Seasons were as wondrous as one wanted them to be, for the King, it might've been the worst part of his year, winter. The troops had begun to run low on rations, and while they were able to hunt, hunting alone simply could not supply the soldiers, and more taxes were placed so the King could send food, supplies, and essentials to the soldiers.
The winter was harsh, but to little Fushi, who had been able to enjoy winter for the first time, not starving, nor fighting, was delighted. In fact, he was one of the few that got to enjoy the winter, though he couldn't stay outside for long, in the case that he caught a cold. The peasants would be starving, barely able to survive with their pay around this time, but not a single one complained to the king, after all, this had been happening ever since the start of their life cycle. Fushi had been a peasant once before, it was an enjoyable life when his family was around.
"Fushi! Don't stay out for too long!"
"I won't!"
"Don't go into the forest either!"
"I know!"
Fushi's Mother, Lilian was while precautious, understanding, that a child's first winter would be a memory that would be fresh in the mind, even as they aged, for she too, could remember when she was a little girl twirling around in the snow, and shaking the snow off her hair as her own mother scolded her.
She reminded herself of Fushi's eyes, as they lit up when he saw the ground blanketed in snow. The sun was still out, making it seem more joyous, as little Fushi played, and stumbled around in the snow.
"Lady Lilian."
"What is it, Angela?"
"The King requires your...'attention."
Lilian's face turned more pink, and was a visible change, even with the snow out, giving everyone a natural blush.
"I-of course, it's been a long day for him after all."
"I can't fathom why he would rather call you to his room than rest."
Fushi, with his small little steps, stumbled his way to his mother, showing her a flower he had collected. It was of a blue hue, with the insides turning a light purple as it spiraled towards the center, the golden anthers emitted a strange light that could be perceived as different colors depending on whose eyes they had been laid upon.
"Oh! Fushi, it's beautiful!"
Lilian held the flower to her face, giggling as she took a whiff of the flower, the flower was only grown in the winter, making it mildly rare, it's reason for glowing was due to a tiny amount of mana running through its roots. Seeing that he made his mother happy, Fushi was satisfied.
"I'm here!"
Elldrich had arrived, much to Fushi's displeasure.
"Oh, Elldrich, I'm sorry, I can't watch you play today..."
"Why Mother? You promised!"
"Your father called me to help him with some documents, so I have to go alright? I'll be back in a few hours."
"Alright...but please be quick."
Lilian put on a smile.
"I'll try my best, darling, oh, keep an eye on Fushi will you?"
"You can leave it to me!"
Lilian wrapped her scarf around her neck once more, rearranging it, and left the princes in the garden. The now nine year old Elldrich was timidly approaching the now four year old Fushi, the last time the prince approached, Fushi had bitten him. Hence his reason for being extra cautious.
"Hi, Fushi!"
"Hello."
"What're you making?"
"I'm making a snow sword."
"Why?"
"I'm going to kill you with it that's what!"
Fushi let out a child sized battle cry, charging straight into Elldrich, his snow sword, disintegrating as it made contact with Elldrich.
"Oh no! You got me!"
"W-what? Wait! No! Shut up, Elldrich!"
"I saw you looking triumphant for a second there, Fushi."
The eldest brother, Elldrich picked up a snowball, rolling it into larger proportions. Making a singular large snowball, just a tad smaller than Fushi.
"Ivngol."
Elldrich used his magic to craft a tiny ice sword for Fushi, making the blade dull, but no matter what ice blade, as long as it was sturdy enough, it could cut through snow.
"Give it a try, Fushi, your little sword versus a big bad snow ball!"
Fushi stared at his brother, wanting to swing the blade at the snowball, but held himself back.
"I-I'm not a kid, Elldrich!"
"Yes you are!"
"No I'm not!"
"Then prove it! If you can cut through this snowball with just one slash, then you won't be a kid."
The snowball was impossible for a child to cut through with an ice sword, as the ice sword Elldrich made for Fushi was thin, and would break after merely two swings, and the ice was very compact, being hardened with the 'Sigol' spell.
Fushi, even though he had knowledge of magic, still couldn't do magic until he was six, and had his trip to the church to have his mana aptitude test. Knowing that spells with 'gol' in them were defense oriented spells, but also the hardest to cast, with a child's body it's impossible to use as a catalyst.
Fushi had also deducted that one of Elldrich's original spells, namely the one used to kill him, was not a weaponized defense spell, but something else entirely. 'Axoms' had no 'gol' but also had no 'Des' so it wasn't an offensive spell either.
"Elldrich...I can do it if you make me a spear."
"A spear?"
"Yes."
Fushi had no experience with the sword. But he had already dedicated nearly half his life to the spear.
"Ivngol."
Elldrich had made the spear the same thinness as the sword, but with a more grip-able shaft, and handed the spear to Fushi.
"Alright, I just used up a bit of mana on that, be sure to at least have some snow shavings!"
The spear to Fushi, was not of the right proportions, while the sword was, showing that Elldrich truly knew nothing of spears, but contrary to that, he was a genius in the way of the blade. The spear had a very grip-able shaft, but that only hindered Fushi as it was too grip-able, making it harder to use spear arts. The blade, or tip, of the spear was also to light, a spear that was too unbalanced, even an imperial soldier wouldn't be able to use this.
But to Fushi, it was useable, there was a certain art that his master had taught him, one that could be used with any weapon, even a spear with the structural integrity of an upside down sword. While he hadn't had his mana pool unsealed yet, the flowers he found held trace amounts of mana, incomparable to a normal mana pool, but enough to coat the tip of the spear with a thin layer of mana, after all, this technique while a secret, was also the first art Fushi had learnt, a test to see that from his mana pool if he could take just a fragment of it and shroud a blade within it.
He took the mana from the flower, and gently wrapped the mana around the blade, then another flower had been deprived of its mana, the mana of two flowers were held on the blade of the spear, but the second was also infused into the shaft of the ice spear, letting Fushi control the mana on the blade, he felt the mana on the blade, flowing as gently as water, and hardened it, the mana on the blade was then let loose, and had a fierce swirling mana like a hurricane limited to the spear, Fushi then simply did a normal practice swing, cutting the snowball horizontally, severing it in half. Even a simple cut such as this could scrape off a normal man's skin.
"Done."
"I'm impressed, little brother."
As a result of not using his own mana, it wasn't taxing on Fushi, but compared to Fushi's old self, and Elldrich, Elldrich had more mana than he could tell. The mana poured out like the shadows in the night, it pour out like the rays of the sun. Yet from the countless battles, and even the Elldrich here now, is that there was always a flaw, a human body can't handle that mana, and even if he does use it, his mana efficiency was horrendous, for a mana pool that size, he could only last twice the amount of time a royal magi would last, even if the royal magi had merely 1/10 of his mana pool.
"Elldrich, the King requests your presence."
A second maid, Vivienne had silently opened the door and approached Elldrich, she had golden locks, and blue eyes, blue eyes were a common trait in the maids hired here, most likely because that meant their magical aptitude was halfway decent. They also must've come from somewhat wealthy families to have been able to unseal their mana pools.
"Wasn't Father with Mother doing documents? I thought Mother made it clear not to disturb us."
"It's an urgent matter, the King calls for you, no matter how displeasing it is to you, you must attend."
Elldrich let out a soft sigh, turning back to little Fushi.
"Sorry, Fushi, I can't play much longer with you today, maybe we'll play some more tomorrow?"
"Maybe."
Elldrich furrowed his eyebrows thinking about why the King would disrupt his time with his beloved little brother.
"Alright, but I need you to promise to greet Jared when he comes home."
"Why? I barely know him."
"He's still your brother."
Fushi knew that the second prince, Jared was arriving home in a few hours, Jared had no magical aptitude, and was also Jared's twin brother, though Jared was a prodigy in the way of the blade, he was still inferior to his brother. Without magical aptitude, he was unfit to rule, deeming him second prince. Fushi didn't like Jared due to his similar appearance to Elldrich, and even less so, as Jared spent no time with little Fushi.
"I don't want to."
"He's your older brother."
Older brother. Even in the poorest households, that meant superiority, in a royal household, it meant second prince, Jared. Fushi, looked ruefully at his Eldest brother, his lips curling.
"...Fine."
The reason for his hatred of Jared wasn't because he spent no time with Fushi, Fushi much preferred it that way, it was because Jared harassed their mother, blaming her for his magical mishap, and trying to feed Fushi the wrong information, telling him that magic was evil, and that he would hunted if found with it. Jared also had a deep hatred for Elldrich, thinking he stole his magic while inside the womb.
Elldrich had a look on his face, a look of regret, a look of guilt, of making Fushi have to greet Jared alone, the once sunny day had turned into a snow storm where one could barely see, yet there must be someone to await a prince, even if that meant his little brother.
"I'm sorry, Fushi."
Fushi remained silent, basking in the snowy, windy outdoors, his small, fur brimmed hood blowing in the wind. His fists were clenched, and he was biting his lip.
Elldrich took his hand off Fushi's shoulder, and stood back up, going inside with Vivienne. Fushi awaited his 'brother' in the cold, all alone, feeling as if he was back where he started.
Human greed is a simplistic thing. One presides in having as much wealth or antiques they can amass, and the other in staying in a ones good favor. Or in other words, the battle between rich and the lesser, powerful, and the lesser.
Just as a poor man waits for his master, Fushi must wait for his brother, Jared, the hateful, spiteful, Jared. It was cold, even though he had the scarf his mother had knitted for him, it was cold even though he had just revived the sun's warmth, yet he still needed to suffer more, just for this horrible hierarchy. He couldn't wait inside, as the estimated time of arrival could've been at any moment, and someone needed to wait, to greet the 'hard working prince.'
Even his mother, who loved him so, could do nothing about it, so she had Elldrich watch over him, but even Elldrich was called away, for a reason Fushi could not fathom.
Fushi had gone into the forest, against his mother's wishes, but close enough to castle, so that he might run back when, and if, Jared arrived. Fushi wanted to collect as many flowers as possible, the ones filled with mana, he collected so many he thought he might've cleared this part of the forest, a large heap of flowers, piled in his hands.
He used the mana coursing through them, and himself as a catalyst.
"Solas."
The mana fizzled around Fushi, granted him a cloak of warmth that wrapped around his tiny body. His combat and knowledge were on par with previous life, but his mentality had reverted back to a child's. Allowing him to feel extreme relief when the warmth came, not thinking about what he would do if it ran out.
So still, he is waiting, upon the cold steps of the stairs, all alone. The snow was lighter than when Fushi first started waiting, and by the time the warmth spell wore off, it was already nightfall, and Fushi waited some more.
Then, and only then, was Elldrich finished with his work. He slowly approached his brother, with his head hung low.
"I'm sorry Fushi, Jared sent us a letter earlier telling us he would return next week due to bad weather. I was going to come tell you, but...his majesty did not permit me to."
There was nothing to fill the absence of sound, only the roaring wind that Fushi had already become accustomed to.
"Fushi?"
It was then that Elldrich finally look his brother in the eyes, his eyes were glazed over, his pulse weak, and black splotches appearing on his body.
With a single touch, Fushi fell over to the side. The scarf he got from his mother unfurled as he tumbled down the stairs, weakly, he tried to reach for it, but his fingers hurt too much, it felt like it was burning.
"B-brother...?"
"Fushi! I'm here, it's going to be alright, we'll get you somewhere safe, I promise!"
"Why did you leave me here alone...?"
"I'm sorry, it's all big brother's fault, I know! Just please hold on a little longer!"
"I don't like being alone...I...was always...alone..."
Elldrich watched as his brother's eyes froze over, his tears being frozen by the cold wind, the feeling of the wind was too much even for Elldrich, he felt cold, and wondered how he could've let Fushi stay out here for so long.
"Fushi..."
He held his little brother's hand, and kneeled there in the snow, watching Fushi's white hair, the only part of him still moving. He looked down at the blotches of black on Fushi, he then saw the pieces of Fushi's fingers that had broken off. Fushi had been so cold he couldn't feel it at all.
"Why the fuck didn't we just get one of the maids to wait?! Or even a duke?! Why my little brother?!"
Elldrich held Fushi in his arms, his tears being frozen over, he had searched his younger brother's eyes for a response, but when faced with the look of grey empty eyes, devoid of life, just like a Lich, but unlike a Lich, with no goals, no soul. All that Elldrich saw was an empty husk.
"I'm sorry, Fushi..."
"Elldrich come back inside, your father had fit after those extra documents came in."
"Mother..."
Elldrich's face was twisted, it had the look of someone wretched with guilt, and overcome by sadness, the brother he had been with since the day of his birth. The brother he had wanted to see safe as he grew up...it was all gone. Now, he was stuck with Jared.
His teeth clenched.
"Jared..."
"Fushi?! Elldrich! Why he out here? Was he the one waiting for Jared?! I thought you would keep on eye on him!"
Mother ran outside, holding Fushi in her arms, holding his cold little corpse, his tiny hands almost had no fingers, his face was also etched with black splotches, she held him in her arms for what seemed like the longest time, and when she looked into little Fushi's eyes...
She was never the same Mother I knew again.