Fortune’s Final Heir

I lost it all, and they just laughed at me.

I’ve disappointed many people in my life. Some I knew well, others I barely deserved to know at all. Perhaps one should expect nothing more from a life of gambling. A child born into a wealthy family, spoiled by comfort and reputation. My mother, Elara Zayne, built her empire with inventions that changed the world. My father, the man clever enough to woo her, used his connections to pull her genius out of obscurity and into the modern age.

And then there was me. The youngest son. The man with money, and none of the responsibility. Eldara is a very big city when everyone knows your face, and your fortune.

Who wouldn’t know? Even if you were some backwater raimex from the edge of the Empire, you’d still see our family smiling from every Zayne-Tech poster. Those damned photoshoots…the whole family lined up like a product display.

“It’ll humanise the brand, dear.”

“This will do wonders for the older demographics.”

“Soon Zayne magi-tech will be in every home.”

I can still hear Father’s voice. Sometimes I wonder if he saw his children as anything more than marketing opportunities. Not that any of it matters now. I doubt he would have ever come back, not after everything.

I’ve ruined every good thing that ever came into my life. Every relationship worth holding onto, loves lost without knowing. The others had someone relying on them. Even I did, though I never admitted it.

Michael was always the smart one. The eldest, the responsible one. He grew up knowing he’d inherit not just wealth but the weight of one of the largest companies in the world. The board never wanted him in control. He was too competent, too independent.

Even Sarah would have been better than me. She inherited Mother’s brilliance and her insatiable hunger for discovery. When Mother disappeared, Sarah was finally unshackled. Free of Father's pressure to “settle down,” free of Mother's expectations. So, she left.

I wish she’d said goodbye. But would I have listened? I was too busy gambling away my allowance, running from betting hall to tavern, ending each night in whatever brothel glittered brightest. Michael was drowning in board matters, and had no time left to drag me out of the gutter.

Last I heard, Sarah travelled far east, eager to study the Broken Lands. Not even the Empire’s eyes reach that far. Looking back, I wish more than anything I’d gone with her. Eldara is a jewel, yes, but also a pit. Corruption and greed festering beneath the shine.

It all began the day Michael fell ill.

I was “inspecting” the vineyards Father bought years ago. Some of the finest wine I’ve ever tasted. We eventually had to sell them, along with so much else. Shame.

They dragged me back to the city, insisting Michael wanted to see me. I assumed it was just a cold. But he was bedridden, pale, fading fast. The doctors claimed arcane sickness. Michael knew better. And so did I, eventually.

Arcane sickness doesn’t deteriorate someone that quickly.

He had been poisoned.

The board needed someone they could control. Not someone who was in control. With Mother gone, the company’s stock plummeted. New investors flooded in. The board fattened their pockets. And the family lost its grip.

Michael was only meant to steady the ship, to reassure the public. And he did. He signed military contracts, secured foreign deals, and designed a whole new line of offensive magi-tech. He rebuilt the company. While I…drank. Gambled. Wasted.

But in the end, he didn’t know who to trust. He would have chosen Sarah to succeed him. But she was gone. And I was all that remained.

The board knew exactly what would happen.

They approached me at the funeral. Every false condolence felt like a knife. I was alone. Any friend I’d ever had was bought. But when the business was handed to me, I suddenly became everyone’s favourite drinking companion.

The stocks dipped, but not dramatically. The board spun a pretty lie:

TRUE HEIR TO ZAYNE-TECH TAKES THE MANTLE

ZAYNE-TECH RETURNING TO ITS GOLDEN AGE UNDER JULIUS ZAYNE

A NEW LEADER, A NEW REVOLUTION IN MAGI-TECH

I was too blind with grief to notice the truth. I signed whatever they shoved in front of me. Responsibilities slipped through my fingers like sand.

Then came the competition.

A new skyship engine contract. One of the most lucrative of the decade. We competed against Tantcios Innovations. When a disastrous explosion tore through the Tantcios workshop, we thought we’d won by default.

But the damned explosion led to a breakthrough. Nero Tantcios emerged with a propulsion innovation that changed everything.

We lost. Catastrophically.

And the board got what they wanted. Someone to blame.

The papers mocked me relentlessly. Taverns jeered the moment I stepped inside. Julius Zayne, the idiot who destroyed his own inheritance.

And so, I was stripped of everything. Assets seized. Fines invented. Reparations demanded. Until only the mansion remained. No servants. No company. Just a hollow shell of what my mother built.

Zayne-Tech is nothing now but a carcass picked clean by men who already had more than enough.

I’ve written this letter hoping Mother or Sarah might see it. But Mother… I fear the worst. And Sarah, I doubt she’d return even if she knew.

So instead, I send this to you, my son.

Your mother wants nothing to do with me, and the press knows nothing of the bastard son of Julius Zayne. But this fortune, what’s left of it, belongs to you. I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough to protect it. To protect anything.

Find Sarah. Take back what is owed to you both.

I’m ending it tonight. They will not have this mansion, not after everything they stole. These halls hold my happiest memories, and they will burn with me. Zayne Manor will suffer one final Zayne-Tech explosion. A last scandal for the papers.

This is where it ends. My failure. My humiliation.

I lost it all, and they just laughed at me.