2 The Bastard Son II

The nation of Fiore is composed of citizens that descend from four main ethnicities.

The Nordish originate from Norden, the northern region.

They are pale-skinned and usually either had blond or dark brown hair. They also usually inherit green, blue or, in rare cases, purple eyes. The Nordish are stereotypically tall due to their genetics and diet. They are the most populous ethnicity in Medina, the central region of Fiore, known as the melting pot of Fiore since all four ethnicities mix here. One-third of all Furian Chancellors have been of Nordish origin.

The Kulonians originate from Kulon, the western region.

Kulonians are one of the two dark-skinned ethnicities of Fiore. They have unique curly textured hair that's usually worn in various hairstyles unique to their culture. People of this ethnicity are typically born with red, gold or red-gold heterochromatic eyes. The Kulonians are a culture divided by tribes that run similar to businesses. Each tribe has its own territory and an army of loyal families under their command, but they each specialize in different industries. Another thing unique to them is their communication manner, a combination of common dialect and hand signs.

The Estish originate from Estin, the eastern region.

The Estish are the most homogenous and populous ethnicity of Fiore. The vast majority of them genetically inherit straight black hair, slanted amber eyes and porcelain skin. The Estish also have a dialect unique to them; it does not use hand signs, but it uses many whistles and clicks. Estin is a constitutional monarchy with an imperial family that had lasted from a time before Fiore's formation when the regions were independent nations.

The Sundanese originate from Sundan, the southern region of Fiore.

The Sundanese are also a dark-skinned ethnicity. The majority of the Sundanese people have straight red hair and grey or dark brown eyes. The region is the most isolated due to the Great Barrier Mountain range that separates it from the rest of Fiore. Most of Sundan's wealth comes from agriculture and the mining of precious metals and minerals. The Sundanese have the longest life expectancy, the highest average income and the lowest unemployment rate. The Sundanese are considered the happiest people in Fiore.

Eshijan was an individual of mixed ethnicity. His father was Sundanese, and his mother was a Medinian of Nordish descent. Eshijan looked Sundanese for the most part, but his Nordish heritage was also quite visible.

Eshijan had curly red hair, a shade darker than the typical bright red found in Mist Valley. The colour of dried blood, some of the more morbid residents would say.

He was dark-skinned, but his skin was a shade lighter, more caramel than cinnamon brown.

Then came the colour of his eyes.

The trait that truly marked him as an outsider.

Bright purple eyes, identical to his mother's.

By Furian standards, Eshijan's unique appearance marks him as an exotic beauty, but for someone with his level of infamy, that beauty was a curse.

Let's go back a year.

Eshijan was twelve then, and he was only beginning to show signs of maturing. He hadn't quite hit his growth spurt yet, but he was getting there. His voice had changed slightly. Nothing drastic, but there was a slightly more scratchy quality to it. While Omegas don't develop voices as deep as the average man's, their voices do deepen to a certain extent during puberty.

Then there were his scent glands.

In ancient times, scent glands of an omega were a feature that secretes pheromones that intensify during their fertile period, more commonly known as the Heat, to attract a mate. Pheromones are identified by their sweet, pleasant smell and unique to each omega.

So no two omegas smell the same.

Modern-day humans aren't psychologically affected by the pheromones anymore, but they are still physiologically affected.

In contemporary society, the first release of an omega's pheromones was the equivalent of a woman's first period, a sign of sexual maturity.

At twelve, Eshijan's scent glands were only beginning to secrete these unique pheromones in the form of a faint, sweet, vanilla-esque scent.

These were all changes that our young omega Eshijan was oblivious to but were quietly noticed by the townspeople, who tend to keep a very close eye on him.

Eshijan, as the pariah of Mist Valley, was mostly just the subject of gossip and subtle snubs, and the townsfolk very rarely approached him.

So, when men suddenly began approaching him on his trips back through town, Eshijan had been wary, but he still maintained his usual friendly smile and one-word answers. He had no desire to add to the animosity they held for him if he could help it.

One of them even offered to take him 'real hunting' since he seemed to love spending so much time in the woods.

Eshijan turned the man down as politely as he could. "Thank you, sir, but that will not be necessary. I already have a mentor to instruct me."

The man hadn't been pleased to hear that because he growled and took a menacing step forward. "Who? Someone already approached you, and you agreed? What the fuck, you little bitch! You dare lead me on when you've already got someone fucking you on the side, slut! I tried being nice to you too!"

He tried to grab Eshijan, but Eshijan reflexively dodged and backed away. He was still smiling, but his purple eyes narrowed with a flash of understanding flickering through them.

The moment Eshijan's pheromones had begun to secrete, his mentor, Hunter, had taken pointed it out and taken time from their training to explain to give him The Talk. Eshijan just hadn't been bright enough to put two and two together until it seemed to smack him right in the face. Not that he could be blamed. Eshijan had assumed touching him would be the last thing a resident of Mist Valley would do to him from experience.

Eshijan had two options here. The correct option would probably be to run, but the option Hunter would fully endorse would be for him to beat his opponent into submission.

For all Eshijan was mature for his age, he was an omega who had grown up surrounded by human cruelty and developed a mean streak to match it.

Eshijan ducked another grab and pulled his dagger out of its boot-sheathe. Then the next time his opponent came within range, he jumped up and plunged the dagger into the man's shoulder using the momentum from his jump. He pulled. Slicing the flesh across the man's chest with some effort.

The man screamed and fell to his knees.

Eshijan grinned.

He drew his dagger arm back and punched the man in the face with his dominant right hand before the man could regain his senses.

Eshijan got in a solid four hits before the man reached out to swipe at him.

It was weak, and Eshijan easily sidestepped. He would have loved to stick around and play with his would-be-assaulter a bit more, but seeing that it was getting dark, it was best he cut this short. Eshijan didn't need anyone tattling to Lord Forester that he had been staying out past curfew again. He doubted his body could bear getting whipped again so soon.

Taking advantage of the man's collapsed form, Eshijan gave the man a solid kick between the legs and watched the man roll around in the dirt like the worm he was.

"As I said before, I already have a mentor. And, I think it would benefit us both if this stayed our secret, yes? You tell no one about today, and no one else finds out about what an absolute pervert you are, Shan Kuray. Honestly, going after 12-year-old children?" he tutted, "You should be ashamed, you pedophile."

The last comment had the older man raised his head to glare at him with hate-filled eyes. "There's nothing childish about you, you purple-eyed, demonic slut!"

Eshijan just continued to smile, "Really now. If that's what I am, what does that make you? Well, I have to get going now. I can't leave my father waiting."

Now that had the man paling.

People liked to forget that Eshijan, despite his infamy, was the son of an aristocrat. One that openly doted on him.

With his part said, Eshijan sheathed his bloody dagger and went along his merry way, whistling a jaunty tune.

Shan Kuray was not the last man to corner him, but he couldn't afford to get as violent with the rest as he could the first since they all had more influence and reputation in town. So, he usually just hit them where it hurt and ran away.

No, the last man that cornered him was someone closer to home.

Laksh Perera was a new member of the estate staff, and Eshijan always seemed to run into him in the short time he spent at the manor. Laksh was twenty years old, and many of the female servants and even Adilah fancied him since Laksh had a handsome face and a ripped body.

Eshijan, of course, didn't know or care about the servants in the manor, except for the very few that had been around since he was born. He had too many bad experiences with new servants, and he never stuck around long enough in the estate to warrant getting to know anymore.

The manor's western wing, where Eshijan's rooms were located, was out of bounds to all estate staff except for the senior servants like Anshu. Lord Forester had to put the rule into place after one too many servants tried to sneak into the rooms to kill the omega.

Again, not something Eshijan was particularly aware of since he was out of the manor a lot, and the times he stayed, he always made sure to lock all the doors and windows of any areas that he occupied.

Locking down any room he stayed in was a habit Eshijan carried from his younger days when his mother was alive. They used to do it together. His mother had turned it into a game to see who could lock down more of the room the fastest. Eshijan hadn't won a single time. His mother had been too immature and too competitive a person to let him, but he always got lots of hugs and kisses from his mother afterwards to make up for it.

That was nice and all, but let's get back to our newest problem; Laksh Perera.

So, Laksh was actually from Sundan's regional capital Sario. He ended up in Mist Valley because one of his distant relatives worked in one of the nearby farms and had a contact within the estate who could get him a job there. He didn't really have a hatred for Eshijan, but he did see an easy target for his advances.

An isolated individual who was probably desperate for even a single scrap of positive affection.

Laksh, just like the rest of the world, had a strong lust for omega, but finding an unclaimed and unprotected omega in the city was like looking for a needle in a haystack. So, to see such a defenceless, beautiful omega, even if he was a little on the young side, was a siren's call Laksh dived into headfirst. He tried and tried and tried to make sure their paths crossed with what little time Eshijan spent in the Forester estate, but the omega turned out to be a lot slipperier than expected.

Honestly, Laksh didn't need an omega to get his dick wet; there were more than enough offers from pretty much all the females in his vicinity. He could probably even make the heiress bend over if he tried hard enough, but what he wanted was that fucking omega, and he wanted him now.

In Laksh's impatience and desperation, he tossed aside his responsibilities to wait for Eshijan at the edge of town where he usually arrived from, and the moment the omega showed up, Laksh had the brat pinned against a tree with his nose pressed into Eshijan's scent gland, taking deep lungfuls of that sweet omega scent.

Eshijan had been petrified from the shock and caught completely off guard.

Laksh reached up and grabbed the omega's beautiful curly hair, just like in his fantasies and began to tell the omega all the dirty things he would do to him.

Eshijan's ears were ringing. 'Beautiful hair', 'Heat' and 'fuck a baby into you' began playing in his mind on repeat.

Then Eshijan felt the wetness of a tongue on his skin and the solid threat of teeth against his gland.

He saw red.

Eshijan immediately kneed his newest attacker in the groin. Then while the man was distracted, he grabbed a rock on the floor and bashed it on his assaulter's skull until he fell unconscious.

He didn't stop there.

He grabbed the man by his hair and used every ounce of the strength he built up during his training to begin dragging him.

Eshijan was still smiling, but on the inside, he was fucking livid.

He was running on pure adrenaline, so the strain and exhaustion of his body as he dragged a grown man down a paved road was negligible.

He didn't stop until he reached Town Square, where a deathly silence spread at his arrival.

Laksh's head dropped onto the pavement with a deafening crack.

"This better be the last of you," he said with a chilling smile on his face.

My poor baby-I mean, now, of course, no one exactly knew what had been going on, so rumours of the omega bastard's blood-thirst spread like wildfire, but his words did inadvertently reach the ears of his target audience as well.

And that, my friends, is why beauty is a curse.