Chapter 3- Fall into Oblivion

Alexei's body continued to fall at an incredible speed, his closed eyes opened in astonishment as he knew he should have hit the floor by now as he had been falling for about two minutes.

Unsure of what to think, he opened his eyes and noticed all he could see around him was darkness, not a single light; but complete and utter darkness. The one thing he noticed was that it started becoming increasingly hotter, he begun sweating and this was proof that he was still alive.

However he did not feel scared at all when faced with this strange phenomenon, he had already made up his mind to die when he had decided to jump off of the cliff. If anything he was completely bewildered and was even a bit excited.

'Where is this place?'

Suddenly a light flashed from below him, which immediately caught his attention  as it was the only source of light within the darkness. Alexei's falling body rapidly closed in on this light.

As the young boy continued to go closer to the light, the temperature blazed even more and a trace of worry finally worked it's way on his brows. Finally the light came within view and seemed to be a door covered in flames. Alexei instinctively braced!

"Ahh!"

*Thud*

As he uttered this cry, he didn't collide into the door as expected and instead fell plainly and gently on his butt. He opened his eyes and was completely shocked at what he saw!

A young girl about 20 years old stood before him, however she did not look human in the least. Her entire complexion was dark, she had two devilish horns poking from her head, her curvaceous body covered in black armor with golden outlines.

Her crimson colored eyes, as dark as blood were shaped like precious gems and seemed to be smiling. Her lips were red and full and would draw any man who was old enough to understand his biology excited. Above her right brow, he noticed the outline of a tattoo. It depicted something resembling an eye, only the drawing itself seemed archaic.

Seeing this weird, demon-like figure before him, Alexei pinched his cheeks wondering if he had really died and went to hell. The woman seemed to understand what he was thinking as her lips cracked into a smile.

"You're coming with me, hehe"

The dark-skinned demon-like general firmly gripped onto his hands and dragged him away before he could catch his senses or utter a single word.

Alexei looked around him as followed the girl down the corridor, he heard terrible screams and the sounds of torture filled his ears coming from the rooms on both sides of him. Strange enough Alexei felt nothing towards these horrible screams, neither fear nor pity and his only thought was about the identity of this girl who grabbed his hand.

The girl took a glance behind her and noticed Alexei's curious gaze, she let out a cold graceful laugh as her nose twitched mischievously at Alexei.

"What? You want to make me your wife?"

As she teased the tiny Alexei, his face became red and he could no longer meet her gaze. The unknown girl, lowered her head and looked at Alexei seriously as her voice became cold and she stopped smiling completely.

"Aren't you worried about where I'm taking you? Are you scared?"

Alexei shook his head, as he lifted his head up a few times and stole glances at her. The most beautiful people he had ever seen was the Queen and his eldest half sister, he had never seen someone like this who had seemed to come out from a painting and completely surpass them both.

Also the amount of attention she paid to him was also something new to him as he had never spoken to a female before. Alexei was extremely shy in the face of this girl with overpowering confidence and a magnificent aura who was older than him, yet he still calmed himself and spoke slowly in a low voice.

"I was supposed to die already and I have no where to return to, wherever you take me doesn't matter. It's your right to decide where I should go"

His reply was rather quite simple, Alexei wasn't a young man and only a boy so his thoughts never went behind her pretty complexion and they were rather pure and innocent thoughts.

The young black-armored girl seemed to be satisfied with this reply as her smile returned in full bloom and much more elegant than before.

"Good, hehe what a likeable rascal, last time I brought a kid here he wouldn't stop crying and I'm not too good at consoling kids hehe. Follow me and I will make it worth your while, I'll give you the opportunity to square off against those that wronged you and complete your vengeance"

The beautiful armored girl led him by his hand and continued to walk down the hall, suddenly Alexei curiosity couldn't be contained any longer and asked a few questions as they walked along the halls where they ignored the screams that constantly filled the air. Alexei could tell the girl didn't mind him asking questions, so he fired away.

"Miss, what is your name?"

"Hmm? Hehe, call me Ares"

"Miss Ares?....are you a God?"

"Hehe, just Ares is fine. Hmm...Well I guess you could say that"

"Ares, What's at the end of this hall?"

"Curious now are we? You'll know when we get there"

"Ares? Who are those people in the chambers that are screaming?"

"Hehe those are prisoners of war...wait....What?!"

Suddenly Ares spun around with a wild look of disbelief in her eyes.

"Child...what did you say? You...You can hear them?"

Ares asked cautiously as she gazed deep into Alexei's eyes.

"The screams from in the room...Of course I can hear them, can't you hear them too?"

Alexei's blue eyes showed a clear reflection and hadn't wavered in the slightest showing he was telling the truth. Ares looked at him for a bit and then smiled.

"Ok seems you're more attuned to the War-Realm than I thought, haha this is good! Follow me!"

Ares cheerfully quickened her pace as she tugged Alexei's hands like she would treat her younger brother. Alexei didn't know what to think, no one had ever been so intimate with him before so he couldn't help but ask-

"Why are you being so nice to me? I'm a bastard son of--"

"That doesn't matter here! Hehe, in this place you are my little brother and will always be my little brother"

Ares gave him a mischievous smile as she rustled his hair and continued walking down the halls. Suddenly a thought popped into her head that made her shiver.

'Wait...why did he only ask this now?....If he can hear the screams that means he's been hearing it since he arrived here...How did such screams not bother him? Was he too scared?'

Suddenly Ares felt a strange feeling as she turned back to look at Alexei who was looking around curiously. She felt that there was something missing in him, something that should be there but wasn't, but no matter how hard she thought about it she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

'Maybe I'm just be imagining things, I've seen his entire childhood it was sad but there were no strange events and this kid isn't a reincarnation of anything. Yet why do I get the weirdest feeling that something is fundamentally wrong with this kid?'

*Clink* *Clink*

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Ares decided to push aside the thought for now as they had finally gotten to their destination. A huge golden door stood in their way, yet with a touch of her finger tips they opened almost as if they had done so themselves. A blinding light spilled through and caught Alexei's attention as he put up his tiny hands to block the rays of light that followed through.

The noise of chatter filled the air as they entered and the door abruptly closed right after they entered.

*Doom*

The closing door made a heavy sound and the chatter abruptly stopped. When Alexei opened his eyes he noticed the entire place was like a golden forest filled with all sorts of golden trees with fruits that shined like diamonds.

In the distance and directly in front of him was a clearing with the most beautiful pond with  lively fishes that seemed almost like gems jumping up and down, Alexei stared at the fishes till something else caught his attention in the background and he lifted his gaze outward.

Right after the pond he saw a placed paved in archaic like stone tiles, this place had chairs that resembled thrones that seemed to be grown from the floor like a plant as it came directly from the Earth and were made of twigs and branches.

The branches and twigs were made of a type of material Alexei had never seen before as they glowed brightly and gave off a golden color of splendor as well as an otherworldly feel. The air here was tasty and fresh and was not polluted in the slightest by anything, Alexei couldn't help but take a few deep breaths.

This place was definitely not man-made and even young Alexei understood that much.

What was more shocking than this place, were the people who occupied these natural thrones. Some were not entirely human, some had six arms, horns, some seemed to be made from trees and some even wore divine armor and had wings on their backs like in the stories that most children had read about, Alexei included.

"A Palace...of Gods"

Alexei muttered as he gazed upon the inhabitants of this God-like world with curiosity and wonder.

*Pock*

"Ouch!"

Ares gently knocked on Alexei's head with one knuckle and showed a face of displeasure.

"Don't go fawning over other Gods! Remember your mine!"

"Yes, Yes sorry master"

*Pock*

"Ouch!"

"Don't be rude!"

"Sorry, big sister Ares"

Alexei showed a face of being wronged as he gripped his head, Ares had hit the same exact spot without even looking. Alexei didn't know why, but the second he had stepped through the door he felt an instant connection with Ares that could never be broken and his intimacy had risen with her unknowingly.

**

Back in the Isalia Kingdom,

The King Alexander stood at the edge of the cliff where Alexei had jumped, Lukias had arrived shortly after his son's death and Alexei's jump and exploded about the death of his son after leaving in a belly full of rage. He had only calmed down to some degree after hearing Alexei had jumped off and left to try and find his corpse or whatever remained of it to satisfy his anger or whatever perverted desires he needed.

It had to be said this incident had garnered quite a bit of attention and quite a few people had shown up and gossiped, the King hadn't said a single word since nor did his expression change; he merely stared at the cliff.

After a while all of the people had left except the Queen, the little Princess that slept soundly in her arms, the Prince and the eldest Princess. Their expressions however, shockingly was one filled with resentment and sadness. The opposite of what the entire Isalia Kingdom would expect.

"Little brother....I knew we waited too long...I knew it...*Sob*"

The eldest Princess had a face full of tears as she heard the news and could no longer contain her grief as she slumped down on her knees and lost her graceful composure.

The Prince's face was cold as stone and his hands seemed to be itching uncontrollably.

"Father.....the Marshall's son must die. I do not care for his business no matter how much our Kingdom needs it, his fat useless son must die and if his family resists, so should they!"

Fatty's parents were extremely well connected rich merchants who's services were depended on greatly in Isalia. This was precisely the reason why Lukias told Luwin to make the Fatty his friend, Lukias was a man of many schemes and this was simply one of them, it was no secret that Lukias wanted the crown but it was something no one spoke of.

The Queen said absolutely nothing as she covered her mouth with one of her hands and gently rocked the little girl with the other as if afraid of waking her up. Her eyes spoke of her horror as they opened wide and flowed liquid uncontrollably on the young sleeping girl.

All throughout this the King said nothing, finally as if a volcano had erupted he lifted his head to the sky and let out a terrifying howl that shook the entire forest.

Shortly afterward footsteps could be heard rushing towards the King's position, several of the guards who had came rushing over with swords drawn when Fatty had screamed for help came dashing over.

"My Lord?"

As they came over they realized the King was absolutely fine and didn't understand why he would scream in such agony.

"...Come here"

The guards meekly and obediently walked over to the King and formed a military line.

"Wait...no my Lord...what are you doing?!"

"Ahhh!!"

"Please...no!"

"Uwaa...Mommy? What's happening?"

One by one the King had thrown them off of the cliff to their deaths. Seeing the little girl wake up, the King became quiet once more and sat down gloomily on a rock as he stared at the cliff.

"....Don't worry, I swear it. Every single one of them who made you jump will join you, even if I am also one of those people. For now I'll play this game and root out all of the enemies of Isalia and all of the enemies of you my dear son and I will throw them off of this cliff to join you, otherwise I would never be able to face your mother for failing to do as I promised"

The King silently made this vow to himself as his reddened eyes peered over the cliff. Alexei had no idea that everyday this man looked at him, everyday he played in this forest his father looked over him. Everytime he had been bullied, the King looked on with a burning face but was unable to do anything.

Alexei's background was so terrifying, that he would have been killed in his sleep if it wasn't hidden careful enough. The day Alexei couldn't produce Soul Force, the King wasn't disappointed; he was heart-broken.

He had wanted Alexei to one day be able to have the power to break his shackles and get rid of his name as trash without revealing his background. When Alexei failed to produce Soul Force, Alexander was heart broken because he knew his son would have to endure more.

There were too many spies in Isalia that worked for his enemies for him to reveal any chinks in his armor. Were he to reveal affection for Alexei while they were alone but treat him indifferently when others were around, eventually someone would figure it out.

He couldn't be sure that a servant or a guard would not see these abnormalities. He had to take all things into consideration, but this was the only way to keep his son safe. His son who's identity could cause a war between several great Kingdoms and even make the Imperial Kingdom antsy.

It had become obvious at this point, that Alexei seemed to have a terrifying background which had to be concealed at all costs.