The little man

Perseus Lustre has never expected his life to come to this. At five feet, he is a short man, with a very big head.

His journey through life has been very dramatic.

It all began the day king Beor Hawthorne decided to travel to the capital of winterland, winter city, and ask for the winter king's daughter's hand in person.

As a man very much interested in all sorts of novelties, he must tag along. What novelty could be greater than winterland, the land that pre-dated magic, and practised a religion cursed by all priests.

He must say, winterland stood up to its reputation of mysterious untouched land.

There were not many roads a carriage could travel on.

Damn it..

So, they trudged half way through the foxes.

When they entered the first virgin forest of the winterland, Perseus felt the strange psychological pressure just from the majesty of the trees.

Majesty of the trees is enough to intimidate him, damn it.

But he was a short man, and everything in winterland is supersized.

He could almost see why Beor Hawthorne, who loomed at almost seven feet tall and three feet wide, was ever so happy to come to this land.

The deer of summerland are dainty and pretty creatures, which measure at three feet from head to toe, and their limbs are just the right size to bite on. Especially so, when they are roasted with spices from the east, honey from harvest and peppers from Dunes.

He loved honey glazed peppers and venison.

The deers of the winterland measured eight foot from foot to tail, and it had half the size of its tail compared to the deer of summerland.

A kick from it's hoof will leave a hoof shaped imprint even on the sturdiest tree.

That is but the first surprise.

The north is moors and plains, and size of it's moors, the size of it's plains, both are wildly beyond the imagination of perseus.

Green rolling hills extended beyond horizon into the ever present fog, while each and every sun ray is treasured like a gold coin.

That's how cloudy the sky was always.

There's a chill in the air no matter how sunny the day.

Snow fell even on sunniest days, though all one could say about it is that it melted in an hour. Or that it was very pretty at the time of falling.

The muddy ground in the night gets frozen to muddy ice in the morning, which could trip even the most sure footed man.

The food is bland even if it's rich, the spices or ever lacking, even if the meat is abundant, the women are too tall even if pretty.

Moreover, the eternal stare of the elder trees sent chills up his spine, as if someone was spying on him. Worse yet, they could look into his very soul.

Thus, he was shocked when he met winter king Edward.

The man was average looking, but he had a warrior's grace and majesty about him. Queen Iris Redfin was a very beautiful girl once, and she has aged gracefully. The five children have distinctive personalities, and the bastard of the family seemed to be treated not much differently from the children themselves.

A more picture perfect and warm family could not exist.

He observed them for an entire day, hoping to find at least one little flaw in the family.

However, the winter king Edward is generous, kind and decisive.

He is a capable commander, had the respect of his lords and love of his people.

The queen Iris Redfin is graceful, witty and an attentive hostess.

The heir Raul is accomplished in military and scholarly arts, was both charming and handsome, and a loving older brother. None of it is pretended at all.

It's so much so, with a single glance from Iris redfin, the bastard and the heir moved together to take care of their young siblings, and carted them off to their beds.

The young ladies of house Winterchild could not stand sight of each other, and with good reason too.

Sasha Winterchild was ever the lady, beautiful, poised, and in love with dancing.

Xena winterchild was her exact opposite in behavior, quick on her feet, tomboyish and rebellious.

As much as the sisters fought, the moment a stranger said a single word about their sister , they cut down the person ruthlessly.

All siblings are protective of each other.

Ryan winter child was a very handsome child, ever so curious about everything. He seems to be far ahead in scholarly pursuit compared to any of his siblings.

Rudy winterchild was but four, but one could tell with a look he is the most plain looking child among the lot. Neither of his parent's handsome ness seemed to have passed to him. Instead, it seems he has inherited twice the amount of the energy from both the parents.

The bastard of the Winterchild family is treated no different from a child of the family, at least in broad perspective. Sure, he doesn't get as fine clothes as the heir, but they are of the same kind, his rooms are in the same part of the castle. His lessons and allowance are also the same as that of his brother.

For the first time, Perseus felt envious of another.

Here Edward Winterchild was treating his bastard the same as the darling heir, whereas his own father treated him far worse than a bastard child, for no reason at all.

Many things have happened since then.

Over the next course of the day, Ryan Winterchild fell from a tower, and Edward Winterchild left the castle in his heir's hands, visited summerland with his two daughters.

Beor Hawthorne died in suspicious circumstances, and his sister, the queen of summerland, Cortana arrested Edward Winterchild on the offense of regicide.

In response, Raul Winterchild has come with all of his army to free his father and sisters. Perseus was absolutely sure Beor was killed by his sister in some form or manner.

She only imprisoned Edward Winterchild and his daughters to stop the news from spreading.

You see, unlike others, Perseus knew a secret.

His brother and sister were sleeping with each other. None of the children of the queen are Beor Hawthorn's. Fortunately, Perseus held no great love for King Beor. The man was a pig. He ate like a pig, he slept around like a pig and in the end, he died to a pig.

Only, he worried the amount of mess his sister might make if there were no one around her to reign her back.

His sister Cortana thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world, and stars and moon were hung in the air for her, what she ate was dew, and what she shat was gold.

Her ego is the size of a mountain, her managing talent is inferior to an ant.

Her son Jeremy is worse.

Jeremy Hawthorne is made of all the evil people abhor, and all the beauty people covet.

On top of that, he knows no restraint.

Neither his father nor himself were in the capital of summerland overseeing his sister.

Thus came the worst tragedy of the century.

Edward Winterchild was killed in a public execution by Jeremy hawthorn.

Worse yet, it happened in front of his daughter Sasha winterchild.

If only he hadn't taken the sea route !

Had Perseus arrived at least a day earlier, he could have resolved the situation very peacefully, but he arrived a day late, and his sister Cortana lit the torch of war.

Raul Winterchild was only stationed north of the red river and went ballistic at the news of his father's death.

He started his march south, and not a single battle among six he fought could be counted as moderate defeat for the summerland.

When he began, the court of summerland dismissed him as a green horn and babe crying for his father.

The first battle opened his eyes.

Five thousand southern army died, a hundred of Raul's army were injured.

They should have concentrated their all on Raul, and killed him then.

Raul Winterchild was stuck at the overhang, a towering set of mountains which contained the most natural pass to cross the red river.

However, the Troll family which looked after overhang made a deal to let Raul pass, along with their loyalty. In lieu, Raul married a Troll.

After that, the bad news arrived one after another, with the kingdom of water completely conquered by Raul, along with all the north of gold land.

The kingdom of the mountain which remained neutral declared their loyalty to king Raul, and joined the fray.

In retaliation, his father married Sasha Winterchild to himself. The marriage was a sham, what's with Sasha being only a thirteen year old child, and having no affection for himself. Yet, Perseus felt fond of her, for her innocence and loveliness.

The southern kingdoms of Harvest and Lightning both made an alliance with his father, a marriage with king Jeremy, and a Trossou family, which held power in the Harvest kingdom, supported the Lustre family's agenda.

Only - Jeremy was assassinated right after marriage.

In the resulting commotion, Sasha Winterchild vanished, and Perseus Lustre was accused of treason.

His own father wanted him to die for a crime he did not commit.

His brother Quixote smuggled him out of the prison. After a long boat ride, and a journey full of twists and turns, Perseus has become the war adviser of Empress Dahlia Drakon, in her conquest of the thousand kingdoms.