At the young age of 16, my father had already become a renowned warrior. Revered for his skill with the gladius blade, my father was undefeated in battle and became the guardian of his village. Eventually, his prowess echoed across the lands, and a multitude of neighboring villages had requested protection under him. The villages guarded by my father flourished, but then the Respian Empire, a large country from across the sea, invaded.
In order to fend off the invasion, my father united all of the other remaining villages and even helped to negotiate an alliance with the neighboring countries down south. The war took ten long years, and as the Empire realized they had underestimated our resistance, their armies retreated to focus on other warfronts. In preparation for a future attack, the village heads decided to form our newly established country, Lucius. Revered as a leader, my father was entrusted by the village heads to be their King, given the sovereign duty to protect us from another invasion.
My father appeared from the wooden doorway, adorned with a golden chestplate and a crimson red cape attached to his shoulders. His face wore a sharp expression that complimented his dark set of brown eyes, and his large, muscular physique would make any normal man feel tiny next to him. Most who would dare to meet his gaze would be received with a glare, fierce enough to make even the most seasoned warrior incontinent. His presence was intimidating, truly fit for a man with the title of King.
After Father closed the creaking door and made his way towards us, I noticed that he wasn’t wearing his usual serious stout expression, but a relaxed one instead. When he arrived next to mother and I, he tousled my hair with his large callused hand and turned to mother with a respectful bow.
“I’m sorry for being late Julia,” he said courteously, with his right hand over his chest.
“I was thinking you would never show,”
My mother gave him a heartfelt smile.
“Say hello to your second prince, King Allus.” (pronounced A-e-lus)
Father looked at the sleeping baby in mother’s arms and gently took him into his own. Then an expression I have never seen him make before appeared, he smiled.
Ever since I was born, I rarely got to see father because he was always busy with things like war or politics, and even in the rare times I do see him, he never smiled. Until now, I didn’t even think he was capable of doing that; especially the man known as King Allus the Immovable. Although, for some reason, his current expression didn’t seem foreign to me, and I just couldn’t shake the feeling of nostalgia.
Maybe I have seen him make this smile before?
While lost at the sight of his smile, father turned to take a seat on the edge of the bed, and looked towards me as if telling me to follow. I quietly sat down next to him, while mother moved in closer to the three of us, embracing father from behind.
If anyone were to walk in right now, they would be envious of the family painted before them: my father holding his newborn child, while my mother’s chin rested on his right shoulder from behind as she wrapped her arms around his waist, and me, their first son, sitting closely to their left.
“Father, what is my brother’s name going to be?”
“Hmm, that’s a good question. I almost forgot that I have to name my new son.”
Father chuckled.
The space between his eyebrows crinked to show he was thinking long and hard for a name. Then, he stood up from the bed, lifting the baby up with both his hands, and smiled.
“Julius!!
“From this day forward your name shall be Julius Rasea, beloved brother of Gaius, and second son to King Allus and Queen Julia.”
“My, what a wonderful name fitting for our little prince,” mother responded, clasping her hands together as she rested her cheek on them.
I jumped from the bed in excitement.
“Julius! Julius! Julius!”
But Julius wasn’t having it though, while held in the air by father’s hands his face slowly began to turn sour and a deafening cry soon followed from his mouth.
Mother put her palm to her face, while panic and confusion appeared on my father’s.
Not knowing what to do, he tried rocking the baby in his arms hoping the crying would subside, but the crying only grew louder instead. Eventually succumbing to defeat, Father gave a pleading look towards mother that said, “Please help me.” In response, Mother pouted her face, crossed her arms, and scolded him with the same motherly divine punishment I had received not too long ago.
“Dear, you’ve already made our Julius cry, If you’re going to be a father of two you have to at least be able to ease his crying, jeez what type of King can’t even soothe his baby child.”
While being scolded, father only made a more pitiful pleading face. Eventually, mother let out a relenting sigh and took the crying baby away from his arms.
“Goodness, what worth is becoming King, if you can’t even stop your own children from crying.
My mother tone of voice changed as she rocked Julius in her arms and her.
“Poor little Julius, you must’ve been quite scared after being woken up to your scary papas face. Don’t you worry though, Momma will punish Papa some more later, you can count on that.”
Mother glared right back at Father.
“Eek.”
Wait, I did I hear my father, The Allus the Immovable, yelp in fear for a second. No, no, no, that can’t be right, I must have just been hearing things.
As Julius was gently rocked in mother’s arms, his crying eased, and he eventually fell back into a peaceful slumber. Father on the other hand, let out a sigh of relief, but his face quickly turned to one full of dejection when other cast him a frightening glare. My body shuddered for a moment when I saw the look in her eyes; I swear I could feel a murderous aura emanating from them.
Rest in Peace, Father. I will see you in the next afterlife.
I chuckled at the sight of father being scolded, there were just so many emotions I never knew he could express, and I was happier than ever because of that. But when he heard me laughing, he quickly whipped his head towards me, and I immediately held my tongue nervously.
“Oh ho, this child dares to have the audacity to laugh at me, Allus the Immovable? Well it looks like some punishment is due for those who wish to laugh at the Great Warrior King of Lucius.”
Gulp
Father lifted both his hands up in the air as he loomed closer to me.
my eyes instinctively closed as my body tensed up, bracing myself for his “punishment,” but to my surprise, my mouth let out an uncontrollable laughter instead.
“Hahaha.”
Tears formed at the edges of my eyes as I tried to pry them open, my sides were being tickled.
Unable to control my laughter anymore, I wrapped my hands around my hips, in order to shield myself from Fathers onslaught of tickles.
“Hahaha, Father please… stop… Hahaha,”
I rolled around trying to escape his hands, but they quickly followed me and continued to torment my body.
“No can do son, this is King Allus’s royal punishment—you must receive it,”
“Hahaha, Oh… g-great k-king, Haha.. I didn’t know you… Haha… h-had this side of you,” I responded sarcastically.
But after hearing my words, father had suddenly pulled his hands away from me and took to himself a moment of silence.
Rubbing the tears away from my eyes, I sat up confused and looked towards mother for an answer, but she only reciprocated with a worried look as the anxiety slowly overwhelmed me.
Did I say something wrong? I hope I didn’t offend him.
Gasp
He wouldn’t, toss me away now that he has another son, would he? No, no, no, no, that’s foolish and mother would never let that happen. Come on now Gaius, be a little bit reasonable here. I’m sure everything will be okay as long as I apologize, right? After all father isn’t as emotionless as I thought he was and surely he can accept my apology.
I mustered up my courage and opened my mouth.
“Father, I-”
A long sigh came from his mouth, preventing me from apologizing, following into an awkward silence that enveloped the room.
He then looked at me straight in the eyes as he clasped both his hands together.
“Gaius, I’m sorry I haven’t been a good father lately.”
Dumbfounded at what I had just heard, I had no words to say and let him continue.
“The war just wasn’t forgiving, and I haven’t had much time to be there for you and then there’s the people. The people always want this and that, and now that I’m King now, I have responsibilities to follow.
“I know using my title and responsibilities isn’t a good excuse for neglecting you, but seeing Julius reminded me that I haven’t been properly attending to my duties as your father. Now, I can’t promise I’ll be perfect, but I promise you and Julius this: I will try to do my very best to be there for you, as both Father and King.
“Gaius Rasea, my beloved son, will you forgive me?”
I was completely caught off guard for a moment and immediately averted my gaze.
Did my Father, just apologize to me? I mean, I always knew that he was busy as King, but he didn’t have to apologize. Although, It did feel great knowing that he wasn’t the King most people believed him to be and if anything I should be happy seeing this new side of him. Maybe I should just brush this off and act like it’s not a big deal.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, I need to take advantage of this opportunity. After all, every time I see Father, he normally always says, “take advantage of the enemy when an opportunity presents itself, no matter what the situation,” so he can’t blame me.
I try to change the big grin that recently formed on my face into a convincing pouting one as I cross my arms, before turning back to give my father a response.
“Fine, I forgive you, but…”
“But …?”
“…Only if you give me an actual sword to practice with and not one of those wooden ones.”
My mother who had been listening did not look too happy.
“Gaius how many times must I tell you-”
But before she could continue ranting, father abruptly laughed as he slapped his hands on his knees.
“Hahaha, well, what a clever son we have!!”
“Well, you always tell me to…
“take advantage of the enemy when an opportunity presents itself, no matter what the situation.”
Father said those words alongside with me.
“That’s right. Very well then, as a reward for having dealt with this father and remembering my teachings, you shall receive your very first real sword.”
Obviously not happy, mother adamantly chimes in.
“Allus, we can’t give the boy a real sword yet, he’s only 8 years old! What will we do if he hurts himself?”
“Julia relax, I understand your concerns, but we both know our son is more than capable with a wooden sword and he is going to have to learn how to use a real sword someday. After all, he is my son and he’s been becoming a little more sharp lately too. That sharpness must come from his beautiful mother of course.
Is it just me or is mother’s face a little red?
“And plus, since the war is over I will personally oversee his training and I can assure you he won’t get hurt.”
“And…And that is exactly what I am worried about! Who knows what kind of sword fighting monster you’ll make him out to be at such an early age by giving him a real sword already. What comes next after the sword? Maybe he’ll want to rush off into some war and get himself killed!”
“He will have to fight for his country one day and we both know that our son isn’t that foolish, isn’t that right Gaius?”
My father turns his head towards me and winks.
“Yes, father.”
“But, But-”
My father throws an innocent smile towards mother as she looks to be thinking of a way to refute, but she eventually sighs.
“Fine! But only if Julius keeps up with his studies as well.”
After hearing the acceptance from both my parents, I jump up in excitement.
“R-Really?
“I finally get to have my own sword?!”
“Umu!!” father replied with a big smile, nodding his head.
Embracing the excitement coursing through my veins, I hug father who gladly accepts my embrace while mother looks away pouting in defeat.
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”
“Haha, calm down Julius, I know you’re excited, but your mother and I are tired. So, why don’t we leave the celebra-”
Rumble
Before he could finish his sentence, the ground beneath us suddenly began to violently tremble as the walls around us shook. Julius had once again woken up from his slumber and began to cry. I latched onto mother, while father used his big frame to shield us from whatever might come crumbling down on us.
Luckily, nothing had toppled over from above us when the shaking finally stopped, but we heard a terrifying scream outside the palace walls after we had recovered from what we thought was an earthquake.
Dashinn 