|BROKEN FAITH| The new World

Lucifer Hawkins:

I hate birthdays.

I groan as I get up from my bed and put on my slippers as I drink the fresh tea that was prepared on my nightstand. Looking outside my window I see the cheerful city of Vander going about their day. I hear a knock on my door as a maid enters my room, she bows her head down before speaking, “Good morning lord Lucifer. Happy birthday. Your bath has been prepared. Today his Majesty has sent for you to wear the ceremonial suit.”, “Thank you Carla” I replied with a hint of weariness and worry. Something such as a birthday should be a celebration but it is instead used as a formality for politicians with nobles. It had been this way for as long as I can remember, the inevitable hours which crept ahead had me longing for simpler pleasures. As I bathed I reached out my hand to perform a weak incantation to swirl some water into a ball and levitate it a few feet above the rest of the bath, it quickly fell as I splashed the water in frustration. Dammit, I thought to myself I am pathetic, performing an incantation was like flexing an imaginary muscle one I still had yet to master despite my years of training. Magic was something that was expected of someone with my lineage. My father wielded the power of water with ease as my ancestors had the power flowing through their bloodline like a river. I felt like a small trickle compared to the greatness of that. “Lord Lucifer? Are you ready” Calra’s voice called out from the other side. “Yes Calra I will be out shortly” I replied with my initial frustration somewhat resonating in my voice. I calmed myself as I realized this was not a day where I could waste being frustrated, I needed to present myself with confidence and poise to uphold the image of my name. I finished dressing, making sure to perfect every detail of the blue and black ceremonial suit as I tied back my shoulder length blonde hair. I let my bangs cover my forehead as I put on my family royal necklace, the necklace was made of gold with the pendant bearing the family’s royal crest. The pedant was a large letter of gold, “H” placed on a solid blue gem, for the first initial of “Hawkins’ ′ the name of the royal lineage. From the sides of the “H” hawks wings were outreached on each side made of gold as the rest of the jem was outlined with small engravings of the sea. The crest was recognizable to anyone inside of the kingdom as well as throughout the world. I put in my contacts as I walked outside of my chambers to the grand ballroom, the weight of the necklace on my chest reminding me of the burden that my name carries. “Lord Lucifer,” the castle’s guard said in a bow as I passed by, their calm and composed demeanor filling me with assurance of their strength. I enter the ballroom to see grand decorations of gold and blue colors on the carpets and drapes. The tables were filled with exotic foods as banners of my family’s crest hung from the roof. The noblemen and women of my country socializing with drinks in their hands, they each bowed and expressed a happy birthday towards me. It was obvious they were doing formalities but I still smiled and thanked each one of them. My father had always expressed how important it was to maintain a good relationship with the nobles, for their loyalty was often fickle and could be swayed by power and opportunity. The musicians played a soft and quiet melody as I made my way through the crowd of well-wishes until I felt a tap on my shoulder. “Happy birthday Luci!”, I turned around to see my best friend Sir Valcan standing there with a warm smile. “Vulcan!” I said as I hugged him, “How are you? I haven’t seen you in months!”, “Yea sorry, my father had to aid the Eastern Conflict by the border,” he said while smiling. I looked at my friend and examined how he had changed. He was wearing a dark blue suit to compliment his dark blue slicked-back hair, his iris a bright orange color. “Woah, you finally found out your affinity?” I said to him in reference to his eye color. The eye color corresponded to what affinity you possessed, a Flame affinity user like him would have bright orange color eyes to represent the heat of flames. Water affinity users such as my father had bright blue color eyes to represent the calmness of water. “Yep” Vulcan said as he produced a small flame in his palm “I awakened last month”. “To think that you’re already 14, you’re so lucky,” he said as he extinguished the flame in his palm, “I still have to wait a full year till I’m old enough to join the Royal Knights”. “Yep” I said while smiling, “But I don’t think I’ll be able to be much help since I haven’t awakened yet”. Vulcan looked at me with a puzzled expression as he got really close to my face to check my eyes, “But your iris is blue.” he said with the same expression. I frowned “What? Oh these? My father has ordered me to put in contacts to hide the fact that I haven’t awakened yet.” , “It would be quite shameful considering the average person awakens around 12.”. “But I do have a bit of control over water” I say as I pick up a drink from a waiter passing by. Water unlike fire could not be used without a source, you can create fire but you can’t create water. I used an incantation with my hand to levitate the liquid from the glass, I used it to form a quick “H” before I could no longer maintain its form.“Well it’s something” Vulcan said while looking at the water on the floor, “Yea right” I scoffed as I walked away. “See ya later” I said to him with a quick wave. I made my way up to the upper deck where my father was, there I saw my father King Hawkin. His presence was demanding of respect and authority as his imposing figure stood over the nobles, as I approached I could feel the weight of being in his presence more and more. “Lucifer,” he said to me as he turned, “How are you enjoying your birthday party?” His voice was laced with both power and expectation, his dark blue robe covering his body as his head sparkled with the gold of the crown, The crest of the “Hawkins” being right in the center. “It’s great father,” I said with an entail bow, “I appreciate the effort that everyone has gone through to make this day special.”. My father nodded, “Remember you carry a great responsibility because you are my son.”, he raised his hand out of his robe and cleared his throat for the guests. “Today we are here to celebrate the future of this Kingdom, My son Lucifer Hawkin” his voice boomed loudly with the presence of a King. The nobles fell silent as they heard the King speak, “He will be joining the Royal Knights this fall to serve under me, he will continue the legacy of Hawkin, he will continue the Legacy of this Kingdom!”, the nobles cheered as they all toasted to this statement. My father then looked at me before walking off and said in a quieter tone, “Don’t disappoint our name”. Damnit, would I ever be able to live up to my fathers expectations at this point. I still haven’t awakened despite being 14, there’s a chance I will be shackled to this low level usage forever. In thought I walked out to the balcony, I gazed up at the night sky while leaning on the railing. The night sky had always felt familiar. After training I would regularly go outside to cool off, my talent had always been none as I felt the disappointment of everyone waying down on me. “Lucifer Hawkin”, I turned around to see a man in the dark. He wore a black cloak which was hidden by the darkness of night. His presence was alarming as I felt nothing but killing intent from his demeanor. I felt a sweat drop down my forehead as I asked “Who are you?”. He didn’t answer as he slowly approached me, “Don’t come closer”, I held out my hand to summon a small ball of water from a nearby source. Seeing the water form in my palm he looked confused and stopped in his tracks. “Too soon huh?” the cloaked man said as he vanished in a blink. What the hell was that ? I need to warn a guard, I need to tell Father. The fear I felt building up within myself as I started to run away from the balcony, before I could enter the ballroom a huge gust of air knocked me back towards the railing. I felt the air leave my lungs as my back was thrust onto the hard stone of the railing. Looking up I saw the room I had tried to enter in a flaming frenzie, the structure on the inside bearing down as rubble fell from all over. I looked down to see my clothes had holes burned in them from the impact of the explosion, my face and arms bleeding from the glass shards which were projectiles because of the force. As my own blood started to trickle to the ground my body began to ache all over, fueled by nothing more than my own adrenaline I mustered the strength to run back into what was left of the ballroom. I saw the after effects of the explosion as I ran through the corpses of nobles trying to find my father hoping that he was alive. There I saw a body, this one was different from the other nobles, it was Valcan. The same Valcan that I had named my best friend was sitting there with his lower half missing and his body burned. “LORD LUCIFER!” I heard the voice of one of my father’s royal Knights, his armor was dented as his helmet was off. “Get behind me I will protect you.”, I did as I was told, “What the hell is going on?!” I asked while getting behind him, The knight gritted his teeth, his blue eyes glowing as he used his affinity to put out the fires. “I don’t know,” he replied. A hooded figure appeared in front of us. It wore the same black robes but looked shorter than the man I had met earlier.“Lucifer?” the figure said in a feminine voice, the Knight in front of me got in a battle stance and unsheathed his sword “YOU BITCH, DID YOU DO THIS?” he said as he pointed her sword at her. Silence. He raised his sword as he cast an incantation to surround the blade with violently swirling water. He dashed towards her, raising his sword overhead as he crashed down blade, the water plowing down the ground which it had hit leaving further damage. The woman in Cloak was silent as she stepped back, she had dogged the clearly lethal blow. The Knight didn’t waiver long as he gathered the water around the blade once more and thrust it sending a beam of water at a violent speed, the woman jumped above but the knight had anticipated this as he swung the blade up cutting the woman in half. As the halves fell they crumbled as they hit the ground, A technique! The body which the Knight had hit had just been a well molded stone. The real body appeared behind him as she outreached her hand performing an incantation. The ground spiked, piercing straight through the body of the Knight killing him instantly. What the hell, she killed a Royal Knight? My body freezes as I bask in fear, I see her Green eye glowing as she walks towards me, the other is covered by a patch. An Earth Affinity? I see the face of a young woman walking towards me. She walks up to me and raises her hand forward, Shit shit shit. Move please move, I say to my own body as I struggle to control it. She raises her hand with what I assume to be the same thing that killed the Knight. “Stop Becca,” a familiar voice says behind her, “What?” she says turning around “Our mission is to eliminate the Hawkins”. “No,” the figure behind her says “Our mission was to eliminate the Royal Family”, he holds up a crown. That was the Royal Crown, that was the Crown of my Father. I grit my teeth,“There’s no way Father would lose to you.” I shout as I feel tears creeping up my eyes.. My father who was without a doubt one of the strongest Water affinity users in the World was just defeated by this ‘nobody’. The girl looks back at the man “Let me kill him, he is obviously the Prince”, “No, he is not a target.” the man says before vanishing, “Your lucky brat.” she extends her hand as I brace myself for what’s to come, I close my eyes and put my arms up. I wait and nothing happens. This feels different. Hesitantly, I open my eyes, Huh? Instead of being surrounded in the castle filled with flame and corpses I am greeted with none of that. What? Where am I? I say as I look around trying to process my situation. “Hello?” I say to make sense of this. “Hello?” I say a bit louder this time. The wind started to pick up as I heard nothing for a response.. Where the hell am I?.