"YOU STUPID DOLT." He yelled angrily. "YOU COULD HAVE BROKEN SOMETHING." Eris just sat up with a bright smile spread across his face. 

  "But I didn't!" The small boy stood up, dusting off his pants and offering a hand to his bigger brother. Lorne swatted it away and stood up himself, checking for cuts. 

  "Boys! Your father is home early!" A voice called out from the large castle in the distance. Eris' smile widened as he grabbed Lorne's arm. 

  "Father's home!" Giddly, he rushed towards the castle's garden, towards their mother. Dragged along, Lorne yelped in defiance. 

  "Eris! Wait- I can't! Keep u-" He said as he tripped on a small indent in the ground, breaking free from Eris' grasp and landing face first in the grass. His nose made a sharp crack sound and a warm liquid trickled out. Wincing, Lorne touched his nose gingerly only to recoil in pain. "Fuck..." He groaned. The demon looked around, confused. It was no longer day time, but night. Standing up again, he realized he was no longer a child, but now older and much taller. His skin was still tan and breathing a sigh of relief, he wondered why he was concerned with the color of his skin. Puzzled, he wandered towards the castle, stepping into the gardens that were normally guarded by at least five soldiers at a time but were now barren. Turning around, he saw a flash of pink run past him as the five guards clacked after. The pink flash gripped onto his cloak and hid behind him. Lorne recognized this 'flash' now as his nephew, Akilron. The guards panted as they approached the prince. 

  "Your Grace..." One panted, trying to catch his breath. "The young Master...his father-" Lorne put a hand up to the soldier to silence him, placing the other on Akilron's small shoulder. 

  "I'll bring him to Eris, please return to your stations." He said as the group nodded in compliance and made thier way back to the entrance of the gardens. Lorne smirked and leaned down to Akilron's level, the small boy smirking the same. 

  "Thanks, Uncle." The small boy's expression changed to concern as he pointed at Lorne's nose. "What happened?" The prince sighed and shook his head. 

  "Just wasn't paying attention." He ruffled Akilron's hair. The boy's expression did not change.

    "You didn't get in another fight did you?" Pouting, he crossed his arms. "Father says you need to stop that or Grandpa is gonna get super mad." Lorne was taken aback a bit and sighed, rubbing the space between his eyes. 

   "You heard your dad talking about that?" He asked, looking at his nephew with a slightly amused smile. 

       "Yeah...and Mother." Akilron's small face scrunched as tears formed in the child's eyes. This was a look that had been passed from Eris to his son, Lorne knew this face well. Tears formed in his own eyes as he wrapped the child in his arms and pressed him against his chest. 

  "I haven't been fighting, I promise." The prince placed a hand on his nephew's head. Akilron sniffled. 

    "Good. Cause I hate it when you fight and then Father and Grandpa argue with you." Chuckling, Lorne released him and ruffled his hair again. 

  "Those two don't stand a chance against my amazing intelect." He winked, but was still met with a very serious, very upset Akilron. 

  "Okay...just promise me?" Akilron held a small pinky up, which was met with a raised eyebrow from Lorne. 

    "What's that?"
      "An Oath." 

         "With a pinkie?"

            "Just do it, Uncle Lorne." 

Lorne almost staggered backwards, Akilron's determination almost planted him on his ass. His little nephew was never the assertive type, it was a good change for a future leader. Sighing the prince locked his pinkie with the child's. A flash of light burst from the back door as Lorne's eyesight went pure white for a few seconds, shielding his eyes, he fell to his knees to cover his eyes. He no longer felt the cold of the night air on his neck, instead he felt warm, as if he were inside a building shielded from the elements. The sound of someone softly crying filled his ears. His nose was no longer bleeding or painful. Blinking a couple times and lowering his arm, Lorne looked around the throne room he had practically grown up in. His head whipping around, the demon prince realized that around him, soldiers stood, steadfast, a sad expression painted on all of their faces. Scouring his mind for reasonable explanations for why this may be happening, his search came up dry. In front of him, his brother sat on their father's throne, his wife by his side, holding her son close to her as if to protect him from something. 

  "Brother...what's the meaning of t-" Lorne started to say as he went to stand. This was violently cut off by a hand forcing him down and Eris' booming voice.

   "DO NOT BROTHER ME." He stood up in a fit of rage. "YOU THREW AWAY THAT TITLE WHEN YOU KILLED MY FATHER." An arrow of dread shot through Lorne's chest as his jaw hung down. 

  "Father..." He managed to whisper out. Eris gave a look to his wife, signaling her to leave. Grabbing her son's arm, she practically had to drag Akilron out of the room. The boy crying in protest the entire way. 

  "Prince Lorne Ishamael Connelly." Eris spoke, anger weaved through his voice like a hate-filled tapestry. "For treason, patricide, and the murder of King Manfred, you are hearby cursed to loose your image and must live out as many lives as needed to correct your wrongs." Lorne couldn't see Eris' face from where he was but he could tell his brother was trying hard not to cry. His emotions were not strong enough for his powers to project, but the prince could tell it was only a matter of time before Eris lost control. "I will not kill you, Lorne. But you are forbidden to ever return to House Pax." The floodgates broke. The room felt like it had filled with a heavy haze of fog, weighing all who were present down. Tears streamed down everyone's face regardless of emotion. Lorne knew this well. A power he had failed to inherit from his late mother, one his brother and his nephew had. In a way, he was thankful Eris had failed to hold it back, he was about to cry himself. 

  "Eris, please. I didn't kill Father!" Lorne choked back a sob, trying to remember the events that transpired the following night, but he couldn't remember...he couldn't remember anything...why he was here...why he was reliving this. Lorne froze. How did he know he was reliving this? Did he know how this would end? Eris slammed his hand down on the table to his side so hard the glasses on it jumped up and fell over, a couple rolling onto the floor and shattering on impact. 

  "EVERYONE SAW YOU, LORNE." Eris screaming, anger that Lorne knew wasn't his exploded in his stomach and rose in his throat, suppressing it as much as he could, jaw clenching was the only way to keep the words he so desperatly wanted to say down. His brother sighed. "You will live forever with your guilt. Until you find a way to die, you will constantly wish to do so. This is a fate worse than death." He stepped down the steps to approach Lorne, the anger swelling and the grief expressing itself in the seemingly endless tears that streamed down his face. "You will be a creature of shadows, you will feel nothing. No pain, no emotion." Eris' pink hair gleamed in the light as he walked towards his forsaken brother. Stopping mere inches away from Lorne's face, Eris leaned down and put a hand on his brother's head, Lorne's pale pink hair ruffling between his fingers. "I hope you find relief, dear Lorne." Eris said, holding back sobs. Closing his eyes, Eris whispered under his breath. Lorne fought to say anything, something, but alas, his mouth would not move. Giving up, the forsaken prince closed his eyes as he felt his skin strip away from his body. Pain engulfed his body and try as he might to scream, his mouth refused to open. However, the pain was for a moment. Lorne cracked open his eyes, looking down at his hands where black shadowy apendages that only looked like hands were now, small specks that looked like stars sparkled in the void that was his hands. Eris took his hand off his brother's head, making a couple strands of his now white hair fall in front of his eyes. The brother leaned next to Lorne so close his lips almost touched Lorne's ear. 

  "I'm allowing you temporary humanity. Please...do not spoil it." Eris backed away, leaving a paralyzed prince to wonder if this was truly forever. The new king sighed before flicking his wrist and turning to walk away. Lorne struggled to speak once more. 

  "Eris plea-" He said, reaching out with a shadowy hand before a guard took hold of Lorne's head and bashed it in with the hilt of his sword. Lorne felt no pain, just darkness. His last thought before fading into the void he now was a part of was "I love you."