Lucien, trying as he may, was struggling to meet the eyes of the king,unable to control his whole body shaking, regardless if it was out of respect or fear, something inside of Lucien told him to keep his eyes down no matter what. Lucien tried to look around and when he dared to take small passing glimpses, he was surprised to see that the king wasn’t dressed like what he thought a king would be dressed as, he looked like a normal man.The king didn't wear ornate jewelry, gilded robes or a heavy crown. He didn't drape himself in the excess wealth and power he was dressed in well-worn all black leathers, his long brown hair falling loosely over his shoulders, his build is sturdy and overall not very imposing. On a passing glance, he could have been mistaken for a mercenary, or traveler or some random wanderer passing though. But what he lacked in the physical aspect, the air around this man told a whole different story, the aura this man radiated was not to be seen, or heard it was to be felt in all of its glory. His presence struck like a war drum, a thunderous clap that ripples through the sky and into the very bones of the people that stand anywhere near him. The sheer power of countless victories against monsters unknown to all of the citizens in the kingdom.

The king's sharp gaze bore holes right into the very soul of Lucien, trying to find a reason as to why this poor boy was deemed broken and thrown out of the Chamber.

“Boy, is it true with what I am hearing? Has the Chamber deemed you unworthy of any sort of power? What did you experience inside of there that it decided that you were broken?” asked the king.

Lucien tried to look up at the king, but with his head to the ground he shakingly said,

“ Your majesty, I do not know why the Chamber did what it did. I heard a voice that said that I was unworthy and I was commanded to leave the chamber that very instant, and before I even knew what was going on it forced me out of the door, and now here I am standing in front of you.”

The king did not offer a response but rather stood there contemplating what to do with this boy. Standing there trying to come up with a solution a voice from the back spoke up,

Your majesty, please he is my son, let me take him back to our farm, I will make sure that no soul besides my family knows of him. He will never show his face outside of my home for the rest of his days, you have my word.” Lucien's father pleaded.

“Ah Kal, this is your boy? You know as well as I do what is done to the ones that the chamber finds broken, this decision is above me I am sorry.” the king spoke.

Lucien’s father tried over and over to plead with the king in hopes that he could bring his son back to his home, but his attempts were futile. The king would not budge in his decision to take the life of Lucien. His father tried one more time, with one more effort he was willing to risk everything.

“Wait! Please take my life instead of his, if you wish to have a head on this day, then take mine and leave my son out of this, I beg of you your majesty please don’t take my son!”

Tears fell from the face of Lucien's father, a man that Lucien has never known to show any weakness, yet here he is crying for his son. Lucien watching his father crying and pleading with the king not to take his life, Lucien finally spoke up with unknown courage,

“Your majesty, don’t listen to my father, I may not be completely aware of what is going on or what it means to be unworthy or “broken”, but if you need to take my life I understand as long as you leave my family out of this. This is my burden and mine alone and I will be the one to answer the judgement the Chamber has laid out for me. So please if you will, take me somewhere where my family can not see, and if you can find it possible please make it quick.”

The king lost in thought, looking back and forth between father and son, finally spoke on the subject.

“Very well, Lucien I believe your name is, please come with me.” The king signaled for Lucien to stand next to him

As Lucien looked to his family, he saw the beat red faces of his mother and brothers with tears cascading off of them. He looked to his brothers who were clinging to their mother asking why this is happening, it gave Lucien a sense of calming peace knowing that even though his brothers tortured him relentlessly that they really did care about him. He looked to his father, His eyes red and blurry, held a warm comfort to them, they held a quiet pride that needed no words. As Lucien started to move towards the steps where the king waits, his father went to beg the king again but Lucien stopped him before he could get any words out.

"Dad, it's okay. This is what I wanted, even if you might not understand it. I was given a second chance at life, and believe me when I say this one is so much better than my last. I have a family here—brothers, a mother, and you. This was a blessing I didn’t have for long the first time around. You all have shown me so much, and I will be forever grateful. So, please, let me go. This is all I could have ever asked for. You and Mom were incredible, and I am honored to have had you as my family. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. So, take Mom and the two of them back home, and live your life. Live knowing you did everything in your power to help me. I tried my best not to disappoint you too much, and don’t let my idiot brothers use this as an excuse to slack off. Thank you for everything, Dad. I love you all. Tell the others I’ll see them again someday. You have my word."

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With that Lucien closed his eyes, gave a tearful smile and turned and walked to the side of the king and said,

“I’m ready now, thank you for letting me have that moment your majesty.”

With just a nod the king grabbed onto the side of Lucien, and feeling the iron like grip of the king lucien closed his eyes, waiting for the punishment to end his life, just maybe if he was lucky he could go tell his other parents a crazy story.Lucien could look back on this life and be proud of what he did and everything he was able to with his family.But instead of feeling pain, Lucien felt motion, not the act of say running, but something faster than his mind could even comprehend. The air around them screamed into his ears, space itself seeming to move and fold as the world blurred into streaks of colors.

Lucien opened his eyes, and saw that he was on the surface. The barren desolate wasteland of what once was. All that remains are the skeletons of the long forgotten ruined land that once served as home for everyone in the cities above. All around him the land stretched endlessly, no trees, no grass, no sounds of the wind pushing around the leaves,no little animals running through the bushes, all the remains in silence, thick and oppressive, broken only by the distant cries of creatures that did not belong to this world.High above the cities sat there unmoving, these massive landmasses casting titanic shadows over the world below. The sun had long been stolen from the surface, its light stopped dead in its tracks by the hanging continents of rocks and dirt.

Lucien had no idea if the entire surface looked like this or if it's just this area. There were large deserts back in his world; this could be just the same thing here. Lucien looked at the king and said,

“Your majesty, why am I here? Why did you bring me to the surface?

The king didn’t speak for a while, only looked around the land, making a face like he was remembering what used to be here so many years ago.

“Lucien, listen to me, I know what everyone says about the “Broken”, I do not know why they have chosen you. You said to your father that this was your second chance at life, and what I do know is that there are other worlds out there besides ours.Something that you do not know is that the others who were found “unworthy” by the chambers were also not from this world. When the other kings found out about that knowledge, they decided it best to kill them on the spot. One king did not wish to take the life of a child and as I sat there listening to you and your father, I as well choose now to not end your life. I thought to myself I will bring you here to live out your days to fend for yourself, maybe something here will bring out the power that I can feel you have.I can not read you, Lucien something inside of you blocks my sight to see the true power you possess. Now I believe you may find things on the surface that will help you come back to your family but what it is I do not know. All I can tell you is that people do live down here,

not everyone was able to be saved back when the war started. Find these people, find the power that I know lies deep inside of you. You can change the world as long as you're not scared to make the difficult decisions that lay in wait for you.You will have some time here before any creatures come visiting. My presence is enough to keep them at bay for some time, but curiosity will get the best of them and they will come seeking out the power that I'm leaving here. So pick a direction that your gut tells you, and follow it until you find some answers. I wish you the best of luck Lucien, for now your family, and everyone that witnessed today will think of you as dead, no one but me knows you are here, I will give you some water that will last you three days and rations to match but thats all I can do, your life is now in your own hands. Goodbye Lucien.”

With those last words the king just disappeared, moving so fast that Lucien knew he wouldn’t be able to see just where he went.Lost and alone Lucien now stood on the surface with nothing but the clothes on his back and no clue which direction to take. Lucien stopped and took some time to just wander around and look all around at the wasteland that was in front of him, he knew had to pick a direction to walk in, and no matter which direction he turned the sight remained the same, an endless expanse of desolation with no end in sight.

Lucien thought to himself,

“Well I have a couple of days worth of food and water, some creatures will definitely be coming here soon in search of presence that the powerful aura here, unfortunately every direction looks the same so it doesn’t really matter which direction I pick, Also everyone topside thinks I'm dead, which completely sucks and if I don’t do anything soon I will most likely dead.So let’s just eeny,meeny,miny, moe this shit and start walking.”

Lucien, uncertain if he made the right choice just started to walk in an easterly direction, hoping that he could find people, food, or water, possibly all three if he was lucky. Lucien, knowing how his luck has played out so far knew he wouldn't find all three, but that didn't stop him thinking it was possible.He was glad he didn't have to worry about a raging sun over his head,as he looked around, the land masses above casting shadows making it seem like it was an eternal night, which in turn made it almost impossible to keep track of time.

With the one waterskin, and the bag of small rations Lucien made his decision and just started to walk. He made sure to keep an eye out for any type of creatures that were small enough so he could kill, unfortunately he didn't have a weapon so he would have to make traps or find something to make a weapon out of but he knew needed to train. Lucien took a mental note of everything that was of immediate importance if he was going to survive, and that was, food, water, and a shelter. Again not having much luck he knew anything that was smart enough and had an instinct to survive, wouldn't have wasted a second to have tucked tail and run away when they felt the king's presence, and anything that didn’t was either stupid or strong enough to not care.

Both of those options were not the best scenario for Lucien, so he figures the best course of action was to move far away from the area where the king could be felt and find creatures he could train on. Lucien needed to get stronger any way he could, but the idea of knowing he could die at any moment gnawed at the edges of his resolve, a low whisper in the back of his mind that no amount of training could silence.

“Welp here goes nothing, See you soon dad.”