After the war with Greece finally ended, Adam had nothing left in him.
He had spent years helping Rome destroy the civilization that had caused so much suffering, and although he had survived physically without difficulty, the experience had exhausted him emotionally.
For the first time, Adam did not want to learn, travel, improve anything, or involve himself in another civilization.
He wanted to disappear.
More importantly, he wanted his sons to grow up without becoming part of another war.
So Adam made a decision that Remus found both understandable and slightly ridiculous.
They would disappear for one hundred years.
Not completely.
They would still live, train, experiment, and live as a family.
But they would stay away from kingdoms, armies, rulers, and anyone who might become interested in Cain and Abel.
Adam chose a secluded place far from the major centers of civilization and built another home there.
It was larger than his old cabin because now there were four of them, but the principle was the same.
It was somewhere they could live without anyone knowing they existed.
At first, Remus thought the arrangement would last a few decades.
Adam apparently had other ideas.
-The First Ten Years
The first few years were surprisingly peaceful.
Adam focused almost entirely on his children.
He taught Cain and Abel to read, write, reason, observe, and question.
He taught them mathematics and history, but he also made a point of teaching them things that had nothing to do with their unusual biology.
They learned how to cook, build simple structures, tend gardens, care for animals, and repair tools.
Adam wanted them to understand the ordinary world before they understood what made them extraordinary.
Remus thought this was sensible.
She also found it amusing that Adam treated two supernaturally gifted children as though they were simply two boys who needed chores.
One morning, she found Cain and Abel carrying wood toward the house.
“Why are they doing that?” she asked.
“They’re helping.”
“They can summon creatures of light and raise dead animals from the ground.”
Adam nodded.
“They still need to carry firewood.”
Abel looked over.
“I think Dad just likes making us work.”
Adam smiled.
“That too.”
Their Powers Begin to Separate
As the boys grew, the differences between them became increasingly obvious.
Abel’s abilities remained tied to death.
His skeletal summons became larger and more complex.
At first he could call only small dead animals: birds, foxes, wolves, and similar creatures.
Eventually he could summon much larger animals.
A skeletal horse became one of his favorites because it reminded Adam of his own ability to summon horses.
Then Abel began doing something Adam had not expected.
He could summon creatures that had been dead for considerably longer than the animals Adam had ever called upon.
Their bones were sometimes incomplete, yet Abel’s power would reconstruct them into functional forms.
Adam watched a skeletal wolf assemble itself from scattered bones.
“How are you doing that?”
Abel shrugged.
“I just ask.”
Adam stared at him.
“You ask the dead?”
“I guess.”
That answer stayed with Adam.
He had no idea where Abel’s abilities would eventually lead.
Cain’s development went in the opposite direction.
His luminous creatures became more elaborate.
The first simple bird had been followed by wolves, deer, great cats, and other animals.
As Cain grew older, their forms became increasingly elaborate.
Feathers appeared across creatures that ordinarily had none.
Halos became more pronounced.
Their bodies gave off increasingly intense light.
Eventually, Cain began summoning creatures that were no longer easy to identify as ordinary animals.
They had characteristics of several species combined, yet each still possessed the same strange holy appearance.
Adam found himself fascinated.
“What are they?”
Cain looked at one of the glowing creatures.
“I don’t know.”
“They look like animals.”
“They are.”
“Then why don’t they look normal?”
Cain thought for a moment.
“Maybe they’re what animals are supposed to look like.”
Adam smiled.
“That’s a very strange answer.”
Cain smiled back.
-Twenty Years
By the twentieth year, Cain and Abel were smart enough to understand why they were being kept hidden.
That did not mean they liked it.
They knew their father had enemies.
They knew that people wanted things from him.
They knew that their own existence would attract attention.
What they did not understand was why they couldn’t simply see the world for themselves.
One afternoon, Cain asked the question directly.
“When can we leave?”
Adam continued working on a piece of equipment.
“Leave where?”
“Here.”
“This is our home.”
“I mean outside.”
Adam looked at him.
“Not yet.”
Abel crossed his arms.
“You always say that.”
“Because it keeps being true.”
Remus was sitting nearby.
She tried not to laugh.
Abel looked at her.
“Mom, tell him.”
Remus raised both hands.
“I’m staying out of this.”
Cain groaned.
Adam smiled.
“You’ll understand eventually.”
Cain muttered something under his breath.
Adam looked at him.
“What was that?”
“Nothing.”
Remus laughed.
The boys were becoming independent.
Adam did not always recognize how quickly it was happening.
-Thirty Years
Adam’s own abilities continued progressing during their isolation.
He no longer needed to concentrate nearly as hard to connect with the air.
Flight had gone from an experiment into something as natural as walking.
He learned to use different atmospheric conditions for different purposes.
Gentle winds allowed him to travel efficiently.
Strong storms could dramatically increase his speed.
He could connect with extreme heat and withstand temperatures that would destroy ordinary human bodies.
His relationship with natural phenomena also became more precise.
He began learning that he did not simply gain power from the elements.
He could inherit properties.
Air could give him speed and maneuverability.
Volcanic heat could give him extreme thermal resistance and offensive heat.
Cold could slow biological and physical processes around him.
The stronger the phenomenon, the more substantial the effect.
Remus watched him experiment one evening.
“You’ve become very strange.”
Adam smiled.
“I was already strange.”
“You’re getting worse.”
“Probably.”
She looked toward the sky.
“At least you’re happy.”
Adam didn’t answer.
He was.
For the first time since Greece, he genuinely was.
-Forty Years
By now Cain and Abel had become formidable even by the standards of their unusual family.
Abel could summon entire groups of skeletal creatures simultaneously.
A small clearing could suddenly contain skeletal wolves, horses, birds, and larger beasts moving at his command.
He had also begun experimenting with combining multiple animals into single summons, though Adam discouraged him from doing anything too dangerous without supervision.
Cain’s creatures had become stronger and more durable.
Their light was no longer merely visual.
It could illuminate enormous areas, and some of his summons could produce concentrated bursts of radiant energy.
The two boys also began sparring.
This was where Adam realized something unexpected.
They were competitive.
Cain would summon a radiant wolf.
Abel would summon a skeletal wolf.
Cain would summon a great eagle.
Abel would answer with a skeletal one.
Cain would produce something larger.
Abel would produce something stranger.
Adam eventually had to establish a rule.
“Absolutely no summoning anything inside the house.”
The boys looked at one another.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want to wake up with a skeleton sitting on my chest.”
Abel smiled.
Cain laughed.
Remus shook her head.
“You created this.”
Adam sighed.
“I know.”
-Fifty Years
Fifty years into their isolation, the boys finally reached their limit.
They had not been allowed into a major city.
They had not traveled openly.
They had not attended markets.
They had not met rulers.
They had not walked through a large human settlement.
They had spent fifty years seeing the world mostly through stories, lessons, and whatever distant travelers occasionally told Adam.
One morning, Adam opened the door and found both boys standing outside.
Cain folded his arms.
“We’re leaving.”
Adam looked at him.
“No.”
Abel stepped forward.
“Why?”
“Because you’re not ready.”
“We’ve been here for fifty years.”
“I know.”
“That’s why we’re angry.”
Adam looked toward Remus.
She was already smiling.
“Don’t look at me,” she said.
“They’re right about one thing.”
Adam frowned.
“What?”
“You’ve kept them inside long enough.”
Adam looked at Cain and Abel.
“They’re still children.”
Remus laughed.
“They’re fifty.”
Adam became quiet.
That was the first time he realized how long he had been hiding them.
-Fifty One Years
Adam finally allowed them to leave the immediate area.
It was not a city.
It was barely even a settlement.
Still, Cain and Abel treated the trip like an expedition across another world.
They were fascinated by everything.
A blacksmith.
A market.
A group of children playing.
A farmer repairing a cart.
A woman selling pottery.
None of these things were remarkable to Adam.
To his sons, they were extraordinary.
Adam watched Cain stare at a group of children chasing one another through the street.
“Do you want to join them?”
Cain looked at him.
“Can I?”
Adam smiled.
“Yes.”
Abel immediately followed him.
Remus watched from beside Adam.
“You look worried.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
“Because they’re seeing the world.”
“That’s generally considered healthy.”
Adam sighed.
“You know what I mean.”
She took his hand.
“They need to become their own people, Adam.”
He looked toward his sons.
He knew she was right.
-Seventy Five Years
The boys had grown tremendously.
Abel’s relationship with his summons had become almost instinctive.
He could call forth skeletal creatures without consciously thinking about each one.
He had begun learning that the creatures could perform different functions depending on how he summoned them.
Some were fast, some powerful, some excellent scouts, and others could remain motionless until needed.
Cain’s summons had become increasingly complex as well.
His light creatures could fly, scout, defend, and attack.
Their halos had become a defining feature, and the feathered bodies gave them an almost ceremonial appearance.
Adam began wondering whether the boys’ abilities were not simply opposite manifestations of the same underlying principle.
Death and life.
Decay and purity.
Skeleton and light.
Abel and Cain.
He wanted to study them.
But he resisted.
They were his sons before they were biological mysteries.
Remus noticed the restraint.
“You’re learning.”
Adam smiled.
“Unfortunately.”
-Ninety Years
Adam was beginning to notice another change.
The children no longer needed him in the same way.
Cain and Abel had developed their own interests, personalities, disagreements, friendships, and ambitions.
They sometimes disappeared for hours without telling him where they were going.
Adam hated that.
Remus loved it.
“They’re growing up.”
“I know.”
“You don’t sound happy.”
“I’m happy.”
“You sound terrified.”
Adam looked at her.
“I’m beginning to understand what my parents must have felt like.”
Remus laughed.
“You mean Zakiti.”
“Yes.”
“You’re becoming her.”
Adam looked horrified.
“Don’t say that.”
Remus laughed harder.
-One Hundred Years
After a century of hiding, Adam finally understood that the children were ready.
Cain and Abel were no longer the two tiny boys he had carried away after Greece.
They had become powerful, intelligent young beings who understood their abilities and, more importantly, understood the world around them.
Abel could summon armies of skeletal animals.
Cain could call forth radiant creatures that looked almost divine.
Neither needed to be taught how to use their powers anymore.
They needed to learn when to use them.
That was the final lesson Adam wanted them to understand.
One evening, Cain and Abel sat with him outside the house.
“We’re leaving tomorrow,” Cain said.
Adam looked at them.
“Yes.”
Abel smiled.
“Finally.”
Adam laughed.
“You’ve been complaining about this for fifty years.”
“Because it was ridiculous.”
“It kept you safe.”
“We were never in danger.”
Adam looked at him.
“Exactly.”
Abel smiled.
Remus sat beside them.
She watched Adam look at his sons.
He had spent a century protecting them from the world.
Now he had to trust them to live in it.
Remus leaned toward him.
“You did good.”
Adam smiled.
“Thanks.”
She looked at Cain and Abel.
“They’re going to cause you problems.”
Adam sighed.
“I know.”
Abel looked over.
“I heard that.”
Cain laughed.
Adam looked at his sons and then at the world beyond their hidden home.
For a hundred years, he had allowed himself to stop.
He had raised his children.
He had watched them grow.
He had refined his own abilities.
He had learned to live with Remus rather than merely around her.
And, perhaps most importantly, he had discovered that he could love something without immediately trying to control its future.
The boys were ready.
Or at least, they were as ready as anyone could be.
Adam stood.
“Come on.”
Cain looked surprised.
“Where?”
Adam smiled.
“Let’s go see what the world looks like now.”
Abel immediately stood.
“Finally.”
Remus laughed.
Adam shook his head as the three of them followed.
He had spent a hundred years hiding from humanity.
Now he was about to introduce humanity to his sons.