Tadashi Alistair POV:

Genius, sadistic, and annoyingly cunning.

If I were to describe my little brother, those are the words I’d say.

Albus said his first word at 6 months, he started to walk at 7 months, and he was able to hold a conversation at 1 year old, though babified. Things that were considered impossible at a young age, bones still undeveloped, mind and body still growing and adapting to the world, yet Albus somehow did them, and he did so with ease.

Glori- my mother was the one who taught Albus the basics of living: potty training (Took only a day to learn), how to read and write (three days), and basic arithmetic and history (five days).

I helped Sam- my father around the village doing handiwork like helping the development of crops, checking up on the villagers, and defending the village itself.

It wasn’t until Albus turned three when my mother and father asked me to start teaching Albus how to defend himself. Needless to say I was surprised. Albus is still a toddler, after all. But within me, I knew that, should I teach Albus, he’d understand immediately.

Walking into the kitchen, I spotted my mother preparing to cook. Everything about her appearance remained the same from three years ago besides her skin now a rich warm ivory. “Mother. Where is Albus now?”

She turned to me with a puzzled look. “What do you mean?”

“He’s not in his room. The room was open, as you said, but when I entered, Albus wasn’t there.”

She stared at the ceiling to think. “He should be in his room reading… Ah, I forgot to close the window. Could you be a dear and go fetch Albus for me? He should be in the garden.” She giggled.

‘Is he an animal or something?’ I thought walking past my mother towards the back door.

I always knew Albus was an anomaly amongst other children, but it still surprises me.

Apparently, my father was the same way as a child, so I guess it’s in the Alistair bloodline to be a genius at everything, though my father was also an anomaly amongst his own family.

In truth, my father, over the years, hasn’t told me much about his past or childhood. Whether the topic is too sensitive for him to discuss, or he just never thought to discuss it; I don’t know. I never thought to press him further than what he’s told me.

All I know, thus far, is that my father was from a humble farming family. Neither nobility nor warrior. A humble background, origin, and living. Judging by how I’ve never seen his family, I can only assume… well, I’d rather not. My father participated in the last great war and rose through the ranks quickly as a teen, earning the title of General and even earning the Alistair name a noble title. This, of course, led to him inheriting land amid Darcy as one of this kingdoms major pillars of strength.

Also, a rather apparent fact none can ignore, my father is close to the prince of Darcy. How their relationship came about, I have no idea. Apparently it had been the prince of Darcy himself who bestowed the noble title to the Alistair bloodline, and I also know that this village, Alistair village, does business transactions with the capital of Darcy thanks to the relationship between my father and the prince.

A very convenient friendship.

Roses, Azaleas, hydrangeas; blue, pink, red, and purple. An array of different colored flowers, but a commonality anywhere in the world, graced the dirt ground with its presence and growth. A vast majority of the backyard, carried by the hill our home is on, had been fielded with these beautiful flowers, with grass filling in the emptiness. There was, however, a vast space free of flowers, only home to short grass, in the middle – usually used by my father and I’s short sparring sessions.

There, out of the corner of my right eye, had been an isolated patch of sunflowers, away from all the other flowers, almost as if alienated. They were shorter than the original sunflower that grew to touch the very sun, rather, these sunflowers blossomed only a few inches off the ground. The patch of sunflowers had spanned out a little further, nearing the end of the hill, but remained on its slant.

‘Dwarf sunflowers? When did we plant those?’

There was nothing wrong with sunflowers per se. They aren’t rare and are easy to grow and maintain. They practically grow on their own, and quickly at that. There are those who see the beauty of them, but, compared to the common flower that varied in color and expectation – despite their commonality, the sunflowers beauty was outshined and replaced.

“Aaaaah.”

A yawn.

Soft and tired.

Walking closer to the patch of sunflowers – the area I heard the yawn from – I spotted something lying on the plentiful sunflowers as if it were a bed.

Hair: mingled with the tiny yellow pedals, unsure of who is what and isn’t, almost as if one and the same.

Clothes: coalescing swiftly with the sunflowers, air-caused, movements, filling in the abyss-like crevices with a bright yellow.

A head: small, laid flat – facing the bountiful white clouds – on the buds of the already blossomed flowers, like a soft cotton pillow fluffed to perfection, seeking those who desire rest. Chin sharp, like a carved headland that took centuries to form with utmost delicacy and preciseness. Skin similar to smoothly polished alabaster, almost blinding to look at. Eyes surrounded, but not imprisoned, by long eyelashes, closed tenderly.

A body: still; not moving, slender in shape, carried by the thin and tiny weightless support beams, provided by the sunflowers once forgotten love.

A boy: White thin hair, mussed, with yellow petals trapped within crevices of his hair. This boy had been wearing my white buttoned up shirt which had been obviously oversized as his sleeves reached far past his wrist. Even the shirt had been worn messily; some parts of the buttoned up shirt buttoned properly, others, further down, missed the mark; there also seems to have been an attempt at tucking the shirt in the boys white shorts, but, around the sides, through the small adjustment of this boys movements, became undone. It seems the boy had no care for his appearance whatsoever.

The perfect state of somnolence, radiated by the being of purity, was near intoxicating, almost like the feeling of sleep alone was enough to solve this worlds strenuous nature; pointing out the obvious to the oblivious; spoon-feeding the answer to those who seek the unsolvable.

This boy, being of purity, was Albus.

The sun, once covered by the passing white clouds, had peered through, shining its light down on Albus. Albus, now well awake, reacted to the sun, turning his back to face the sun and I.

Walking closer to Albus, I spoke: “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Hmm?” Albus moaned tiredly. “Oh my, big brother, what a surprise.” He said smiling, turning his body to face me, closing his right eye from the suns ray of light.

“You knew that I was going to start teaching you instead of working in the village. Anyways, starting today, I am your teacher, not your big brother.”

Albus raised his hand as though we were in a classroom, now sitting properly on both knees. “Mr. Tadashi, what are we learning today?”

“I’m teaching you martial arts, so refer to me as sensei.”

“Huh? Martial arts? Me? Why? I’m only a child.”

“Even though you are a child, learning to defend mother and yourself when father and I aren’t here is essential.”

“Mhh, you make a valid point… Ooh, don’t tell me you’re going to teach me how to use magic? Aah, if that’s the case then I’d happily listen! I can’t wait!”

“No, you’re far too young for that.” I waved off, flatly.

“Ehh! Boooo! Boring!”

“Shut up and listen,”

“Oh my, did I enrage Sensei? I apologize for my impudent behavior. Forgive me, sensei!”  He mocked, bowing 90 degrees.

I sighed. ‘Little brat.’

He’s inherited our fathers genius, but his mother’s personality without a doubt.

“Now, before I teach you anything, It’s important that you know the history of the world.”

“Why? I already know enough, do I not?”

“Incorrect. You only know about the Darcy kingdom and that the world is currently at peace, but you don’t know the kings or queens of other kingdoms. Or any of the other kingdoms that existed before the great war started.”

“What? I thought there were only four kingdoms that existed?”

“My point exactly. In total there were many kingdoms and many countries that existed. So much so that I don’t even know the exact total. However, there were seven kingdoms that were so strong that they expanded their empire to the point where they held a majority of this worlds land, occupying their positions as the only seven kingdoms to still exist.” I glanced at Albus to see if he was following.

He had been staring, wide eyed at my words.

“Although I say they’re kingdoms, it was also because of their races.” I continued.  “It can be interpreted either way as both the 7 Great Kingdoms and the 7 Great Races. The kingdoms are, as follows: the Darcy Kingdom, our home Kingdom, led by the Human King. The Urvail Kingdom led by the Elven King. The Thelonious Kingdom led by the Dwarven King. The Beath Kingdom led by the Spirit King. The Belindo Kingdom led by the Dragon King. Lastly, the Agnis Kingdom led by the Demon King.”

“Demon King? Demons… soulless beings, right? I thought that was only a fairy tale.”

“Yes, Demons really existed, and they were led by the Demon King. The Darcy Kingdom was allied with the Urvail Kingdom and Beath Kingdom, while the Thelonious, and multiple smaller countries, though, now a part of Thelonious, were allied with the Belindo Kingdom.”

“And the Agnis Kingdom?”

“They weren’t involved with political affairs, instead they proceeded on their own.

“Oh. Wait. You said only 6 great kingdoms so far. What’s the 7^th?”

“Yes, I was about to say the reason why. The ‘7^th kingdom’ wasn’t an established kingdom nor country, hence the reasoning behind the name ‘7 Great Races’. They were believed to have existed wherever there was a tree: The Dryads. That was until the war against the Demon king, where all Dryads were supposedly wiped out.”

“Why? How come the Dryads were wiped out?”

“The Dryads proved to be the greatest threat to the Agnis Kingdoms expansion. As the last 7 kingdoms had finally been established in the world through war, the demon king still wished to be the only kingdom in the world. In order to do so, he had decided to conquer the biggest forest that had once existed, rumored to be home to immense natural resources, enough to power the entire world for centuries: Audette forest. Which just so happened to be the life all Dryads. Many kingdoms tried to expand through the forest but would fail miserably due to ‘green monsters’ which was how the Dryads existence was proven. However, the forest was nothing compared to the demon kings might. He wiped the forest off the face of the planet. That was when the First Great War started amongst the great kingdoms. Also the first time 5/7ths of the world allied with one another.”

“I see… out of fear?”

I didn’t speak; I only nodded.

Albus weakly giggled, sitting on his behind now, slightly shocked by my response. A sunflower, blown off its stem, landed on Albus’s palm as if to comfort Albus. Albus played with it. “If one doesn’t succeed but another does, they fear them. The irony of it.”

“That’s how the Agnis kingdom was the third to fall of the Great 7. That’s how the demons of Agnis were the third race to go extinct.”

“You know big broth- I mean sensei,” Albus said, eyes remaining down cast on the sunflower. “war scares me. The Agnis kingdom had been wiped out to the point of their race being extinct all because they had done what the others failed to do. Even though they are demons, they still had families. Even if they viewed things differently, they still had lives and memories. They still had minds to think. Lips to talk. Hands to hold. Eyes to see. They had stories that had been abruptly ended. Even for the other smaller kingdoms that got caught in the middle of the Great 7’s path of expansion.” In a subtle, sobbing tone, Albus finished his sentence.  That’s just cruel… really cruel.”

A single tear had coursed down Albus’s cheek but was immediately wiped away before it was able to pass his nose.

I stood dumbfounded at my little brothers’ words.

This was far before his time, but he empathized with demons. He empathized with people he has never seen nor talked to. A majority of these people are long dead. But most of all, he shed tears for them.

A majority of my life was filled with war. I’ve seen dead bodies, and I never once shed tears for them. After all, I never knew who they were. I’m not someone to sympathize or empathize over someone I’ve never known.

There were times where I would walk across the battlefield with my guardian at the time.  We would walk around seeing if there was anything we could loot off of the dead bodies and sometimes there were people at the verge of death, but I prioritized my life over theirs. I would still loot off of them for food or potions or anything. They begged but we ignored them and simply let them die. I never shed a tear over that.

Does that make me a bad person? I was just a child who wanted to live. Besides, it wasn’t like I was the one that got them to the verge of death. They got themselves in that situation. Even the children that were dying; I wasn’t the one responsible for that. If anything, they should be glad the items they had were able to keep another alive.

Right?

But I’m wrong. I could have saved them. I did kill them. Although I’ve never landed a killing blow to anyone. I’m responsible for the deaths of many people. How many lives did I have to ignore? No.  How many people did I have to kill to get to where I’m at now?

“-nsei.”

Do I even deserve to be alive?

No.

“-nsei.”

What about the kingdoms? What have they done for their people? They promise security and safety of citizens, but to allow their deaths for the prosperity of the kingdom itself is superficial!

Do the kingdoms even deserve to stand?

No.

None of them do.

“Older Brother!” Albus screamed, pulling at my sleeve.

I turned to my little brother; his face riddled with consternation.

I smiled. “Sorry Albus, I got lost in thought. That’s enough history for now. Why don’t we start with the basics of martial arts?”

Albus nodded, walking towards the vast space, free of flowers.

The one thing I know for sure, and the one thing I’ve never been more certain of, is that the world we live in now should no longer exist.

As long as people have selfish desires, this world is destined to fail.

I will change this world for my family’s sake.

For Albus’s sake.