Heir Of The Fallen Flame

The wind howled along the edge of the cliff, dragging cloaks and tugging loose strands of hair like it wanted to pull them all into the sea below.

Kael tasted blood.

It filled his mouth, slipping down his throat each time he tried to breathe. He coughed, and it splattered across the gray stone beneath him. His fingers scraped against the ground, searching for something, anything, to hold onto, but there was nothing except gravel and the boots of the boys surrounding him.

A sharp kick slammed into his ribs and Kael groaned as he folded in on himself.

“I asked you a question, orphan!” one of them said.

Ronan stood at the front, tall and broad-shouldered, his dark hair tied at the nape of his neck. He was the son of the most powerful mage in Astra and the dark look in his eyes mirrored his father’s.

Beside him was Darius, thinner, stood right in front of Kael, fist clenched and ready to punch. Behind them, leaning lazily against a jagged rock, was Silas, watching as if this were nothing more than entertainment.

Darius yanked Kael’s face up by his hair, fuming. His lip was split, his left eye swelling shut, but there was still fire in the one eye he could keep open.

“You filthy peasant.” Darius said, his fist tightening on Kael's hair, "You dare to report us to the council of mages? You have no use for your life, do you?”

Kael gritted his teeth, he might be an orphan, he might be the lowest of the lowest in the entire realm but he would never not fight back.

“Where is she?!”

Darius arched a questioning eyebrow, “Who?”

“Alia.” Kael said, “Where is she?!”

He's been laying low for years. He never spoke unless spoken to, never did anything to draw anyone's attention. He'd learned the hard way how cruel the realm was to people like him.

Magicless fool, they called him. In this cruel world, the only one who cared enough was Alia. He'd seen them drag her off to some place and she never returned. He knew they were keeping her but for what?

Silas chuckled in disbelief, “Ah, that maid girl?” He turned to face Kael, “You're doing this because of her?”

“I know you took her!” Kael said, blood seeping down his bursted lip. “I told the council because she never returned. Where did you take her?” He asked, almost in tears.

He hoped and prayed she was alive. She was the only thing close to family that he had and these cruel bastards took her.

Darius yanked Kael's head even higher, “You tried to taint my reputation because of a lowly maid?!”

Another kick. This one caught Kael in the stomach. He curled tighter, his body shaking.

Ronan exhales, “He's never going to learn.”

“Your father was being far too gracious letting the likes of him into the academy.” Silas turned to face Ronan, “What do you expect from a powerless commoner?”

His eyes landed on Kael, “And now he thinks he has the privilege to ask us questions.”

Kael spat out blood, staining Ronan's boots in the process.

Ronan glanced at his blood stained boots and then at Kael in silence.

“Do you have a death wish?!” Darius asked, fuming. “The disregard! Do you realise he is the head of the mages son?!”

Ronan raised his hand to stop Darius. He crouched in front of Kael, expression cold as usual as he gazed down at him.

“For a twink, you sure are brave.” Ronan said, earning laughter from his friend.

“Where is she?” Kael asked again.

“Why? Is she your lover?” Ronan asked.

Kael clenched his fist, she was more than that.

“I'll let this go if you just tell me where she is.”

Ronan chuckled, "You would let this go?” He glanced back at his friends, “Do you hear him?”

“I'm scared!” Darius mocked, laughing in Kael's face.

Silas pushed off the rock and walked closer, hands tucked behind his back. “Thirty times he begged the academy to take him in as a mage. Thirty times they said no. And yet, he challenges you.”

Darius tuts, “This is why you don't help commoners, I tell you.”

Ronan's dark eyes met Kael's, resting his forearms on his knees. “You should have stopped after the first ten.”

Kael met his gaze, his breathing unsteady.

“I thought about it,” he said. “But then I remembered… someone has to lower your standards.”

Ronan’s expression didn’t change, but his fist did. It struck Kael across the jaw, snapping his head to the side.

Kael’s vision blurred and the sky above him spun. He tried to push himself up, but his arms trembled and gave out beneath him.

Ronan and his friends have ever only picked on him since they were young. Kael had endured it, avoiding them wherever he could until now. He had nothing to lose, absolutely nothing.

“Why do you keep trying?” Darius asked, crouching beside him now. “You have no magic, no family, no reputation. Nothing. You're worse than a lowly servant and you're here fighting for a maid?”

Kael swallowed, tasting blood again.

“Then why… does it take three of you to beat me?” he managed.

Darius’s grin faded and Ronan stood.

“The girl is dead.” Ronan said, “She served her purpose.”

Kael's breath seized, “She…she what?”

Darius tuts, "Would have been nice if she was one of the pleasure women eh?” He shakes his head, “Way too feeble to handle three powerful mages.”

“YOU BLOODY BASTARDS!!”

Kael screamed at the top of his lungs, tears in his eyes. He stood on his feet with the last strength he had, making a run for Darius but ended up tripping over and falling back to the ground.

Darius burst into laughter and Silas chuckled in disbelief as Kael screamed and cried. How dare they? How dare these bastards touch her?!

She'd been nothing but a gentle soul. She's never hurt anyone and all she wanted was for him to be a mage like the rest of the trainees in the academy.

“How dare you?!” Kael cried, his breathing harsh and heart shattering. “She's done nothing wrong! She…she's done nothing wrong! How could you…”

“Because I can.” Ronan said coldly, his eyes meeting Kael's. “Because I can and nobody will question me. Nobody would ask me questions and nobody, not even you, can change the outcome of anything.”

“That is the difference between you and I.” He adds.

Kael glared at him, long and hard. “You will die by my hands.” He spat. “I promise you that.”

Ronan’s eyes hardened. “Pick him up.”

Darius and Silas grabbed Kael by the arms and hauled him to his feet.

Pain shot through his body, his legs barely held him, dragging against the ground as they pulled him toward the edge.

They stopped at the very edge. Loose stones crumbled beneath their feet, falling without a sound.

Kael glanced down at the sea below, there was no way he would survive a fall from here. His heart quickened but his eyes glared daggers at Ronan who stood in front of him.

“Any last words?” Darius asked.

“Yes,” Kael said quietly.

With what little strength he had left, he spat blood at him again.

Ronan shoved him off the cliff. The world vanished beneath Kael’s feet. The wind tore through his ears, breaking through the air in his lungs.

Kael thought of nothing and everything all at once. The academy gates closing in his face, the whispers, the laughter, the way people looked at him like he was nothing.

Maybe they were right. He'd been powerless and couldn't save Alia from those monsters. He couldn't save the one person that was his family…

Kael shuts his eyes, maybe he deserved this. His heart rate palpitated enough to stop working until he crashed down to the ground, his body shattering on impact.

Darius, Ronan and Silas watched as blood pooled from his body in disgust.

Darius chuckled, “Here I was thinking he would fly or something.”

Kael laid there, choking for his very last breath until he stopped moving.

Ronan turned on his back, walking away.

“We have training to get to.” He said quietly.

Kael’s eyes snapped open suddenly, enveloped in gold as bright as the sun. The air around him changed. The wind didn’t feel like wind anymore, it felt like it was pushing against something, bending around him.

A low hum filled his ears from within and his cracked bones mended in an instant, painfully.

The entire clif shook to its very foundation, causing the men to stop as they staggered for balance.

“What….” Darius started.

A blinding light burst from Kael’s body. Gold, bright as the sun, tore through the air and wrapped around him, coiling like something with a will of its own.

Kael hung in the air above the cliff, golden eyes staring at the trio with murderous intent.

Up on the academy rooftop, Lyra watched Kael in disbelief. She had been sitting in silence, watching as she often did. The cliff was far from the main grounds, but not beyond her sight. She had seen the whole situation, not in the slightest shocked by Ronan’s actions.

She hadn't moved until now. The light reached her even to the academy's grounds, drawing the attention of everyone.

Her eyes narrowed, her body going still.

“That’s…” she murmured. “Impossible…”

Above, the golden light twisted, pulsing with a rhythm that felt almost like a heartbeat.

Kael's golden eyes furrowed on Ronan. An inhumane voice echoed through the entire city.

“Son of Pelson! You are as good as dead.”