Finding Magyk

Walking home, my hands shoved in the pockets of my jacket. Thinking about Max, the run-in with who I assumed was her brother. Worrying about Dante, what he possibly needed to be here for. I sigh, looking around. This place is so familiar to me.
I decide to take a walk through the densely forested area next to my house, needing something to do as I brood. I jump the fence at the front of the ridiculously big house (it wasn't that big, but still far too large for just one person. I'd prefer living in a tiny apartment or something.) and walk straight through to the back, which opens up to the forest. I pause, narrowing my eyes, feeling something different about it. Something... foreboding, almost. I shrug it off, walking in among the trees.
I lost track of time. Entirely. I didn't know how long I'd been here, what time it was. Hell, I wasn't even sure of the date. Just goes to show how messed up my mind gets when I think too much. I can tell through the dense covering of leaves above me that the sky is a deep orange-pink color. Almost twilight, I think ironically.
I throw another pebble at the surface of the small pond, watching it skim a few times before sinking below the clear water. I'm sitting on a fallen tree, the dead wood covered in moss and surrounded by bracken. My watch beeps, startling me. I check the time, and cuss softly under my breath. How did it get to be seven already? I drop the rest of the stones I was holding on the ground, standing up. I turn around-
-and freeze up, going numb, the thing in front of me scaring me even more so than death.
He laughs, his familiar cocky grin spreading across his lips.
"Hello, brother. Good to see you missed me." His voice is exactly as I remember it, a disgustingly twisted echo of my own.
"Bastard!" I hiss quietly, going from terrified to pissed in that split second. He laughs again, and starts pacing around me.
"You were always so polite to me, weren't you," he tuts, as I keep my gaze frozen to his while he circles around me.
"What do you want, Dante?"
"Me? Oh, nothing. I just thought I'd pop in to see my dearest sibling."
"Don't give me this crap. Why are you here?"
"She's cute, I'll give you that much. Really know how to pick 'em, don't you? Feisty, too -I like that." His gives me his most patronizing grin, infuriating me. Then it clicks -he's talking about her. My anger slips, replaced by fear and worry over her.
"What did you do to Max?" I ask, my voice barely above a whisper, fearing the worst. He shrugs, feigning innocence.
"Oh, just a little talk. She thought I was you at first -shows how well she knows you!" He pauses to laugh, winding me up. "She's quite amusing, really. All I did was tell her about your magykal origins, that you're trying to use her."
"Demon!" I hiss, my hands clenching into fists, a spell about to cross my lips.
"Please. You honestly think you can best me again? I'm not the weak child I used to be." His grin falters, turning into a slight scowl. "You always beat me at everything. Sports, studies, games... I could never win. Until now." He smiles broadly, whispering a spell and pointing at me. I try a shield spell, but it's too late. I'm sent flying into a tree, then fall to my knees in the dirt.
"You're a monster," I snarl weakly, getting to my feet, using the tree for support, beginning to murmur a spell. He just chuckles, pointing at me again.
"Hopeless," he says softly, releasing another spell. I skim across the surface of the pond, crashing into another tree on the other side. Searing pain shoots through my back, and I feel the bone in my left shoulder snap. I bite my lip, refraining from giving him the satisfaction of hearing cries of pain.
This is ridiculous, I think, as I ready a spell. I launch it at him, but he deflects it with a counterspell. Grimacing at the pain from being flung into trees -who knew they'd be that hard?- I mutter another spell, gesturing at the pond. The water bubbles, then rises, keeping its shape. Another spell, and it turns into shards of ice. I flick my wrist, and the shards fly at him. His lips move as he casts a spell, then he disappears, the ice hitting the trees behind where he was and sticking in the wood.
I stand, looking around frantically for him, checking the branches of the trees above me. I hear him laugh, and whirl around to follow the sound. He's standing exactly where he was before, his hands in the pockets of his jeans. He tuts, murmurs something, then waves a hand at me. I'm lifted to my feet, and a spot of confusion hits me -is he helping me up just so he can patronize me, rub it in my face, show off?- but then it disappears as the trunk of the tree seperates, then wraps around my arms, taking me hostage. I struggle against it, the pain in my broken shoulder almost unbearable, frantically ripping out counter spells, but they don't work. He walks over to me, standing right in front of me, his face inches from mine.
"I win," he says chirpily, smirking. I scream a stream of foul curses at him, every one I can think of, and he shakes his head mockingly. "Such language..."
"I'll kill you!" I shriek at him. "I'll hunt you down and tear you apart, piece by piece!"
"No threat of yours will ever worry me, brother. You should know this."
I scowl. "You're just a cocky show off," I snarl weakly. "I didn't mean for you to feel..." I couldn't find a word other than 'insignificant', so just trailed off, shaking my head. "You should have told me how you felt. I could have helped you."
"Help me!" he scoffs. "You didn't care. You ignored me, always had better things to do. I'd ask for help with homework, and you'd tell me you were busy. I'd ask to practice a spell with you, and you'd say you had bigger spells you needed to practice. I envied you, your magykal ability that was just so much greater than mine. The way you ignored me, treated me like some worthless water sprite."
"I don't want to be the 'nasty big brother', okay? I didn't know. I cared about you, loved you. When mother died, I wanted to be there for you, help you through it. You were the most important person to me. I didn't mean for-"
"Shut up!" he shrieks, catches himself, then smiles. "I don't care. You were worthless to me then, and you're worthless to me now. Just another man among billions. I could kill you right now, and you'd be useless to stop me." He's grinning again now, fury replaced with arrogance.
"Father was right -you don't deserve K'mir," I say softly, trying to get his anger back.
It works. That's the one thing that always pisses him right off. His face flushes as his cocky smirk changes to an infuriated grimace. He sharply barks another spell, and the tree releases me. I fall to the ground, my arms bruised from where it held me, pain racing through my shoulder as it's jolted. He crouches down to my level, looking me right in the eye, his green eyes laced with blue. I could swear there's something in his eyes that wasn't there before, but I can't figure out what it could be.
"You'll wish you never said that," he snarls quietly. "I'll leave you be for now, give you time to let the fear grow. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment with... What's her name? Max."
He stands, barks another spell, then turns and starts to walk off. I'm about to stand and run after him, but a branch of the tree that just held me captive swings down and clubs me in the back of the head. With a tiny yelp of surprise, I fall to the ground, my vision swimming. The last thing I see before I fall unconscious is Dante turning, smiling, and he flicks me the finger.
That cocky bastard.