" Phew!" Sol heaved out a sigh of relief, as he fell down onto the comfy bed, worthy only of a noble.
The bed was so large that it could easily accommodate seven people all at once without the need to squeeze.
Not to just talk about the bed, his room alone was as big as four master bedrooms in a Duke's mansion. The level of luxury in the room of a crown prince alone was incredible, along with the amount of wealth he is exposed to each day. It was like the air he breathed everyday was a million times better than that of a commoner. Then again, to compare him to a commoner would be like comparing an ant to a giant. They were world's apart!
But, thinking about it, if the crown prince enjoys such privileges, how would it be in a room dedicated to the King and Queen, rulers above the prince? That, not even Sol could answer as he had not even stepped into it before.
Yes, Sol had a lot of fun memories of his parents.
Actually, a bit more than he should judging by his status as a top-tier noble.
His parents Michael and Nivea Althurion. King and Queen of the human empire, Solmara! We're one of the most loving parents in the world of Aezhura. To them, nothing could come before their one and only child, Solarien Althurion.
Sol could easily remember a time when he was younger. He had rushed into his father's throne room and began causing trouble while the Chieftains and Duke's were having a serious discussion on the empire's matters with the king.
Instead of getting angry at him and just chasing him out, he had actually asked him to stay and sit on his laps.
Innocent Sol without thinking too much happily sat upon his father's laps while his mother looked at him with amusement and pity. But with being a four year old child, Sol had nit been able to understand what his mother's eyes were portraying at that time, and so just smiled and waved at her innocently.
But a few minutes later, he understood the meaning of that look. Those deep stares meant...pity.
Sol had suffered that day. But not by any form of physical pain or punishment, but by the sheer amount of information these high ranking nobles were discussing, all related to state matter and boring politics. He felt like his brain was going to have a meltdown worse than a dragon spitting fire on a glob-cream.
He had tried to escape many times, but his father, an Acendant with 8 awakened veins, didn't even need to raise his hands, as just by releasing his imposing aura, Sol had frozen in place.
But to make matters worse, when Sol had decided that he would just sleep through the whole thing after giving up on running away, he would get pinched awake and be told:
" As the future king, how can you sleep while your subjects are speaking? You must learn from experience, so listen and learn," Using such a profound excuse, Michael made sure that Sol was unable to sleep, causing the young child to feel like he was going to go insane from the sheer boredom of listening to politics.
Though, one should not underestimate him. Sol was the offspring born of two Ascendants. The strongest in the entire human empire, maybe even the world. So even if he didn't want to, he was still able to pick up on a few things, due to his strong soul and mind.
He had always believed that his parents ruled a single empire. The only empire in the world.
What he didn't know—what no one had told him—was that there were six kingdoms under the reign of every empire, and there were also six empires in the world, with seven more unrecognized empires pressing at the borders. These empires, though not yet matching the might of a true empire, hovered at its cusp. Their only flaw: no patron god to grant them divine legitimacy, meaning they neither had a crestborn, or the power able to make a god invest in them.
He had also learned a truth both awe-inspiring and terrifying—his parents weren't merely rulers. They had ascended to the pinnacle of the Vein rank. They were Ascendants, among the strongest beings alive.
Of course, he learnt a few other things,but those two were the most easy to understand and Interesting of them all to him, the others were just more and more boring things about the empire's politics.
After the meeting, Micheal loosened his back and no longer looked as imposing as he once did. He now just looked like a regular man who carried the weight of politics too much on his mind.
He placed his arms on the armrest of the throne and turned to look at Sol, his face sporting a slight smile," now, Sol, tell me what you took from the discussion in the meeting?" Michael asked, his face brimming with hope that his child had caught up on a thing or two.
He believed that even if he had a teacher who taught Sol politics and history, it would still all be theory and nothing truly practical, so a day like this was rare for a young offspring and maybe he had learnt something from today.
" I learnt that I should never enter Father's throne room again, lest I will be prone to punishment!" Sol said in response, crashing his father's hopeful expectation. But without thinking too much, Micheal smiled.
What was he even thinking? How could a four year old understand what they had been discussing. Maybe later in the future, when he was old enough.
But for now, he still had to discipline him for disturbing his meeting.
Seeing his father's eyes flashing with a strange look, Sol's instincts told him to escape, and without a second thought, he turned around and Immediately left, not wanting his father to have a chance to reprimand him.
" You dirty little child! is that how you speak to your father?! " Immediately Micheal jumped and chased after Sol, the two laughing as their mother stood in the background watching the father and son race through the hall like thunder rolling down marble.
•••
" Sigh! Mother...Father... I miss you. But finally, after so long, you're coming back home," a bright smile crossed his face, as he sat up straight.
His two favourite people in the world, had gone out two years ago in quest of a mystical object.
A floating island had been discovered, and it was suspected to hold one of the legendary ten artifacts of the Divine. Weapons that even the gods themselves coveted.
Sol didn't really know much about the island and artifacts, but he knew that if his parents got a hold of it, they would be able to effortlessly conquer the other empires and become the most powerful Empire in the world.
In two days, they were said to leave and head back to the empire, meaning Sol would get to see them in less than a week. and when they come back, they shall bring glory to the faithful subjects that showed immesurable love to the royal family. Not just that, they would also be bringing pride to their protector, the God Of The Sun:
Alzuras!
Although all empires were different, there was one common thing they all share;
Crestborn!
The symbol and significance of the god they serve. Every empire serves a particular God in this world, and every empire controls a major amount of a particular specie. Like the Demari, whose main citizens are the hated but revered bloodthirsty demons, and with their patron God being: Drahmur.
SPLAT!!
Suddenly, a loud sound of something exploding was heard, it sounded more like a cherry popping by the sheer force of a mighty hand.
Startled, Solarien jolted up from his bed and looked in the direction of where the sound originated from.
To his horror, there was a large bird with eyes wide opened and blood spurting out of it's already dead body stuck on his window.
The blood from the bird converged together to form a specific and strange symbol. a symbol familiar, but chilling.
Sol's eyes were widened in shock as his heart began to beat faster, a deep frown emerged on his handsome face, as he stared at the symbol.
It looked like a skull, but there was a distinctive difference as there seemed to be a dagger embedded into the bloody skull's head.
He didn't scream in terror, he just frowned, as he recognized this symbol from book he once read. It was an omen, a very bad Omen.
*gulp*
" The Symbol of incoming death. I'm about to die!"