The gods lie

Chapter 1

He lived in a small village in the forest. It was a nice place but it was different... There was a god that lived in the forest. The town would offer sacrifices to the god every ten years. It so happened that this was the year they would have to pick a sacrifice.

Lovino woke up that morning and looked around not seeing his brother in the bed beside his. Where is he? He got up and looked around the house. Nowhere. "Ugh feli stop hiding" no response. He sighed a bit irritated then heard the front door open then close.

"fratello I'm back!"

"From where idiota?"

"Fratello don't be do mean" feli pouted as he walked to the kitchen "I was at the market and I heard we have to gather in the town square today"

"Why?" He watched feli make some food for the both of them.

"I'm not sure something about the forest god" Lovino went over and grabbed his food and started eating it.

"well it sounds stupid" he said through a mouth full of food.

He looked up from his food seeing feli looking at him with a frown which was unusual. "You know it isn't. When it has something to do with the gods it must be serious."

"Ok, ok I get it. I'll go with you into town today to see what it's about."

"Ve~ grazie fratello" feli smiled his usual smile and started eating the food he had made.

Lovino heard the door open again. Who the hell was at their house no one else lived here except- he watched an older man walk in. He was familiar looking then he realized who the man was.

Lovino watched feli run up to the man and hug him. "Nonno! You are here we weren't expecting you!"

He shook his head a bit watching them and did a half hearted wave meant to acknowledge their grandfathers presence.

"Aren't you going to give me a hug Lovino?"

"No I'd rather not"

"Come on Lovino" their grandfather grinned and attacked Lovino in a bear hug.

"Hey! Get the fuck off of me!" He shouted as he tried and failed to push his grandfather off.

His grandfather chuckled then feli join in on the group hug. "Argh! Stop hugging me!"

After a few minutes they let go and he went a few steps away from them for good measure. He looked at their grandfather suspiciously. What was he doing here? He hadn't seen their grandfather for almost a year and he just shows up like its nothing.

He watched as their grandfather fawned over felis paintings and other stuff he had done over the year he wasn't there. He walked out of the room irritated and grabbed a tomato on the way.

This is why he hated everyone so much. Always giving feli attention and loving on him then looking at him saying why can't you be like your brother.

He glared at the ground lost in his thoughts then looked at the garden.

He took pride in the garden which was all tomatoes which he didn't mind. He loved tomatoes and always stole some from the garden to eat them even though they were the only income the family had.

He picked up a basket and went to the garden. He didn't know how long he was down there but he switched between picking and eating them lost in his thoughts again.

Then he was interrupted by a familiar cheery voice. "Fratello we need to get ready to go to the meeting" his brother shouted hanging out of the door then ran back inside.

He sighed then got his basket of tomatoes looking up at the sky seeing it darken a bit with the low sun "damn it really is late.." Then went he inside the house not looking forward to what ever was going on.

The three men got ready putting on nice-ish clothes because they were poor and couldn't afford anything extremely nice. Then they went out of the house feli skipping down the dirt road and the other two following closely behind.

After a few minutes later they walked up to a big building. It was big enough to fill the whole town in there but it wasn't the nicest building in the town.

They walked in making their way to about the middle of the crowd which was circled around something then the town leader spoke.

"You may be wondering why I called you all here today. Some of the younger people here may not remember but it is the tenth year."

Most of the older people in the room murmured amongst themselves but everyone else looked extremely confused.

"Nonno what is the tenth year?" Feli whispered to their grandfather looking a bit worried.

Their grandfather looked down at feli looking like he was trying to hide the concern on his face "it's nothing feli don't worry about it."

"Oh.." Feli looked back to the center of the crowd still confused.

Lovino could hear people say 'sacrifice' and 'the forest god' but everything else he couldn't pick up.

Then there was a loud banging meant to silence everyone and he saw some larger men gather all around the back of the crowd. What is that about?

"Today we will pick the sacrifice. I pray that it won't be anyone dear to you." He looked around the crowd looking a bit saddened by what he had to do. Then he reached his hand in a box.

After a few moments of digging around he pulled out a small slip of paper which probably had the poor persons name on it who was chosen to be the sacrifice. Then the name was read. "Lovino Vargas"