44. A Father, A Son

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The Grand Banquet Hall had fallen silent.

A dark army had invaded the hall, and a wave of frightened gasps filled the air as they lifted their hoods.

"Goblins!" Someone exclaimed.

More than half of the invaders were goblins, and as goblins were fast, possessed immense physical strength, and were partly immune to magic, they would wreak havoc in a hall full of poisoned mages!

Vitav strode into the hall, flanked by four dark mages, and their auras pulsed with malevolence. From their aura, Taze could tell these four were no joke, and their powers might even surpass a Grand Mage.

Dark Grand Mages were simply called Dark Grands, and the mere presence of this four had made the floating light orbs disappear.

The hall was now cast into semi-darkness, with only the wall lanterns lighting the space.

Vitav himself looked paler than usual, with artistic dark lining around his eyes. His fair blond hair was slicked down to his shoulders, and he was dressed in an elegant all-black dress suit, topped by a black and silver fur coat.

His lips were almost red against his pale skin, and they bent into a smile as his eyes sought out Taze.

"Hello Brother." Vitav greeted, his blue eyes gleaming with unholy power. "Nice... banquet you've got going here. How could you leave out your only brother?"

Taze managed a smirk of his own. "I DID in fact send an invitation. It must have been lost in the mail. Pity." He subconsciously stepped in front of Celia.

Vitav's brows drew into an annoyed scowl. "Glib." He cocked his head. "I'd like to continue our delightful catch-up, but I lack the time to spat." His voice dripped with venom as he turned to his father, the King.

"The Sceptre of Alaus... Hand it over."

The council Members exchanged surprised looks.

"Oh? How did you know about the Sceptre of Alaus?" Grand Mage Patiel asked.

"Only the council members and those present at that meeting should know about it." Grand Mage Pariel finished.

"Surprised?" Vitav smirked. "You're not worth telling." He unleashed his own aura, and an unbelievable force spread across the hall, chilling even a few mages. "Hand over the sceptre, if you want to live."

'How powerful is Vitav?!' Taze wondered.

They hadn't heard anything about him in years...

The Grand Mages quickly stepped forward, blocking Vitav's path.

"Prince Vitav, don't make yourself even more of an enemy!" Grand Mage Sidian said. "Th- There's no such thing as the Sceptre of Alaus! Surrender, and your father, the King, might have mercy!"

Vitav scoffed. "Why bother lying? Isn't the Sceptre lying beneath this Palace? Pun intended."

He spread his hands in a wide gesture.

"Look around you. Those poisoned are the pillars of Luxia, and this poison can only be cured by me. So tell me father..." He turned to King Vien. "Would you watch them all die? Just to cling to the sceptre's power?"

Taze's eyes swept round the hall, confirming that the poisoned were indeed prominent figures.

Every official he could see lay unconscious or wheezing, and the poisoned Mages he could identify were Magic Council members, or Battalion Leaders of the Combat Mages.

This included Lord Scarlett, who was doing his best to remain upright, even though his skin had taken on a greyish tinge.

The deaths of these people would shake Luxia, leaving them vulnerable to enemies.

Only the Grand Mages hadn't been poisoned, most likely because they would have sensed something was wrong and would have alerted everyone else.

King Vien shut his eyes in disappointment.

"I was not fond of you, but you were my son, and you received everything on the same level as the legitimate heir.

"Yet you still turned out evil."

"Hmph!" Vitav coldly scoffed. "Am I really your son? You acted like I was nothing more than my mother's sin, and you never acknowledged my accomplishments... No, I never even received the slightest nod of approval.

"You barely even glanced my way... I'm your first born, yet I had to watch my junior named Crown Prince!" His words had steadily risen. "And you say I'm your... son? Isn't that a joke?!"

Far from guilt, King Vien was livid. "You errant, evil seedling..." He spoke with barely suppressed rage. "Did you say I never glanced your way? Far from it. I glanced your way a little too much! I simply didn't like what I saw..."

He gestured to Grand Mage Sidian, who held out a hand. A large pictorial orb appeared, roughly the size of the one at the Aedian war tent, but this one was showing a baby with fair blond hair and startling blue eyes.

"In addition to His Majesty's Memories, we went around asking for memories, so we could compile this." Grand Mage Sidian explained.

After Vitav ran from the palace, King Vien had given all his memories of Vitav to Grand Mage Sidian, and had instructed him to collect the memories of everyone Vitav had ever come in contact with, if he could...

And now, the entire hall watched, as the pictorial orb showed King Vien gently lifting the little baby and rocking him to sleep.

Far from the grim image Vitav had painted, the scene was a tender moment between father and son.

"I was indeed pissed off with Lady Flora, but you were my child. My responsibility. So despite my anger, I was determined not to let it affect you..."

As he spoke, the pictorial orb displayed scenes from Vitav's earliest years, and how King Vien related with him, no different from most fathers and sons.

"My wife was understanding, and she even convinced me to bring you over for visits."

The pictorial orb displayed scenes of Vitav playing, eating, laughing, or reading with a beautiful lady with long flowing red hair and green eyes.

Several guests gasped, as most of them were just realizing Queen Laiza had been a fairy!

Queen Laiza had always pretended she was an elf, so she hid her fairy glow and aura whenever she left the palace.

But within the East Wing, she was herself, and there was an ethereal glow around her.

Taze felt his heart warm... This was his mother.

He had seen several of her portraits, but had never seen her so animated and full of life.

"But then Laiza became pregnant." King Vien was saying, as the visions took a dark turn. "It was chilling... I had never seen a child so young give the cold looks you shot towards her growing stomach.

"Everyone said it was normal for an only child to dislike a new sibling, and Laiza convinced me to leave you alone.

"But then one night, Laiza was pushed down from the East Wing's garden ledge..."

The palace's garden ledges didn't have high railings, but nor was it a high fall from any of them. In fact, one could even leap down and land safely.

But for a heavily pregnant mage...

Pregnant mages and nursing mothers had barely any magic power, and they watched as Queen Laiza landed on her stomach.

To save her child, she poured what was left of her life force into him, and by the time she was found, she was heavily bleeding and near death.

She barely managed to deliver Taze with Grand Mage Sidian's help, and she died less than a minute afterward.

Watching the pictorial orb, Taze staggered on the spot, but Celia's hand softly landed on his back, steadying him.

The orb was now showing an enraged Arch Grand Mage Soren, who found a way to view Queen Laiza's last memories, and Vitav had been the last person she saw before her fall.

She turned her back to Vitav for a second, walking over to look for a toy he said he had lost near the edge.

But then she felt a sudden push which sent her over the edge...

Arch Grand Mage Soren shared this memory with King Vien who was too deep in his heartbreak to believe his three-year-old son would do such a thing.

They could have read Vitav's mind to confirm it, but the spell was too dangerous for a child, and King Vien forbade it.

Arch Grand Mage Soren had asked King Vien to at least send Vitav and his mother to another region, but King Vien had refused, especially since Vitav also appeared sad, mourning the loss of the Queen as well.

Arch Grand Mage Soren had disappeared after that, and King Vien ordered everyone to never mention the incident.

Still, he himself couldn't deny what Soren had shown him...

"I couldn't help blaming you a little, because Laiza was my life..." King Vien continued. "But nor did I push you away. You returned to your playful self, and you even took a liking to Tazeus.

"But you had a cruel side... You began to mistreat those beneath you, especially if you thought they were better than you at something."

The pictorial orb showed visions of Vitav's life growing in the palace. There was an early playmate who was skilled at swords because his father was the head guard, and Vitav had pushed the boy down the stairs, leading to a permanent wrist injury. Then Vitav made it all look like an accident.

There were several more cases like this, each time disguised, but King Vien investigated the few which were brought to his attention.

"I reprimanded you many times, but you only became worse... It was as if you needed to belittle others to affirm your own position. How could I complement you, when I noticed all this?

"And then your brother noticed as well!"

Now there were visions of Taze and Vitav's many duels.

"Even as a child, Tazeus must have guessed that his excellence would make you hate him, so he hid his strengths and always let you defeat him, except when it was obvious you were 'trying to let him win'.

"But I wouldn't allow it. No son of mine would feed his own ego, growing with false glory. And so I threatened Tazeus one day. If he didn't stop pretending, I would send you and your mother away.

"So he beat you in a duel that day, and you were never able to beat him again!"

The orb displayed the duels for all, and though it was a series of duels between two children, Taze's genius shone through even then.

King Vien sighed. "I hoped you would learn from it... push yourself to surpass him. But you shut him out instead and took a turn for the worse... Especially once I named Tazeus Crown Prince!"

The pictorial orb was now showing a series of Vitav's misdeeds around the Palace, from his clearly deliberate order to poison Taze, to his manipulation of so many individuals, including his own mother, Larya, Lord Scarlett, the magic council, and even the masses.

This left quite a lot of the guests disillusioned with Vitav, especially the young ladies, who couldn't believe they had once chased after this 'perfect prince'!

Larya looked away, a bit sadly, as her illusion of Vitav was shattered once and for all...

"You manipulated your mother's memories, but Arch Grand Mage Soren managed to bypass your spell." Grand Mage Sidian explained. "His Majesty had me compile this for the historical records, and it would have gone unseen by many, but you insist on blaming others for your own greed and ambitions!"

All the while, Vitav's face looked shaken.

It was clear that he barely recalled the earliest memories, and as for the ones he could remember, he thought he had already gotten away with them.

He scowled at Grand Mage Sidian's words.

"It's not your place to comment! Powerful as you might be, you're essentially a servant!" He turned to his father.

"Whatever the case, we've come too far now to turn back! And besides, what was wrong with me?! What is wrong with being competitive?!

He shrugged. "There's nothing wrong with eliminating an obstacle in your path!" He smiled a cold and bitter smile. "From what I can see, I was simply a smart young elf...

"I neither hated the Queen nor my brother. I simply knew both couldn't stay! Their combined presence would have been an unfair disadvantage to me, because you already hated my mother!

"Who knew my cute baby brother would grow into my biggest threat!"

"You remain unrepentant!" King Vien thundered, making the hall slightly rumble.

"There's no point to repentance!" Vitav shot back. "You think the fleeting emotions of one flimsy lifetime would hinder my goals?!"

Vitav's words echoed in their heads, as Taze and Celia glanced at each other in shock.

~"He remembers the past lives?!"~ They mentally chorused.

"You're too insignificant to understand, Father..." Vitav was saying. "...but I've destroyed this world before, and I'd do it again! Attack...!"

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