Eyes of Evander

There he stood again, a man in his mid-forties donning the clothes of a king. The man's cerulean eyes, that has lost its shine, looks down on him. Evander felt a heavy weight on his chest, he takes a deep breath. Then he hears it, the sound of a sword being unsheathed, his eyes now focus on the man's left waist where the blade is being pulled out of its scabbard. The man brings his left foot behind, widening his stance and moving his body slightly sideways. He slowly lowers his upper body by a little, with the sabre grasped by his right hand held upright like an Ace of Sword, his left hand and arms are not touching his waist serving as balance. It looked as if he was wide open, but the young teenager knows that it is a standard position that allows one to easily parry a strike. Evander raises his sheathed sword in front of him and pulls out the scabbard throwing it away. He takes a step back with his left foot, creating the same standard sword stance, the only difference is that his left hand is clenched near his chest while his right elbows are lifted in a position covering the neck area, with the right hand gripping the sword raised horizontally just parallel to his left ear.

Evander takes the first step as he lunges himself forward with the goal of slashing the man's chest. The man steps back, escaping, he raises his sword making a line to cut off Evander's left shoulder. The young teen moves to his right side, the sword of his enemy not even making a small dent on his clothes, creates a distance between him and the man. They both weave as they go forward and back, watching each other's movement with vivid concentration. Evander makes a few more sword attacks which the man parried and countered, the young teen does the same, and again they create a distance between each other. The man then makes an eerie smile,

"look Evander." the words the man spoke brought a horrible memory inside the boy's mind. Anger, grief, madness, he can't explain all he could think of is to kill that man. His emotion becomes his downfall. As he haphazardly spring forward in rage, he sees the tip of the man's blade from the corner of his eyes, as it makes a straight line towards his face. Evander was able to stop his momentum a bit, but it was too late the man makes a clean horizontal slice that takes out both of his eyes, from the right to the left, cutting the upper bridge of his nose. He staggers and falls on his knees. The fight is over, again he lost, again he will wake up in the dark, and again he would ask the same question to the man,

"Why father?" was it blood or was it tears that flowed out of his eyes as he grasps his face gasping from the pain. He hears a laugh that echoes in his head, then it stopped, and the man he calls his father walks closer and whispers to his ear.

"You hated your eyes right?", his father makes a small snigger. Evander roars, completely mad, with one last strength he raises his sword with the hope of landing a hit at the man in front of him. But his father was no longer there. He then hears a door open, and a stranger enters, not even alarmed at the scene blood.

"Take him far-away, but keep his title as crown prince." his father orders the stranger, who felt a bit confused.

"Your Majesty, if it's alright to ask, why keep his position.", the stranger asks.

"Why not? Isn't it funny, and wouldn't the nobles love that, having a blind King who won't be able to see their vile deed and preposterous faces. The Kingdom will also love him! He can't correct their wrongs make any changes as they all keep living their lives enslaving each other." His father, the King, laughs hearing his own reasoning.

"How about her majesty?"

"The Queen? She's a coward. She'll pretend as if this child didn't even come out of her womb just to survive. What can She even see in that life of hers that she wants to keep living? A useless pathetic coward. Unlike you Evander, right?" he calls out to his son that is slowly losing consciousness. All the boy can hear now are murmurs, as he slowly falls on the carpeted floor.

He remembers his friend, same age as him, being dragged towards the execution stand, along with her whole family, everything was hazy. His friend spoke to him last when Evander secretly visited the dungeon where her whole family was imprisoned, his friend's words were about how she hated him, how his eyes looks like the Mad King, and how he can't even help them escape from his father's tyranny.

"I wish you go blind",

And like a curse it happened.