Author's note
*the chapter is longer than usual
*depicts violence! Read with caution ! Take care of your brain chemistry !!!

"Kai! "

Kaizer Schulz glanced up from the book he was pretending to read and looked at Einar .

He was sitting under the shade of a flowering Garden Iris tree ,its boughs heavy with  bright yellow blossoms . The breez carried its sweet ,mellow fragrance across Wesown but left the soft petals abandoned under the tree on the meadow. Few golden petals have found its  safe home between page 23 and 24 of Kaizer 's "Legend of Vorine " copy .

Who could blame him for completely forgetting  to turn it over to page 25?

Einar Ashford was practicing his sword form few steps away , golden evening sunlight reflecting off his pitch black hair. It fell on the sheen of sweat that covered his tanned skin ,made him sparkle and glow.

Kaizer's father had told him that swords sing in Einar's hands . Anyone would sing if they were held by those hands . The sword danced with him , like it was not a heartless piece of metal capable of killing mercilessly ,but a breathing ,feeling being . Like it was a part of his body , a part of his soul.

Kaizer never understood how a mere mortal could be so alluring .

Einar jogged up to him , crashed down  beside Kaizer, and rested the golden sword aross his lap.

"What are you reading ?" He asked ,between gasps , trying to catch his breath.

Einars eyes were on him ,those big glittering pools of warmth. They were the hue of the earth kissed by the first rain, sweet as choclate ,solid as oak.

Kaizer could not ,for the love of god, remember what he was reading.

He could not remember his own name .

Einar looked at him and grinned , curving his eyes in to cresents .
"You've got something  on your hair "

Einar reached out and picked a petal out of his white mess of  locks and twirled it between two long fingers .

"Is it heavy ?"

Einar raised a brow at him in question .

Kaizer pointed to the blade on his lap "The sword"

Einar giggled and lifted it from his lap and presented its hilt to Kaizer .

"Right hand ,Kai " he said when Kaizer extended his dominant left hand "you dont accept a blade with your left ,brings bad luck"

Kaizer obeyed and gripped the sword hilt with his right hand.

The hilt was still warm from Einar holding on to it. Kaizer let its heat seep in to the skin of his cold palm.

The sword looked alien ,with his fingers wrapped around it. They were pale and soft ,their grip weak. Kaizer failed miserably when he tried to lift it . It was too heavy .

Einar chuckled at his poor attempt and took the blade back "Dont hurt yourself "

"I should learn a little too "  Kaizer sighed in dissapointment .

"Do you want to?"

"I dont like it " Kaizer admitted. "But I feel like I should ..being a prince and all.."

Einar blew on the petal and it flew away ,carried by the breez . "If you dont like it , dont "

"But what kind of a king would I be if I dont even know how to hold a sword? "

"A capable one " Einar answered  without missing a beat "a powerful one "

Kaizer closed the book in his hands and smiled "You jest ,Ei"

"If you hold a sword ," Einar scowled  "You will have to bring it down on someone . Then your hands will be bloody "

He stared at Kaizer's pale hands on the book "I dont want that for you"

"If I become a king ,Ill have to eventually kill " Kaizer replied "To protect our lands, people and those who are important to us "

"Then Ill kill for you "

Kaizer looked at him , feeling his eyes go wide .

"Im there !" He smiled "Why do you need to hold a sword when Im good at it?"

Kaizer was momentarily rendered speechless. "But ..you cant always be there "

"Watch me " Einar giggled "I will always be there "

*           *         *          *          *              *      

Kaizer held the sword in his left hand as he stood by the altar.

The blade was some how  weighed thousand times more  than when he first held one under the Garden Iris tree, all those years ago.

He had grown taller , his limbs have stretched , his hands were no longer soft and weak . Yet , Kaizer Schulz still felt that the blade was heavier than he could ever carry.

He stared at the boy laying down on the altar infront of him .  His hands were folded across his chest, in praying position . His eyes were closed ,face relaxed and peaceful.

Thank West God because if he opened those eyes to look at him ,Kaizer would crumble down and cry.

This was Einar's precious student.

When Einar first took the boy under his wing ,Kaizer was a little skeptical . This was a Verlice , one he never knew existed until few days ago. One who could be holding on to a curse that could bring ruin upon them. 

But they got along swimmingly. Kaizer would often catch Einar and him ,heads bent over a project they were working together on. Einar would come and report to him about his student's progress , eyes bright .

"He has a gift for this !"

"Look ,Kai ,he made his first spear head!"

"He helped me clean the ancestral hall"

"He will keep our craftsmanship alive"

After so many years ,Einar seemed to be genuinely happy and carefree. Like he had found a new purpose , like a heavy burden was lifted from his frail shoulders.

And here he was , ready to take it all away, again.

Kaizer steeled his quivering heart and lifted the sword. The melancholy drag of the High Priesstress chanting the sacrificial prayers fell on his ears ,making every hair on his body stand on end .

The hilt clattered as his hand trembled . Kaizer gripped it tighter ..tighter until his knuckles turned white.

When Kaizer Schulz was seven ,his late father had dragged him in to this very shrine to witness a sacrifice .

"You should learn these traditions " he had said sternly, leaving no room for argument . "You will be the king one day"

The sacrifice on that day was a woman and she was no where as calm as this Verlice.  She wailed ,wept, howled all the way to the shrine . Soldiers had to drag her across the floor by her feet and chain her on to the altar to stop her from escaping .

She squirmed and screamed ,struggling to free herself from her restraints. She had cursed , cried all her tears and begged everyone in the hall to let her go.

She looked delirious with fear , bloodshot eyes bulging out of their sockets. She was drooling , her face smeared with snot and tears . Kaizer watched on as she steadily lost all her grip on sanity. By the time his father approached her with his sword she had started giggling and singing.

The sides of the marble altar was already dripping with blood from her clawing at it. Her finger tips were covered in blood , her nails broken in the struggle .

Up until that day ,Kaizer had believed decapitation was a swift , painless way to die.

The woman turned to look at Kaizer , seconds before the blade fell on her throat. Her hysterical eyes fell on him but she was not really seeing him .

She had smiled .

West king's first blow did not killed her .

Nor did the second .

The third failed too.

The poor soul convulsed and writhed, her whole body twisting and thrashing around . She tried screaming but her vocal box was already  slashed. She could only grunt ,like an animal , for a short while before going completely still. She had died .

But not enough blood was spilt.

The king hacked at her limp body again ,and again ,and again ,like he was slaughtering a pig ,like he was splitting wood. Each blow echoed through the hall,accompanied by the sickening sound of flesh being severed.

What a bloody spectacle it had been.

Blood flowed , like from a fountain and dripped from the sides of the altar and pooled on the white marble floor.

Drip...drip..drip..

West king continued slashing, at times sawing  ,tyring to seperate the head from stubborn muscels .

"That should be enough , your majesty"  the High priestress had said calmly. "The altar is purified. The ritual is complete"

His father casted the sword on the floor with clang! . He panted , like he had run a mile .

He was drenched in blood .His robes and hair stuck to his skin ,soaked in the crimson liquid. There was not a single inch on him that was clean .

Kaizer never saw his father the same way again.

This was a monster. He had slaughtered ,with no hesitation. This can not be his father.He had to run ..before the monster come for him next...before he became a monster himself.

Kaizer took a step back, every fiber of his being strumming in fear and panic. He needed to run. He needed to run far.

But his bare foot slipped on the blood .

It had collected under his feet ,without him knowing . He had been standing on a slick puddle of fresh blood this whole time.

He fell face first. Kaizer tried getting up ,but his palms found no friction to grant him balance. He slipped again and fell.

The blood was in his mouth. It was in his eyes. On his hands. On his face..

Kaizer had become just like his father. He was too ,now drenched in blood.

"That's what happens when you try to run away"

Kaizer looked up at his father , too shocked to cry.

"You cant run away on a road covered with blood ,son "

So he spent the rest of his life ,trying his best to run away.

That day had left a scar so deep in his soul that he went in to panic everytime he laid eyes on a blade. It could be a sword,a kitchen knife or  even a butter knife on the dining table. He completely lost his mind to fear and became delirious.

It was as if the final look from those horror stricken eyes had cursed him.

His father was mighty dissapointed .

What had he done to offend heavens that he was cursed with such a spineless son? What face was he left with ,having an heir that lost all his marbles at the sight of a butter knife ?

But swords did not look so horrifying when they were held by Einar .

In his hands ,they looked..beautiful . They shone radiantly . Swords seemed heroic and gallant, like the ones in books Kaizer read in his childhood.  And Einar loved them . Kaizer did not want to be scared of something Einar held so dear.

Einar held him close to his chest, cradling his shaking figure tenderly, everytime Kaizer cried because he was scared. He did not look dissapointed . He was not mean to him like others for being terrified. Einar was never mean. He would rub soothing circles on his back and whisper him that it was alright.

"You are not scared of sharp swords ,Kai " he had said "it's the blunt ones you fear"

Kaizer looked at the dull blade in his hands .

"It's the blunt ones you fear "

"You cant run away on a road covered with blood "

He had ran away his whole life , but somehow had slipped and fell on a pool of blood , yet again.

"Your hands will be bloody..I dont want that for you"

Kaizer screwed his eyes shut. He will be soaked in blood by the end of day. He will never be able to wash it off his hands.

"He will hate you"

He will.

But that's ok .

Einar did not have to love him. He did not even have to like him. He could spend his whole life hating Kaizer . As long as he lives, nothing else mattered.

"Then I will kill for you "

If he could go back to that day , under that flowering tree..back to when they were just kids..back to when nothing was lost yet ..Kaizer would tell Einar that he would kill for him too.

He raised the blade over his head, finally feeling a semblance of peace .He shut his eyes and brought it down, with all the might he could gather .

"Kaizer Schulz ! Put that down right now!"

Author has something to say

Author apologizes for failing to update yesterday!! Author fell in to a food coma and could not write.

Thank you so much for reading my story!!!!

It makes me really happy!

Comment and drop a vote!

Author will now shut up

Kaizer Schulz

Einar Ashford