"How shameless are you? To think that I would EVER accept this" She shouted in rage , her eyes had a crimson shade of sleepless sobbing, she was enraged and disgusted, she had no jewellery nor was she dressed properly. Clearly, she did not react to the news all that well.

The tension in the room was immense, her silence was unbearable, only the rustling noise of the the fire from the chimney was prominent.

"There's much more to it"
Chief tried to comfort her, as he gripped tightly on the chair next to him.

"YOU FUCKED A PEASENT WHORE!" she screamed turning towards him dramatically with a threatening stare.

"You're being unreasonable, why can't you just listen to me?"

"I am your wife, we were wed in the godly grounds in front of the entire tribe, does that even mean anything to you?"

"My first child is destined to be killed Thara!, And I don't want it to be yours, so forgive me"

Chief cried out collapsing into the chair, still afraid to make eye contact.

"What are you talking about?"

"The war is going to end" he whispered.

"We're going to win" he added

"What is this now?, What are you trying to do?"
She asked in confusion while crying.

"I wished for somthing and this is the pay, that's all I can say" he said.

In reality, what he had done cannot be spoken so casually, it's unholy and inhumane, for now it still remains a secret.

"I'll be off to Seartoe before sunrise"

She said after cleaning her face one last time .

The chief raised, he was conflicted.

"I won't stop you, if yo.."

"I want you to! Hesh. What happened to you?, Who is this person in front of me that... I don't recognise?" She asked.

He hung his head in silence, indicating his purpose was far greater than his marriage.

She walk out of the room, he took his seat once again, both his hands stuck to his head.

After some minutes he heard a chariot galloping away from the palace front.

He came to the window to see a chariot pulling out from the fountain ring yard, fading away into the early morning mist.

"That's the end of the chapter my prince"

The maid informed Dheer who was having his breakfast, a tray of food lay over his chest, he leaned forward from his pillow to sip some milk.

Dheer contemplated for a moment as he chewed.

"What do you make of the chief's decision?, Was it justifiable?" He asked after swallowing.

"That he let his wife go?"

"No, that he sold his son to a demon for victory in the war"

"No my prince, I do not condone dark magic, but considering what happens further in the book, the chief's doing was for the best"

"Do not spoil it please" he said playfully.

The door opened and another maid entered the room and dipped down holding her frock up with a graceful pinch.

"Sir Ashwa has asked for you my prince"
She said politely.

"Is it urgent?"

"I'm afraid so" she said and took her leave.

Dheer sighed and dropped his fork into the bowl

"The next chapter will have to wait Ayu"

"Clearly my prince" the maid replied.

"Ah, the maid did not mention where, did she young lord ?" Ayu asked

"No but I'm well aware where it might be considering the hour" he said while unraveling himself from the blankets.

Underneath the royal court hall, opens a passege way leading downstairs into darkness, a maid lit a torch and handed it to Dheer, he proceeded to walk in pushing away the darkness down the turning tunnel, He finally arrived at the bottom after a few minutes, an arch door lit within was visible apart from his torch, labelled as the Arena of Champions, Dheer walked into the light of the room revealing his shiny training armour and his peculiar weapon which was covered with a wrapping cloth.

He walked forward into the impractically huge underground fecility, with a circling battle area and an ovel shaped seating arrangement around it, the roof was cavey  damp, bats hung over the edges of the cones protruding from the ceiling, there was a similar arch like opening door in the opposite end of the  Arena facing Dheer, which had royalty viewpoint, the one behind Dheer had a statue of worrier on horse made of gold, the warrior held a heart in his hand and a sword on the other, the colour of the heart was black, signifying an important historical event.

Dheer was familiar with the space and walked straight towards Ashwa who was also armoured up and ready,

"Sir Ashwa"

"My prince"

Their greetings echoed.

Oddly enough Ashwa was unarmed, Dheer walked into the arena with a little bit of tension.

"You can drop the weapon" Ashwa suggested.

"Is it not training?, What is happening?" Dheer asked.

"It is, in a moment"

Ashwa turned and knelt down placing his helmet next to his feet

"Father" he mumbled in surprise

"My son"

The king stood tall in his bright yellow and white royal gown, he wore his shining golden crown around his secreted man bun, he had a top jaw line and a gotie with spots of white hair, he rested his palms on the balcony railing to lean forward throwing a critical look at him.

"Is this another binding session father?"

"You can say that, But this time we will try to activate your Reach, first"

Dheer was confused.

A cloaked figure entered the light from behind the king,

Ashwa sprung up instantly, the king lifted his index finger slightly to put him at ease.

"This is Kaminari Zoshi"

The king addressed the man, who was in a cloak and had a lieutenant Class coller pin.

Zoshi approached the king and stood next to him.

"What is an Airentine doing in our palace?" Dheer asked with a hostile tone.

"He is our guest Dheer" the king said.

Ashwa sighed.

"It's quite alright" Zoshi admitted and flew down to Dheer.

Ashwa turned his head at the rare sight.

Dheer got defensive, Zoshi frowned as he got closer to him, he landed and looked deep into his red eyes.

"What is your greatest fear dear prince?"

"I fear nothing"

"That's not true, we all fear somthing" he said as he walked around while his were eyes fixed on Dheer.

He did not feel like answering.

"What is it Zoshi?" The king enquired.

He flew back to the king at once and uncovered his head, his long brown hair fell forward, his voice was contradicting the young and charming look he had.

"I can look into it... we need to talk"
He whispered as he took his  place beside the king.

The king sighed, as his face grew vary.

"Érthowell... in an hour" he said.

Zoshi disappeared

"What was the point of that father?"

"You shall find out soon enough"

"Whatever it is, I will not have an Airentine..."

"YOU WILL DO AS I SEE FIT....DHEER" king shouted.

Dheer bent his head involuntarily, exchanging looks with ashwa.

"And now you are going to continue your training under Ashwa for the time being"

He said and began to walk away.

"I've trained  enough, it has been months father, are you still mad at me?" He asked as he walked forward spreading his hands out slightly.

"Am I not worthy of your acceptance?, Am I not sufficient for the throne?" He questioned.

The king walked back to the railing and said "Your behaviour is unbecoming of a Prince, what do you wish to accomplish with is pointless banter?, You are my heir..."

"I AM YOUR SON!" Dheer interrupted with a deeper voice, ashwa lept in front of Dheer in a swift motion and shook his  head to stop him, he gazed at dheer's filled eyes, forcing his body to embrace him but he couldn't, he looked away; there was a moment of silence.

"Let him speak" the king commanded, Ashwa stepped aside.

"I want to know what you expect of me, what is it that you seek?, Let me provide it to you myself"

He asked fully knowing the fact that he hasn't activated his reach, nor acquired a spirit; as self degrading as it is, hearing from his father would make it a judgemental but concrete statement, which will negatively fullfill his demotivated nature.

"Mr Kaminari is here overlooking numerous political and social hassle from both the lands, not to be disrespected by the likes of you, and for the record, I think of you no differently with or without a reach, your sufficiency for succession is purely blood bound, nothing else is of consequence"

The king said and walked away into the darkness, he was distant and cold as always, nothing had changed, Dheer dropped down on his knees. Ashwa relaxed and approached him.

Dheer was under cut, he saw too much of the chief in his father, he felt like a replaceable digit, flesh and blood for a demon to host on just like in the books, infact the physical depiction is very similar to that of his father, he found the fact alarming.

Suddenly, whistle of a sword cutting through air entered his ears, he leaned backwards instantaneously, a shiny blade sliced past his nose downward with a shadowy figure holding it, the missed sword hit the ground with a spark.

He looked back to find no one close to him,  Ashwa was metres away by then. the sword stood there with its tip being the only contact point to the ground. Dheer could only register him as an after image due to his speed.

Ashwa gestured his finger the blade flipped sharp side up and swept back, Dheer blocked it with his armoured fore arm.

"Fast" ashwa complimented.

"not fast enough!, Allegedly" Dheer said.

Ashwa kept moving the sword with his finger gestures, not allowing him to counter attack.

"So, quite a revelation" ashwa opened a conversation.

"Don't tell me you don't know"

"I did know about an Airentine visiting, but..., I didn't know that it was from the division of SSPA"

Dheer grabbed the sword by the handle and swept it to his side.

"Soul protections?" Dheer asked.

Ashwa nodded, and pulled the sword towards him; the sword inverted mid air to face the handle side to Ashwa, he caught it by the hilt.

"I am expected to have an Airentine spirit then?" He added.

"Most probably" Ashwa said.

Dheer was embarrassed a little and wanted to keep the conversation off the previous topic, he regretted arguing with his father which could have been far worse considering his mood.

"Rather unwise,but...it was very  brave of you my prince" ashwa said.

Dheer was disconcerted.

"Your point is?"

"Not to invoke him with such carelessness in the future, not many can talk to his highness with rised heads, I wouldn't miss use it" Ashwa said.

"Was never my intention to, I get what he means, but sometimes I feel like he is mending me to his wishes without my consent, like I am a tool to be refined; perfected to the maximum and showcased as the glorified heir... I have my own free will, I exist with my own characteristics, which should be accepted as it is" Dheer became aware of his self centred rambling and stopped abruptly.

Ashwa got some understanding of his views, it was unlike royalty, which reminded him of someone, he smiled and threw the sword at him again.

"So the foreigner was right, afterall"

The sword blazed toward him, he clapped to stop the blade, trapping it between his palms tightly, before it could poke his nose.

"About what?" Dheer asked.

Ashwa forced the sword forward by unfolding his wrist, the sword slipped through Dheer's hands further but he bent his neck to the left, dodging it.

He seperated his hands to allow the sword to fly past.

"You fear of being recognised as Vardhan the third rather than Dheer the first"

"surely, but there is a prominent one"

"Im listening"

"this dream..."

Ashwa's interest was peaked, he approached him while removing his gloves

"I was trapped, chained... to be precise, to a lifeless tree in the middle of a calm Ocean, there was nothing around in all three directions, I was immovable, helpless and all I did was scream, roar, to set myself free, also the sky was thunderous and cloudy" Dheer explained, rendering a vague picture in Ashwa's head.

"So it's a nightmare?" Ashwa asked as he summoned the sword back into its scabbard.

"Except it felt real... like, the entire time I was asleep here,I was awake there, every second, this happened every single day, since last year"

"Did you tell anyone?, I think the queen should know this"

"Maybe, maybe not, you know what amazed me the most ?, I looked like a lion man...if that makes sense"

Ashwa stopped in his tracks, eyes wide open.

***

"What do you mean?" The king asked

"Animalion attribute. Or, The reach for demons as you all call it" Zoshi said.

"Well, what do we do about this then?" The king asked desperately.

Zoshi walked away from the king towards a tree, brushing his hands over the bushes, he held a straight face and looked forward into the horizon of golden glow, she sighed.

"It's interesting that you didn't ask how it was possible" Zoshi pointed out.

A breez swept across the garden disturbing his sight, He turned towards the King maintaining his smile.

"he surpassed the sacrifice" the king said.

"Evidently"

"What now?"

"He has to own it"

"Nobody here can help him" the king admitted.

"Nobody alive can help him" zoshi began to walk away, slowly picking up pase, "he needs a spirit, a formidable one at that" he added in increasing volume and disappeared.

"You had one job Sak'A'han...one job" the king said out loud and sighed.