The Contest

Chapter 4: Prince Broderick Lumos III

I step out of the front door, letting it shut behind me on its own while I take in the day. The sun shines brilliantly from the east, painting everything with an early morning glow. The stone of the building behind me stands out in sharp contrast and compliment to the sloping green hills all around. The family cottage, a getaway for us royals, sits in a sprawling estate lined with gardens. In the west, just over a small ridge of hills, I can barely see the glow of a small town, still lit from the night. I stretch out my arms and let the sunlight drape across my face, pulling back the night like a curtain. The raw heat of the sun energizes me, the light flooding through me like the blood in my veins. Far to the north behind me and blocked by the building, the bustling walls of the Capitol contain the family home I've now left behind.

"Careful, Son, you're glowing." A gruff chuckle makes me spin. My father stands framed in the doorway, silver crown in hand rather than on his head. His white military uniform shines with medals across his chest. His chin length hair, the same white as his outfit, blows slightly in the wind. A matching goatee graces his tanned face, adding nice contrast his kingly image. His figure has not been diminished by age, his lean chest and close shoulders supporting his thin frame nicely.

I look down as I process what he said and realize he's right. My matching dress uniform is sucking in the light of a new day and glowing with an inner fire. I realize I may have been reveling in the dawn a bit too long. With some concentration, I release the blanket of light around me and watch as it slowly filters away, dissolving like smoke on the wind. I glance up at my father and see his eyes are following my dissolving curtain of light. He sticks out a hand and a trailing ribbon of light flows into his grasp. It forms into a ball, slowly growing and shrinking, pulsing with the beat of his heart.

Without looking up at me, he asks, "What is light, my son?" I blink, caught off guard by such a question. I start to answer the way my tutors had drilled into my head many years ago. "Light is a collection of energy released from a source in the form of-" With a slow shake of his head, my father cuts me off. Still looking at the pulsing ball in his hand, he corrects me.

"Son, light can be many things. It is true that light is energy stored in protons, but it is so much more. Light can become anything it wants to be" The ball in his hand floats into the air and fractures into a myriad of pieces, each glowing a different color.

"Light can provide for life, giving heat and energy to the world." At the next pulse off of the light, I feel a breath of warmth, as though a breeze caught a passing campfire. Even as I watch, the plants in the garden around the building lean towards us, as if drawn to the life-giving power of my father.

"Light can root out darkness and shadow wherever it may hide. And, if your light is strong enough, it can destroy it." In a blinding flash, the world around me turns to pure light, hypercolored and devoid of blackness anywhere. No shadows fall near my feet, no colors are diminished, no rays from the sun contrast with shade from the trees. And just as quickly, the light dims, down to no more than a flickering candle in my father's palm. The sun fades, as though a cloud is passing in front. The world goes dark but for the pulsing flicker.

"And even in the darkest of nights...light is hope."

He looks up at me, letting the world return to normal. The light in his hands slowly drifts away as a ball on the wind, still pulsing in time with a heartbeat, but no longer my father's. It now matches my heart as if floats off towards the west, away from the sun, away from us, away from the Capitol. My father says, "You are a Lumos, a champion of light. Do not forget all of the good you can do, my son."

My eyes still follow the ball as it bounces on the wind, heading towards the small town and the rest of the kingdom. It beats in time with my heart as it heads towards another adventure. I will let my heart be my guide.

In two steps, my father's lithe, agile movements close the distance between us. He slowly slips his crown onto his head, the sapphire in the center winking at me. "We are men thrust into a world of chaos and given a duty. A duty to our people, a duty to our family, a duty to our nation. No one believed I was ready to be King when your grandfather passed. Unrest ruled the kingdom, the Noble Lines sought a new successor, and the world around us despaired at what was to come. But I found the light. I showed them hope. And hope burns like a torch in the darkness, my son."

Slowly, with gentle waves of his hands, my father weaves the light around him. A beautiful crown forms, intricate weaves of silvery light balanced with golden jewels of dawn. He holds it up to me and asks, "Will you keep my torch burning through the coming dark?" I take the crown from his hands, the light flickering as it passes from Lumos to Lumos. Carefully, I place it onto my head and am surprised to feel a weight, as though a real crown has been formed from light alone. The shock must register on my face, because my father gives a sad smile. "The crown is always a heavy weight, my son. Be sure you're ready to carry it."