"Father..."
Loki looked at his father, with as much apprehension as respect in his eyes. His father was almost his role model, but he was also very strict. His vision of the world was relatively unique, with honour as its focal point.
"Loki. You know that I am very attached to the values of our family."
"Yes, father."
The old man looked at his son with compassionate eyes, but his gaze quickly changed:
"So, tell me. Why did you decide to become an Arcanist?"
Surprised by this question, Loki no longer dared to look his father in the eye. His gaze went down. His heart rate increased and his breathing quickened.
"Tell me, my son. Why did you join them?"
Loki's gaze arose, and crossed his father's eyes. This time, he was truly panicking, as his world seemed to be turning upside down. Even so, he was trying not to make it seems so. He knew that he had made a mistake. So he couldn't answer his father properly and stammered:
"I... I had to."
"What do you mean, you had to? Do you know what shame you put the family in?"
Loki remained silent.
His father was losing his patience.
"ANSWER! WHY DID YOU BETRAY THE TEMPLAR ORDER? ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE THEM YOUR ENEMIES?"
After shouting with all his strength, he started coughing. Unfortunately, he was getting too old for this kind of outburst.
"My son..."
"I'm sorry... Father. But I don't believe in the Order of the Templars. I don't believe in it anymore."
His father's face decayed.
"What do you mean you don't believe in it anymore? Do you know how important this order is? The place it occupies in the world? Its importance in history? Do you know how difficult it is to join this order? And you want to leave it like that? Do you really think that the higher ranks will allow you to leave"?
"The Templar order is getting old, and so are its leaders. In the past, they used to walk the right path. But they have left it long ago. What did they do during the last war? "
Instantly, Loki was interrupted by his father. He approached him and threatened him with his finger:
"YOU KNOW VERY WELL WHAT HAPPENED DURING THIS WAR! WE COULDN'T DO ANYTHING!"
"Ridiculous. The Arcanists could have said the same thing. And yet they fought for peace."
"HOGWASH. They are just dogs being manipulated by governments."
"So you accept the fact that the order is trading with the USSR and the American dictatorship, who themselves stole our beloved country from us!"
His father froze.
"It's not the same thing."
"Of course it is. You're just afraid to admit it to yourself."
"No, and in any case it's not for me to discuss it. Nor is it up to you anyway. We are knights of Templar order. Our status is noble, but that doesn't mean that we can discuss the orders of our superiors."
Loki looked at his father in disgust.
"And it was you who previously called the arcanist dogs?"
"Watch your words, my son."
"It doesn't matter, my decision is already made. From now on, I will operate on the side of the Arcanists."
His father looked him straight in the eye again. He was saddened, but he also looked at his son with great contempt.
"Are you sure about that? The Order is ready to welcome you back if you leave this cursed place tomorrow. Otherwise, if you decide to stay at the side of these demonic partisans, then we will disown you from the family. You will no longer be allowed to bear the name of Ragna."
"I have already told you, Father. My decision has been made. If you decided so, then I am no longer from the Ragna house. Farewell."
Loki walked towards the door of the house. He opened it slowly, turned around to look at his father one last time, and left. He walked a few steps and then burst into tears.
___
*BAM*
The wall that had just been hit by Loki's father collapsed. The culprit, on the other hand, was not even scratched.
Like his son, tears ran down his face.
"My son... What happened? What happened to you to join the enemy in this way?"
…
___
Suva, Downtown, 7:15 p.m.
*Knock Knock*
A young man knocked at the door of a large manor house. This manor house was distinguished by the place it occupied compared to the other buildings.
The houses in the town centre were generally semi-detached, small and without gardens. This house was more like a large castle and had what looked like a huge park.
Some of the trees were more than fifteen metres high, and their branches shaded the house.
The door to this house was opened by a relatively old man in butler's outfit.
"Mr. Ragna, what brings us at this time of the evening?"
"Excuse me, Mr. Walker, I'm sorry to bother you. May I speak with Lily for a moment?"
The butler stared at Loki for a few moments, before moving towards a nearby telephone.
"Young lady, you have a visitor. Mr. Loki Ragna is waiting at the door."
Less than two seconds later, some very heavy and fast footsteps were heard: Lily was running into the house at lightning speed.
"Hughes, bring him in! He is a guest."
Surprised, the butler turned to his mistress and greeted her, very quickly, and then brought Loki in.
"Leave us please. "Lily ordered in a slightly authoritarian tone.
The butler walked away at a slow but steady pace.
"Hello, Loki. What are you doing here at this hour?"
Loki looked at his friend, hesitating.
"... I need your help."
Lily, troubled, approached the young man.
"You look sad, what happened to you?"
Loki took a step back and put up a barrier with his hands.
"Don't worry, it's nothing. I just... had a quarrel with my father."
Surprised, Lily laughed involuntarily. "Your daddy argue with you? What did you do? Did you break his sword and scratch his armour?"
"No, Lily, this is not just an argument. I think reconciliation with my family won't be possible from now on. I have broken a family rule. Shouldn't you know that?"
Lily thinks for a few seconds. Then she realised something.
"It's true that your family doesn't really like the Arcanists... And now that you've joined them... Don't tell me they disinherited you just for that?"
Relieved to be finally understood, Loki sighed and then replied :
"Even worse. My father asked me to choose my family or the Arcanists. I chose the latter."
"WHAT? You mean... you no longer bear the name of Ragna?"
"No, from now on I no longer have a name among the nobility."
"I imagine you came to see me because you didn't know where to stay for tonight?"
"Indeed."
Lily, although his friend was having one of the worst times of his life, was happy to welcome him.
"Well, I'm not going to ask you any more questions, you never like to have your problems interfered with anyway. Just stay in the guest room. I'll tell my parents about you. I doubt they refuse you anyway."
"Thank you."
"Go ahead and settle in. When you go up the stairs, it's on the left," she said, pointing to the staircase she had taken a few minutes earlier."
Loki went up the stairs, put down what little belongings he had on him and then went down the steps. Down he went to the living room. There he met Lily's parents, whom he had already met before. Although they had the status of king and queen of a country that no longer had a territory, they were very kind to their acquaintances.
Thus, the knight's hope that one day he would be able to act according to his convictions was not swept away by those of his father.