The brumal and booming blizzard gusts outside did nothing to muffle the newborn’s wails. Perhaps it had known that it had lost its mother in the process of coming into existence, or maybe it knew and was disturbed by the fact that its father wasn’t saddened at all by his wife’s death. “A worthy sacrifice,” he called it. All he or anyone else seemed to focus on now was the beauty of the child as if the mother hadn’t even passed.

Every member of the town came to greet the infant, leaving piles upon piles of priceless gifts and artifacts with prayers of good health and happiness while Linias stood idly by the crib. All he knew about the newborn was what his mentor Dharax had told him: He had to be their shield and do whatever it takes to guard their life from this moment onwards - Follow every order that they demand unless it puts their life in jeopardy by some means.

One would think it would be a daunting task for the currently seven-year-old Linias, but he had no other foreseeable purpose to his life and was told to have no other purpose than the infant. It was something to do, now that he was displaced from his real family with no hope of ever returning even if he wanted to.

Once everyone had left and the celebrations had ceased, Linias drew closer to the child who was now fast asleep. A boy, which he wouldn’t have known if he hadn’t overheard the townspeople saying so as he was unnaturally born with a full head of hair already reaching past his ankles. Just as unnaturally, it matched his skin in color: pale and snowy white. Linias hadn’t seen much of the world but even he knew that it was odd for one to be born with such an appearance.

Haetia was his name, and it was the only thing his mother would’ve given him apart from being birthed into this world. From head to toe he was already dressed in all manner of lavish fabrics and jewels but despite all of Linias’s asking no one would tell him if he truly was a royal. All they would say was, “Don’t you know?! He’s our gracious lord!” which for obvious reasons didn’t help solve his inquiries in the slightest, until Dharax in his atypical gruff and beastial voice strictly told him to stop with the needless questions.

“You don’t have to know who he is, just protect him, got it?”

Of course he questioned it, he may have been a child himself but he knew when something was off. And still, he complied. What else was he to do?

Linias held one of the babe’s petite hands in his own - their skin contrasted like night and day although he was of fair skin himself.

The ivory eyelashes fluttered awake and instantly Linias retracted his hand in a panic. If he went into a crying fit because of him he was surely going to be punished. Just as he thought to flee, he remembered his duty and thus his legs refused to move. Instead, he eyes locked with the infant’s. He hadn’t caught sight of them until now, and it only piqued his curiosity all the more. The white of the child’s eyes were dyed maroon, surrounding their amethyst irises and lavender pupils. There wasn’t a single creature he could think of that he’s seen with such an outlandish guise, human or otherwise. More questions started to rouse in his mind but he snuffed them out all the same.

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The words of Dharax echoed in his mind, Just protect him. That’s all your purpose is now. It’s all you’ll ever live for.

At the least, there wasn’t much protection to be had for a baby that couldn’t even walk and even when Haetia’s walking years began Linias was nothing more than a close yet distant observer. Close enough to help if he needed it but far enough so that he didn’t interfere in Haetia’s growth. He wasn’t supposed to be a makeshift older brother or even friend to them.

Currently caring for their day-to-day affairs was left up to a cycle of nurses and maids in place of the ivory child’s late mother. While Haetia was raised as a normal child – albeit spoiled to hell and back – Linias was raised by his mentor as he was made to observe as he took care of the rare intruders that snuck into the town.

According to the minotaur, there was a spell cast to conceal the area to keep outsiders at bay. For that reason, Dharax found him: a child he believed to be gifted with innate healing magic and favored by nature itself. And his belief was right, or else he wouldn’t have ripped him from his parents’ arms in the first place. Already at his now barely double-digit age was he acting as a healer for the townspeople and known as an animal and plant whisperer alike.

As exhaustive as it was, he knew it was all a part of his training. If he wasn’t practicing his magic or observing Dharax then he was sparring with him, starting with a plethora of real weapons off the bat. His mentor didn’t try to do what most did in terms of finding a weapon that suited the boy; instead, he wanted Linias to be a master of all forms of weaponry in order to prepare him for any scenario. And if he wasn’t doing anything combat related, then Dharax had him studying the different species of the world–magical, mythical, or otherwise.

It was nothing but rigorous labor for Linias from the moment his mentor had stolen him away from home. Sometimes he would look on to Haetia, who always seemed to be either playfully smiling or throwing a temper tantrum of sorts, usually short lived as he always got whatever he wanted. Not like Linias.

Eventually Haetia’s father, Emmett, confronted Dharax about the future of the pair behind closed doors as his concern for their relationship continued to grow.

“Let the boy live a little!” He pleaded with the minotaur. “He’s just a child, it wouldn’t hurt to let him have some fun every now and then. If he’s going to be his bodyguard then they should be friends! It’ll make it easier on them both.”

“No it’ll only make it harder. You know what gets in the way of rational decision making? Friendship, love, and emotions. In a scenario where your son asks something irrational of him that puts them in danger, if they were friends do you expect him to decline? Do you expect him to do what’s necessary, not what’s asked?”

Emmett paused in defeat, and likewise the eavesdropping Linias. Prior to this conversation, he already wasn’t allowed to befriend any of the residents, let alone speak to them any more than what was needed and now he understood why, as much as it broke him to hear.

Train, study, observe, protect.

It would forever be the only thing he would know how to do and the only companions he would ever have was the foliage around him, the animals of this world, and the only momento of his previous life that he had left: a locket wrapped around his neck. All inanimate creatures or objects in the eyes of others.

While Haetia could live their life making friends and lovers alike, Linias’s life was to revolve around this winter-touched child and he would never know anything or anyone else. And that, he came to accept sooner than he anticipated.