Locked inside his room, William sat by the fireplace toasting his hands. Wandering through the memories of his father, he was reminded of his robe, his wand, and the cape that he often wore. It had all been left for him in his father's room, untouched by anyone and ready to be donned on his young shoulders. He had hesitated thus far, for his attempt at being a hybrid would've been thwarted if he had conformed to being a full-blown mage.
'I guess I have no choice.' Turning his attention to the door, he stared at it for a while. Imagining himself being stopped by the guards. He knew that slipping out of his room undetected was his only option for getting into his father's room without being escorted back in. 'Hopefully, mother hasn't gone there yet.'
Knowing full well that the late king had many queens before his mother, William felt self-assured that Astoria wasn't too fond of him, and thus his room must've been left mostly untouched. The last he ever saw them together was years ago since the king was mostly taken by research and being a Nephilim, his mother was possibly too much for his ageing father's body.
"Time to head out and see what those equipment are worth," getting off the fireplace, William moved closer to the door and gently cracked it open. Using dark magic, he melted into the shadows on the wall and escaped the guards right under their noses.
Leaping wall to wall, he kept himself in the shadows and only ever got out once the king's room was right in front of him. Locked with threads tied tightly around the double door knobs, the room was left vacant with the late king's belongings left intact.
'Once I'm king, they'll probably sweep this place anew…' He pondered while taking out a knife from his waist belt and cutting the threads open. Slipping in through a slight gap between the doors, he kept the room mostly shut in case someone walked by.
Walking inside the dark room, William's lungs were assaulted with a puff of dust. The room hadn't been dusted in a while, and already the place had gathered filth. Not to mention the lack of any light helped bats take over the place with their droppings coating a majority of the room's surface.
"Dark vision!" Casting a dark spell on himself, he gained clear sight even in the darkest corners of the room.
Looking around for a while, he couldn't believe just how horrible things had become in the late king's room. The maids were avoiding the spot long before the king's passing, and being a recluse absorbed in his studies, his father was known to pay little heed to his hygiene.
"No wonder mother and you sleep in different rooms, you slob," he muttered to himself while slowly moving forward.
Upon finally arriving at his study, the same place where he'd seen the king's equipment tied with a letter directed at him, William glanced down at the table. But the very first thing that came to his attention wasn't the equipment itself but rather a notebook peeking out from one of the drawers.
"What's this?" Having not noticed it the last time he was there, he decided to reach in and figure out what it was. "A diary, maybe?"
Dusting the leather jacket of the diary, he did a quick flip through the pages, and a name flashed in his eyes again and again. My wife, Astoria, my fiance, the young queen, written in different sections of the book were multiple instances of the queen's name or her title at the time of writing. The one that drew him the most, however, was the young queen as it was an odd thing for his father to write down.
'That's almost creepy…' An older man talking about a young wife, something about that didn't sit right with him. Even so, William decided to settle down and read some of the pages. Most of the diary was nothing more than a note of important instances that had occurred during the month of writing, but ever so often, the king spoke of dreams and foresight–all attributed to the queen, and to William's surprise, every detail about said dreams had already come true. 'Mother can foresee the future? What the…why did she never tell me about this?'
Squeezing the book tightly in his hands, his heart was stung with the feeling of betrayal. Nobody knew that the queen had such a power, but to keep it a secret from her son? What greater betrayal could be there? At least that's what he thought.
"I'm part Nephilim too you bitch, maybe telling me about this would've helped me develop a similar skill," he swore, slamming the diary on the desk and instead turning his attention to the equipment next to him.
'At least you left something useful behind.' Insulting his own father, he felt no shame, for in his view, his inadequacies of today were the fault of his parents. An absent father too busy with work and a mother who coddled him plenty but was also mostly busy with war, praying or politics. 'Doesn't matter now, I'm gonna be king soon. One way or another.'
Untying the rope around the equipment, William first took the dark cape and placed it on the other side of the table. Then grabbing the violet robe inscribed with numerous spells of protection, he placed it in the middle. Finally taking the wand in his hand, he admired it closely. Appearing as a withering branch with a flat base and deep grooves that spiraled around the circumference until it reached the top, the wand held great power and was especially potent for any dark magic casters.
Feeling the equipment boosting his stats, William's heart grew restless and his mind grew razor-focused in a matter of seconds. Closing his eyes, he tried to check his list of stats but the surge of new spells kept pushing everything up until they were all out of his grasp. Sitting on the chair, cackling in a hushed tone, he felt overjoyed at the power slowly surging through him.
'Y-yes…Yes…YES! I NEEDED THIS!' Growing more and more confident, he was convinced already that nothing could stand before him and the seat of the king. The competition was over and he'd already won, relishing that false memory he sat there cackling to himself until the night was over and he'd escaped back to his room with the rest of the equipment.
Nothing could stop him, or so he thought, and given the boost in stats, he wouldn't have been wrong…