Family dinner

I

Ivo shifted from foot to foot, hesitating before the towering metal gates. He had been standing there for ten minutes. Time and again, he raised his hand toward the buzzer, only to recoil at the last second. He had repeated this ritual a half-dozen times and likely would have continued, had a voice not crackled from the intercom.

“Son, stop the dramatics,” his mother’s voice said tenderly. “We’re all waiting. Come inside before the lasagna gets cold.”

A sharp click followed, and the massive gates groaned open. Ivo wiped the sweat from his brow with a quick motion and stepped forward. As soon as he crossed the threshold, the gates thudded shut behind him.

Well, Ivo thought, there’s no turning back now. I’ll just have to endure it.

Suddenly, birds of breathtaking beauty erupted from the bushes, soaring so close that the rush of air from their wings brushed his face. Ivo watched them spiral into the sky and, despite himself, he smiled. He had forgotten just how beautiful it was here.

Why was he so anxious? He had let his imagination run wild with nonsense. Perhaps there had been friction with his siblings once, but that was ancient history. Every family had its scandals, after all. They weren’t children anymore; they wouldn’t bicker over trifles.

He walked across the manicured lawn onto a wide cobblestone path lined with wooden fences draped in fragrant wisteria. From the depths of the garden, the tranquil strains of a string orchestra drifted through the air. The sun shone brilliantly, birds chirped in the canopy, and butterflies danced over the fresh-cut grass. Ivo passed bubbling fountains and hedges sculpted into the shapes of wyverns and dragons.

As the majestic three-story manor came into view, Ivo’s confidence wavered again. He paused, glancing at a gardener trimming a topiary. He smiled and waved, but the gardener didn’t even look up. Feeling awkward, Ivo quickly lowered his hand.

“Don’t take it personally,” a voice said behind him. Ivo started and turned. Standing there was a slender, dark-haired girl with wide eyes and a beaming smile. “Mattheus went deaf a few years ago. A truly tragic tale…”

The girl paused, searching Ivo’s face. “But we’ll have time to talk about that later,” she nodded toward the house. “If we don’t make it to dinner this instant, there will be hell to pay.”

“True enough,” Ivo laughed. “Remember how Father scolded Georg when he was only five minutes late for Mother’s birthday?”

Evia giggled. “Oh, yes. I don’t think he’ll ever forget that lecture as long as he lives.” She gazed at their childhood home for a moment, then turned to Ivo. Looking him straight in the eye, she said softly, “I’m glad you’re here, Ivo.”

He looked into her clear, serene eyes and embraced his older sister. “Me too.”

They stood in silence for a minute, watching the gardener work. Then Evia took his hand. “Ready?”

Ivo squeezed her hand, tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, and nodded. “Let’s go.”

As they climbed the stone steps, the doors swung wide, and a tall, stately woman with a healthy bloom in her cheeks rushed out.

“Finally!” she rejoiced. “What took you so long? Everyone else has been here for ages!”

“Hi, Mom,” Ivo and Evia said in unison.

She was wearing an elegant dress of blue satin that perfectly matched the azure of her eyes. She hugged them briefly, kissed their cheeks, and ushered them inside.

II

Sunlight streamed through open windows, dancing on the polished marble floors. The walls were adorned with tapestries of fantastical beasts. At the table, lively conversation flowed amidst the clatter of silver and bursts of laughter.

Chewing on a piece of turkey, Ivo glanced at a gold-framed painting: a fallen dragon on a mountain peak, bowing before a fair-haired warrior with a bloodied sword.

His father, sitting at the head of the table, followed his gaze. “Ivo, why have you been away from home for so long? Working on a new project?”

The voices at the table died instantly. Every eye turned toward him. Ivo nearly choked on his food from the sudden weight of the attention. He took a sip of water, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and looked at his father.

“Yes, you could say that,” he replied tentatively. “Nothing serious yet, just a few concepts, but I—”

“Here he goes again!”

The interruption came from his older brother, Maynor—a tall, fit man who was the pride of their parents. He glared at Ivo before turning to their father. “Father, honestly! No one wants to hear the excuses and whining of this failure. We rarely get together these days, and I don’t want to ruin family dinner talking about Ivo the Bore’s attempts to do anything worthwhile.”

“Exactly!” Ilsa chimed in. “I, for one, came to see Jernis’s first successes. Mother said she created a cataclysm on her planet that wiped out the entire world in seconds.” Ilsa beamed with excitement, clapping her hands. “It’s so fascinating! I can’t wait to see what’s left of that planet in person!”

At the end of the table, Jernis turned red with pride. She was the youngest, yet she had already won the family’s favor. What Ivo had been trying to achieve for decades, Jernis had accomplished on her first try.

Ivo was happy for her, of course—if “success” was the right word for it. He wasn’t envious; he was simply saddened that no one except Evia showed any interest in his work. She was the only one who truly understood him.

“Let’s celebrate little Jernis instead!” Ilsa continued, turning a disdainful look toward Ivo. “I have no intention of listening to more of Ivo’s nonsense. Why did you even invite him?”

“Ilsa!” their mother hissed. “Have some respect for your brother!”

“Why should I?” the girl rolled her eyes. “Does this mediocre hack show us any respect when he humiliates us at the Universal Games?”

“Thank you, Ilsa,” Maynor toasted his sister, raising his hands to the ceiling. “At least someone here understands me!”

The other siblings, silent until now, began to nod and whisper in agreement. A disjointed chatter filled the hall. Ivo set down his fork and loosened his tie. He felt that if he took one more bite, he would be sick. More than anything, he wanted to run.

What a fool he had been to hope that something had changed. He glanced toward the exit, but just as he prepared to stand, his father’s voice boomed.

“Ivo hasn’t finished,” he said in a voice like ice. Silence fell. “Please, son, continue. Tell us about your new project.”

Ivo froze. He stared at his father’s inscrutable face, then felt a sharp nudge under the table. Evia, sitting to his left, whispered, “Come on, Ivo. You can do this. Don’t be afraid.”

The young man nodded, a tremor running through his body. He stood up, cleared his throat, and straightened his jacket. “Well... the concept of my new world is...”

“What are you mumbling? Speak up!” Maynor snapped.

“Anyway,” Ivo continued, “the main idea of my new world is non-interference.”

“Non-interference?” Maynor sneered. The twins, Georg and Sernak, looked at their father in confusion; Jernis smirked sarcastically.

Ivo wiped sweat from his forehead. He looked at his smiling mother, then at his father, who sat motionless, fingers tented, beckoning him to go on with a silent nod. Ivo flipped through his notebook to the right page.

“Yes, a policy of non-intervention,” he said. “I decided to give my creations complete freedom of action. I will not meddle in their affairs in any way.”

A brief silence followed. Ivo scanned the room. Seeing he finally had their attention, his shoulders relaxed.

“For example, look at this.” Ivo snapped his fingers, and a transparent sphere materialized above the table. A blue-green orb appeared within, the focus zooming into the planet’s surface. With another snap, the image froze. “The crown of my creation: MAN.”

Evia gasped in wonder. The twins stopped eating their pudding, captivated by the strange creature.

“I found it fascinating to see what these beings could achieve without my control,” Ivo said, smiling for the first time. “I kept asking myself: why are we so obsessed with controlling every aspect of our creations? Don’t they deserve to live as they choose? They should at least have the chance. Why don’t we—”

“Well, brother, you’ve outdone yourself this time!” Maynor roared with laughter. “Are you actually asking us to applaud your laziness? You’ve become so pathetic that you’ve dumped everything on your little pets while you sit back and do nothing? Is that how you think we’ll win the Universal Games?”

Maynor leaped to his feet and, with a sweep of his hand, dissolved Ivo’s glowing sphere. “Can’t you see he’s disgracing our family?” he shouted at their father. “If not for his failures, we’d have taken first place long ago! Why do you tolerate the mockery this talentless hack brings upon us?”

“Enough!” The word echoed through the hall like thunder. Their father rose slowly, pinning Maynor with a freezing stare. “I will not be spoken to in such a tone.”

“Father,” Maynor stammered. “I...”

“Go to your room,” the father said firmly. Then he turned to Ivo. “And as for you... I expected more. You have disappointed me again, son.”

Ivo felt his legs go weak. He looked to his mother, but she only covered her face and wept quietly.

“You will end this nonsense today and work on something worthwhile.” The father walked around the table and placed a heavy hand on Ivo’s shoulder. Ivo looked up, unable to hold back his tears. “I hope you won’t fail me again.”

III

The hall erupted in a standing ovation. The audience cheered, and the judges, as one, awarded tens across the board. It was a sensation. Maynor, glowing with pride, stepped onto the stage to accept a shimmering trophy.

Maynor had taken first place for a project in his signature style: using the hands of his own creations, he had engineered a virus that wiped out all life on his planet in a record forty-eight hours. The judges were ecstatic.

Watching from the highest tier, Ivo applauded his brother. Despite their differences, he was genuinely happy for him. For as long as he could remember, he had looked up to Maynor. As they grew older, they had drifted apart, seeing the universe through different lenses, but Ivo knew that deep down, Maynor loved him.

Speech finished, Maynor headed for the exit. For a split second, his eyes found Ivo’s in the crowd. He smiled and nodded.

Evia sat to Ivo’s right. She leaned back in her chair and exhaled sharply. “They don’t understand a thing!” she said fiercely. “Soon they’ll see how wrong they were about you. You have something they never will.”

Ivo turned to her. A look of reverence played on her lips. “What are you talking about?”

She looked at him mysteriously, then leaned over to kiss his cheek. “Our siblings create worlds only to destroy them. Everyone in these damn Universal Games does. They don’t even have the capacity to simply enjoy what they’ve made. You don’t have to please anyone, Ivo. Not Father, not Mother. Do what you believe is right. You were always the best at that.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “They will never understand what kindness is. Keep that within you.”

Ivo couldn’t find the words. He watched in silence as his sister began to walk away. Suddenly, a thought struck him. He pulled his notebook from his jacket, tore out a page, and caught up to her on the stairs.

“Evia, wait!” He took her hand. “I’d be so happy if you came to visit me. On the planet I’ve called Earth. Here, take this.”

She took the slip of paper.

“It’s a human,” Ivo smiled. “The most beautiful thing I’ve ever made.”