The Bastard’s Retribution

Chapter 1

The sun shone far too brightly for a day that felt distinctly like a funeral, casting a perfect, mocking blue sky over the city of Dagobah. Golden banners bearing the crest of a soaring hawk fluttered from every balcony to celebrate the Day of Resonance, which was universally recognized as the most critical moment in a young person’s life. It was the designated hour when they would finally touch the ancient Resonating Crystal to summon a Spirit Guardian, inextricably defining their magical power, their future career, and their social standing. For Victor Chapman, however, it was a day he had spent eighteen agonizing years dreading.

Instead of standing proudly alongside the other youths draped in fine silks and polished leather boots, Victor knelt at the very edge of the Great Square. He wore a rough sackcloth tunic that aggravated his skin, his long, matted hair framing a face severely bruised by a cruel parting gift his cousin Julian had delivered earlier that morning.

"Keep your head down, dog," a guard hissed, jabbing the blunt end of his spear into Victor's ribs as he warned that the noble family was about to address the crowd.

Biting his lip until the coppery taste of blood flooded his mouth, Victor peered up through his tangled hair to behold the leaders of House Vane standing upon the high stone podium like veritable gods. At the center stood Lady Bianca Vane, the sixty-year-old matriarch of the family, whose skin remained as smooth as polished marble even though her eyes were as sharp and unforgiving as shards of ice. Beside her loomed her favorite grandson, Julian, a tall and handsome youth who practically glowed with the arrogant confidence of someone who had never experienced a single day of hunger.

Stepping forward, Lady Bianca projected her magically amplified voice across the square so that every one of the thousands of gathered citizens could hear her cold, regal address.

"Citizens of Dagobah," she began, "today we celebrate the strength of our bloodlines and honor the spirits that protect our walls, but before we commence the ceremony, we must first perform a cleansing."

She extended a long, thin finger toward the edge of the square, aiming her condemning gesture directly at Victor.

"Victor Chapman," she announced, her tone dripping with absolute disgust. "He is the son of a traitor and the bastard of a woman who spat upon the Vane name before fleeing like a thief in the night. For eighteen years, we have shown him incredible mercy by feeding him and keeping a roof over his head, yet the blood of a dog can never be transmuted into the blood of a lion."

As the crowd began to murmur in agreement, Victor felt their collective stares piercing his skin like searing hot needles.

"As of this moment, regardless of what occurs today, Victor Chapman is officially stripped of his name and is no longer recognized as a member of House Vane or a citizen of this city," Bianca declared with absolute finality. "When the sun sets, he shall be cast out into the Grey Wastes to either survive or perish as the gods see fit."

The square instantly erupted, not with pleas for mercy, but with vicious jeers directed at the familial stain kneeling before them. A half-eaten apple soon struck the back of Victor's head to spray sticky juice across his neck, followed swiftly by a hurled stone and a heavy clump of mud.

When someone in the mob shouted for him to crawl, Julian leaned over the podium with a cruel smirk dancing upon his lips. "Crawl to the altar, bastard!" Julian bellowed over the noise. "Let’s see if the crystal even recognizes a beast like you."

The guards stepped aside to reveal a cleared path, though it was certainly not meant for walking. It was a treacherous trail of jagged cobblestones and crushed glass that had been secretly laid out specifically to torment him.

Kicking Victor sharply in the thigh, the guard commanded him to move forward.

Drawing a deep, steadying breath to calm the heart that hammered against his ribs like a trapped bird, Victor reluctantly dropped to his hands and knees. Every ensuing movement became a horrific struggle as the sun-scorched stones burned his skin and the hidden glass shards bit deeply into his palms, but he forced himself to crawl toward the center of the square where the massive, pulsating Resonating Crystal rested upon an obsidian pedestal.

Each torturous inch forward felt like a waking nightmare surrounded by the cruel laughter of noble children and the hateful sneers of wealthy merchants. Through the pain, he desperately clung to the memory of his mother’s face and the soft melodies she used to hum to him before the Vane family tore her away. Though his captors constantly told him she was a whore and a fleeing thief, his heart remembered that her eyes were not those of a criminal; rather, they were the eyes of a gentle woman who was utterly terrified of the ruthless people standing on that podium.

He was only halfway to the altar when a pair of polished, gold-trimmed boots abruptly blocked his path. Julian Vane had leaped down from the elevated stage to stand directly in Victor’s way, staring down at him as though examining a worthless pile of refuse.

"You’re moving too slowly, Victor," Julian whispered just loud enough for the closest bystanders to hear. "The crystal is waiting, so allow me to assist you."

Before Victor could even attempt to pull away, Julian raised his heavy boot and brought it down with devastating force upon Victor’s outstretched right hand. The sickening sound of snapping bone and grinding cartilage echoed harshly against the cobblestones as the heavy leather sole crushed his fingers.

A blinding white flash overtook Victor’s vision as a primal scream tore from his throat, though he managed to choke the sound back into a series of ragged, agonizing gasps. Julian made no effort to remove his foot, instead choosing to sadistically grind his heel deeper into the pulverized bones while twisting his weight into the injury.

"Oh, did that hurt?" Julian mocked in feigned innocence before projecting his voice to the amused audience. "Look at him, he is so pathetically weak that he cannot even handle a minor stumble!"

The crowd roared with laughter while Lady Bianca observed the torment from above with complete indifference, viewing this brutal display not as cruelty, but as the strict maintenance of the natural order.

Leaning down closer to his victim, Julian dropped his voice into a venomous hiss and demanded that Victor get up to perform the summoning. "I want everyone to witness exactly what kind of pathetic insect emerges from a soul as rotten as yours, which I wager will be nothing more than a cockroach or a lowly dung beetle."