Fountains of Fire

I

I was born into a little family on the outskirts of the kingdom of Regalis, on the continent of Faegon, not even four years after the completion of the Great War. After a four decades long battle between the spiritualists and the soldiers of Regalis and the surrounding villages, the end was a cause for great joy and celebration. However, entire villages and bloodlines were destroyed, so walls began to be built to separate the royal family from the commoners once more. It was believed that the royal family did not want to protect themselves from an invasion again, but rather to keep the eyesore that was the totaled villages out of their view. Nobody born outside of those newly raised kingdom walls lived past the age of thirty-five, but with terrifying creatures crawling in the night, royal guards constantly scanning the villages for any sign of insubordination during the daytime, and the lack of medicinal aid from larger villages, that was unsurprising.

 My mother met my father when she was the mere age of fourteen, and he was a twenty-two year old soldier fighting for the side of the spiritualists. He was believed to be a direct descendant of Lea of the Light by his mother, the best secret keeper on the continent. They didn't marry for another two years, which was rare considering the short lifespans. My mother longed to marry for love, but my father was becoming more and more desperate for a son.

 My mother loved my father with a reckless blaze, and my father loved her with the impact of a drop of rainwater in a flood.

 Shortly after they were wedded, my mother learned she was pregnant. She was hoping for a daughter, but my father hoped for a son. There is a legend in our now forbidden mythology that says if one has a first born daughter, good fortune and a long life will be blessed upon the parents. But under King Wren and the entire royal family of Regalis, any blessings bestowed upon the family by Fara of Fortune and other goddesses are seen as invalid and illegitimate.

 In my case, Wren was wrong.

 With my mother's passion and my father's rumored family tree, my best friend Halia and I used to joke about how I had been gifted the mythed ability to create and control an inferno by Lea of the Light herself. When I was just a child, throwing normal tantrums when things didn't go my way, I would often get noticeable red cloudy vision, as if a crimson mist had been placed over my eyes. I remember my father beginning to panic, but he was able to convince himself and me that it must have just been a trick of the light.

 On the day of my sixteenth birthday, my mother and father told me they were expecting another baby. My father had already been hoping for a boy, but had now convinced my mother to do the same after realizing that I wouldn't inherit anything my parents would leave behind. And if I married, the family name ended with me. If they finally did have a son, I might only be permitted to stay on our land if we were on good terms at the time of our parents' passing. If not, it wouldn't be criminal for him to kick me out and send me out on my own.

 Being the fan of excitement my mother is, she wished to wait until she gave birth to find out the gender of my sibling. My father, being the head of the house, made her go to our local medicine house in the village to find out.

 The visit with Madame Heather proved to be successful, as my mother learned she was at last pregnant with a son to inherit the land, the family name, and any and all savings left behind. I was thrilled for my mother, and for her to know that our family would not be forgotten after all. I really was. But as the days passed, the realization that I was most likely going to have to leave the home I grew up in, I began to panic; good memories and bad. I was angry with my parents. I had loved them as a child. They were my parents after all. And I'm starting to realize that maybe that's all I ever wanted them to be.