He’s alone again, his gaze goes towards the window, the sun already arose completely and the room glows with the sun rays hitting the precious stones decorating the ambient. Compared to where Vahe used to live, the palace is quite beautiful and clean. The slums, where he lived all of his life, were always dirty and smelled like shit. Compared to it, the Palace is heaven. No wonder Lowe and Raphael were desperate, where else they could lead honest lives with good food and a warm place to sleep? The pod where Vahe slept was always cold, as the heating was broken and there weren't blankets around, his torn clothes didn't stop the wind either, being in a soft bed with silk and warm sheets is something he never even dreamt about.

He worked a lot, everyday, to be able to buy breads so hard that it broke his teeth and to drink watery soups that tastes like dirt, however, that didn't make Vahe give up, he was quite crafty with his hands, he worked with anything, from carrying metals to fixing machines. His biggest pay was for fixing knowledge machines, they were similar to pods where one enters, laying there for a couple hours, learning something, of course knowing the techniques doesn't mean they were good at that. Vahe enjoyed stealing moments inside the pod while working, he learnt a lot, from piano, history and languages to archery, embroidery and dancing. However he never managed to put his knowledge into practice. What's the point of knowing how to play the piano if you never touched one yourself?

Growing up he was quite poor, his parents didn't work as well, since the fourth technology revolution, humans stopped doing trivial works, those were reserved to machines, cheap labor. Except that now billions were jobless and on the verge of starving to death, the 1% that monopolized the food and money of the world didn't even feel pity from stealing those people's livelihood. They were disgusting. What was left for humans were jobs regarding the fixing of machines and hard labor like construction. With that the population dropped from billions to millions.

Vahe’s life was gray, he never experienced the light or even warmth of the sun or even the coldness of a river. He lived to survive and survived to live. Maybe life will be different now that I'm a Prince… however things aren't so simple, Nikias isn't any Prince, he's a Prince that managed to be on the bad side of the protagonist of this world.

Did you ever have the feeling of living inside someone else's story? That's the feeling Nikias has right now.

The brothers come back with an artifact on their hands, it's a small wooden box. They place it in front of Nikias at the table. “Here, it's Nyx's artifact, the first Empress of the Exos Empire''. Lowe says sitting in front of Nikias without the man even asking him to. They're testing the boundaries, the second Prince thinks, but in reality they're just tired from running around in search of the artifact.

“How does it work?” Raphael glances weirdly at him for the question, but Nikias doesn't mind. If he was going to become upset if everyone looked at him wrong, he wouldn't leave his room out of depression. 

“You place your hand on top, like this”, Lowe demonstrates, he lays his hand on top of the wooden box and the artifact glows with a faint black light before opening itself to show a small black pearl. Impressive. “The color of your mana demonstrates your affinity, me and Raffe, we both have dark mana attributes”. Hence the curses and poison specialities. Nikias thinks but only nods at the brothers. “The size of the pearl shows how much mana your soul has, the size can't be changed, however the color can”. 

“If you don't have mana, the box won't open”, Raphael says, finally sitting as well, after noticing that Nikias didn't mind Lowe's actions. 

The Prince stares at the box, there's inscriptions on the outside of the box. It doesn't seem to be in the language of the Empire, but the man seems able to read it. May the flow of mana inside your soul, guide you through your fate. There's also drawings of a moon made of gold, that's probably symbolism since the Empress is considered the moon of the Empire while the Emperor is the sun and the Princes and Princesses are the stars. Nikias’ gaze drifts from the box towards his hands, his fingers are lean and his nails well trimmed, his hand has some salient veins that make him look mainly, while his skin is soft. It's so different from the harsh calluses and scars he had as Vahe.

His hand touches the box softly, his heart beating loudly inside his chest. Nikias doesn't really expect to have mana, but he can't shut the little voice in his head yelling ‘what if’.

Lowe falls back from his chair once a bright golden light shines from the box, the light blinds the three men for a moment before fading and the box opens. A golden gem the size of a dragon's heart appears for a few moments before disappearing and the box closing again.

Nikias' pushes back his hair with his hand in disbelief, a small grin creeping on his face, his eyes glistening with expectation. Ha, what just happened? He didn't expect to have mana, but he hoped he at least had a little, after all life is easier if you can cast magic in this world. But a stone the size of a dragon's heart? Golden mana? What did that all mean?

Perhaps the universe felt pity for the man, or perhaps the mana resided dormant inside his soul in a world that had no use for it. However, what good does it make to speculate the doings of the universe? 

“T-That’s impossible!” Raphael stares at the box with awe, how could someone that as far back as a week had no mana, to suddenly have the equivalent of a battalion worth of mana? It's not that there was never someone with mana equal to the size of a dragon's heart, there was, but those people were history, they resided in a time where mana was more prominent in the Empire.

“Your highness, it's an honor to serve you”, Lowe on the other hand snapped back quite well, kneeling in front of the Prince. His change in attitude is sizable, what does it change now that he has mana? The man seems to notice the question in Nikias' face. “Golden mana means the gods have smiled upon you, those with golden mana must be rulers of the world”, his words are serious but the second Prince can't avoid but laugh.

Rulers of the world? That does indeed sound like a joke. Nikias isn't someone who wishes for power, even if it was offered to him. “My brother, Crown Prince Alkaios will be the ruler of Exos, there isn't a discussion about that. I do not wish to be a ruler”.

“If you so wish, but fate tends to force the hands of those it choses”, Lowe gets up cleaning his pants. He looks to have calmed down but his eyes still glow with an admiration it didn't before. Golden mana, is it that special?

Before the three men can start talking again a knock on Nikias' room door makes the man jump on his chair. “Excuse me, Prince Nikias, your family requires your presence for breakfast”. 

The man puts his hand on his chest, trying to calm his heart that started to beat crazily because of the sudden sound. “I'll be there shortly”, he says to the person on the other side, who seems to leave after his words. He then turns to his servants. “Raphael, I would like for you to go to an information guild and inquire about the next slave trading auction”, Nikias says as he gets up from the chair. “Lowe, could you find out how much I have left of my personal budget?” Both men nod, while Raphael seems confused about the order he doesn't question it. Their opinion of me must be quite low. Or maybe the previous Nikias already had a thing for buying slaves.

Whatever it is, the current Nikias don't seem to mind. “We'll have meetings at sunrise and at sundown everyday, understood?” The brothers nod. “Now leave, I must get ready for breakfast with my family”.

And for the third time just that morning, Nikias is left alone in his room.