The Prince of Aria

I awoke to the blinding rays of the sun shining on my closed eyes. The piercing rays disturbing my rest and forcing my eyes open. My blankets falling off me as I did so. Finally, my feet touched the ground, it was cold to the touch and sent shivers throughout my body as I strolled towards my closet and put on my clothes.

I now wore a long-trimmed black cotton tunic with gold plating on the chest, shoulders, and hands. The colors of our kingdom worn proudly and gray pants that looked baggy. I allowed the rest of my tunic to fall, the fabric now covering my lower body from my hips to my knees, and exited my room.

"Ah Prince Loki," a kind, an elderly voice greeted. I turned my head and saw my favorite person in the entire castle, Francis Lockhart, the eldest of the many servants we had "I was just on my way to wake you, breakfast will be ready in only ten more minutes"

"Thanks, Francis," I said with a small bow of my head, his aged face offering a smile in return as he dusted off his suit.

"Now then, I am off to wake your brother," he replied and bowed before walking towards my elder brother's room.

"Good luck with that," I muttered. If I was asked to describe my brother in one word it would be arrogant. His attitude rubbed many people among the royal court the wrong way. He likely would have lost his right to kingship if he had not been as capable with a sword as he was.

I sighed lightly before walking down to the dining hall, saying hello to any of the servants I passed. I finally entered the hall and was greeted by the sight of my mother and father sitting at the table already.

"Good morning Father, Mother," I greeted as I sat down at the table.

"Good morning Loki," my father replied with a small smile and my mother did the same but with an even wider smile.

My father wore his usual black royal robes and my mother wore a golden dress with red accents. They both shared my blonde hair and blue eyes and had always been good to me.

After a few more minutes my brother, the crown prince of Aria, entered the dining hall. He was wearing a similar outfit as me but with the inverse color scheme and wore a red cape made of dyed animal fur. Unlike me and our parents, however, he had darker hair, more similar to a dirty blonde but he still had the same baby blue eyes as the rest of us.

"Good morning Leon," I greeted as my brother sat down and he just scowled at me in response. He acted cold but I was sure he loved us all deep down.

"Do either of you have any plans for the day?" my mother asked and I nodded.

"I was planning to train and study for a bit before heading into the city," I explained and Leon scoffed at my ways of entertaining myself.

"I simply cannot understand why you insist on mingling with those so much lower than you," he said with disdain clear in his voice.

"You may be the crown prince but I'm still a prince of Aria, as such I must serve our people, even if I won't be king," I explained and he just scoffed at my reasoning. Leon had visited the city only once in his life and he spent the entire time scolding the lower class citizens for being lesser than him. Let's just say he wasn't held in very high regard by the people of Aria.

"Well I intend to make use of my time, I plan to spend my day training," Leon said and I raised an eyebrow. I never knew why Leon insisted on doing nothing but studying and training but he always seemed to do the same things.

"Well then, Loki if you're heading into town then be sure to take Kaia with you, we don't want a repeat of last month," my father ordered and I nodded with a small laugh. Around a month ago I went out on my own and was attacked by a beggar in the streets, I was able to fend him off but I was no longer allowed to leave the castle without Kaia, my bodyguard.

"Very well father," I replied as I finished up the rest of my breakfast "may I be excused?"

"You may," my father replied and my mother quickly chimed in.

"Make sure you study first, I don't want you to throw up while training," my mother insisted and I just smiled at her and nodded. She smiled back and I was off towards the library.

After arriving I quickly grabbed a few books on politics and warfare tactics and began reading. I became so immersed in the pages in fact that I didn't even notice someone sit down at the other side of the table.

Only after she cleared her throat did I notice that she was sitting there.

"Oh Kaia," I greeted with a small wave "how long have you been there?"

"Only about a minute" he replied, Kaia had been a close friend my whole life and had been my bodyguard for the last 10 years. She had long black hair that she let down and onyx eyes. She wore a silver armored choker, a black bodysuit that didn't cover her shoulders or arms, and a silver breastplate over her white tunic. Along with that, she had arm sleeves that covered her from her wrist to where her humerus was, her upper body attire also has golden pieces and red trim at certain points.

Her lower body consisted of a white skirt and black leggings, she had armor that covered her leg from her knees and downward and white boots.

She also had her sword sheathed on her hip, she was so skilled with it in fact that she was capable of cutting a magic blast in half in midair.

"What are you reading," she asked, resting her hands on her palms and I showed her the title and she nodded "you know if you wanted someone to teach you combat tactics you could have just asked me,"

"I felt like that would be cheating, I'm still a prince of this nation, I should be able to study on my own," I replied and Kaia nodded. "Anyways I was just finishing up anyways, would you mind helping me train?"

"Of course sir," she replied before she led me to the training hall and handed me a sword, it was rather long and though it was capable of slashing it was far better at piercing and stabbing. But that was perfectly fine with me, that was actually how I preferred to fight anyways.

"Now then, let us begin," she said drawing her wooden sword and rushing towards me, I ducked away from her first slash and jumped back as she tried to hit me again.

She ran at me attempting an overhead slash but I parried and attempted a stab which she dodged by rolling to the right, she then punched me in the stomach and sent me stumbling backward a few feet before.

She swung her sword three more times, I dodged the first one but was grazed by the second and hit on the head by the third one, and was sent to the ground. I lied there for a second trying to catch my breath and Krista pointed her wooden sword at my throat.

"You lose," she said and I sighed.

"Yeah what else is new?" I sarcastically asked and she laughed.

"Hey you're at least getting better, when you first started you would have lost in one attack," she praised and I smiled.

"Thanks," I replied and put my sword away "I was gonna head into the city today, Mother said I'm required to bring you with me,"

"Very well, shall we depart then," Kaia asked and I smiled.

"Yes we shall," I replied.
____________________

"The market is looking pretty lively today," I pointed out.

"More so than usual?" Kaia asked and I nodded.

"Yeah actually," I replied

"Hey Prince Loki, that you?" one of the merchants, Gemma, asked.

"Yeah, it's me," I replied.

"I heard about the attack, you doing okay," he asked and I nodded with a small laugh.

"I'm hanging in there," I replied with a smile.

"Well that's good to hear, this place wouldn't be the same without you," Gemma said and I laughed and said goodbye to the elderly merchant.

"Did you hear about Arin?" I heard a voice say from behind me, I raised an eyebrow at the name. I was familiar with the names of most of the citizens' thanks to my photographic memory but I wasn't aware of that one.

"Yeah, damn traitor screwed us over," another voice said and my eyes widened slightly.

Kaia must have noticed my interest because she jumped in at that moment.

"Arin was the youngest soldier among our ranks, but he was sending supplies to a group of bandits for a cut of the spoils they got from nearby villages," she explained and I nodded.

"Where is he now?" I asked and she shook her head

"We don't know, he ran off and nobody's seen him since," Kaia told me. I frowned at this revelation, I would have liked to know why he was partaking in such acts. Maybe I could have found a peaceful way to resolve the conflict. Maybe I was just being optimistic though, I'd been told that I was too forgiving before so it's not impossible. But still, I want to believe that there was a better way.

"That's a shame," I said and Kaia nodded.

"So it is sir," she agreed as we continued walking around. Occasionally having conversations with the townsfolk.

After a while, I grew bored and Kaia and I made our way back to the castle.

"Welcome back Prince Loki, Kaia" the gate guard greeted as Francis stood behind him.

"Master Loki, your parents have requested to see you. It seemed urgent," Francis said and I smiled.

"Thank you for telling me Francis," I said and I looked at Kaia "You're dismissed for the time being"

"Very well sir," she said with a bow before wandering off into a different part of the castle.

I walked down the hallway to the throne room where my father would be waiting. I wondered what they needed from me so urgently but it seemed important so I made haste.

"Father? Mother?" I asked as I entered the throne room before a heard a distressed scream.

"No Loki!" My father shouted, "stay back!"

Suddenly my father dove in front of me and a dagger pierced his back, he had shielded me from the dagger.

I quickly looked around for the attacker only to see my mother, also dead on her throne.

"Father!" I shouted "what happened? What's going on?"

"L-Loki" he gasped out, "run away"

"Father what do you mean," I asked and he coughed up a bit of blood.

"Don't trust..." he said but was cut off by his death.

"Father?" I asked, my voice cracking slightly as I held my now-dead father in my arms "FATHER!"

Suddenly I heard the door open and I turned to see my brother standing there in shock.

I immediately knew what this would look like so I tried to calm him down.

"Leon...brother I know what this looks like but I swear I had nothing to do with this," I told him, but he didn't hear me. Instead, he cried out in shock and he fell to his knees.

Guards immediately began rushing in, led by Kaia and they were met with the same horrific sight my brother was met with. Me, covered in the blood of my now-dead father.

"Loki...what happened," Leon asked, his eyes pleading me to say I had nothing to do with this.

I was about to answer but was cut off by our family's advisor, Geoffrey, as he entered the room.

Geoffrey was a young man with snow-white hair and green eyes, he wore a black and gold tunic and black pants along with black boots.

"Is it not obvious" he sneered, glaring at me. I immediately understood what was going on. Geoffrey killed them and was now looking to frame me. "Your brother killed them"

"No that's not-" I started but I was again cut off, this time by Leon.

"Why...why!?" He screamed in disbelief "were you jealous that you wouldn't be king...why did you do this!?"

"Leon please you have to listen to me-" I pleaded but he was too grief-stricken to listen to me.

"Guards!" He yelled "I want my brother sent to the dungeon"

The guards grabbed me by the arms and began to lead me to the door.

"Not like this" I muttered and Kaia looked at me with tears in her eyes. She clenched her eyes shut and screamed before running her sword through one of the guards.

"Loki run!" She ordered as she threw the other guard into Geoffrey and we ran towards the balcony. The door was still blocked so I knew this was the only way out. We forced the doors open and almost made it to the railing before an arrow shot through Kaia's back"

"Kaia!" I yelled, catching her now limp body and held her in my arms "why...why"

I began to cry into her hair as she smiled at me.

"You didn't do this," she said "I have no proof but still...I just know"

She began to cough up blood, some of it hitting me in the face. I didn't care though, I didn't even notice.

"Runaway," she pleaded as she placed a hand on my cheek "live...don't let them catch you. You must live and clear your name, find allies that will help you"

"Kaia...why?" I sobbed as the guards finally caught up with us and my brother ordered them to stop.

"Because...your parents told me to protect you," she replied and her body went limp, she was dead. I set down her body and stared my brother dead in the eyes.

"I wasn't responsible for this Leon, I know you don't believe me but that's fine," I said as I took a few steps backward, towards the railing, eyeing up the water below. It was a long drop but I would survive if I jumped "I want you to keep our people safe until I clear my name"

"Shut up" he replied, his eyes still red with his tears.

"You'll be a great king Leon," I said before I jumped off the balcony, Leon screaming after me as the guards opened fire.

But I was already gone.

And someday I would return. Not for the throne and not for revenge. I would return simply so my brother and people would finally know the truth.

But now my fate was left up to chance.

I finally hit the water below and my world went dark.