“Again.”, Lucian called out, his breath laboring slightly from exhaustion.


”No.”, replied the knight as he took one glance over the young man and decided that enough was enough.


“Again!”


“No, we been at this for hours and you are going over your limits. Cease now and rest, Lucian.” As the knight turned around and started to head back towards the temple, Lucian gripped tightly around his sword's hilt and angrily charged towards him. Sensing the foolishness in the boy, he didn't bother to confront him until he was sure that the blade was coming down on him before parrying it and tripping him, causing him to land face first on the ground. “Letting your emotions get the best you will cause your demise, son.” Raeguel commented once his own sword was inches from his child's throat. They had been training in the farmlands as the knight believed that it was a place free of interruptions from his mother's clergy. Ever since they begun training, he couldn't so much as touch the boy without hearing collective grasps from everyone. It really did not help that he was the favored among them due to him being a male Rosenite and the thought of them rather seeing him cuddled and pampered than to be trained thoroughly bothered not only him, but surprising his son as well. Lucian rose up slowly and dusted himself off as he heard more of his father's words.


“Focus on controlling yourself, and also its rude to attack from behind. A real knight will show mercy, even if his opponent is not worthy in his eyes of it. Only kill when absolutely needed, such as in war or when your life or that of another is in jeopardy.”


He might have gone against such morals in his lifetime before, but Raeguel was determined to see that his own blood wouldn't make the very mistakes he had made. Lucian silently nodded as his father continued on his way back. “We will practice some more tomorrow, for now you should rest and get ready for your lessons later on.” Although Lucian's eye sparkled at the thought of more training to be done, he loathed having to deal with his lessons. To him, it was a waste of time since he could be using those precious moments to be getting better at his swordsmanship. With a defeated sigh, he sheathed his sword and walked over to one of the nearest orchards and picked from it a green apple, It was his favorite. Despite feeling worn down and bruised up from head to toe, he was mentally counting the seconds down until the next day as he leaned back against the tree and took a big bite of the apple.


“Wondered where I had slipped up this time”, he chastised himself before taking another bite. Granted, his father had several lifetimes of experience over him, but still, even he had to make a mistake. A simple, unrecognizable-to-most one, but one nonetheless. He had to watch him better, observe his style and technique and with a great deal of hope and luck, finally spot such a weakness. He let their session play out in his head over and over again, seeking it out. He would have to get better, for his mother, sister and his astonishing amount of other siblings that he hadn't come to full terms with yet. And especially for his father.

Watching her children always made the Goddess happy. There was some part of her that never wanted to stop but her duties often pulled her away from all of them and made her focus on Revaliir. Her biggest focus were the children from DaeLuin and how they were adjusting. In her heart she knew that their Angela had always been a bit more… not cautious. It was more like she was a more wild flame compared to the gentle nature she had. 

Angela watched Lucian and his swordplay from her throne room after everyone left. The child had rage built up in him and the red head knew deep down it was because of the way her people treated him. It was frustrating being one of the male children of the large clan and Angela knew that but there was no way to alleviate it.

After his father had left, the goddess appeared by her son and gave him a smile. “You’ll find it eventually. We all make mistakes but your father is just doing his best for you. It might just take a while to figure him out.” She reached over and combed his white hair. “And I’ll try to get the staff to stop gawking at you I know how you feel about it. You are just a very handsome boy and one of my heirs.” She gave him a smile. “I’ll set Iva loose in their rooms if they make it too unbearable.”

She pressed her lips to his cheek. “You’ve grown so tall since the last time I took a good look at you.” She laughed. “I must be blind.”

This wouldn’t have been the first time he pushed himself so hard; each session that Lucian and his father would have would often end up like this. He didn’t want to be weak, he wanted to be strong like the daywalker, but he was often warned against making it a sole priority. If nothing else, he should seek out strength to protect those around him and to be true to himself. He didn’t want to be a pampered prince, he something a bit more than that. Not to mention that he felt like he had to prove to himself that he was capable of it, even at the expense of his health. Fortunately for the young one, such things didn’t plague him for too long and the more he rested and ate his fruit, the sooner his energy was returning. Despite the time, he would likely skip out on his lessons for today and continue from where he left off by himself.

Of course he wouldn’t be completely alone, no, not in these lands that belonged to his mother and sure enough she came out from the blue once his father ventured off. “If I can figure out when he makes his, then I can learn how to eventually best him “, he said, taking a quick bite from the apple and chewed on it. If he could do that, there would be no telling what he could achieve. The thought of the staff came to mind and he immediately groaned to himself. “Half of them want to ogle me because of that, and the other half fear me because they think I am my father’s child and will snap them in half or something.” He knew that they likely still didn’t trust him despite the fact that Nemesis was no more. His father had committed many crimes over several lifetimes and he often wondered if he would ever go down a similar path one day. For his father,all it took was one push to drive him down that dark road.

“Do as you wish with them, Mother. I just try and ignore them for the time being. Sometimes I think Nerezza is lucky not to be placed in the situation I am.” As much attention as his sister could stir for herself, he didn’t have to do much to gain it, good or bad. All he had to do was just show up and the reactions would come in drones. “Well, you do keep busy these days. I find it a pain being an heir, couldn’t begin to imagine what you have to be going through with your position.”

Angela felt the rush every time she seen her youngest son push himself. He was her baby. Well in a way. Nerezza and him were both her babies back on the DaeLuin Plane. Now they had younger siblings but she couldn't shake that side of her that wanted to bolt and protect them both. That Angela was fierce even more so than the Fertility Goddess herself. That mother knew loss even greater than her own.

A few Rosenite words left her lips as she laughed. "Aaryona said that when she first started to learn the sword from her father. Unlike your father Marius was a farmer before the vampires came to take him away. Harkon the ruler of the Draconis clan before him trained him. By that right Aaryona learned the sword as well. It comes all in good time. I don't think Aaryona ever caught a weakness in her father's walls but he taught her all she knows. She led her armies and she fought mighty battles before you were even thought of."

Wrapping her arms around her child she smiled at him and kissed his cheek. "I think what you need is someone who is not afraid of you. Someone who will stand by you and not care what others think or what your bloodline is. I keep tabs on all of my children. Your sister seems to have her eyes set on a particular teacher of hers." She brushed his hair with her fingertips. "Don't let the staff bother you. Ignore them, its what I do when I want to be mortal for a moment.  I close myself off in my sanctuary and just be normal."

For a moment she paused and a smirk came to her face. "I have an idea. Just for you." She held out her hand. "I will show you my special place where no one but me and now YOU can go. When you are in need of being in deep thought. When you want to practice without prying eyes, even mine, you can go to this place. It's here in this temple." She held out her hand. "As busy as I am, I have to find time to slip away once in a while. Your littlest sister Iva drives me crazy."

It was quite often that he pondered about his father’s life before he changed. While it was known that Raeguel had been a newly made knight and was from a lesser noble house, the daywalker kept that part of his life away from the rest of them. Especially his own son. Had it been that bad, that terrible that he would rather chose to ignore it? Lucian couldn’t complain about his life- he had his parent’s love, a twin sister that could be a pain at times but one that he still loved and a nation size of other siblings. One day he hoped that he would learn of the elder’s past and perhaps that would help to have him understand himself a little bit more.

Blinking at her tale, he had a somewhat clear understanding of how his position was alike to Aaryona, and yet it differed. He wasn’t sure if she wanted to surpass her father, but he damn sure wanted to with his own. He didn’t know why he felt that way; sure he wanted to be strong to protect everything that was near and dear to him, but there was something else that urged him, that fueled him to desire to be stronger than even Father. It was the one thing he wouldn’t let go with ease. “The one problem I see with that is that her father might have taught her everything she knew, but he probably did not teach her everything he knew.” His assumption to the matter was that it was smarter to keep the student in some darkness otherwise they would know exactly how to take down their master. Again, he compared his sister’s and his situations. His father would be a fool to teach him everything, knowing that his successor wanted to be over him.

He stood as his mother embraced him and Lucian couldn’t help but to roll his eyes slightly when she spoke of him needing someone.. “I suppose.” While that was likely the furthest thing in his mind, Lucian wasn’t about to argue the matter. As for Nerezza, he knew what she was up to with that teacher, Kaiser was it? He was her twin, so it made it that much more harder to hide it from him. “I thought you and father were against anything between them, other than a professional relationship.” Honestly, as long as the man took care of his sister and treated her right, he didn’t care too much about the relationship. If things got rocky though, that’s when he would have been busting heads. “I do, but eventually it does get to be a bother”, he sighed, scratching his head. “They behave like I’m the messiah or something sometimes. Other times, I’m the devil to others.”

He wished he was as lucky as his mother was sometimes; she could hid and not be found if she wished it so. Lucian, on the other hand, wasn’t nearly as such. When she planted a smile on her face, he couldn’t help but to mentally groan. Oh boy, here we go…

What was she scenting now?

Taking her hand, he looked at her confused the more she spoke about this special place of hers. Given her powers, he should have expected that she had something like that up her sleeve. Either way, it sounded too promising to pass up. A simple nod went out towards her in accepting the offer. His curiosity was high and wanting to explore this mystery area. 

The goddess thought long and hard for a moment on how to answer. "Marius never was a man to reveal everything. You get a chance that Aaryona won't. I haven't felt Marius's life force here which means that DaeLuin must have sucked him and Lilith in. We're all she has now. While you still have Reaguel Aaryona has to find something else. Aaryona never wanted to learn everything her father knew anyways but she strives to achieve all that he had and more. She is much younger than her father was. Reaguel and Marius are around the same age I think. That puts both your sister and yourself in a disadvantage. Old ones are more set in their ways than young ones." She was fast as she took up her son's hands and put them in a dancing step.

"A ballroom dance for example." She led him around. "To an expert will never be messed up but many once in a hundred dances. But to a new hatchling." She tripped him up a bit. "It happens a lot more than we would like to admit. You are a hatchling and your father the expert. You will get there but only in time. There's no point in getting upset and breaking your body." She let him go and stroked back his white hair. "You'll get there. You'll become everything your father is and more. I've seen it in my dreams for you. When you were in my womb before I knew you were Lucian and Nerezza. My quiet child of the night hiding behind the sorceress." She gave him a smile. "I've seen great things for you indeed."

Angela shrugged a bit and laughed. "I can't control what she does. I mean I could but let's be real she wouldn't be happy with me. While I don't want that for her she isn't going to do what I want nor what your father wants in the end. She is beginning to test out the waters in what she wants. If that is the road she wants to take so be it. That is the way I would be with you as well."

Taking his hand she brought him back inside the manor and to a locked room. "I will give you a key for this room. Only you and I can access it. Once you enter it locks until you come out. It is the ultimate sanctuary in here." She unlocked it and brought him in. It was an ordinary study of all things. She closed the door and smiled.

It wasn't something like what she would normally have. "I think the only other person I had in here for your cousin Rhea. I promptly kicked her out once I was done talking to her. Gods do what we do. There's enough room in here to read, study, sword play if you want." She moved about the old looking room and flipped through the books. "Nothing too spectacular. Like I said this is my sanctuary. This is my study and I am sharing it with you."

She pulled over a seat for him before falling in her chair at the chair. "Peace and quiet where no man, woman, or god forbid Iva can bother me. The perfect place." Grabbing a bottle of wine from her rack she popped the cork rather lazily and watched it fling itself onto the floor. "This is alright to drink I promise. I made it in my last batch of gifts for the family." She poured him a glass before getting herself one. "You can have any of the bottles but the ones made out of crystal. Lucian you must not drink those. I forbid it. They are made for the gods and you'll die from the berries in it. I can't have that now can I?"

Little by little, he was starting to understand what she was saying. That’s how their entire relationship had been like- he would feel as though she would dangle information over his head for a while, bit by bit she would lower it until he was able to grasp it. Lucian could really only humor and follow her lead at times like these, waiting and watching to see his mother’s point. To his knowledge, Marius was barely spoken of since they arrived to this world, and it only troubled him further that his sister was out there by her lonesome in unfamiliar territory. Still, he had been told it was by her choice so he could only believe that she knew what she was doing.

Before he knew it, his mother lead him in an entirely different way- a dance. He had loathed them since he was older enough to begin practice, but he masked away his dissatisfaction and went along with. Only once did he give her an annoyed look once she tripped him up during her lesson, but it eroded away rather quickly. “Waiting is a virtue that I had no patience for, no pun intended”, he replied once he was released. “I know I won’t be at his level any time soon, but I do want to get better faster it I have now. I want to be able to study an opponent like he does and follow through accordingly.” There was so much that he required to learn that it would feel as though it would be several lifetimes before he actually had it.

“Fortunately for Kaiser, you seem even more mild tempered now. Same for Father as well, or else one of you would be the death of him.” Likely neither of them wouldn’t have been fond of Nerezza getting friendly with her teacher, and though they couldn’t change her mind, they could have made it so that he would not have been found ever again. He shook his head and laughed, “Be that as it may, I doubt that you would let me live out the rest of my days as a hermit, mother. I can’t think you’d be that supportive.” Not that he wanted to be one anyway, they both knew that well enough.

His mother led him back inside and came towards an unfamiliar door. His green eyes looked in wonder at the key presented to him. Why hadn’t he heard of this room before? Surely he would have came across this particular door at some point; even if it was a secret, there would be no absolute way for anyone except her and the key bearer to get inside. As always, mother was full of surprises and as they ventured inside, he could tell that something was out of the ordinary in a seemingly ordinary study.

A place like this was perfect for him to get away from the rest of the world; not having to worry about countless eyes staring from afar and no pesky sisters to annoy him. It was his own little slice of heaven. He searched about, taking in everything when he heard the cork pop. “Are you sure?”, he asked, glancing at the wine in hand. Aside from a few sneaks, he never really drank wine before but if she said it was alright, then it was good enough for him. Swirling it a bit, he took in its scent before slowly allowing it to grace his lips. There was a bit of bitter aftertaste, but it was refreshing. Lucian sat down and nodded- he didn’t wish to see an early grave just because of a forbidden drink. Was this an early part of the mansion? I don’t think I’ve ever come across its door before.”