Despite being the village medic and getting at least seven pouches of coins on her table everyday Nero’s mother liked to keep it simple. Anra was a simple woman who believed minimalism was the best approach to her life. Her son, on the other hand, was the complete opposite.
“You are eighteen now,” Anra snapped. “You are not a little toddler who needs every word spoon-fed to him. What do you plan to accomplish with you life by fighting in the rings?”
Nero rubbed the bruise in his face. “I’ve told you mother, I plan to fight an imperial someday and join the royal military.”
“And live your entire life fighting? In all my life I’ve tried to teach you to make your life better, so you can sit on the royal exam and attend a good academy. But this is what you do with the money?”
“I-”
“Who said you could talk?”
Nero wilted at his mother’s glare. There was a myth in the village that said medics were innocent. Probably the people who made the myth hadn’t been in the same house as his mother.
“Kate,” Anra yelled louder. “Bring a hot basin of water with a cloth.”
“I don’t need you to tend to my wounds,” Nero said grumpily.
“Who said I would be doing it? Do it yourself.”
A short while later Catherine Tallow - her mother’s apprentice - appeared with a basin of water on her hands and a rug hung on her shoulder. She seemed to have finished the day’s work. Her auburn hair was tied back in a knot and her kerchief was missing, which meant she was done for the day.
When she saw Nero’s face she gasped. “What happened to you?”
Nero didn’t reply. He had already heard one medic’s speech, he didn’t need one from the apprentice. Kate was a year younger than him, but she still acted like his personal medic.
“Place the basin on the table,” Anra ordered. Then she glared back at Nero. “Wash those bruises with it and apply this,” she pushed the mixture she had been making to the table. Nero eyed the green goo and gave a groan. It seemed his mother already had prepared precautions knowing he had gone back to fighting.
The rest of the evening went fast, and Nero was smart enough to keep rubbing his bruises and listen to all his mother had to stay silently. He had calculated it would last for an hour, but today it ended much earlier. And by the time dinner was served, her mother had calmed down.
“This is not what your father would have wanted,” Anra said, lazily spooning her soup.
Nero knew she was pulling the “your father” trick. Somehow each time it managed to guilt trip Nero well. He only had a vague memory of his father. But he had died during one of the fights with the imperials, and his mother had made a promise for him to not send him to fighting. Nero knew he had to live through that promise, but the call for a fight still made his blood boil. And every time he won a fight he felt as if his dream was inches away.
“Why do you need to become an imperial warrior so badly?” Anra asked. “What makes it worth it? Living in fear when you’ll die.”
“It’s glory!” Nero said with a glee. “You never understand it mother! Do you know how much those warriors are respected? How the rest of the people in this slum filled village looks up to them? Isn’t that nice? Everybody will love me. The common folk will call me their hero, the city guard will spread myths about me, even the village girls will gossip about me.”
Kate slurped her soup loudly. When Nero looked at her, she was giving him daggers.
“All of those are temporary dreams Nero. Life can be enjoyed much more simply. You are far better off sticking in this house, getting some normal education like Kate, and then hoping to get selected to the royal academy. How hard is it?”
Nero didn’t speak. He knew any word he added would only add fuel to the fire. Instead he devoured the meal silently and left the room to wander in the pouch. Night had already fallen, and it was a beautiful view outside. The small hill overlooked a much larger mountain in the distance.
The villagers called it the Feather Range - a set of three mountains positioned beside one another, each tall enough to touch the clouds. But it wasn’t the mountains that was the main attraction, it was the castle that illuminated on top of the middle mountain. Even in the distance Nero could see the lights of it shining bright in the night. It had three pillars with torches illuminating beside each of them. There were structures upon structures, expanding the entire peak of the mountain. At nights, if you get to the edge of the village you could hear a low growl, which the village elders claim to be a deadly hound hidden inside the palace.
But for Nero it was his dream. The castle was the Palace of the Imperial Knights. The place where the strongest heroes blessed by the gods themselves gathered to protect their noble lords. In one of those moments Nero imagined himself wearing the Iron Armor with a cloak hung upon his back. He would have a great sword on his back and a belt with the emblem of the royals on his waist.
He grinned like an idiot, living in his dream.
“Your mother cares about you,” he heard Kate’s voice behind him, and the illusion was instantly broken. “You shouldn’t be doing this to her.”
“Advices from you is the last thing I need,” he muttered. He didn’t want to speak ill to Kate. He knew she was telling them for his own good, but sometimes he wished she of all people understood him.
Kate was being apprenticed by his mother to apply for the royal medical examinations. She had been apprenticed for nearly five years now, and even though she had passed all the local province exams she was yet to face the main one in the next few months. Nero would be too, if he wished to study.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“It’s not about my words, it’s about making you understand how much pain she had gone through to keep you safe,” Kate sat beside him on the pouch. “I’ve known you for a long time Nero. I know you are fixed on your dreams once you make one, but sometimes it’s better to stop and think.”
“Okay,” Nero adjusted himself by the ridge. “Let me stop and think. If I don’t apply for the Imperial Fights, what will I do?”
Kate opened her mouth, but Nero spoke fast before him. He had gotten used to it. Kate always had better arguments for everything, so the best choice was to never let her speak at all.
“Just like you do with my mother I’ll have to apprentice under someone in an area I want, which I can’t think of any, and then I’ll have to keep my eyes glued to some bloody book every night and then sit for a province exam. When that’s not over, I need to still sit for a royal exam which I get only two chances to pass, and if I fail both I’ll probably have to stay in this dumb village forever, or get enrolled as a minor soldier in the army. And no, I don’t want that!”
Kate frowned. “And taking your chances in the fighting rings is a better option?”
“It makes me feel like I’m actually progressing towards something.”
“And what have you accomplished all this time apart from getting a fancy name in the fighting ring?”
Nero bit his lip. This is why he never let Kate talk.
“Besides, a normal life in the royal academy will be too boring. But as an Imperial Knight you get privileges.”
“Like the girls giggling and gossiping over you?”
“That’s one of the benefits, I mean won’t you be proud to see me wearing a white cloak?”
Kate looked more tired than angry. “You don’t always have to wear a cloak to make the girls like you.”
“I’ve seen otherwise. Someday when you pass and go to the royal academy you’ll see those white cloaks too. Wait until you fall in love with one of them.”
At that her face changed. Suddenly her eyes seemed to tell she wanted to rip half of his face off. And then her gaze quickly shifted to something behind him.
“Who’s that?”
Nero turned back his head to see a shadow emerging from the fields below. When your mother is the village medic you get used to visitors at night. But always they were accompanied by someone, or the single ones would come dragging themselves from the wounds and yelling for Nero’s mother. But this one seemed perfectly healthy, and he walked normally.
“Go inside,” Nero said, jumping out of the pouch.
“And what? Watch you take him on your own?”
“Go inside and call my mother,” Nero said more calmly, knowing Kate had a quirk of showing her agitation by being stubborn.
She listened to that, gave another hollow look at the stranger, and then ran inwards.
When the shadows cleared and the lantern light of the house finally fell upon the stranger Nero caught the familiar face of Abel.
“What the hell are you doing late in the night?” he snapped.
“I bring luck boy,” he said with a grin and pulled something from his pocket. It was a small scroll, and he threw it at Nero. “Read it for yourself.”
Nero heard sounds inside the house, and knowing his mother had a bad history with Abel he opened the scroll quickly and let his eyes skim over what was written.
Towards the Sun’s Blessing!
At the grounds of Amora, the seventh Pali Festival will be held in honor of the high lord. Only four participants will be selected out of the registered, and they will fight a royal in a battle to near death. Openings from morrow onwards.
A smile crept to Nero’s lips as he kept read the last line. It was finally here. The Pali Festival - a battle that is sent to bridge the gap between gods and slum rats.
“What should I do?” he asked, his eyes lighting up.
Abel gave a smile. “Train, obviously. I got this scroll because I am your mentor, and that means you are one of the four contestants Nero.”
Just then the front door crashed open, and Anra stepped out, a crossbow in her hand.
“Get the hell away from my son!” she snapped.
Abel held up his hands in defense. “I’m just a messenger brining letters Anra.”
Nero had never seen her mother so angry. “You think I don’t know what you’ve been doing? Persuading Nero to fight street battles like he’s some son of a brawler?”
“He’s the son of a warrior. And he’s eighteen for god’s sake. Let the boy make his own choices.”
“Get out of my sight Abel. And Nero, get inside.”
Nero gritted his teeth. He knew there was some bad blood between his mother and Abel but his mother’s control over him angered him the most. But when he saw her face, and those blazing eyes, he couldn’t find a way to argue. Yet he pushed forwards, at least for one try.
“The Pali festival is finally starting mother. This is my chance.”
Of course, this only made it worse.
“Didn’t you hear what I said?”
“Give me a chance to fight this once. Please.”
“I won’t let my only son fight an imperial while being trained by a man I despise. Nero, don’t make me say the same thing twice.”
“Why are you always treating me like a child?” he snapped.
“Because you are one!” she yelled back. Her eyes glinted in a fury he had never seen before. “Your father was just stubborn as you are. Look what happened to him.”
Nero looked at Abel for support, but he seemed to look at their argument in fascination. Finally he pulled back the scroll from Nero’s hands.
“I don’t want to get into your family drama. If you want to fight, I can train you. It’s not easy work, but I swear upon the Gods that I will teach you everything I know. The choice is up to you.”
“Don’t persuade him,” Anra growled.
Abel glanced at her mother, and his smile seemed to disappear for an instant. “Jorg was a good man. If he was alive he would have wanted his son to be a warrior, and I’m surprised his own wife cannot realize it.”
He turned back and walked into the shadows. Nero looked back and saw her mother’s expression stunned for a moment. It was a surprise, since his mother had an argument for everything.
“Get in,” she said finally, her face looking tired.
At that point something snapped within Nero. He walked in, pushing her sideways and skimming past Kate. He went to his room and slammed his door. A part of him felt like running away, another part of him felt like crying and clawing down the wall. So he did what he usually did. He searched under his bed and pulled out a book. He wasn’t a huge fan of reading, and he was surprised how Kate devoured five hundred paged medical books within a span of days, but one book always made an exception for him.
The Visitors Of Gods
It was largely pictures with large blocks of texts, which is what made is mostly readable. The book started off with the Era of Peace - how the gods finally expelled the demon kind and brought an end to the Age of Demons. The next few chapters explained the seven clans of the Imperial Army - the warriors that protected the land. The pictures showed giant men with axes and great swords to soldiers wrapped in white cloaks carrying long and thin blades.
Nero’s attention drifted off the book as he heard muffled conversations outside. He dropped the book on his bed and crept to the door.
“Don’t let him wander out alone,” that was his mother advising to Kate. “You are going to go with him to school and tell me everything he is doing.”
“I will,” and then there was Kate’s meek voice. Nero heard doubt in it. At times he even took pity for Kate. Whenever his mother went a fight with him Kate would be forced to pick a side. Most of the time it was his mother’s side, due to her being the apprentice, but then she would feel bad for Nero and apologize to him.
But that wasn’t going to happen this time.
If his mother was being stubborn, then so was Nero. It was finally time he started making decisions for himself.