Two Sides of the Sword

Bushes growing taller than humans serving as fences, trees branching out like antlers, and a flower garden blooming of sweet and fragrant flowers became the perfect spot for the royal siblings' games. Without any responsibility weighing in on them, they spend most of their time reading storybooks, fighting over childish matters, and playing zealously until someone with full control over them decides to stop them. These events went on and on much to the discomfort of the landscape artists and the garden keepers, and the delight of the maids who found their young princes and princess too adorable.

On this particularly sunny day inside the main manor of the Antheralius family, a toddler strikingly similar to the emperor giggled and hid behind a clay pot huge enough to contain a growing pine tree as his brothers hid inside their maze-like garden. The eldest of them searched the slightly dense trees with a crinkly floor filled with white spots from the rays piercing through the leaves.

"Art? Are you here? Looking for all of you is so tiring." Leo II, the crown prince sighed as he already spent more than an hour looking for his brothers.

Unaware of the other three princes hiding from different locations in the same spot, the golden-haired and blue-eyed prince brushed his fingers through his hair and decided to walk out. He was one of the people with the sharpest senses amongst their family falling after the emperor, his uncle, and Lillia-their mother, but this time the heat of the summer sun got the best of him. He was almost out of their sight when the youngest prince threw a pebble to his older brother hitting his head.

"Huh? Who did that?! What in Deus Siorai's name are you trying to pull this time?!"

The annoyed Leo II marched through the trees bringing his wooden sword toy with them and starting thrusting it to every tree with thick branches that he could reach. He tried to kick the trees in an effort to shake it despite knowing that he still wasn't strong enough to do so. Lian, the "little emperor" smiled as he was entertained with the effort his brother did to find them and the fact that the green irises of his other older brother and his golden hair was so visible up above a tall branch.

Leonardo, the second prince held his laughter up above the branches because of the third prince's stupidity trying to camouflage himself on their bush walls. All the three younger princes were unknowingly spying at each other, but two of them weren't as "dirty" as their youngest. Lian threw another stone towards Leonardo's direction which was in front of him and caused him to fall from a considerable height due to losing his balance.

"Ha! Found you! You thought you'd last long on top of a tree? Even apples fall despite their light weight so what makes you think you wouldn't fall on the ground any moment and be found?"

"Hey, I lost my balance because a hard something hit me and I couldn't hold on to anything!"

"So you weren't the one who threw me this pebble? Lian de Antheralius you lowly and shameless brat get out this instant or I will really smack your head with my sword when I find you!"

Threats wouldn't work on Lian, and even if it was the most frightening of situations that he encountered, he would always muster this courage to face whatever it is head-on. He just remained behind the pots and pine trees until Laurhell was caught by Leonardo within a few minutes. Since he was the last one remaining he planned to escape to the next side of their garden. Hoping his calculated actions would not bother them he faced the wall and started to separate the thin but sturdy branches of the bush. The youngest prince almost got half of his upper torso in before Leo held his ankle and pulled him out.

"Urgh! Let me go! Let me go this instant! I said let go of my ankle!" He squirmed but was silenced when the eldest prince hit him on his head with the pommel of his small wooden sword.

"Ouch! What was that for?! What did I do to deserve that?!" Lian punched Leo's face as he held unto the cloth of his brother's tunic that was on his neck area.

"You threw a stone at me and Leo a while ago and because of that, I fell! You were playing dirty!" The second prince shouted with anger.

"Threw? I did not! Maybe that was Rhell but that was not me! Believe me! I didn't do it!"

"Me? I couldn't even throw pebbles at the river with a force to make them skip so why me?"

"Stop lying Lian, you're caught and there are no more reasons for you to tell unless we have a monkey who hates Art and me enough to throw stones at us."

"Okay! I did it! Are all of you happy now?! Satisfied?! I hate you. I'm going to tell father about how you pulled my ankle and hit me!" Lian ran and found his way out of the maze to find the emperor.

A four-year-old, gifted with beautiful blonde hair and glittering emerald eyes smiled at the sight of the flowers by their pond as she waited for her brothers to come and get her. The purple droopy flowers of thick wooden vines were nowhere else to be found around the continent of Iarthar Dorcha except in the imperial gardens. The queen and even princess Leodora took a liking to the fairy-tale-like vines that covered their enclosed sanctuary serving as natural curtains. She sat on their gazebo quietly playing with her stuffed bears and bunnies and turned to her maid, Anna.

"Nanna, are they here, yet?" Asked the young girl and eyed her maid desperately. She had been waiting for more than two hours, which, for her, felt like half the day. She figured she had been patient enough.

The said maid smiled at her miss and shook her head. "I'm sorry, miss. The masters haven't arrived yet."

Leodora pouted and crossed her hands as she slowly stopped down her chair, completely forgetting the little longer, but as seconds passed, she saw not a single shadow of her brothers. She huffed and slowly went down her chair to turn to her maid. "Nanna," she slurred. "Are they here, yet?"

Anna sighed at her young miss and shook her head.

The young girl paused and smiled brightly. "Nanna!" She said as she grabbed the hem of her maid's dress. "Can you go find my brothers?" Leodora asked and blinked her eyes slowly. "Please?"

The maid, after seeing the young miss' act, gave up all rational thoughts and nodded. Minutes later, as Leodora waited alone, she heard a small snake hiss towards her and screamed with all her might. Hearing the princess scream alarmed all of the servants and the guards around the vicinity and rushed to her rescue seconds after Leodora fainted from the panic and fear she felt.

"Carry the princess back to the manor this instant!" A guard ordered a very surprised and nervous maid who looked like someone was biting her fingernails.

"Sir, I squashed the snake's head! It was big enough to scare her little highness. Snakes don't oftentimes come by our imperial garden since the gardeners do their best to clean this place. This is strange indeed." Another guard spoke as he touched the dead snake with his sword.

"So what are you going to say?" Hands crossed, the stern empress stared with piercing eyes at her sons and slowly tapped her finger on the table as she used her whole arm to support her leaning body.

Leo, the eldest, gathered his courage and stood in front of his mother. "I'm sorry mother," Leo and Lian said at the same time.

Lillia lifted her eyebrow and turned to Lian. "What are you sorry for?" He asked the youngest. The said boy trembled under his mother's intense stare and was about to speak up when Leonardo gulped and fidgets when the Empress turned her gaze at him.

In terms of rearing up the princes, it was the empress who was more fearful rather than the ruler of the entire empire. Just one stare from her was enough to put them in their places. She wasn't a terrible mother who would just scold her children for no reason at all. In fact, Lillia was a caring mother who would never bother with appearances as long as the kids did not do anything disrespectful. Her belief in letting them enjoy their childhood was what young children envied of the princes and what the nobles scoffed at.

"We promise to never do it again." Laurhell swore and lifted his left arm towards his right shoulder and clenched his hand. This was a spoken seal used within the empire, and with his words, the emperor chuckles.

"Dear, dear, leave them be." Leo the first, emperor of Iarthar Dorcha, and the Emperor of Lionidix, said after he laughed and saw the effort of his and Queen Mielle's first child.

Lillia, who was once standing informally stood straight at the mention of such words and turned to her husband. Leo I de Antheralius, the wise emperor of the empire was not that stern on the princes and especially on his only daughter. The older version of Lian contained his laughter after the empress shot him stare like daggers and patted her shoulders with a scared smile.

"Your Majesty, we cannot leave them be! Now is the perfect time to mold them. Who knows what will happen when they grow older?" The empress protested.

"Nobody knows for sure," the emperor answered. "But I do know that they have already learned their lesson." Leo I smiled and fixed his expression as he coughed ad sternly turned to his sons. "Have you learned your lesson?"

The siblings bowed and bent one knee. "We have, your majesty." They chorused and the emperor smiled as they followed his slightly hidden hand signals.

"Is that enough, my dear?" The Emperor asked and the Empress sighed.

"You can go now," the Empress waved their kids off and when they were finally gone, the Empress slumped on her seat and mumbled.

"What did you say, dear?" The emperor asked and turned his mischievous pair of pale, bright eyes towards his wife.

"You always make me look bad." The Empress sighed and crossed her hands again. Seeing this, the emperor broke into a burst of joyous laughter and smiled. "Oh Lillia," the emperor sighed.

In the other kingdom far from the imperial lands, a certain prince in the tender age of three frowns as he peeks through his window blinds and saw his older brother lift a wooden sword and stagger. Tarren's hazel hair fluttered with the winds as he huffed and tried to keep his composure steady. He knew he had brilliance and he also knew, that he had no talent with the sword. No matter how hard he swung his sword, it brought no satisfaction for his father and private mentor. Though his mother, queen Atlantia de Ingris en Raveen took a liking into his mind, his body made no improvement.

Alticasiber was the kingdom in service to the empire's commands longer than every other kingdom. Their men were proud of their swordsmanship as they comprised a third of the whole population of Iarthar Dorcha's king's men. King Reigns was known for his brilliant battle prowess and intellect so everyone was so expectant of their crown prince's gift in handling the sword. Sadly, as years went by they saw and heard of his physical prowess causing them to frown upon Tarren's lack of composure and strength. They knew that strength could be accumulated, but it was too late. He had to be the best.

"Tarren," Ezikiel called. "Is that the best that you can do?" He asked condemningly. He had the freedom to talk to the prince in any way that he wants as long as it was approved by the king. Reigns had said that it would be part of the training.

Tarren turned to Ezikiel and frowned. "Can we please go back to training?" He asked and assumed his position, waiting for Ezikiel to attack again. The mentor only scoffed and picked up his sword. "Do you want me to use a wooden sword," Ezikiel smirked, "prince?"

"Do as you see which would be befitting General. I am under your guidance from now on." The ebony-haired prince bowed in respect to the strongest general in the empire.

"Dear, can you please tell the general to treat Tarren with the utmost care? My poor baby just recovered from his fever few days ago. I don't want him to get sick again from his sword practices."

"He needs that Tia, I hope you understand."

"But please, don't be too hard on our child."

Inside the manor facing their private training grounds, the queen pursed her lips and clenched one of her hands covering her lips in the process. She looked out of the window to see a smirking general belittling the efforts of a now sweaty and panting crown prince. Reigns left the room and supervised Tarren from inside the training circle.

"You need to strengthen your legs! You're too sloppy!" The general hit the prince's calf then let his sword sweep through Tarren's feet causing him to fall on the dusty and dirty ground.

"Yes, I will do my best. Can you do it again master? I will try to evade it this time for sure."

"Tarren you must always be mindful of any possible attacks, openings, and you must also learn to guard yourself." The king coldly stated having a blank expression on his face.

The young prince behind the shutters of his windows glared hatefully at the general and stormed to his mother's door and turned to the maids assigned outside her quarters to get his mother and pouted at the wall. Atlantia then went to the younger prince's direction.

"I hate how that E-zi-kel treats brother! He's too disrespectful mother."

"I know darling, I know. Your brother fell earlier, did you witness it?" She kissed Khai's gingery hair and hugged him.

"Mother I want to beat him. Can I join Tarren? I want to hit the general with my sword. I know I'm still small but I want to hit him."

"Now, now darling, please don't talk like that. Come inside I'll ask the maids to make your hot chocolate and we'll make one for Tarren later too? Would that be fine?"

"Okay."

He hated how "E-zi-kel" treated his brother. He hated the mean words. He hated the taunts. He hated everything about him, and so, he decided, to find a solution. Upon entering his mother's study and looking around the training camp he smiled with what he saw. His mother may not allow him to enter yet, but that little chance on revenge he thought of was more than enough for him to avenge the disrespect his older brother went through.