The boy ran as the rainwater on his face reflected the moonlight...

...

It was an auspicious day for concubine Elsa. Today her son had come home with news of his score on the physical exam.

"Mother, I aced it! Professor Grant said he wants to take me as his disciple and he'll give me formal training in foot technique next week."

Elsa looked at her son with warmth and caressed his hair.

She praised him for his efforts, "Congratulations Erik, you worked really hard for this. But still, you should take better care of your body, you can't keep sleeping late anymore, understood?"

"I was studying before, mother. I didn't want to disappoint you and get a bad score on the written exams just because I can't do magic."

Erik Spearhand. The boy trained and studied everyday like his life depended on it. The dark shade below his eyes worried his mother greatly, but she didn't wish to stop her son, since he seemed to like doing it.

...

It was humiliating. Getting a lower overall score than that brat was unacceptable to my mom.

My friends had come to laugh at me and saw my mom grab me by the ear and send me to the reflection room.

I regret escaping it without her knowing. Catching Erik going to his mother laughing like that as I observed them from the garden had put me in a sour mood.

Big sister Lin had caught me while I was distracted. After she ratted me out, I got sent back to the reflection room and mom put guards around it to prevent me from running again.

I looked around. Picking up a few books, I put them on the ground and lied on them. They were a bit uncomfortable.

Being stuck here won't stop me from looking.

Born from a powerful scientist and talented royal battlemage like my mom, I was born with two magic attributes: Air and Mind.

A royal battlemage was a prestigious position. The main perk was the right to research, be it at the palace's magic tower or an outside lab.

Mom works on a lab outside and also at the palace's magic tower.

So much work and still has time to ground me.

I cast Sight Voyage, a Mind-Air spell I discovered long ago, which allowed me to see and hear at any distance, to keep spying on Erik.

I'm curious to see how you'll deal with their envy.

...

Erik ate a lavish breakfast made by his mother. She celebrated with him in the small mansion located in the palace.

It was a modest place for a concubine to live. The emperor wanted to give her something better but Elsa had always been humble from birth.

As the two were enjoying themselves, they heard someone knocking on their door. A male voice called from outside before Elsa opened the door.

She greeted him, "Mr. Theo, good morning to you on this auspicious day! What is the matter?"

Mr. Theo was one of the servants assigned to Elsa. Every concubine has their own servants.

His message bombarded Erik and his mother's expectations like a firework, "Good morning my lady, his majesty the emperor has heard news of his son's good work. He has called you over to celebrate."

Erik's smile widened. Elsa asked the servant to wait and went inside to dress herself in a more formal attire.

Erik missed his father. As far as he knew, the emperor was a powerful, heroic man who dominated the battlefield with his golden fire spells. He was compared to a lion due to his golden beard and hair.

Elsa took her time inside the dressing room. She stood still for a long time before she began to change her green dress into a fancier, light blue one.

...

The palace was huge. Two statues of marble depicting lions could be seen as the mother and son pair approached the large, adorned door.

The guards showed their discipline, with their deep gaze set forward, looking at nothing but aware of everything.

As they entered the palace, Erik's eyes sparkled.

A golden mane, a tall frame that put mountains to shame, a stern expression that left anyone speechless in his presence.

Emperor Drago Spearhand.

"Erik Spearhand, you have made me proud today, son. Today we celebrate you as the strongest and most agile among your peers."

He raised his glass, and the people behind him followed. Elsa was handed a glass of wine, while Erik was handed water.

All hands raised, they saluted and took a sip. Emperor Drago's eyes were in concubine Elsa's dress.

No lust was sensed in his gaze. His expression never changed. He was famed for being cold hearted, a man without emotion.

Nothing but a mask.

As many officials praised Erik, a song was played by the band in the corner. The leading bard played a celebratory song as many people drunk themselves and chatted loudly.

Erik displayed a few physical feats at the request of the empress.

"Show us how long you can carry your own body's weight for."

So Erik did a handstand. Envious eyes gazed at Erik as he did push-ups with only his hands connected to the ground.

It was impressive because those of the royal palace focused mostly on the power of their magic, rather than physical prowess.

The body was the domain of the fearsome warriors fighting at the Frontlines, not the aristocrats.

The Frontlines is the location where the war against the non-allied beastmen territories was happening.

One of the boys was particularly angry at Erik. Olaf Spearhand.

Olaf was the physically strongest boy and leader of the palace's boy group, as well as the Royal Academy's fraternity.

His position had now been threatened by Erik.

He voiced his complaints to his mother, the concubine Essea, while envy and wrath coursed through his veins, "Mom, if this continues, I'll lose face in front of the guys!"

She looked at her boy, then pulled something from her sleeve, "Throw this."

Olaf grabbed it. Then, he threw the glove at Erik, who was in the middle of a backflip.

"I challenge you to a duel!"

Erik almost lost his footing, but succeeded in completing the feat. He picked up the glove and smiled at Olaf.

"Sure."

The crowd became noisy right away. Soon, the two boys were in the dueling ring.

"Olaf, show Erik how we do it!" said Nana, sister of Olaf.

Olaf and Nana were bulky children, as well as infamous bullies at the Royal Academy.

However, no one messed with them since their mother was favoured by the emperor.

"Don't be arrogant just because you trained a bit! I am strong and can use magic! You'll always be just a lowborn, Erik!" said Olaf.

Erik rushed at him.

Olaf shoved his palms forward in order to push his opponent to the ground, but Erik was nimble and easily dodged his shove.

Erik followed with a kick to the back of Olaf's knee, forcing him to kneel.

Olaf kicked the ground, getting up quickly from his kneeling position, just in time to dodge a slap aimed at his head.

"Argh! I'll end you!"

Olaf charged with a furious expression, going for a crushing hug as he widened his arms.

As the crowd cheered, Erik crouched and used his arms to propel Olaf upwards with a push, then used the momentum to let him fall to the ground behind him.

Olaf lied down with a surprised expression, not understanding how he got lifted by someone shorter than him.

Physics, Olaf. Unlike you, Erik pays attention to class.

Erik approached his fallen half-brother.

"Are you alright, Olaf? Here."

Erik offered his hand.

Olaf took advantage of his kindness and punched Erik's face.

Getting up, Olaf laughed at Erik, "You're so stupid! As expected from a lowborn!"

He then charged at the dazed Erik, who had fallen with his back to the ground.

"Erik!"

Cried Elsa at his son, worried that if things kept going like this, he would get hurt badly.

Olaf sat into Erik's gut and prepared to punch. Still dazed, Erik was about to face a barrage of punches from Olaf.

"No! Please have mercy!"

Said Elsa as her son's face was battered like bread dough by the fat boy.

She tried to rush to rescue him but was stopped by the guards.

The mother closed her moistened eyes, as she couldn't bear to keep looking anymore.

Soon, the audible punching stopped.

"My son..."

Tears began falling from Elsa's eyes.

She looked at the scene, expecting the worse.

Instead, she saw that Erik was grabbing Olaf's large hand.

A quick jab followed, hitting bullseye at Olaf's nose.

"Augh!"

Olaf fell back in pain, freeing Erik's waist. Erik got up and grabbed Olaf's head, smashing his knee at it.

Nobody made a sound, watching the unbelievable scene of Olaf falling unconscious on the ground, with his nose probably broken.

Hideous. Both of you.

Erik's face looked hideous. He was a handsome boy, but his traces and lustrous skin were now painted purple.

Then, the announcer spoke, "Erik Spearhand is the winner of the match!"

The crowd stood silent for a while, before someone led with a clap. Soon, the crowd was clapping and whistles could be heard.

Women should take a look in the mirror when they're feeling angry. They look weird.

Many concubine's expressions looked complicated, while some let a frown slip. They were clearly seething, some even biting their own lips.

Most of them were from the empress' faction, who competed against those from the matriarch's faction which Elsa, Erik's mother, was part of.

"Olaf!"

Cried concubine Essea as she went into the ring and held her son, followed by Nana, whose eyes were full of tears.

They looked angrily at Erik, who ignored them as he ran to his mother.

He said with a tender smile, "Mother, I won. Everything is ok, I'm fine. See?"

Elsa saw the state of her precious son's face and hugged him. Erik's shoulders were soon wet with her tears as he hugged his mother back.

Emperor Drago approached them, then patted Erik's hair.

"Well done. Come to receive the reward I prepared for you, before this duel interrupted us."

...

Erik and his mother were astonished by the chests full of gold and valuable objects in front of them.

The emperor explained to Elsa, "I know you do not put much importance in wealth, Elsa. But take this gold and invest on better nutrition and medicine for your son. Take care of his body, so that he may become a strong man to sweep the battlefield in the future."

Elsa looked at the objects inside of the chest situated in the middle of the room. They seemed to be artifacts.

She tried to refuse, "This too much, your majesty! We are not worthy!"

Emperor Drago approached her and caressed her smooth, silky hair.

Genes are something else. Mom and sister have to put so many things on their hair, while these two probably wake up like this.

"This is for his future. Accept it for his sake, Elsa."

As Elsa and emperor Drago exchanged warm gazes, Erik looked bug-eyed at the gold on the other chests.

He took a coin in his hands. It was a small but heavy golden coin, with the number 100 written on it, meaning it was worth a hundred silvers.

Ten of those were enough to afford a humble house in a poor district. And there were chests full of them.

"The artifacts have supernatural abilities imbued in them. Despite not being able to cast magic, Erik would be able to hold his ground against anyone."

He signaled one of the servants to approach.

The female servant approached the chest and took out a bracelet, "Young master, your arm, please."

Erik held out his arm and watched as the blue-eyed maid installed the bracelet on his right arm.

The golden bracelet had a metallic luster, feeling cold to the touch.

The maid instructed, "Young master, think of the activation words and the artifact's ability will be activated."

"What are the activation words?"

Emperor Drago looked at him, "Golden Core."

Erik sensed the pride in the words uttered by his father.

As he thought of them, the bracelet suddenly turned into a gauntlet and Erik felt a wave of energy coursing through his body.

"My body! I suddenly feel so good!"

Elsa giggled at her sons's words, "That is the artifact's effect, Erik."

Erik looked at the gauntlet in his hands. He felt powerful.

The emperor explained, "That gauntlet was crafted by an ancient hermit elven woman, rescued from a fierce dragon after having been held captive for centuries. She is a master of supernatural enchanting. With that gauntlet, you'll be able to convert the power of spells cast at you into physical vigor."

Rescued. So that is what they're telling everyone.

Erik had a joyful expression on his face, but then it fell into confusion once he heard an unknown word.

Elsa smiled and explained to him, "It means you'll feel better and stronger everytime a spell hits you while the artifact is activated."

Erik's eyes widened at his mother's words.

He grabbed the gauntlet with his other hand and quickly pulled it closer towards his chest as if it had become the most important thing in the world for him.

Elsa laughed joyfully at her son's antics. The maid herself let a quick smile slip from her serious, disciplined expression, not having expected the boy's actions.

After conversing with the emperor for a while, Elsa and Erik left the palace.

The servants following behind them held closed chests that, to the eyes of others, probably held many valuables inside.

...

"That filth! Now that her son turned out to not be so completely useless, his majesty is giving her all the attention!"

"At this rate, do you think she'll take Talia's place?"

"Slap your mouth! Slap it or I'll slap it myself!"

"I have made a grave mistake!"

"We have to do something, before she becomes all arrogant thinking she owns this place!"

The concubines were having a meeting in the Ivory Mansion, home to concubine Talia, the emperor's favourite.

Each one was more beautiful than the other. Talia's red dress looked specially tempting in the afternoon light.

Talia stood by the balcony, sipping on a glass of wine as the other concubines conversed at the table, some observing her as they waited for a reaction.

The wine provided some gloss to her red lips as they reflected the sunlight coming through.

Someone called to her. A concubine wearing a white, smooth dress, with a fair appearance and an innocent expression but famed for being as fearless as a polar bear and cunning like a snake.

The woman said, "Lady Talia, we can't let her get away with this. Luckily, I had been preparing something for a long while, I wonder if you will listen to my plan."

That managed to pull the attention from all the concubines, including Talia's, who glanced at her.

The concubine wearing white laid out her plans.

Vicious. Who is this concubine? I've never seen her before.

The concubines cheered. A solution to their new problem had already been in the works since long ago.

The empress would surely reward them for their foresight and preparation.

They were sure to succeed, so they spoke happily, "Finally, this way we'll be much closer to finally putting an end to the matriarch's faction's people inside the palace."

"Matriarch Lydia will lose one of her most precious pawns! Her majesty will praise you for your genius!"

"Brilliant. Begin immediately."

Talia gave the final word. They were to proceed right away.

...

By night time, Elsa approached the emperor's chambers. That night, her company was requested.

The mood was right. Elsa felt happy for having such a loving son and such a caring lover.

Suddenly, someone barged through the door.

"She's here! How filthy!"

Elsa's expression was full of confusion and incredulity. How could someone just enter his majesty's bedroom like this? She looked to him, expecting him to solve it right away.

But what she saw was a stranger instead. A muscular, handsome man she had never seen before.

"Capture her!" said a female voice.

Guards barged into the room and grabbed the couple.

Elsa suddenly found herself in an unbelievable situation. She couldn't understand what had just happened.

They took both of them outside and threw them at the ground. The man she had been with hit his head too hard on the stone flooring.

"You idiot! Check his vitals!"

"He's dead, my lady."

"Hmph. He was a mere guard anyway. Now, we shall judge you, Elsa, you adulterous filth!"

The lady speaking with a loud voice was concubine Ophelia, one of the empress' faction.

"What is going on? Where is his majesty?" asked Elsa.

Ophelia smirked, "Hmph. We caught everything you did on this recording crystal. I wonder how you'll explain yourself?"

She turned on the crystal. Elsa could be clearly seen entering the room with a happy, warm expression on her face.

"That..." Elsa was speechless.

Her first theory was mind control. She had been schemed against by someone very powerful if they could affect her thoughts.

The emperor she saw and her sense of direction were all probably manipulated with illusions.

...

On the throne room, guards had dragged Elsa in front of the emperor in the middle of the night and showed him the recording.

Erik was also brought by one of the servants. He saw the state his mother was in.

With his gaze as stern as aways, emperor Drago asked, "Why did you do it? I thought today we would be meeting."

"Your majesty, I believe someone has cast a spell on my mind. Someone schemed against me."

"Why did you do it?"

"Your majesty..."

"You think a mere guard is better than me? I gave you so much, and yet this is how you repay me." said the emperor.

Elsa's expression looked confused. She felt the situation was very unfair and expected the emperor would at least try to understand the issue, but he seemed to be putting no effort at all.

The emperor stood silent for a while. He glanced at his wife, the empress.

The empress' eyes were cold, gazing at him and waiting to see what he would do.

Elsa noticed the peculiarity. A bleak expression soon appeared on her face. She felt weak and helpless. Matriarch Lydia had already lost most of her influence in the palace, so no one would protect her now.

She had joined the matriarch's faction because they had been friends for many years. But now, it had come to bite her.

There were rumours about the emperor having become the empress' puppet, being cowardly despite the imposing persona he showed to the world.

But everyone treated it as a lie told by his political opponents.

Erik had no idea what was going on. Tears were falling from his eyes but he still held the belief that his father would save her.

Emperor Drago looked at Elsa. He caressed her hair while looking at her with his same, stern expression.

"Your majesty..." still, Elsa had some hope.

Maybe the empress had not completely taken over the palace yet. Maybe Drago still had some say in things. Maybe he would think about their child and his future.

...

Erik's world was turned upside down. He saw a blade protruding from his mother's back.

He saw that the emperor's right arm had quickly moved closer to Elsa's chest.

Coward. Right in front of her son.

Emperor Drago pulled the blade out.

Elsa fell with a sad expression on her face. She had probably long understood that she made a mistake. She had joined the wrong team.

She looked at Erik with the small amount of consciousness that was still left on her body. Tears fell from her eyes.

Using her last bit of strength, she tried to say something, "r...un...", but no one heard it.

Her final word had gotten stuck inside her throat. Her son was the last thought to cross her mind.

And then the light of life faded from her eyes.

Erik's eyes opened wide when he saw her crying. She had an expression of regret and worry in her final moments.

Tears fell like a river as the activation words were repeated on Erik's mind.

The boy, enraged, launched himself at the emperor with great speed, almost tearing away the servant's arm that had held him.

The emperor quickly got up and summoned a barrier from his palm, an ability possessed by one of his many artifact rings, colliding with Erik's fist.

Erik's body flew backwards as the magic shield repelled him.

The boy's expression was full of unwillingness and rage, tears covering his cheeks and making them reflect the magical light produced by the crystals on the pillars of the throne room.

"Run already, stupid..."

A faint wind passed by Erik's ears. Erik momentarily regained his sanity and thought quickly about his situation.

Since his hero turned out to be an evil, powerful villain, wasn't he in danger?

Having absorbed some of the magical energy produced by emperor Drago's shield, Erik's body felt lively. He bolted out of the palace, putting a dent into the great metal door that guarded the throne room.

The empress quickly ordered, "Go after him. Do not let him escape."

As the guards heeded her orders and ran, she glanced at her husband.

He still had the same expression, but she could sense his sadness.

"Tsk..."

She bit her lips in anger. She had managed to create an excuse to eliminate the concubine, but the son had run.

If the artifact remained with him, it would be troublesome. Every royal artifact was extremely powerful, but there weren't many, so losing it would be a huge loss of power for the royal family.

...

The rain was pouring in the sky. Erik ran around the buildings as the guards flew after him.

A magical lightning bolt almost hit his foot, but Erik's instincts had been boosted by the powerful magic absorbed by the gauntlet.

Whenever something was about to harm him, his body quickly replied by moving out of the way.

A guard appeared in front of him. He pulled out a sword and enchanted it with the Ice attribute, making it let out a cold, icy gas.

It froze the rain that got close to it, scattering ice bits on the ground.

Erik lifted his gauntlet to block a sword strike, and some of the magic was absorbed by it.

Feeling a burst of strength, Erik grabbed the guard's sword arm with his left hand and pulled it.

The guard felt the momentum from the pull guide him forward, and after Erik moved out of the way, his next destination was the ground.

As he turned around after quickly managing to get his footing back, Erik kicked him in the stomach.

The guard's back hit the ground multiple times as he bounced away, cracking the stone flooring.

Erik turned around to continue his run, but some of the guards had reached him. Erik suddenly lost control of his body as if something had grabbed him.

A mage of the Air attribute. She had grabbed him and attempted to crush him with large invisible hands made of air, but for some reason she felt herself growing weaker over time.

Having absorbed a large amount of the magical energy around him, Erik regained control and the weakened spell that held him eventually allowed him to fall back towards the ground.

Kicking the ground, he launched himself forward in order to escape.

An earth wall got on his way, cast by a mage of the Earth attribute.

Erik crushed through it easily, and the gauntlet absorbed yet more energy.

The boy felt invincible. He looked at one of the guards and thought to fight him.

"The more powerful mages will arrive in a while, you shouldn't stay there..."

Another whispering wind flew past his ears. Erik gave up on his thoughts of continuing the fight and ran.

"Who are you?"

Asked Erik to the disembodied voice. After asking again for a while and receiving no answers, he gave up and kept running.

Soon, a large hammer fell from the sky, almost hitting Erik. Leaping backwards, he saw his opponent.

A childish voice spoke, "Erik! Your fate is to be decided by father! But since your mother cheated on him, I think he'd forgive me if I killed you!"

It was Olaf the boar, carrying a large hammer twice his size, an artifact.

How is he not crumbling under the weight? What does this brat eat?

Erik stared at his half-brother. Glancing at the hammer, Erik stopped to think for a way out of the situation.

The guards would soon reach him if he stopped to exchange greetings with the piglet in front of him.

Erik charged.

Smirking, Olaf swung his hammer as he remarked, "Foolish!"

Erik ducked under the hammer and lunged at Olaf, aiming a punch at his nose.

Olaf's traumatic experience forced his instincts to kick in, quickly tilting his head to the side, avoiding the blow.

"You filth! You thought I'd let you hit my nose again!?" Olaf said quickly and cast a Fire attribute spell.

His eyes glowed and were about to summon a beam of fire from both of them towards Erik's face.

Erik quickly blocked the beam with his gauntlet and was pushed backward, his feet digging into the stone flooring.

Olaf kept the beam going, but felt his eyes strain as the spell grew weakened by the gauntlet.

The pressure on Erik stopped as Olaf eventually closed his eyes in pain.

The gauntlet strengthened him even more after absorbing the magical energy from the beams.

Then, Erik jumped atop a building with his empowered legs and ran.

Hearing footsteps on the building above, Olaf opened his eyes to look up.

Seeing Erik running away, he shouted, "I won't let you escape! Come back, coward!"

He readied his hammer for another swing. Erik was about to get away, so Olaf swung his weapon and activated the hammer's ability, unleashing a wave of fire in Erik's direction.

Sensing the heat from his back, Erik turned around and braced himself for the impact, with his gauntlet at the front. It pushed him back a great distance as his body flew in the air.

"No! You just pushed him away! Stupid hammer!"

Olaf threw the hammer on the ground and kicked it repeatedly, momentarily blinded by the whiny, foolish anger of a spoiled brat, thinking the hammer was at fault.

The one being grounded later won't be the hammer, no matter how much you try to explain it that way.

After a while, Erik finally saw the gates leading to outside the palace. There were many guards, but none were able to stop him.

By the time the emperor and his entourage had arrived, Erik was far away, gone into the streets.

The empress angrily shouted, "I want wanted posters with his face around every district and city! That kid has stolen a royal artifact that is to be retrieved at all costs!"

While she shouted at the guards for not doing their job right, the emperor gazed at the city view. Looking at the moon, he wondered if he had made a mistake.

He valued his gifted children, so he didn't hold back when giving Erik a royal artifact as a reward for his efforts.

However, now that artifact was in the hands of a lost boy that probably held nothing but hatred for him in his mind.

Emperor Drago looked at the moon as the rainwater hit the magical barrier around his body.

...

Rainwater could be seen all over Erik's body, as if he had just come out of a shower.

He sat down on a dirty alley on the poor side of the Capital city, the Maroon District. There, scammers, hobos and bandits roamed, hidden away from the eyes of society.

Many underworld organizations had made their base there.

How did you run so far? Lucky for you, the palace stays away from this place.

There were many casinos here. They seemed like fun places to be, but the reality only showed people going into debt they could never pay.

The women in this place use a lot of make up. The women on the palace hardly wear any and are far more beautiful.

Erik stopped at an alley. As the place seemed safe enough, Erik finally had time to calm down the adrenaline inside his body.

The gauntlet made him feel lively, but soon reality settled in.

Erik hugged his legs and cried. His sobbing was muffled by the rain that had turned into a storm already.

He remembered his mother. Her warm smile when he showed the results of his efforts.

Her worried look as he smiled triumphantly after winning a duel.

How his father never changed his expression.

Did he ever really love her?

Is probably what he's thinking right now. Mind reading is still beyond me.

Erik lifted his face. He was full of unwillingness. He was confused. He felt his rage coming back.

Erik looked at the moon.

He wanted to do something about it. His mother was taken from him for no reason. The man who took her life was too powerful, however.

Erik decided. He needed to become more powerful than him if he wanted to know why he did it.

Actually, Erik wanted revenge. He wanted to hurt the person who hurt his mother.

Erik thought about what to do. After a while, he got up.

He ran in the direction of the royal academy. He would go to someone who had seen his talent and wanted to improve it.

This is how he would become stronger.

Professor Grant, I think was his name. That man is from the matriarch's faction.

And so...

The boy ran, as the rainwater on his face reflected the moonlight...