Forbidden Love

Chapter 18: Realization

"I'm not lying father." Callen says and the king looks down then up shaking his head.

"Really?" The King says "your friend says otherwise." 

"James?" Callen says surprised as James steps out of the shadows. He should of never have told James about him and Aystria in the first place.

"Callen I'm sorry." He says then a guard grabs him and he tries to get out of his hold. 

"Why are you doing this!" Callen asked as the guards held him than Andrew and Roy come in. 

"To protect our group from the real villain." James says and Callen shakes his head.

"No James, this whole kingdom is the real villain. And you just got yourself into it." He says to him than he looks at his father. 

"And you father…. you were never fit to be our king, not in this realm and not in any realm."

"And you were never fit to be my son." He tells Callen who's facial expression fades into sadness. 

"Then you were never fit to be my father. You think this will change something…. it won't because I can promise you….this war didn't end, it's only just begun." Callen says and he glares at his father. 

"Take him away." The king says coldly, than he looks down once his son is taken away stepping out of the room as his eyes start to water from his son. 

"James, why did the king lock up Callen?" Andrew asked and James walks out of the room ignoring them. 

"James!" Roy yells as he continues to walk away and they chase after him. 

"Please answer us." Andrew tries to convince him and he grabs his arm making James face them finally. 

As they look at James they notice that he has a sad expression just as the King did. Then he looks away from them as his eyes water. 

"James what happened?" Andrew asked him and he looked up again at them. 

"Callen has fallen in love with Aystria." James tells them and Roy signs but Andrew is confused. 

"What does that mean?" He asked James

"It means he broke the one and only rule." Roy explains "do not fall in love with the Villain no matter what your heart says. Or your consequence will be death." 

"What a stupid rule." Andrew suddenly says to them.

"Not stupid it us meant to protect us, our Kingdom. The Dark Realm is the Villain not us." James says and Andrew shakes his head walking away. "Where are you going?" 

"I'm retiring from being a Hero." He says and James has a shocked face and Roy just nods. 

"What!? Why?" 

"Because I don't want to be apart of this. Not when it includes ome of our own dying for a stupid reason." Andrew answers and James snorts. 

"You can't just walk away from this group. You made an oath a promise to protect and defend our Kingdom." James says and Andrew shakes his head. 

"Yeah but when I first started I wanted to make a difference……by helping people. That is one reason why I joined and the second one is because Callen believed in me when you two didn't and now……he is going away and I have no reason to be here. Ever since I joined I was dragged into a competition, rivalry, a war and now I am dragged into seeing the one person I trusted die. Not once have I been able to help people." 

"Andrew you can't just go. Your throwing away your life.....your throwing away your only way to be what you want to be." James tries to convince him. 

"The only thing I wanted to be was myself. Even if I was skinny and had zero I still wanted to make a difference. I didn't want to be a hero to fight the Villains, I wanted to be a hero to help people just like we're supposed to." Andrew says and James shakes his head. He just started, he can't just leave. 

"Roy, back me up here please." He tells him but Roy looks down, not being able to say anything. "Roy?" 

He looks up at James with a sad expression. And James has a surprised face. 

"He's right James, this isn't fair to Callen." Roy says and James rubs his temples in frustration. 

"But it's the rules Roy!" He yells and Roy looks down. "The rules have been here for over a decade. When you both first started you knew what you were getting into." He tells them as Andrew and Roy glance at each other. 

"We did know but now we want out of it for good." Roy says and Andrew nods. 

"So I guess this is it." James tells them. "This is it for the Light Warriors." 

"Yes it is my friend." Roy says grabbing his shoulders. "We had a good run with you, with many adventures along the way. But now is the time for it to end. I wish you good luck James." 

James nods at Roy then both Andrew and him undue their swords dropping them on the ground in front of James. They both smile at him until they turn walking away from their Kingdom and most importantly their duty. 

He looks down at their swords then back up trying to contain his tears. He usually doesn't cry at all even when certain things happen but this….this is different for him. 

After all this he will be alone and his whole purpose of protecting his home with the people he cares about will have no meaning to him anymore. As the sun rises through the windows, he notices that there is no beginning for him no matter what. He has always been a hero to the best of his abilities. His sadness starts to cloud him in the hallway almost surrounding him like a bubble about to pop. 

His tears start to fall rapidly as he realizes Aystria was right.....their realm really is the Villain of this story.