Cardinal: Advent of the Sloth

A/N: hey guys please go up into the Aux chapter to read the Prologue, without it, a couple of things won't make sense, thanks, and have a good time.

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The golden sun arched overhead crossing the realms of Ariadne, it was the month of Paltear, placing the sun's arch on a steep tilt to the south.

The west wind flittered through the snow-capped mountains of Eldrith, which overlooked all of the Royal Capital of Mercurion.

From the streets below the blue skies shone ahead, the white mountains gave a soft landscape that blended with the white walls of Mercurion, various splotches of colour and darkness cropped up through the skies from time to time, the shadows cast by the celestial bodies that moved overhead.

It was Higso (the second day of the week) the 8th of Paltear 106 982 P.C. only the 9th month of the year, the end of the year was still a ways away, but even so, a new beginning was set to come in the great halls of the Royal palace of Mercurion.

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The 7th empress Khalia Umbar Mercurion, lay in bed, the various bedsheets were pulled aside and tossed across the floor, as a pool of liquid was released from between her legs staining the remaining sheets with a clear fluid.

The heavy mahogany door to the room was soon opened, Khalia's face which showed little surprise or panic by the occurrences showed a slight frown upon seeing the emperor walk in, looking at her round belly but barely at her.

Yet even that gaze which lingered where her child rested was distant and detached, there was no fire in those eyes not even a spark, only a wariness that she had never seen leave his face, not even in the throngs of love and passion.

A pace behind the emperor was her doctor, Freya Al' Mercurion, holding an ornate wooden box, the sight of that box annoyed Khalia to no end.

Freya was there to help her deliver the child, Khalia, however, felt only contempt upon seeing the woman, she could almost spit in the woman's face, by now she herself was an expert on childbirth she needed the help of no one to get through it… not anymore.

"Your majesty you need to sit like… with your back…" the words of Freya flittered through Khalia's ears; those were words she had heard too many times already.

She had no need for the doctor to remind her of the most suitable posture to deliver a child, she had already taken on the posture the moment she broke her own water.

The scent of amniotic fluids reached her nose, as the doctor droned on, the annoying self-important tone of the doctor irked her to no end, and she reflexively started to look for things to criticise.

"You pick up those sheets and fold them!" she snapped at one of her chamber maids, as the mess on the side of her four-poster bed caught her eye.

"And you make me my Jasmine tea, I expect it to be perfect once I'm done here!" she shouted at another chamber maid, though the maids showed no change in expression, at her words they simply obeyed.

Freya set the small ornate box down on the nightstand and approached the emperor, "May I begin your Eminence," she asked seeking his approval first.

No sound left the emperor's mouth as he slowly nodded his head, much to Khalia's growing annoyance.

A second passed and Freya's hands started to move across the air, spurts of colours danced along her fingertips as magical energy coalesced forming a series of runes and constructs, only seconds passed by before the structure took on the form of a circle and shrunk down into Freya's palm.

"Your majesty I shall now begin," Freya spoke as she placed her hand on the round but silky smooth belly of the empress, a series of images and information flooded through her mind, as the spell took effect and removed the 7th empresses' sense of pain.

"Push," Freya urged the empress.

Khalia had no need to be told even once, as soon as the spell took effect she already pushed, hardly a second passed from the moment of Freya's order and a baby boy slid out of the 7th empresses' womb.

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'This is familiar,' Lucian thought to himself as he felt that sensation of being squeezed through something that was much smaller than him, and yet he was still able to somehow fit through.

As he took that first breath, it was like flames erupted in his nostrils, and made their way through his lungs that started to expand and contract for the first time.

As he opened his eyes Lucian gazed around at the large cosy room, with some of the most incredible fixtures and furniture he had ever observed, and his eyes rolled back ever so slightly.

'Yep, reincarnation hates me,' he thought, it was the first thought that came to mind, though his eyes faltered when he couldn't figure out why he had such a thought.

The seconds passed as he heard a snap of shears, and looked down to find his umbilical cord severed, by the doctor holding him in her arms.

Lucian glanced around as he was pulled up, looking down on the woman who was his mother, though there was some initial confusion for Lucian, her belly was slim and a flawless pale white, with no stretchmarks or swelling, not even a sign of bloating.

If not for her legs that were still slightly spread revealing the amniotic fluids on her inner thighs, anyone would find it hard to believe that the woman had just given birth.

To the side a man in the garb of a king stood, barely looking anywhere, almost mindlessly, the man's presence was so strange that Lucian didn't know what to make of him, and he almost didn't feel it when the doctor drew out a vial of blood from his arm.

As he felt the prick, the doctor walked up to an ornate box on the nightstand and withdrew a small circular device that easily fit in her palm, along with another vial of blood.

There were two openings in the device in which she slotted both vials, a moment later the device lit up in a green glow.

The doctor still held a silent Lucian as she bowed in the direction of the emperor, "Congratulations Your Eminence he is your son,"

"Of course, he is," Khalia snapped with a sharp flit to her tongue, as she looked at the emperor with a burning gaze, yet even then there was nothing coming from him, no retort, no anger, no satisfaction, his gaze as blank as fresh parchment.

Lucian noticed the strange atmosphere, but before he could think much of it there was something going through his mind, an itch that he couldn't quite scratch, and it was telling him that he was missing something, something obvious and close, something that made no sense…

As Lucian was muddled by his own thoughts he saw a twinkle of lights on the fingers of his doctor, the colours and motions distracting him, with a sense of wonder and familiarity he couldn't understand, but just as quickly as it appeared it vanished going straight into him.

"Your majesty you'll be happy to know that he was born with a special core, it seems that his odds of becoming a paragon are promising," the doctor spoke cutting across the cutting words the 7th empress was saying to the emperor.

Lucian looked to his new mother with curious eyes, she was by far the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, her features were the kind he envisioned when writing beautiful characters, yet that words could never do justice.

"What use do I have for a useless paragon?!" Khalia spat at the doctor, and with those words, all the praises Lucian held for her seemed to fade away.

Her gaze quickly turned to the emperor, "Another useless seed of yours," she spat, spittle flew from her mouth, like the foulest of venoms.

The 7th empress swung her legs to the floor and sauntered off with ease that no woman who just gave birth should be capable of doing.

As she reached the door her chamber maid returned with a steaming pot of fragrant tea, "When did I say this must be ready!" she shouted as the back of her hand smacked the chamber maid across the face, sending her toppling against the wall.

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Entry 1: The Journals of a Slothful Prince.

The 5th day of Atheon the eighth month of the year 106 986 P.C.

I have thought long and hard on what my first entry should be, and I think it only fitting that it is of the day I was born…

It was a strange day, stranger than most, on that I remember my mind being muddled, these images racing through my head, but that was not the most remarkable of things that occurred…

It wasn't even the events of that day, that made it remarkable…

No, it was something else, something that should, by all means, be impossible…

To explain it I must speak of a lesson a tutor taught me, regarding Oratio's 'Day of Tongues' festivities.

Oratio being the god of language embarked on a quest to create a universal language for all of creation, and in that time he conducted many experiments to satisfy his curiosity…

One of the more prominent experiments being a study in which he called upon a large cast of educated mortals.

To each of them, he recited words of a language he made up, then for six months he taught them the language he made up and asked them if they could recall the words he had spoken to them in the beginning.

The total cast of people across the numerous repetitions of the thought experiment numbered in the tens of thousands…

But here's where it gets interesting there were in fact two people who successfully recalled the words he told them…

Both of whom had photographic memories, however, that being the case, across the studies there were actually over 40 people with photographic memories, and only two remembered…

This story is important because the thing that strikes me as odd is that I remember every word spoken on that day, and the strangest part of it all is that I don't have a photographic memory or anything of the kind…

And if I'm being honest I have always been able to understand the words of the people around me…

Every time I think back to that day… I cannot understand… the only explanation I can come up with... is that I was somehow born with the ability to understand the language of Oratio…

I think that there is something wrong with me…

Perhaps I am a demi-god a child of Oratio…

No scratch that, demi-gods don't have cores…