"Prince Cain, first prince of the mighty kingdom of Zona, the son of the great king Orn has turned 17 years old as of 789 After Split. It's been an honor!" A loud cheer erupted throughout the courtyard, as various important people from around the country gathered in celebration, for my 17th birthday.
I smile and wave to the crowd, bathing in the attention.
"Thank you! Thank you! Today is a wonderful day indeed! Let's all enjoy ourselves to the fullest shall we!" I proclaimed. A second cheer went went up as everyone dispersed, indulging themselves in the wonderful selection of food items we had prepared, I laugh as a line of various lords and nobles forms in front of me, all eager to make conversation with me. Well I am me after all. I talk about various happenings around the country.
"That's wonderful! Who knew that the alcetony factor in flames could be manipulated to this degree, we're on the brink of discovering a new field all together, I can feel it."
"Wow! What an exceptional idea! I'll gladly provide the funding for that."
"Hmm, I see, they're in quite the situation, I pray that everything will turn out okay."
I talked to various people about various things. From recent advancements in Thaumergy, to news about our sister world, many things. Well, it wasn't like this was a rare occurrence, as a leading researcher, a powerful figure in the court, and a respectable fighter, it's only natural that people would seek conversation with me. Plus, it's never a bad thing to leave an impression on someone who will be the future king.
I look up to the sky, the breeze was nice, the sky was a fair blue, wisps of clouds dotted the sky.
"It's a great day!" I stand up and lean my arms back for a stretch.
"I'm going to go out into the city for a walk. No need for anybody to accompany me!" I jump and take air, soaring above the castle walls, wobbling a little from the unfamiliarity.
"Ah, this feels great!" One year ago, I decided to switch my attention from flames to wind. I found out my affinity was rather strong with both energies as a result. I've already established a solid foundation and understanding of wind, I just haven't put it into practice very much nor have I understood the more complex concepts, like the wind blade or total distortion.
"Where are you going without me?"
I take a look behind, closely following me midair was my big sister, Fiao. She was the opposite of me when it came to her pursuits in Thaumergy, she studied wind all her life only to recently begin studying flame.
I lean my head back as she then bops my nose with her finger. Which was her unique way of introducing herself. Something she’s been doing since we were kids.
"I'm 17 now, can't I go places without you hanging around anymore?"
"Aw, just think about it like keeping your big sister company alright? It gets boring when you're not around."
She comes in close and whispers, "There are very few interesting people in this world and you're one of them."
I smile and then give my sister a tiny flick to the forehead. "I didn't think you were the type to give lip service like this. Don't tell me it's because of my birthday?"
"Ah, I guess you got me!"
We land in a secluded area.
"You hear about what's happening to our sister world?" Fiao asks me.
"Yea, a big war erupted on their side huh? It's quite tragic, but I'm relieved that nothing of that sort is going on on our side."
Heads turn as my sister and I walk out into the open, and just as quickly they lower in respect for our positions. We pay it no mind and continue walking, chatting about whatever comes to our minds.
"Thief!" I turn my head to the noise, a rough looking man runs across the street holding onto an expensive looking bag of some sort, his eyes widen upon seeing us, and he begins to run even faster. He was using a faint wind to boost his speed; however, it was incredibly weak compared to ours. Fire begin running through my body, prepared to take him down, then I hesitate, and then switch to air at the very last moment.
The man screams and bursts into flames, dropping to the ground, writhing around until he eventually stops moving.
I look to my sister, who had her hand outstretched. I stare at her for a solid couple of seconds.
"You know you're not supposed to destroy whatever that man stole." I said.
"Ah! I forgot about that! Forgive me will ya?"
We continue walking for the next hour, the incident already long gone from our minds.
"Ah, we've gotten to a pretty shady part of town." I look around, the buildings were poorly maintained, garbage was randomly strewn across the ground, and the people walking by the street were wearing dirty, unwashed clothing; however, they were still maintaining their respect by keeping their heads down.
"Do you want to go back?" Fiao asks.
"You know what? This is a good stopping point for today."
As I say that, a little boy no older than 5 waddles up to us. A horrified looking mother quickly runs out to grab the kid but I hold my hand up to stop her.
"What's going on little one?" I squat down and pet his head.
"Aw, look at you being all chummy with the kids." Fiao says teasingly.
"Do you know where papa went?" The boy looked up to me with innocent puppy dog looking eyes.
"I wouldn't know. What does your papa do? Maybe I can find him."
The boy stops then his mouth turns into massive toothy grin. "My dad is a thief!"
"I'm so so so so sorry, I'll be very sure to reprimand him 20 times over so please forgive our rudeness." The mother was on the verge of tears as she made an attempt to grab the boy.
"Now hold on a second, I'm not upset at this boy. In fact, I'm a little upset because you think I'm being upset." I try calming the mother down, but it seems to have the opposite effect.
"I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'mashamedtohaveeverthoughtakindandbenevolentsuchasyourselfwouldeverbeoffended." The mother was going into hysterics.
I look at Fiao. "You aren't very good at this are you?" She said.
Fiao takes a hold of the mother's shoulder and calmly whispers into her ear.
"Today is a good day, nothing bad will happen to you today, or any day. We aren't the monsters you might think we are, so smile alright?"
The little boy looks around, seemingly confused by the situation.
"Being a thief might sound cool when you're young, but once you grow up, you'll realize that it's actually a very bad thing to do alright?" I bring his attention back to me.
"Nuh uh, my dad isn't bad. He's a hero! He always brings back yummy things for everyone every time he comes back. He says that the people he steals from have enough food to keep us from going hungry but for some reason don't want to share it. They're the bad people!"
I open my mouth and then close it. What this child was saying actually made some sense to me.
"Then what happens when your dad takes so much from people that they begin to run out of food? It's food they earned themselves so it would be unfair don't you think?" Fiao joins the conversation.
"Um, uh." The child starts stammering, most likely unexperienced when it came to someone challenging his views.
"Well, it's not like you're entirely wrong either, just think of what I said alright? Come on Cain, I think we've bothered these people enough."
I stand up giving one final pat to the head and then walk away with Fiao.
We don't talk for good portion of the way back, but there was one thought that was most likely on both of our minds.
"Hey do you think that thief that we took out-"
"It's best not to think about it. Besides, there's no guarantee that those two incidents are correlated."
But I couldn't stop thinking about it. It was the only thing I could think of for the rest of that night.
We aren't the monsters you might think we are. Fiao's words come back to me, over and over again, as I lay in bed, drifting to sleep.
My father was a man amongst men, a force so powerful that no one could stand against him. He forcefully took the throne with his unrelenting power, and his power alone.
"What do you do when you see something weak?" I stood in front of a dog in a pitiful state, his fur was patchy and blackened, angry red marks scattered around his body from being set on fire after it had attacked me when I was outside for a walk. My father had demanded that dog to be brought to me.
I wobbled to the dog, I then held out my hand, trying to pet the dog, comforting it. The very next moment, my world turned upside down, I felt the sensation of flight before my head smashed into a wall.
I was six years old at that time; teetering between life and death for almost 2 weeks after that incident. The dog was released back into the city where it died 3 days later. My father had set up that entire situation. He was the one who aggravated the dog to attack me, he was the one who told the people who were guarding me at that time to only injure the dog rather than kill it, and he was the one who injured me when I chose to give it mercy.
"When you see something weak, you ignore it, and let it wallow by its own. You are strong; you are my son; there's no time for you to be occupied with people beneath you. I love you; so I'm going to make you just like me. This is your first lesson."
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Three years later, I had begun training to fight. My father was particularly dominant with his fire, so I followed in his footsteps, studying the Thaumergy of fire until I was ready to use it practically.
"Listen up, fire is rarely learned due to how destructive it is. Maybe only 3% of the population know how to use it. The vast majority of them being in the military. Be careful with how you use it, or you may end up hurting those around you." My tutor smiled at me as he said this.
That was the second to last time I ever saw him. My father decided that he was going to be the only one to tutor me after that incident.
"What happened to professor Roan?" I asked my father innocently.
He smiled at me and said to me, "Would you like to see?"
I was taken to a dungeon, where the tutor had been chained up. Fingers missing, one eye smashed in, blood streaked across his body.
However I did not immediately rush in to help the poor man, as I had learned from the first lesson. I simply stood still and watched.
"This is your second lesson. When someone weaker than you tries to tell you what to do. Punish them." My father said as he pushed his finger into the man's cheek. "So I want you, to punish him."
I started to hyperventilate, my breath coming out raggedly, but just a quickly, a deadly calm came over me. I held my hand out, resting the wrist of my right hand on the palm of my left hand. Tendrils of tetsu gradually creeping into my hand.
That night, I killed someone for the first time.
"Why was that man hired to teach me in the first place?" I asked father some time later.
"He was more knowledgeable in Thaumergy than you so it was acceptable, but then he dared to try to tell you how you should use your abilities. At that moment, he overstepped his boundaries as a weakling, and therefore was punished appropriately."
Six years pass by. I had followed my father's path exactly as he had intended. Dominating competitions that sprout up across the country, mastering fire Thaumergy to the point where I began conducting my own research, and I even held some political influence. However, it was at this time when the country was at its worst state. A disease of unknown origins that specifically targeted plants suddenly popped up in the southeast corner of our territories. Within a week more than half of the countries food vanished into thin air before proper precautions were made to slow the spread of the virus.
The towering man dragged me by the hand across the hall, his tug was light, but the force of his will was terrifying, preventing me from resisting him in any way. He lead me to a set of doors, intricately made, elegantly designed, a work that must have taken a dedicated craftsman his entire life to build of the skills necessary to make this door.
However, instead of opening them normally however, the man placed his fingers on the polished ebony wood and set it on fire, for the sole reason that that man could. I watched as the beautiful piece of architecture turns into charcoal. However, that thought is soon forgotten as I witness the spectacle behind those doors. Before my eyes was tables upon tables of food, from piping hot hunks of meat, rows upon rows of salad, plain entire rolls of bread, soups of all types, steam still coming off the surfaces, and to the end an entire table dedicated to cakes and confectioneries.
"What is all this? Are we hosting a banquet today?" If we were hosting a banquet, I should have known, but something in the back of my mind told me that that wasn't going to be the case. The food here wasn't up to the quality we would ordinarily serve guests with.
The man stayed silent, as he continued to lead me, sitting me down at the dinner table.
"Are we distributing this to the city-folk? What's going on?"
The man only said one word in response. "Eat."
At this moment I understood what was going on, and solemnly took a fork and knife and sat down, a plate already been prepared. My father and I for the next 2 hours stuffed ourselves full until neither of us could take another bite. At the very end, my father set fire to the remaining food.
My father then smiled and patted me on the head, "Good job, you passed," and left without saying another word. Thirteen people starved that day.
Even if he didn't say it directly, his message was clear. The third lesson was to never sacrifice anything for the sake of another person.
"Ah man I'm bored." I thought as I leaned back on the chair.
I was listening in to a bimonthly meeting with all the important staff on the state of the country, king Orn or my father sat at the end of a long table, listening to reports on the economy, relations with the Abdza, food production, very standard stuff. It's going to be my job someday after all, so best to start now.
But this meeting was almost uniquely uneventful. My father had stopped listening a long time ago, and instead was obviously thinking about something else.
The man closed his eyes after the final report was given.
"Alright, that's enough for today, go back to doing whatever you people need to do." He got up, turned his back, and began walking away. However, just as quickly he whirled around and snatched something out of midair. The heat of a thousand suns suddenly materialized in his palm, creating a shockwave across the room.
"This is interesting!" My father exclaimed as his hand became coated in a white frost, extending down to his wrists.
"Someone just threw a needle of shiver ice at me when my back was turned, and they did it in such a secretive way too! I can't tell who did it!"
I immediately snap back to reality. Shiver ice was an incredibly difficult material to make and store. There were only maybe 20 or so people who had the talent and knowledge on water to forge some. Even then, it would take about a whole day of intense focus and concentration, to create just a microgram of it. The effects of it were obvious. My father, who could vaporize an entire lake in a flash if he wanted to, could not melt all of a single needle, before it would penetrate and freeze his hand. If he had not reacted to it in the way that he did, he would have most certainly died immediately.
My mind moves quickly; instantly recognizing what was going on, fire surges through my veins as I blast the presence that was rapidly approaching me. Instantly the entire room becomes clouded in a icy mist.
Needles suddenly began shooting through my entire right arm, painfully numbing it, I attempt to move it but it was stuck in place. I move my head to look at what happened to my arm but at that moment I feel an ice cold grip clutch my chin. I immediately freeze up under the intense amounts of tetsu I could feel surging underneath that man's hand.
"Hey Orn, long time no see, it turns out that you lost the bet and that I survived."
"Thiazi!" My father growls. I turn my head just enough to see a man with with incredible blue eyes, and long, white, messy hair. He was wearing a smug smile in sharp contrast to the angry red burnt off skin that covered his cheek.
My father immediately burns off his shirt, leaving him bare-chested, showing off quite the impressive set of chest muscles. A rare sight in this world, as there was usually no reason to actually need to do any physical activity. His eyes burns into the man holding me hostage.
What? He actually looks... angry? I have never seen my father angry for any reason before, he told me that you should only hold your negative feelings towards... Those who can challenge you.
The realization doesn't totally register with me for a while, after all, my father basically took the throne by sheer force. There was nobody in the entire kingdom who could challenge him, but this mysterious man, this stranger, can cause my father trouble?
"What's the meaning of this? Why is this man here?" My father yelled at the staff who were still in this room.
"Well, you should have expected this King Orn." One of the people said. "You know you are hated by this entire nation, you knew that we couldn't do anything about it due to your overwhelming might, and so we searched, we searched around for as long as we could for a solution to you, and you knew, you knew what we were doing and you decided to ignore it."
"Let me explain it why don't ya- I want to talk to an old friend one last time before we kill each other. Or maybe I'll kill him and survive! Who knows." The white-haired man behind me interrupted, then gestured for all the people in the room to shoo. Soon, it was only me, my father, and this man left in the room.
"Sooo, basically, these people found me behind a waterfall somewhere; told me what was going on with Zona, and I decided to help out a little bit."
Father sighs, "I see, then let's take this outside and have our final battle."
"Sorry about that, no can do, this is an assassination you see, so I have to play dirty, like threatening your son over here, ya know?"
"You... You've always been like that... No matter, my son can take it." I prepare myself, knowing exactly what my father was going to do next.
I close my eyes to prevent myself from going blind, as a brilliant radiance envelops the room. At the same time I slip through the man's grip, my body melting into fire, as I materialize behind the man. My body enveloped in flame, I place my working hand on the man's back and let out a violent beam of fire, making it so that the man was facing attacks from both sides. I work on unfreezing my right arm, but it simply wouldn't thaw no matter how much heat I pumped into it.
"Cool!" A voice rang out from within the center of the inferno, the basalt walls melting from the heat, exposing this room to the outside air. "Your son is quite the prodigy! Turning his body into fire, never even seen that before!" It was a talent that I researched and personally invented. However, in all our tests, only I able to do it, due to the immense strain and cost of stamina it put on the body.
"It's over! Your surprise failed! Now accept your death, you fool!" Father roared.
"I really hope you didn't think that my only plan was to chuck some pieces of ice at you while your back was turned and then take your son hostage. If so, I'm feeling a little bit underestimated." Thiazi chuckled.
"It doesn't matter how many little tricks you have, you will fail then die."
Are they really having a conversation in these conditions? This was the only thought running through my head.
"...Have you become delusional Orn?"
Time stops as those words register in my brain. My father... The strongest, unmatched across the world, had just been called delusional. The next moment, the temperature dips tremendously. Thick water vapor swirls around the room, extinguishing my fire instantly. The water soaks through my clothing. I begin shivering, the blood in my veins begin to cool down, the water penetrating and soaking underneath my skin.
"You are quite cruel letting your son fight knowing that he's going to die. He's quite talented but you and I both know that he's not on the same plane of existence as us." Thiazi said.
The cold gradually creeps deeper and deeper inside my body, penetrating throughout my body, until it begins caressing my heart.
"Father..." I whisper, fear was beginning to root itself into my body alongside the cold. However, I managed to stave it off with my own heat furiously emanating from the depths of my body, locking the three of us in a stalemate. Thiazi couldn't kill me without weakening the tetsu he was directing towards father, father couldn't make any ground against Thiazi's ice since one of his hands were frozen, so he couldn't release larger quantities of his tetsu at once using both hands, if Thiazi chooses to ignore me, then I can attack him instead.
"Now, now, now, I'm going to tell you exactly what I'm going to do in 10 seconds, I'm going to redirect all my ice to your son, and you know he won't last a moment against that. You will then have your window to kill me in that time, however, your son will die. Or you can surrender and let me kill you."
I give a look of confidence towards my father. Yes, everything is alright. My father is strong, and so am I. He will overpower the man standing between us and burn him to a crisp until there's nothing left except for ashes. Everything will be alright.
"Cain..." My father gives me a warm smile. A warm feeling spreads through my chest, despite the permafrost spreading through my body, but he doesn't stop firing, nothing happens as the seconds tick by.
...
W-What? It's not possible right? He has to be able to do something about it. He's father. He's King Orn! I'm going to die? No, no, no I don't want to die. My face distorted into something pathetic, reminiscent of a crying baby. At that moment, All my training for the past 17 years, everyone telling me that I was strong, everyone telling me that I was special, collapsed.
"Ah man, that's tough." Thiazi mumbles as the tenth second passes by.
"Then, let this moment be a lesson to you Orn." Thiazi stops firing and and turn his arm towards me, fingers outstretched. At the same time he opens his mouth wide, sticking his tongue out at Orn. The ice cold grip suddenly dissipates, my body quickly heats up, exploding into a flame. Sitting inside Thiazi's mouth was a large chunk of shiver ice. Enough ice to freeze an entire mountain in an instant. At the same time he changes his energy to wind. Orn's eyes widen at the sight, realizing that he had been tricked, realizing that he was desperate enough to listen to his enemy.
Thiazi shoots the shiver ice out of his mouth like a bullet, a large boom accompanying it. Orn attempts to evade it, but to no avail. The projectile makes direct contact with his bare skin, instantly freezing his entire body, every single organ, heart, brain, blood vessels, all dead.
"I told you that wasn't my only plan." Thiazi walks up to the frozen solid corpse of the king, still standing, as if frozen in time.
"What a disappointment. I expected to die today." Thiazi walks up to the corpse and puts his hand on his chest, then topples him over. The corpse shatters, bloody cracks coiling all over his body. His right arm and right knee rolling across the floor.
He then looks at me. "Forgive me eh? Didn’t really expect a guy like him to have a son. I hope he’s prepared you for reality.” He stares at me for a couple more seconds, his icy eyes drilling a hole straight into mine. “Huh, I guess that man managed to leave behind a parting gift.”
Thiazi then turns away to the open sky, the walls had melted down during the battle, we were on an outcrop over viewing the entire city.
He gathers his breath, a smile was on his face, but it was accompanied by tears as well. "THE TYRANT HAS BEEN SLAIN!" The man's shout echoed across the entire world.