Lucius Rowan Donn was born in Assythia, the central kingdom, the biggest, most glamourous nation the world has ever seen, in one of the oldest cities, the land of a thousand faces. But he didn’t get to experience it.

By the time he was four years old they were settling down on their new home up north, on the edge of the world in a forgotten village in Ostara, a place where the villagers would look down on him, treat him like he wasn’t even there and his mere existence was a nuisance, like he wasn’t one of them and they wanted him to know.

From a young age, he understood that these people didn’t like him, nor he nor his mother nor his baby sister. The inhabitants of Hillside were not going to accept a mixed-race son. But even then, even if they saw him with disapproving eyes when he walked through town or make snide comments when they thought he couldn’t hear them, they weren’t going to openoly posse, his father being the village guardian and all.

The first year in town consisted mostly of playing around the house, helping his mother with the chores, and exploring the wheat fields that were near the house.

That was until strife arrived at their lives, in the form of a woman, an indescribable force of evil that came as the villager’s response to their existence, someone that had come to destroy the only place where he and his mother could live in.

Her name was Gabrielle Aynor, she was the daughter of the village chief and his father’s recently discovered lover.

That day, the day his father came crawling, asking Freesia to forgive him, for he had been unfaithful.

And the wench was now with child.

He asked for forgiveness for this betrayal that could break the family they had so painstakingly tried to create together.

That day, Lucius would lose all respect for his father. As much as he cared for him, he only had a mother and a younger sibling, nothing else

Mom, please don’t cry, don’t be sad. I’m here for you, no one will hurt us.

He could see it. Even if mother wanted to hide the tears spelled at night or the weight she had lost from starvation, he had never seen his kind, beautiful, funny mother so grief-stricken before.

This would continue for weeks until she forgave his father. She would accept Alden’s petition of making that woman his second wife.

Just like that, things seemed to go back to normal, mother reversed to a more stable estate, his sister wouldn’t cry as much now, and his father returned home.

But he had come back bringing two new people, two strangers, an old lady with maid clothes and that woman, the one that tried to destroy that which he loved.

The tension around the house in those days could probably have been cut with a knife; it was hard to even breathe while inside.

That’s when his father asked him if he wanted to take swordsmanship lessons.

Beat up this no-good father? Yes, when can I start?

Revenge fueled, he accepted, and he tried hard. He would attack that wretched man with fierce determination and sheer hatred in his eyes, no attempt whatsoever was made to hide it, and he knew, he knew his father understood the reason.

He could see it in his eyes when he lunged at him whenever his sword would collide with Alden’s.

Lucius was good with the sword. Alden didn’t know if it was just unadulterated talent or pure desire to hurt him, probably a combination of both had turned his son into a ruthless sword fiend. Even at five years old he was showing great promise, even if his moves remained those of someone who had just picked up the sword, even if his body was still that of an untrained infant, the will behind them was that of a blood starved beast.

Months later, when the cold months came, when the wheat fields were barren, he came to life, his half-brother was born.

That disgusting old man came home and gave the baby the name Edwin. He didn’t even pay attention to him or Lan, like they weren’t even there, which angered him beyond belief.

His father gave him the name Raanan. He liked that; it was an elvish name; he liked the face the old man made when Alden named him.

But he didn’t like the fact that he himself wasn’t named with an elvish name.

What, is he special or something?

Lucius Rowan had been named according to the conventions of Ostaran nobles, as such both his names were human ones, yet, this second wife, second-rate baby, his half brother, was given such a name?

He didn’t like that at all. He made a silent bow to himself. He would never accept this kid as his brother, not even in his last breath, not even if the world’s worst plague melted his heart away and this kid was its only savior.

Time passed after the birth of Raanan, his mother started to work as a healer, the villager’s attitude towards him started to change a bit, he could still feel they didn’t accept him, but at least now they would try to hide it behind a facade of cordiality.

The years went by, his home had achieved new normality, things weren’t as before but mother was happy again, she was even loving to Alden again.

Gabrielle wasn’t as bad as he had previously thought. She would always greet him in the mornings and would teach him how to read at night. She was always kind and caring to him, especially to Lan. He liked that.

Maybe she didn’t have evil intentions? Maybe she wasn’t sent by the villagers to destroy his home? Maybe even the villagers themselves weren’t evil?

Old man Amos was bad though. That was out of the question. That man was irredeemable to his eyes.

His little sister got cuter by the day. It surprised everyone when her hair was dark blue.

“Free, you were unfaithful to me? How come she has blue hair!” his father joked.

“Well, even if I had, you can’t complain. Am I right? Besides, she probably has it from my mother or my father’s side,”

Ruthless, show him, mommy

Lan was so cute, she would wobble all over the house and wouldn’t cry even if she hurt herself. But she was a mischievous kid, once, he found her scribbling the walls with a piece of coal, when she noticed he was looking, his four-year-old sister turned her head and giggled at him with a satisfied shit-eating grin.

Even his half-brother wasn’t that bad.

This would continue until Raanan turned five when everyone noticed just how much he looked like Alden.

Everyone’s reactions varied, Gabrielle and Madi were excited. His father was too. Freesia didn’t seem to care but acknowledged the similarities. Lan didn’t understand, but she had started to use him as her partner in crime. Just the other day they had thrown a bucket of cold water on Alden.

They sure get along, Lucius assumed at the time.

Why is it him? Why not me? Why is the son of a lover, the one that looks the more like a father? Everyone in the village loves him, everyone accepts him, yet me and Lan, we are treated like second-rate goods, unforgivable!

That’s the moment when things started to slowly change again. Lucius got progressively more aggressive towards his brother. Freesia seemed distant, and even Gabrielle appeared to have taken a more passive stance on the matter.

“I’m a second wife so it can’t be helped," kind of mentality.

Now, this morning was like any other. A now twelve-year-old, Lucius dedicated to the path of the swordsman was amid his morning ritual.

He didn’t yet know what he wanted to do with his life, three more years and he would come of age, the village had a very perverted rite of passage that Lucius couldn’t help to be excited for even if he denied it at every opportunity.

As always, he woke up early and ran. He liked to run to a hill overlooking the village, located southwest, a beautiful place where you could watch both the sunrise and the village come to life. He would spend some time practicing his swings on an improvised training dummy made to resemble his father.

After this, he would run back home, where he would train with Alden until it was time for lunch.

As he returned home, he saw Raanan on the edge of the property, in a corner of the front yard, near a tree, with a wooden bucket filled to the brim with water, practicing magic.

He would chant an embarrassing spell that made Lucius's hair stand on end.

surely to be a magician you would have to be shameless, to chant such a thing in front of your enemy

It was better for Lucius to remain as a swordsman. Magic could come later, if at all.

Even as a magician, he’s the second rate, all day doing nothing but weak spells, such a useless twerp

Raanan would chant [Water Ball] the water on the bucket would rise and become a sphere, sometimes it would get launched a few centimeters, maybe a meter at best, or just fall back straight into the bucket, once it was empty, he would go back all the way to a small river in the woods behind the house and fillet back up.

“Young man, maybe you could water the plants since you’re training like this,” Madi said to him. He would just say he might end up destroying the plants once the spell worked properly.

Alden was standing inside the training hall, a small room he had built over the last year so they could still train when the winter months came, nonetheless if it is sunny, they practiced outside.

“you’re excited today, something good happened? Maybe a cute girl said she liked you? You had to turn her down since you already have your eyes on a young man? It must be though being a pretty boy,” Alden would always do this, taunt him, try to make him lose his focus, get angry, and show openings in his defense.

“What about you? Found any new way to make mom mad? Why are we fighting here? Is it safe? Since you were the one who built this, won’t it fall on our heads?”

Alas, he had started to learn the art of smack-talking your opponents, besides he could insult his father all he wanted while sparring and wouldn’t get scolded.

After training, while Lucius was washing his sweat, Alden called for him and Raanan.

“So, you two, I have some things to discuss and I have to leave town for a day or two, so you will be coming with me on a camping trip. We have to go kill something,”