World Map: https://ibb.co/s3wQ436

I am Ren Drakemore, the unwanted second prince of the kingdom of Arcadia. 

Arcadia is a very small but powerful kingdom on the southeastern shore of the known world. It's lands include 9 villages, the Forest of Erwin to the west, the Ebony Hights mountains to the north, the Azure Sea to the east, and the crescent hills to the south. In the center of their lands lies the Dragon's Cradle, a wide valley spotted with villages and wrapped in a patchwork of farmlands. In the very center of the Dragon's Cradle lies the esteemed capital of Arcadia, Cairndorn. The capital is home to the world's greatest magical school which has taught 80% of the world's mages. Aspiring mages travel to Arcadia from faraway lands at great expense to hone their craft and hopefully graduate with the coveted Arcadian School of Magic certification.

I am the second prince in the Drakemore royal family that leads this prosperous and influential kingdom. However, in my first five years of life i have yet to leave the secluded portion of the castle I was banished to. Most people in the kingdom have never seen me and have no idea my father even had a second son. 

My mother mysteriously died the day I was born. The kingdom's best healers did everything they could to receive the queen to no avail. None of them could even identify the cause of her death. She wasn't injured and she wasn't sick. It seemed as though her life force had just disappeared. Some say I was the curse, but I don't know what to believe.

My father, the king, blames me for the death of my mother. He refused to talk to me and has avoided even being in the same room with me my entire life so far. If anyone were brave enough to ask him, he'd tell them himself. He avoids me like a plague but I see the hate in his eyes on the rare occasions we've crossed paths. 

His hate for me was so much that he banished me to a tower in the royal castle right after i was born. He left me in the care of Lady Willow, and that's been my world ever since. Lady Willow has been my only companion, teacher, friend or family I've ever known. I have a brother, the crown prince Charles Drakemore, but like my father he has never been a part of my life. 

It's not fair that I was banished and ignored for something I didn't do. 

Lady Willow is the only one who's ever been there for me. She is a beautiful woman, tall, slender, with silver hair, pale white skin and shockingly blue eyes. Looking at her you might think she was blessed by the gods, or that she might be an angel who came down to earth. She's not a regular maid, though. I figured that out pretty early. She works diligently but seems to never tire. Nothing seems able to disrupt her calm and sweet dominar. However, after spending so much time with her I've become more and more aware that the gentle smile and kind eyes she wears are just the mask she wears. 

Occasionally I catch glimpses of the cold calculating face peeking out through the mask. Deep down I could sense there was something inhuman about her. When I finally asked her what she was, she confirmed by suspicions. She told me she is what is called a Fae. She explained that the Fae like her are ancient spirits born of nature that possess powerful magic. She told me the Fae operate by forming contracts with mortals, offering miracles in return for things of comparable value. The reason she has taken care of me is because she had been contracted to protect me. The fact that she is a Fae is a secret between she and I. The human form she appears as is an illusion, and I have never seen her true form. I don't know who made the contract with her or why, but I am grateful they did. Without her I would probably have died a long time ago.

It's lonely, though. No one else talks to me. The servants avoid me, the nobles pretend I don't exist, and even my own brother hates me and won't come near me. My brother Charles has countless aids, servants and retainers taking care of his every need. He is only a year and a half older than me but he lives a completely different life. 

He is free to travel anywhere in the kingdom. He is always surrounded by sycophantic friends, kids from important noble families like Eric Fobos, Yuri Ristrose and Nathan Ambrose who seem to follow him everywhere. Eric Fobos' father is the head of the Kingdom's merchant guild and holds a huge influence over the nation's economy. Yuri Ristrose's father is the top general at the head of the Acadian Military. I don't know what Nathan Ambrose's family controls but it is clear from how many servants they have, and his father's title of Count, that they are very influential as well. They're always around him, laughing, playing and making mischief. I can see them sometimes from my window when they're harassing the servants, roaming freely to and from the city and training in the courtyard. 

Unlike me, my brother is free to do anything, and he uses that freedom to throw rocks at slaves.

I've never been allowed to leave the tower. You could say it is both my home and my prison. Any time I've asked to leave Lady Willow would say I have no reason to leave, I have everything I need right here. She says there's so much to learn here, and she's right. She's been teaching me magic since I was three years old. Most kids my age don't know a single spell, but those kids don't have a Fae as a tutor. Willow says it's important for me to learn as early as possible. She says the more I practice, the more powerful I'll become. Lady Willow's singular interest is to keep me safe. Everything she teaches to make me stronger is to that end. That is why she started teaching me magic so young, when most kids were still trying to get a hold of not pooping their pants. 

I mastered that skill as well in case you were wondering.

At first, I could only make small things using magic—blocks of stone or wood formed from mana. I'd stack them, then knock them down with a wave of my hand. Simple, but it was a start. By the time I turned four, I could make simple barriers and move objects around in the air. Now, at age 5, I'm working on a fun new project. I am making puppets to play with. I crafted a wooden body with fully articulated limbs that I can control with magic. The only toys I have are things I am able to craft using my own magic. 

I swear I'm not doing this because I am desperately lonely.

I spend hours each day trying to improve my wooden puppet. It's roughly my same height and size, and I've enchanted it with a copy of my own mind. The enchantment creates a puppet temporarily controlled by a version of me, with all my knowledge and memories. When enchanted I fill them with a portion of my mana. While the puppet is active it slowly consumes that mana until it is depleted. Once depleted the copy of my consciousness returns to me, bringing along with it all the memories the puppet experienced. For me, it feels as though I remember experiencing everything the puppet did, without having done them myself. 

Right now, it can only do basic things, like turning the pages of a book or walking around. It's not much but it's still progressing. I can't control it if it's too far away, and it can't do anything complicated yet. However, the more I practice, the better I can control them. Someday, I'll be able to make puppets that can do all sorts of things, and maybe then, I'll be able to see more of the world beyond this tower.

After working on my puppet, I sat down with Lady Willow for tea on the second floor of my tower. It's quiet, just like always. The workshop is below us, filled with magical equipment and books piled high. I've read a lot of them, but there are still so many more to go through. From here, I can see out the window to the castle courtyard. Charles is there again, training in swordsmanship with the castle guards, while the king watches proudly. I wish he'd look at me that way. I wish he'd care about my training, or at least cared I existed.

But he doesn't. And I guess that's just how things are.

After tea, I go back to studying. Today, I'm reading World Bestiary Vol. 3: Avian Predators. My puppet is sitting beside me, reading The Arcane Apothecary: Secrets of Herbal Elixirs and Remedies, Volume 2. 

I asked my puppet, "How are you doing?" It turns its head, looks at me, then turns back to its book and flips a page. 

I guess that means he's good? I definitely need to work on giving him the ability to speak.

As I flip through the pages of my bestiary, I stop on one entry—the Razor Wing Hawk. An idea came to me. 

What if I could make a hawk-shaped puppet? I could fly it over the castle walls and see more of the world outside.

I love the idea of being able to experience flight through a bird's eyes. However, based on my pal here's performance so far, I am far from ready to make a working bird. When I am not fiddling with my puppets or practicing magic with Lady Willow, I fill my days with reading. 

The first floor of my tower is lined with bookshelves packed with a disorganized collection of tomes on every subject imaginable. In the center of the floor are tables and desks with a scattered assortment of magical trinkets, tools and piles of more books. 

These books are my most treasured items. They are my only glimpse into the world outside my castle and beyond the view from my windows. I consume them voraciously as though starved of knowledge, trying to learn as much as I can as fast as I can. 

In a way, books are my only friends. Which is just as pathetic as it sounds. 

Lady Willow is always nearby when I study, dusting the shelves or bringing me snacks. Whenever I come across something I don't understand, she's there to explain it. She's lived well over 5000 years and acquired an immense amount of knowledge. In fact, all of the books in the tower were apparently brought here by her. I've even come across a few handwritten grimoires that I suspect were written by Willow herself. She has lived many human lifetimes and watched nations rise and fall. I am pretty lucky to have her teaching me. 

Once I finish my reading, it's time for magic practice. I go with Lady Willow to an empty room on the fourth floor and start casting spells until I can't cast anymore. I do this every day—pushing myself to the point of exhaustion. My mana capacity grows a tiny bit higher with each spell I cast. At the same time my spells become more refined and more powerful the more I practice. Willow says it's important for me to focus on learning precise control of my spells first, before learning powerful destructive spells. 

Most kids my age don't practice magic, but If they did, they wouldn't be taught how to set things on fire. 

Lady Willow told me it was important that I learn to use magic as early as possible. It's all part of her plan to keep me safe, she says. As far as I am aware, no one has tried to harm me yet, but Willow seems to believe that may change when I am older. 

Right now, I'm only allowed to practice defensive and creation spells—nothing dangerous. However, no matter what kind of spell I cast, the increase of mana capacity and control over my spells will improve my ability to use any spell I learn in the future. So, by practicing safer spells now, I improve my ability to use combat spells in the future. 

I spent over an hour summoning a stream of water into a bucket and then evaporating that water with a stream of hot air. I cast those two spells repeatedly in succession until I depleted my mana and passed out on the floor. Then Lady Willow gently picked me up and carried me away to recover on a large couch on the 1st floor. 

Fully depleting my mana leaves me so exhausted that I can barely move for at least half an hour. I imagine depleting your mana like this in a real fight would probably be deadly.

At the end of the day Lady Willow and I take our baths together in the tower's large bathing room on the third floor. I sit quietly on the low, wooden stool in the bathing room, warm water swirling around my feet and the steam rising in soft, cloudy wisps. It was a long day of studying and magic practice. Lady Willow sat behind, slowly pouring warm water from a small basin over my head. .

I glance down at the water, watching the light reflect off the surface in little rippling lines, my thoughts swirling as the warmth settled into his bones. The feeling of Lady Willow's hand gently scrubbing my back makes me feel calm. I've known for a long time that she wasn't human. However, as I developed the ability to sense the magical auras of those around me, it became clear that the Aura of my mentor Lady Willow is vastly different, and far more powerful than any humans I've seen. I know she is a fae, but I truthfully don't know what that means. None of the books I've read about the fae included any clear description of what a fea looks like. 

However, every mention of the fae came with the same warning. "Do not trust the fae. If you make a contract with them, they will take more than you offered and make you regret what you wished for."

"Lady Willow," I say quietly, my voice breaking the soft silence. "Can I… look at you?"

Her hand paused on my back, and I felt her gentle smile as she spoke. "Of course, Young Master Ren. You can look at me."

"No, I mean… the real you."

The question lingered, like a candle lit in a dark room, illuminating a hidden corner I had never dared peer into before. As my magical senses sharpened day by day, I couldn't ignore the feeling that her beautiful form was just a mask, that she was something far beyond the kind, human face she has shown me.

She was quiet for a long moment, her hand resting on my back, but I sense a shift in the air, something deep and wild—like a forest at night, or a creature breathing quietly in the dark.

"Alright, Ren," she said softly, her voice still gentle but carrying an edge of something deeper." But remember, our true natures aren't found in how we look. Sometimes, the most beautiful faces hide the cruelest hearts, while the most fearsome creatures can hold the gentlest spirits."

I watch her shadow on the wall, my small hands clutching my knees. Her silhouette began to stretch and change, the slender outline of her human form shifting and contorting into something far taller, her arms elongating and her fingers narrowing into clawed shapes. Her mouth twisted into a toothy grin that reached farther across her face than any human smile, her eyes gleaming like golden slits in the low light, but visible in her reflection in the water pooled at my feet. Massive, leathery wings unfurled from her back, casting long, dark shadows across the walls.

My pulse starts to quicken, but I don't turn around. I can sense the cold, dark aura rolling off her in waves, something both fearsome and terrifying. She hadn't lied to me or hidden who she was out of malice—she had simply chosen to be someone I could trust. Her mask may be a lie, but it was a lie to protect me from fear.

A shiver runs through me, but I sit perfectly still, staring at the strange, monstrous shadow on the wall.

"Tell me, Young Master Ren," her voice now devoid of her gentle sweet tone, replaced by a deeper unsettling growl. "What do you think the real me is?"

I feel my heart pound harder, and I take a steadying breath, feeling my thoughts settle as I recalled every moment she had spent with me, caring for me, teaching me, filling my days with a sense of warmth and security. She was terrifying in shadow, but in every other sense, she was the most solid and safe thing I've known.

"You're like my mother," I say finally, my voice steady. "You've always taken care of me, even when no one else did. You cook for me, you're there when I'm sad, and you teach me everything I want to know. You're... the only mother I have ever known."

Even if later I find that Lady Willow was a dangerous monster, it would only mean that she was a dangerous monster that protected and cared for me when no one else would. She would still be less monstrous than those that abandoned me.

For a moment, there is only silence, and I wonder if I have offended her. But then I see her shadow shifting again, folding down from the monstrous shape back to her familiar, kind form. I feel her hand on my shoulder, soft and warm, and when I look up, she has returned to her gentle human appearance, her silver hair cascading down her shoulders over her ample chest and her blue eyes filled with warmth.

"Thank you, Ren," she whispered, smiling with something almost like pride. "You've seen what truly matters."