The sun outside of the royal palace of Pyros slowly set. The birds chirped, marking the end of the day. The tired guards wandered in a relaxed manner and dreamed of their beautiful wife at home. Besides the wandering guards, servants scurried through the palace. It would have been a day like any others if the pair of brothers weren't in the garden.

One of them was a genius, the pride of the kingdom. The other was just a dirty dreg of society. Ironical, the dreg of the society was the crown prince instead of the genius. The genius was only an ordinary prince. The only reason why this could happen was due to their blood, their lineage. The dreg of society was the eldest son of His Majesty, whereas the genius was only his bastard Child.

“Sigh. Caesar, I can't stay forever by your side. Please, once I leave, live free!”

The forlorn back of Libertas, the hailed dreg of society, was reflected in Caesar’s eyes. Libertas gazed into the far distant horizon, yearning for the unknown. Behind him was a faint quivering voice, whispering, “I will!”

“Don’t be too proud. Somewhere in the vast world are countless Geniuses like you!”

“I know… “

“Good… It is good that you know. “

“…”

“Can you leave me for a while alone?”

“No…”

Libertas turned around and gazed into Caesar’s wet eyes. His unkempt, black hair has fallen on his pale face. One of his dark brown eyes, which one could mistake as black, was covered by the hair. Despite his distinct baby-fat, he gave out a mature feeling beside the sense of desolation. His bitter and awkward smile brought it to a new level.

“Do you want to witness my downfall?”

Suddenly Caesar cried. His voice husky, “No! It won’t be! You will survive! I believe in you!”

“No one has ever survived the Tribulation of Eternal Sleep.”

Caesar slumped to the ground and cried, as tears endless flowed. One drop after another moistened the earth. The thick cloud in the sky slowly gathered above Libertas.

“Don’t cry.”

He raised his head to look at the thick clouds in the sky. Today was his last day. From tomorrow on, there won’t be a Libertas any-more. Tomorrow will he face his Tribulation and perish. He closed his eyes and sighed.

“I already accepted my fate.”

It rained!

The cold rain washed the dirt away and prepared the stage for the lightning. The clouds swirled and condensed above Libertas. The earlier drizzle turned into an icy rainfall, and soon, lightning flickered inside the clouds. It was dark-red, bordering on black.

“My … My Tribulation … is here!”

He bit his lips as he gazed at Caesar. Just as Caesar grabbed his hand, has he came to a decision. With his free hand, he slapped Caesar. Following the slap was a kick to the stomach. Caesar released his grip and crashed against the ground. Despite seeing Caesar lying on the ground, he continued to kick.

Libertas only ceased to kick, as from afar heavy footsteps resounded and armours clattered. With one last glance at Caesar, he muttered, “I am sorry.”

Then he ran away, into the rain and darkness until it gradually engulfed him. Soon the soldiers arrived by Caesar’s side. They saw him stretching his hand out to the darkness and muttering, “Why… Brother? Why…?”

The leader clenched his fist and raised it to his chest. With a solemn gaze, he prayed, “Your Highness, please survive!”

Sudden, a thunder resounded through the whole palace. In the distant, a single dark-red streak of lightning thundered down. Immediately followed a heaven-shattering cry filled with sorrow and agony.

“Aaaaaah!”….

….

…. A young boy was forcefully pushed against a desk and then thrown against the cold, dirty floor. He coughed, and his nose bled. Surrounding him was a whole group of children, they gazed down at him with indifferent cold gazes. A single glance was enough to tell, this has already happened countless times.

With the young boy in the centre were three others, and their eyes were full of mockery and rage. One of the three accused the boy at the centre, “Haven’t I told you shouldn’t tell the Teacher?”

“Even if I have told it, what can you do?”

Enraged by his remark, the one who accused stepped forward and hit him on the face. Following, he kicked the legs, as the boy tried to stand up. Just when the other two stepped forward to join in the fun, the door opened. The children froze for a moment but quickly dispersed. Shortly after that, all children were on their sit places, except the young boy and the three bully.

A Teacher stepped in. As the Teacher gazed at the four, they still remained on their spot. He sighed, “XXX, what happened?”

The young boy remained silent, while he stared at the Teacher with his indifferent, no…, hopeless eyes. Realizing that the young boy won’t answer him, he turned his gaze to the other three, but they too ignored him and walked to their places.

“Has anyone seen what happened?”

Silence…

Followed by footsteps and then the pulling of a chair. The Silence continued…

“It seems… that no one has seen anything.”

With his last words, he slumped exhausted in his chair and began his lesson.

The clock slowly ticked away, a second after seconds. The seconds turned into minutes and the minutes finally turned into teachers. After the old teacher finished his class, a new one came, just to finish his and leave the place for one of his countless colleagues.

Ding Dong Ding

Finally! The school has ended! The young boy stands up the moment the bell tolled, ignoring the teacher shouts to remain seated until he finished the class. Under the gaze of everyone, he carried his tired body with slow steps out of the class.

“Hey, what happened?”

Outside of the class, was a teacher walking down the corridor to the exit of the school.

“Do you need to ask?”

“I suppose the same thing.”

“Yeah.”

“… I am sorry. My colleague and I are truly useless.”

“You don’t need to feel sorry.”

“… I will call your parents later.”

“… Why?”

“They have already bullied you over a year. Something must change!”

“… Please don’t tell it.”

“I can’t.”

None of them knows how to continue, as they silently walked down to the exit.

“… Bye… “

“Yeah… bye…”

With this farewell, they parted ways. With each step, they further distanced themselves from each other. Both of them created a long, lonely shadow, who followed them until the last ray of the setting sun disappeared.

The young boy fetched a key out of his pocket. With it, he opened the door before him. His mother was in the living room on her smartphone. His father wasn’t present and was likely working or on his way home.

“Mum, I am at home.”

There was no reply, but the boy didn’t care. It was every time like this. Just as he walked to the nearby stairway, the old telephone on the desk behind him rang. He was startled, and his movement froze for a moment. His mother put her phone aside and walked out of the living room. Fear started sprouting inside him, and it keeps growing with each step she took. She looked at the telephone, thereafter at him. She looked at his bruised face, his dirty clothes and lastly at hands, covered in scabs. He quivered under her gaze.

“You… You?!”

“I… I am sorry!”

With short, but quick steps she comes before the boy and gave him a forceful slap across the face. He stumbled backwards and fell against the old telephone on the desk. Following he landed on the hard and cold floor, during which his closed wounds opened again. The receiver dangled from the desk.

“You unfilial son, what have done again?!”

“I… I am sorry.”

Every time she spoke, had she hit the young boy with her raised palm. Each hit resounded loud throughout the whole home, mixing with his cries. It continued to get louder, despite his desperate attempts to suppress it. He kept failing miserably.

“Don’t you know how expensive your clothes are? Don’t you know how expensive the treatment fees are?”

“I… I…”

“You fucking bastard child, is this what you give back after all that we have done for you?”

“I…”

“Ingratitude! You repay all our kindness with your ingratitude!”

“Mum,…”

“We provide your food, clothes and a warm bed, but you think nothing of it, other than it is granted!”

“No!”

“Don’t fucking cry!”

“Don’t fucking cry!”

“Don’t fucking cry!”

With each sentence, which she spoke, had she hit the young boy with her raised palm. Ever time it keeps growing more forceful. Even then, she was not satisfied with it. She lowered her palm to grab a stick. She raised it and continued to hit, and hit, and hit!

It was unknown, how often she has hit at the end until she was satisfied. The boys had raised his arms to protect his head. They were now red and bruised, but it couldn’t be seen, as it was covered by the long sleeves of the plain shirt. He had long ago stopped crying under her constant abuses, as she endlessly cried, “Don’t fucking cry!”

She let out a soft sigh amid her heavy breathings, as she let the stick fall to the floor. After briefly relishing at her work, walked she slowly to the living room. The time flowed away before the boy slowly regained a bit composure amid his ragged breathing and the unintended tears. With sluggish steps, he crawled the stairs up, into his room for a bit of peace.

Finally separated by the outside world, closed in his world, freed from the agony outside. Seeking peace in it, even if it is just for a very short while.

After a while, not even a half an hour, the fragile peace in the house was destroyed by the hard knocking on the door. After ignoring it for a while, was the mother annoyed by the constant knocking. She stood up and snapped the door with a quick jolt open.

“What do you want?”

In the beginning, she spoke coldly and annoyed, but it changed quickly into fear. Standing before her were three grown men in uniforms, the police. The one left was very huge and bulky, almost ripping his uniform apart. He could be easily a middle-aged villain, which was further confirmed by the tattoos, covering his arm. The right one was slim and barely over twenty, likely a newcomer.

The one in the middle looked older than the newcomer but younger than the villain. He had a pair of sharp eyes, which seemed to see through every disguise. He was probably the leader. Unfortunately, he appeared like the most annoyed of them all. It was presumably because of his panda eyes which have formed after a long time of sleeping less than healthy.

They kept staring at her as if she was one of the worst scum of society. Their eyes revealed their disdain for her. For a moment no one moved before the leader stepped forward and spoke in a deep, authoritative voice, “You are suspected of child abuse”

“What? What do mean by this?”

He ignored her questions, as he approached her while indicating to the newcomer and the villain with a nod to rush inside and secure the child.

“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney present during questioning. If you can’t afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights?”

Just as she tried to block the door, has she been seized and handcuffed by the leader. After nodding at each other, the villain and the newcomer rushed inside and started searching after the child. The leader asked emotionless once again, “Do you understand the before mentioned rights?”

“No, no I don’t understand! You are attacking an honest citizen without a single reason! I am going to sue you! I am going to sue you all!”

With her loud, hysterical cries, one neighbour after another stepped out of their house to see, what happened to cause such a noise. Even the ongoing passant stopped midway to observe the happenings.

“Please quiet down. You are disturbing the public peace.”

“No, I won’t quit down!”

Disdaining to speak further with her, he dragged her down to the streets and pushed her inside the car, before turning to the gathered gawpers.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, there is nothing to see, please continue in what you have done.”

The gawpers didn’t disperse, as they stood there like rooted trees. They kept staring at the police and the woman in the car.

“I hope for you all, that you wouldn’t just stand there like rooted trees if anything happens to your loved ones!”

The was a short outrage in the gathered gawpers, but it died down quickly, as they animatedly discussed their criminal neighbour in the police car.

“I wish you all a nice day.”

The Leader turned around, but no one cared about him except a young boy, who is standing at the door sill. Beside him were two the policemen. His once dead eyes were following the departing police, as his eyes were finally showing signs of life after a long time again.