The Punishment

Carver was led in chains that bounded him by his feet and wrists. Two guards that wielded spears that could easily pierce his stomach open, led him through the main entrance of the kingdom.

Carver kept his eyes down the whole time. He did not need to study the environment to know where they were taking him. He had done a bad thing, foolishly believing he wouldn’t be caught. Once he saw the handsome blonde man staring at him with a crown upon his head, did he realize his mistake.

He had awoken in prison, and he felt a shudder go through his body when he saw how empty the cells were.

That answered his question that he would die that day.

The guards came to a stop. Carver looked up, finding himself in the throne room. The emperors sat in their golden thrones. When the emperors grew older, they were given thrones made out of gold. Their father loved to spoil the twins. His other three children did not get the same treatment as the twins did. And they did not take their power for granted.

The twins were extremely different from each other. You would never believe they were twins to begin with. The twin on the left was a handsome blonde, and he always wore the best clothes the kingdom had to offer. He was also the shortest sibling among his entire family, but his presence scared the shit out of anyone who met him.

It was the way he would look at you. He wouldn’t blink; he would never blink. You could never tell what he was thinking, because he was always smiling. He never showed teeth, and that made it so much worse. Almost like he refused to smile like everyone else did.

The twin on the left was quite tall, and his hair was jet black, unlike that of his other sibling. He was handsome, but in a dirty sort of way. His clothes were always ripped apart or almost falling off, because he had the habit of destroying anything he wore whenever he got angry.

He showed all of his emotions, and he always waved two of his blades in anyone’s face. He also liked to use the blades on himself, cutting off pieces of skin whenever he grew bored, smearing his own blood all over his body like war paint. And he would laugh whenever the skin would grow back on his body once he was done.

The twin on the left spoke first. He always spoke first.

“What were you going to do to that poor woman?”

Carver cleared his throat before speaking. He maintained eye contact with the twins, afraid that if he looked away once, he would die a painful death.

“I was going to hurt her, sir.”

The twin on the left scoffed.

“Why? She is an innocent young thing that is from a good family. One that delivers the most delicious fruits.”

“Even my tiger likes her fruit,” the twin on the right said loudly. He giggled, and his twin offered his brother a smile. Carver did not like that smile. It scared him.

“Indeed,” the twin on the left agreed. He let out a fake yawn. “So, why were you going to hurt the poor girl? You were going to do horrible things to her, if I hadn’t seen you.”

“I asked her to be my wife. She refused.”

The twin leaned closer, clasping his hands together on his lap.

“Now, why on earth would you react in a such a horrific way? Only monsters choose to do those vile acts.”

The twin on the right waggled his tongue at Carver in a suggestive manner. This bothered him like the other twin’s smile.

“I know I’m a monster. And yes, I would have hurt her, but you stopped me from doing what I wanted with her. Kill me if you must, your majesty.”

The twin on the left cocked his head to the side, his smile now gone.

“You are expecting me to give you a quick death. That will not suffice. Your crime was going to be horrific. It’s only fair we give you a horrible death.”

Carver fell to his knees, his hands coming together in a prayer.

“Please. Please give me a quick death.”

The twin on the left waved a hand. “Leave us.”

Carver felt sweat trickle down his face when the guards who brought him there left the room. He now realized that there was not a single guard in sight. It was just him and the twins.

The twin on the left made a whistle sound through his lips. The other twin crashed into Carver, knocking him to the ground. He landed on his back, a sharp pain shooting up his spine. The twin was on top of him, holding two blades. He could see that his robe was coming off, exposing his bare chest.

“I’m afraid your punishment is not going to be quick, Carver. My brother is bored, you see. And he is going to do whatever he wants with you.”

The twin shoved both blades right through Carver’s stomach. Carver screamed. The twin reached out toward his face. Carver did not have time to process that one of his eyeballs was ripped out. He screamed again when the twin took out his own eyeball, replacing it with Carver’s own.

The twin stuck out his tongue at his victim, laughing along with Carver’s cries of torture. Carver did not die quickly. It lasted for a total of thirty minutes. How he was able to live that long remained a mystery, but it was one of the few qualities of the twins.

Each of their victims could live as long as they wanted them to. When the twin grew bored, the twin on the left called back the guards to clean up the mess. It didn’t look like a person anymore. The guards pretended to not notice that the chest of the body was still moving up and down.

They never paid attention to such things.

Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn