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The warrior-monk's eyes snapped open on hearing the bells ringing.

[color=6ecff6][i]'My my… for whom does the bells toll? Let us hope it shall not be to taxing for the prince.'[/i][/color] He mentally mused as he walked up closer to the bars of the cell. It seemed like everyone was taking their dear time, no priestess in sight, no prince and no guardsman with coal and papers. If things would turn out to take too long, he would have to bid the cell his leave, but for now patience was no doubt the best key. He wasn't one to disregard laws, well at the very least not the law he lived by. His own code. Most of the other warrior-monks had them aswell, albeit very different from his own, and their dedication to Aelios.

He had not been the fastest to rise in rank amidst them, for he was refusing to kneel or pray at the small shrine within the monastery. The superiors within the order did their best to try and punish him for it, were it isolation, hard labor or some other form of punishment. To the blonde however, all these punishments just further amplified his despise for the divine and for the King, which the order was in fact serving.

The order of Golden Death. Created by the kingdom of Aurelia to train young men into becoming fanatical defenders of the kingdom and it's sovereign and hunt down any would be claimants to the throne and other threats. How ironic. An order made to hunt down people like him, yet they were completely unaware that he was right under their nose. The sin made flesh. The very anti-thesis to all they stood for. Yet they had forged him into a weapon. And despite constantly irritating the superiors, the elders and the other younger ones. He ultimately reached the apex, having issued the challenge to defeat each and everyone of the others and doing so. Any rank or title however meant nothing. It didn't mean a thing then and not now. 

It was all about proving something. The mind and body had to be like one. The monks had some things correct. But often they would prove themselves unable to live up to their own mantras. How many of them had he coerced into a fit of anger just to prove a point? He couldn't remember. But he did remember how liberating it felt when the monastery finally burned. Much like his old home. Fire always paved the way. It did so in the blizzard aswell. What better element to represent his devotion to his task than a fierce fire… ready to consume whatever happens to end up standing in the way.

But fire can also be warm and keep one from cold. The fire in ones heart could be two different things and he had experienced them both, yet one of them nearly rendered him blind. Blissfully so. Had he died back then, it would still have left a bittersweet feeling.

King Auric would have to die.

But each child born into the world have two parents, a father and a mother. Who was his mother? A traveller from the lands of frozen earth and jagged spines. How had she managed to slip past all the guards so easily? He didn't know. He couldn't know. But what he did know were that she settled in Aurelia, built a mansion outside of the capitol and had her servants with her. He could still remember her fierce blue eyes. The same kind which he inherited. Yet her other traits? What else did he inherit? Her heart and mind perhaps? And the devious and shrewd side of his father.

Yet while they were different, both had the same intentions. To turn him into nothing more than a puppet. No matter what, their paths would lead to him sitting on a chair unable to live. Freedom that was life. Choice is life. To chose what to do with it. What other purpose is there to exist, but to traverse down the path you've chosen for yourself?

The father threatened the mother, seeking to lay claim on his heir and bring him with him, and the mother sought to lead him far away to be under the thumb of another. Having heard and witnessed their meeting, he had just been a young boy, but he knew what it meant. Both sides of the coin led him to the same kind of place. But what about the edge of the coin? The path between. A narrow way to go. But it was better than the other two.

The boy gathered a few belongings, a music box, a ring and a few other things. Before he took the candle and brought it to the curtains and lit the mansion ablaze. Everyone managed to get out unscathed. He watched from the bushes in the night how his mother tried her best to get back into the building, but being held back by her servants. He knew his mother had a heart. Unlike his father. Yet it wasn't her heart he needed to heed… but his own.

Besides it wasn't he who broke her heart. But his father.

Love. Such a fleeting emotion. Dangerous. Volatile. Ruinous. His father had cast away that feeling as easily as one would discard the core of an apple, yet his mother had been unable to let go and was crushed by the truth.

She took her caravan and servants and left Aurelia. A long time ago. Never to return alive.

She was likely at least ten years older than his father, having caught the attention of the much younger Aurelian man with her exotic appearance. Her piercing blue eyes. The way she spoke with that northern accent, regal and proud, yet with a soothing and calming tone. How her dark long wavy hair flickered in the breeze and her tanned skin resembling the most warm of browns.

He could vividly picture her in his mind. But he never saw her again. She died a long time ago. Yet she had offspring. He knew this. 

A sister who in turn also had a child. That he would have some distant relatives who were likely completely unaware of his existence did bring him some amusement. He knew they too had to deal with wicked men. Just because the land would change under the feet didn't mean human nature did.


[color=fff200][i]Until now.[/i][/color]


The warrior-monk smiled broadly as he observed his surroundings. To almost anyone else. He was indeed caged. But this was nothing compared to the cage he could have been in. The cage someone else now finds themselves unwittingly pushed into.

[color=fff200][i]'Let see what can be done to break all the cages… and set everyone free. Are you watching, my grimalkin, maker of the gem? The bells... ring of fire, water, air and earth. The time is approaching for the revelation, of a father's sin written upon skin.'[/i][/color] He mused and waited.