That was how their days passed, just as they had wished for. That’s how they had grown, turning into adolescent Witches. They sometimes passed whole days training and looking for ways to develop their physical defenses and offenses. But, on one of those days, Tier mentioned something that had been bothering him for a long time.

“I don’t get it… I sometimes think that I don’t really have any magic powers.”

Ikaros looked at him, surprised and even a bit worried. He immediately formed words with his sunwaves. “Why do you think that way? You have been able to create the best potions we’ve ever seen. Surely you could even create one of those drinks the adults always talk about.”

“I’ve been able to create potions and poisons, but… I’ve never been able to manifest any specialized power that could identify me… It’s as if I don’t have any sort of magical energy… Don’t you think so, too?”

“…No. I’ve been able to sense your magical force every time we practice.”

“Really? But, then… what does this mean? Is it that I don’t have any special powers, then? Is it even possible for a Witch to be in this situation?”

“I’m not sure… but something like that couldn’t happen to you. Maybe we haven’t looked for your powers correctly. It could be an intrinsic power… or maybe we can’t see it with the naked eye, contrasting my own power.” Once Ikaros said this, his sunwaves started moving, getting close to Tier. “I’ll scout for them with the sun.”

Tier nodded; a bit doubtful about all this. He assumed that if he hadn’t discovered it by now, he would never find it. He thought that if his power hadn’t manifested before him, the rightful owner, that it would manifest to nothing and no one. He was convincing himself of the fact that his power didn’t exist… That power didn’t exist… It didn’t exist. That warmth he was feeling didn’t exist, the magical weight he thought he possessed wasn’t there. And as he intertwined himself in those thoughts, one of them appeared that wasn’t quite the same as the others: That warm power that’s surrounding me doesn’t exist.

Once that thought was completed, the lights that had been surrounding him disappeared completely, leaving a cold wind to cover the space where they had been roaming a second ago. Ikaros gave a small jump as a reaction, his fingers backed away and he titled his head to the side. Tier also jumped, his eyes wide open, confused as to what had happened. He was looking for the lights that had been moving around him.

“They’re gone.” Ikaros wrote, with a new manifestation of light.

“But… you’ve brought them back, right?”

“No. That specific part of my power is gone. I can’t feel it at all.”

“So… you didn’t do that?”

Ikaros shook his head. “I maintained them close to you…and then they disappeared. As if they had been cut out. As if a rope had been ripped off with a knife. They’re gone, I can’t feel them.”

Tier, worried, swallowed audibly before continuing. “That… could’ve been my fault. I… remember thinking – without wanting to – that the power that was surrounding me didn’t exist… Maybe that’s just what happened, right? It doesn’t make any sense, but… but it happened right after I thought about that.”

Ikaros remained silent, thinking for a small while. If that was true then his brother had been able to erase part of his power. Of course, it hadn’t been much, but he still could feel that some of his power was missing… So, maybe it was possible for his brother to erase even more of his power. What if he thought of erasing all of his power? What if he erased the very sun, the source of his power? It sounded as if his brother was a great threat… Ikaros had tried to release the same part of lights out again, but it didn’t work, even his source of energy didn’t contain the power that had been lost. Tier had erased that part of his power permanently.

Because of this, Ikaros smiled. Running towards his brother, he grabbed his hands with his own and nodded, forming more words to communicate with him.

“That’s your power. You have an extremely strong power! You can eliminate whatever you don’t desire! …Or something like that. : )”

Tier didn’t expect such a reaction. One of pure and clear happiness… He expected for his brother to be angry or even a bit scared of the fact that he had been able to eliminate a part of his power. He even thought he would leave him… Of course, he didn’t want something like that… Yet, his brother had been able to look at the positive side of that event. With a grateful smile, Tier nodded back.

“Yeah… I guess it is a bit strong… I wouldn’t say to an extreme, but… Ah, I’m happy you like it. I’ll need to control it as much as I can. Oh…” Once he mentioned that fact, his mind went to the power of his brother. Holding his hands with a bit of strength, Ikaros also thought of the same thing. If Tier were to reveal his powers to the village, surely they would get scared and wouldn’t treat him as they did now. Ikaros knew this, as he had heard of it so many times before. The overwhelmingly dark eyes of the boy with the bright lights clearly showed what he had thought of. He wouldn’t let Tier be treated like they had treated him, to be engulfed by mediocre hypocrisies to then discuss ways to keep him controlled. He wouldn’t allow it. His brother deserved better.

“We can’t reveal all of your power to the village… But, we need to tell them that you already know what it is.”

“But… what should I tell them if they ask?”

“…Alright. Why don’t we make it a power of the night? To contrast mine, it could have natural satellites as the source of energy… The different moons that exist. That would explain why they don’t manifest sometimes and how hard it is for you to show it. Since you can’t see some of the moons, it’s difficult to try and communicate with them. What do you think?”

“Oh… that sounds logical. Alright, I’ll follow that story.”

Ikaros spoke by experience. Sometimes, using his powers proved difficult because him and the Sun weren’t always on the same page. Plus, there were days when the Sun felt way more intense than other days. Communication between the host and source of energy was important for correct manifestation to come forth. Without it, nothing could be done… Or, at least, that’s how it worked between Ikaros and the Sun. Without communication, without an agreement, he could burn alive.

“Good. Then, we have to make sure to show them at least a small bit of your power… That wind it summoned once it erased my sunwaves, we could use it as proof of your power some night.”

“True. We could put some things in designated areas so I can think that they don’t exist and the wind comes forth, as if that were a sort of weapon I used by communicating with a moon.”

Ikaros nodded, impressed by how fast his brother had come up with a strategy to use to solve the problem. No wonder he was so good creating potions and poisons, his mind looked for alternate options, it found many possibilities even when it came to smallest things. If he was like that with small stuff, then he could be lethal and strong with his magical power. The type of power he had fit him perfectly.

Right after deciding this, Ikaros let go of his hands and the two of them proceeded to prepare for a new type of training. They would look for small, medium and large rocks to practice making them disappear. With that strategy, they showed the village the ‘power of moons’ that Tier possessed. The villagers were amazed by it and encouraged him to continue with his training.

This way, the dame that met up with Alvar was able to give him the good news by the end of the month and, even though hearing that his son’s power came from the moon sounded illogical to him, he accepted it. Who wouldn’t? This meant that his sons would be able to stay at the village, after all.