Chapter 1 - Hero

"Find that madman at once! We can't allow him to cause havoc on this precious kingdom any longer! He has stooped so low as to kidnap the prince. We shall not rest until his head is presented upon our king!" said a bearded man with bronze armour who rode on his gallant steed. In his hand was a steel blade which looked to be able to cut whole buildings as if they were butter.

Behind their leader followed a group of other armoured men as they along with their leader rode their steeds while scouring the kingdom in search of the madman who dared to kidnap royalty itself.

News had spread that the prince of the wealthiest and most powerful kingdom in the entire world had been kidnapped by an insane man who had been on the run for quite a while. There were rumours that he was even involved with magic itself. The most forbidden power to ever be used by man.

Magic had almost brought the extinction of all creatures including humans, animals and plants. Not a single living thing would've survived the era of magic. However, with the combined power of 9 great kingdoms, that catastrophic event was prevented.

Each of the 9 kingdoms enforced a strict ban on use of magic no matter the type or reasoning for it. That law was passed over 200 years ago and yet, there is rumour that a person still exists which has control over that forbidden power.

That person was currently holding the most influential figure of the next generation captive. The only question was why. It didn't make sense as to why someone would try to kidnap the prince, let alone be able to do so in the first place. And yet, that same situation was playing out.

"W-what do you want from me? I-I'll have you know that I'm the prince of this kingdom. When my parents find you, you'll be executed!" a small child yelled out while stuttering in fear.

"Don't you think I know that? That's why I'm trying to do this as quickly as possible!" a grumpy old man in a lab coat which looked to be shrivelled from not eating in days replied to the child as he sweat while working with potions.

"Well, whatever you're doing isn't going to save you from your inevitable fate. You'll end up dying anyway. That's what you get for kidnapping an important figure such as myself," the child told the old man.

While the child was speaking, the old man looked to be too distracted by whatever he was working on for himself. Right as the purple liquid passed through the many tubes and entered the pear shaped capsule, the old man's face lit up in joy. However, his expression quickly changed to that of fear as he realized his fatal flaw.

"I have to do it quickly, I can't allow 200 years of work to go to waste!'' The man yelled out in stress as he quickly chanted something which caused a large neon green magic circle to appear in front of him. In doing so, the potion glass capsule which he had worked so hard on turned into a small plastic capsule which resembled that of medicine pills which was given to the sick.

"Perfect! Giving him a liquid would be too risky as if it were to spill, the guards would know about it, let alone HIM. However, in this state, they'll never know what happened to him," the old man said with an evil grin.

Just as he said those words, loud banging came from the door. There could only be one group of people who would be knocking that loud at a door. It was the royal guards and they had finally found the hiding place of the madman.

"You see geezer! It's over for you now," said the child as he smiled in arrogance.

"Yes, I understand. I'm glad though. My death won't be in vain!" the old man yelled out before quickly rushing to back the steel door up with his tables which he placed his experiments on so that he could buy himself a little more time.

"We're almost there. If there's anyone watching over me, please grant me a few more minutes," said the old madman as he created a red magic circle on the ground which he pushed all his books and other materials into.

Once he was finished doing that, the old man quickly rushed towards the child and placed the pill-like capsule into the young prince's mouth and made sure he swallowed it.

"What did you do to me?!" the prince demanded.

After completing all his tasks, the old man laid on the back of the table and used his body as the last material to try to hold off the guards a little longer.

"I've done my job. I hope all of you are satisfied," said the old man as he pulled a cigarette from his lab coat and lit himself a cigarette.

"You know kid, you're not such a bad person. I mean, no one is. It's just what they're forced to become by the people around them that determines what they're judged to become. Of course, sometimes people can also be judged wrongfully. They can end up getting killed for a crime they didn't commit," the old man began to speak nonsense in his last moments.

"I'm getting off track, sorry. There's one last thing I should tell you before I die," the old man said, which was replied with a smug look by the prince.

"Do you know why people have heroes?"

"It is neither because that person is good or bad. It isn't because they are kind or evil."

"There is no moral aspect to heroes. They can kill as many people as they want but will always be forgiven."

"The reason heroes exist is because they are unquestionably the strongest to ever live."

"So tell me kid, what do you think would happen if a hero was to turn against the very people that support him?" the old man asked the kid as he stabbed himself with a knife while blood gushed out of his mouth.

After saying those words, the old man broke into an evil and sadistic laughter. Seeing a man take his own life in such a manner brought disgust and fear into the prince unlike he had ever seen or thought to have existed. As the prince cried in fear, his mental fortitude broke and in turn passed out in that very moment.

The madman neither died with a smile or frown. He died with an evil grin on his face which even after death remained.

Truly a fitting end.

...

*Bang*

With a final kick, the guards managed to break into the warehouse where the madman was already dead and the prince was unconscious. Seeing this, the leader of the royal guards quickly got off his steed and rushed to the prince's aid. At first he tried to give the child a little nudge to try to wake him up, but when that failed, he realized what he had to do.

With conviction in his eyes, he quickly rode on his horse and directed his steed with his right hand while carrying the child with his left. His loyalty to the kingdom and the royal family was immeasurable. As such, that was the reason he was the captain of the royal guards.

After knocking over people, tables and chairs which belonged to stores, and many other things, the royal guards had managed to arrive at the kingdom's castle as fast as they possibly could.

At the front door were the king and queen of the richest kingdom in distress. However, at the sight of their only child back home, they calmed down. Even so, the expression on the face of the captain of the royal guards said otherwise.

"Your majesty, please move aside. I don't have time to explain," the captain said as his facial expression morphed to that of a great warrior.

Even though saying those words would've been an offence which would land a person a permanent sentence to prison or execution, both the king and queen knew that the captain could be trusted and he probably had a good reason for what he was doing.

As such, instead of the subjects moving away to create a path for the king and queen, the royal members were the ones to create a path. As was the influence the captain of the royal guards had.

Once being allowed to enter the castle, the captain quickly rushed up the stairs and climbed up to the 3rd floor of the castle which housed the royal family's doctor.

Without wasting a second, the captain rushed inside the room to which the doctor was inside. Of course, the doctor, who had simply been reading a book, had no idea what had happened.

"Doctor, the prince isn't waking up. I brought him to you since you're the only one who can help him," the captain said in distress. Hearing the news shocked the doctor but also the prince's parents, who were behind the captain.

"What are you waiting for, lay the boy on the bed instantly!" the doctor yelled as he searched for his tools.

...

"After doing an extensive examination on the prince, I found that there's nothing wrong with his body. As for his mental fortitude though..." the doctor began to speak before cutting himself off.

"Captain, where did you find the prince?" the doctor asked.

"We had found him in the warehouse which that madman had taken him. When he got there, that old man had already taken his own life and the prince had been knocked out," the captain replied.

"I get it now. Well, the boy will be back to being as good as new once he wakes up. He must be traumatized after seeing someone take their own life. Do whatever you can to make sure he forgets about what took place today.. We cannot allow the royal family's child to face hardship!'' The doctor told both the captain and the prince's parents before forcing them to exit so that the prince could get some rest.