Everyone turned toward the huge wall of the compound, struck by the huge beast that Miron's power had finally destroyed completely. The sound of the impact became dangerously loud. The janitor, who had still survived the magical shot, reddened with Sirkol's fury, had assigned himself one last mission before taking his last breath. Slumped on the cold floor, he wore a comical and triumphant expression on his face... He was going to finish the job of the crushed beast.

"Shit, I'm totally screwed, I finally recognize that, and it's all because of you Miron, again and forever. So I'm going to make sure this is your only chance to escape from here, you brat."

And after a single blow that he delivered with his final few forces, the wall shattered with a deafening noise, its debris flying everywhere and shattering everything it touched, and taking the janitor with it, forever.

As the janitor hovered in the air, his body slowly degenerating under the disastrous effects of this dark magic that he had neither the strength nor the courage to defy, he remembered his past, the boy he was, before landing in this sordid place where only hope and freedom belonged to the strongest, and that he never became.

He had spent his childhood in the kingdom of Orios, also known as the kingdom of oblivion. As an only son, he was loved, pampered, spoiled by his parents and constantly got everything he wanted from them or from others, and especially from his wonderful nanny, so beautiful, so kind who smiled at him all the time, always bringing him chocolate cookies on the sly, and told him every night before going to sleep, incredible tales of adventures, such as that of the prince of the blood Vahejul, the prince of the winged Jeugolk or the prince of the sun, Ashellion, who left for a long sleep that seemed to be thousands of years old and that nothing, it seemed, was capable of bringing him out of it.

He was beautiful, happy, his whole life was bright as sun.

He saw his future filled with light and abundance, and did not imagine for a moment that it could be otherwise. But but sadly for him, fate and evil lurked in every corner of the world.

His ignorance, his naivety, his weakness prevented him from seeing the coming darkness and the deadly spells that would take away his beloved mother. And who believed, him less than anyone else, that it was his sublime and so kind nanny that he loved more than anything, right after his dear mother, the source of all this irreparable mess.

Since that day, he has understood that he has lost his clarity and innocence.

His father, in his despair, married the nanny who was almost as beautiful as his mother, but who was actually as bad as his mother was good. What a joy and relief it had been for her to finally shed her mask of deceitful goodness and reveal her true face, so twisted and ambitious, similar in every way to Kirniela's.

To take revenge for all the time she had to spend being what she was not, she tortured her former little master, now her son-in-law, every day with vigor, without anyone defending him, be it his father, his family or even himself. The worst thing is that this constant and cruel torture ended up atrophying his muscles and making him crippled.

And when this disgusting woman was expecting her first child, she resolved to chase him out of their lives for good by throwing him into the river of oblivion, but not forgetting to whisper to him the worst thing he would ever hear in his life.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"You know what, my little orphan, it was me who killed your beloved mother. I poisoned her slowly, gently, until finally her illness was detected, there was nothing more to be done for her. I think she finally understood what was really happening to her and who was responsible, but her generous nature, which was simply unbearable for me, prevented her from accusing me openly. So she just let herself die like that. Simply pathetic!"

She let out an unbearable, mocking chuckle.

"What a klutz your mother was, my little one. And you, dirty child, wherever you go, you will inevitably suffer the same fate as her while your father and I will have a good life where all traces of your existence will be erased forever. Goodbye my little Ruby Prince."

That was the nickname she had given him in the days when she was still a nanny who served him with a clear face and a black hidden heart, and he was a wealthy young prince who saw only what he wished to see, and where they loved each other deeply in the illusion she had so skillfully and frighteningly woven all around them.

The young boy shook his head, overcome with grief and frustration, biting his lip until it bled, not knowing what to do or what to believe in, but soon he was able to think despite his grief and his hopeless situation. If he really had to end his life of yesteryear like this, his life of wonderful clarity and laughter gone with his beloved mother, then he would end it taking with him the person responsible for all this evil. His father will never understand what his pain was, but he will understand what an endless loneliness was. So, with his final strength, he clutched at the beastly and so hideous woman, returned her demented gaze and her fiendish sneer, and tipped them together into the river of Orios, the river that gave the city its name, where everything that fell into it, being or thing, by will or not, faded into the memory of all that had known them.

"You may have succeeded in taking the life of my mother whom I loved so much and who represented my existence, you repulsive creature, just as you succeeded in extinguishing any affection my cowardly father ever had for me, and for which in the end I care nothing more. But I'll make sure at this very moment when everything is decided for me that these will be the only victories you will ever achieve. It's so ironic, isn't it? That you yourself with all your perfidy raised the person who would become the source of your downfall. Farewell, dear Ivory Nurse."

He returned with a fierce sneer the nickname with which he had always called her with a joy and tenderness as false as the now cracked skin of his mother-in-law, and which had long since dissipated with the tragedy.

The forgotten young boy did not know if his hated mother-in-law also managed to get out of the watery veils of this unforgiving holy water, but he did. After days and moments of agony, he finally emerged from the sacred waters, only to take on an even more tragic fate of his own. And anyway, the wounds will never heal.

Starving, he tried to find work anywhere, but broken and crippled as he was, without much magical power, no one wanted him. Only Sirkol wanted to give him a chance, one more desperate and destitute minion, not worth much, was perfect for him.

He taught him how to use children for his entertainment, and restrained him with a sealing spell so he would never leave Athok.

"Ah," he said, closing his eyes slowly and inexorably, "if I had been like you Miron, or at least approached you in the right way and given you the chance to save us, then maybe..."

He let out a short sob.

He thought he would leave as alone as he had been all his life. But he was wrong. The last thing he saw of this existence so unfair and damaged on all sides was Miron looking him straight in the eyes and, yes, smiling at him, with in his gaze so imperious and clear, some words that he had never heard in his life, even on Orios and that he had nevertheless wished to hear even once since the moment when this hideous woman had entered his life and had destroyed it from top to bottom. Wonderful words.

"You better survive, and spark until you burn out the stars, you filthy beautiful child."

"Thank you for what you did. In the end, it was good that you lived. Sleep in peace, Orton."