Maybe a curse or mind-control magic? No, if that were the case me or Raphael would’ve detected long ago.

We obey either way, there isn’t a choice anymore, and from here on out, everything will be a gamble, just as big as the day we ran away from the Tower or when we accepted his first proposal to work at the Palace four years ago.

Quickly we make the pact and then move on towards his questions, but to be honest, I simply answer in a half-aware state, my head throbbing. His questions were basic and only confirmed further that he truly has some sort of selective amnesia. The more we talk the more my head throbs, all kinds of thoughts running through my mind, if he’s faking, if this is really a test, or even how it would feel to be like him and forget all that pained me. Would it bring me relief or just more despair?

I am jealous, worried, scared, everything at once, an overwhelming feeling I can’t transpire at all. Not in front of the person that decides if I’ll have a roof over my head or not. Our conversation is normal, but I can’t assimilate it all. Perhaps I’m speaking nonsense or even mocking the Prince by accident, however, it's not like I can understand the words leaving my mouth when my head feels like it's being split open.

Even as I describe our terrible childhood to the Prince that never bothered to ask before, not to me at least, he probably heard it all from Raphael before, though. I feel nauseous, I need to lay down, I think, fighting all my strength to remain there and continue speaking normally as if everything is alright.

‘’...How does one have their mana measured?’’ The Prince’s question makes me sigh, this talk again, as if everything else wasn’t exhausting enough, now he wishes to go through the same ordeal of getting his hopes up just to come crashing down again.

Again and again.

Will I find him drunk out of mind again if the test comes out negative? Or perhaps he’ll talk about death again or become silent for weeks, watching the sun and the moon with an expression of pure sadness. Why is he desperate for mana? It never did us any good, if we didn’t have this wretched thing, we would still be with our parents and would still have our freedom.

‘’Your highness, it’s impossible for you to suddenly have mana, mana is bound to one’s soul’’ I say, unable to hold back my annoyance. ‘’Unless your soul changes, there's nothing to measure’’. 

‘’Just answer my question’’, his highness insists, his golden eyes shining in a way that brings shivers down my spine.

‘’There’s a device in the palace’’, I reply with a sigh, knowing there’s no way to refuse his highness when he’s this stubborn about something.

And mana was always his biggest obsession.

‘’Can you fetch it for me?’’, his highness smiles, but his smile doesn’t reach his eyes which makes my whole body shiver. There is no point in arguing longer, the moment the artifact doesn’t light up he’ll give up for today at least.

‘’Yes, your highness’’, me and Raphael answer at the same time before we leave his room again. 

The sun has finally risen, painting the hallways of the Palace in a gorgeous golden tone, we stand near the door of the Prince for a few seconds, staring at the hallways that are finally bustling with servants, my gaze goes to the door of the Crown Prince’s office, the door is open and standing near it is both the Crown Prince and that Knight. They seem to be talking about some serious subject, but we don’t have time to stand around eavesdropping.

Going to the Palace’s Artifact Archive was always a pain, because we were always going there for the same thing, to the point that the people in charge simply look at us, nods, and goes fetch the artifact.

Due to the effort of the past Emperors, the Empire is the most technological of all the nations, having monopoly over a lot of inventions, especially the mana stone refinement formula, kept secret for centuries and the major source of income for the Empire. Mana stone refinement is used so all the properties of the Mana stones are properly brought out, also allowing them to be used inside artifacts. A technology that allowed them to create trains, automatic carriages, toilets, showers, recording devices, and the list goes on for quite a long time, and currently they have a huge amount of researchers trying to create more and more artifacts using the resources of the Empire.

Inside the Palace, the Artifact Archive is not only a place where successful and failed artifacts are stored, but is also where they’re researched. There are around sixteen researchers that work constantly there, but sometimes they have guests and magicians that come to help or to sane their curiosities.

‘’Again?’’ A high-pitched voice the moment we arrive there. ‘’Well, it has been a week’’, the woman comments with a giggle, a forced tone to make the old woman sound younger, her face barely moves as she tries to make a youthful expression. 

‘’Good morning Morgan’’, Raphael says with a smile, I remain silent, he was always better at this things than me. ‘’The Prince is feeling hopeful today’’.

She clicks her tongue, annoyingly. ‘’Isn’t he always?’’ She mocks the Prince, but proceeds to enter the archive, taking a few moments to return with the small box. ‘’Good luck dealing with him’’.

Raphael smiles, but I can see his eye twitching. ‘’Thank you Morgan, you’re the sweetest’’.

‘’Oh, Raphael, you’re such a charmer’’, she laughs, of course she can recognize which one is the nice twin, not that it bothers me. Everyone understands it eventually, that Raphael is the kind, outgoing sibling while I’m the antisocial one that is always either focused in work or in a book. Again, not that I care.

We return to the Prince’s room while chatting about what to do next, although I feel confused, talking with Raphael helps me calm by head, as he is so calm about all of this. Wasn’t he close to the Prince? Isn’t he upset that he doesn’t remember him anymore?

No, that’s not right, of course he is, but he’s all grown up now, he knows how to hide his feeling better.

I don’t know why but realizing that makes my heart ache, which causes me to get distracted for a split second, enough for me to slam my whole body against someone else’s.

Looking back into my life at the Palace, I guess I always had the terrible luck of crossing paths with Rainier Bauldry frequently. Perhaps it was just because his presence always gets to me, as if he was mocking us just by existing, a person that got out of the slums at the same age me and Raphael were trapped in that place. Rising the ranks, able to live freely, to not starve, not freeze nor worry about life and death everyday of his life. He had it easy, his life like a fairytale made to tame the miserable into dreaming about the aristocratic life.

Absolutely disgusting.

His existence spites me.

‘’Be careful’’, his tone is cold, and his red eyes look down at me, his gaze makes my insides churn with anger, but I try to not show it. Damned nobles, even if he used to be a commoner, clearly the power rose to his head. I wish I could snap back, but with so many eyes on us and Raphael next to me all I do is apologize and bow my head very bregungily.

Feeling the annoyance with my whole being we go back to the Prince’s quarters, placing that damned artifact in front of him. ‘’Here, it’s Nyx’s artifact, the first Empress of the Exos Empire’’, I explain, sitting down, trying not to get too annoyed at the Prince when it isn’t truly his fault that I had to interact with that nuisance.

I try to focus at what the Prince is speaking, trying to forget about the interaction of just moments ago. ‘’How does it work’’, he asks.

‘’You place your hand on top, like this’’, I show him, touching the rough exterior of the wooden box, which glows with a faint black light before opening itself to show a black pearl. Disgusting, I think. ‘’The color of your mana demonstrates your affinity, me and Raffe, we both have dark mana attributes’’, I explain, not that our affinity was fully natural. Everyone has an mana affinity when they’re born. Before the experiments, my affinity was water, and Raphael’s was nurture, a more abstract affinity, but it did match him well. Not that it matters now. It all became twisted.

Water became poison.

And nurture became curses.

Just another misfortune bestowed upon us.

Shaking off the pity party, I continue speaking: ‘’The size of the pearl shows how much mana your soul has, the size can’t be changed, however the color can.’’ Of course, to change it one must go through intense torture, trauma or be blessed by a god.

‘’If you don’t have mana, the box won’t open’’, Raphael  says, sitting down.

His highness stares at the box for a moment, probably wondering something. How many times has he done this before? I think I lost count after the fifitheth time. Then he touches the box, to be honest, at this moment all I can think about is how frustrating all is.

But the thought doesn’t last, no.

Not when I see it.

The shock enough to make me lose balance, falling from the chair I was sitting on.

A bright golden light shining from the box, enough to blind all of us for a moment before fading, the box opening to reveal a golden gem the side of a dragon’s heart, and then, it all disappears and the box closes.

I can’t hear anything the Prince or my brother say. How could I?

I’m not a religious person, I am not. Sure I carry a blessed coin from the Sun god all the time, and I do pray from time to time, but its more of a conditioned reflex than me actually having faith in the god himself. However, I can’t help but feel my whole body burn with the sight of something I’ve only read about it.

Excitement filling my whole body, tales I read during my whole childhood, the only thing that kept me hopeful the world could become a better place.

Although I always had a distaste towards nobles, I always enjoyed the tale about the ‘Golden Ruler’, who would think that the legend itself would be closer than I thought?

Having golden mana means a direct blessing by the Sun god, which only ever happened at the birth of the Empire, with the god’s Saint, Emperor Aelius Exos Chrysl. There’s no way of telling if Prince Nikias is also a Saint, not without a proper Priest’s blessing, however, just the fact that he was blessed with golden mana…

The mana given to rulers destined to change the course of humanity’s progression.

There’s no mistaking it, be it for good or bad, Prince Nikias will change the fate of the world, and I have the luck of being here to witness it. Thank you, god, for the gift, I think, thrilled.

Immediately kneeling in front of the Prince, my heart pounding so loud I can barely hear my own words: ‘’Your highness, it’s an honor to serve you’’, confusion is clear in the Prince’s expression, so I explain myself. ‘’Golden mana means the gods have smiled upon you, those with golden mana are destined to be rulers of the world’’, I quote the description inside one of the books I read so much as a child that the pages tore.

“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”. He says, not understanding the scope of what I said, but there’s no need to rush it, he’ll find his path eventually. Forcing it would only bring harm, all I should do is support him from the sidelines and observe how this Prince, considered useless by others, will overturn their expectations.

Oh, I’m starting to sweat out of excitement.

This is the most fun I had in a while, is this what happiness feels like?

“If you so wish, but fate tends to force the hands of those it choses”, I answer calmly, getting up and cleaning my pants, my heart is so loud I hope the Prince and Raphael can’t hear it.

Although I wish to speak with the Prince longer, to watch how he acts after finding out this change in his life, a servant of the Empress knocks and opens the door of the Prince’s room. What blatant disrespect, I think, frowning. “Excuse me, Prince Nikias, your family requires your presence for breakfast”. 

“I'll be there shortly”, the Prince answers. 

Is this a dream? I wonder, I feel like every single suffering was worth it just so I can live this moment, I never thought I would be this happy from someone else’s amnesia.

There’s no need to search for a cure or wonder about if this is a test or not, because regardless of reason, I wish to serve this man, wholeheartedly, for the rest of my life, to watch how he changes the lives of others, and assist him with his journey. I don’t think that I’ll ever have another life goal as strong as this one.

The Mana pact that I was regretting before, is now precious to me, because its proof that I am side-by-side with a name that’ll be registered down in history.

So is this how other’s felt when they witnessed the birth of a legend?

I snap away from my thoughts and delusions with the Prince’s words towards me and Raphael: “Raphael, I would like for you to go to an information guild and inquire about the next slave trading auction”, his order is a bit dangerous, but for now I won’t complain, because we can do this, we can serve him to the best of our capacities. ‘’Lowe, could you find out how much I have left of my personal budget?” I nod alongside Raphael.

 “We'll have meetings at sunrise and at sundown everyday, understood?” We nod again. “Now leave, I must get ready for breakfast with my family”. He says and we comply, leaving the room.

As we close the door, I grab Raphael’s hand. ‘’Brother, this is… amazing’’, I say. ‘’Isn’t this what we always dreamt of? Serving the Golden Ruler?’’

Raphael stares at me silently. ‘’Don’t reduce him to a mere fairytale, Lowe’’, brother sighs. ‘’Sorry, I’m a bit tired, I need to prepare to do his highness’ orders’’, He says letting go of my hand and walking away.

My heart aches, although we are twins, we aren’t together for long, after all we’re both twenty-two, and Raphael deserves his freedom, however in moments like this I feel lonely, as if he is becoming a faint memory in my life, just like our parents, whom I can’t even remember the face of anymore.

I can’t deny to not know why Raphael looks upset, but that isn’t something I can solve for him. He needs to accept the Prince he knew is gone. A change that excites me and upsets him… No, I shouldn’t be happy about this, of course not.

We were experimented on because of the Golden Ruler, although the tales were my solace, it makes sense for Raphael to not feel the same, yes, I shouldn’t be happy when he’s this sad…

Feeling slightly sick, I walk towards the hallway’s window, staring at the outside, I can see the training grounds at a distance where the Knights are training.

That Knight’s hair is clear even at this distance… He looks obnoxious and annoying even from afar, but I stay there for a moment, watching the leaves rustling, the birds flying, and that red annoying smudge moving at a distance.