3: Punishment

Icarus turned and began to run straight home, turning down the path that led from the school to the more populated town square. Remembering his Father's scolding earlier in the day for disrupting the villagers on his path, he decided to aim for a higher path. As he surveyed his surroundings looking for an easy rooftop to get on to he saw two houses that neighbored each other with a comfortable gap in the middle. He arrived in a few strides, and without breaking his motion he lowered himself down and leaped to the wall of the first house. Letting his momentum take him he landed on the wall and pushed off, leaping to the wall of the neighboring house, repeating the sequence twice more he landed easily on the roof of the house.

Wow he thought to himself looking upon square from above, seeing the comings and goings of the villagers, merchants hawking wares, young couples walking hand in hand, children running about and parents chasing behind them. Icarus smiled with pride as his clan made this village and it's safety possible by holding the Great Evil in the seal. Shaking his head and waking himself from the daydream he started to hop from roof to roof, gaining more speed as he neared the clan estate.

As he approached the forest separating the square to the estate he leaped from the rooftop towards a branch of a large Kalypto tree, grabbing the branch with his hands we flipped through the air aiming for the tree ahead of him. As he reached out his hands to grasp the branch ahead of him, a red foot appeared inn his peripheral vision. Before he could even process the burning sensation of the kick that landed on him, the wind got knocked out of him from making impact with the trunk of the tree.

Then Icarus fell to the ground.

"Little Brother" A voice sang out to him gleefully. "Aren't you having a little too much fun someone who is about to be punished?" He said as lifted Icarus's head up by his hair.

Meeting his assailants eyes Icarus began to shake uncontrollably, he then lowered his gaze and shifted his body so he was no longer laying down, but bent down on his knees.

"L-L-Lapyx I-I was only trying to get here as soon as p-p-possible." Icarus could not help but stutter, in the whole of he clan, no, in the whole of Isla Nava there was nothing he feared more than Lapyx, the eldest of his ten siblings. 

"Oh youngest don't worry! Everything is fine now that I am here. I will ell Father that you were training with me because you cursed your own uselessness." Lapyx smiled at his brother while crouched in front of him. Still clutching the boy's red shock of hair, he began to shake it up and down forcefully making Icarus nod.

"Yeah, see I knew you would agree" Lapyx laughed. He began to drag Icarus, not to the estate, but to the training ground behind it.

Lapyx tossed Icarus easily to the middle of the field in the training ground and gestured for his younger brother to get ready. Icarus knew he had no choice to play along with his brother's game, and was a game that Lapyx made him play often. Advanced Evasion Training he would call it, telling his younger brother that since you could use nova he would need to dodge, but Icarus knew this was nothing more than target practice with a live dummy.

"Fire Ball!" Lapyx shouted out as a sphere of flames began to enlarge in front of his outstretched palm.

"Shoot!" 

Icarus preparing to evade the familiar attack began to shift his bodyweight, anticipating the timing of the attack. Leaping to the left, a burst of heat exploded on the ground where he stood previously. looking at Lapyx and waiting for him to begin his Incantation again, his eyes widened in shock. The fire ball had not dissipated as it usually does after being cast, but instead stayed floating in front of Lapyx's palm.

"Bravo Icarus you noticed! I made this breakthrough while thinking of you might cute Little Brother" Lapyx smiled from ear to ear, he was truly happy. And Icarus's hand began slightly to tremble.

Even among the older generations of the Silo Clan, Lapyx was truly a prodigy. Even as a Grade 2 Level 3 Novite, he is able to cast without use of arrays or augmenting equipment such as a ring, staff, or sword. Though he was not a dual elementalist like his father and younger triplet brothers Carlo, Talo, Pedro he was more advanced in offensive and defensive Fire techniques as well as the Clan's sealing techniques.

What made Icarus fear Lapyx though wasn't his prodigious talent, no, it was the fact that Lapyx was stronger than the rest of the Clan knew and that he was hiding it that made Icarus fearful. Icarus knew for a fact that Lapyx was at least a Grade 2 Level 5 Novite, as he had slayed hundreds of Fira Felis's** in the Kaypto Forests in the surrounding areas. Even a baby Fira Felis is a Rank B Nova Beast, meaning it would take at least 10 Grade 2 Level 3s working in unison to deal with it, and Icarus had witnessed Lapyx killing them in droves by himself.

He did all of this using techniques not handed down from either side of the family, and the only person who knew this was Icarus. After his killing frenzy was done Lapyx had seen Icarus spying on him and subdued him right away. Icarus begged his brother not to harm him and told him we would never tell anyone what he saw, and that he would forget everything he saw today. Lapyx smiled at Icarus for the first time that day. "Oh I will make sure you NEVER forget"

"Shoot! Shoot!" 

Two fireballs shot out to Icarus who weaved between them before they erupted behind him leaving scorch marks on the training field, trying to locate Lapyx, Icarus took a nova reinforced kick to the abdomen, sending him flying back. 

"Flame Wheel Kick" This time Lapyx's foot truly caught fire, as the flames launched him in the air and sent his burning foot careening towards him. Icarus closed his as eyes as he knew he couldn't dodge the attack and resigned himself to his fate.

He then simply landed on the ground. No attack came. Opening his eyes tentatively, Icarus saw his Father standing between him and his brother, holding Lapyx's leg in the air.

"It seems you took it upon yourself to punish your brother isn't that right Lapyx?"

"Of course not Father, we were just training" Lapyx smiled innocently at his father, but his smile did not reach those crimson eyes of his. And Dalus noticed.

"Its a shame, truly. Though you both inherited your Mother's looks it seems Icarus took her spirit"

"Her spirit? You think Icarus has more spirit than me?" Father you must be joking." Lapyx spat out to his father, absolutely perplexed by the statement.

"Your soul is as black as Evil sealed in the shrine" Dals replied to his eldest, tossing the boy's leg aside. And leaning in towards his so they were eye to eye "I can see the abyss in those red eyes of yours boy."

And then looking back to his youngest, "Even though he is a waste and utter disappointment at least Icarus's spirit is bright and free" Shaking his head he sighed " Icarus you have been punished enough by Lapyx, go to your room your food is there. I also left you something as well. Now begone."

"Yes Father" Icarus said getting up getting ready to leave.

"Clan Head" Dalus said to the boy.

"Oh, I apologize. Yes Clan Head." Icarus corrected.