Five(5) years ago.
A black-haired young boy was laying on the grass in a closed courtyard.
His intelligent brown eyes examined a leaf that he was holding, playing with it.
Very soon, his young and curious self became bored and dropped the leaf.
He stood up, scouring the courtyard, looking for something to play with, but drooped his head when he couldn't find any in the courtyard.
His eyes glinted when he spotted something fun.
The boy hurriedly ran to the tree at the center of the courtyard and jumped high.
He failed to reach the short branch, but he didn't give up.
He continued many attempts to climb the tree, however, his short heights prohibited him from achieving his goals.
Since his body couldn't take him up, he used his mind to his clever childish mind to craft up a path upwards.
A fuse ignited in his mind and he rummaged his pocket and brought out two pocket knives.
He held one on one of his hands and the other on his other hand.
Using it as a sort of grappler, he jumped high and stuck one of the knives to the tree, all the while holding on to it.
"Weee," smiled the young lad as he dangled with one hand on the tree.
However, he was not done. The young boy revealed his defined muscles as he used stuck the other dagger with his free hand.
Like that, he performed similar moves as he climbed up the tree.
By the time he got close to the first branch, the boy unhesitantly jumped on the branch!
*Thud!*
The branch could only support him for a second before it gave way to his weight.
"Hahahaha, Prince Roan," an experienced voice said from behind the fallen child.
The owner of the voice walked closer to the child and carefully dragged him off.
The boy wasn't surprised by the owner of the voice.
Yet, it was clear from the reddening of his face that he was angry, "Lucian! Where were you? I have been waiting for the past three hours!"
"Prince Roan. I was busy with your father," smiled Lucian as he revealed his white teeth.
Lucian spun the young prince and looked for any injuries.
Seeing nothing, but purity, on the young noble's skin, Lucian heaved out a sigh.
"How is my father? Is he still busy?" hurriedly asked a sparkling Roan.
The young child went in front of Lucian and repeated his question.
As a young child, his role model was his father, so whenever his father's name was mentioned, he would be invigorated and interested in the matter.
"Yes, your father is busy. He asked me to send his regards," smiled Lucian.
That was a lie! And he knew it.
The prince's father just liked to coop himself in his study.
Sometimes he wondered whether he taught the king well enough to own up to his responsibilities.
However, he could not blatantly tell the king that as, no matter what, a king was still a king!
The young prince couldn't read thoughts so he enthusiastically believed his pseudo-trainer.
His cheerfulness glowed like a firefly at night as he giggled happily.
Such was childhood. The period of ignorance, peace, and happiness.
After a few minutes of giggling, the young boy asked his trainer, "Lucian, can we start now?"
He hopped around Lucian, waiting for a good answer.
The reason he had endured hours of solitude instead of playing with his siblings was because of the special training that Lucian always teased him about.
"No. It is too early for you," retorted Lucian.
Hearing this, the prince pouted, "Why?"
His moist eyes drooped like an expectant puppy before his trainer, but Lucian mercilessly ignored it.
"One, you are too young. Two, it is better to continue your cultivation. Three, do you know why you fell from the tree?"
The prince held his chin in a cute manner as he thought of the answer to Lucian's question.
No matter how he saw it, there was only one obvious answer, but he knew that Lucian wouldn't give him a question with an easy answer.
Yet, he couldn't find any other suitable answer!
Soo, he tried his luck, "Eh….is it because the branch was too weak?"
A smile blossomed on Lucian's face, giving the young boy hope, until it was smashed down, "NO!"
The young prince pouted again as he listened to the actual answer.
"The problem was your patience. You had a lot of opportunities, but you were too eager. You could have chosen another branch, a more stable and firm one."
The more the prince ruminated on the answers, the more he realized it was true.
He had not thought it true when he jumped for the nearest branch.
However, he was puzzled as to what it had to do with his training.
Lucian caught the prince's frown and understood why.
He explained to the impatient young lad, "If you are to awaken and train your bloodline, you would need to possess patience or you might find yourself in situations that are irreversible."
He eyed the prince and deliberate further, "Has your father told you the story of the black wolf and his descendants?"
"No, but mother told me. The story is about the first black wolf and its lineage."
As the best way to learn was through self-reflection, Lucian beckoned for the prince to recount the story.
"The first black wolf was plain. It didn't know how to win the chase. However, after many years of failure, it began to learn how to hunt."
"One of the things it learned was patience, the ability to stalk prey for a week without giving in to bloodlust.
Intelligence, the ability to separate its prey from its group.
Ruthlessness, the ability to kill under a single bite.
Apart from that, it also learned many other abilities."
"When the black wolf became old, it taught its children and told them to teach their children, hence beginning their unique tradition.
Every wolf under his lineage prospered under his teachings and became masters of the hunt. They grew to dangerous beasts and ruled their respective territory.
This was how it was for many years."
"After a few centuries, there was one particular wolf that didn't adhere to the teachings of its ancestor wolves.
It was different from its other family wolves and very strong. It felt no need to follow any teachings due to his strength.
One day, it came across a particular proud beast's territory and entered a situation, which if he had listened to the teachings, he would know it requires patience."
"However, the wolf did the opposite and the situation with the proud beast escalated further.
Days and nights, the beast and his other family members chased the wolf, and every time they met, the wolf always made the wrong decision.
A week after the start of the chase, the wolf due to the proud beast and its other comrades."
After he finished recounting the story, the prince got enlightened.
He realized that he was similar to the wolf and was too proud and impatient.
He now knew why his mother told him the story every night. It was to remind him that one should always have patience. He needed patience.
Perhaps that was why every child of Aztec Royal Bloodline listened to the story.
He asked his trainer, "What do I do?"
"Patience. You need an extraordinary amount of fortitude. None of your predecessors, even your father, had that. However, I believe with my training, you would become the best. You would not be the proud wolf."