13 (Ch 13)Shadow of a Heart

Urel Exodus, Sira's grandfather felt fear as he looked upon the boy that had so readily agreed to the request for a duel, without requesting anything in return. Even the law of equal didn't matter if the challenged party simply choose to take nothing. In fact it was usually them who would bring it up, but the Faith simply smiled, as if this was all some game to him.

As if he were looking down on them, as a god would a mortal, as predator would prey.

Of course Faith was just smiling because he finally had a chance to maybe make a friend for once. He'd assumed he would have to wait until he met the first human of his own age but when looking at the girl named Sira he felt he might be able to befriend her, if he beat her of course.

Sira was almost as surprised as her grandfather that he'd agreed. Only now did she realise like everyone other then Faith how stupid the idea of fighting Faith for the right of succession was. She was confident to beat him with pure physical power, their two year age difference assured that even if he was some genius, but if Faith used magic Sira wasn't so sure.

She knew the wonders and power being able to use magic came with as she herself was quite talented in that area similar to Eshir, being able to evolve both her interior and exterior mana use. Yet talented didn't come close to the foothold dragons had over mana, even if Faith was only half on it didn't matter. She bit down on her lip and uttered her next phrase realising fully how ridiculous it was.

"But you aren't allowed to use magic, we will duel only with technique and physical might" - Sira uttered

"Okay, sure" - Faith replied still with a smile on his face before adding "You can show me how to use that" pointing to thee sword in her hand. Everyone around went completely silent at the level of confidence their crown prince carried. Sira felt as if she was being mocked for choosing to use the same sword as Faith, although it was true she only picked it up today so she could prove she was better even with the same weapon.

'Damn dragon, you think your that much better then me don't you. Well you've just dug your own grave if you think your even close to me in combat. Your magic cant save you now'

She thought, a smile similar to Faith's forming on her face, although for a completely different reason. Faith didn't miss that smile that he had mistaken for a grin of happiness trying to be suppressed.

'SEE I knew it, don't worry Sira I won't leave you hanging just because I'm the crown prince or whatever. I have heard your call of friendship, AND I'M FUCKEN ANSWERING'

Faith, being Painful bad at reading social situations, was ecstatic at the thought making his smile grow even broader. He walked towards the weapon rack and picked a simple sabre feeling that it was probably the closest thing to his preferred weapons which was in the hands of Sira.

Returning to the matt he asked respectfully if the elder could referee the match and unable to comprehend the situation at hand, Urel simply agreed.

"Oh and one more thing" - Faith said

"If I win, can you be my sparring partner for the foreseeable future" - he added, Faith actually needed one of those for his new hobby so it was killing two birds with one stone.

"Sure" - Sira replied with the ever smug grin.

Those who weren't royals wanted to stop this due do their undying allegiance to Eshir, and just because most of them liked Faith, but the royals surrounding the duel made sure that couldn't happen. This was the perfect way to at the very least tarnish Faith's reputation as a brash idiot, and they weren't going to waste it.

Once the duel started the first to make their move was Sia coming straight forward with a downward slash intending to end the duel with pure strength. Faith's smile was gone the minute the duel started but everyone in the room, including Sia, took that as his confidence shattering.

Just as the end of her blade was about to meet Faith's head he lowered his body, and by extension his centre of gravity, before meeting the end of his sabre with the blade. Like a calm slope it slipped the angle of the swing just the slightest to the side, and combined Faith's side step it completely missed before his sabre still in one fluid motion met Sia neck, stoping barely an inch away.

Everyone was so dumbstruck by what had just occurred but the only who couldn't even begin to understand the situation was Sira. She just stared at the end of her blade that met nothing, and then Back a Faith's that was at the end of her neck, before meeting her eyes with Faith's covered slightly by his bangs.

They were slitted like a lizard's and the inky black of his pupils was seeping ever so slightly into the whites of his eyes. That tied with the red iris made for a chilling sight, even if Faith was shorter then Sira.

However what scared her even more was the lack of any emotion in them despite the duel they were in. They carried no fear, anger, killing intent, or malice. They were just empty, like Sira had never even felt like a threat to him. In front of those eyes Sira begun to understand something that most of the royals she felt soon would as well.

The reason he'd accepted the duel so casually, and why he didn't care for a proper reward. In his eyes the royals that opposed him were nothing but angry children, throwing a fit for not getting something they felt they deserved.

"You lost" - Faith said with a calm voice, light filling his eyes again as he smiled same as always at Sira, bringing the blade away from her neck and back into the sheath that accompanied it. In response she just broke into manic laughter.

'HAHAHHAHAHHA, every single thing mother, father and brother have said about him. Its all ridiculous. What does the purity of the blood of Exodus matter, when this monster could beat him single Handley. I'm not weak I know that, this little monster's just too damn strong. Its terrifying to think of how powerful he will be when he takes the throne, and I was trying to oppose such a ruler. What a fool I was'

She thought as she struggled to keep herself standing, her whole life seemly becoming a one big joke in the face of absolute power l. All those in the room didn't cheer or clap because they simply couldn't understand what had happened. Faith had barely trained for a day and yet he'd executed a perfect parry and what would have been a beheading in one motion. Not only that but even the veterans there could feel no emotion nor intent behind the strike, like a perfect assassin incapable of being read during battle.

'How could a child be capable of something most assassin train their entire lives to master. And do it so perfectly at that'

They thought in unison, cold sweat slowly dripping down their spines, Royals and other included. Faith's ability could be outclassed by anyone in the room even if he used magic, but they were adults, veterans, and he was four years old having only one proper lesson. If he was given proper training and equipment of S class or higher, what kind of monster would he be? What kind of King would he be?

'By the gods, this boy might just be the next exodus'

The first one to come to the conclusion Urel thought in horror. Most came to the same realisation seconds later sending a chill colder then any ice magic down their spines. Meanwhile Faith was simply staring at Sira in anticipation.

"I humbly accept my loss your highness, this loyal servant of the crown hopes her skills will be able to satisfy your needs as a sparing partner, even if I'm not more then a punching bag considering the difference in skill" - Sira spoke, bowing far deeper then was needed.

Sira was quick on the uptake and getting to know what in her mind was the future king could only benefit her future. Faith looked down her bowing figure, eyes turning cold and distant.

'Why?'

He thought.

'why does this always happen to everyone I meet. Is it a problem with me, will my status constantly create this wall between me and others'

Faith thought, his mood now ruined. He had won because his instincts tied with Hopes respite and shadow sense had kicked in. All of them simply guided him into what he need to do like a gut feeling and he did it to the best of his abilities. With his innate mana enhancement his strength trounced that of Sira's and he could have simply blow her blade away with pure strength.

His passive strength was far beyond that of what it should have been and people never counted on it since it wasn't normal even for a dragon to constantly have been practicing magic since he was two weeks old. If Sira had used active enhancement magic she would have been able to match it but without she wasn't even close.

Yet Faith had decided not to win that way, wanting to prove that it was his technique and hardwork instead of his background that gave him the win. But it didn't matter.

The second he won that same walled that plagued him was shoved in his face once again.

The wall know as status was one thing even with all his talent and shadow sense, Faith hadn't a clue of how to climb.

It kept him distant from everyone other then his family and it even affected Sapphire to some extent.

"No you don't worry about it. I'd prefer if you simply switched weapons with me, I can manage the rest though I appreciate the thought" - his smile now a fake one, without the radiance of the previous.

Sira felt a little down but accepted his proposal all the same handing him the sword and wishing him a good session of training before departing. All those around did the same not wanting to stay any longer and missing the chance to adjust their family future plans around Faith being the ruler.

Faith was left alone in the room, swinging the sword in his hands in all different motions trying to get hang of it, yet his motivation was gone.

Eventually he stopped, simply gazing at the wall in front of him.

His sword wouldn't solve his problem

No matter how good he was with it would he always feel like he did now?

Was this what his life was destined to be after his father and mother left him?

Alone, with the one purpose he had in life being taken from him because of his status and power.

Slowly but surely he slipped closer to the wall as the shadow of his previous hollow life consumed him again. His confidence was gone, crushed by the weight of the insecurities he thought long dead, destroyed by either Eshir, or himself.

Was this what he was meant to be?

Was their something so wrong with him that even in another world being as genuinely kind and friendly as he could, he was still alone?

Still empty?

Rage slowly started to fill Faith's little being as he thought about it, the unfairness he now faced.

He felt it was selfish to want more when he had all the power and prestige he could ever asked for but Faith didn't give a damn.

Power?

That meant nothing if he had no reason to use it for, no one too use it for.

Prestige?

That meant nothing if he didn't have anyone he cared about to show it too, if it took away that very thing from him.

The empty rage inside him built up more and more as thoughts of his future drowned out everything else. All the happiness, love and joy of his life. It didn't matter If it was simply going to be taken from him, if he couldn't to anything to stop it.

The shadows themselves across the entire world slowly started to stir, as if to respond to Faith's rage. They filled him with their mana, with their essence, empowering him and making a sound similar to a heart beat resound in his chest along his normal one.

But that didn't help.

The more power he felt inside him, the louder the sound of that strange heartbeat, the deeper he sunk into the sickening madness of his empty, hollow self. Had all he done up to now in this life been a lie? Was this what he really was?

Nothing but a shadow of a living being itself.

Having no will or love, only rage and power.

Faith smashed his four year old hand now covered in the inky shadows surrounding him into the wall of the training hall he was holding onto. It gave way instantly, the enchantments and rune formations themselves crumbling away in decay as the shadow that encompassed his entire being grew more and more.

The room itself was now completely devoid of light as the shadows, and by extension darkness itself, stuck to all the available areas around Faith, burying them under the weight of his being.

Faith collapsed on the ground into a slump.

He couldn't feel anything anymore as his own shadows had consumed him along with the room.

He just sat there gazing into the Shadows.

It was like starring into himself.

How had he not realised when he first opened that door, the door to his element, that this was what the world was trying to show him.

Like the shadows, no like darkness itself, Faith was empty.

In this world of shadows he had no idea if time or passed anymore, heck he didn't even know If he was alive.

It was similar to being inside Eshir's womb except it didn't feel comforting or bliss at all.

The heart beat he could hear didn't bring him solace like Eshir's, It drowned him further into this pit.

The walls of shadows around him didn't give him the hope of another chance, they reminded Faith, no Noah, of who he was, who he had been.

He had no feeling of his being anymore, he'd lost that awhile ago at this point.

The only thing he had to remind him that he was alive or that time was passing was that heart beat sound that now drowned out his own heartbeat getting louder and louder with the passing of time.

The shadows themselves didn't speak to him anymore at he simply existed in whatever this space was.

The space was slowly breaking and decaying his mind.

He felt it, but he could not do anything to stop it.

Like he couldn't do anything to befriend anyone.

Like how his mother would eventually leave him.

Like how his father would do the same.

None of it mattered, this world didn't matter to him anymore.

He no longer had any Faith in changing his fate inside this void of shadow.

He simply wished for it to end.

The only thing that kept his mind from breaking apart was the thought of how this place was like the first place he met Eshir.

Even if she was going to leave him she'd still been a light in his life.

The more he thought about Eshir the happier and sadder he got.

Sad that she was going to leave him alone and more empty then before, but happy that he'd at least got to meet her in the first place.

He realised as he faded into the void that his worry now had been so selfish.

When he was first in this void he merely wanted to meet Eshir, yet he'd been showered with love as her son the second he was born.

He was able to get so much more then he wished for and yet he still clung on to the worry that she would leave him alone.

If he could move in this space Faith would've slapped himself as hard as he could before hugging Eshir.

He really wished he could see her again, but he saw no way out of this void.

Yet when he wished it seemed something inside him listened.

A third Heartbeat like sound accompanied that of the one that had almost broke him, only this one was calming and gentle, reminding him of Eshir's.

Soon a He felt a crack go off inside him.

It was a very small crack like the first in a layer of thousands of locks being opened.

But it was enough.

Soon he was the void that downed him was met with a brilliant holy light that seemed to emanate from himself. It reminded him of Eshir as well and also the person he had wished to be.

He watched the void fight the light tangling himself with each other before eventually giving way and transforming both themselves into a Divine silver hue.

When the silver light encompassed him he felt both his worry and hope return.

But most of all, his Faith came back to him.

When he opened his eyes next he found himself in the training hall no longer covered in shadows, however unlike before that beating inside his chest, the first one he felt, was clearer then ever.

It didn't bring him sadness like before though, it simply felt like a natural part of his boy instead of foreign source trying to corrupt him.

'What the hell just happened'

Was all Faith could think, as the shadow of his heart beat alongside it in his chest, making Faith's formly static mana flow smoother and further then ever before