Stick War: Inamorta and beyond

Chapter 56: Old Memories

21st April, 10.26pm

Third Person POV

Ace stood face to face with his father, who has tears in his eyes. Remembering the death of his wife almost made him to ball his eyes out. But he held back due to the presence of his son.

Arthur remembered blood dripping from clubs, bodies dropping onto the floor and the death of his wife.

"It all started about five years after the Second Great War." Arthur said.

"It was when the previous king of the Order Empire has just passed due to old age. A grand funeral was held in the Order Empire that lasted for a week. At that time the king had no children to inherit the throne and thus the Empire fell into turmoil in deciding who shall lead as the King.

After two weeks of bickering among the council, it was decided that I, at the time, the strongest General of the Imperial Army Of The Order Empire was selected to be the next king. At first I refused the offer as I was the leader of the Military but due to the pressure from the council, I was forced to take that role.

I became King and proposed to Abigail, my previous teammate when I was in the Military. Two years later, Abigail gave birth to Mordred.

As a child, Mordred was highly intelligent. He was very mature for his age and at the age of 6, his sword skills was on par with a soldier. He was truly a prodigy. He was able to make decisive decisions and think like an adult at a young age. He was Abigail's and mine's pride and joy.

And five years after Mordred was born, you were born. My second son, Ace. Mordred was thrilled to have a younger sibling. He loved you just as much as us. But at the age of ten, Mordred entered the Military. He excelled in everything, from hand to hand combat to planning strategies. He also had less time to come home. I remembered you always pestering him to train you but he would always ruffle your hair and apologise.

Mordred completed missions after missions till he reached the rank of Captain at the age of 15. He was truly a prodigy. But it was also during that age when it happened.

You see Ace, a year before you were born, a massive magical explosion occurred in the village of Norfolk, which is near the border between the Archidons and the Order Empire. The explosion destroyed the entire village. A rescue operation was launched a day after but we found no survivors. The entire village was razed to the ground, leaving no one alive. The source of the explosion was unknown but we managed to find remnants of what it seemed to be a huge magic circle that surrounded the village.

Suspicion fell on a religious group called the 'Faith of Equality' which for many years performed many rituals to please their god. It was speculated that the group performed a ritual and destroyed the entire village . At first we negotiated but tensions rose till a point where it could escalate into a civil war. With no other choice, the Empire raided their bases and gather as much information as possible to accuse them of conspiracy against the Empire. 

The religious group was forcefully disbanded by the Empire but they continued to be active underground. Then years passed till Mordred turned 15 while you turned 10. Then it happened.

During that year, tensions rose again and a coup d'etat was imminent. The group has been growing numbers and wanted revenge. At the time the Empire was becoming weak in our economy and military. Even if we did win the imminent civil war, other nations may invade after that. It was a tough spot for the Empire.

As Abigail had a mind manipulation ability, she convinced me to send her to the town of Pella, where the rebels were spotted so that she could manipulate the rebels' minds and buy the Empire some time. So, I sent her along with 20 of my elite soldiers to the town of Pella but it turned out to be a trap. The entire town had revolted and killed all of the guards and kidnapped Abigail.

When the news were reported to me, I ordered the council of executives to discuss the possible solutions for this. And among the executives, Mordred was one of them. The meeting was top secret as we do not want to publicly announce the coup d'etat. Only a few members of the government knew of this. The council goes back and forth about having a force to defeat the rebels but it was too risky, even if we did win the war, we would be at the mercy of other countries that would threaten to invade us.

So the decision was made, we cannot send a force to wipe out the rebels, instead we will send in a small group of elite assassins to kill every single person in Pella to make it seem that raiders had did it. In the group was Mordred, four elite assassins and I. 

I, the king of the Order Empire volunteered myself to kill the rebels and to rescue my wife.

The town was rather small, with an approximate 200 people living. We went in at night with a full moon. It was a very difficult mission but nevertheless, we did it. We massacred the entire town of Pella but things didn't go as planned. Our mission was about to be completed, we only had one more house to clear, the house where Abigail was kept. Our first priority was to rescue her but we do not know which house she is kept in, so it ended up being the last house we search.

We gingerly entered the house through a window and sneaked our way into a room."

"And that's all I could remember. The next thing I remember was seeing Abigail dead in Mordred's arms and he was crying at the top of his lungs." Arthur finished with tears in his eyes.

Ace was stunned, he didn't know that sort of thing happened. 

"Wh-What?! Come on! There should be more that you can remember! Father!" Ace shouted.

"I'm sorry Ace, but Abigail, your mother wiped out the rest of my memories of that night." Arthur sobbed. "Even with medicine on memory lost, I still couldn't remember."

"Ace, I'm sorry that I have lied to you for so long. I have failed as a father. Maybe if I have settled things in an other way, things wouldn't have end up this way. If only I didn't send Abigail to that town that she wouldn't have died and you and your brother would have a more happy childhood" 

Arthur walked towards Ace and hugged him tightly with tears falling from his eyes like a waterfall.

Ace stood there speechless, he just didn't know how to feel when his father hugged him. He hadn't felt like this in forever.

Anger? Confusion? Betrayed? Sad? 

He didn't know how he felt, but tears start to fall from his eyes and he hugged back. 

"It wasn't your fault dad." Ace sobbed.

Arthur widened his eyes in surprise. Ace haven't called him that since the death of Abigail.

"Dad, it's alright. There is no need for you to carry on that burden on your shoulders anymore. This time I will carry your burden and I will find the truth of mum's death and brother's betrayal." Ace said. 

He then released the hug and went to the window where he came from.

"I'm going to Mount Tempest, where I can get the power to defeat brother. Trust me, I will beat the truth out of his mouth." Ace said as he clenched his fist. "Bye dad." 

He jumped out of the window and disappeared into the night.

Arthur smiled as he saw his son jumped out. "He really has grown up now. Abigail will be so proud of him."

Author's Note

SO SORRY OF THE LATE UPDATE. 

I had a bit of writer's block and kept rewriting this chapter for five times till it met my expectations. I will be updating soon again.