Stormbringer: King

P R O L O G U E

"In the kingdom of Argon, a legend will rise..."

・ ・ ・

Twilight descended in a curtain of darkness.

Thunder rumbled in the distance. A streak of lightning illuminated the stars and the moon.

King Bayne Avalon stood silently, observing the two toddlers who played in the center of the nursery. His sons.

One was three years old and green-eyed, with a cheeky smile and a glint of mischief in his bright irises.

The other held a somewhat disapproving frown that shouldn't be on a one-year-old baby's face, blue eyes faint in the light.

Both had the Avalon family's signature raven black hair, streaked with white.

Another bolt of lightning cracked through the air.

Lime dulled, and sky glowed. Like a storm thundering over a forest.

He quickly moved to the curtains and drew them shut, hiding the anger of the night behind them. He waited for a moment, listening to the sounds of nature. There was no thunder, and the winds did not howl.

A sigh, and he turned back to the toddlers, watching them once more.

They tussled on the carpeted floor, rolling, bowling, crawling, and doing whatever babies did to entertain themselves. They let out shrill squeaks of laughter, their small bodies flat on the ground. Bayne never quite understood why they did what they did.

In his opinion, babies were confusing.

The door opened, and in stepped Liss Valentine, his wife and queen. Both children stopped their antics.

"Mommy!" The green-eyed prince grinned and stood up, head held confidently as he marched over to his mother. Bayne felt a small sense of pride, seeing how quickly his son was learning to speak and walk.

"How's my little Xenor?" Liss cooed at her son as she crouched down. Xenor puffed his chest out proudly.

"I ate dinner by myself!" he declared loudly, fist held high in the air, as though he was rallying a crowd together. Liss patted his head affectionately, tousling his already messy hair.

"And how's my little Storm?" The queen smiled at the other child. Storm wobbled unsteadily as he got to his feet.

Bayne went over and helped his younger son to stand, holding on to his chubby arms. Unlike his brother, Storm was still having difficulty learning how to walk straight. And how to speak full, complete sentences.

"Ma... ma?" He frowned, staring up at Bayne, looking puzzled. His small nose was scrunched up, eyes narrowed in concentration as though he was trying to decipher a foreign code.

Two pairs of blue eyes blinked at each other.

"Yes Storm. It's 'mama'," Bayne smiled down at his son, and Storm brightened, looking satisfied.

The one-year old child seemed to have no problem understanding his parents.

And making faces normal babies shouldn't be making.

"Mama!" Storm chirped, and attempted to waddle over to Liss. Bayne let go of his arms, and watched as he wobbled, nearly collapsing.

"Good Storm," Liss laughed. Xenor pouted, and stuck out his tongue at his little brother. He pinched Storm's cheeks and pulled.

Storm burst into tears.

Apparently realising that he had hurt his sibling, Xenor patted Storm's reddening cheeks and tousled his hair in apology, pulling him into a light hug.

Storm quietened down into sniffles.

Bayne was rather surprised by how different his two sons were. Xenor was more intelligent, having the mind of a prodigy. He was also stronger than the average three-year old.

Storm, on the other hand, was obedient. And perhaps a little quiet. Bayne could see he was struggling to learn, as though he was trying to keep up with his brother's fast pace.

He watched his wife play with his children, and stepped back to think.

Both children had their strengths and weaknesses.

According to tradition, as the eldest, Xenor was guaranteed the position of heir. However, he was playful.

And ambitious.

"I'm going to become the king!" Xenor announced at that moment, his hands on his hips. "And I will!"

Not that ambition was a bad thing.

It gave him a goal, and he would do whatever it took to achieve that goal. Maybe he might even kill me for the throne, Bayne mused absently. He quickly shook the unnerving thought out of his head.

Of course not.

Xenor would never stoop to such lowly methods.

Bayne wasn't sure what to do with Storm though. As the younger sibling, Storm didn't receive as much attention as his brother did (it didn't help the fact that Xenor was unbelievably mischievous). He wasn't as prodigious either. In fact, Storm was rather average, in terms of abilities (although he knew it was rather unfair comparing them at such a young age, he had to. He didn't know how long he might live, after all).

Average wasn't bad though.

But the thing which Storm had which Xenor didn't was his good nature. He was well-mannered, and curious, and Bayne liked that.

If two kings were allowed, the both of them working together would make Argon the best kingdom in history. With Xenor's talents, and Storm's personality, who knows how great Argon would become...

Bayne sighed.

Why was he thinking so much over this?

Two kings weren't allowed. Only one.

And that one king, the true heir, would be chosen by the Stormbringer.

However...

He glanced at his sons again. The two were in the middle of what seemed to be a staring contest, with Xenor eyeing his brother through slitted eyelids, and Storm tilting his head, apparently clueless as to what was going on.

Knowing how different they were, Bayne was uncomfortable with the prospect of only one of them becoming the king.

Xenor had the abilities of a powerful king.

Storm had the manners of a kind king.

The two of them would definitely disagree with each other.

He could only imagine how much chaos Argon would have to go through, considering his older son's ambitious dreams, and his younger son's humbleness.

Bayne sighed again.

And this is why I hate rules.