Chapter 1 - Chapter 01

“Prince Ennwn, it is time to wake up. Today is the day your father is sent to the front in Spalil.”
Ennwn just rolled over in his bed and pulled the covers over his head before asking, voice muffled by the pillows, “Do I really have to be present for this?”
“Prince Ennwn, he is your father!”
“He is the seed that impregnated my mother.” Ennwn sat up and glared, golden eyes shimmering, “He is nothing more then that to me.”
The servant that had awoken him stepped back some and then bowed to her prince, leaving the room and shutting the door behind her.

Ennwn sat up, running a hand through his long hair then stretched. He rose to his feet and unbuttoned his shirt as he made his way to the bathroom, where his large golden tub filled with water at just the right temperature. He pulled off the shirt and his pants and underwear, putting them through the laundry chute. He slipped into the tub and looked at the window, pulling the curtains away to look outside. He saw in the other buildings, servants running around with flowers, food, and messages. Up and down the stairs, outside to get to another building…it seemed like such a big occasion. His dad was just leaving for a while, and then coming back…he did it every few months since the war started. No big deal, right? He was tired of having ceremonies.

The royal prince ran a hand through his long green hair and slid more into the bath water, getting his hair wet. A smile touched his face as he heard the noises underwater. The water sloshing back and forth as he shifted backwards and forwards, his finger nails tapping on the bottom of the tub. He liked to imagine he was at the bottom of the sea, not up in his tower, secluded from everything and every one. He’d never been outside of the castle. All the places he’d ever seen had been in books; picture book that he read as a child and still kept. They now had him reading books about battle strategies. Books about how terrible the other countries are and how great their allies are. Books so biased, Ennwn constantly had to wonder how true it all was, if it was really just a conspiracy.

Ever since the war started, Ennwn’s life had been so crazy. It started just a few days before his tenth birthday. Now? It was seven years later and his birthday was coming up. This was the anniversary of the first day of the Avius-Refolia War. Always learning how to fight with a bow and arrow- the traditional royal Avius family weapon- how to hold proper feasts and where to be when, all the duties of the king, because should the King die, Ennwn would be the one to take over. He was the eldest of 23 children that he never spoke to. And even though he knew little about his father he knew enough to suspect that there were others outside of the kingdom.

“Prince Ennwn, I’ve brought your clothes for the ceremony.”
Ennwn sat up in the bathtub and looked at the servant, smile gone, “Go.”
The woman bowed and left. The prince finished cleaning himself and got out of the tub, drying himself off with a large, fluffy towel. He looked in the mirror and started at his reflection, “…Who am I…?” He asked himself then dropped the towel on the floor and pulled on his clothes. They were Avius royal colors. Light blue clothes with a white scarf that wrapped around his neck, over his shoulder and around his waist. He pulled on his white gloves and buttoned up his jacket. He brushed his hair out making sure his pride and joy looked perfect. He brought the end of his hair up to the back of his head and clipped it with his favorite red hair clip, the end of his hair just visible at the top of his head. He put on his helmet that signified his “Princelyhood” the servants always said. It was nothing more than a blue helmet with red gems in the center that was shaped like a diamond, the bottom coming down and separating his eyes. On the sides were wings, two on each side, all four spread out majestically.

He stared at him self in the mirror and shook his head at himself, walking back to his room. There he was surrounded by five of his servants who proceeded to lint roll him from head to toe, shine his shoes over again and fix the faux wings on his helmet. They applied a bit of make up to make his features pop, mainly his royal golden eyes. Another servant came over to him with a necklace and put it around his neck.
“Your mother…I know she’d like to be present.” Said the servant, clipping the necklace on.
“I know. And yet I don’t know.” Ennwn sighed, “I can fix /myself/…”
Yet the servants didn’t stop till they were done, finishing him off with a cape.
Ennwn walked past them and out the door, only to be met with the palace guards who led him along the golden corridors of his palace, the designs drawn with gems cut to perfection and place into the walls of gold; the sun shown through the open windows, causing it all to sparkle beautifully. It hurt the prince’s eyes.

Soon though, after a maze of stairs and numerous turns, they were outside in the courtyard where he could hear the cheering of people. They walked to the gates and there was a large stage with stairs leading to the top. This way, Ennwn never left the castle and the people never got inside the palace grounds. He saw his father talking with his adviser about the speech and what would be happening. Ennwn, much to his dislike, was led to him.
“Ah, there you are, Ennwn Ralael.”
Ennwn simply nodded in greeting, silently making it known he didn’t want to be here, but knew it was his duty.
“All you have to do this time is stand there and smile,” He assured him and clapped his shoulder.

“I now present to you…”
“That’s our cue,” The King said walking to the stairs to with Ennwn in tow.
“...His majesty, King Yurek and Prince Ennwn Ralael!”
At the top of the stairs and onto the stage, Ennwn had a smile plastered onto his face, waving at the hundreds of people in the crowd. Once the crowd had settled down and became relatively quiet, his father began to talk.

“As you, my fellow Avians, know, I must once again return to the front line of the war. Every year I have gone to help raise the moral of our troops and encourage the fighting to better protect our country from being invaded. I will help with the battle strategies and soon, we will win this war. I know there have been a great many losses but always remember, they died in something they believed in. They died for you, their family and their friends. They died for the kingdom, for Avius.” The crowd proceeded to cheer, some cried. Ennwn just clapped politely as he was taught to do.

“And should I not make it back from the front, as I have said before, my dear son Ennwn Ralael will be crowned your king. Dare I say he is just like me and will continue to fight this war until we have won!”
Again, more cheering, some were still crying. Ennwn smiled but it killed him to smile at this on the inside. Had his father not started to talk again about other important issues, Ennwn would have stopped the speech and stood up to him. He was nothing like his father from what he could tell. And if he was, how could his father know? He was never around him. He was surprised the man had remembered his name. The adviser probably told him what it was.

A half an hour later, Ennwn was allowed to leave the stage with his father as he had finished the speech. They were lead by guards to the palace, Ennwn separating from his father to go to his room. There was no “good bye” not even “I’ll see you at dinner”. They left quietly and quickly.

Ennwn left the guards outside and shut and locked his door. He went to his window seat and settled in against the wall. His walls had been painted over, littered in pictures. It was his sanctuary; when he managed to get in alone and lock the door that is. He saw the people started to leave, and then looked up to the sky.

His room was the highest tower. He was closest to the clouds, closest to the sun, closest to the sky that he longed to fly in. But there were “too many dangers” the servants told him. The enemy could be lurking about anywhere. They could be waiting for him to fly out and then kill him. Ennwn rolled his eyes at the thought and got up, walking over to his closet, pulling his gloves off and tossing them onto the floor. He pulled out his easel and blank canvas and set it by the window. He pulled out the paint pallet and poured the different paints onto it and then took his jacket off, leaving his under shirt on so he wasn’t so hot, not because he actually cared about ruining his clothes. They could be replaced after all.
He let his hair down and opened the window, letting the wind in and blowing his hair back. He closed his eyes and picked up his paintbrush. He tilted his head down and looked at the pain, creating colors and placing them onto the canvas.

He painted for about an hour until he was interrupted by a servant knocking on the door, “Prince Ennwn, I have brought you your lunch. You missed breakfast because you got up so late…so it’s extra special. Baked with all my love…!”
Ennwn sighed and set the brush down, “Essiel. Leave the food and the door and leave.”
“But my prince, I want to make sure it is satisfactory to you!”
Ennwn set the pallet down and walked to the door, unlocking it and opening it. The small servant boy paraded in and unfolded a small table and pulled a chair over, single handedly and set his food on it, “There you are~”
“Essiel, you’re going to get thrown in the dungeon if you keep this up…”
“As long as you’re the one to sentence it, I don’t care,” Essiel said dreamily.
Ennwn stood with a glare and a frown, but unlike the others, Essiel wasn’t scared off. It made him squeal, “I love that face- it’s one of my favorite expressions…” He said with a sigh. Ennwn gave up and took a seat, eating. While he didn’t answer Essiel’s questions of, “Is it good? Do you like it? It’s all right, right? Would you like more? Is it the best you’ve ever had?” Ennwn did like it. He liked Essiel’s cooking and Essiel was a nice person…but Essiel is a servant and Essiel could be killed for this. But nothing he did to push him away stopped him for showing up at his bedroom door with ‘food baked with love’.

“Can you leave now?” Ennwn asked, mid-bite.
“But you didn’t tell me how it iiiiis!” Essiel whined, getting on his knees.
“…It’s fine,” He sighed, “Now please leave before they give the order to cut off your head or send you into battle.” Ennwn stood and Essiel got up, “Fine…I just wanted to see you…”
“I know you do, Essiel, but you know you shouldn’t.”
“I can’t help it…even if it kills me, I can’t…because I love you so much…” Essiel stared up at him, “So much…it hurts…” He clenched the fabric that rested above his heart.
Ennwn was silent then looked away, “Leave me, Essiel.”
The boy watched him and then nodded, “I’ll call you for dinner,” He said and hurried out of the room, shutting the door on his way out. Ennwn locked it once more.

“Love…” He whispered and started at the carpet, “To care for some one…to make sacrifices for them…sorry Essiel.” He pulled away from the door and went back to his seat and looked at the food, “…I don’t care for any one like that.” He looked to his vanity and into the mirror and his frowning face, “…Not even myself.”

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