-In the middle of the Golden Palace, Golden Kingdom
“Vorse, my nephew, your fiancé… I apologize to say this, but she will be wed to another. You see, her ability to foresee future events, it is much too beneficial to the military. Therefore, the Great General has requested that she marry his oldest son, so that they can directly tie her into the command level,” said a middle-aged man, who was wearing golden robes, and was seated on a large throne. He had golden hair, and golden eyes. He was heavily muscled, from his years of training with the sword.
Judging from the look on his face, he seemed pained, and unwilling to convey the message to the young man kneeling below his dais. However, compared to the look of this man, also known as the Golden King Romulus, the look of the young boy kneeling below him was far worse. The boy looked to be around 17, and was leanly built, with a good amount of muscles. He had silvery hair, and one gold eye, with the other being a pale silver. The pale silver eye had a scar running from the eyebrow to a bit below the eye below. The young man had a golden, ornate sword attached to his hips.
“I see… even you do this to me, my own uncle. No, I guess it would be better suited to say, as expected of the King, huh?” queried the young man.
At this, King Romulus winced. Speaking up for him, the queen, seated next to the king, near in tears at this point, said “My nephew, I understand how you feel, I truly do-“
The young man released a sharp, bitter laugh, disdaining both her words, and the pity within it. “Aunt, my Queen, no, you truly don’t. In fact, I doubt any of the people around me truly understand, and if any did, they wouldn’t be saying what you said, instead, they would’ve gone ahead and killed themselves, or gone on a homicidal rampage, until someone finally put them out of their misery,” began Vorse.
“You see aunt, Your Majesty, this isn’t the first time this has happened, and as far as my life has gone, it won’t be the last either. The first time, it was my childhood sweetheart. She was the 7th daughter of a Viscount’s house, who I had grown up with. We had yet to be engaged, but many knew of our feelings. Then, my oldest brother, the bastard he is, proposed to her, and she left me instantly, since he was wealthier than I, due to my position as the 5th son of my own house,” continued Vorse in a nearly morose tone.
Vorse had two currently living older brothers, the other three having died in military expeditions against various countries, monsters, and groups of savages, a common occurrence in their current society. The oldest, Randulfus, was built similar to a meatball, and most of his time spent in physical training involved the movement of his hips, as opposed to the sword. His personality was rather cruel, but since he possessed a level of competence in business affairs, and he was the first born, he was set to inherit the household. One of his greatest pleasures was in talking about his varied sexual exploits. He had the golden hair and eyes common to those that shared the king’s bloodline.
Vorse’s other older brother was Vance, and he was studying to become a mage. He was built similar to Vorse, although less muscular, and had more of the refined scholar look. He, similar to the eldest, had golden hair and eyes. He got along quite well with Vorse, even though they were technically half-siblings.
“The same day, Vance was also set to be married to one of the Viscount’s other daughters. This was the first time, and I was told to let it go for the good of everyone else involved. I was 13 at the time. I was advised to try and find a new wife,” continued Vorse. “And so, I did, this one not of nobility, and of commoner upbringing. I figured this way, there would be no one who would object to such a thing, nor have a reason to take her away. She too, was taken not long after.”
The king and queen had of course heard about this occurrence as it happened two years ago. They had not, however, heard about the specific details behind it. All that they had done was, again, advise the boy to move on, and find a new wife.
“She decided to sell herself off to a baron who took a fancy in her, and said he would support her family, and raise her status to that of nobility. And again, the woman who I thought I would spend my life with, left me at the first signs of something better, for status and wealth. Yet again, I bore it with stoicism since it was for the good of many.” At this point, the boy seemed near in tears.
“Finally, I decided I would throw my all into military affairs, and gain status that way. As you well know, I was considered a genius in both the magical and martial fields. I gained many achievements, and much prestige through all the battles I fought in. In the most recent battle against one of our neighboring enemies, I managed to slaughter a path to their king, who I beheaded in combat, by myself. Before I struck the killing blow, the king asked me to take care of his daughter, and I promised I would. I saw her, and decided to marry her, a decision initially endorsed by many,” by now, Vorse had tears streaming down his cheeks. The king and queen both looked ashamed, as they were amongst those that initially endorsed the decision as well. They had seen nothing wrong with it before. But that had changed rather quickly.
Vorse jerked his head up, looking at the King and Queen, and rising to his feet. “It is my belief that the bastard son of your general saw her, and had his father coerce you into marrying her off to you, right?”
“It is not your place to question our decisions, besides, it was the choice of the princess to do so anyways. Since she is a seer, she saw the value in agreeing to such a marriage.” the King replied, beginning to seem angered. Vorse laughed at this.
“Fine, I see how it is. The general must have offered the princess fair treatment of her people if she married his son. I pray that you all are most pleased with your decisions.” Vorse quickly unsheathed his sword, hanging at his hip. All the guards in the room began to rush towards him, in an attempt to suppress him.
“Stand down! Or I will cleave you in two! I am not exactly in the best mood at the moment!” screamed Vorse. As all of the soldiers present had seen Vorse fight, they knew that very few, short of a sword master would be able to suppress him. Vorse ran his sword through his palm, spilling blood on the floor of the throne room. The King and the Queen looked shocked at this, as they realized the ramifications of what Vorse’s current actions were.
“Wait, Vorse don’t be hasty now!” exclaimed the Queen.
Gritting his teeth, Vorse said, “With this blood, I dissolve any and all blood ties we may have held. I am no longer your nephew. With this blood, I dissolve my ties to the kingdom that has thrice forsaken me. From now, we are strangers, and more likely, enemies. Should we meet on the field of battle, I shall do my best to slay you, and you should strive likewise. This, I swear upon my blood.” A bright flash of light appeared from the blood dripped upon the ground, and it vanished when the light died down.
All the people on the scene were shocked and appalled by the oath he had made. A blood oath was a type of inviolable contract made by someone towards another, or towards the Heavens, and the one who swore would be obligated to follow this oath, on the pain of death by the Heavens. “This…” was all the King managed to say.
Vorse turned around, and quickly left the castle. At this time, a man fully bedecked in crimson armor came in. “My King, I heard Vorse came here, did he already leave?” asked the man in the crimson armor.
As Vorse walked away, he thought to himself. “I am sorry, Master Blaine, but we will not be able to have the final duel we wished for, in order to test each other’s limits. We will have to postpone that for the field of battle. I apologize to you as well, Master Greeva, I will not be able to show you the level I have reached in magic anytime soon. How did it all come to this?”
Skoll's Writing 