The Path of Ruin

The night of tragedy was over and a new day had dawned. But... there was no one in the palace to celebrate, no one to rejoice. The garden was silent, the corridors were silent, the palace was silent...

But... in spite of all this silence and stillness, at the very top of the palace, inside the only king's chamber... one of the fingers of a fifteen-year-old boy who should not have been there twitched.

Despite everything, he was alive. But... his condition was not so good.

"Ugh..."

A groan of pain escaped his mouth. His whole body was in pain, he didn't feel well at all.

As his eyes slowly opened, the first thing he saw was a white floor stained red with blood.

'Where... where am I?'

He tried to get up using his arms, even with difficulty. And he succeeded. Even though his whole body felt like it was going to break from the pain... it wasn't that bad. He was sure it would pass if he rested a little.

He slowly got up, first on his knees, and then looked around. The first thing he saw... was a body not far away from him. It was lying on its back on the floor. The skin was very pale, obviously dead.

And... as he saw this person, he remembered everything he had been through, why he was here.

'Ah...'

He just waited for a moment. He didn't move, he just waited. Then, he raised his hands, stared at his palms.

'I... am alive?

He hadn't... expected this. He still remembered what the king had said, the decision he had made was clear in his mind.

And yet... he had thought he would die after all. Not that he would wake up to a new day.

Kael lowered his hands. He tried to stand up, and he did. He didn't know how, but... his body was in better shape than he thought. He certainly didn't feel like he was on the brink of death.

'I'm really alive... I'm alive.'

His hands reflexively went to his neck. He could feel a little of the mark that had done such a good job of reminding him that he was a slave in the past, that part of his neck was always smoother. But... now he couldn't feel it. The mark was gone.

He squinted, removed his hands from his neck. He looked again towards the king's lifeless body, then walked to his side.

He stared at him for a while. He didn't know what to do, what to think.

"I..."

This one word came out of his mouth, but he couldn't follow it up. He clenched his fists.

"I..."

He felt tears welling up in his eyes, but he held himself back.

"I... am really thankful. No matter what happens, I won't forget it, ever. Thank you, Your Majesty... Thank you so much for giving me such a chance..."

He knew he couldn't hear, that he had already left this world. Still, he felt the need to say it.

He sniffled, finally tore his eyes away from the king's body, and turned them to the bed in the room. The coverlet was still on it.

He went to the bed. He took the coverlet and folded it in half. Then, he went back to the king and put it over him.

He couldn't bury him, he didn't think he had time to do that. But... he wanted to do the least he could for the man who had given him a second chance.

"Rest in peace, Your Majesty..."

Finally, he took a deep breath, looked up at the ceiling for a short while. Then he shook his head from side to side.

'First of all... what am I supposed to do?'

He had accepted the second chance, good. He had survived, that's good too. He was no longer a slave, he had free will... much more good!

But what was next?

Kael... didn't really know what to do. As a slave, he had always listened to others and often slept where he worked. His life was pretty simple...

But he had no idea what normal people did.

'I... must first get away from this palace.'

This was the first thing that came to his mind.

This was a palace, the palace of a kingdom. Sooner or later, someone would come and find out what was going on here. And for him to be in the palace when that happened... it would probably not be pleasant. He was paranoid, yes... But he didn't want to be in other people's hands again. He didn't want to deal with other people.

He... wanted to see for a while how a normal person lives, what a normal person does. He wanted to be alone. And for that, he needed to get away from the palace as fast as possible.

But that's when something caught his eye, something just off to the side of the room... a mirror.

He had never seen many mirrors in his life. Mirrors were expensive and hard to find. Only the rich or nobility had them. And now... he had one in front of him.

And Kael wondered how he looked now.

He approached the mirror curiously, stood in front of it, and... looked at himself.

The white cloth he was wearing was in tatters. There was blood in his hair, on his face, all over his body. He looked like he had been in a war and... and he was, in a sense. Still, he didn't mind these things.

He looked at his face. And then... he paused. He squinted, scrutinized himself. But... no matter what he did, he couldn't see.

'I... I'm sure a creature scratched my cheek. And there should be another scratch just above my ear...'

Then... he remembered.

No, not only his cheek... he should not be able to use his right shoulder properly, but there was nothing wrong with it!

After killing the king, just before he fainted, he remembered the crown-shaped glow. Something must have happened to his body. But... wasn't it absurd that he had recovered to this extent?

'No, it's totally absurd...'

He swallowed. He really had no idea what had happened, but... the unknown was frightening.

Still - at least for now - he didn't complain. These were things to think about later, things he shouldn't pay attention to yet. He was healed, why was he questioning it?

He shook his head up and down. Then, he turned back to the mirror. He looked at himself once more.

His face was a little small because of his skinny body. His brown eyes were ordinary. His hair was so unkempt and dirty that even though it was black... it looked like a strange brown.

His eyes traveled down, looking at his shoulders and his body structure. And as he did so... his eyes stopped at one point. Was it him, or... was the back of a hole in the chest area of his clothes black?

His skin was supposed to show, not something black.

He lifted his clothes up slightly, looking directly at his chest. He saw his skinny body much better that way, but he didn't care.

Because...

'What... what is this?'

His eyes twitched as he looked at what was on his chest, questioning whether he was seeing it wrong.

On his chest... there was a tattoo of a crown... almost twice the size of his fist? And... it was exactly the same as the one he had seen on the king!

'Did it pass from his body... to me? Is this tattoo the reason for my recovery?'

He put his hand to his chest, right over the tattoo. Would it feel like the mark of slavery on his neck, or was it something else? He wanted to find out. Of course, inside his head, he kept thinking.

Did it mean something that he had this crown tattoo? It seemed important, especially since it was something the king of Arcanoa had owned and passed down to him...

With these thoughts in mind, the tip of his finger touched the tattoo. It was similar to a mark of slavery but... different. It didn't feel like he was touching his skin, it was as if... he was touching a piece of clothing that merged with him. The only difference was that this 'tattoo' could have been the smoothest piece of clothing he had ever seen.

'This is... strange.'

This time, he touched the tattoo with his whole hand, not just his finger. But then... something unexpected happened.

His whole body suddenly trembled like never before, he lost the strength in his legs and fell to his knees. His breathing suddenly became faster than ever and his head began to spin. He saw the tattoo on his chest glow faintly, followed by a warmth that spread throughout his body... And then... suddenly he began to hear voices and see images.

Everything happened so fast. The information that appeared in his mind came so fast that he could hardly perceive what was happening. But... it didn't take long. After a short time, the glow of the tattoo faded and his head stopped spinning. As the warmth he could feel in his body receded, all the images and sounds in his mind began to fade away.

But... they didn't disappear completely. They remained in his mind as a memory. And these memories... were important.

'Hah, hahah... No way...'

Kael's lips curled upward weakly. When he touched the tattoo... what he saw, what he heard... was what actually the tattoo was.

And what he learned... was not pleasant.

The king's words came back to him. He said he would suffer, perhaps even regret it. And Kael had thought that if he got a second chance, he wouldn't mind so much.

But this...?

This... was something else.

The tattoo on his chest was a blessing. A blessing that only royalty could have. And... unlike most blessings in the world, it was one that could be passed on.

But there was a problem. And that was... Kael had no ties to the royal family.

So what happens to this blessing, then?

Quite simply.

It becomes... a curse. A very unpleasant curse.