buy the stars » skephalo

01 » ace of hearts

zak pov.
who knew running was this painful?

i had been fleeing from the xapothia guard for what seemed like hours, all the while they followed on my tail, shouting tireless commands at me to stop running.

oh, but i knew damn well turning back would be the end of my minuscule existence. i would be killed as soon as they got their filthy hands on me.

purely out of not wanting to die, i kept running.

and running..

and running...

it felt like my legs would give out any second, and my energy was slowly fading away, causing me to slow down.

"stop! come quietly with your hands up!"

"you'll have to come and get me if you want me that badly, scumbags." i spat in return.

but i suppose this all sounds really sudden, doesn't it?

well, my name is zak ahmed. i'm more of a low life in the xapothia empire. illegal, i should say. well, that's why i'm being chased, isn't it?

you see, hundreds of years ago, the kingdom was cursed with eternal night when the first king discovered magic. i'm not well educated in the history of this stuff, but i know for a fact he did some weird ritual to endure the power of the sun into himself.

without a sun, the world fell to darkness; and with a tyrant as a ruler and everyone being enslaved under the sun king's word, life was basically what you could call hell.

but you see, he didn't want to give up his power. not by a fair challenge for the throne, not by retirement and passing it on to one of his sons, no. he was power thirsty, and he did everything he could to keep his crown.

at one point, one of his sons became exhausted of his persistent torment, and put an end to his father's life. with that, all of the power he ever had, weak as it was, since all star magic feeds off of love, was released into the world, seeping into the hearts of everyone in the xapothia kingdom.

the rich, that was.

the higher ranked in society you were, you got the ability to wield stars, for better or for worse.

i myself, being born into an outcast family, well, i was never born with an ability. i was just...

normal.

i envied those with magic, knowing the only way i would ever get magic was by illegal trade.

for an... exchange.

the demand was different for each person. some people, who use their power for duels, often involve themselves illegally, following through with outcast and lowlife demands, granting them with the ability to also control stars, but for the price of never returning to xapothia.

others? well, they lived their boring lives healing and studying books on the history of stars, instead of actually seeing what it had to offer.

but me? i took risks. i was adventurous. i didn't want to waste my life away on the streets selling books and badly grown produce. i wanted magic.

a flash of scintillating cardinal red light flickered through the leafless trees, accompanied by a deep reverberation that vibrated the ground.

i recognized that sound; that feeling in the ground; that brilliant flash of light. of course, it had to be a contest between two people.

guardsmen were never given magic, but were highly respected, regardless of being mortal beings. however, despite being depicted as fearless, they never had enough courage to approach anybody who was in exile with enough power to kill them in an instant.