New beginnings

Henrick opened his eyes and found himself in heaven.

He wasn't dead.

And for the first time in gods knew how long, he was happy to be lying in bed.

Again.

It didn't bother him, not this time. With the haze of addiction finally lifted from his mind he, at long last, had full access to all of his memories, unsullied by miasma of confusion and sickness.

Better yet, after more than two hundred years, he once again enjoyed the absence of pain with which old age ruthlessly tortured him for so long.

Young and healthy rarely knew how to appreciate the bliss of vigor they were privileged to.

With a careful motion he stretched his aching limbs across the bed, and not being able to control himself, let out a long, satisfied yawn.

Sleeping in the chair next to his bed, his guardian Samuel was startled by the sound and he twitched in his sleep, shifting Henricks attention to him.

Looking at Samuel he noticed that the man looked like he went through quite the grinder and that he still wore the same attire as before, what with all the cuts and scorch marks.

It was strange how he knew Samuel from "his" memories and yet this was the first time he actually had the chance to truly see him with his own two eyes. It would take some time to adapt to this strange sensation but Henrick was nothing if not adaptable.

Samuel looked about fifteen years older than prince Edward, which put him somewhere in his in his mid-thirties.

He had an olive complexion and thick black hair with a few strands of silver in it, and even when slumped in the chair as he was, it was evident that he was quite tall.

He didn't have a beard as such, but was currently sporting a short stubble, which probably had something to do with recent events and lack of sleep.

On that regard, Samuel also had deep dark-blue bags under his eyes, and Henrick had a hard time deciding if those were caused by bruising from Dorians’s gentle ministrations or if they were caused by long sleepless nights.

All in all, Samuel could look much worse than he did. After all, one didn't get into scraps with emperors’ children and walked away unharmed. Frankly, Henrick thought it was a wonder that Samuel was still alive.

With all that happened and the role that Samuel played by supplying him with Lyrium, willingly or not, he half expected that emperor would have him executed.

Not that he was complaining, in Henricks honest opinion things were much better this way. After all, he always dreamed of having a divinely enhanced servant of his own. Capable and absolutely loyal assistants were so hard to find these days, and what better reward for surviving his latest brush with death than acquiring one for himself.

After all, Samuel would be his biggest ally in the coming years.

Quietly sneaking out of the bed, Henrick covered himself in silken clothes that were carefully laid out on nearby table.

Once on his feet he wobbled a little, unaccustomed to his new body, but after a few seconds of adjusting he managed to regain his balance and take a few steps forward.

Before he even got the chance to get out of the room, his body made it very clear that sneaking out quietly was not an option.

Only now noticing that his bladder was on the verge of bursting, he doubled over and while clutching his crotch, hopped over like a rabbit to what looked like a bathroom door, all the while suppressing curses and moans that almost escaped from his lips.

Throwing himself inside, he slumped down on the marble toilet and not having any time to appreciate the royal luxuries he released the built-up pressure.

With the surprisingly loud hiss filling the toilet, he almost wept with joy, and he actually mumbled a few quiet prayers to the gods for blessing him with this beautiful moment of relief.

With tears filling the corners of his eyes he stayed that way for a while, just savoring the moment. Once he was finished, he grabbed the towel beside him and went to clean himself.

As he grabbed the handful of flesh down there, he stopped and slowly moved the towel away.

"Huh, well isn't this nice."

No wonder the boy spent his life whoring around.

Even though he knew it was vain he did feel a bit pleased. To tell the truth he was quite satisfied with his former body. Being a necromancer and a master at sculpting flesh, he made many adjustments on his former physique over the years, but this body, aside from being younger also seemed to benefit from quite a few royal blessings.

Looking around for an opportunity to clean himself better, he noticed that the bathroom was equipped with a shower. Henrick practical salivated at the chance to enjoy a warm bath in what was probably the most expensive shower on the continent, so he quickly jumped in and was soon covered in fine spray of purifying water.

It was not every day he got to use one of these, so with great relish Henrick savored the feeling of hot water and soap running over him while he was actively trying not to think about how much it must cost to pump heated water in this room specifically. It was probably for the best that he didn’t know.

It took Henrick quite some time and willpower to get out of the shower and after a while, when he finally managed to drag himself outside, Henrick covered himself in robes once again and stopped in front of the mirror to study his body more closely.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

His hair was silver, not gray or white, but truly silver, and it fell to his shoulders in a smooth straight line with almost no curls or waves. His eyes too were of similar color, but with a slight shade of blue, and when he took a closer look Henrick could see barely noticeable, shiny glimmering lights in the depth of his eyes, like tiny sparkling stars.

That must be an effect of Lyrium, Henrick mused. Probably small crystallizations of damnable matter on his retina and eye lens. For some reason it didn’t seem to impede his vision, so Henrick left it be for now. There would be time to study all the changes in detail later, when he had the time.

His face, while handsome, was quite sharp and thin, and his body shared some of those traits.

While he was nicely toned with muscle, there was nothing about it that made him look powerful, and as he noticed before, it also turned out he wasn't particularly tall, which actually suited him just fine.

His general looks and strange hair color might be somewhat uncommon, but nothing made a man stand out as much as a huge build and powerful muscles.

And he, for obvious reasons, liked going about unnoticed whenever he could.

Turning away from the mirror he took a seat on a nearby chair and started to analyze the predicament he was in as carefully as he could.

With all of those memories now available to him, he had a lot to process.

One by one he recalled most of the memories of the previous owner of the body, and with some cringing he skipped a few more unpleasant ones.

All in all, there were quite a lot of both good and bad things in this situation he was currently in.

One of the uglier problems that he would have to tackle as soon as possible, was the fact that "Edward", the now deceased prince, whose body he was currently using, was a fucking asshole.

May he burn in hell, that little bitch, he thought grimly.

From what he could recall from his memories, young Edward was the eleventh child of the emperor and his eight wife Eleanor, Edwards’s mother.

That definitely made him a prince, and also a half-brother to Dorian and his other numerous brothers and sisters.

Which was a good thing.

On the other side however…

Late prince Edward was also a Lyrium addict, a liar, thief, rapist and quite generally, complete failure of a human being.

Which was bad.

Now, it's not like he blamed the boy. Henrick might be a lot of things but he wasn't a hypocrite. A little self-indulgence was always nice, and with all of the things he himself did throughout the course of his life, he wasn't the one to point fingers.

But the fact remained that all of Edwards's problems now became his, and that made Henrick absolutely livid.

With all of the shit that boy pulled out, he was going to have to be extra careful.

Not to mention all of the connections and relationships he would now be forced to smooth out.

Not everything was bad though.

While young prince Edward made plenty of mistakes in his life, he also managed to achieve quite a few impressive feats.

For example, the number of shady dealers and underground traders that he now had contact too was simply staggering. There was probably nothing illegal he couldn't get his hands on, if he really wanted to.

And while the boy didn't know it, there were a lot more valuable things than drugs on the black market.

And speaking of drugs…

Lyrium, he thought darkly as he raised his hand to study it. Now there was a mystery worth solving.

There was no way in seven hells that Edward just happened to stumble upon it. Someone was using it to influence him, or was trying actually.

He squinted as he tried to recall when was the first time prince Edward actually came in contact with it.

Of course, things went a little bit foggy there. While he could access the memories, they were still clouded by periods of addiction fueled mania.

Even so, he still managed to vaguely remember how it all went down.

Looking back, it came as no surprise that our beloved prince was a spoiled brat from his infant years.

And as all spoiled children are wont to do, it appeared that Edward too, lived his life however he wanted. Doing whatever he wished and taking anything he fancied.

Drugs of course, were just a tiny drop in the ocean of bad decisions that Edward ever made.

It all started with high society events, which of course included loads of alcohol, whores, card games, ring fights, and finally drugs.

In the beginning Edward only took the weak stuff, and just enough to faze him, but as time passed, he quickly and rapidly built tolerance for most if not all substances.

Which came as no surprise, what with his royal blood and all, but as time went on, he started to take stronger and stronger stuff, and in higher doses until one day someone finally offered him Lyrium.

He couldn't quite remember when that was. At the time, Edward was under heavy influence of more than one substance and now, looking back at it, it was hard to even remember this much.

Still, someone did supply him with Lyrium. At first it was only here and there, in certain types of shady places whose existences only few people were aware off. Like brothels made for nobility only, or betting rings where people and slaves fought to the death, exclusive clubs for the most vile perverts.

But with time it became available to him on almost daily basics. Dealers contacted him on their own, couriers supplied him without even knowing what they were carrying, and there was also Samuel whom he entrusted to keep him supplied at all times.

So, he didn't actually have a concrete name of a person responsible for this, it seemed like an organized effort. A proper conspiracy as far as Henrick could tell, to what end however. Well, that was still unclear.

Lyrium was highly addictive, and also toxic to magically inept creatures, but for someone like him….

Yes, for someone like him… he mused as he turned to study his palm again.

It seemed that prince Edward had some magical potential even before Henrick took his body, and with how things turned out there was only one possible solution left. Someone was trying to gain control over the young prince.

It was certainly possible that someone was simply trying to poison prince Edward with Lyrium, but more Henrick thought about it the less it seemed likely.

As lyrium was addictive to mages it was much more likely that someone was using it to gain an angle over the boy, but it also meant that whoever tried to do so also knew that Edward had some magical talent.

More royal schemes and secrets, it seemed. Henrick was well aware how dark the royal court could get at times, and luckily, he himself was a deft hand at scheming himself so he would take on that problem in due time.

More importantly for Henrick, there were some positive consequences of prolonged Lyrium abuse that prince Edward went through. Specifically, the boost in mana reserves and raw magical talent which the drug provided.

Henrick himself never had much natural talent for magic, so he was forced to compensate for it with sheer stubbornness and commitment. It was one of the reasons he was so skilled at necromancy, since the practice required relatively little magical power and was more based on proper preparations and complex rituals that were fueled more by knowledge than sheer power. But now, in this body… who knew how many possibilities would open up for him.

He would have to study the aftereffects more closely later on, but for now, simple test would be enough.

Since necromancy was his bread and butter, and also the only branch of magic he could properly practice due to his low magical power, he never bothered to learn more than a few simple arcane spells.

And even those few he did master he learned more out of necessity than anything else.

One of said spells was a simple light orb spell, which unsurprisingly, conjured glowing orb of blue light. The spell, while quite useful, was also one of the safest basic spells, and therefore perfect for gauging one’s magical potential.

Closing his eyes, Henrick concentrated and let the power flow through him. Picturing an orb of light in his palm he turned to shaping the forces of arcane and letting them grow.

Through his closed eyelids he saw shapes of light mowing around the room and small smile escaped him.

As he opened his eyes to look at the sphere, he suddenly noticed that the light orb was still rapidly growing.

Panic flashed across his features and before he managed to stop the flow of mana, the explosion went off straight into his face.

Light filled the room and loud bang shook the air.

Half blind and staggering Henrick fell through the doorway, cursing and swearing his way into the bedroom.

"Ahhh, my Fucking Eyes!"

Startled, Samuel jumped out of his seat while unsheathing his sword in one swift motion and looking around the room in attempt to spot the source of trouble.

In a single heartbeat he was above Henrick and helping him up, still looking around nervously.

"My Lord…are you well?"

"What… ahh yes, yes…"

Henrick replied while furiously rubbing his eyes.

"It’s just a simple..."

Suddenly, doors slammed open and two guards came charging in, Samuel quickly put himself in between them and Henrick, his sword still raised in case of an attack.

The two guards stopped in front of them, both still carefully looking around the room until they finally focused on Samuel. One of them finally spoke, addressing Henrick directly.

"My Lord, is everything all right?"

Squinting at him, still half blinded, Henrick replied.

"Yes, it was just…well I don't know, a discharge or something…uh, I think I did it. But all is well, I am fine."

Somewhat suspicious, the soldier looked at Samuel and spoke to Henrick again.

"Are you sure my Lord, the King himself told us to leave your Guardian with you, but you have nothing to fear from him while we are here, if he harmed you in any way…"

"What? Are you...? No, no, no. You got it all wrong. I understand your suspicion but there is no real need to worry you see…It was my…well I think all of this is my fault..."

Still somewhat uncertain, the soldier turned to him and nodded.

"Very well my Lord, if you are awake and well now, we have a message for you."

Now more or less composed, Henrick blinked at him a few more times while rubbing his eye.

"Ohh, do say."

"We were order my Lord, to notify you as soon as you were awake that your father wants to see you."

"Ehhh, I don't think..."

"It wasn't a request my Lord, he was very… concerned. Even the healers are not allowed to see you before he does."

With a resigned expression “Edward” looked down at his hands.

"Ahh, I see how that might have happened. Well then, let us be off too se father. Samuel…"

"Your Guardian is to stay here my Lord."

Before Samuel had a chance to protest Henrick cut him off.

"Yes, very well, let us go then. Samuel you will stay here and rest, is that clear?"

"Perfectly my Lord."

Samuel replied without missing a beat, now completely content to stay behind.

Dusting himself off, Henrick quietly followed the guards out of the room while his mind raced, coming up with possible explanations and ideas for getting out of any potential, violent encounter.

This was going to be a bit tricky.