When I first opened my eyes, I was hit by the brightest light imaginable, forcing me to close them. This pattern of opening and closing happened a few more times until I could vaguely make out the round face of a man in front of me. His mouth moved, but all I could hear was an annoyingly loud scream. As I stared at the blurry man, uncomprehending of what was occurring, another figure, this one shrouded in shadow, appeared above him. Slowly, this second frame fell from the ceiling and into the area, the man simultaneously fading into the darkness.

It took me a moment before I realized the screaming had stopped, my vision clearing at the same time. As this new figure fell further, what had started as a mass of barely discernible shadow began to develop features. It wasn’t just that I couldn’t see them initially; they seemed to form as I watched.

First was the growth of black hair, short but noticeable on the previously amorphous form. Then came the manifestation of a collared long coat, shortly followed by a bow, ebony and pre-strung. As what had to be this person’s back came closer to me, more and more of their frame appeared, all black but still easily distinguishable.

Black sleeved arms connected to gloved hands, in which grasped a sword. The blade started small but quickly grew, haft and all, soon becoming a massive great sword. Another moment of falling, and the darkness wasn’t alone.

A thin, but exceedingly bright strand of light appeared first as a dot, but it quickly formed into a sword, the two weapons not yet touching. Glowing white hands, white sleeved arms, a white blouse, then a face.

Unlike the first man I had seen, his pointed eared face colored in a way that naturally blended with his skin, this person seemed to shine from the white that colored their skin. A sharp pointed nose accompanied by high cheekbones and a defined jawline. Gleaming strands of light made up the long hair, first appearing straight then becoming curled. Finally, came the eyes, or eye rather, as only one could be seen over the shoulder of the other figure. The orb of pure white seemed to hold an infinite depth, but I only caught a glimpse before it was covered by the shadow aspect. Sound returned as I heard more than saw the two blades finally connect, the world speeding up.

My vision went black for a moment as the dark figure seemed to pass though me. When my sight returned I was nearly face to face with the woman, bright pits devoid of pupils staring, before she too disappeared. Then there was nothing, followed by agonizing pain and an extreme urge to close my eyes. Just as my consciousness faded, I heard a fragmented male voice speak,

“A… li ve.”

***

“Open your eyes.”

The female voice was gentle, but the finality in her tone was obvious, and so I did. When I awoke, it was in a cage of sorts, bars surrounding four sides with an open-top.

‘I don’t know what’s happening,’ was my first thought.

I remembered seeing two figures falling. Fighting?

‘Where am I? Who am I? What am I?’

Realizing, I was mentally searching for memories that didn’t exist. I decided my best option was to look around my surroundings. The first thing I noticed was that I was on my back and could barely move, a slight rolling turn the best I could manage. My lack of maneuverability severely limited my view, but from the little I could see I realized a second thing. I was small, very small, at least compared to the size of the space.

Though the lights in the room itself were dim, I could just make out the bare walls painted in a white and gray striped pattern which spanned the entirety of the space. As the short observation of my environment was coming to an end, I heard a door open somewhere behind me, footsteps soon following.

“Tabatha, Winston, you can wait outside,” said a woman.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” replied two voices, and a moment later I heard what I could only assume to be retreating footsteps.

Once the steps faded out of range, the woman began to speak again.

“Cale, what are we going to do? It's been almost two weeks, and he still hasn’t woken up yet. I mean, what if he never wakes up.” Her voice taut as the last few words came out.

“Hey, come here,” said a voice kind and gentle. “You can’t think like that, the doctor said the worst of it is over, he’ll wake up soon.”

“How can you be sure, we still don’t know the reason he was sick, nor do we know what that symbol was. We must find someone who can heal him.” Her slightly muffled voice raised as she spoke.

“Maddie,” the man said calmly. “You know we can’t do that without knowing what happened. If there’s just the smallest chance that someone was able to get in and out of the castle without anyone knowing, that is not a weakness we can afford to reveal.” He paused for a moment, then continued.

“I know you’re worried, I am too, I feel so powerless. I can’t do anything to help my son, but the doctor said he’s stable right now, and Tabatha said her new spell shows his mana fluctuations aren't hurting his body anymore. We have to focus on what we can do.”

The woman didn't respond, and their conversation seemed to be over. Thinking this was my chance to figure out what was happening, I tried to call out, but what I heard wasn’t words.

“Aaauuua.”

A particularly loud laughish scream escaped my lips, leaving me shocked. While I was confused, the people behind me responded to my impromptu squeal.

“Ben,” said the voices in near unison. Their steps hastening as they drew close.

After looking at them for a while, I couldn’t help but smile. I wasn’t exactly sure why but looking at them and hearing their voices seemed to make me happy.

I first made eye contact with the woman. She had dark purple hair, which could easily be confused for brown or black in the shade of the room. Her hair fell past the shoulder of her white blouse, making the light brown of her irises stand out even more. Her pale skin making the red puffy circles under her eyes clear. Still staring at me, she embraced the man next to her, drawing my attention to him.

His hair was a bright silver that seemed bright even in the dim light. It was cut short, no longer than his ears, and did well to contrast his deep blue eyes and darker skin. Similarly to the woman, he looked as if there was something more important than his appearance at the moment.

I tried to speak again, but a similar noise came out. They grasped each other tighter as tears continued to run, and for another moment they just stood there, looking at me like I would disappear if they blinked. Then the man then wiped his face and ran off.

“I’ll go get Tabatha then see if I can find the doctor, you stay here,” he shouted, already a distance away from us.

The woman said nothing as he left, just continuing to stare at me, whilst smiling and wiping the tears from her swollen eyelids. Less than a minute later, I heard the unseen door open again and people enter.

A light was turned on and a woman with black hair approached me. She bowed to the violet haired woman before beginning to speak softly while her hands moved in odd gestures, a faint white glow beginning to form around them. Upon opening her eyes, their purple color faded and white was all I could see. For a second, my mind flashed to a memory, before returning to the present. As the woman finished her chant, a tear streaming down her face, she dabbed at it before bringing a hand close to my chest.

“I’m happy that you’re awake, Prince Benjamin.”

Her hands began to glow again, brighter now, as she touched my chest, then head. As soon as her hand made contact with my body, I felt weird. As if I was being lightly pushed and pulled under my skin. After a short time, the sensation and glow faded as she turned and began to speak.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“His condition is similar to this morning, Your Majesties. There seems to be more mana in his body than normal, but it doesn’t seem to be hurting him, so there should be no need to purge it again. I still can’t sense any active mana but for anything more relating to his health you’ll have to ask the doctor.”

The woman walked out of my sight and the two people continued to stare. The light was now much brighter, so I could get a better look at everyone’s features, and as they spoke, I learned more of what happened. I was a baby and though I wasn’t sure exactly what it meant, it seemed to have something to do with my small size and lack of ability to communicate.

My name was Benjamin, and I was supposedly very ill. I couldn’t learn how exactly I was sick, but I guessed there was plenty of time for that. The tall, brown-skinned man with wavy silver hair was Cale. He was one of my two parents with Maddie being the other. Besides my parents, there was Tabatha the raven-haired woman and someone else, a deeper voice I could hear, but had not yet seen.

After a while, an older man arrived, it was the one I had seen when I opened my eyes the first time. He wore a white coat over a black shirt, and I saw his glasses slip as he looked down at me.

With a dull smile on his face, he took me out of my cage and placed me on a cold table. I tried to move, reacting to the cold surface, but it was impossible to do anything. My body wouldn’t listen to my commands, so I could do nothing but endure.

Once the older man finished poking me, he looked toward my parents reporting to them.

“The child is healthy. I of course still recommend that he is checked twice daily, but if everything proceeds like this, he will be fine.”

I was still at the table when my father walked over and picked me up. He paused for a moment, wiping his eyes before turning to speak to the three people I now clearly had a view of.

“Erin, Winston, Tabatha, thank you, truly, for what you've done over these past few weeks. I say this both as a grateful parent and a monarch who is honored to have such subjects.”

“I was only doing my job, Your Majesty,” Tabatha responded. The older man who examined me spoke after, “It is my duty to serve, Your Grace.“ With the final person whose voice I’d only heard until now, Winston it seemed, speaking just two words. “Yes sir.”

After this exchange, Cale handed me to my mother, and we began to move. Once in her arms, Cale put his own around both of us. I felt an immediate sense of comfort, then my body made a loud noise, and I began to cry.

“Oh, was that your stomach, I guess you haven't eaten properly yet huh.”

“You’ll probably have an appetite like your father,” Madeleine added as she began bobbing me up and down.

“I’m not that bad,” my father laughed in reply. “Come on,” he continued as we began to move.

When I was first put in my mother’s arms, I was facing forward, but they flipped me as we walked, so I could only see behind her. Outside the room, there were stands connected to the wall, though the light they emitted was so soft it was difficult to make out Tabatha right in front of me. While that might have had something to do with the tears, I prefer to blame it on the lighting.

After walking down two flights of stairs, we reached another hallway that looked identical to the first. We passed doors every few steps and I often heard noises coming from them, but never saw anyone. Eventually we turned a corner and finally stopped. I couldn’t see them, but as soon as we arrived, I heard a loud stomp before baritone voices began to speak.

“We greet the Monarchs!”

Their volume coupled with the immediate echo from their shout made me wince, and I involuntarily began to cry. My mother admonished them for being so loud before taking me into the new room. The men held the door while we entered along with Tabatha, Winston, and two other women I didn't recognize, the doctor I assumed, had left at some point.

The light objects my father turned on when entering were much brighter than in the hall, so it took a few seconds for my teary eyes to adjust. When I finally stopped crying, I was sitting on my mother’s lap with my father beside me on a couch.

This room looked completely different from the first. The walls were white but had odd black images painted towards the top of them. The symbols were spread throughout the entire room, at least everything I could see, and I recognized the same one’s multiple times, seeming to repeat often. While I was absorbing my new surroundings, my mother passed me to my father before standing and starting to speak.

“As we discussed previously, Winston,” she said, looking at the statue of a man in front of her. “You are charged with Ben as well as everyone else's safety at all times.”

Next, Maddie turned to the two loud men from earlier and spoke.

The men had outfits like the one named Winston, and all three seemed to shine in the light.

“I'm sorry, I don’t know either of your names.” She then paused, making her statement seem like a question.

One of the guards, a man with a bald head and muscles as large as my body, replied “I am Brinx and this is Keeler, Your Majesty,” he said pointing to the man at his right.

“Ma’am,” The slightly shorter, thinner man said, a half bow accompanying the words, his voice not nearly as deep, though it did hold an accent different from most others.

“Right,” mom replied. “You know what your orders are correct?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. We have rotational guard duty outside the apartment.

“Good, I know it isn’t ideal with only two people, but you will have to endure until we can vet more royal guard.”

Hair barely swaying, she turned away from the soldiers and towards the two new women I hadn’t seen join us. The pair were much younger than everyone else I’d seen until then. They both wore matching black and white dresses and after a closer look at their faces I noticed they looked identical to one another. Same bronzed skin, gray eyes, and long dirty blonde hair; the only thing setting them apart, the color of the bows in their hair, one red the other blue. If not for the accessories, there might have been no way to tell the difference.

“I believe you already know your responsibilities, but I will reiterate just in case. All of Ben’s needs fall on the two of you, if anything seems wrong, tell someone right away. Tabatha and Winston will be with you, so don’t worry, but do not rely too heavily on them; they have their responsibilities, you have yours.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said the girl with the blue bow.

“We won’t let you down!” added the one with the red bow.

Their voices were similar, but there was a clear difference in tone. The first having little emotion, while the second seemed very energetic.

Madeleine nodded as she turned her gaze to Tabatha, who just mimicked the gesture. My mother seemed to open her mouth to speak but decided against it just as quickly. We began to move again after the conversation was finished. Brinx and Keeler left the room while the rest of us continued into the apartment.

The room we were in was designated the common area. It had the couch we sat on, along with a small table in front of it. Parallel to the couch was a much larger table and chair set that mom called the dining table. The rest of the room was mainly empty, but my father said he would send over anything I or anyone else needed.

The tour continued to a kitchen where the pair of girls immediately went after my father asked them to get me something to eat.

“And lastly, we have the bedrooms. There are more than enough for all of you, but you’ll be here for the foreseeable future, so yeah,” my father said to Tabatha and Winston as we stood at a cornered wall full of closed doors.

While I couldn’t speak, I found it odd that no one really spoke to me. Other than the occasional comment, they mainly just talked about me as if I had no idea what was happening, though to be fair I really didn’t.

After the two bowed they turned and disappeared into different rooms while I was taken into one that was surprisingly small compared to most I had seen until then. The space was painted in blue with gray vertical stripes along with more of the weird black symbols on the wall, these slightly different from the ones before. After looking around, I made eye contact with my father, a big smile on his face.

“You like it Ben?” he asked, his tone cheery. “We based the color on your eyes, well, your mother did.” He took me from my mother's arms before continuing. “You see, your eyes are normally hazel like your mother’s, but we noticed that in the light they sometimes change to a blueish gray color.”

His looked turned more somber for a moment but as I began to laugh, for some unknown reason, he followed suit, a loud hearty sound that echoed in the room. He began to slowly rise me into the air, both arms held over his head. Below me, I could see my mother smiled and chuckle, but stop as soon as my stomach made another noise. I barely managed to fight off the urge to cry again as she began to scold Cale.

“He hasn’t even eaten yet, what if he got sick again,” a look of worry evident on her face.

While my dad was lowering me down, as if on cue, the girl with the red bow knocked before entering the room, a cup of white liquid in her hand.

“Here is the meal for the young prince,” she said, a smile on her face.

“Thank You, Lisa, you can just leave it there,” my mother stated as she gestured to a nearby table.

“Yes, ma’am,” Lisa said before she bowed and left the room.

“I would still rather breastfeed him,” Madeleine grumbled. “And before you say it yes, I know we don’t want to risk my mana harming him, this just feels so… neglectful.

My father sat down on a chair, me on his lap, while my mother put the cup to my mouth. I reflexively opened, and the amazing taste took me by surprise. My arms flailed in excitement and my mother smiled.

“See, I knew you would eat just like your father,” she said, laughing.

After I drank the entire cup, we sat in the room for about another hour, my parents seemingly just happy to be here, before my eyes began to close.

“I guess he still hasn’t fully recovered. Or do babies just sleep a lot? See you tomorrow, Ben.”

My mom’s short chuckle, at my father’s weak humor, was the last thing I heard before falling back asleep.