Back in the human kingdom.
“Is it ready” Sitting on a golden throne, a grey haired middle age man with a short beard in black light armour twiddled the several rings on his fingers. On his neck a silver necklace shone with a light radiance. He exuded an aura of calmness as his eyes shone with a serene yet dangerous light.
Below the throne, the figure of a man in a dark green robe could be seen. The man was quite young, at least not above 30. He had short brown hair and brown eyes. Besides the green robe, there was nothing about him that stood out.
“Yes your majesty. We can begin the ceremony as soon as you give the order.” Keeping his head bowed, he gave off a subservient attitude.
Tapping his fingers rhythmically on the armrest the king sat in silence…
“Use my eldest.”
“YOUR MAJESTY.” Panicking, the green robed man instinctively raised his head. When he looked up he was met with the cold unmoving eyes of his king.
“Use my eldest.” Repeating himself once more the king looked down on his servant.
Lowering his head, a cold chill ran down his spine. “Y-yes your majesty.” Feeling the invisible hand around his throat slowly loosened its grip a breath of relief escaped his mouth.
“Leave”
Standing up and bowing, the green robed man left the throne room.
Watching him leave, the king spoke. “What are your thoughts?”
In the empty throne room a voice that only the king could hear whispered into his ears “$!@%^@”
“I see…proceed.” Sitting alone inside the throne room, the king felt the presence leave.
…
Inside an unknown location a group of people in black hooded robes stood around a black altar. Atop the altar laid a silver haired young man in his 20s wrapped in chains. Standing by his side was a beautiful teenage girl with long silver hair.
"You don’t have to be the one to do this, Emilia." The green robed man from the throne room now dressed in black spoke to the young woman with a caring tone.
"I know...but, he’s my brother." She said with a hardened expression.
*Sigh* " Very well, just remember… everything done tonight if for the glory of Alswin." As the conversation ended, the several figures in black robes moved closer to the altar, chanting in a strange language.
"Emilia...Nathaniel...what’s going on? Why am I in chains?" Still drowsy due the drugs he’d been given, the young prince spoke in a confused voice as he tried to move his chained up body.
Rubbing his forehead gently, Emilia gave him the bravest smile she could muster. "Just think about the kingdom Julius. Remember all the places we visited when we were young, remember the time you brought me that golden bracelet from that tacky jewellery shop and cried when you found out it wasn’t real gold" Soothing her brother’s restless mind, Emilia slowly stepped back as his eyes entered a trance.
“Remarkable…is that the power of mental energy.” Muttering to himself, Nathaniel didn’t realise Emilia looking at him
"Give me ceremonial dagger." She ordered.
Snapping out of his stupor he quickly handed her a silver S shaped dagger covered in runic symbols.
“Emilia…” looking at his sister’s face, a sudden flow of tears poured down his face.
"Julius...just think about the kingdom. Only the kingdom , everything else is but a dream" Looking at her brother, the look of sadness covered her face as she was close to tears.
Raising the dagger above his forehead, she slowly carved a symbol into his flesh, similar to the ones on the dagger.
Although the drugs were there to dull the pain, the look on her brother’s face told her everything. Moving the dagger to his chest, she began carving a similar symbol.
By this point, several tears had already stained her face as she felt a hand land on her shoulder.
“Emilia…its time.” Knowing how hard this was for her, Nathaniel couldn’t help but admire her resolve.
Placing the dagger down with shaky hands, she raised her hands slowly and began speaking. “Oh God of all, I offer onto you a humble vessel of 20 years, raised in peace and ignorance, we ask of you to gift us the law of darkness, in return we give you Julius, PRINCE OF ALSWIN!!”
The room began to shake erratically as the robed individuals all began to breathe heavily. Julius’s body began spasming, his once silver hair turned pitch black, while his dull eyes began to glow with a dark light. A dark mist crawled out of his mouth and spread across the whole room covering everything in darkness.
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“Aaaaaaahhhhhh!!” Suddenly Julius’s pained voice pierced through the darkness.
…
Inside the throne room, the king opened his eyes with an emotionless expression. Looking at the silver broad sword on his right, he remembered the story of how the entities of Giland found peace after driving off the invaders.
…
Back inside the room.
Waking up from what seemed to be a deep slumber. Princess Emilia forced herself to stand. Looking around the room, she saw the unconscious bodies of Nathaniel and the others laying quietly on the ground. Stumbling towards the altar, she was surprised to find her brother’s body missing. “Where is he?” As if it took all her energy to talk, she felt her voice sound weak and hoarse.
*SNAP*
Looking behind the figure of Nathaniel and the others waking up came into view. When he saw Emilia awake before him, he rushed to her side, but fell before he could make it.
*Thump*
“Ergh”
Seeing his pathetic visage, she looked away from him in disgust. While looking around the room something suddenly caught her eye. Behind the robed individuals stood a black haired young man covered in runic symbols. His eyes were pure black and pupil less with no trace of light reflecting off them. “B-Brother!”
As if shaken awake Julius slowly looked towards his sister with little to no emotion visible on his face.
“Julius?” Slowly approaching the young man, Emilia once again called out to him.
“That is not my name.” What came out from his mouth was not the voice of her beloved big brother. Instead it was a deep cold voice that didn’t have the slightest trace of warmth.
Watching this spectacle Nathaniel finally managed to get back on his feet without falling. All the other robed individuals looked at Julius like he was a god and prostrated before him. “We greet the vessel” said in union with a sense of reverence.
Looking at them lower themselves before him, all he could say was “That is not my name.”
Seeing that the situation was a bit weird, Nathaniel itched his way closer to Emilia. But to his dismay, her attention was solely on Julius.
When he looked at Julius all he felt was a very lonely aura emanating from him. It was like only he could exist in a place where nothing else could. Like an infinite hole that is unable to ever be filled.
“That is not my name.”
After hearing that sentence for the 6th time, he finally decided to ask him the question on everyone’s mind. “Excuse me for asking but what is your name?”
Turning his head towards Nathaniel, a cold chill suddenly engulfed the room. “Cereno”
…
The next day.
Emilia and Nathaniel were granted an audience with the king to explain if the ritual was a success or not.
After explaining all the details to the king, they stood in silence with their heads bowed waiting for his judgement.
“He referred to himself as Cereno?”
“Yes your majesty.” Without raising his head, Nathaniel answered the king.
“Does he remember his life as Julius?”
“He does. But…he seems to view Julius as a different person from himself.”
“I see…is he capable of what we hoped?”
“T-That is erm- it seems he’s unable to use any other laws besides darkness. From what we could understand it seems that when we performed the ritual instead of giving Julius the ability to use the law of darkness we instead forced him to sever his connection with every other law except darkness.”
-Silence
“Where is he?” Breaking the silence, the king finally spoke.
“He’s in his room.”
“What is doing in there?”
“He’s looking out the window.”
“Is he planning to escape?”
“W-We don’t think so! I-I mean we think its because of the last words Julius heard from princess Emilia before the ritual was completed.”
“Last words?” Looking towards his daughter, his gaze contained no love a parent would have for their child.”
Feeling her father’s gaze, her body shuddered before she answered. I-I said to think about the kingdom.”
“I see.”
Feeling her father move his gaze away a small sense of relief washed over her.
“You may leave.”
Bowing towards the king, the both of them took their leave.
Once again the king spoke to the empty throne room. “What do you think?”
“@&$!!@$”
“Hmm”
“@@$!&!$@”
“I’ll confirm it myself.”
…
Inside a spacious room, the image of a black haired young man staring out at the kingdom would leave people breathless. The aura surrounding him reeked of loneliness. Coupled with his elegant sitting posture and the picture perfect scenery, it could be described as a beautiful moment.
Walking into the room the king saw this image and for a second a look of appreciation flashed across his eyes.
“Cereno”
Hearing his name being called, the black haired youth turned to meet the king. When the king saw his pupil less black eyes, a feeling of loneliness washed over him before vanishing. “Are you my son?” not wanting to beat around the bush, the king got straight to the point.
“Yes.” Without any hesitation Cereno answered in his usual cold voice.
“Do you hate me for what I did to you?” this was one of the major questions the king needed an answer to. If Cereno held a grudge against him, then he would need to be disposed of quickly.
“I feel nothing”
“I see” for some reason that answer didn’t sit right with the king. “Why do you refer to yourself as Cereno?”
“That is my name.” Answering as if it was obvious no expression was seen on his face.
“What about Julius?” Although the king didn’t really care about his son, any father would feel at least a little curious about what the children did.
“Julius is a name that no longer fits what I am.”
“And what is that.”
“I don’t know…but the name feels right.”
“I see. Do you know why we did the ritual?”
“Yes”
“Do you resent me for it.”
“If I was Julius I would.”
“As Cereno?”
“I feel nothing.”
-Silence
For the first time in his life the king felt like he was the ‘talkative one’. This son of his answered the bare minimum and never expressed himself. In the king’s mind, his current son resembled him a lot more than he used to. Minus the black hair of course.
Feeling like he was getting off topic he tried to steer the conversation back on track. “What do you plan to do now?”
“I do not know.”
“Do you plan to inherit the throne?”
“The throne is meaningless.”
Meaningless? “What if I told you that soon something big will happen on the continent, what would you say.”
“I do not care.” As usual his voice was emotionless but that only lead to the king finding it harder for him to interact with his son.
“Do you know how to use your new abilities?”
Looking at his father in the eyes, Cereno tried to guess what he was thinking before he answered with a simple “No.”
Seeing as how his son no longer cared for throne or anything else. The king thought of an idea to get the maximum usage out of his son.
“Son, since you have no goal of your own, then I will provide you with one. From now on your only goal is to become an archmage. I will you a private tutor, and from tomorrow on you shall attend his class, understood.
Nodding in acknowledgement, Cereno didn’t really care about becoming an arch mage or not. But it was true that currently his life had no direction, so it wouldn’t hurt to follow his father’s wishes.