The Dark Prince

"Adam." Hearing his father's voice reminded him of the times he had roamed this castle.

His eyes saw himself running in those hallways while his mother chased after him, afraid that he might hurt himself. He could distinctively recall her soft laughter coming from her red lips as she caught and held him in her arms.

However, not all his memories were worth remembering, halting his steps on the hard marble floors and turning around to face the man who had raised him. "Yes, father."

"Where are you going?" King Charles asked, his eyes landing on the packed luggage, carried by their servants, making its way out of the castle to his waiting car.

"I am going home in the meantime. I still have a business to run." Casually answering his father, thinking it should be a sufficient excuse, turning around to continue on his way out, not wanting another long discussion.

After last night, he believed going back to this place had been a mistake. He suddenly felt haunted again. It held many of his past, imprinted behind these walls.

Although the servants had done their best to scrub the place spotless, his eyes could still detect the red stains that splattered over the wooden walls and visualize the thick blood flooding the white floors.

"But what about our enemies?" His father bellowed at him, making him stop in his tracks. "Are you just going to let those beasts who killed your mother get away with it?" He finally realized his father would not let him quietly leave just like that.

"Of course not." His tone matched his father as he clenched his fist to suppress the urge to disagree with his father. "But as I said to you before, I need time to plan this right." He answered him without even turning around, ready to leave when he had the chance.

The older man's voice exploded like a volcano. "Time?" His roar filled the entire room so that even the guards standing on the sides would quiver in fear if they were the recipient.

Even without seeing his father, he could imagine his ablaze eyes and those veins on his temples about to erupt with one more outburst.

"For all you know, those wolves are already planning our extermination as we speak." His father insisted, continuing with his litany about what their enemies were capable of doing to them.

Yet, after years of war against them, he never discovered any indication proving such a claim. "All this time, they had the opportunity to attack us, but they never did." A puzzle that played in his mind, creating doubt in his resolve.

Yes, those so-called monsters tried to fight back, but that was it. It seemed that they were only protecting themselves.

In this situation, they were the aggressor, while those beasts that his father kept calling had always seemed to be the victims.

"Can you hear yourself? Defending them." At this point, his father's growl broke several dark-stained windows, allowing the light to pass through, brightening the darkened space.

At the moment, Adam had no choice but to rotate a hundred eighty degrees to face his father again. His eyes locked with him in the battle of will. Unlike his men, he did not cower down to anyone, not even him.

"I don't think you still want to avenge your mother." His father continued, taunting him as if challenging him to deny his assertion.

His hands balled up in fury as his father's word pierced him through his heart. "I do want to avenge my mother. That is all I ever wanted." His eyes burned red, eventually allowing those memories to come back.

As much as he wanted to bury the past, forget his desire for vengeance and live in peace, he could not. "Remember those beasts had no place in this world." His father's words kept playing in his mind, reminding him of those horrible moments, triggering those rage, releasing the beast inside him that would finally take control of him.

"I am working on it, but it is not that simple." He could feel his control slipping away, but he kept fighting it, not wanting his father to have a hold on him again.

But the King did not give up easily when he wanted something, standing directly before him, gripping him firmly by his shoulder, leaning forward until his face was a few inches away from him.

"I don't care if you have to burn villages or cities again." Adam heard his whispered command as he looked into his father's eyes. "If you have to, then you will. But I want you to avenge your mother." It was not a request that he could easily break. It was an oath he had sworn on his mother's grave.

For centuries, like a mad man, he hunted his enemies, seeking justice for his mother's untimely death, acting as judge and executioner as he slaughtered villages, killing those beasts who killed her mother without mercy.

Now, his rage boiled inside him. His eyes blazed like a fire, ready to burn whoever would stand in his way. "There has never been a day that has gone by that I have never thought of my mother." His voice menacingly answered his father.

His eyes finally wandered around the room as the light from the broken window brightened the frame hanging on the wall. It was the first and the last thing he saw every time he went through that door. Somehow, looking at the beautiful woman on the wall had always calmed him down, feeling his heartbeat slow down.

"Then, you better remember why we have to destroy those beasts, right?" His father's voice suddenly turned melancholy as his gaze followed where he was looking.

When he nodded without answering, his father patted him on the shoulder. "Good."

Was his father's love for his mother too great that it was worth all the war and killing they had to endure? Maybe that was how one should love, with a great passion.

But he had never experienced it, love, so how would he know.

"I will never forget." His hand clenched tightly on his side as the memories of holding his mother's lifeless body in his arms invaded his mind.

Did his father feel the same way as him? Pure hatred for the beasts that killed his mother.

His father tried to save them, but it was too late. His mother did not make it, while he was too young to do anything to defend them.

"I will give you one month to find a way to eliminate our enemies." The King finally gave his order, moving nearer his mother's portrait. His eyes were blazing with hatred as he stared at his wife's innocent face.

But when his father looked at him, his face transformed into a satisfied smile. He turned around, leaving him without saying goodbye.

His eyes once again looked at the woman who sacrificed her life to save him, refreshing his mind with the slowly fading image of the only person who loved him unconditionally, who gave him life. He wondered if she could save him again.

He lost her that night, but also his humanity. It turned him into this monster, a killing machine his father used against his enemies, becoming well-known as the Dark Prince.