I suffered abuse daily in the new household. At home because the mistress of the house would remark about how much she hated my bright purple hair, god-hair they usually called it. She loathed it and loathed the fact that neither her nor her children had it. She’d fit a hot blade on a wooden comb and worked on my head, cutting both hair and skin with little prejudice. No amount of crying stopped the abuse. Every little slight I made would attract a flurry of attacks from the family I stayed with. The mother, the father and the children.

Things were just as bad in school. I was bullied and beaten on a daily basis. My purple hair which was once a source of pride had immediately made me a target for the people in the school. It didn’t feel like god-hair any longer when it was drenched inches deep inside toilet water. It was a regular military academy, where the teachers were strict and particularly vindictive towards me so I didn’t particularly get any help from them. I thought it was fine. I accepted it. I looked down on these people once, I commanded them like servants and laughed at them with my peers now I was below them. I couldn’t even use lightning anymore. I was worse than crap.

There was only one girl there who defended me. Her name was Freya. She was beautiful with cold piercing eyes and a short, held together, blond hair. She was the one who draped me over with a blanket when a couple of stupid kids played a dum prank on me and doused me with water. It was the first time I saw her. Or rather, the second time.

I remembered her face the instant I saw her, we were older now but those eyes remained the same. It was the girl I hurt that day. At the academy she was the “Beacon”. A name given to a head prefect. It turned out she was the strongest member of the school body and the wielder of the ‘Thunder Ray’. A relic sword. Perhaps she was always strong.

I felt guilty for what I did to her that day, I avoided her help. Whenever she’d try to stop the abuse, I’d tell her to leave me alone. She went ahead and set a decree. And since then, nobody messed with me. I even gained a few friends. Things were nice for a while. We never spoke to each other, but I hoped she knew I was sorry for what I did to her.

In those brief moments, a little bit of light had been introduced to my world.

Then one morning I was called into the Beacon’s office. She sat on her chair with a gentle smile on her face. It was the first time that she had talked to me in a while and I was nervous. She handed me a sealed envelope.

“This came for you” she said. “The writer explicitly demanded that I give it to you”.

I tore open the seal. It was a letter.

Dear Darius,

I hope you still remember me because I remember you. I have taken care of you since you were a baby. I remember seeing you in your cradle the day I was assigned to be your caretaker. You were the only baby there that was not a noisy wreck. I took one look at you, your cherub face and your bright purple hair. You opened your eyes at that moment and you let out a cheerful laugh. I decided then that I would do my best to raise you to be a lord. I failed in that. I hope you know that I didn’t abandon you. You were contracted the moment they found out you couldn’t use Celestial Symphony. There was nothing much I could do. The contract price was beyond what I could afford. However, a couple years ago, I reached out to the maids and servants about your plight. My young lad, you are very much loved. They, and I, decided to pool in our resources so that we could buy your contract out from that dreadful family you live with. We’re almost there lad. We’ve recently locked in on a three bedroom abode in the sunset district of Hyperion. It’s a bit rough but together I know we can survive. We will buy your contract and liberate you. You will live with us and we can be family again. Except this time when you act like a little shit I’ll kick your ass. Stay strong for us, boy. Hold on just a bit longer. We’ll come get you soon.

Your ever faithful attendant-

Markus Thunderweaver.

I cried. The light that had been slowly entering my life got brighter and stronger that day. Freya placed a hand on my back and met my cries with a warm gentle smile. She told me that she had been in contact with him recently. She wished me well. I told her there that I was sorry for what I did to her when we were children. A part of me wished she didn’t remember but she did.

“I don’t blame you Darius” she said. “This family of ours does that to people. It makes us cruel, it uses the allure of nobility and power to drive a wedge between all of us and all it creates is resentment downstream”

“Everyone here who hates you is also hated by someone else because they're weaker. So I won’t hate you. I won’t continue that cycle. I will love instead. I decided that’s what I would do because I realized how much harder it is to love. I will use my power to protect people”.

“So I forgive you. No, I’d forgiven you years ago”.

She was kind. Like a beam of light. And so unlike everyone else in this damn place. I told myself that I would follow her wherever she went. Things were beginning to be good for me again. I couldn’t wait for Markus to come and take me. I told myself that I would be better to them. I won’t be the spoiled ass that I was when I was a kid. I’ll be better, I said.

One morning I was called by the Madam of the house to her sunroom. It was a vast open area with a glass ceiling above and its space was decorated with different kinds of plants.

The Madam was in her gardening attire. She hummed as she pruned a bright purple flower, removing its petals until only the stalk remained. Her lips were coated with a bright red lipstick. Her face was beautiful, with white porcelain skin that seemed almost too fragile. There was no malice in her eyes when she looked at you. Only an introspecting gaze. If you met her without truly knowing her, you would think that she was kind. Or at least intensely gentle. You wouldn’t know the extent of her cruelty. Those days she’d skin my head till I started bleeding, only for her to hug me and console me when I cried.

Whenever her son would beat me she was the one who’d take my side and then later in the day would feed me scraps in the dog bowl and tell me to eat like a “good little boy”. She’d starve me for a whole day and then when night came she would sneak into my room and feed me delicious hot pie and apple juice, which were my favorite, while stroking my hair and giving me kisses on my head.

Her son hated me. He hated me more when his mother showed me a little bit of love.

I love her. And I hate her.

She sat down on a concrete cast and patted the space next to her so I sat there. Her perfume had a soft citrusy smell. She said she had a present for me. For being a good boy. I noticed for a while that she hadn’t hurt me. She hadn’t cut my hair and allowed me to eat at the table with the rest of the household. I thought there was light at the mansion too. I was wrong.

I hold the wrapped box she gave me with a little too much excitement. I looked at her and she smiled back at me. She looked so kind there. The box was surprisingly heavy and had a weird smell to it. I shook it like a child. It was heavy and the shaking produced a series of loud thunks. I tore the wrappers and opened the box. It was a severed head, laid in a sheet of wisteria. It was Markus.

I stared at the dead eyes of the man who was like my father. My hands were unable to move, thoughts raced in my head at light speed but I was paralyzed. The Madam stood up and let out a shrill laugh.

“Oh, I love the look on your face Darius. If only I could preserve it forever”.  “That look of pain and anguish is absolutely delightful”

I looked up at her. I knew the feeling she wanted from me and I tried to push it down so I could ask her “why” but my voice faltered and a tear escaped from my right eye.

“Why?” she said, suddenly a ferocious spirit took over her and she grabbed me by my neck and pulled me off the stone, “word reached me that a little rat was trying to buy your contract right from under our nose, so I taught him a lesson. Does the little lord not like our humble home”

“N..no, I like I…It here” I said as I struggled to breathe under her grasp.

“Then why were you trying to leave? Have we not taken care of you, all the years we spent on you and this is how you treat us? You ungrateful boy. You break my heart”.

“I didn’t mean to” I said through tears. “I didn’t mean to. Markus was like a father to me. That was all. That was all”.

She let go of me and I fell to the floor gasping for air. My face was bright red, my eyes were leaking tears and mucus ran from my nose.

“What about us?” she said. “Are we not family to you Darius?”

“You are,” I replied. I was a mess. A crying mess.

“So why do you betray us like this? Me and Anthony were really heartbroken when we heard about this”

I highly doubt that her son was heartbroken. It’s funny, the man who raised me since I was a baby, who covered me in silk drapes as we sailed on dragon back riding through the skies of the celestial city. His severed head laid in a box and all she wanted me to think about was how much I hurt her. After she killed an innocent person. I didn’t fight back. I apologized but she said that the only way to make amends was to receive adequate punishment. So she locked me in a deep dark place for a year.

I was brought out when the annual hunting games began. Somehow they thought that it would be funny to take a famished, broken boy was sent out to hunt in the hellscape planet of Aquilora Prime, the home of the Servekkers. I was to be Anthony’s opponent. Whoever captures a special grade beast wins.

It didn’t take too long for me to fall. Starvation and torture and already made me very weak. Last thing I remember was slipping and falling down an incline. When I landed on the hard ground I felt a cold rush through me. I looked and it was my blood. The only solace I gave myself was that I wasn’t mauled to death by a wild beast.

I thought everything would end and I gladly accepted my fate. I couldn’t wait to see Markus again. But something inside of me stirred. A dark hatred. I cursed, I cursed my purple hair and my noble family. I cursed that damn witch and her son. I cursed this world. I cursed that man Saggitrius for having me. Of what use is a god if they can’t protect their children.

I cursed it all.

|CODEX: Are you awake Darius?|

Yes. I don’t know what that voice is but it calls on to me. I grab it. Whatever it is.

|CODEX: Do you accept the new enchantments that come with the codex?|

Yes.

|Codex: An enchantment has a seal that contains the Leviathan. Do you accept it?|

Yes.

|Codex: Contract complete. Cells regenerating; Tissues repairing: Impurity detected: Confluxuation between dual celestial symphonies: Fixing: Done: Leviathan, sealed. Done. Wake up Darius|

I awake.