The Story of Dhanvanthri

eighteen

An Interlude: Noah Asquith

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Noah Asquith knew that he was forced into perfection with his looks, academic smarts, and even physical abilities. The only thing about him that's pretty much short of perfect was his personality and even then, his acting abilities were above average.

In the Asquith March, Noah had the displeasure of being the oldest out of his five other siblings. Out of the six children in the house, only Noah was the legitimate child while the rest would plot and plan ways to kick him off the title of being Heir. If Noah wasn't so disinterested in his family, he would find their attempts much more hilarious than he was annoyed.

Because the Asquith March needed Noah but Noah didn't.

His life was a monotonous blank slate, a greyscale over his routine and Noah hated it. He wanted something different. He wanted things to change. He wanted to fly so high that he'll get burned by the sun, just like Icarus did, because only then would he be truly free from this monochrome hell.

And so, Noah applied to join the knights without second thoughts. Breaking away from the Asquith March was so easy it made him laugh, no one questioned his right or decision to join the knights, everyone wrote it off as him wanting training. Nobody knew that Noah wanted nothing more than to just taste the battlefields and maybe die because screw the Asquith March.

But then the knights got boring.

It was peace time, after all. Even if their Emperor was glorious and had a past filled with bloodshed, he was like a dying star. Pathetic. Noah watched the man as he wasted away in that castle of his, barely ever doing anything out of routine. He was boring, so boring that Noah considered committing treason just to have a spice of fun in his life.

But then there was a small spark of change. It was a silver of light in this gloomy world, but it was the first splash of colour that he could ever see, so Noah very nearly latched onto it. He paid special attention to the tiny thing that he knew, for a fact, was the princess. She looked tiny, with jewelled blue eyes just as did every other Obelian Royalty.

But she wasn't what he looked for in life, not someone he would follow. If she does end up taking the throne, Noah might just try to leave Obelia. Then again, he probably won't be able to stand the current Emperor for much longer either. Give it a few more years and Noah might just disgrace himself enough to get kick out of Asquith, for fun.

The little princess was like a bird, humming and flapping her wings. Noah observed the changes in the Emperor, he was less cold and softer, not enough to truly see because he was still cruel, but he was still like a dying star. Maybe the death was just slowing down.

But then one day, the Emperor ordered for them to search for the prince. Everyone who was relevant knew the story of the stolen prince, kidnapped so young that they were sure he died. They swore up and down of his death, nobody believed the search would be fruitful.

But it was, and they found him looking down at them even though he grew up surrounded by peasants. Noah was there when the door opened to reveal a pair of jewelled blue eyes. It was the biggest splash of colour in his life, a wave of interest that never ended, flooding into his monochrome world.

"Leave" the prince demanded when they first showed up in the little shack he lived in. He was burning, scorching hot and Noah could feel the caged flame that was locked up inside that body of his. His voice was as cold as winter but the smallest amount of magic that escaped his cage burned so hotly that Noah was scorched.

"Your Highness," The Emperor's private knight, Felix was it? He was the one who objected to the Prince's tone, clearly used to those kinds of cold attitude. It looked similar to the Emperor but Noah could feel it in him, this prince was nothing like that dying star, this was a burning sun that took everything.

"What?" The Prince raised his brows, looking unimpressed. "Does my father finally need me for something or are the knights so incompetent that you needed years to catch me? Or is it both?"

His tone was amazing, the colours never stopped coming. Noah realised this was actually someone he wanted to kneel and bowed, he wanted to pledge his life towards. The self-assured tone, the conceited expressions, the demanding questions, and it was all in one person.

"My apologies, your Highness," Felix bowed. "But it is only recently that we learned of your survival."

Pathetic. A word Noah could hear the prince think without having it said aloud. It was such a resounding thought that Noah was sure even these dimwitted soldiers could hear the unspoken word. The lies Felix sprouted may be believable to any other child but this Prince was anything but normal.

Noah finally found flood of colours in his life, now it's only a matter of making the flood stay so it allowed him to drown in it. How should he get close to the prince? Should he kidnap the prince? No, the prince might just murder him for that. Actually, forget might, the prince would absolutely murder him for it.

Noah was very tempted to do it now, just to see how his murder would be carried out. Luckily for him, or unluckily depending on his mood, an opportunity drops itself onto his lap. It was an evening like any other but the prince arrived with Felix by his side. He stood there judgmentally, staring down every soldier with an ease that no other child should have.

He then mocked and questioned the captain, taking pride in how the captain seems to falter and stutter but still have resounding responses. Then, as Noah expected of him, the Prince looks them in the eye and demands someone to choose him. To choose him as if the Prince hasn't chosen anyone. Has he?

Has Noah caught his interest? Does the prince even know of his existence? Doesn't matter, this wasn't something Noah was willing to stand down from. There was absolutely no way Noah would back down and not take this long awaited chance. And so he stepped forward and made the pledge. In another life, the past or the next, even a parallel one or an alternate one, Noah swore he would never follow someone other than Dhanvanthri de Alger Obelia.

This led to their current situation, his prince was emotionally and mentally torturing information without even lifting a finger, Noah could do nothing but helplessly stare in awe, rendered into nothing but pure starstruck. Dhanvanthri burned like a sun, he was shining and bright, scorching and painful, when he died he would bring the world with him.

Maybe that's why Noah liked him, why the colours only came flooding in when the prince graced his life with his presence, the only reason for Noah's continued survival, the literal purpose of his life. Noah Asquith didn't care about the Emperor, he didn't care about the Asquith March, he didn't care about Obelia. All Noah cared about was this prince who will one day rule, without a doubt.

Maybe, Noah was the Icarus who finally made wings and flew. Will Dhanvanthri burn him up as the sun did with Icarus? Perhaps, but Noah didn't mind, he wanted to burn because that meant he was free. Freedom came when he broke free of his monochrome world. Freedom was by his sun's side.

Noah Asquith knew his place.

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This chapter is also known as 1.3k words of Noah simping for Dhanvanthri LMAO. Hope you enjoyed this interlude, Noah was a much more complex character than I meant him to be tbh, but well thoughts?