Crown

Naejot Se Uēpa Tegun-To The Ancient Land

The group that was tasked to travel to Aruma An consisted of Sora, Avarice, Sin and Tekina. Sin was only going to keep an eye on Avarice and Tekina took the opportunity to go because she would never forgive herself if she passed up the chance to gather information on such an ancient land. Nikiro also decided to tag along because it gave him an excuse to surprise his boyfriend, who to everyone's surprise was, in fact, living in Aruma An. Everyone was currently preparing for the journey. Avarice decided to wait for them out in the courtyard. As he sat there, he contemplated the events that took place beforehand.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•

One Hour Ago

After Tobi had entered the room and spoke to Illya, Sin and Ea had brought Avarice in. He would be lying if he said he didn't feel a twinge of guilt, seeing that he had tried to help the enemy kill his pregnant mother. However, in the moment, he was more angry that he didn't even know she was pregnant. When he told her about that, she didn't even have the energy to be angry. She responded by stating that if he had been home more often and perhaps actually cared about what went on in the family instead of colluding with the enemy because he was upset he never got his way, then maybe he would have known.

He hung his head in shame. When he went silent, Illya told everyone else to leave. Seimei took the baby and left with the others, Sin and Ea left more apprehensively but were pulled along by Sora. When they all left, Avarice let himself go. He couldn't stop himself from shedding the few tears that threatened to fall. Illya ushered him closer and he dejectedly sat down next to her. She pulled him in for a hug, something that seemed to be the only kind of family bonding that had happened between them within the past eight years. She knew he was just a kid and she knew that she was partly responsible for not being able to raise him like she raised the others.

Yes, she was a Queen, but first and foremost she was a mother. She never believed herself to be a good mother. In fact, when she was pregnant with the triplets, she knew that she was the last person that would be capable of raising kids. So she couldn't help but feel guilty for her son's rebellion, even though she had yet to hear the reasoning. She let go for a moment to ask Avarice why he chose to do what he did. His response shook her to the core.

He confessed that when he was young, he began to feel invisible. Like the entire palace life had swallowed him whole. Illya was very busy with her duties as Queen, his brothers were much older and beginning to make a name for themselves and while he was close with his sister, she had a whole different set of ambitions and goals that only brought her further away from him. He always felt like the black sheep of the family. Even his father was away conducting business in his home country a lot, he felt like no one cared what he did or where he was. So he began to take frequent trips outside of Solaria but never straying too far from the borders.

Once, he found a strange man in one of his favourite spots. The man told him that if he could beat him in a duel, then he'd give Avarice his spot back, but if he lost then Avarice would have to find somewhere else.  During the duel, the man transformed into a beast and let out a shriek that momentarily stunned him. Avarice confessed that the man was non other than King Sana. He said that when the duel was over, even though Sana had won, Sana had told Avarice that he showed great promise in battle.

It was the first time ever that Avarice felt his self worth spike. In the days to come, Sana became somewhat of a mentor to him. He taught Avarice horseback riding and sports. Avarice didn't even think twice when Sana wouldn't let him practice archery, the one thing his mother had taught him. What's more, Sana has no heir, so Avarice really did see him as a father figure, as he was treated like a son. Sana even taught him various political values which pushed him in a way that made him feel like his way of thinking was correct and whenever his mother made decisions, he could only see them as wrong. Whenever she chose to make peace instead of war, he never understood why he believed that sacrifice was needed to create a world of true peace. His values and way of thinking had become much like Sana in that respect.

Then came the day of the battle. Avarice was told to allow the Sindarian troops into Solaria and lead them to confront Illya. Then Avarice would try to convince Illya to join forces with Sindaria, giving her little room to refuse. Avarice saw it as an opportunity to finally make his mother see his side of things. By the time he reached the base of the mountain, Illya had already passed out, but of course, he had no knowledge of what had happened to her. As he confronted his brothers and Astrid, he was surprised to see Sana floating directly above them.

He smiled up at the King, thinking that things were moving along the way they had planned. The smile on his face slowly turned into a look of horror as Sana called forth a shower of lightning. Each bolt struck one of his soldiers, killing them instantly. Sin immediately pulled Avarice off of his horse and shielded him. When it was over Avarice stood in shock as he looked at the carnage around him. He was appalled that the man who had seemed so kind to him and treated him as a son for so long would just slaughter his own people like that. Sana drifted downwards to speak to everyone.

His words etched themselves deep into Avarice's memory. Sana looked down at him with a cold, unfamiliar expression. His voice resonated among the stillness of the corpses. Avarice called out to Sana but was met with an even colder stare. Sana opened his mouth to speak again, this time his words completely shattered Avarice's heart. The young prince could feel his heart sink into his stomach as his throat closed up and tears blurred his vision. Sana turned his nose up at Avarice and thanked him.

"If it weren't for you I might have been at a disadvantage. I'm glad I seemed to have made the right decision in choosing you."

That's when it hit him. He was used. Sana's mentoring was filled with nothing more than empty promises and selfish deceit. But as much as Sana pushed this narrative of betrayal, Avarice could tell that there was something more, Sana looked pale and weak for some reason and he couldn't figure out why. His eyes were glassed over, like he was fighting something else entirely. He didn't have enough time to get the answers he wanted though because as fast as Sana had come, Li appeared to whisk him away before Avarice could figure out what was wrong with him.

 When Avarice finished telling his side of the story, Illya felt herself getting angry again. All she could think of was when Avarice told her that he had dueled with Sana. She recognized the description Avarice gave her of his attack, as the same one he had used on her sister back in the Haan Empire. The one that turned her into an unknowing and unwilling spy.

She knew that when they had discussed their game plan in detail the day before, Avarice would not have had the time or the opportunity to sneak away to tell Sana. So she concluded that he used her own son's want for belonging to turn him into a tool for himself and that was how he must have known about who would be where and what they'd be defending. She sighed a heavy sigh and rubbed Avarice's back. She knew he was regretting his decision, but it was still treason. She still had to punish him.

As she contemplated her options an idea popped into her head. If he could redeem himself, if he could show everyone that he really was genuinely sorry, then perhaps she wouldn't have to punish him as severely.  So that's how he found himself on the team headed for Aruma An. He was pulled out of his thoughts by Sora putting a hand on hid shoulder.

"Time to go Avarice."

Avarice nodded and got up to follow the others. As he was walking away, something compelled him to stop and glance over his shoulder. From a balcony in the castle, he could see his mother holding his new sister, Seimei close behind her to make sure they were okay. She didn't say anything. She simply waved. He responded with his own chaste wave before running along behind the group as they set off for the rifts.