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2. For the forgotten ones

It happened close to his tenth birthday.
An atmosphere of tranquility had engulfed the palace. No festivals, fewer visitors and cooler weather than most of the year.
The former crown prince was watching the birds outside the window as his maids tidied the room.
He had received a letter from his aunt a few days ago, the only one outside the palace that occasionally contacted him.
His memories of her were blurry, but she was the only one in his vicinity that never changed her attitude towards him. She was not overly friendly, but pitied her nephew for his fate.
Her relationship with the royal couple was strained ever since the day the twins were born and her brother abandoned his first born son. Duchess Nathalia agreed that he would not be able to inherit the throne as long as he did not receive a blessing, but she disapproved of his abandonment, he was still of royal blood after all.
Her husband had died two years ago and since then she had not visited the palace. While raising her late husbands nephew to inherit the title she send him her first letter. She had asked him straight out on how long he planned on staying in the palace and that she wished to take him in whenever he was ready to abandon his current life.
The emperor and empress would obviously not agree to this plan and since he did not mind his peaceful and quiet life he declined her invitation.

All this had happened around a year ago and despite his refusal his aunt kept writing him. She wasn't very regular but she remembered to send a letter at least once every two or three months. Her own affairs kept her quite busy.
But this time the content of the letter had differed from usual. It had been a warning.
She obviously hadn't bothered to inform his parents since threats of this kind directed at members of the royal family were nothing new but something felt off. It was not a threat directed at royalty, but specifically at the first prince.
This was not surprising either since many people had started calling him the cursed prince after his siblings awakening but still. All of this was too clean,... too open.
He had read the letter several times and did not quite know what to make of it. He was far too inexperienced to decide what to do, after all, despite the circumstances that had forced him to mature much faster than others he was still nothing but a boy.
But he too had felt the changes in the air, mainly small things, but put together......
So he had decided to risk approaching his parents but had been immediately turned down.
He banned the hovering thought of his mind and moved his attention back to the book on his lap.

Meanwhile, other parties tried to approach the emperor and his wife which were currently spending time with the twins and refused to accept any visitors before the hour was full.
Especially one person was worried about the delay. Tisann, captain of the royal guards, had been informed that the barrier on the east side of the palace had been breached by an unknown force.
According to the report the incident must have taken place before the sun had set on the previous day and had only been discovered now. That alone was reason to worry. The problem should have been noticed sooner. Whoever it had been had proven to be exceptionally skilled.
He had contemplated if he should reinforce not only the immediate surroundings of the area, but the abandoned palace as well, which was closest to the affected area. But as long as there was no imminent danger he could not freely act when a member of the royal family was directly involved. That was why he had to discuss any further steps with either empress Selestin or the emperor himself. He had nothing else to do but wait until then.

Emperor Rhisane and his wife on the other hand enjoyed their time with their youngest. He showed them different ways to slowly control their powers and listened to their stories. Time passed faster when spend with loved ones and seemingly in a blink of an eye the sun started to set. After the twins insisted on spending the night with their parents so both decided to let all official matters rest until the next day.
Following this the emperor informed his attendance of their decision and sent any visitors that might have remained back.
When the captain received this message he contemplated if it was worth the risk to insist on a meeting but decided against it. It had been at least a day since the barrier had been partially compromised and nothing had happened. Guards were patrolling the area at all times and everyone would be especially alert tonight. What could possibly happen?

The happy family was just taking breakfast when a guard unceremoniously intruded into their peaceful gathering.
Empress Selestin was very displeased about this disturbance and was just about to throw him out when her husband stopped her and inquired about the reason for this rather rude entrance.
The guard hurriedly informed the royal couple, repeatedly interrupting himself to apologize for his inappropriate behaviour, that the first prince, Fharan Estariel Racthan, had without a trace vanished from the premises of the imperial palace.

The only reason anyone realized the first prince of the empire had disappeared was that he did not appear to attend his morning classes with his teacher.
His father had granted him three hours a week after his sister had once again pointed out that it was outrages to deny any human being the right to learn, especially a member of the royal family. Even commoners were able to attend school at least once in their life, even if only for two years.
But no one could tell exactly when the prince went missing. Just one thing was for sure, no one had seen him since yesterday's tea time.

The twins stared at their mother, confused, while she in turn speechlessly observed the guard that had just spoken this seemingly unrealistic words.
What shocked her more than anything was the fact that she had for a moment, just for a split second, not been able to recognize her firstborn's name.