another life

chapter 4 - the heir

the rain tapped lightly on the window like fingers. breeze closed his eyes and listened to what would probably be one of the only moments of peace he would get today. his father and mother were too busy drinking RainBow in the cellar to bother with him and there were no citizens to talk to or studies to work on. just the rain.

breeze sometimes wished he was a WaterDragon. it must feel so freeing to be surrounded by the ocean all the time. he wondered if that was how his friend fei felt about her kingdom or if she was just as eager to leave hers as he was his.

of course he knew the Altostrallus kingdom was beautiful. the clouds spread around them like a shield, misting Vallori below them as though through a foggy window. the entire kingdom floated on the raindrops suspended in the air - a long time ago, one of the first AirPeople had dissected the science behind clouds and banded together with the other AirPeople to form the solid mass of clouds that held up the kingdom.

but every time breeze asked to learn about the kingdom's history, his teachers would turn him away. he was only needed to learn about the present needs of the realm, not about past leaders and their mistakes.

the worst part was that breeze was a very good leader. he was a good listener, never made a fuss, and did things the way they were supposed to be done. the whole kingdom was certain he would make a wonderful king someday after he killed his parents.

breeze trembled. the bloody traditions of the AirDragon people. for a prince or princess to rise to the throne in the Altostrallus kingdom, they had to murder their parents in the Arena. he had never understood why he couldn't wait until they died of natural causes but if that happened, breeze would never become king.

and that wasn't even the worst tradition. every time one of the citizens turned seventeen, they had to fight each other to the death. his father always said that this was because of the overpopulation problem they had had many years ago but now that the danger had passed, breeze didn't know why they kept forcing the citizens to fight each other.

the door was thrown open with a loud bang which made breeze jump. his mother and father stumbled in, their cheeks rosy and eyes unfocused. breeze's heart sunk as he noticed the bottles clutched in their hands.

"hello, my lady. hello, my lord," he said quietly in the kingdom's native tongue.

"breeze, my son!" his father hiccuped, one arm around his mother and one still holding the bottle, "we are off!" breeze blinked and straightened up.

"may I request where to?"

"Okeanos, the kingdom of the SeaPeople, breeze!" his mother giggled, "to meet with your future wife!" breeze pressed his lips together.

"of course, mother," he said, "i shall fetch my things and meet you in the carriage." he hesitated before getting up from his throne. "begging your forgiveness, your majesties, but are you certain that you are in the right state?"

as soon as he said it, breeze knew he had misspoken. his father's face went even redder and he advanced on the boy.

"are you, hiccup, presuming that I am, hiccup, not taking this seriously?" breeze blinked quickly as he always did when he was nervous.

"i - i apologise, my lord, i misspo -" he was cut off by a sharp pain across his face. breeze's thin frame collapsed to the floor with the force of the strike. his father had hit him. again.

"and let that be a lesson to you, hiccup, boy," he growled, "do not disrespect your superiors." and his parents stumbled out of the room into the carriage waiting outside.

breeze lay on the cold tiled floor for a few more moments. he refused to cry. that would only satisfy his parents even more greatly. he stood on shaky legs and raised his long fingers to his cheek. he was not bleeding. thank goodness - he could not face fei bleeding. she would only request a detailed account of what had happened.