In This Life

During the Age of Chaos, at King Philip's court

Madonia's court was celebrating the wedding of King Philip with the descendant of one of the most important Merchant Guilds on the planet.

The great hall was full of guests, princes and dignitaries from all over the known world, who came to celebrate such an important union, which would have led to the expansion of the kingdom of Madonia. The wine flowed between amphorae and cups, and there was not even one guest sober or able to walk without staggering.

However, the most drunk was the King himself, who was too enthusiastic about the dowry that the new marriage had brought him: huge funds to finance his expeditions for the conquest to the neighbouring kingdoms.

Beside the King, on the right, was sitting his first wife, derelict and sad, who could not pronounce even a word; next to her was her son Alexander, the King's eldest son, a handsome boy of sixteen, with a proud and indomitable temperament. On the King's left sat Philip's new wife, with a delicate smile, and her father, almost as drunk as Philip.

Alexander's mother looked at the new Queen out of the corner of her eye and could not hold back an expression of disgust. She, descended from a noble lineage, who had begotten and raised the greatest hero in the universe, had been substituted by a sissy that had nothing to do with her in delicacy and bearing. How could a woman like her, born among the Dragons, be compared to those sheep without honour?

Having more than one wife, at the time, was more than normal, especially for a King: marriages were nothing more than ways of signing treaties and obtaining wealth and possessions. However, the Queen felt betrayed, put aside. She felt she had by now a marginal role in her husband's life. And, which annoyed her even more, not even her son Alexander cared about what that new marriage meant to her.

"You will see, as soon as another child is born, he will put you aside just as he did with me," said the woman to her son, in a moment of anger.

There and then, Alexander had given no importance to it and had judged that phrase only as the angry outburst of a woman; but those words, so harsh and poisonous, had crept into his head, crawling silently. As much as the young man tried to chase them away, he never totally succeeded.

Now that the marriage had taken place, that uncomfortable feeling of mistrust towards his father had come back: the fear that his position as an heir would be somehow affected was growing. The mere sight of the King of Madonia made Alexander nervous: his every gesture, unsteady because of the wine, embarrassed him and Philip's mere presence made him feel uncomfortable.

However, Alexander patiently endured and controlled that feeling by holding his mother's hand.

Suddenly, the new bride's father asked aloud for silence, and all those invited to the banquet became silent. The man stood up, staggering, and raised the chalice towards the heaven: "I hope that tomorrow Madonia will have a legitimate heir from this marriage!"

Hearing those words, Philip got up too and toasted with a cry of joy, followed by the whole court.

Alexander's dichromatic eyes became as small as pins. The young heir to the throne went blind with anger.

Alexander was sixteen and his blood was boiling in restlessness. His explosive temper was a nightmare for his enemies in battle, but also reason of anguish for his friends in peace. The words of Philip's new father-in-law had implicitly called Alexander an illegitimate heir, to be replaced as soon as possible with a baby born from the new union.

The old man had dared to publicly offend Alexander, the eldest son of King Philip, as if he had been an ordinary bastard.

At that moment, all the suspicion accumulated for months, all the repressed hatred towards his father, exploded in a snarl: "Look! The one who was about to conquer the world, now cannot even put two steps in a row without falling on his ass! Is this the man you want to follow?!"

Philip put his hand on his waist, ready to pull out his sword, but he realized he didn't have it.

"Surrounded by sheep and flatterers, even a tiger can lose strength and be devoured by hyenas!" Went on Alexander, and then added towards the bride's father: "If Madonia does not already have an heir worthy of its name, I recommend you to lower my father's trousers and start sucking his dick, because with all the alcohol he has ingested I doubt that tonight he will be able to generate another bastard of the calibre of the one standing in front of you."

That was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Philip lost his mind.

However, even Philip's Ninth Phase was unable to cope with the litres of wine the King had swallowed. Taking a step forward, Philip tripped on cushions resting on the ground, and fell face first on the floor.

"Look at him! He is your King!" laughed Alexander. His anger had now become mockery.

"You ungrateful brat!" Shouted Philip, trying to stand up. His generals approached him in order to help, but the King refused. "Give me a sword, I'll kill him!"

The Generals, obviously, did not obey him, and held him back by force to prevent him from lashing out at Prince Alexander.

Philip could not tolerate such an offence, not even from his son. If his generals hadn't stopped him, he would have already put his hands around Alexander's neck and sent him to the afterlife in seconds, without hesitation.

Alexander grinned and turned on his heels, leaving the banquet followed by a group of kids of his age. Their way of walking was similar, so much so that all of them looked like facets of the Prince's shadow.

The young King, leaving the palace, looked with discomfort at his friends.

"You don't need to follow me. I have decided that I will go into exile, alone, until my father returns to his senses. If you came with me, you would attract anger that you don't deserve."

Two of his followers put their hands on his shoulders, pushing him forward. They were Efeistio and Crater.

"Nothing will divide us," said Efeistio proudly.

"We have only one King, the true King of Madonia," added Crater solemnly.

The others nodded silently, ready to lay down their lives for their King.

From the group, a slender young man with a huge pitch-black sword tied to his back, whose blue eyes seemed to contain the force of all the storms in the ocean, said: "There is only one King. We grew up together and vowed to assist you to the end: we will not hold back now."

Hearing that young man's words, all the other future generals breathed a sigh of relief. Among them, Helial was the most talented, but also the most unpredictable.

"I do not fear your father, nor the elders, nor the gods," said the young man firmly, with a calm voice. "If we have to pull the sky down and break it up, so be it. If we are to take the older generation that doesn't want to honour you and impale them on spades, so be it. But let Alexander's word dictate the law, not Philip's. "

The state of the Emperor had completely upset his taciturn and serious nature.

Everyone turned to look at him, frightened by the possible consequences of those words. But at that moment, Helial no longer looked human. He was a titan-like creature, motionless amidst the wrath of the gods.

Since Helial had entered the Time Block, his memories had been completely rewritten. His nature hadn't changed in the least, but his experiences were totally different than he had in his previous life.

Within that Illusion, Helial had lived his childhood in the palace together with Alexander. He had shown a talent out of the ordinary and his skills had peaked. Only the future King was able to stand up to him in a duel and subdue him. Even some of the older generation feared that young man's talent and determination.

Helial had no memory of the grudge he had had against Alexander: he only felt immense gratitude towards the King, who had allowed him to live developing himself to the best of his possibilities.

The boy in that Time Block was no longer Lumia's brother, the boy who had had to fight all his life against the chains imposed on him by Hades. Now Helial was a free warrior, whose heart was no longer obscured by shadows.

In this life, the Devil's young disciple no longer overshadowed the world with his overwhelming presence, but made his friends' shine, like a sun that makes everything bright flooding it with its light.

Being in a timeline in the Age of Chaos, Helial was unaware of how unthinkable it was to cultivate Mana of Life and Destruction together. Therefore, although his soul was by its nature attracted to Life, he did not fail to cultivate with commitment also his Mana of Destruction.

Alexander patted on the back Efeistio and Crater, his most loyal friends, and then looked at Helial, the strongest one.

"You gave me your word. As long as we are together, you cannot lose your life," said Alexander.

"I'm not going to lose it," Helial replied. "I just want to tear it from the chest of your enemies."