Somewhere deep in a castle, in the kingdom of Nematern, there was an unassuming room. This room was just like any other in the castle and if you walked by it you would guess it's a room of a guard, a servant or another less important person but that is only at first glance, if that glance was from nearly blind person, because by either side of the doors stood huge intimidating figure. The figures which some servants started to be mistaken for statues in the late evenings were kings Lazdon Orthus personal guards.

Some more chatty servants discussed and speculated why king, in his final days, moved to the room next to his physician instead of having doctor relocate, "Doctor Sroth can't leave his room for long or his ungodly creations born from alchemy will escape!" or, "King knows he will die without Sroth's help so doctor is having Lazdon jump to his tune." The truth, however, was much simpler than that.

Inside the said room king Lazdon was drawing his last breaths. Doctor Sroth said goodbye to his king and left the room leaving the prince Sal and captain of the guards Pagrim Smik, Lazdon's lifelong friend, the only two people by king's deathbed. As soon as the door closed Lazdon spoke.

"Sal, come over here I want to take a good long look at you"

"Of course, father," said Sal as he leaned over king's bed.

"Just as I thought, you look nothing like me. For years I tried to ignore it, but doubt was always there, and I think I can finally stop lying to myself, you are most definitely not my child," Lazdon said with no particular emotion.

"Please don't say that father, I am your son and I can—" Sal was interrupted when Lazdon spoke up again not even meeting his eyes.

"I'm not saying this just because of your looks, even if you were a spitting image of me there is another reason. Sal, do you know what I am talking about, about the curse?" Lazdon's dull eyes finally focused on Sal's.

"Please tell me you didn't listen to the tales servants are telling? All they know is how to spread rumors." Sal said with a twinge of pain in his voice.

"That is no rumor or tale, that's history, Orthus family history." Lazdon looked angrily at Sal who looked about ready to argue, shutting his son half-open mouth king continued. "That being said, servants will add any spin they like to the story so I should say to you what my father did.

"Couple hundred years ago soldiers led by my Berth Orthus, later known as Berth the executioner, sailed across the sea and began a bloody conquest of this land, Semgalia. Eventually, Berth brought enough settlers from his home to replace nearly all old inhabitants of this land, Numeians.

"Don't misunderstand Berth, he wasn't as mad as stories make him out to be. The old people of this continent were wicked to the bone. They dabbled in dark arts and human sacrifice was a daily occurrence. They were savage people and our cultures couldn't be let mix.

"But Numeians were not about to forgive what was done to their brethren. Those who managed to avoid Berth's wrath gathered somewhere in this continent and cast a curse on Berth and his whole bloodline. The goal of Numeians was simple, to inflict as much suffering as possible to Berth and his future descendant's." Lazdon finally stopped talking as it looked that this tale took last of his strength and the king began to breathe heavily.

"Laz, if you're implying what I think you do don't you think Sal had his share of tragedies?" Pagrim finally spoke up and unconsciously darted a look into prince's glass eye.

"It is apparent that with time the curse only grew stronger." Said Lazdon after gathering strength once more. "I had four wives whom all died after giving me sons. My sons are all either dead or missing, except for Sal that is. My brothers and sisters died in accidents or from strange illnesses. All my life is full of loss, this curse will not rest until there is no Orthus family member left.

"Sal, on the other hand, had a minor accident once," As Lazdon spoke Sal's knuckles turned started turning white as his hands formed fists. "and Sal's mother who died still too young, she didn't get sick as people talk, I had her poisoned after I realized her betrayal."

After a momentary shock, Pagrim looked at Sal unsure what the prince will do after such a confession. Sal's face was moving into calm expression but Pagrim felt if he had looked but a moment sooner, he would have seen how prince truly felt at the moment.

"I'm sorry Sal, no matter how angry I felt I shouldn't have taken your mother." Lazdon continued as tears began to fill his eyes. "Do you see now? You don't carry my family curse, only an old spiteful fool who still despite all that want to be your father.

"I'm sorry I neglected you for all these years, I did it from shame, for what I did to your mother. In my final years, I understood how meaningless my life has been. I can't even look at my room, full of trophies from this land knowing that for these riches paid with my children lives. But you can lead our nation without any guilt or curses weighing on your shoulders. I want you to rule this country better than I did and call yourself my son. If you ca—" Lazdon looked like he wanted to continue his plea but violent coughing stopped him.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Not for one second have I stopped myself from thinking of you as my father, I am not blaming you for anything. You can rest assured that will lead our kingdom out of the crisis that we are facing." Sal said passionately.

"Thank you, my son, you don't know how much your words mean to me," Laz said with a most heartfelt smile he has made in years. "but can I ask for one last favor?"

"Of course, father." Sal answered quickly.

"You are the rightful king now and no one can deny that Pagrim is our witness but I want you to continue the search for your missing brothers if only to make sure they are alright. I had Pagrim secretly organizing the search of your two missing brothers for years now and I want you to continue lending him support."

"As you wish father. No matter the cost I will find my brothers." Sal said without hesitation.

"Thank you. And you Pagrim," Zaldon said as he turned his toward captain of king's guard "I want you to serve Sal as you have served me for years."

"Of course, your highness," Pagrim said as his eyes teared up.

"Come on Pagrim no need to get sentimental now." Lazdon looked at his friend for a couple of seconds and continued with his eyes tearing up once again. "But truly, thank you for your years of service and always being a voice of reason in your counseling."

Pagrim's normally stoic face turned to tears, as two old friends realized they made each other cry they simply shared a laugh for one last time.

"And now I feel like I should say something fitting for my last words, but nothing comes to mind" Lazdon eyelids began to close as weariness from long evening caught up with him. "I guess all I can give is an advice for you, Sal. Don't be stupid but no matter what don't be afraid either, fear is that one emotion which can cripple your thoughts and lead not to the best solution but the easiest one." Lazdon said last words already half asleep.

Sal and Pagrim sat in the room where the king slept. You could have heard a pin drop if not for the Lazdon's heavy breathing. His breathing filled the room and the two men sat by his bed without uttering a single word, until silence finally fell. Lazdon Orthus, monarch of 43 years, was dead.

Pagrim followed Sal to the conference room and on his orders locked the door behind them. The conference room was starting to fill up with natural light as dawn was breaking. After looking at the horizon through a window for the few seconds Sal started talking.

"I always wanted to ask but thought it to be improper, but can I see your sword?"

"Of course, your highness." Pagrim drew his sword and handed it to Sal respectfully.

"You would call my father Laz in private, I want the same treatment, call me Sal when it's just the two of us if you don't mind." Sal said as he twisted Pagrim's sword in his hand while walking away from him.

"If that is your wish… Sal" Pagrim said as if fighting the urge to say something else.

"Good. How the search for my brothers is going?" Sal asked nonchalantly.

"Your father mentioned that I am searching for two of your brother's and that is not completely true. Even though your oldest brother, Datan, died in the war we never had a chance to retrieve his body and confirm it for ourselves, therefore I took it upon myself to get to the bottom of this. Since most of his squad either died in the war or were taken as slaves across the sea I never managed to learn of exact circumstances of his death. Ducat empire has many greatly secured slave camps, so I hit a dead end with that search as we don't even know to which one our soldiers went.

"Your younger brother, Kast, is the real mystery. Went missing without a trace. That day we found his mother dead without any identifiable cause and you hurt so bad—"

"Enough about that one, move on." Sal said without hiding annoyance from his face.

"Ahem, so the in end we weren't able to find any clues about Kast's disappearance." Pagrim collected his thoughts for a second and continued his report. "Your youngest brother, Dirth. I'm sure you remember it as well. When Dirth was five years old his guards were killed and he was abducted, it's the greatest mistake of my life, this castle's security is my job and I failed Lazdon's trust.

"We believe the assailants were from the church of the Andath. The truth of the matter is that this religion has its roots in numeiansian beliefs. Needless to say, the head of the church clashed with your father constantly. After the kidnapping, we raided several of their extremist's hideouts but found nothing. That is all I have to say on the matter if I'm to be brief."

"Thank for your efforts, Pagrim, but you can discontinue your search." Sal said as he turned his gaze from sword to Pagrim.

"You would break your promise to Lazdon, to your father?" Pagrim asked with a raised voice.

"I said what I had to make my father pass away happy," Sal answered calmly. "but think about what dangers our kingdom faces. Empire of Ducat are readying their ships to invade, Andath church is gaining more power among common people every day and to top all that our kingdom is on the brink of civil war. The last thing we need right now is any other possible successors to the throne."

"I understand your logic and can't help but agree but I don't want to break my promise to my friend." Pagrim said in a calm but determined tone.

"Despite my father's faults I still loved him as much as you did but he is dead, and we must protect what we have, not what we have already lost. If we are to restore our kingdom to its former glory, I will need your undivided help. Pagrim, can I count on you to follow me to the end as you did with my father?"

Pagrim looked conflicted but finally sighed. "Yes, Your Highness, I understand what must be done. It will be as you will" Pagrim bowed a little as he gave in.

"This sword is a piece of art, handed down through generations to protect the king, Perkuns Kalabian," Sal said as he looked over Pagrim's legendary weapon one last time and handed it over back to its owner. "I hope it will protect me as it did my ancestors."

Sal walked over to the table, sat down and released a sigh. "Well then, glad we can put that out of the way, sit down Pagrim I have a job and you are the only one I can trust."