The time for the siblings to go to school was coming soon—just a week away. This also meant that they would gain access to the books in the attic. During the two years they spent waiting, they brushed up on their reading and writing skills, as well as general arithmetic.
The kingdom they lived in, Illt’en, had been having minor conflicts with the neighboring empire of Bakhr (bock-er) which was against the kingdom’s policies and regulation on religion. Bakhr was a pretty nice place to live; mostly middle to upper class, and various freedoms. They were very diverse, even allowing some races of monsters to live there, such as orcs and goblins, as long as they abide by the laws.
This is why Illt’en so heavily opposes them, as there were no diverse races allowed in this kingdom. Some speculated that the conflicts would evolve into war.
The siblings—now four years old—ventured up those same stairs to the attic. What would they find?
“This better not be lame,” Hayato said.
“I agree,” Sakura responded, “We’ve been waiting a long time for this.” They entered the attic, feeling as if the air was getting thicker by the second. They entered. The chest seemed to be cloaked in darkness, emanating an aura of uncertainty. Hayato pushed open the chest - this time uninterrupted.
The books were there now, and they looked as the siblings remembered, though slightly older now. Hayato opened the first one he got his hands on, titled “Secrets of the Kingdom”.
“Secrets of the Kingdom,” Hayato read aloud. “Chapter one: treasury.” They read. The first chapter seemed to be a detailed entry for each of the kingdom’s treasures, with a description of every one.
“Eye of Foresight,” Sakura read, “An eye with the power of foresight. Can be used by any bearer who inserts it into their own eye socket. Limited to those with preexisting skills”
“So,” Hayato said, “If you use this, you can see into the future? Awesome.”
“The next part is just about their gold and money,” Sakura continued.
“Lame.” So, Sakura read about the weird treasures, to Hayato’s delight.
“Chapter two,” Sakura said, “Puppet ki—” Footsteps from downstairs interrupted Sakura, who was frozen with terror.
Have we been too loud? She thought. We’ll be in big trouble if father or mother finds us up here…
The attic door lifted with a creak, and a figure rose.
“What are you kids doing up here?” Alexander asked. “You should be in bed.”
“Father, I’m sorry,” Sakura responded. “We were just looking at books.”
“These books are treasures from where I… used to work.” Alexander stated. “Please do not touch them again.” The siblings were surprised by their father’s calm voice - it was somber and quiet. He seemed to reflect a tone of sadness. This elevated the seriousness of the moment.
“Oh,” Hayato said quietly, “we’ll leave.”
“Thank you,” Alexander responded. Hayato and Sakura returned to their beds still taken aback by what happened. They felt bad; their father never looked like that. If he was angry he would voice it, but this time he just looked sad.
“I hope he’s alright…” Hayato said.
“Oh, he’ll be fine,” Sakura responded, “He’s ‘The King’s Executioner’ after all.” Sakura looked cheery, but Hayato could tell there was a worry in her eyes. They had been siblings for about 20 years now. They could read each other like a book.
Hayato pulled up his covers and laid in bed for a bit before falling asleep. In the morning they would be heading to school. This was just a general education; not like the school they would go to after they discovered their skills—or lack thereof.
“Promise me you’ll be good,” Mary said to Hayato.
“Of course, Mother.”
“Be safe Hayato,” Alexander said, his previous liveliness returned. No one was telling Sakura to be safe and good. Hayato was more of a worry for Alexander and Mary - they trusted Sakura to be good, as she often was. With that, they were off. The school wasn’t too far from their house, so they walked by themselves. Kids were apparently trusted a lot more in this world—it was much safer here too. They were much more capable than kids in Japan.
The path to the class was a forest path up a small hill, not too hard to get up but still somewhat tiring for children. As they approached the school house, Hayato’s nervousness grew. He felt like he’d be made fun of, or bullied. Sakura tried to dispel his worries—which did help a bit—but he still had a dread, deep down, from how he had been treated in the past. They walked up to the door, and opened it.
Inside were a few other kids, and one adult. The room itself wasn’t much: a small space, filled with fixed rows of desks all pointed forward toward the front of the class, where a chalkboard lay. The adult, presumably the teacher, looked up when they entered.
“Names?” he asked.
“Sakura.”
“Hayato.”
“Surname,” the teacher added.
“Sigrari,” they responded. The man’s eyes went wide for a second.
“Uh,” Sakura asked, “is something wrong?” He regained his composure and calmed himself.
“Nothing, sit wherever. I’ll introduce myself once everyone gets here.” Hayato and Sakura started going separate ways; Hayato toward the back, and Sakura toward the front.
“Come on Hayato, let’s go to the front.”
“But then everyone can look at me”
“Cry about it,” she pulled his hand and dragged him to the front row.
They sat right in front of the board, next to each other. As they sat there, watching more kids come in and sit down, Sakura noticed the teacher seemed to be keeping an eye on them. She wondered if it was their surname, as that could be connected to their father being the former captain of the Order of Knights. Though King Calladan didn’t acknowledge Alexander any longer as being in the previous position, the people—mainly in his hometown—considered Alexander as the Captain Emeritus, as he did a great many things for his kingdom. This however, was (unofficially) frowned upon by the King, so people didn’t do it often.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
“Alright students,” the teacher announced, “thirteen of fifteen are present. If I’m correct, Miss Hanma and Mister Bragi are absent, correct?” There was no response from the class. Hayato looked at Sakura.
“Aren’t those the nobles from the big part of town?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Sakura answered. “I wonder why they aren’t here.”
“Settle down class, let’s get started. I want to get a grasp on how much you all know so I’ll ask a few questions, answer with a show of hands. Who knows how to read and write?” Sakura and Hayato raised their hands, along with two other people in class.
“Ok, good start. Who knows how to do math?” Once again, Sakura and Hayato lifted their hands. The other two who had them raised before kept them lowered.
“Oh, really? Sakura, what’s ten squared?”
“One-hundred,” she responded in an instant. Though Hayato looked worried, he was reassured with Sakura’s quick answer. “But that was pretty easy.” The teacher had a shocked look on his face; he wasn’t expecting her to answer.
“Hayato,” the teacher said, reviving Hayato’s feeling of terror, “what’s the cube root of twenty-seven?”
“Um… uh,” he looked to Sakura for an answer, but she just shrugged. Then it came back to him: the year he took geometry in high school. “Nine,” he said smugly.
“Nope, but you’re on the right track. Good for a kid.” Hayato blushed. Sakura looked at him with a smile.
The rest of the day—just four hours—was introductions and starting the alphabet. The teacher’s name was Mister Rollo. He had the skill of “Knowledge Absorption” which let him absorb massive amounts of information quickly, and retain much more than the average person.
As Hayato and Sakura were leaving the classroom, Mister Rollo stopped them.
“Listen,” he crouched to meet their eyes, “you kids are geniuses. If you want, I can meet with your parents and set up for you to graduate early.”
“Ok, I’ll tell them,” Sakura responded, turning to leave. Mister Rollo smiled.
“Very good, thank you.”
----------------------------------------
As Sakura walked along with Hayato, she kept thinking about what Mister Rollo said.
He seemed awfully eager to meet with our parents, she thought, and his look when I said our surname. I wonder…
“Hey sis, isn’t this awesome?”
“Yeah, I guess it’s cool.”
“Oh, c’mon, cheer up!” They approached the house, seeing their mother at the door. She seemed to be talking to someone.
“Alexander. Please listen to me.”
“They’re saying that it’s gonna be war with Bakhr. I may need to fight.”
“I will not let you work for that man anymore.”
“‘That man’ is the king.” Alexander sighed. Hayato walked up beside Sakura.
“Hi mother, father,” Hayato said sheepishly. Mary looked up, a concerned look on her face. It quickly faded, turning into a smile, while Alexander was still sitting at the table, head down.
“How was school?” Mary asked.
“It was fine,” Sakura answered.
“Mister Rollo said we can graduate early!”
“Oh really? Mister… who?”
“He’s our teacher,” Sakura elaborated. “He said that he’d like to meet with you.” Alexander looked up, dark bags under his eyes. He got up and approached the kids.
“What did you say his name was?”
“Mister Rollo,” Hayato said. “Why?” Alexander’s eyes widened, he looked concerned.
“You will not be returning to that school.”
“Why?” Hayato asked. “Do you know him or something?”
“You could say that,” Alexander muttered, walking back into the house.
Hayato was thoroughly confused. He wondered who Mister Rollo could be to elicit that type of response from his father. Maybe he used to work with him? Hayato decided to put it behind him. Afterall, this meant that he wouldn’t have to go to school anymore. Sakura didn’t let go of it so easily, not much got her father heated like that.
In their room, Sakura thought about what had just happened, while Hayato read a book. In another room, Alexander sat, thinking.
So, he thought, you’ve caught up to me finally. Rollo, you know how I feel. I am loyal to this kingdom, but you won’t turn me back into who I was before. I was just a killing machine, commissioned by our king.
“So,” he whispered, “you want to meet with me, do you? Well then, Let’s meet.” He got up, putting on a brave face. He knew what he had to do: confront Rollo, and make him give up on trying to take him. He left the house, after telling Mary that he was going on a walk. As he approached the school house, he muttered under his breath.
“Amplify, mental fortitude.” He opened the door, Rollo waiting at his desk.
“So you showed up after all.”
“Of course,” Alexander responded. “How could I deny an audience with the royal scientist.” Alexander walked back up the path, Mary waiting outside for him.
“You weren’t going on a walk were you?”
“Just taking care of some business.” Alexander walked inside, looking a bit more revived; like he had something lifted off his chest. He got a bucket of water and washed his hands off. He sat down, placing his head in his hands.
Sakura sat in her room, lying on her back.
“Uh,” she sighed, “I’m tired.”
“Yeah,” Hayato responded. “I don’t really understand what just happened, but I guess it’s good that we don’t have to go to school anymore…”
“Whatever you say.”
----------------------------------------
A few years later, Hayato and Sakura were laying in bed together - reading a history book. Hayato stopped reading and closed the book. He sat up.
“Hey,” Sakura moaned, “why’d you stop reading. It was just getting good.”
“I’m so tired…” Hayato said.
Sakura sat up next to her brother.
“What d’ya mean?”
“Of waiting,” he sighed. “All we do is wait and wait, why can’t we just learn our skills now?”
“You should appreciate what mother and father do for us,” Sakura answered. “Be patient. It’s only, what? Six years?” Hayato sighed and returned to his own bed. He lied face down and fell asleep right there.
Saying the kids’ childhood was boring would be an understatement. It was very repetitive, and there wasn’t much difference between one day and another. Wake up, eat breakfast, work, eat lunch, work, eat dinner, go to sleep. Not having to go to school only freed up more time for the siblings, meaning they had to work more.
Sakura understood why Hayato was getting impatient and tired of this life, but she held to her beliefs that she should always appreciate things given to her. Hayato, on the other hand, was a bit more… loose-moraled—when he wanted something, he didn’t want to wait for it.
“Speaking of waiting,” a figure shrouded in darkness said, “this is getting kinda boring. Don’t you agree, my dear siblings.” Though the man in the middle was veiled in black, his voice was unforgettable. The same raspy, hoarse voice that had bid the siblings goodbye from their previous world.
“Yes, Brother,” a female voice emanated from a figure to the right of the God of Death - this one covered in a bright white veil. “What is the meaning of this, anyway? I can’t understand why you’d want to show us the life of this foolish peasant family.”
“Patience,” Death responded. “My brothers and sisters.”
“I think it’s pretty funny,” a man three spaces to the left of the middle chuckled. “I mean, we’ve got nothing better to do. But I do admit, it has been a bit boring lately.” The man wore a large beard, and was dressed in a fiery-red veil.
“I think this is a rather annoying waste of time,” said the woman directly to the left of Death. She wore a golden veil, which glowed bright, and yet, the veil worn by Death remained utterly devoid of light.
The God of Death pulled a dial out of thin air, and started to twist it. He looked at the screen that displayed Sakura and Hayato in their room, and as he twisted the dial, the siblings seemed to speed up. Faster and faster, they were now speeding through their lives.
“Now, you see,” Death said, “I know that we gods don’t have much to do. We leave it up to the minor gods, correct?” He received some grunts of acknowledgement, along with head nods.
“We are the Pantheon of Gods. We are those who reside over Mortals. We created this world, and we keep the Order.” The God of Death had a certain tone to his voice, it could almost be described as confidence—as a leader should sound.
“I’ve had you watching these kids for around ten years,” he continued.
“Tell me about it,” muttered the god in the fiery veil.
“These children are the two Great Powers that will overtake their generation.” The rest of the gods fell silent. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a blade. “One shall rise to unimaginable heights and be crowned a hero; one shall be denounced and named lord of evil.”