Chapter 1: The Prince No One Claimed
The Kingdom of PASIL was a land of towering golden walls, emerald valleys, and rivers that shimmered beneath the morning sun. Merchants from distant kingdoms crossed dangerous deserts just to trade within its magnificent gates. Its soldiers were feared, its scholars admired, and its king... respected by many, but loved by few.
Upon the Ivory Throne sat King Dahasia IV, a ruler whose victories had expanded PASIL into the greatest kingdom in the region. Yet behind the grandeur of the palace lay secrets that could shake the kingdom itself.
One of those secrets lived in a small mud house near the western market.
Her name was Ruxt.
Years before, Ruxt had served in the royal palace. She was neither queen nor noblewoman but a beautiful concubine chosen to entertain the king. Though King Dahasia had shown her affection for a brief season, palace politics soon pushed her aside. When she became pregnant, the jealous queens spread cruel rumors, claiming she had been unfaithful.
Rather than defend her, the king remained silent.
Ruxt was banished from the palace before her child was born.
Months later, beneath a violent thunderstorm, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy.
She named him Lad.
"I don't care what the world calls you," she whispered while holding the newborn close. "You are born for greatness."
But greatness often begins in suffering.
Lad grew up without knowing luxury.
Their tiny home leaked whenever it rained. Some days they ate only dry bread and boiled roots. Ruxt worked endlessly washing clothes, grinding grain, and carrying water for wealthy families.
Lad helped however he could.
Every dawn he collected firewood from the nearby forest.
Every afternoon he sold fruits in the market.
Every evening he returned with bruises.
Not because of hard work...
Because of people.
"There goes the palace bastard!"
"The son of the discarded woman!"
"No father... no future!"
Children threw stones at him.
Adults laughed.
Some merchants refused to let him stand near their shops.
Yet Lad never answered with anger.
Ruxt had taught him something.
"A lion never argues with goats."
When Lad turned twelve, he asked the question that had haunted him for years.
"Mother... who is my father?"
Ruxt froze.
She looked toward the distant palace whose towers rose above the city like mountains.
Tears filled her eyes.
"Your father..." she whispered, "...is the King."
Lad laughed.
He thought she was joking.
But she wasn't.
She reached beneath the floorboards and removed a small wooden box.
Inside lay a silver pendant engraved with the royal crest of PASIL.
King Dahasia himself had given it to her years ago.
"It is the only proof I have."
Lad stared silently.
His heart pounded.
He...
A prince?
Impossible.
If it were true...
Why did they live like beggars?
Why had the king abandoned them?
Why had no one ever come?
Questions flooded his mind.
That night, he couldn't sleep.
He climbed the tallest hill overlooking PASIL.
The palace glowed brilliantly under the moonlight.
One day...
He clenched the pendant tightly.
"...I will walk through those gates."
Not as a servant.
Not as a beggar.
Not as a forgotten child.
But as someone no one could ever ignore again.
He did not know that destiny had already begun moving.
Far beyond the northern mountains, an ancient darkness had awakened.
And somewhere deep within the Forest of Shadows, an old blind sage whispered a prophecy:
"The crown shall reject the sons of queens... Yet the forgotten son shall save the kingdom."
The winds carried those words across the land.
Straight toward PASIL.
And toward a boy named Lad...
