1 Chapter 1 : the book with the name of fate

With closed eyes and rhythmic audible breathing , he stayed in his bed remembering his life , of course not all of his seventeen years old life even if he wanted he won't be able to do it , only the last three years that was worth mentioning from the moment he abandoned his old life as a prince in a little kingdom , correctly from the moment his life as a prince abandoned him

He was holding a maid's hand in that moment as she accompanied him to his room after a long tiring day , he didn't know how , but a deep surge of power circled in his body giving him a brilliant feeling he never felt before wiping out his tiredness , despite it was gloomy and cold in its own way but it was refreshing as the first beams of early morning , the next moment the maid was on the ground , pale and frightened , as if life was sucked from her , the maid looked at him as if he was a demon from hell , her eyes dimming with a reflex of death

In two days , he was standing before his lonely father the king as he looked at him with anxiousness not abhorrence , the king already lost his queen and he was about to lose his son

A beautiful young woman in a grey silver hood was inspecting him searching through his blue eyes with her light brown eyes , smiling as if looking at a beutiful scene not a damned boy , she said smiling " he is indeed a necromancer , your majesty , I feel a dark seed implanted deep within his meridian "

The king face turned gloomy but the smile didn't fade from the woman's face

She continued " I will take him as a student until he can control his mana , and you won't risk being burnt and your whole royal family by the holy church "

The king gulped and the prince took a last glimpse at his older sister and lived on the roads with this woman living as a traveller , sleeping as a beggar but still eating as a prince , that was her way to live and he didn't mind it

The woman was really kind as a mother , lovely and smiling as a lover , teasing and laughing as a sister , he accepted her as the first , a mother of course , she was a way too older than him , a way too caring for him as a lost son

Her name was rita , She helped him to control his power not to conceal it but to increase his control of it , she told him that his power was a part of the necromancer's abilities , it was called * absorption * the power to replenish mana , an advanced technique even empror's level necromancers wish it in their dreams and even legendary sages can't have it easily

She taught him until he could easily absorb mana from the air not only from animals but she told that absorbing mana from the living like little rabbits and that poor maid or solids like air wasn't the purpose of his power , and even if he trained for the rest of his life he won't gain even the power level of master in this world

He already knew the power leveling from the weakest it starts with 'beginner' then 'master' , 'lord' , 'king' , 'emperor' and then the peak of the warriors 'sages' , and lastly the few people ruling this world , hegemonic kings

already every one is a beginner so master level is very pitiful

She said that the *absorption* is meant to borrow the power of the dead as they no longer need it , and when he asked her why specifically the dead , she simply replied he was a necromancer after all

While raising him he loved her even though it was only a three years even if she was a stranger that took him from his family instead of hiding in the palace , because he didn't have a mother as she died while giving him life and he had a feeling that he was the reason of her death

he remembered all of this and wondered why his mind chose to replay all theses memories today , maybe today was a gloomy one , but the reality was very far from his wildest guesses

He opened his eyes , today he wasn't asleep on the streets not only today but since a week , rita his master stayed with him in this poor hotel

A bed was indeed better that the cold streets even if dirty and smelly as this one was , he slept alot these past days and maybe that what caused the spurting memories

He looked around until his eyes caught something wasn't there before , a book beside him with the name of ' fate ' on its brown leathern cover , he opened it to find only five papers made of white leather sewed in some manner

The first two pages was a complete map , it was a map of two adjacent empires and few free kingdoms around it , a red line was drawn and four big red dots was marked on its curved way

He knew maps well as she taught him everything she knew about maps , the two empires was Toronto empire and Atlanta empire , the first dot marking the beginning of the line was the city they settled in six days ago in Toronto empire and the last dot was his kingdom Hampton , one of empire Atlanta's subsidiary kingdoms , he already guessed that she wanted him to return to his family to be a prince again

He flipped the paper and found writing

"" sorry Arthur I have to leave because I have to take revenge for a dead family member , I never told you this because I didn't want you to have another burden,

a knight Called captain Phillips from the holy church killed my lover , I really loved living with you but the smile I showed every day was eroding my heart like a rusty iron knowing that this man was still alive smiling somewhere too while my husband was burnt as a necromancer

he wasn't , he pretended to be to protect me the real necromancer , I realize that I won't survive , I realize I had a little chance of killing that bastard , but revenge is blind as they say , I felt like my heart was boiling all these years as if a rock from hell settled inside it , I had to relieve it even if by suicide trying to kill that bastard

I had to contain my anger to draw your future so you won't die seeking your revenge like the dummy me , you will realize what I mean soon my little Arthur , ...""

The young man was shocked to his core , he didn't know when but he start crying heavily like rain in a stormy day , his tears fell to the paper until her dry tears became wet again like a fertile watered soil , when he could finally see through the curtain of his tears he continued

"" So , first keep the book for its map , I already paid for the room , so don't worry , there is large pouch contains a few coins and some tools under the bed , keep it for your journey, I know you already realized that the line I drew isn't the best option or the easiest way to return to your kingdom but you have to get stronger Arthur , or you won't be able to survive you won't be able to make the rest of you kingdom survive,... "" the sobbing Arthur stopped here , what did she mean by the rest of his kingdom , did something happened and she didn't tell him

"" The dummy me forgot to ask you if you can ride a horse or not , so I bought you a horse anyway , when you finish reading , go ask lady Susannah for it , ..."" the boy continued reading the astonishing and horrifying facts she mentioned then he wore his hooded grey robe and packed his book and some of his belongings in another pouch , he had to see something for himself even if it would crush his heart with a damned sword from the depth of hell and bury it deep beneath the wells of sorrow

he rode the light brown horse she bought from him and trotted through the old street , he already knew how to ride a horse , his father's groom taught him well , and despite he didn't ride a horse for three full years it would not be a problem

This old street was a part of the old district of the city , with semi ruined buildings and garbage everywhere , beggars sat on both sides of the street with shabby clothes , this part of the city was so poor that the normal citizens wore patchy clothes making his old hooded dirty grey robe seemed luxurious in their eyes

he appeared in the center of the city after twenty minutes of riding the light brown horse

He kept an idea in his mind that he might somehow save her even if it meant his death , he didn't know why but ten minutes ago he already felt pessimistic as an ominous feeling enveloped his heart and tears began silding on his reddened cheeks again

He was on the verge of collapsing even if he didn't reach the center yet , and when he reached the center , he collapsed , if someone of all these many people looked at him , he would mistake his handsome young face for a dried corpse

Pale with red eyes , his whinnied crying and his rolling tears ceased as if informing him that his sadness was too much to be relieved by a few fragile tears

Gloominess filled his eyes after drowning his heart , cheers filled the square of the center of the city as if all these aggregated people were drown by booze

And as these opposite emotions appeared in the square , another type filled the stage in the center , flames of anger and pity with fumes of death rising to the horizon

The black ominous smoke rose from one of the pillars on the stage and revealed an already known fact to the cheering people , the witch with the black aura was burnt to the ash , leaving only a black malicious dirt that would be refined by the holy water then buried deep in the ground of the local holy church in the city

A burly blonde middle aged man stood at the very front of the stage , with huge recent wet bloodied oblique wound occupying the lenght of his face from his right nose to his left cheek passing by his nose splitting it into two halves

He wore a full silver shinny armor with a coiled thin dragon carved on its chest and red cape fluttering in the wind like a flag behind it with a black cross drawn on it emphasizing that he was a knight from the holy church

And as the wound distorted his handsome face , his anger curled his face pulling the two sharp edges of the large wound apart to the verge of showing the flesh and bones beneath

Anxious priests wearing white hooded robes with golden crosses drawn on their chests stood behind him trying to convince him to start healing his disfiguring wound

The knight shouted in angry solemn tone spreading silence and fear across the square " this heretic witch is accused of killing priest nash of the local church and trying to kill me I knight captain Phillips , also accused of being an evil necromancer with a gloomy soul so in the name of the local church of 'byzinit' city , she should be burnt again and again in the depth of hell "

And as the knight's voice buzzed through Arthur's ear and the cheers filled square again , the next sentences of the book of fate resonated in his mind

"" if you heard my screams travelling through the fire in the square , or if you saw my frightened bloody face and trembling body tied on the pillar with pity in your eyes , I am not asking for mercy or help , fire is just too much to handle even if it was mere thoughts in the brain of the most merciless beings of the world , and as death is all the help I wanted don't try to save me , just run . run my prince to revive your kingdom from the ton of ashes it is buried within , and if that bastard was still alive , memorize his face for me until you are powerful enough , avenge me and don't risk your life ""

Arthur turned away and left the square after he painted the knight face in his memories , the horse rode slowly with quiet paces feeling the sadness of its master and implying an imaginary shield of hiding void around them , no audible sound came from both the horse and its master travelling through the street like a slow current of water , everyone evaded them yet no one paid an attention for the gloomy silent pair