Nothing But Requiem

Chapter Five: [Don Nicolas] #1

There are two schools of thought on how people become evil. While there are those out there who would say that some people are just born that way, others argue that it is due to a person's circumstances and environment.

Don Nicolas was the latter.

He was born in a small village in a cold land, far from the commercial city of Vinea. His parents were strict, especially his father, who served as a village official and was respected throughout the village for his sincerity. Growing up in a strict but loving home, Don Nicolas was a boy who laughed a lot.

As a child, Don Nicolas was nicknamed "Nico" by his friends. He was always smiling and laughing. A caring, gentle boy—that was everyone's perception of Don Nicolas. His family didn't have much, but they were happy.

Until that day came to pass.

Oneday when winter was approaching, an official of the royal capital came to visit the village. The official was his father's superior officer, and he asked for a bribe at the reception like it was simply a matter of course. In the cold villages of the continent, it was customary to bribe officials who came from the royal capital to inspect the site in order to receive favors in the form of taxes or military service. 

Don Nicolas's father, however, was honest and loyal to his ideals and denied the request outright. Even if he were to oblige such a request, there was no way they could prepare enough money to satisfy the official's demands, especially not right before the village was about to endure another harsh winter. When the official returned to the royal city, Don Nicolas's father gave a speech in the royal palace against such blatant exploitation and oppression of the people.

In the blink of an eye, troops came from the royal city and arrested him under the false accusation of treason. They judged and hanged him without trial. The body was not buried, but left hanging as an example. Every day, against the restraint of his mother and the villagers, Don Nicolas watched his father's corpse rotting and being pecked apart by birds. Before long, no one was calling out to Don Nicolas, who looked eerily at his father's remains with a smile on his face.

Life since then became miserable.

His mother, having lost her husband in a cold village, had to work herself for them to survive. By day, she engaged in farming and cattle breeding. At night she worked as a prostitute. 

Young Don Nicolas also went to work as a servant. With a thinly veiled grin, Don Nicolas endured heavy lifting, day after day after day.

However, all this effort was in vain, and by the time several seasons had passed, Don Nicolas's mother's body was ridden with disease. When she realized that her final days were at hand, she called Don Nicolas to her bedside.

With a trembling hand, she stroked his head and took out a small jewelry box. "This is...all the money we have now," Don Nicolas's mother whispered weakly as she presented the box to him. "Nico... With this, you can leave this village and live as you please."

She had been saving every spare cent they had made in order to create a nest egg for him to use when her time came. Knowing her death was inevitable working like this, if nothing else she wanted for her beloved son to be able to leave the village and live freely. It was her final wish as a mother. 

"Nico... Take all that life has to offer. Anything you want, everything..." 

Those were her last words before she succumbed to the dust, having tasted the bitterness of life.

Don Nicolas looked down at his mother, who had become motionless. Her remains were reduced to only skin and bones. There was no trace of his mother remaining. Eventually, he picked up the jewelry box and looked inside. There was nothing of particular significance in it. If this was everything that Don Nicolas and his mother had earned, there was no way he was going to leave this village. A few coins, some counterfeit pendants...and among them, Don Nicolas found a pair of jade skull earrings.

He didn't know how his mother came to get these earrings, but Don Nicolas was strongly attracted to them. As he picked them up, the earrings spoke to Don Nicolas. But they weren't speaking to him with words. The skull earrings spoke directly to the depths of Don Nicolas's heart.

What kind of thing was it? How should he handle it? The skull earrings taught him what to offer in exchange for power. In Don Nicolas's hand was something called a piece of the world. The pieces of the world were special among the magical armaments, inevitably appearing to those who craved something to give them the power they needed to obtain what they desired. They were also known as "Jade Skulls" due to their signature decorative aspect.

Don Nicolas clutched the Jade Skull earrings as he calculated his next move. They shone brilliantly in his hand. In the next moment, a glowing magic circle unfolded and enveloped Don Nicolas's body. The light took the shape of a helmet and armor that covered him; in his hand was a double-edged axe from which flames blazed.

The Magic Armor, "Aegis."

The Magic Axe, "Labrys."

The abilities of these pieces of the world symbolized the greed Don Nicolas had acquired. The magic armor "Aegis" could swallow any attack; the magic axe "Labrys" could envelop the enemy in the flames of the Red Lotus.

A sense of euphoria took hold of Don Nicolas. One that he had long since forgotten. He stepped outside and gazed silently at the house where he had spent the last few hellish months of his life. The house in which his mother spent her last pitiful moments. He flashed Labrys towards it. Suddenly, flames rose up and consumed the tattered old shack in the blink of an eye.

Don Nicolas's eyes lit up at seeing his childhood home in flames. His face split into an evil grin. After a while, the villagers came out to see what had happened.

"Put it out! What happened to your mother?!"

"Nico! Arson is a serious crime!"

There was a flurry of angry shouts and Don Nicolas was grabbed tightly by the shoulders.

Don Nicolas turned around and looked at the villagers curiously. These were the very same people who abandoned his father and let him meet his doom. The ones who bought and sold his mother's body for their own gain. The villagers uniformly glared at him with hostility in their eyes.

Suddenly, Don Nicolas burst out laughing. Everything about it seemed so funny now, he couldn't help it.

My father and mother were both enslaved and died in this place...

Don Nicolas raised his magic axe to burn this wretched village to the ground—along with the memories of his parents.