Four years in prison.

FOUR FUCKING YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!

I knew what I did was horrible, but four years?

My arms and legs and long grown numb and basically useless.

My once beautiful body was now skinny and extremely dirty.

The healers could keep me alive indefinitely, but the life force couldn’t put meat on my bones or clean my skin.

The prison also smelled like piss and sweat.

I hated it here!

Also, the guards had long stopped coming down to watch me since I’d made no attempts to escape.

I couldn’t destroy my chains because even if I could I’d just be attacked once I got out and if I attacked one of the guards, my life would most likely be forfeit.

It clenched my weak jaws and wheezed out a song made of random notes.

The screams hadn’t gotten any quieter and they never said anything intelligible, so my time alone was rather… boring, to say the least.

I sometimes fantasized about what I would do once I got out.

Maybe I’d become the ideal prince and help those in need and shit like that, but it all sounded so boring.

I’d rather be in my room exploring the bodies of people I didn’t know and learning more about them using nothing but touch.

The old man taught me that people used their words to lie or dilute their feelings.

You could never really know a person by just talking to them.

In order to truly know, you’d need to tear them open and hear the sounds they made in that state.

People, good or evil, would sing beautifully songs while calling out to what they held dear.

I too had been seen and heard by a man who relished in those moments of truth.

My ears perked up as footsteps approached.

I looked up to find a slightly old and weary looking Erevu.

Standing next to him were two palace guards although their armor looked worn and scarred.

“Release him.” Erevu wheezed.

The two guards walked up to the bars that divided the room and one of them, a space magician, raised his hand and I watched as the bars bent out of shape.

Some of them outright snapped and fell allowing the guards to enter.

The other guard, a light magician, broke my binds prompting my weak body to slam into the floor.

I may have lost a lot of weight, but I was still a Nemen, so the impact still hurt quite a bit.

The guards then lifted me up by my arms and followed Erevu out of the dungeon.

My eyes didn’t have too much trouble adjusting to the brightness of the day.

The guards dropped me onto the grass before moving aside allowing some servants to drop several things at my feet.

I looked up and took a deep breath and sighed before looking at the dark leather pants and black shirt I’d been given.

I slipped into them without question before struggling onto my feet.

“What’s with this atmosphere?” I asked weakly as the guards grabbed my arms.

They then followed Erevu who led us out of the garden.

We arrived at the palace and I raised an eyebrow upon seeing that it was rather crowded. Many of the faces were familiar.

Lesser nobles, elders and Foph chiefs.

They and their families were sharing small bowls of what looked like gruel as they sat in dark corners.

They all stared at my tall self as I was led into the palace. I heard them mutter things about me but I didn’t care to dedicate any thought to them.

I narrowed my tired eyes as we emerged onto the courtyard on the front side of the palace where a group of twenty five men stood. Each of them clad in dark heavy armor made of thick leather and metal. They all had weapons of various made though none of their equipment looked particularly new.

In front of all of them was… Chali.

Erevu led me where Chali stood and as expected, he didn’t look at me.

“Ahem! Alright, you have your orders. I wish you luck.” Chali said while holding a certain black sword.

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He turned to face me and stared at me with his beautiful dark eyes.

His poor face had a bit of beard and his uniform was worn and rather dirty.

He walked up to me before offering me the sword.

“Aren’t you going to say hello after all this time?” I asked. My breath foul and my lips a cracked smile.

Chali simply pressed the sword onto my chest and just as I grabbed it, he walked away.

“Wow.” I sounded as Chali made his way back into the palace.

I returned my gaze to the soldiers who all marched towards the palace’s exit.

The two guards behind me shoved me forwards.

“Hey! I’m going, don’t push.” I cried before following the soldiers as they marched out of the palace.

I needed to think.

We were being sent somewhere.

Probably north

Five heads said that the war wasn’t exactly over yet.

Iana still stood, after all.

My question was why I, the prince of the Rendaro, was being sent with this group of soldiers.

I lazily dragged the dark sword while looking at lower Iana and to my surprise, the city was in a rather orderly state.

People were going about their business, trading, talking and even laughing..

They took shelter from the sun in the dark, but honestly rather beautiful buildings of Iana.

Thanks to things like space magic, the Rendaro were excellent stone masons. Almost every building was made from gigantic slabs of rock and darkness that were intricately put together to make the city.

The roads were clean and paved allowing everyone to walk without issue.

We made our way north and I could’ve sworn I heard someone call me The Black Prince.

I would’ve been more curious if the name didn’t come from a commoner.

Such gossip never really stuck as only people with power could give value to words and names.

We eventually left the pentagonal city of Iana.

I winced as the hot desert sand reflected the sun’s heat back onto my face.

“Err… any idea where we’re going?” I asked one of my guards, but the asshole didn’t say anything.

Instead, they followed me silently as we marched northward.

Part of me wanted to run away, but I would be caught as soon as I tried.

This line of thinking came from my realization that old man Erevu was trying to get rid of me.

What did mother have to say about this?

Did she even know?

That didn’t matter.

This grand betrayal technically meant that I was no longer the prince of the Rendaro.

If I could somehow escape this obvious suicide mission, I could start a new life somewhere and make new friends while experiencing new things!

.

..

After a day or so of walking, we eventually settled down to rest as the sun sunk into the horizon.

I was dizzyingly hungry and thirsty, but even then I also knew that it was too early for an escape attempt.

Everyone was still energetic and alert.

I sat by a large boulder and as expected, my guards, or more appropriately, my watchers stood next to me.

I heard the soldiers whisper my name.

They talked about how I was an evil prince who took innocent Rendaro into the palace where I’d torture them.

Others said I was a hedonistic man who took in pure Rendaro and ruined their bodies and minds.

They were both sort of correct.

Is that why the common folk called me “Black Prince”?

For some reason that title pissed me off.

I quickly noticed that black smoke was rising from my body.

The guards noticed it as well, but I waved my hands dismissively.

“Don’t worry. Think of this as magic flatulence.” I yawned.

The guards didn’t lower their guards to which I rolled my eyes.

This phenomena of unconsciously releasing darkness had become a commonality since not long after I got locked up.

I didn’t know what caused it and every time it happened, I felt as though I was sinking into a different, much darker world-

My thoughts were interrupted by commotion to the north.

Everyone gathered around something that I didn’t really care about and so I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t stop myself from overhearing the soldiers as they spoke.

“What in the world happened to you guys?”

“Silver knights! We thought we could divert their attention east or something, but they cut through our lines like we were nothing.”

“Dammit. Where are they now and did you recognize their legion?”

“They’re just below the plateau. Something must be up there because they were far more aggressive than usual.”

“And their colors?”

“They all had blue plumes on their helmets so either Wingfell or Orezbus.”

“Yep. It was definitely Wingfell.”

One of the soldiers said prompting everyone to sigh in defeat.

“Wait! Was it a single legion?”

“Yes.”

“Then we outnumber them, right?”

No one responded to the soldier's question. I could almost hear the desperation in his voice.

“Anyway, our reports stated that the Golden Prince is leading the large part of his army from a camp just above the plateau. If the Wingfell’s are vehemently defending that part of the plateau, then it might confirm that he’s at that point. The prince, I mean.”

Everyone let out hums of understanding.

“But… none of us could possibly kill the Golden Prince, right?”

“True. That’s why he’s here.”

I opened my eyes to find all of the soldiers looking at me.

I simply scoffed before closing my eyes.

As soon as they engaged in a large scale battle, I would leave them all to their fates.

Although I wouldn’t be against it if they all decided to side with me.

We could all go west in search of the Nemen, but such thoughts were beyond naïve and so I entertained them not.

Instead, I allowed myself to fall asleep, even as the screams gnawed at my mind.

.

..

The screams were gone.

I was so overjoyed by this that I quickly opened my eyes to find myself in a dark world.

It looked as though I was still in the encampment except everything was covered in darkness.

A darkness that moved and crawled across the world in an endless torrent.

I looked the north and saw a gargantuan pillar of light that stretched out far into the sky.

Next to it were other, much smaller pillars of light and even from where I sat, I could feel it’s heat.

We were marching towards whatever that thing was.

I shook my head before looking around.

It looked as though everyone was sleeping and so I got up and decided to run away.

My steps made no sound and I felt almost weightless.

I quickly realized that I was floating. My form seemingly drifted wherever I willed it to and so I willed myself far to the west.

However, the further I got from the camp, the darker the world became and I quickly found myself surrounded by ink blackness.

It was a darkness so pure and vast that my mind ached as I tried figuring out where it began and ended.

I then felt the dark world tremble.

I felt the touch of cold hands.

They crept up my naked form and eventually touched a strange object at the center of my chest.

My eyes widened and I caught a glimpse of a world beyond this dark one.

A plane beyond all of creation.

Floating in that chaotic place was a woman who’s body was illuminated by a twisted pulsating energy that moved across the dark plane.

Her legs alone covered the distance between countless starts and her colorless hair fell into the void below.

I then noticed that the woman was wounded.

A deep wound could be seen just beneath her left breast and standing on the wound were seven dark beings.

My chest ached painfully as I felt the hands around me let go.

A figure then appeared at the corner of my eye.

It looked like a man, only his skin looked like it was made from coal and his face had somehow collapsed into itself.

I then heard a whisper that sent me hurtling backwards.

I eventually struck something that shook me to my core and forced me awake.