Emptiness Of a Prince

WARNING: Contains gore and violence.

They say a person’s heart guides them to the right things, and often to destiny. To be born into this world means to be connected to everything. That connection weaves a path, using every decision we make -good or bad- to forge the future. But who can determine what actions are good or bad? Society? Obviously not, since this so-called kingdom is cheering as I cut off the head of the commander of the Lyudi Lesa army who has been leading raids on villages and stealing crops. Then again, I have no heart, so I can’t judge good or bad either. I turn to the queen, so regal in all her glory, and get on one knee.

“It is done, my Queen.” I bow my head as I speak. She pets my head, smiling sweetly at me, before facing the crowd.

“People of Uluvia, long have the people of the forest given us restless nights, stealing our crops and killing our livestock. But no longer shall we suffer, for today their leader is dead, and tonight we shall feast. Long live the king!” The crowd goes wild at her empowering speech.

I accompany her back into the palace. As soon as the door closes, she lets out an exhausted sigh. People would think she dealt with the enemy herself with that kind of breath release.

“I shall let you go rest, Davric; you deserve it after the desert expedition…which was unsuccessful again. You really need to stop being so useless.” She doesn’t even look at me as she speaks.

I stay quiet because I’ve learned to know when to speak and when not to. Keeping my head down is nothing new, no matter the situation. I stop a few feet away from her room; two of her lady maids guide her in. I lean against the wall, sliding down as the pain from my wounds intensifies. Maybe I should’ve listened to Thalassa when he suggested not to go after the commander.

“Sometimes you really need to listen to me…though that’s not really an option for you.” Thalassa approaches from my right, which is the direction of the infirmary.

“I don’t need you to heal me; save your energy for the battalion—” He cuts me off with a snarl.

“You mean the other half of the troop that barely managed to escape the desert?! Half of the battalion got obliterated, Davric! Under your command!” He lets out a breath and turns around; he makes some random hand gestures he claims calm him down, but he just looks…silly.

He finally faces me after a few seconds, taking out his water pouch as he kneels in front of me. Thalassa is a being of mystery; nobody knows how he came into existence, not even him…nobody other than the queen. The only thing we know is that he hatched from an egg on the same day I was born. His powers are as great as his mysterious existence: the ability to wield two arcane energies- Wind and Water- is what makes him so powerful. He uncaps the water pouch and controls the water; it floats out like a leaf in the wind and covers my wound. The water glows, and instant relief hits me.

“Wow, I’ll never get used to that, but in a good way.” I let out a huge sigh of relief.

“Look, I understand that you don’t really have a choice but to listen to the queen but at least show compassion for the men we lost during the expedition. As I taught you, even though you don’t understand why you feel the need to show empathy, other people will appreciate it as long as you act and show them that you care in some way…even if you don’t really feel any emotions.” Thalassa explains to me the same thing he’s been trying to teach me since we were little; all I can do is nod. He lets out a huff as the wound closes and stands up.

“Now I can help the others. If you, as the commander, are hurt, the troop won’t have faith in your leadership.” He helps me up, and we head to the infirmary.

Our battalion is much smaller than before…by a lot. Most of them are injured and missing a limb; others are looking defeated. All heads turn to us as we walk in; unlike the usual eyes of animosity I get whenever I go out in public, this bunch starts crying and being chaotic. Some of them try to stand.

“I’m glad you’re all o-” I get cut off by chaos.

“Your Highness, are you okay?!” Nicolas, my third in command, limps up to me with wide eyes.

“Boss, WAHH!!” Ganzorig, one of our strongest and bravest men, hugs me tightly and bawls his eyes out. He has a wrap around his head, which will start bleeding again if he doesn’t stop moving.

“Curses to the so-called queen!” Isabella, one of the people in the healing and recovery unit, shouts at the top of her lungs. She’s pretty beat up too; her skin gets tanned when she stays under the sun for too long, but we were in the Sahra’ hamra’ region, also known as the red desert, for a week, which resulted in her getting sunburned.

“SIT YOUR ASSES DOWN, BEFORE I GIVE YOU MORE INJURIES!!” Thalassa’s voice booms through the room; he rarely curses. When I say rarely, I mean once every new moon.

Everyone shuts up and sits, except for one person, Astrid. She hurries towards us with her small feet. She’s half giant and half dwarf, so she’s smaller than the average person. She reaches my abdomen; her mother was from the giant clan and her father from the dwarf clan; both were killed after a raid on her secluded village… the queen ordered that. The battalion took her in along with other kids; well, Thalassa insisted on it after she showed interest in healing and treating injuries.

“Big brother Thal is right. Stop making your wounds worse; he can’t heal everyone again, or he’ll pass out.” Astrid climbs up my back and settles on my shoulder; she’s been doing this to me since we first met her; it doesn’t really bother me since she’s small. She might be 14 years old, but she still acts like a kid.

“Good, everyone is settled. If your wounds reopen, don’t come to me for help. Got it? Davric is alright; no need to fret over him.” Everyone seems to calm down at Thalassa’s words.

“My orders and leadership are the reason why we lost so many comrades, and for that…” I hold Astrid with one hand and bow to my men, as I do to the queen when I fail at an assignment. “I am sorry.” The room is silent. Astrid flicks my head with her fingers.

“Don’t be an idiot, big brother Davy. The other big brothers went with you because they trust your skills,” Astrid says with a huff as I raise my head.

“Your Highness, we know that you don’t have a choice but to listen to the queen, but you gave every one of us here a second chance at life even though we’re nothing but criminals. If you hadn’t, the queen would have done worse than have us killed.” Nicolas speaks with honesty, while others in the room nod in agreement.

“We’re the ones who know you best, boss. The people of Uluvia can say what they want: ‘a heartless savage’ or ‘a great warrior,’ but to us you’re our leader. Where you go, we follow.” Ganzorig grins at me with a thumbs-up.

I look around the room, and no looks of disappointment. Just eyes of support and confidence. I don’t even need to look at Thalassa to know he’s smiling.

“The queen shall summon me soon…but I will keep all your words in mind.” I attempt to smile at them, but they laugh at me. I thought it looked fine now since Thalassa has been teaching me how to smile. I need to practice more.