The month of Paltear passed giving rise to Ignos the tenth month of the year on the seventh of the month came one of the most holy days of the year.
The day of New Fates.
Lucian had always enjoyed the stories of this day even when they came from boring teachers, it was the day the goddess Arachne removed the three fates from the celestial skies forever and freed all of creation from the tyranny of the fate's control.
The event had earned her the title of Fate Weaver, and throughout every realm, this day was celebrated without exception.
The events were not clearly known since they did occur in the previous age or the age before that, the ages before the cataclysm, have been studied but never fully understood.
Many important pieces of history were erased with the emergence of the astral seas, and in the time since those surviving relics of the past disappeared to the sands of time, it has been well over a hundred thousand years since the cataclysm came to its end and few things could survive for so long.
But the holy church of the gods still carried many of the tales of the Eons passed, some people believe in the stories, while some believed in small bits and pieces, of course, there were those that believed in none of the stories.
After all most of the tales were more like cautionary stories you tell a child to convince them to act in a certain way, but even if one didn't believe it didn't mean there was nothing to be enjoyed about the numerous tales of the gods.
As people gathered at the great cathedral in masses, Lucian looked out to the festive city, he may have liked the stories but he wasn't about to spend his time praying for good fortune to bless him, there was no prayer that would turn his wench into a mother.
And no prayer that would help him understand the problems that were plaguing this empire, most importantly all his prayers to live a relaxed carefree life were never answered, and the proof was that he could barely spend more than 14 hours a day in a trance, the other ten were always spent on lessons and new things.
'…Come…' that night as he sat in his trance a voice called out to him, the same voice from four years ago.
He opened his eyes and looked around with alert, but just like the time before there was no presence, he shut his eyes and waited for the voice to speak again, but all it spoke was that one word.
---
Several days passed by when Claudia opened his doors in the morning, "Your mother has ordered you to visit her Prince 786," she said, then she brought out a new set of clothes, a warrior's cloth outfit, and laid it on the bed.
"What is the meaning of this?" he asked pointing at the outfit.
"Your mother ordered that you ought to be wearing this at your meeting," Claudia answered as Ezra started to prepare his bath.
Lucian grimaced with the knowledge that the day he dreaded had come, he was unable to learn anything about her plans for him and that was what worried him the most.
After he bathed his caretakers helped him put on each piece, it was hard to describe the feeling of the outfit, it was formfitting but at the same time, it gave a sensation of freedom and comfort that only baggy clothes could provide.
It was a mixture of light green and white that emphasised the fair colour of his skin, and a pair of leather boots that made practically no sound when he walked across the floor, lastly the ornamental rings were placed on his arms.
The sleeves had loops similar to a belt loop, where the rings would slot on and lock the sleeves in place, one on the wrists, one on the forearm near the elbow, and one on the centre of the upper arm.
When he was done getting dressed his caretakers placed a mirror in front of him, as they plastered him with compliments on how good he looked in the outfit, something he reluctantly admitted was true.
At his current age, he was just a few inches shy of reaching 6 feet in height, and a good layer of muscle filled out his body, giving him a figure that would make most mistake him for some kind of athlete.
With his outfit in place Lucian made his way to his mother's chambers, outside the door was a group of her six knights all in their armour wearing purple capes that draped across their shoulder plates, there was one however who wore a violet cape.
Lucian glanced at the latest addition to his mother's guard, the pretty royal guard now turned into the plaything of his wench, Eskius Al'Mercurion.
When he walked up to the door Eskius grabbed the handle and pushed it open, Lucian stepped in to see his mother in a black provocative dress, she smiled at Eskius for a moment, "Come and sit," she pointed to a chair.
"Your majesty, do you need me for anything?" Eskius asked his tone was far too casual as he moved his gaze across the 7th empress's body a slight bump was evident on her belly.
"Not right now, but maybe later," Khalia replied with a warm smile.
"As you wish," Eskius said with a small bow and stepped back.
"You should be more careful with where your gaze lingers," Lucian spoke coldly as Eskius was closing the door, causing both Eskius and Khalia to still.
"What was that, my prince?" Eskius asked looking at Lucian on an even eye level, a false pretense of respect in his tone.
"Are you deaf?" Lucian sneered, "Are your senses growing dull, I think I now understand why the royal guard discarded you, after all, no one needs a useless soldier whose only specialty is to look like a woman," he mocked.
"But very well I shall repeat myself just this once, do not look at… and do not covet… things that are beyond your reach, little dog of the empire," Lucian curled his lips in a ridiculing sneer.
"Did you hear me that time, or must I announce it to the entire palace next?" he asked looking straight through the visor of the helm and into the Royal Guards eyes.
Eskius's fists scrunched closed as he pulled the door closed behind him, but Lucian grabbed the handle and pulled it back open, "Answer me little dog," Lucian mocked as all the other knights turned to listen in to the conversation.
"Shut the door child," Khalia scolded from inside the room, to stop the situation from escalating.
Lucian stepped back, "Of course, my apologies" he replied, "I forgot that it's bad to insult the ones who pay whores for a ride, it's much better to just insult the whore," Lucian replied with a snarl before closing the door, ensuring that all the Royal Guards clearly heard him.
Before he took a step into the room the back of his head was slammed into the door and every inch of his body was rattled by a thousand jolts of electrical energy running their course through his body.
As he fell to one knee Lucian chuckled lightly, "I guess that you must really like this one if you're already pulling out the thunder," he said as he pulled himself back up and slipped a hand under his mask to massage the side of his face.
"That is none of your business!" Khalia coldly replied as she walked to her desk.
"On the contrary, I think this is the business of all your children, you know it was just a few weeks back when I last heard 785 complaining about never being able to see you because you're always too busy, I really wonder how he feels about you giving so much attention to some washed up Royal Guard, and I do wonder what all your other children think on the matter," Lucian explained in a ridiculing tone.
Faster than Lucian could blink his mother appeared in front of him handing out a series of slaps, each one smacking his head into an odd angle, "When… will… you… learn… to… watch… your… mouth," she uttered each word between a slap.
She only stopped when the first drops of blood rolled down the mask and hit the floor.
Lucian sucked in a sharp breath through his mouth as the blood started to clog up his nose, "I almost pity the child in your womb, but perhaps you might treat that child better considering who its real father…" Lucian was interrupted by a kick to the chest, and several that followed in succession, each one cracking another rib.
"You little swine!" Khalia roared, "If you so much as make such an accusation again I shall break every bone in your body and leave you for dead!" she roared as she demonstrated her ability to break each individual rib with a separate kick.
Lucian coughed up a mouth full of blood that stained the inside of his mask, every breath became sharp as he pulled himself up, "Rig… th… my… apologies, I-I forg..ot the first rule… truths must never be… cough… spoken in halls like these," he wheezed out between the pain.