them within. He spent many laborious nights, imprisoning essence after essence, filling the artifacts up to capacity. However, try as he might, it seemed that the mares seemed to eventually be able to escape their prison. He attempted a marking process similar to Gato's and noticed the same inevitable occourance. The mares were escaping.

Bajo also did not meet with a great deal of success. He was successful in communicating with the mares, after finally figuring out their language. He found that by talking to many of them, they would not attack him, but would follow him. He communicated with them, and soon taught them to be able to do simple tasks, such as fetching water, and carrying messages. However, he also observed that over time, their chaotic natures eventually overode his training, and the mare would attack, or disobey.

Finally, one day, Gato gathered the other two into the main study with him.

"My brothers, each of us have studied, and come to the culmination of our beliefs. All three have proven inept. However, I believe, given that we all did get minimal results, that we are at least partway on the correct path. Therefore, I believe that it is time we call on the aid of those that would help us. There are many in the dream as dissatisfied with current conditions as are we, and would readily assist our efforts. Therefore, I believe that it is time for us to reveal our presence to the rest of the dream, not just to our spies within the tribes. I suggest that we make a formal announcement in Threshold, and spread our knowledge to others. It may be that we are not the ones destined to make this great discovery."

Bajo and Medio looked at each other, and then nodded to Gato. It was decided. The following day found the three brethren walking out of their private stronghold, and meandering down the pathway to Threshold. The appearance of three seldom seen dreamers caused quite a disturbance. These three had not been seen for many years, since they were banished from their tribe, and labeled as outcasts.

Upon reaching Threshold, they had gathered already a great number of dreamers following them. Gato stepped up onto a small outcropping of rock, and Bajo and Medio took places at his feet, on either side of him. Gato turned to address the number of dreamers following them.

"Fellow dreamers, " Gato began, "My brothers and I are here to tell you of our discoveries. Many of you know that when you kill a nightmare, there is a small statuette left behind. This statuette is the essence of the mare itself, and holds the key to it very being. All of you leave this as trash, and continue onward, not looking back. However, my brothers and I have found that these very statuettes hold the key to removing the threat of the mares from the dream completely."

Waves of chatter, and gasps erupted throughout the crowd. They were abruptly silenced as Gato began to speak again.

"We have all studied separately, and therefore we will give you our findings separately. I have researched an art known as Banishment. With this art, I am able to send the essence of a mare beyond the walls of Underlight, away from the dream, removing any chance of it being restored here within the dream. It has it's fallacies, however, but I believe that in time, and with much research, we will find a way to keep the mares from ever returning. Maybe if we can ever have all the mares banished at one time, they will stay gone. Only time will tell. Next, I present my brother Medio."

Gato stepped down, and relinquished the makeshift pedestal to his brother Medio, who stepped up, and began to speak.

"Fellow dreamers, while my brother was researching his art of banishment, I took a different approach to the mare problem. My method involves imprioning an essence within an artifact created to store them. This will keep them from being restored here, and keep them from coming back from chaos. However, my art is not perfected either, as occasionally the mare will escape the artifact. I believe that in time, and with study, this problem will be resolved as well. Now, I present my brother Bajo."

Medio stepped down, and turned the outcropping of rock to his brother, who anxiously started to speak.

"Greetings, my friends. I took a radically different approach to this than my brothers. We all know that with work comes responsibility. I studied many nightmares, and was able to divine their language. With this knowledge, I was able to communicate with them, and teach them to do simple tasks. This responsibility seemed to give the mare a purpose, to give it some sort of reason for being. This seemed to calm down the mares, and make them more sociable, and not as eager to attack. However, as with my brothers, I did not meet total success. After a time, due to their chaotic nature, the mares would eventually resort back to their old habits, and attack."

Bajo stepped down, and Gato stepped back up.

"My fellow dreamers, we all seek your help in perfecting our solutions. We have taken our studies as far as they can go, and now turn our focuses in other directions. I believe that one day, we will be able to rid the dream of the mare threat forever."

Gato bowed, followed shortly by his brothers. The three then stepped though the crowd, which parted before them, and returned to their stronghold.

Chapter 4

Many days later, the brothers once again assembled within the study. Gato sat the orb on the table, and began to evoke the art used to activate it. Balthur appeared, his calm face appearing haggard, and frazzeled. He smiled as he looked at the brothers, and began to speak.

"Well, m'lords, I hope you know what an event you've started off. But seeing as how you seldom pay attention to many events outside your stronghold, I shall inform ye. After your speech in Threshold, the dreamers all ran back to their individual tribes, and massive upheavels began. Speaking for this house, Calenture was able to overthrow Calatar, and is now in control of the tribe. In fact, he renamed the tribe House Calenture, and took residence deep within Evernight Plateau. He has constructed a huge stronghold, and now has many followers flocking to him from all corners of the dream. He has taken your art of banishment to heart, and now requires that all of the hunters in the house pick up any essences. As you recall, Gato, I asked you to teach me banishment but two days ago, and now have taught it to Calenture himself, along with the other rulers of the house. The only problem is that he is dead set against imprisonment, and has demanded that his followers destroy any people they see imprisoning essences." Balthur sighed sadly at this point. "This causes a great deal of conflict with the other houses, especially the newly formed Dreamer's of Light. But, I'll leave that to Mystique to explain." He smiled mysteriously, and continued. "Well, m'lords, that is about all of the noteworthy occurrences. Calenture bows to you, Gato, and will assist you in studying and practicing your art. Thank ye much for giving this tribe some direction." Balthur slowly faded, to be replaced with the figure of Mystique, smiling widely, and straightening her dark purple dress as she appeared.

"Greetings, m'lords, ", she began, "I believe that you have more than likely talked to Balthur, so you know of the current relations between our two newly formed houses, one of pure animosity. The same ordinance has been placed in inverse for this house; any banishers are collapse on sight." Mystique sighed. "Ah, me, well, the dream will work out eventually. A guardian named Wraith usurped control from Ambidar, and is the ruler of this house now. He is a fierce warrior, and a strong ruler. I believe that they will do well under his rule. Alas, that is all of the news for now, m'lords. The Dreamers of Light thank you for their inspiration, Medio." Mystique curtsied formally, as she faded from view.

Examining through their contacts (generally referred to as spies), they found that many new houses had formed, and all held strictly to one of their three new beliefs.

Gato smiled. "Now that there are many minds thinking of the subject, instead of only three, I'm sure we will soon see results. Until then, let us return to our studies."

Chapter 5

A period of eight months passed, with neither brother venturing out of Threshold. Each sat apart, and studied endlessly, and researched varying theories. Meanwhile, the houses grew strong, and began to war against each other, regarding their beliefs. Calenture and Wraith became great enemies, and their constant warring shook the Dreamscape. Dreamers lived in constant fear, living in eternal fear of being collapsed for their beliefs. The once peaceful dreamscape had turned into a war-ravaged land.

The brothers were greatly bothered by this, as their quest for knowledge had turned into a reason for war. This only prompted them to study harder. Then, one day, Medio called his brothers together.

"Brothers, I believe that I may have at last found the a solution. We have all diverged on our own paths, and overlooked to obvious. We must join our efforts, in a process I have just s you have the answer!", said Gato, a grin beginning to spread across his usually stoic face. "Have you tested it out yet?", he asked excitedly.

Medio smiled. "My dear brother, would I have brought it up before you two if I had not?"

Bajo let out a nervous laugh. "We know the difference between essences is that the substance of dreamer essences is in an ordered pattern, whereas the mare substance moves about randomly in a chaotic pattern. I believe that if we can order this substance, that we will be able to remove the mares from the Underlight forever."

"It sounds promising, my brother." said Gato, "Have you come to any success as of late?"

Medio nodded. "Yes, my brother. Allow me to explain the process to you. First, I studied the maren dictionaries of our brother Bajo, " he said, nodding in his brother's direction, "and I practiced his method of training the mares. I noticed that when they are trained, their chaotic nature begins to gain some semblance of order, and that is key to my plan. I believe that if we can order a mare's essence that they will cease to be what they are, in effect. My plan is thus. First, we train a mare, and get them to obey, to start the process. Then, we imprison them within an artifact, as to directly work with the essence itself. This is where my new art, ordering, comes into play. With it, I directly continue the changes started by the slavery. Using this, when coupled with the initial slaving, will completely order the mare's essence. Then, afterwards, we banish the essence beyond city walls, as order instead of as chaos. My plan is that over time, the order we send into chaos will eventually take over, and possible create a boundary of order around the dream, disallowing any more of the chaotic mares to enter. Tis much like the way that matter attracts to itself, in a way, I believe that the order of Underlight itself will attract the order that we send out, creating the shield."

A look of wonderment passed over Gato and Bajo's face.

"My dear brother, I believe that you have the answer!", said Gato, a grin beginning to spread across his usually stoic face. "Have you tested it out yet?", he asked excitedly.

Medio smiled. "My dear brother, would I have brought it up before you two if I had not?"

Bajo let out a nervous laugh. "We did it. We....we..."

Gato joined in, the stress and urgency of the past many years wearing away at the final success. "Yes, my dear brothers, WE DID IT!!!"

In that one instant, the brothers joined together in merry laughter, the likes of which had not been heard in the stronghold in a long time. The walls rang with the joyful sounds, as the brothers celebrated their victory. And, for perhaps the first, last, and only time in their lives, the brothers were joyful and at peace.

Chapter 6

Mere hours later, the brothers sent messages through all their contacts to gather the dreamers, and have them come to the stronghold to hear their joyful announcement. As the brothers finally opened the stronghold door to give their report, they were amazed at the number of dreamers whom had gathered to hear their words of wisdom. House differences were set aside while the brothers were present, although animosity within the crowd could still be sensed. Looking down the middle, Gato spotted Wraith and Calenture, standing side by side, yet with their hands on their blades. At one time, they were quietly saying, "I will tolerate you for a reason, but I will kill you in a second for even the smallest reason." They were the perfect example of how you wanted to keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

Gato stood upon the stairs of the stronghold, with Medio and Bajo on either side of him. He began to speak to the assembled dreamers.

"Dreamers of Underlight, eight months ago, we came to you with our ideas on how to rid the dream of the nightmares. You have all studied and practiced the arts we discovered, and made available to you. However, eight months of research has blessed us with a better method of dealing with the mares. My brother, Medio, was the one granted this knowledge, so it is only fitting that he should be the one to discuss it with you."

As Gato stepped down, and Medio took the pedestal, rustles and murmurs could be heard throughout the crowd.

"Better then imprisonment? But it works...."

"I don't like this...I think that..."

"Banishment works perfectly..."

Medio began to speak, and the assembled dreamers quieted.

"Fellow dreamers, as we told you before, there are still problems with the processes we described to you. Banishment is not a temporary fix, as it has been proven that the mares can and do return to Underlight after being banished. Imprisonment's weakness is that it has been proven that the mares can escape from the artifacts after a time. Slavery does not work, as it has been proven that the mares training fails after a period, and they strike out."

Murmurs rustled throughout the crowd again, but Medio raised a silencing hand.

"We have a solution, however. It involves joining the three processes together, and adding another new process."

"I'll never join forces with a banisher!", shouted Wraith angrily.

"Imprisonment is WRONG!", yelled Calenture, "It's unsafe, and must be destroyed!"

All the assembled dreamers began shouting comments at the brothers.

Medio glanced nervously at Gato, who raised his voice above the crowd.

"FELLOW DREAMERS, IF YOU WILL BUT LISTEN TO MY BROTHER.." he shouted above the low roar of the dreamers.

"They are POSESSED!!!", shouted Wraith, "They have been consumed by the very essences that they were trying to destroy!!!"

"They're trying to stop us from practicing, so the mares will stay here forever!!", shouted Calenture.

"They must die!!!"

"Yes, they are posessed! They must.."

"They must be killed before they can harm the dream!!"

Gato grabbed his brothers, and pulled them back inside the stronghold before the mob could reach them. He braced the door, and swung the stone bar down to lock the door shut. Breathing heavily, he turned to his brothers.

"I cannot believe it...I simply cannot believe it..."

"We should never have taught them the initial phases...", Medio said sadly.

"My dear brother, we couldn't have known they would react this way.", Bajo said.

"Yes, all dreamers have been affected by this constant warring. They have grown distrustful. It more than likely would have eventually happened even without us introducing them to our beliefs." Gato replied, softly.

The brothers looked at each other, with every face filled by sadness, and regret. They stood this way, in sadness, for over an hour, in retrospective thought.

A knock resounded at the door. The brothers looked at each other nervously, and Gato called out, "Who is there?"

A familiar voice answered, "It is I, Balthur, and Mytique."

"Is anyone else there?"

"No, my friend, they returned to their war. You are temporarily forgotten."

Gato lifted the latch, and admitted their two spies. After they entered, Gato consciously lowered the latch again, and turned toward them.

"Ahh, my friends. It is good to see a friendly face again."

"Yes, m'lords. We heard about the situation, and rushed over as soon as we could. We missed your speech today, but we were curious what you said to get them all riled up."

"Medio, would you kindly repeat your process for them?". asked Gato.

Medio complied, and Balthur and Mystique listened thoughtfully. Afterwards, Balthur turned to Gato.

"M'lord, would we be able to see your notes on the study?"

"Yes, most assuredly. I will go fetch them."

Gato rushed down the hall, glad to have something, however temporary, to take his mind off of events. Just as he entered the study, he heard a shriek from the hall, followed closely by another.

He stopped in his steps, and froze. He didn't have to turn around. He knew what was happening, even before the blade was pressed against his throat.

"Any last words, m'lord?", Balthur asked, sarcasticly dragging out the last word.

"I'm.....sorry....", Gato said, as Balthur slid the blade across his throat, killing the last brother of the trinity.

He turned to Mystique. "They were right...they must have been possessed. The plan they mentioned...it was completely stupid."

Mystique nodded. "It made no sense, unless there was something that we all missed."

Balthur shook his head. "I think not, m'dear. After all, they worked with chaos their entire life, it was inevitable that they should eventually be consumed by it. I'm surprised that it took this long."

Mystique looked at the crumpled corpse of Gato, and at Medio and Bajo, laying at the end of the hall. "Yes, my friend, they had to be killed to free them of evil."

References

• https://web.archive.org/web/20031017083014/http://www.underlight.com/files/docs/Brothers-Three.doc