Almost All, But Not Quite

Just like most of his other visions, Nicholas was thrown into a memory as if he were his younger self.

This time he stood in the Corporali Training Ground, he was with his mother, Dion, and Connor. He could tell by the memory that he was quite young as the others all towered over him.

"Your highness-" Dion began to say before his mother interrupted.

"Don't call him that." She hissed angrily. "Don't treat him like he is the son of that asshole!"

"Lady Liira, we can't just treat him like a normal boy, because he isn't." Dion told his sister as he tried to calm her down.

Connor doesn't know. Nicholas thought to himself as he noticed the pair treating each other in a very formal way.

"He must learn to be normal or he won't survive." Lady Liira hissed as she glared at her brother. "Teach him as you would an ordinary Corporali child!"

"Yes, my lady." Connor said, not wanting to argue with the king's most favored wife.

Dion simply sighed and shook his head as knelt and looked Nicholas in the eyes.

"He seems weak." Dion commented as he studied Nicholas' composition.

"He can't be, he is my son." Lady Liira insisted.

"Very well." Dion had given up arguing with his sister, it seemed that she would not see reason. "Begin, Connor."

Connor instructed Nicholas to run several drills, to everyone's surprise he did so easily.

Blue and white dust floated around the room as Nicholas was asked to heal a small wound. He didn't feel tired, in fact he felt like he had only placed very little effort into what he was doing.

"Amazing! Just amazing!" Connor exclaimed as he looked at the little prince in awe.

"He has a chance, he has a chance." Lady Liira told the two men as she smiled at her son. "He can become king someday. He can right the wrongs against our people. I can feel his power."

"We just need to figure out how to turn Corporali Magic into a weapon." Dion rolled his eyes at his sister.

"You can train him to be dangerous without magic." Connor suggested. "I know a pair of twins. They are both dangerous, but very loyal to the Corporal Clan."

"Contact them. If my son cannot win the crown through magic, then mortal strength should be his weapon. They cannot kill him if he will always heal." Lady Liira said, nodding at the suggestion.

Dark dust started to rise from the ground, slowly blinding Nicholas.

He knew the memory was changing. It may be incomplete, but at least he was getting more and more valuable information.

Soon, images of how he could apply Corporali Magic in healing, mostly memories of training sessions with Dion and Connor appeared. None were useful in fighting, but it was knowledge he didn't have before today.

Then, a memory stood out. It wasn't one of him training with Dion and Connor, this was just him as he walked around the palace library.

It was dark and Nicholas kept glancing at all directions, as if he were sneaking around after hours.

He heard an animal at a distance, footsteps from outside the door, but nothing from the library.

When he was sure the coast was clear, he ran to the opposite end, to an area that seemed abandoned. He searched the shelves until he found several books at the bottom of a shelf and pulled it out.

He crouched down and felt the wall behind till he discovered an inscription. It was similar to the one that was on the wall in his room, the one that kept his limiters safe from unwanted guests.

He seemed to be unsure, until he realized that he needed to feed magic into the wall for the door to open, and it wasn't just any magic. It had to be Cruor Magic.

As Nicholas fed magic into the wall it suddenly popped open, leading him down a narrow hall. At the end there was a large room, and in it a chest of books.

Nicholas knew it was important, that it was the source of the magic he needed to win the throne, but as he took a step forward the memory began to crumble.

He ran, as if trying to reach the chest and unlock its secrets, but the closer he got to the chest, the faster the memory crumbled until Nicholas felt himself falling through an abyss.

Nicholas felt like he was falling for hours, until he finally landed back in his body. This time he was older.

The memory felt like it could have been days before he was sent into that other realm.

He was tied to a chair and blind folded, then a voice began to speak to him.

"My prince wishes for me to send you to a place where you cannot be harmed. A place where your consciousness can stay while your body remains." The unfamiliar man said as Nicholas struggled to get free for his bindings.

"I wouldn't try if I were you, your highness." The man chuckled. "You are tied quite well and if you do break free I am here with multiple guards to take you down and force you to the world I have chosen."

Nicholas felt light headed, he didn't completely understand what was going on as he struggled to keep his consciousness.

"Ah, it's starting to work." The man said as Nicholas felt his body sway from side to side.

"My prince doesn't want to go through the trouble of hunting you down when the time comes." The man declared. "So your body will lay in wait for my prince to kill you and take your Cruor Magic. From what I hear it's wasted on you after all."

Nicholas his consciousness slowly fading as he tried his best to hold on.

"Nicholas!" He heard a familiar voice call out as the men in the room, it was his sister's unmistakable voice. "Ryenne, get to him, quick."

"No! You're too la-" The man was cut off, Nicholas had no idea what was happening.

All of a sudden the blindfold over his eyes was yanked off, and Ryenne's beautiful face welcomed him.

"Ryenne." Nicholas managed to say.

"No! No!" Ryenne cried out as Nicholas slipped away.

He woke up, gasping back in the present.