Turbulent flow of magic.

A topic Master Zunzen had always warned about to Dyren. Magic in his own terms was mysterious energy possessed by select individuals. Allowing it to flow through their biological system would allow them to wield specific matter around them.

The said energy originated from one's body itself.

Laticia eavesdropped on every class Dyren had with Master Zunzen, since he was forbidden to teach a girl the art of swords dancing by the Immortalian customary laws. A window located several meters away was her only screen to watch them. Their voices were too feeble to hear even while they shouted like insane.

Every day Dyren arrived after completing his class, she would pester him for the intricate details of the knowledge master Zunzen had shared.

'Only when you let the magic flow through you without resistance, you shall wield your surroundings efficiently, and without hurting yourself. Just like a resistor which develops heat obstructing the current through it, if you shall possess distracting thoughts, then your body will dissipate the energy in an unfavorable manner, hurting you.' Dyren said upon his sister's request on someday back when they were seven.

'What do you mean by distracting thoughts?'

'Rage, Anger, or just not focusing on how you wield your magic but what you are doing with the magic, he said to me.'

'What does it have to do with your sword dancing lessons? Let-me-guess, You are about to take on your Swordarth Magicia lessons!?'

'Ah yes, as if I am a wielder yet!'

'How sad!' She claimed sarcastically, sparking the magic she possessed at the age of seven. Quite a normal thing for a Kaisen though. The abnormal thing was that as a Kaisen, Dyren never showed even traces of potential that he can wield magic.

'You don't need to remind me that you possess something which I don't!' Dyren gruffed hard on his sister, not realizing his words carried a tremendous weight the other way around until her sister's eyes glittered in disappointment.

As a girl, and as the princess of Immortalia, she always had restrictions on what she can learn. Many use Sword dancing to awaken their magical powers. However, for a woman of Immortalia during that time, it was forbidden to learn the art of the sword.

'No, wait that's not what I meant-'

'That's fine Dyren." She cut him out. "After all, didn't you fetch this Berutium sword for me from our castle blacksmith claiming that you are going to learn duel sword dancing, and patiently answer every question your sister asks you every day while you are already tired from all that rigorous training? You are doing what is within your power. I appreciate you for that.' she beamed at Dyren, with bitter despair behind her smile.

Maybe she thought, she got too emotional which was way out of her character.

But after she had completed, she somehow sensed Dyren raging inside as if he yelled out loud as a promise, 'I swear I will change this soon, Laticia.' while he got up and walked away, uttering a 'Mother had called me to the court today. I will see you tomorrow.' shutting his door behind him.

Laticia silently declared to herself, that she shall shatter that old man Zunzen's sword into pieces one day. Even though he was thirty-nine at that time, for her he was an old man with a white pointy beard and a face wrinkled with scars.

Just another annoying remnant of the past.

Every time something was restricted to her, be it sword or magic; since her childhood, Master Zunzen was the absolute symbol of all of it. Man would not even reveal his surname to both Dyren and Laticia as they did not 'require it'. Everything he had caught Laticia listening to Dyren's lessons, he would lash out at the princess of Immortalia for breaking her own laws.

As if she was the one who had written it willingly. Pathetic laws. Pathetic ancestors. Why did they have to choose how they lived in the present? 

Now looking at his own son in rage against Dyren, she was reminded of her own joke she made to Dyren. 'If suppose he has a son, probably he is decimating you after knowing Zunzen restricted teaching him for you.'

How perfectly right was she. The only thing she hoped she was wrong now.

"This is dangerous for you, Princess!" Aurantia withdrew her Imortian Staff to deflect any sparks of energy coming their way, covering Laticia from any 'potential harm'.

"If you are not sure yet, I am not exactly made out of cotton!" Laticia said with a spice of annoyment, withdrawing her own staff. "The princess can defend herself!"

"What does she think I am, a five-year-old? A spark is not going to melt me!"

"Master Zunzen Danferos's son." Realization struck Dyren to widen his pupils while he felt his entire body running shivering tired of the duel. "Ah yes, a worthy opponent," Dyren groaned in pain, muttering meaningless words in pure exhaustion. The mountain was wobbling, and soon about to topple on its own weight.

Dyren's eye lens swung back and forth focusing on Dan. Everything around him appeared to be blurred. Through his mist of visions, a familiar voice broke through, echoing past his ears as if he was standing amidst the tallest mountains of the Southern Kaisen's range.

"All my life, Dyren, I was a slave to this blood and the scroll." He paused to inspect Dyren if he was listening. Assuming the case, he continued. "I do not know if I should blame you for that. But as the son of Master Zunzen, I do deserve to know why he chose you so much over me, right?"

"Master Zunzen. Master of screwing things up. Is there one single thing the man did without pushing someone into the deepest pits?"

Dyren's heart sunk to Dan's words. His name mocked right back at him. He remembered his mother explaining to him why he was called the Justenforth. Apparently, he was named after some Zenlord, advanced species of six sensed creatures, called Eleven Justenforth.

While not knowing much about him, he knew that being named after a Zenlord was a great honor. Justenforth literally meant in ancientis Immortalian - The one who shall sustain justice.

That was exactly why he felt his identity missing. Being a slave to someone was not justified. His mother would always tell him that 'Being the prince of this great kingdom your father had forged from rubles, you shall balance this realm with the aspects of Justice and equality.'

He as a prince had always failed to satisfy people's expectations. One of his many failures stood right in front of him, in rage. Who else could he blame by himself for this?

"I-I do not know my fr-frien- Perhaps I would plead a chance to judge me for me instead of my blood" Dyren saw the world dim out slowly until he let his sword slip through his fingers, clanging down the ground until he kneeled down unconscious.

Laticia's eyes flooded with horror for a moment, then her golden eyes reemerged determined to take an action.

Dan had already unleashed his final wide swing against Dyren, expecting a helpless deflection. Probably his eyes were blinded by his own magic. Dyren was unarmed, unguarded. Before Dan would realize it, he would slay the prince of Immortalia down into two with his Intensity magic.

"You might want to back me up with your wind sorcery, sister," She said, before jumping into the ring to deflect Dan's attack. She took the full force of Dan's swing but managed to divert the sword away from Dyren. That one hit was enough to conclude that she stood no chance against him on head-on combat.

Dan might be outrageously stronger than Dyren let alone Laticia. But his movements were no match for her superior agility.

"You dare interrupt my battle, girl," Dan scoffed, completely engulfed in his intensity magic.

"Father and son happen to share an exact same idiot ideology. I will consider taking you down as defeating that man."  Laticia silently declared, narrowing down her eyes on him.

"Wanna see a girl in action, Dan Dan?" She smirked at him, invoking his wrath. Even Aurantia expressed an element of surprise to her sudden change in slang.

She thought the royals used a higher standard of language.

"Screw you, blockhead. You have no idea who I am!"

A strong wide swing came towards her to revenge her words, which was deflected just like that by Laticia using her staff, then a direct clash with Dan made her feel his weight again, though lesser than the first impact. "Quite a match for Dyren."

She heard Dyren collapsing down to the ground with a thud behind her. She dodged a direct attack to her face narrowly quite distracted by Dyren. Aurantia guarded Dyren against further attacks from Dan if Laticia shall somehow miss Dan. With every swing he made, his groan of exhaustion grew louder and louder.

The endgame was near. She felt Dan slipping.

"His Aura levels are higher than average! Don't get too close, princess Laticia!" warned Aurantia, noticing how Dan's eyes weirdly turned Silvery white, and his entire body caught up in silvery-white flames of magic, yet much lesser than King Jonathan's level.

When she heeded to her words, she noticed Dan unable to control his Intensity magic in exhaustion. He had let the magic take over him. This amount of turbulent flow is surely taking a toll on him.

His body started to emit an unsafe amount of radiation to the surroundings. Laticia without second thoughts shoved through the invisible force, only to be stopped by the periphery of his energy core.

She felt a strong wind flowing from behind her, confining Dan's energy conductivity in the air to some extent. A quick glance behind her revealed Aurantia wielding air around her and him.

"Quick! Knock his sword off! He will lose his power!" Aurantia yelled through the gusty wind.

Laticia was able to advance more easily than before and spun her staff hard directly on his unguarded sword, shattering it into bits and pieces, knocking Dan unconscious.

"Take that MaSteR Zunzen. My purpose is now complete!"

She heard Aurantia screaming in pain behind her.

"Sister!"

"It's fine! Regular recoil of using turbulent magic. Check on the prince!  His aura levels are critically low!" Aurantia pointed at the fallen Prince.

The intensity magic had taken a toll on Laticia too. Quite weakened but strong enough to rush to Dyren to check on him, she desperately tried to wake Dyren up with no result.

"Finally, I had made the Kaisen yield, heh," Dan mumbled even while rendered unconscious.

"At least I did not hurt him. . . that badly."

"Both of them need treatment right away," Laticia declared after scanning both of their states. Having no other option, she pulled out her plight whistle from her waist belt and blew it loud and clear.

Aurantia walked towards Dan, in disappointment and crouched beside him. Dan held her hand and gasped, "Look! I-I am strong enough to defeat a Kaisen in a Duel." Dan terribly coughed after completing his sentence.

"Only because you had used intensity magic on a non-wielder. You have won by unfair methods, Dan Danferos." Aurantia stressed the last word, to remind him of the honor their father possessed.

"Unfair, yes," Dan paused. "The Kaisens were never fair either." He drifted his eyes shut, satisfied with his achievement.

Aurantia watched Dan as he slowly lost his consciousness. "I hoped this would turn out differently." A shadow covered her bright face, darkened by the fate she spent her entire life in. Remembering the distinctly sounding whistle, she asked Laticia, "What was the whistle for, Princess?"

"I summoned the castle guard to bring us to the central palace."

Word count: 1954 words