Ever since she was a child, Arisha held extraordinary power.
A night for all to welcome a blessed newborn boy.
Kael, the son of the ruling house of Count Elnova... and the sole heir to its grand legacy.
No one could find fault with Kael. He was beautiful from his youth, for his alabaster skin and flaxen hair captured the eyes of all. But it wasn't his face alone that drew others to him. He was also as beautiful within as without, possessing peerless wit to master his studies and a pure, generous soul.
The noble's burden is as such that we are powerful for a righteous cause.
We were made so that we may grant those less fortunate peace and prosperity.
These words resonated with the young Kael who, from that day forward, dreamed of becoming a hero to protect his people. As was his birthright, he spent his years in abundance while being showered with the king's adoration.
You impudent girl! You dare talk back to me with such fire in your eyes?!
I won't budge until I am given proper compensation.
It was an unremarkable day when he encountered a commoner being treated with disdain. His heart troubled by the sight, he was quick to approach her.
Pray, let me aid you.
This here ought to cover the cost of your father's medicine with coin to spare. Please—I insist.
So you sympathize with my plight?
Spare me your empty kindness. You understand nothing, young lord.
With a derisive tongue, the girl rejected Kael's generosity.
Her words made that unremarkable day remarkable, its memory remaining vivid throughout his boyhood years.
Kael of Elnova, come and kneel before me.
Soon Kael entered adulthood. His talents were known and praised, earning him a position as a knight of the royal guard.
His house's reputation was at its height. His future was set to shine as brilliant as the stars on the day of his birth...
...only to wane upon meeting that commoner once again. She stood before him, shoulders squared and authority plain, as the leader of a resistance. And it was she who opened his eyes to the common filth that infested the lands below him.
The nobility have never waged war in the common people's name, but we are ousted from society and orphaned nevertheless.
I... I didn't know... I truly didn't know...
Don't look away. This is what the world you live in is like.
He was ignorant. His comfort was built on the broken backs of the destitute. Just who was he to claim to be their protector?
Kael wept before the woman upon discovering this, his entire being weighted with sorrow.
There still is a chance yet.
Join our resistance, and help us change this world together.
Do nothing, and nothing changes. Take the sainted hand of justice to fight for a tomorrow only seen in our dreams.
If I can right my wrongs, then I will do anything. Please... lead me to the path of righteousness.
From that moment forward, he took ranks among the resistance.
Kael's life was now split in two. Come sunrise, he played the knight charged with protecting his king—but come sunset, a revolutionary stirred.
Each and every moment as a member of the resistance was new to him as a noble-born son.
New as it was, it was far from unwelcome. There were many members—many social classes—and he indulged in their stories. What wonderful people they were! What a world this was!
The more he learned, the more he realized how sheltered he was by his years in the castle. And the more he did on behalf of the resistance, the more he discovered what it meant to be a true hero.
The king was not ignorant of what brewed across the masses—far from it. Deeply enraged by these machinations, he vowed to lead his army personally to crush their efforts whole.
They marched, weapons in hand, to where the resistance called home: the land of Count Elnova, Kael's father.
The resistance in turn readied themselves for a brutal affair.
It was the day they had all been been waiting for. At last, the day of reckoning had come! At last, they would claim victory!
Kael stood between two sides that were eager for bloodshed, conflicted all the while. He approached each side, vying for peace, vying for a civil resolution, only for his words to go unheeded.
His actions led to nothing.
It was the last night before the battle.
You've stood at the fork for long enough. Make your choice.
Will you walk with your father and the king as a knight... or will you walk with us?
Therese made him all-too aware that, for all his efforts, he was a true ally to none.
He was a noble who believed in the plights of his people—but still a noble.
Side with the king and his father, and the comrades who expanded his world would die. Side with the resistance, and the family who taught him love would die.
How he despised the part of him that couldn't choose a side.
But what if that was fine? What if he could be different?
Did it have to be one or the other to be "right"?
He could not scrub away his nobility, nor could he neglect the fight to best them.
But surely there was a third path at the fork that only he walk.
With resolve hardened as steel, Kael hurried to the square under daybreak.
Stop! Please—do not attack!
Kael was firmly between the king's army and the resistance, a lone bastion for peace. In one hand, the swordstaff he wielded as a knight; in the other, the black cloth he used to mask himself as one of the resistance.
Both sides were greatly shaken by his actions.
Pray, Your Majesty, stay your sword!
Why do you aid these vile rebels? Do you dare betray your king?
...I do. I admit to fighting as a member of the resistance.
The tomorrow they dream of is the very same as mine.
You are one of them?!
I was raised in a flawless, brilliant world.
But I was blinded by that brilliance. I didn't know that for every day I lived in the light... ...others were forced to live in the dark.
That while I sat content upon my throne of riches, others were coerced into evil just to see tomorrow's sunrise. However much Your Majesty, Father, and even I feign ignorance, it does not change what simply is.
Knowing their cause, would you still treat them as vile? Won't you cherish them rather than spill their blood?
My king, do you think this is justice?
I myself think not. If I must turn my point against you to shield the innocent from harm, then I will do so with pride.
Please... leave this land and its people be.
The king, who for all his years had treated Kael like his own son, could hardly fathom this betrayal.
The conversation ended. The king's will was lost, and he agreed to turn back with his army.
The resistance was overjoyed by this small victory, with great cheers erupting across their lot.
Where would it go from here? None knew—but this day, at least, had come and gone with not one drop of blood shed.
Or so it was on the surface. Kael, for being in league with rebellious forces and abandoning his charge as a knight, now faced execution.
Yet his father's tireless pleas halted this horrible fate—on one condition.
He was to be confined to Elnova Castle's prison for the rest of his days.
The battle, now in an ever-delicate state, could swell into a raging firestorm or be trampled underfoot... ...but his sentence left him none the wiser to either possibility. All he could do within his isolating, four-walled cell was pray that the flames ignited had not yet burned to ash.
What if the resistance failed? What if it failed due to his actions? What horrors awaited them—if said horrors had not already sprung out of hiding and devoured his comrades whole? These worries played in Kael's mind in a terrorizing loop...
There's no time to waste. We need to get out of here.
...until an unexpected face appeared to bid him freedom.
He and Therese spoke for some time after that. Everything had changed. The life he had once known was now the life he once knew. There was only one thing he could do.
I wish to leave this kingdom and learn more about the world... and myself.
For far too long, I've been entranced by the beauty of status. My honor was tethered to the will of the powerful.
But now that beauty is wretched, and I am left with many questions—questions that can only be answered by starting anew. I pray I find what I'm looking for.
It was a beautiful night.
A night for only one to send off a blessed young man.
He had nothing. Not status. Not honor. Not even a destination.
And never had he felt so free.
The road before him was plied with fresh dirt.
Indeed, it was a beautiful night. A night where the stars shone with an exceptional brilliance amidst a glimmering meteor shower.
