The monotone color of the shores, followed by more of the colorless waves splashed against a bed of rocks nestled near an elongated stone platform. Dripping between the cracks of the platform, which was man-made and structured by an unknown entity, was red blood, coloring the waters with a sign of death.
From the distance on the platform, set on a wooden regal table, stood Abel, who danced across with his hands partaking on an unknown activity. Upon further glance, he used his singular blood-soaked hand to craft an amalgamation of bloodied corpses into a single piece of polished art. Sweat dripped from the cracks of his forehead wrinkles as he chuckled, taking the faces, guts, organs, and strips of skin from recently decomposed and deceased humans to create a bouquet of heads, blossoming it into something beautiful.
The eyes of the deceased were hollowed out and shoved through with fingers, and their tongues had been cut out to create a sense of cleanliness among the bouquet. Decorated around the heads, which acted like flowers, were guts and skin to act like the bouquet's base. To finalize the piece, Abel placed an unbeaten pale heart on the top as a final touch, much like how a family would place a star on a Christmas tree.
From the distance beyond the shore's edge, Abel caught Cain reappearing by the rocky shores. His child-like attitude at his brother's return began to kick in, panting delightfully and rushing to engage with him. He nearly slipped as he descended the platform, holding the small grotesque bouquet of the dead with him.
"Brother, brother!" Abel called, voice peaked to the brim with absolute excitement. "Look, I made you something! Right here!"
Cain remained quiet, face staring down upon the water creeping up by his boots. Abel was unable to look into his brother's eyes from the angle where he stood.
"Brother?" Abel's voice faltered as he placed the bouquet of the dead beside his feet. He approached Cain with his hand extended. "Are you okay?"
Cain slowly turned around, startling Abel with his saddened face, riddled with a sense of guilt. Without holding anything back, Cain confessed to what had had witnessed. "Seth's dead." He coldly stated.
"What?" Abel said, eyes widening in shock. The inhalation of his breaths began to deepen and slow down to a treacherous amount. His face trembled in confusion, jolting in miniscule movements that not even ants could see. "He's... dead? But... how? Why?!" He screamed.
Cain shook his head. "There is evidence to conclude that it was the work of Battalion Gemma," He said, purposefully looking away from his kin. "Or what the locals of the desert call her; Lyn."
"It was... her?" Abel replied, clenching his teeth in furiousness. He turned toward his bouquet of human heads and impulsively kicked it away, blasting it and separating it into shreds of the deceased among the vapid shores. The blood of the deceased coated the waters beneath them in the blood. "DAMN IT! DAMN IT ALL!" He cried in agony.
"Abel." Cain began, noticing ripples in the water shaking the sands beneath them.
"WHY?" Abel continued, stomping on the ground, and eventually punching the sand with his only fist. "WHY DID HE HAVE TO DIE? IT'S NOT FAIR! HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"
"Control yourself." Cain said, watching his brother's behavior dramatically change.
"I'LL KILL HER! I'LL KILL HER AND EVERYONE RESPONSIBLE!" Abel shouted, repeatedly punching the sand before standing up. He clutched his forehead in rage.
"Calm down." Cain said before slowly approaching him.
"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO! I'LL KILL THAT BITCH! I'LL KILL HER AND-"
"ABEL!" Cain's voice rose to extreme heights, stopping his brother in his tracks with his extreme anger and annoyance. He placed both of his hands on Abel's shoulders, stopping him in his tracks. Now that their gazes had fully met, Abel's eyes eventually broke down into teardrops raining down upon his cheeks.
"I'm sorry... brother..." Abel sobbed.
"You are severing Mother's tether too early." Cain mentioned after examining his brother's human emotions being put into play over Seth's death. "You need to listen to me. It's dangerous."
"But I have a right to," Abel continued. "Seth was MY brother. Our brother! And she took him away from us! Why can't we kill her?"
"We need her," Cain said, releasing his grip on his brother's shoulders. "She is our only lead toward the fragments of Mother. And we cannot kill our own kind."
"And SHE CAN?"
"She... will eventually learn of her true origins and accept them," Cain continued. "She must. And when she does, she will join us in resurrecting Mother to bring grace upon the world again. We can finally be whole, just like you wanted."
"You... you promise?" Abel asked, sniffing harshly through his nose.
"I promise," Cain said, smiling at his brother with confidence. "And so does your brother, Joy."
"Joy..." Abel whispered.
Cain stepped toward a set of other rocks nestled in the white shore before turning back around. "But... I must bid you farewell for now, Abel. I have discovered a lead in the East that may lead us to another fragment of Mother. The land where machine and Mother's influence combine to create a source binding her to this world. Its very own tether!"
"No, no," Abel repeated. "You can't go! If she finds you there-"
"I won't die," Cain said. "I will make sure of that, and I will return to greet you both in happiness as I always have been during our short trips."
"Cain, please..."
"Listen to me," Cain said, approaching Abel once more with an ardent expression. "I am doing this to protect both of you. You and Joy are the only ones I have left. I cannot let any of you two die. Not yet. Not until Mother returns. And eventually when she does, we can live freely like we wanted to, like one happy family."
Abel's eyes were shrouded by hesitation and darkness that clouded his vision. After several seconds of silence, he eventually nodded and accepted the sacrificial statement. "O-Okay..." He whispered. "I... I guess you can go..." He whined.
"Good," Cain said, petting Abel on the head and roughening up his hair. "I'll be back, Abel. And before I do, I'd like to see one of your gifts again; your true work of art."
Abel pumped his fists in excitement, suddenly changing his entire mood and demeanor. "Okay! I'll make it! I'll show you everything, brother! For both you and Joy!" He shouted.
With his index and middle finger placed on his forehead as a salute and farewell to his brother, Cain vanished after summoning another red aethereal portal to an unknown destination. After the portal vanished, Joy approached Abel from behind, his disfigured and battered state too frail to even react to Seth's death and Cain's disappearance.
After Abel turned back to face Joy, the thought of Seth's death still lingered in his soul. He snatched Joy by the head and pushed him to the ground before brutalizing him with his right fist. Blood and teeth splattered across the shores with each punch, and every time Abel would continue, Joy would regenerate, leaving him with nothing but a personal punching bag in the unknown expanse.