TW- blood, drinking, mentions of explosions (please let me know if I miss any)

Cyrus

"If we let magic pests have any freedom, they will destroy the way the world is as we know it! It is better to stamp them out than let them take the world!" Duke- something Cyrus couldn't be bothered to remember- was ranting again, which only meant one of two things; Cyrus was going to die of boredom, or the meeting would conclude early.

"Yes,' Cyrus began, smoothing his features into the perfect mask of calmness, "the world would change. But what's to say that's a bad thing? Hundreds of years ago, we worked in harmony with mages. Why could we not return to that mutualistic relationship now- work with them for a better world instead of solely focussing on killing them?"

"You know nothing of the past, boy," another insignificant noble began, "they have been our enemies from the day of our creation. You must not forget what they have done to cities like Aros. By working with them, you would be killing your people."

Well, that was all a load of shit. Firstly, Cyrus knew something of the past; history and politics were his best subjects after he had learned them out of spite due to a noble calling his progress in maths and science pathetic and useless. Secondly, the explosion in Aros could not be attributed to mages definitively. There was evidence that a factory had been the centre of the blast, so discounting the fact it could have been an accident was stupid. Unfortunately, royal etiquette frowned on the language Cyrus would have liked to use to describe those blustering old fools. So, he had to fumble for a response, picking at his face whilst he struggled.

"Well-"

"The meeting is adjourned. We will get no work done if we continue to entertain this ridiculous discussion." The King spoke, his voice reverberating off of the marble walls.

Thank God for that. Cyrus bowed, turning to leave his dark oak chair behind.

"Prince Cyrus, a word, please." The King called. Shit. There went his happiness.

"Yes, my King." He pulled his face into that perfect smile he was supposed to hold, fingers running through his golden hair as he let the others leave. If that was what his father wanted, he had no choice but to stay, even if it meant he couldn't rush back to his rooms or the library. What could he have done this time? He had tried to balance between being too loud and too quiet. Maybe it was his tone of voice? Cyrus always got tired or bored around the end of the meetings- perhaps he had let that become too evident?

All of the dark chairs had found themself empty except one. The King's throne glittered under the morning sun, reflecting rays of light around the curved walls from the platform it sat on. One day, Cyrus thought, that would be him there. Well, that was if he didn't manage to mess everything up before then, of course.

"Your face is bleeding. Fix it."

"Yes, Father," Cyrus responded, wiping at the warm liquid slowly drying on his face. But the King still barely bothered to look at him, instead acting very interested in his notes on the session or whatever he had written on that piece of paper in front of him. This minor issue surely could not be why his father wanted to meet with him privately.

"Son," he began like every lecture, "You need to stop fighting for the removal of the magic ban."

"What? Why?"

"Watch your manners. There are forces at play that you are too young to comprehend. All you must know is that no matter what you believe, the ban must remain for eternity. Understood?"

"Yes, my King."

"You are dismissed."

And so, with a sweeping bow, Cyrus turned and left through one of the countless archways that took him to his room fastest. Despite the palace's design creating spacious corridors, he had to push through the bustling crowd of people that had gathered.

"The Prince will never be as good as his father. He's too-"

"Be careful- the idiot prince might hear us!"

"Nah, don't worry. The kid would be too stupid and incompetent to understand!"

Biting back a sigh, Cyrus listened to the snippets of conversations filling his ears. The insults had been the same for as long as he could remember; 'Cyrus is too stupid', 'He's incompetent', 'I wish the King had another son to replace that incompetent heir'. Could Cyrus never do anything right? What had he done wrong in the first place? His pace quickened with the prickling of tears in his eyes and the heat growing on his face. The emotions could come soon when he was safe in his room from the prying eyes that would be happy to spread a new rumour about the foolish prince crying. All he needed was a few more steps, and then-

Cyrus grasped the golden handle of the door with a relief that seemed to grow every time he got to return to his room. God, he hated council meetings. And the nobles. And his father. Shame and rage bubbled like lava at the thought of what they had said. How had he messed everything up so badly? Was he that stupid? Was there nothing he could do right? He shouldn't be this angry- he should just be getting things right, not being the failure everyone knew he was. Cyrus paced towards the window, his emotions turned from bubbles into flame, burning through his veins, and it was all too much and then-

Fire burst from his fingertips, exploding onto the curtain right beside him. Cyrus froze, watching the flames devouring the light blue material. The power of his anger and disappointment turned to ice with the adrenaline rushing through his body. He pushed the candle on the desk next to the fading inferno, ensuring it matched perfectly to what would have happened if that was a natural flame. Which it was, right? Cyrus couldn't have magic, so he must have been so distracted by rage that he had shoved the candle towards the curtain. Nothing else could have happened, right?

He had to get out of there. Even as the glowing embers faded into nothingness, he found his thoughts stuck in the moment the flames had burst from his hands. So, Cyrus did what he always did when he panicked. He ran.

The city's centre was always alive with music and the rhythmic chugging of machines, and that night was no different. The crowds were freeing for Cyrus, with happiness in the air instead of fury. Not one person there cared who he was, too busy partying through the streets, the fading sunlight turning the metal decorations everywhere a deep purple. Not long into his visit, he had found a bar with enough alcohol to burn any memory of the flaming curtains into oblivion. The city of Adirionas was probably the one good thing in his father's kingdom.

The next thing Cyrus knew, he was stumbling through the cobblestone streets. Cold clung to his skin like- like the flames of earlier. Shit. He was so stupid! He should have forgotten that! Hahaha, it was typical, wasn't it? Magic was the thing the King hated most, and his son had to disappoint him even further by having it. The few stars that peeked out of the inky black sky to laugh at his misfortune were suddenly too much. If Adirionas, hell, if the whole kingdom of Eletonias, was that small, why the fuck did they expect him to be so perfect? God, he was an idiot. There had to be a cure somewhere, right? Maybe whilst he was finding that- Cyrus could find a way to be the perfect prince too! Yeah, right. Like anything could fix him.

But maybe the fate those mocking stars controlled was smiling upon him today in whatever wicked way they could think. The twisting alleyways lead him through the labyrinth of the city past shops lit with oil lamps and machines that continued to whizz and whirr, despite whatever the time was. It was outside one of those shops that something made him stop.

Cracked by age, the golden letters of its unwashed sign barely reflected any of the light of the street lamps, yet somehow the whole shop seemed to glow golden. The words swirled around in Cyrus's head, but all he could think was that despite its decay, mould and dampness climbing through its walls, the answers he needed were inside this shop.

Cyrus pushed the door open. 

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Chapter word count - 1418

Total word count - 2848

The pacing on this is probably terrible, not to mention a mountain of other errors, but thank you for reading, it really means a lot :) . This may or may not be the last chapter for a while considering I will have a lot more time to work on the next few due to submission deadlines and everything. I won't be submitting this for a while considering I probably should fix a lot of it, so please feel free to leave any criticism, especially of the brutally honest kind because I know there are problems, I just don't know how to fix it lol. 

Thank you again,

RJ 🪶