Aurelius_Vesper

The sky wept in crimson.

A deep, unnatural red bled across the heavens, drowning Velmoria’s golden sunrise in an eerie, suffocating glow. The air was thick with an unshakable stillness, as if the world itself held its breath. Crowds gathered in the city streets, heads tilted upward in fearful awe at the sight of the blood-red eclipse—a celestial event unseen in Velmoria’s long history.

In the heart of the empire, within the grand halls of the Imperial Palace, the echoes of a woman’s anguished cries shattered the silence.

The Empress was in labor.

Nobles and servants alike stood frozen in the corridors, their hands clenched in prayer, their faces pale with worry. For hours, her screams had filled the palace, each one weaker than the last. The royal physicians worked desperately, but the Empress—Velmoria’s radiant star, beloved by all—was fading.

And then, silence.

The heavy stillness that followed was more terrifying than her screams.

A single cry pierced the air—the wail of a newborn.

The moment the child took his first breath, the doors to the birthing chamber burst open, and a cloaked figure stumbled forward—an old seer, his eyes wide with horror.

He raised a trembling hand toward the heavens, his voice cracking like brittle parchment.

"The sun has bled to mark his birth!" he cried. "He will be the harbinger of ruin—the flames that will consume Velmoria!"

His voice carried through the halls, past the nobles, past the gathered guards—out into the city, where the terrified people turned their eyes away from the red eclipse and toward the palace.

A prince had been born.

A cursed prince.

When The Sun Bleeds

The wound he had inflicted on himself wasn't deep, but it was enough. Enough to sting. Enough to remind him that pain was real.

But more than pain... he felt victory.

He had won. Not in the way a noble would. Not in the way a warrior would.

The girl followed him as he walked back through the alleys, moving silently beside him.

She had watched everything. And now, she was waiting.

"You know they'll come back, right?"

She clicked her tongue. "They let you go tonight, but that was just a test. They were waiting to see what you'd do. Now they know you're not weak... but you're not strong, either."

Kaelion stopped walking. His muscles were stiff, his body aching from the struggle.

But he turned to her, meeting her sharp gaze. "Then what should I do?"

The girl smiled. "You're finally asking the right questions, prince."

She led him through the tangled streets, past markets that never slept, past figures lurking in the shadows. The deeper they went, the more Kaelion realized.... this city was alive in ways the palace never was.

Finally, she stopped in front of an old, crumbling building. An abandoned shrine.

The girl stepped inside, her bare feet moving over cracked stone. Faded murals covered the walls.... paintings of celestial bodies, forgotten gods, and burning stars.

The paintings depicted the heavens.... planets, eclipses, comets. The kind of knowledge only scholars and astronomers studied.

The girl sat down, leaning against a broken column. She motioned for him to do the same.

She smirked. "Then stop thinking like a prince. Start thinking like a predator."

She laughed. "No, idiot. If you fight every battle, you'll die. The strong survive because they pick their battles."

Kaelion hesitated. "Then… what do I do?"

She leaned forward, eyes gleaming. "You learn. You watch. You grow. And when the time comes…"

"You take everything from those who took from you."

There was something in her eyes. Not just amusement. Not just cruelty.

As if she had once been where he was now.

For the first time since falling into this place... he had a goal.

A Lesson in Survival