As the light began shining through the windows hitting Aku in the face a faint smell of pancakes reached him as he started waking up. sitting up in the bed he let out a yawn as he stretched out his arms. the light from outside blinded him as he got up. "Wake up Honey breakfast is ready! It's my famous birthday pancakes!" His mom called from the kitchen. "coming mom!" he yelled back yawning again feeling weird being almost half his own mother's age. he got up stretching and scratching his lower back a little still in his pajamas as he walked out of his room and into the kitchen and sat down at the table.

To tell a bit about His mother she is a very young woman and mom. in fact, her name is Elaine Flaire. She is only 33 meaning she was 16 when she got Aku like he is 16 now. She never told him who his father was and has never dated another man after him. Aku doesn't know her or his roots but she is working hard to provide for us being a secretary for this disturbing CEO owning some big shot company and Aku knows the only reason he hired Aku's mom was that she is young and looks good. She is basically this gorgeous mysterious woman no one knows anything about not even her own son.

A sigh left Aku's lips as he thought about his mom as a plate was put before him. "sighs are not allowed when it's your birthday! remember this is a special day you know! or... it was once" she said looking lost in thought for a second before shaking her head snapping out of it.. "nevermind that no matter what your birthday is always unique to me," she said with a small smile as she kissed the top of Aku's hair. no matter what she remembered it apparently made her remember something about her past that she didn't wanna talk about. Aku purred some syrup on his pancakes, liking things extremely sweet. they both began eating in silence. Aku looked up at his mom, still curious about her past. He had started asking about her past when he was 10 and began thinking about that he actually never was told about it. "Hey mom, how did you get that Tattoo?" He asked maybe a bit out of the blue, referring to the small tattoo on the underside of her wrist looking like a simple drawing of the sun. she looked startled like she didn't expect him to speak up glancing up at him before looking awkwardly down at her own plate. "Well, It's kinda a long story...and not really a memory I wanna remember..." she just said not even looking at him as she covered the little sun like she wished she could erase it. Aku sighed again but this time she didn't say anything about it like she was lost in thought, her frowning at whatever she was thinking about. He finished his pancakes, got up, and cleaned the plate. "Thanks for the excellent breakfast mom try not to look so gloomy" He said hugging her shoulders while she was sitting down making her smile a little. "I'm gonna get ready for the day so try to cheer up okay?" He said letting her go. she nodded smiling a bit as He walked back into my room.

He saw his phone vibrating and lighting up, on his nightstand so he rushed over, seeing it was his best friend Ren calling him. Aku accepted the call happily. "is the birthday boy feeling okay on his big day?" Aku heard his voice on the other end.

Ren Malpato was Aku's best friend since he was 6. Aku actually met Ren when Aku was just 5 but back then Ren just teased him a lot but when he started school and was bullied Ren more or less saved him from them. They then started to hang out and even tho Ren still teases Aku it was more in a friendly way. Ren is 19 and pretty handsome now even tho he was more adorable than handsome when he was young.

Aku smiled at his voice. "Of course I'm feeling okay! Who wouldn't on their birthday?" Aku answered cheerfully. "so you haven't noticed anything... Strange huh?" He said mysteriously, making Aku frown confused. "and what do you mean by that huh? do you expect me to suddenly transform into a dinosaur or something?" Aku said a little annoyed pouting a bit without realizing it. "I just mean that 16th birthdays are weird okay?" he said laughing a bit but it sounded fake. I didn't understand what was with everybody that day. "okay then... Because I can get a driver's license or something? you what nevermind but I was just about to get ready for today so you're coming to get me right?" Aku Asked with a small sigh, not really understanding why this day should be different from any other birthday he has had. normally on Aku's birthday Ren and he goes out somewhere together to celebrate like the cinema or a cafe or stuff like that. The best is that Ren always pays when it's Aku's birthday. Aku wanted to do something similar on Ren's birthday but he and his mom always travel to New Zealand that week to celebrate and Aku wasn't allowed to come with them on this weird family trip they have every year. "of course, I'm gonna come over in about half an hour so prepare yourself and remember if anything happens I'm just a text away" Ren said before hanging up. "why is he so weird about today?..." Aku mumbled to Himself as he put the phone down. He selected some clothes and went to the bathroom.

After a refreshing bath, Aku was standing in front of the mirror in a towel looking at himself surprised that his puberty let him have a birthday looking okay for once. almost no zits, pretty okay skin in general for once. Apparently, this was one of his good periods in this teenage time. Normally his skin would always break out on his birthday to ruin his mood but this time it was almost like his skin got better in front of him also seeming more pale and perfect considering it always liked to be ugly at every event he had been looking forward too. he hated his skin when it did that. his dark blue eyes seemed like they were sparkling. When he dried his hair he noticed that it was completely black like the night without stars even tho it normally looked like a dark brown. he shrugged it off, as he had thought about dyeing it black anyway and ran his hands through his hair a bit, and other than that let it stay messy. He had chosen his favorite dark blue V-neck T-shirt and some regular black pants that were comfy enough. He quickly got the pants on but when he was about to take his T-shirt over his head he noticed something black on his shoulder. "what the hell!" He yelled as he looked closer at it, dropping the shirt on the floor. it was somehow a tattoo he had never gotten. it looked like a new moon inside or in front of the sun shining behind it. when he looked at it, it was almost like it was shining. It was a very simple but beautiful tattoo in his opinion but that didn't make him freak out less. how? where? why? in his head, he was panicking but he was just standing there in shock looking at it so confused. The only way he could come up with him getting a tattoo he didn't remember was he had been drunk getting it but he couldn't have since he had never been drunk in his life and wasn't even old enough to get the tattoo. suddenly He heard a gasp behind him making him flinch, shocked snapping out of his daze. looking over at the door He saw his mom in the doorway looking shocked but before he got to say anything he heard her whisper in fear. "oh no..." his mom looked so scared that all the things he was gonna say to defend himself just melted away his mind going blank with excuses just looking at her worried.

sitting at the dinner table beside His mom Aku was rubbing her back comforting while his thoughts were running around his head. She had just said that they needed to talk after she had snapped out of her moment of fear and now they were just sitting at the table while Aku comforted her waiting for her to feel ready to talk about it. he had taken his shirt on before they got to the table but the tattoo was still slightly visible on his arm at his shoulder. "Well I'm not exactly sure how to explain this but I guess I could start with saying that you don't have to worry about how you got that tattoo for now..." she said not looking like she didn't worry but her worry at least wasn't pure fear anymore since she just seemed worried about him. suddenly a loud knocking was heard at the front door before someone stepped in. "is the birthday Boy ready for his-" Ren started as he came in before stopping in the middle of the sentence looking at the visible mark on Aku's upper arm at the shoulder. "Oh shout I came in the middle of the big reveal huh?" he said suddenly, not looking so happy. "wait so you know about whatever secrets my mom was just about to tell me?" Aku said, shocked and a bit annoyed about having been left out. "I had a feeling you knew Ren... the trip every year to New Zealand kinda gave it away and it also made sense you tried to protect Aku from everything if you are who I think you are," Elaine said with a small smile happy he was there to protect Aku at all times almost. "what do you mean 'had a feeling'? didn't you tell him?" Aku asked, getting confused about all of it. "I never told him but I think he comes from the same place I do so he knows at least some parts of my story and about all of this" she explained trying to make me understand and calm me a bit down about all of that. "New Zealand?" Aku asked, still kinda confused looking from Ren to his mom waiting for them to explain it properly. "not exactly... allow me to explain and without interrupting" she said glancing up at Ren not wanting him to suddenly come in asking about random shit like he normally did when she tried to tell something. He nodded a bit embarrassed knowing that was to him alone but Aku still also nodded. She sighed, not looking happy about the story she was about to tell as she took a deep breath to compose herself before she began her story.

"I come from a realm hidden from the normal world called Kolva and in that realm, there are two main countries or kingdoms as we call it there, The Kingdom Of Ilum and The Kingdom Of Myrmur. I was born and raised in the kingdom of Ilum having the big city of light and the so-called tattoo I have is what we call the mark of the chosen since when one of the royal family turns 16 it will appear somewhere on the heir's body. the prince of myrmur found out what I was the chosen princess to become the ruler of ilum he came up with a plan to kidnap me to make me his wife so he could rule both kingdoms. he succeeded and I was captured 4 days after my 16th birthday. he made me my bride forcefully and raped me until I was pregnant with you. I couldn't fight back since he was stronger than me and at that time I was more afraid of dying than anything but after knowing that my baby would end up suffering and possibly grow up as a monster if he got his way I felt determined to get out of there. Back in the city of light, I wouldn't be safe and neither would you plus they all considered me as a weak royal and my dad the king had already appointed my sister as the queen till a new chosen royal was born and back at the palace so I couldn't just go back home so I chose to travel to the neutral ground in the gray forest to take the portal to the other world I had learned about in my studies about the outside of the realm. after three months I succeeded in escaping from his dark castle and I went on a long journey through the dangerous black desert before going to the forest to go to the portal and into this world where I got a job and started providing for us both when you were born hoping you wouldn't have to ever know about this even tho I knew I would have to tell you if the mark showed up..."

Aku had been listening closely the whole time and was overwhelmed with all the new stuff he had never known about. he really wanted to believe that is wasn't real and ask if it was all a big prank they pulled on him but one look at his mom's face and he knew she wasn't fucking with him. he didn't know what to say still being too shocked about everything. "Well hey I am here and I won't let anything happen to you prince of the dark kingdom or not" Ren said with a light tone smiling at him and giving Aku a wink. "huh?" Aku just said frowning confused to the prince of the dark kingdom thing. He thought he only was a prince for the Ilum kingdom place but when he thought about it his mom who was the heir of that place too only had a sun mark but he had a sun and moon in one. "how do you feel about being royalty?" Ren asked, trying to joke a bit about the situation, making Aku smile just a tiny bit at it knowing Ren was trying to cheer him up. "Well okay under the circumstances" Aku answered after a little making his mom look at him with a small smile happy he seemed to take it well enough. "don't fear because I am here and as your protector, I will do anything to make sure you are safe" Ren said, striking a pose making Aku smile just a tiny bit more than before. "so you are a master shapeshifter at such a young age? impressive" my mom said looking at him like she had just complimented his hair or something. "Well thank you" Ren answered like he was proud of it making Aku confused about what he was missing. "shapeshifter?" he asked looking up at Ren confused. "Yeah I have 3 animal forms I can change into to protect you better," Ren said, still sounded like it was normal in this world even tho it sounded like a fairytale to Aku but so did the rest of the stories so he asked himself in his thoughts why he was even surprised. "Every royal heir at Ilum gets a protector of the Human-like race that has the ability to bound themself to 3 animals and then be able to change into them after a lot of practice" Elaine explained seeing Aku's confused expression. "oh okay then..." Aku said, still feeling like it was weird but didn't comment on it anymore since that apparently was normal in their world that Aku himself didn't know that well.

"what danger should he protect me from here in New York?" Aku asked looking at his mom. "I'm afraid you are very valuable for the prince of Myrmur" she said sadly before continuing "being pure royalty and an heir for both kingdoms you are also very powerful... you see everyone in the royal families in my homeworld has magical abilities and very strong ones at that but since you are a blend of both you have both the power of life and light as well as death and darkness so you are the strongest one of all in our world," she said with a sigh. Aku thought about it a bit but he didn't feel strong and powerful or even just a tiny bit magical at all. "don't get her wrong tho others in the kingdom are also born with powers but mostly not at strong and they also work a bit different," Ren told me with a smile and Aku just knew he was referring to himself. "I think I understand everything but you two should also understand that all of this is a bit much to take in so I need a bit of time to get used to all of this" Aku said looking at both of them and his mother nodded understanding how he felt. "Mom is it okay if I and Ren still go to the aquarium as planned even with all of this?" Aku asked looking at his mom that smiled a little at it. "of course it is still fine just be careful... if something happens, make sure to get to a safe place or at least hide it if it is something magical" she said with a small smile at them. Aku smiled back a little not sure what kinda magical stuff was gonna happen at the aquarium and Ren gave a thumb up with a grin. both Ren and Elaine knew that there was a chance for people from Myrmur was looking for Aku and that the power as a royal also could end up being too much to control for Aku at the start. "well let's go then!" Ren said being energetic as always pulling Aku up from the chair and to the door. "wait I need my stuff and my shoes!" Aku yelled from the front door making Elaine chuckle from the table as Aku got all his stuff and his shoes on just to be pulled out the door Ren holding his wrist almost running down the stairs full of energy while Aku just tried to make him slow down.