Obscure Old Tales

Chapter I: Crown's Blood

The crown glistened as the priestess held it high above.

He could name all the little gemstones encrusted in the first band, the name of the seven kingdoms inside Nevermoore that were meant to symbolize the tips.

"Centuries ago, our kingdom was founded on the noble ideas of prosperity, resourcefulness, and home for all those who seek to find a place for themselves"

Raeb had chosen the outfit himself, a deep royal blue linen three-piece suit, blazer, vest, and pants, tailored to perfection. Underneath he wore a cotton shirt white as marble, and an unconventional bow tie with a ruby brooch. To top it all off he wore a ceremonial hooded cape, a vibrant royal blue color with edges white and insides red, the capelet decorated with raven-black feathers as all orphaned kings did.

He felt a bottomless amount of pain in his chest, anger, sadness, ambition, desire, it all had molted into a single want, a simple need for control. He willed on himself a gaze of dignity. A gaze so practiced, so crafted to the inch of masking each and every part of his emotions.

"... today a child of the crown is to become from heir to regent, upholding those same principles in the name of our founders and the good of the people of our realm."

Breathe in, breathe out. Instead of anxiety, he flashed back to the day he sang in the Royal college, how he felt after a standing ovation and he smirked. He was a great actor, he had to be to survive all those years.

He had gotten angrier, He had become smarter, he held his emotions in a bag to which he would only take a small powdered amount to inspire himself to achieve anything, and it paid off.

Once upon a time, he was a young child in love, with wondrous amounts of magical potential pouring uncontrollably. Today he had backstabbed, fought, gaslighted, and masked everyone to have a hand to claim the throne of his step-father.

"Do you Raeburn Ellyonwhy Venras Nekhros"

The words made him come back to his senses.

"Swear to uphold the name of the House of Venras..."

He thought of his mother, He saw glimpses of her in the kindly priestess of the order of the seven who stood in front of her, her hair gray with few dark streaks and worn face.

"... the house of Greymor..."

He thought of his step-father, his blood boiled silently.

"... and swear to uphold the fate and prosperity of the realm."

He thought of how far he had come, all for the magic, all for the power, all for that pretty little crown, whose gemstones shined as the light glimmered in their surface. Azurite, rubies, sapphires, red zircon... he could name them all.

"To guide our realm and its inhabitants into a brighter future."

He thought of his home back in Halcyon, the sweet Mediterranean air, the day his true father left, the salty water of the ocean, the salty tears he dropped as he was helpless to prevent his destiny. While the pristine blue waves carried his ship off into the distance, to the point the sky met the sea and further beyond.

"And protect the land, from the clutches of any enemy, present, and future"

He thought of his friends, of a vampire, a witch, and the ice empress, a top of the highest city in the world. Of the days he met them, and the days long gone, when he was gullible and young, now there was no sign of that child anymore, not even in his reflection.

He was not going to risk it; he had come too far to fail.

"I do."

He spoke, in a serious monotonous voice, soft-spoken, clear uttered.