Warm, warm and cozy. You cuddle in someone's embrace as you try to get some more sleep, you feel so safe, without an iota of worry; nostalgia comes to your mind as you yawn in comfortability. You try to remember something, something important that just happened.
"Right! X!!" you shout in surprise as you stand up… in the lap of the person that was embracing you.
This is not the time to be sleeping, you should stand up and start training. But, where do you start with the training? Do you go with your father? Your brother? They wouldn't like it. You look all around you trying to look for something that gives you some inspiration, but to no avail.
"Exerux, what is happening? You were sleeping so peacefully and yet you wake up as if you had your tail stepped on" you hear a sweet and feminine voice giggling.
"Eh? My tail?" you turn to look at your rearguard only to see no tail "I don't have any tails!" you exclaim with a frown.
And the giggle continues with even more force, you try to look back to see who is laughing at you, but the person in question stops you as she caresses your head with tender care.
"Son, you are so naïve sometimes"
And you suddenly remember, this touch, this laugh… it is something that you have lost, something you yearned for, yet it should be impossible. She is…
"Mama!" you shout in surprise as tears roll down your cheeks "Mama! Mama! You are alright!"
You could be jumping in happiness but she just holds you down in her embrace, pushing you to her chest so you can lie.
"Please just calm down Exe, you are so agitated and you just woke up"
She starts caressing your hair as you tone it down. You really want to look back but she doesn't let you, you have even forgotten her face, her smell, her gestures. You want to see her once again no matter the costs.
Yet, you can't.
"Mama… I…"
"Shhh, don't cry. Is your brother bullying you again?" she just puts her slender fingers in your mouth.
'Yes, he had been, even since you were gone' you think to yourself, but you don't have the will to talk about it with her, not since she is back.
"Don't let him bother you. He has his reasons, even if they are not fair" she just coos you trying to bring you back to sleep.
"I don't understand, he is my brother and I… I…"
"Shhh, calm down, this world… is a world of interest. But you said that you wanted to be like me, right?"
You nod in tears as you sniff a snot that was dripping out of your nose.
"Then, keep smiling, keep trying and most importantly… try to make amends even if someone hurts you"
"Mom, but second mother did…"
"Exerux Greydarth, did you forget what I told you about trying to be the best person you can?"
"E-even if it hurts… you have to go on" you stutter.
There is a lot of things that you don't understand, there are even more things that you don't know. But even if it is you, you are aware that your mom was assassinated. You saw her corpse, so all of this must be…
"And now… sleep soundly my son, tomorrow will be a hard day"
You try to struggle but you slowly fall into the embrace of dreams.
"Mom!"
You get up in a hurry, trying to calm your breath as your tears keep rolling down your cheeks, it was all a dream, you can't see your mom once again, but at least you heard her voice once again, even if it was just for a moment.
Your name is Exerux Greydarth, second heir to the throne even when your mom was the first wife to the king. You are only ten years old and you might as well be an orphan, not that you care so much, you have a good room and more than enough food to live with in the castle.
Grabbing your head, you go to your bathroom, splashing some water to your face to wake up from the stupor, you feel so drowsy and your head feels like it was about to split in half. Trying collect your thoughts you keep reminiscing about the dream that you just had, it was a peculiar one.
"Even if it hurts, right mom?" you look at your reflection giving to yourself a wry smile, you slowly compose it into a livelier one as you calm down your nerves.
Looking at yourself you realize that your skin looks more glossy and tender, your strange hair looks firmer and more colorful, even if it is already ridiculously colorful: red in the center and blue at the hair tips, spiky as you like it while falling to the right side. Your pajamas look a little small for your frame but you don't feel like changing them in the short run.
"Yes… also that happened" you sigh at your reflection.
You still remember, the oath that you committed in your hearth when you accepted X's request.
You look at your own light blue eyes, trying to find any trace of doubt, and you fail. It is a nice fail.
"Hehe" you laugh for a bit and run to change yourself.
"Whoa"
Only to slip in the floor from the speed you are running. You hastily get up looking at your body in surprise, you didn't notice before but now you have some kind of vitality that invigorates you, you have become stronger.
Of course, higher beings just don't go and explode people, r-right? X must have done something.
There are 6 stages of cultivation: Body, Qi, Foundation, Core, Spirit, Soul Integration and Immortal. Each one of them are ranked by seven levels, you used to be in the third level of Body Cultivation: Bone Transformation.
You were in the progress of baptizing your bones with Qi to reinforce them, every Cultivator has to undergo in this process so their own bones can handle the strain of using Qi in the next stages. Not only the bones have to be reinforced, every stage is a kind of reinforcement: Skin, Muscles, Bones, Organs, the Hearth, Meridians and, at last, awakening the Dantian.
You are considered by the others as a thrash, your cultivation was to slow despite having more resources than the general population, kids at your age are already at the brink of undergoing into the reinforcement of their Meridian so they can advance past the Meridian Stage, yet you were only almost done with the development of your Bones.
It is not that you have been lazy, it is just that… you have less talent than the others. It was as simply as that, no matter how much elixirs you drank you were inferior, not to mention that both of your older brothers are more talented than you, your Second brother is about to become a fully-fledged cultivator in the border of trespassing the barrier to the Qi Cultivation Stage.
But now you are at the same stage yourself, and you feel that you might be even stronger. The brain is one of the organs that a cultivator can't refine by himself, even the Hearth is slowly reinforced so the danger is null, but the brain can mess everything up with even the most minute mistakes.
"This is…" you stare at your hands in shock as you clench them in excitement.
The dream was not a dream, it was real. You shouldn't be happy that calamity will strike the world but, at least, you are not thrash anymore; despite always shrugging it off with a smile it always hurt you when you were mocked for being inferior to everyone else.
It has only been 2 years since you started to cultivate, humans can only cultivate from their 8th birthday onwards so the starting point is 'fair'. If any child tries to cultivate past the first stage before turning 8 years old, they will be struck by heavenly retribution.
You can't hide your excitement anymore, really, you want to run at your father and announce to the whole world that you are not thrash anymore, you have potential, a future. They won't look you anymore with scorn…
It won't hurt anymore, right?
You dress up with your usual apparel, a Qi absorbing white shirt with a vortex branded in it, this is a talisman sewed into your clothes so you can absorb Qi energy easily, then a pair of blue pants and you are good to go.
You open your door only to see an old man with a simple gray tunic draped around him, he is your butler and bodyguard. He is not strong, he is not interested in you and he disregards you as a heavy load. With the cultivation of Foundation Rank 5, Geronimo.
"Young master, it is weird to see you going in such a hurry" she just greets you with an indifferent attitude.
You gulp your saliva as you see his eyes, they are cold and full of contempt to you, the worthless son of the king that has no backing at all, this was your previous identity. But things should be different, right?
"Good morning Geronimo!" you smile at him, telling yourself that things are different now "I was about to see my father, what a coincidence"
"A coincidence indeed, even though you should have been at breakfast around 3 hours ago" he looks at you with a tint of rage.
"Oh, did I oversleep? Hehe sorry" you close your eyes with a hand in your head, laughing in embarrassment "I must have been really tired from yesterday"
"Yes… I see" he crudely answers, maybe thinking that you were only a lazy bum.
Geronimo harrumphs to clear his throat, he usually avoids talking with you so he must be here for an errand.
"Young master, the king has summoned you for an audience" he starts smiling in a bad way, making you frown "You must be ready to attend in less than 10 minutes"
He looks at you from the bottom to the top.
"At least you are presentable, so hurry, we must go. Don't make things hard for me, they are already hard for you" he smirks mockingly.
"Hard for me? What do you mean?"
"You will see young master, just brace yourself. Things will be okay"
You follow him with uneasiness in your hearth, the bodyguard starts humming in pleasure, looking forward for whatever you have been summoned to.
You are tired of this, being despised and hated by everyone around you, but you suck it up, your mother suffered worse and she always answered back with a smile. If someone hits your cheek you must show them the other one.
But, does it works? In this world where power reigns supreme.
The castle that the royal family lives on is a little bit old, 150 years old, so the material is deteriorating a bit, even if you are royalty and your dad commands a kingdom it is not that strong of a kingdom. Only being at the early ranks of the Spirit Stage, your dad has to rely in the many connections with the nobles so the kingdom can sustain itself.
You are not really good at politics, so you decided not to involve yourself in this kind of topics, but you have a feeling that you will be embroiled in a lot of political controversy from now on.
"Announcing to the king Maximillian Greydarth, the Third son of the Greydarth royal family has arrived!" Geronimo shouts with power, but no one really bothers with that minor character.
You see around the royal hall, decorated with red curtains and a matching carpet, most of the nobles are kneeling around to receive the king, even if it is only to maintain appearances. You look at your dad, but before you can say anything an annoyed voice complains out loud.
"Are we done yet? Can we exile already this thrash?"
Your Second Brother, Donatello Greydarth stands in front of the king, his gaze is full of mockery and self-satisfaction, with purple hair and matching purple eyes he looks like a hunter toying with his food. His royal clothes are matching to the king, made of some expensive red silk and golden shoulder pads, he exudes an arrogant air fitting of the royalty.
"What are you talking about?" you can't help yourself but to retort in confusion "Exile me?"
"That's right young master, surrender yourself" Geronimo stands in front of you "If you admit your wrong doings you will receive a lighter punishment"
You frown in confusion. Something is not right, are you being… framed?