On the Alzard World, there was a place that was a wasteland and it was located in a region that was far away from any kind of danger. For many years, it remained unhabituated due to the great distance between each city on the planet and the wasteland and the people ruled that place off as something that was too far away. However, on that day, that place finally became useful when an entire city, with its people, suddenly appeared out of thin air.
Everyone in the area was shocked by the unfamiliar scenery that greeted them when the glowing light dimmed and disappeared. They were in a place they did not recognise, and had no idea where in the world they were. Ram, his wife, and his companions were staring around with amazement on their faces at the fact that they and their city got moved.
“Wow…!” Ram said in awe, looking around with his mouth open a little.
“Where are we?” Aimi asked, voicing the question running through most of their minds.
Lakshman was breathing quickly from the exhaustion, but he smiled at them and said, “We’re safe.”
Suddenly, his eyes widened with shock as a sudden spasm in his body made him feel as though his insides were on fire. He cried out in pain, startling everyone nearby and causing them to turn to face with worried looks on their faces as he collapsed to the ground, clutching his arm and leg as they hurt the most.
“Lucky!” Ram exclaimed, moving forward and leaning in front of him. “What’s wrong?!”
Lakshman shook his head, unable to speak from the pain stinging at his senses and making him feel like his body was going to explode. His arm felt like it might get ripped apart, and his leg was twitching as he experienced a pain he had never felt before, a pain so severe that it threatened to make him pass out.
“I warned you!” The fairy inside his head said in a voice filled with concern. “You’re the idiot that laughed it off saying you can handle it! Now look at yourself! Your body is at the breaking point from overstressing it!”
Through the pain, Lakshman managed to exclaimed, “D-Damn…! I had… no idea…!”
“No idea about what?” Ram asked, feeling worried and confused as he did not understand what Lakshman meant by his words.
Lakshman simply shook his head as he suddenly widened his eyes from the pain and moaned. He wanted to scream as loudly as he could to relieve the pain, but he was a person with a strong will and that made him refuse to accept it. Soon, it did not matter whether he accepted it or not because he suddenly felt a strange sensation as if he was floating.
Before he got knocked out by the pain, he managed to smile weakly and mutter, “I really… overdid it this time,” before falling face down on the ground.
“Lucky!” Ram and Aimi shouted in unison, alarmed at him suddenly collapsing completely.
Before he lost consciousness, he heard Ram shouting, “Quickly! Get a stretcher or something!” before he closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
***
“Ah!” Raze cried out in pain as she was shoved through an open door, and she stumbled before falling and collapsing on the ground.
“Dammit!” Santa shouted, being responsible for shoving her in the first place as he marched into the room with a heated faced. “You’ve really gone and done it this time, you stupid little—!”
“That’s enough, Santa!” Exclaimed his elder brother, Bolten with a serious expression on his face, who went into the room after his younger brother. “You’ll hurt her.”
“More than she hurt us?!” Santa retorted, glaring angrily at the figure crouching on the floor. As Bolten hurried forward to check on Raze, while the second prince continued to shout, “This woman has brought us to this situation, brother! First causing the death of our mother, and now hanging out with that goddamn hero even though we specifically told her to not make any interaction with anyone?!”
“Relax, Santa,” said a calm voice from the doorway, and they turned to see their father, the king entered the room. “Nothing bad came out of this. In fact, I should call it a blessing since we managed to throw that man out of this castle.”
His son snorted and replied, “Maybe, father, but he did so after publicly humiliating us!”
The king nodded with a cold look forming on his face as he looked down at the girl crouched on the ground and asked, “Do you have any idea of the trouble you almost caused us?”
“Yeah!” Santa shouted, rounding on her with an angry face. “Going out at night to spend time with that hero? Bringing monsters into this world? Have you forgotten the gratitude you owe us for sparing your life when you caused us so much misery, you worthless piece of ungrateful—!”
“Santa!” Bolten shouted, cutting him off as he glared up at him. “Wach your tongue! She’s your sister!”
“I have no sister!” Santa retorted, his eyes flashing dangerously and making Bolten to look alarmed. He pointed at Raze and said, “This thing is the reason that mother fell sick, and she’s the reason that we don’t have a mother with us now, brother! And yet, you still try and defend this… this…?!”
Santa was at a loss for words as his rage made him momentarily lose his chain of thoughts. At that moment, the king laid a gentle hand down on his son’s shoulder and made him look up at him.
“Calm yourself, Santa. It’s not right for a prince to become so enraged over something like this. It’s undignified,” the king said calmly.
His words made Santa realise the problem about his behaviour, and it made him calm down before saying, “Sorry, father. I lost my temper for a moment there.”
“It’s good that you regained your composure,” remarked his father with a smile and gently rubbed his hair. Then he turned towards Raze and said, “It is, however, unforgivable by ignoring our sympathy and mercy by getting alongside the man that we viewed as a threat to us. Were you, perhaps, hoping for him to free you or something even though we gave more freedom than a thing like you deserve?”
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Raze gasped in shock and went to say, “No, fath—!”
She suddenly stopped and gulped with fright when she sensed a dangerous aura emanating from him. His eyes became sharp, and his gaze became as icy as the sharp side of a blade. For a moment, she felt as though if she were to finish the word, she would be forfeiting her life.
“Father!” Bolten exclaimed, looking angrily at his father and causing him to look at him. “Drop your anger! It’s not good to behold.”
“Then remind that thing over there what her manners should be when facing me,” stated his father in a cold voice that saddened the first prince. Then he turned back to face the masked girl and said, “You seem to have forgotten that my wife died because she made a prophecy about your ungrateful life, and due to that, her life was cut short. For all I care, I should’ve executed you when I found out but…” and he narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists tightly.
“Father,” said Bolten as he tried to reason with him. “Mother’s death was an inevitable cause due to the fact that her ability was draining the life out of her. There was nothing anybody could’ve done for her at that time. Even Alestor said the same.”
His father became unimpressed when he heard that man’s name and waved his hand aside as if disregarding the man.
“Alestor is a man that lives by old fashioned laws and outdated principles, nothing that would be of use in today’s society,” the king said coldly.
“Is that why you’re slowly shifting his authorities away from him and onto other departments despite him being the minister?” Bolten demanded with a sharp expression on his face.
The king looked at him and replied, “When you are faced with a prickly cactus, you must slowly pluck away the thorns to gradually reduce the damage and not be found out. That’s what I’m doing here, chipping away at the authority he has over many things in order to reduce the risk of him turning against the royal family.”
“You mean against you, right?” Bolten asked, and the adult male simply shrugged indifferently. “Please think about your actions, father,” the first prince implored his father urgently imploringly, “because turning that man away will result in a negative outcome for you and our lineage.”
“You’re wrong, Bolten,” said the king, narrowing his eyebrows as he looked seriously at his son. “You are the one being naïve in trusting that person. I’ve known him all these years, and after everything I’ve been through, I realised that he is living in his own fantasy world while I’m facing reality.” Then he smiled softly and said, “As you grow older and mature by experiencing many things, you’ll come to realise that I am correct.”
The first prince remained silent as he did not know how to voice his objection to that. However, he did look sadly at his father, at the man he had transformed into. He remembered when there was a time when his father was smiling more often and had a good time with his family while easily dealing with the royal matters, but things changed when his wife passed away and he began to act crudely and hating his only daughter as being the reason for his wife’s death.
Seeing the state of the family’s relationships, Raze wept silently behind her mask so that none of them would notice. She felt sorry for everything that had happened, and she felt frustrated at herself for not living up the standards set for her by her father.
“Father,” said Santa from beside him. “That thing can’t go unpunished for the trouble it nearly caused us!”
His words instantly made her widen her eyes, she became so shocked and scared for her life, causing her body to shake in response. Bolten noticed this and gripped her hand firmly to reassure her that he would protect her from such a predicament. However, before he could oppose to his brother’s suggestion, the king expressed his intentions.
“No, son. Though it may be hard to swallow, she is indeed born from the same mother that gave birth to you. So, if we hurt that thing, it’ll be like hurting your mother, and that’s something I cannot allow,” the king said, and his eyes flashed dangerously and made his son gulp in fright. He turned to face the girl and said in a cold voice, “From now on, I am issuing the order to place this thing under house arrest until I’ve given further orders.”
“Father!” Bolten exclaimed, feeling shocked by his declaration and rose to his feet to oppose him. “This isn’t the right thing to do! Please think about this!”
“That is something I should’ve done right from the beginning,” replied is father in a cold voice, “but I was merciful and gave her the chance to go out and meet people. However, she misused it and ended up almost dragging our name into the mud because of her close interaction with the Solaris Hero. So, you can see why I don’t want a repeat of that, can you my son?”
“Yes,” replied Bolten with a nod of his head, understanding fairly well what his father meant, but he still disliked the thought of having to lock up his sister in this room like a bird locked up in a cage.
“Now then, I’ve wasted enough time here. Let’s go, Santa,” the king said, and he turned away to leave.
As the king left the room, the second prince looked back angrily at the crouching figure of the girl before following after his father, leaving behind Bolten and Raze.
The first prince looked at the girl that was shaking slightly from the scary encounter and patted her gently on the back. Unlike them, he cherished her, but even he could do nothing against his father’s wishes. That was why he was only able to defend her this much despite wanting to protect her even more.
Her brother looked at her and asked in a quiet voice, “Did you come to like him?”
Raze was surprised by his suddenly question and stammered, “I… I… Um…”
“It’s okay if you can’t answer just yet,” replied Bolten with a smile, putting his head gently on top of his sister’s head. “I too think he is a good man, so it’s a real pity that he is now our enemy.”
“H-He’s not evil,” said Raze quickly, mustering up her courage to support Lakshman. “He… He’s a… He’s…”
As she struggled for words to describe the kind of wonderful person that Lakshman was, Bolten chuckled and rubbed her head gently while saying, “It’s alright. I know, and I also agree. He is truly a man that is out of this world. Probably because he came from another world,” he finished and smiled wryly.
Raze turned to look at him with her mask covering her face and said, “I’m sorry for causing you trouble. I’m always the reason you get… scolded by… by…”
As she faltered with the drawback of being unable to call her parent appropriately, her brother nodded in understanding and said, “It’s okay. Besides, I don’t see any fault in your actions when you’ve fallen for a really good man. It’s just a pity that he’s already married.”
She did not say anything to that and merely nodded her head in agreement.
Bolten sighed and stood up from the sitting position and said, “Anyway, I best get going before I draw too much attention from the guards.”
He looked down at his sister and sadly smiled at her, feeling helpless to do anything for her. Sensing his frustration, she attempted to look cheerful and raised her fists in a fighting spirit gesture.
“Do your best!” She said confidently.
He laughed and said, “Thanks,” and waved goodbye at her before leaving the room and closing the door behind.
Once the door shut, Raze dropped her high spirit, and her shoulders slumped in sadness by the situation she was in. When she looked out of the window, she saw the bright light streaming through it and felt warmth from it, making her feel a little better. It made her remember the battle that Lakshman went through and the many injuries he sustained during his bout against the Royal Guards when they tried to apprehend him.
So, she put her hands together and prayed to the gods, “Oh divine ones, please shield the hero and lead him to success.”
Raze was unsure whether her prayer will get answered or not, but she still wanted it to come true. She had no idea that her prayer was heard by a most unexpected person, an entity that was widely known as the God of Energy, Engraut.
Engraut, upon hearing the prayer and realising it was about Lakshman, he smiled and said, “Right. Time to make that come true.”
In an instant, his body began to glow dimly before particles of light extracted from him, which took the shape of butterfly. Soon, his body was gone and was replaced by many butterflies and flew through the dimensions separating the Physical Plane and the God Plane to reach the place Lakshman was at, sleeping soundly from exhaustion.