Fire Temple
He breathed in and out before continuing. "I was a terrible person; I admit that. I treated Svorn terribly when I was younger – I used to beat him, scorn him, use him as a test dummy for my abilities, do things to get him in trouble, ignore his existence unless it suited me and many other terrible things. All because our parents favoured me for my abilities. I was their pet. I was also first in line to be the next Fire Lord, but then I fell in love. I fell in love with your mother and in Fire, an heir couldn't marry someone like your mother. You see, we basically get paired with the most powerful Fire inhabitant we can be, of which are practically all from high royal families. I could have lovers on the side, but I didn't want that. I wanted to marry your mother so much, I could barely contain it.
"At first Eliza hated me. She turned me away so many times, but eventually we had enough time together that we started to truly get to know one another, and I changed. Not just because of her, but because I was maturing. I started to see what was truly going on around me, the horror of reality. And that changes a person. I was also sent away at this time to kill a vicious dragon beast in the North. The experience I gained from this killing was so horrendous that I started to go crazy. I don't remember much of what happened around this time, but I'm pretty sure I killed my parents in my daze. After I had come back from my insanity, it was only then that the facts became truly clear to me.
"Svorn and I were both elated and terrified at the death of our parents. Elated because the horrific king and queen of death and torture were gone, but terrified at what would happen next. Svorn and I had both never wanted the throne, we hated the council, we wanted to destroy it all. But we couldn't. It was impossible. Without a ruler, Fire would fall into chaos, and as the next in line, the title of the Fire Lord fell to me.
"But, like I said before, I didn't want it, I couldn't stand the thought of it, I couldn't stand the control the Fire Council were to have over me. I couldn't stand being forced into a marriage I had never desired and... well, the one the council were to stick me with, was probably going to end in my downfall, death or loss of control over my decisions. So, I fled. I grabbed Eliza and ran.
"A few months passed, and I heard that the council was considering Svorn for the next ruler. I married your mother and we had you, Rav. About a year, and Svorn was about to be forced onto the throne. He'd always hated the throne more than me, he'd despised it and everything it stood for, so I thought I'd come back to say one last farewell to Svorn and then leave for Ice. I remembered my brother had a potion that could allow one to live in Ice, and we needed a safe place to raise a family – a place where we could raise children without constantly being in fear of our lives, on the run. So, I decided to steal the potion.
"Although it was a stupid mistake and a terrible thing to do, I'd do it a million times over for you." His gaze flew over his children as he reminisced his choices, his memories. "I came back to Svorn, to this wretched home, I met with Svorn (you know, I think I may have actually seen a smile on his face I came back – the first smile I had ever received from him), I stole the potion and I think we had some sort of fight... It was all a blur. Anyway, I escaped to Ice, had you two," – he referred to Ebb and Alec – "used the potion on all of us, placed the potion where no-one could find it and, until now, never returned to Fire."
He clasped his hands and looked down, slightly... embarrassed? "Any more questions?"
As Alec and Ebb stood there in stunned silence, Rav came forward and opened his mouth, questions on the tip of his tongue. But fire erupted behind his father in huge waves, cutting him off. He paused.
'Ask him where he placed the potion.' The fire wrote, its letters wavering with a mixture of agitation and excitement.
Rav raised an eyebrow, slightly confused, but turned to his father and did what the wall had ordered. "Hey dad, where did you put the potion?"
YOU ARE READING
Frozen Flame
Fantasy[Finished and being edited] Once captured by a distraught king, a fierce warrior is forced to choose between saving his family or his country. But choices are never that simple. ...
