Crown Authority

Elldrich had cared for nothing, locking himself in his room, only requesting for resources to improve his magical abilities, and doing his documents when he needed to.

When Jared returned it was difficult for Elldrich to suppress the urge kill him, to have meaninglessly sacrificed his beloved little brother for a spiteful, useless man such as Jared...

Whenever Elldrich saw his mother's unenthusiastic eyes, those dim, hollow eyes, he was reminded of his one and only failure. He should've gone against the king's orders, yet he was afraid of what would've happened, and his brother had died because of it.

Jared didn't care for Fushi, instead, he was reaping the benefits of Fushi's death. He saw that Elldrich was becoming more distant with his family, so he took the initiative, and appealed to more powerful nobles, and collaborating with lesser ones.

In the middle of the night, when Elldrich was finishing up the last few documents, his pen dipping into the ink, his window open for a view of the moon and the night sky, his room, illuminated only by a single candle. He sat at his desk, and heard a knock.

"Brother, are you sure you don't want to dine with us? I've made excellent progress with Duke."

Jared.

"No, I'm fine, now go away, I'm no mood to speak with you."

"Why do you care about the little brat anyways? I'm your brother, and I've made an achievement, so come and celebrate with me! Not to mention that despicable mother of ours gave you all the mana-"

The arrogance was heard in Jared's voice, the ignorance dripping from his tongue, Elldrich's blood boiled, he could feel himself losing control.

"Jared, you talk about them for another second with that foul voice of your and I'll rip it from your throat!"

"Tch."

Elldrich heard the sound of Jared's footsteps fading into the halls. Elldrich's eyes was alight, his mana pouring from his body. Those gemstone blue eyes were illuminated and it was truly dazzling, only his mood was the opposite from the beauty he possessed. He had his fingertips massage his eyes.

"Goddamn you, Jared."

Elldrich now felt tired, he didn't feel like finishing the documents for the day, so he laid upon his bed, thinking about what could've happened if he just went against his father's orders.

But Elldrich couldn't sleep, not tonight, he wanted to take a walk, like he always did, it calmed him down, and relieved his stress. He remembered the beautiful flowers that bloomed around this time in the garden, how they would always soothe him somehow.

It was cold, but nothing compared to what his little brother had to go through. Elldrich used to love the snow, but now, he didn't even want to think about it anymore. The flowers glowed at night, and Elldrich plucked one from the garden, sitting at nearby seat that resided besides a pond, his gemstone blue eyes staring into the flower, as the light reflecting from his eyes shone, he looked into the pond. He hadn't looked at himself in the mirror, he almost didn't recognize himself, his eyes were still blue, but even as a nine year old, his eyes had become sullen, his face grew paler, the added stress of working on documents taxed him. Regarded as a genius as a magi, and a prodigy in the way of the blade, yet he felt so empty. It was the same feeling as when he lost something important, or made his family sad, disappointing them. Looking at himself was unbearable, his tears dropping into pond, making vibrations in water with every drop.

"Oh, little brother, what should I do...?"

He reached out for the image, the illusion of the little brother he saw, happy, and smiling, but when Fushi was in his arms, it was cold, his eyes were devoid of life, and his limbs were limp.

"Ah!"

Elldrich fell off the seat, scrambling backwards, beads of sweat dripping from his body. He pressed his face into his hands, trying forget what just happened, the flowers didn't seem to calm him anymore, and he went back to the castle, roaming the halls.

"How much for it?"

"My wife will be upset with this decision, but it is more beneficial to the kingdom nonetheless."

"I assure you, this will contribute greatly to my experiment."

"Your experiment seems impossible, but, if it will leave a positive impression with the Western Kingdom, then it is worth it."

"Of course your majesty, here, the amulet."

Elldrich leaned against a wall, next to the door, and listened.

"Here, my end of the bargain."

"Your majesty! This is a...surprise. I will be sure not squander this opportunity!"

"Of course, it is also a boon to the north."

Pushing open the door just slightly, Elldrich saw from the corner of his eye, the man take parchment from his pouch, placing it upon the table.

"I'm sure you know what this is, it's merely a contract for my own safety, I wouldn't want the court to find me."

The king glanced at the man for a moment, then without hesitation, he signed the parchment, and Elldrich saw why, the man's eyes were sullen like his, but dark, and clouded in emotions that Elldrich knew, but many of them were also foreign.

"I thank your majesty for this most kind sacrifice, it must've been very difficult no doubt."

The hands of the man, had many scars on them, wearing a single thin gold ring, with a ruby placed in the ring. Reaching for a hand, reaching for...Fushi?!

Elldrich couldn't control himself as he realized what happened, his father meant to kill Fushi, all so he could exchange his body for an amulet to appease the western kingdom. That was why it was so cold that day, he had the Archmage cast a radius based temperature modifier spell, using the already freezing temperature, and the heat molecules in the air as a catalyst to delete the heat molecules to create an absence of heat, to create more 'cold.'

"Sifdes."

Small pieces of wind was made to spin using 'Sifdes' it propelled the wind and eventually made one that could cut flesh, it was very loud. So Elldrich needed to strike quickly. He used his mana to prolong the effects of the wind blades, essentially a spinning ball of wind, sharp as daggers, and sent it to the man, at a fast pace, it was supposed to cut the man's arm off, yet the unexpected happened.

It hit a barrier. A 'Yngol' was already casted.

"Who's there? Your majesty I was told this would be private conversation?"

"I assure you, this was unintentional. Whoever is there, show yourself this instant!"

Elldrich stepped into the room from halls, every bit of his mana pouring out, uncontrollably, his body couldn't handle being exerted to this much mana, yet he couldn't suppress it due to his anger.

"Elldrich, why are you here?"

"I saw it all, I heard it all."

Elldrich eyed his little brother's corpse, the hate coursing through him.

"I won't let you take my little brother away from me again!"

The entire burst with mana, the very force of this much mana, all condensed in one place, could be called a spell, it made breathing difficult, it made it harder to move, it was the very sense, two spells at once, an impossible feat, unless you had a mana equal or greater than Elldrich's. And in this world, there are none.

"Elldrich...stop this...instant...!"

The king, clutching his throat, struggling to breath attempted to command his son, thinking that even in these moments, even after his heinous crime, that his authority would be of use.

"Your majesty, I'll be leaving first, my contact awaits."

"Wait...!"

The man broke the glass on the window with his dagger, carrying Fushi on his shoulders, just as he took a step on the broken window frame, Elldrich tried to block his way, using the snow and ice from outside as a catalyst.

"Svngol!"

The snow that fell to ground, pressing into the ground to create a beautiful cut of snow, stopped abruptly and came through the heavily decorated window, laces of gold and silver covered its white frame. The snow pieces hardened, much like 'Ivngol' yet multiple pieces of snow transformed. It was the art to turn multiple pieces of snow instead of one, to the desired shape, but at a much lesser degree. Elldrich sharpened thousands into needle shaped pieces, and directed them all at a single man.

The hardened snow needles would be unavoidable, especially when the man had so little mana compared to Elldrich. The man used Fushi's body as a shield, the snow needles pierced Fushi's back sticking into his body, causing the velvety red liquid to secrete through his clothes.

Elldrich, seeing this, paused the snow needles, attempting to shift the direction of the snow needles, but that was the gateway for the man leave, so he took it, and jumped out the window.

"Aorgol!"

The man casted an invisibility spell, and while his footsteps left deep tracks in the snow, the heavy snowfall outside covered it up in mere seconds.

"No!"

As a last ditch effort, Elldrich aimlessly fired the snow needles, hoping one would wound the man. But to no avail.

Elldrich stared back at his father, his eyes distraught, overcome with anger and disappointment, a nine year old boy, with this kind of power, had such deep resentment for himself.

"Sifdes."

Aiming the ball of sharpened wind at his father's neck, he fired.

"Yngol."

A powerful barrier arose once more.

"What do you think you're doing, Elldrich?"

Archmage Ernon.

Much as Elldrich wanted to, he couldn't beat Ernon, and he couldn't kill his father. His father had sweat drip from his forehead, wiping it off with a handkerchief, he spoke to Elldrich.

"I shall overlook this incident as a mere situation that got out of hand. But you still tried to kill your father, me, the king. And as such, you will be given a punishment of imprisonment for twenty-five years."

"...you...I understand."

There was no way to fight back now, his little brother had been lost again. So sits, an Elldrich, in prison, serving twenty-five years. Twenty-five years that he didn't have.

"Fuck..."

Eventually.

I felt a tickle, a tickle that eventually converted into unbearable pain, the seething feeling of my flesh burning off was jarring, and I was forced to wake up.

Fushi's eyes opened, and saw the flames encompass his body, quickly patting down the flames that engulfed his body.

"Please! Stop!"

"Aqxoms."

Water was casted over him, and Fushi covered his head with his small hands. He looked up from under his hands to see a stunned man with black robes and amber eyes. The man ran over to his desk, mumbling to himself.

"It...it's a phenomenon! All my work has finally come to fruition!"

He grabbed a knife from his drawer, and moved over to Fushi.

"Now, be very still."

Fushi was scared, his mind had wandered even when he had a conversation with his mother, but this time, his fear had taken over his every thought, and his body began to move on instinct, to run.

He ran away from the man, but when he nearly reached the stairs, he felt pain at his feet, and fell over, when he fell over, he had a good look at his hands. His hands that were missing his fingers, his pupils dilated and he let out a scream.

"For heavens sakes, just stay still!"

"No, go away! Don't come near me!"

Fushi resisted, and refused to stay motionless, even if he disabled, he wasn't going to die, so fought through the tears, and resisted with all his might, but a child would never win against an adult.

"I told you to stay still!"

The man ran the knife through Fushi's heart. The agony was too much, and Fushi was once again on the floor, screaming with pain, his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he was dead.

"Wake up."

Fushi awoke again, in same place he awoke the first time.

"It's not perfect, but I've finally done it."

"Why-why did you do that?"

"Why shouldn't I? You're just a carcass your family sold me for 5,000 gold coins. Seeing as you were dead anyway, it doesn't seem like they cared!"

The man chuckled.

"Y-you're lying! Mother would never do that!"

"It was pleasure to receive your body, I recall I got it from a woman with deep green eyes. Perhaps she had brown hair as well?"

"N-no..."

Fushi was ran through with shock, had his family really betrayed him like this?

"She seemed very so eager to get rid of you."

Then again, they weren't his real family to begin with, he shouldn't have gotten so attached to them.

"Don't you want to live again? A life without that kind of misery?"

"What can I even do? I'm missing my fingers, and...I can't even walk properly."

"There's no need to worry..."

The man leaned into Fushi's ear.

"I can fix all your problems."

"You can?"

A grin spread on the man's face.

"I will."

The man picked up a potion from the shelf, and dumped it on the black splotches. Nothing happened, Fushi was only confused at what had happened.

"Frostbite...hm...it may take a while to fix this."

"Mister...what-who are you?"

"I am a magi, though not one respected by the kingdom no, you however, were sold to me, were you not?"

"I don't know."

"You were. So I finally completed my experiment with you, you fulfilled every condition needed to complete this...I don't know what to call it."

"What was the experiment?"

The man thought for a second, wondering if he should tell the boy the truth, but alas, the boy wouldn't ever be able to run away from this house.

"I, brought you back to life, a one of a kind spell, and I found possibly the only person it could ever be used on, you have the essence of death permeating from you."

"Essence of death?"

"Yes, perhaps...don't you remember when your mother, your brother, your entire family left you to freeze outside in that unbearable weather?"

Fushi was silent, the man thought he must've become unresponsive after mentioning his cause of death.

"Who..."

The once frightened Fushi now had a confused face, his entire mind was on the verge of collapsing.

"Who is my mother?"

"Oh...I see."

Memory loss, a favorable situation.

"Listen to me boy, I am an outcast, as you are, you will learn from me, and master my arts, you will be a magi, so you can survive."

"Who...?"

"It matters little now, she has abandoned you, but I will never let that happen, I am your only family now."

Fushi recalled the feeling of being alone, how lonely he had felt, with no one beside him, with nothing there to comfort or ease his pain. He experienced horrible deaths, and mentally shaking truths.

"Mister, I-I don't..."

"Call me Merlin."

"Merlin?"

"Yes, Merlin, after my great grandfather."

Fushi wiped the tears from his eyes.

"Alright, mister Merlin..."

"Good...you will never be alone again..."

The shadows overtook the the room, those serpent like shadows moved and wrapped around Fushi, the coils, trapping him where he stood.

Then, Fushi smiled.