Magic. In the past, it was called like that, but now it's different. It was the term used to describe unnatural phenomena with ever-changing details produced by the world or by other means. Now, this term is called magecraft or Thaumaturgy by those who dare to explore it.
Thaumaturgy, this thing is the sole factor that will determine your destiny, as well as your life and death. In this world, as logic dictates, the law of the jungle is thriving within any living being. You must ask yourselves, what is that law? I shall tell you: absolute power. Respect is earned with power. The weak is humiliated and abused while the strong sit on the throne and look down on the entire world.
Those who dare to explore the unknown, experiment with their life on the line, observe these phenomena, and wield it are called Magi. They're the ones who dare to walk the path that few take. Weak magi, even the weakest of them, have enough power to create ripples in lakes and crack boulders, while strong magi can easily dry oceans with a breath, cut off lands, split mountains, and travel around the world unimpeded. That is the curse of the weak and the blessing of the strong.
There even powerhouse-like beings who know everything and their hand reach further than our imagination, beyond the world. But all of it always return to your talent, a gift which cannot be changed from the moment of your birth.
Our story is ancient as time itself, a story about life and death, justice and injustice, war and peace. Love and hatred, dream and reality, and one pure wish. A story about the freedom that every being seeks and it all begun with a mere catalyst. A variable that should never be awakened has emerged …
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The continent of the nine clouds, or rather, the world of the nine clouds. A world comprised of large nine continents. There are an endless amount of empires, kingdoms, dynasties, guilds, and various influential groups. Our focus is one particular kingdom, Sky Fortune Kingdom.
It was the season of spring; the hot summer was over. The Sky Fortune Kingdom has more than 40 cities, 100 villages, and many small guilds on its territory. The journey begins in the capital city, Sky Pearl City. The thick city walls were made out of sturdy white stones, knights with metal armors could be seen in every gate. The city was neatly structured, every major road was clean, every business ran as usual. Men and women walked in the streets, most of them belonged to the common folk, the shop owners around the city worked, be it a high-class restaurant or even a lowly pub. The peasants hid in the corners of the city. Although the city looked beautiful and perfect at first glance, do not let it deceive you. For this city is corrupt beyond reason.
No one could have imagined that such corruption would run so deep in the hearts of its dwellers, but the world is a strange place, no one imagined it, but one boy was cursed by the sins of the corrupt kingdom without even realizing it…
While legitimate business worked, as usual, darker companies worked solely for the pleasure of the aristocrats. On the western side of the city, there was the royal palace, the residence of the royal family.
The palace was surrounded by even thicker walls, made out of higher quality stones. The security around the palace was very tight, the guards you could see were the Royal Knights, the family's personal knights, and those you couldn't see, waited in the shadows. The land was of course big, reaching 30 miles, it had a palace, of course, a personal manor for every prince and princess, houses for ministers, fleets of servants and maids, lakes and rivers. This was beautiful scenery.
Inside the palace, people did as they always did. The chefs cooked, the maids cleaned, and the servants attended to their tasks. The hour was 10 AM, inside the royal library. In a room designed to contain every important text in the kingdom, a place which only the nobles could access, there was a young boy, carelessly sleeping.
The little boy looks were decent for a noble, but for a commoner? His looks could be somewhat better than average. His brown hair was neatly cut, his facial features were roundish and decent, his eyes were light brown, with a hint of dirty green in them, his lips were pink, and he wore fine white attire.
That boy was the second prince of the Sky Fortune Kingdome! Lucas L Arcadia! He sat on a chair, his table filled with many thick and heavy books. His head was placed between his hands on the table, his eyes closed, he was asleep. No one could notice the little prince sleeping while he was buried in a giant pile of books, nor they cared, this was normal.
As the young prince slept, a weird fog appeared in his mind, slowly, very slowly, a dream was formed. Lucas saw opened his eyes; he was in the vicinity of the lake in the palace's land. He was sitting on the soft green grass together with a young girl, around the age of four, happily eating with her. Then the young girl got up, "come on Luc! Let's play!" she begged with a big smile.
"Okey!" Lucas happily said, he could not resist his cute little sister and got up himself. His little sister ran around while he chased her, both of them very happy. In the distance, near a tree two figures sat, it was the current king and queen, the queen was holding a baby, caressing it with care. Both of them laughed.
Lucas and his younger sister continued to run for a while until they eventually jumped into the lake, as they played in the pure jade-like water. At first glance, everything seemed alright, just a regular fun day, but that was not the case. The faces of everyone but Lucas were distorted, when they talked, even their voices were blurred, he could only hear blurry static noises. As Lucas played with his sister, a weird scene took place.
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As they played, a horrifying scream came out of nowhere, that screamed could freeze the lake, and shatter the city! As the scream continued, the scenery broke like glass. Lucas found himself in a black space, with no light, he couldn't even see his own hands! "where am I?" he asked while crying from fear, but no answer came, instead, the dark floor mysteriously turned into a garden of white flowers. "the one who's chained by misery, the day we meet is nigh. Do not trust anybody until then." A soothing and enchanting voice resonated within the black space, as it was one with it. Lucas could not even recognize if this was a male's voice or a female's voice!
As the last word was uttered, Lucas woke up, his clothes and face soaked with cold sweat, he was pale and his breathing unsteady. "what was that?!" he murmured in fear while he looked around him. When he saw he was in the library, he calmed down. He wiped his face with his hands when the sound of metal sounded from the entrance, a knight, dressed in silver armor and a sword in his belt kneeled before the young prince.
Upon his arrival, Lucas was confused. This was a Royal Knight, someone who should not care about him unless something happened! "sorry for interrupting your studies my liege, but her majesty seeks an audience with you." He said with the utmost respect, "My name is Sir Greg of the knights." Although he seemed nice, his face was a bit cold and agonized.
"meeting with mother?" Lucas exclaimed in surprise, " I haven't seen her since father died two months ago!", he nodded to approve the knight's request. He got up and then walked outside to the corridor with the knight closely following him.
Corridor after corridor. Step by step, Lucas walked on the well-decorated carpets. Every time a servant or a maid saw him, they bowed with smiles, he was more likeable than his older brother, the first prince! As time passed, the hour was 11:20 a.m.
Sir Greg seemed nervous like he was late for an important mission. Once in a while, he gave sneaky glances toward Lucas. These kinds of suspicious acts didn't even arouse the little boy's awareness of the dire situation he was in.
As they continued on their way and neared the throne room, Lucas stumbled upon a maid and they both fell. "Aw..." he whispered and rubbed his knees, the maid let loose a moan of pain. Once she opened her eyes, she saw Lucas and a Royal Knight! 'how bad is my luck…" she thought, "I'm truly sorry young master. My name is Lisa and this is the fault of this stupid maid." She apologized. "Don't worry." He said, surprising the knight behind him. "Just be more careful Lisa." He said with a warm smile. The same warm and lovely smile that every resident of the royal palace knew and loved, little they know, that such a smile would never return…
Sir Greg helped him to get up, "my liege, there is no need to keep her highness waiting." He urged Lucas, "we should get going.", and with this happy meeting coming to an end, they walked for 12 minutes at fast pace until their legs halted in front of massive iron doors.
Those doors were very thick, 20 centimeters thick. They were decorated with paintings of Sky Fortune kingdom's symbol, the eagle and green gems. The mortal eye could not see this, but the doors were sealed by some sort of weird protection spell. After all, the safety of the rulers was a top priority within the kingdom. Sir Greg looked at the metallic doors for a long moment before shouting "The second prince, Lucas L Arcadia, of the Sky Fortune kingdom and Sir Greg of the Royal Knights ask for an audience with her majesty!"
One second passed… two seconds passed… three seconds passed…. Ten seconds have passed!
It took ten seconds for these words to be heard, "permission granted." Said a male's domineering voice and the metallic doors slowly opened themselves.
As the doors opened, the luxurious throne room was revealed. The throne room was spacious. The floor was made out of silver clear marble with the occasional weird symbol carved into it. The room was filled with wide quartz pillars, from the entrance to the stage where the throne was, a red carpet was laid out. The room's appearance was very elegant and womanish.
As the metal doors opened, a faint green glass-like substance dissipated. The protective array around the entire room was partially opened. "After you, my liege." Sir Greg respectfully said. "Mm." Lucas answered and stepped into the throne room. Both of them walked onto the carpet and carefully advanced, Lucas saw a few important figures such as the dukes, several marquess, and margraves were also present. They all had glasses of deep red wine and when Lucas looked at them, he felt their chilly and amused eyes.
After five minutes, they both reached the stage and knelt. Their eyes glued to the carpet, not daring to even look at the queen's legs without permission! The throne itself was designed like a two-people purple sofa with golden outlines with red gems embedded in it. On the throne, a beautiful woman sat down, arguably the most beautiful woman in the entire kingdom and even other neighboring countries!
That woman sat on the comfy throne. Her body was voluptuous and very well-developed, her legs were thin and long, her skin was snow white that seemed shining with hypnotic luster. She wore a dark-purple long dress that emphasized her curves and made her even sexier. Her skin was delicate, her nails were long and dyed in black, her neck was thin and long, a treasured necklace around her neck. She wore makeup, her thick lips dyed in red. Her eyes were deep green, shining with ever-lasting charm and her long black silky hair was braided and rested on her left shoulder. That was the queen of the Sky Fortune Kingdom, Elizabeth Vale Arcadia. And make no mistake, despite her enchanting appearance, she is the strongest royal Magus within the entire kingdom.
One second passed… three seconds passed… six seconds passed… 9 seconds passed… 12 seconds passed. That was the time it took Elizabeth to examine them. A dark grin formed on her face with cold lights. "Lift your heads." She said, her voice brimming with the feeling of hope. Both Lucas and Greg raised their heads and looked directly at her.
"My son. Lucas." She said, "Yes mother?" he answered with the utmost respect. "You are a failure. You are the one rotten apple in our legendary bloodline." As those words came out, Lucas was shocked, his own mother said those horrible things to him? He couldn't accept this reality! "What do you mean mother?" he asked with clear panic.
"You still not understand you eyesore?" she said with disdain, "your talent is critically lacking, unlike your older brother James, you cannot fight, you will never be a war hero like him! You lack the potential of your little sister Aria and you don't have the talent of Hazel. You have no talent, no future, you're simply a disgrace to me." After those words bombarded his mentality, Lucas cried. He didn't understand his mother. It will only be years later until he found out the truth. "Why mother?!" he shouted, "I can try harder! I can please you! Please!", he tried his best to cling to his mother's feelings but to avail.
"You're useless to me, you small pig." She said with an arrogant and disdainful tune, "Therefore, you shall be exiled entirely, your titles and lands shall be taken, from now on, you are considered dead in this kingdom."