Touch the Sky (Hyunjin X Felix X San X Juyeon)

|First Act - Lead Me Out Into the Light|

"No! I don't want to!"

"Felix—!"

"You can't make me!!!"

Being the Prince of a very small, rather insignificant kingdom usually had its perks. Felix didn't have to get involved in any sort of political nonsense, and his duties were rather minimal, both in number and in importance.

Despite being the future King of Helios, Felix lived a rather simple life. He went to a normal school with peasant and noble children alike, enjoyed archery and horseback riding in his free time, and spent most of his nights stargazing on the roof of the small castle he lived in. He was taught to care for others, to be kind to all. He was taught to be responsible, but also to speak his mind and to think for himself. He was taught to appreciate life humbly, despite his status, and to think of his people before himself.

But today... today, Felix couldn't bring himself to follow that last lesson.

"Enough, child!" snapped his father, the King. "Don't you understand? This is the chance for Helios to finally gain importance, and influence! To finally be implicated in the matters of the continent! You have been gifted with the opportunity to make our kingdom reach an even greater potential, for our culture to be finally acknowledged! And yet, you're saying that you don't want it? What nonsense!"

"What does importance and influence matter? What does renown and acknowledgement from nations who've been ignoring and dismissing us for years matter?" snapped back Felix, gritting his teeth. "Why would care for the opinions of people other than our own? Why would you desire more, when what we have is already more than enough?"

"We've truly spoiled you rotten," scoffed the King.

"You haven't raised me to become the prey of greed, father. Helios is quite capable of functioning on its own, so why seek the support of the others?"

"Because you were chosen, Felix," answered softly his mother, the Queen. "For the first time in over five centuries, someone from Helios was chosen to become the ruler of Quatre—"

"Yeah, I heard you the first ten times—"

"—which means Helios is now a target."

A heavy silence blanketed the room, and Felix tensed up.

"What's that supposed to mean? What kind of target?"

"Every time a Ruler passes away, a ritual to find the next Heir takes place. In the last few centuries, the Heir was always found amongst one of our three neighboring nations: the Miroh Empire, the Kingdom of Bloom, or the Aurora Archipelago. This usually leads to conflict between the three, as the new Ruler will obviously favor their original nation despite ruling over the entirety of Quatre," explained the King, sounding a little tired.

"Yes, I'm aware of all of this," huffed Felix, crossing his arms over his chest. "I have attended most of my history lessons for the past few years. What of it? Helios has never been implicated in those conflicts before. We have no quarrels or disagreements with any of the others, so why start now?"

"Because of you. Because you were chosen as the new Heir, the future Ruler of Quatre, and you are not from one of the three bigger nations," answered the Queen, her tone becoming a little sharper. "You are of Helios, which means our kingdom will be dragged into this eternal cycle of conflicts and wars whether we want it or not."

"We are a small kingdom, Felix. We have little to no say in matters of the High Court, we have no existing alliance with any of the other nations, and our pacifist ways means we are completely unprepared to counter a full-out invasion, should it come to it."