42 Isaac

The Forest of Despair was a forest that defied borders. It was a forest divided by a big nameless river separating the human realm and the demon realm. Both realms share the benefits of the river from opposing sides and so it was determined that the border between them should be the river. However, the Forest of Despair was not included in the divide. Since both the demons and the humans could not conquer the forest of despair without sacrificing precious resources and soldiers.

There was also a kingdom close to the Forest of Despair a long time ago. It was a kingdom that lived in the colder north that barely escapes the demon realm. In a way, they became the frontier kingdom that defended the human realm from invasion. However, the demons did not even need to make their move on that kingdom as that kingdom was destroyed by internal conflict first before monsters from the forest invaded them. It is still under debate whether the attack was orchestrated by the demons but debating about it would do no good to the salvation of the kingdom or the rebuilding of it. It was deemed that the kingdom was unsalvageable, so the human realm gave up on it. The ruins of that kingdom still lay in that place.

Isaac, the man haunted by tremendous frost and chill, was a noble of that kingdom. It was a long time ago, yet he still lived to this day fighting his fate. He was tortured by this chill since young and have caused grief wherever he went. He was no ordinary noble as well. Hiding a secret, that he chose to forever bear until his body gives up and he dies. He chose to live through the torture and remember his sins. He was Isaac von Quilo, prince of the Kingdom of Frass. When he was born, he already emitted a cold and chilling aura which killed his mother after giving birth to him. No one blamed him or even knew that it was him that killed his mother. And even until he grew big enough to rule a territory under the kingdom, there were no one who suspected his chilling aura. How this happened was because of their own natural environment. The cold has made the people of Frass to be indifferent to the cold so when they felt the chills, it just reminded them that they had to work harder in keeping themselves warmer. Nothing threatening enough to warrant Isaac being disdained and cast aside.

Isaac was assigned exactly to the place where the party that wanted to relocate wanted to move to. However, he was part of the people who did not wish to abandon the more important castle in the capital because of the significance it represented as the security of the Kingdom and so he was torn. However, war did not allow for hesitation and Isaac was dragged into the battle for capturing the traitors only if they did not resist and by that time, resistance was already growing. He also found out that the rebels have resorted to raiding villages that showed support to the faction that wanted to stay and fight to the death. Pillaging them and razing villages after letting the soldiers loot and ****. It was chaos. Isaac was so brokenhearted by the fact that these people were the ones he was protecting, that at the end of the day, they still died because of a problem that could have been solved with words. He personally witnessed one day a raiding of a village near the territory that he oversaw, he was on his way to tell them to be wary of the rebels. Only to see people he knew, participating in the raid. People who he greeted from time to time at the stalls of his territory. The butcher, the hunter, the tavern master. They were people from his own territory, raiding other villages. He was so shocked that his mind went blank and he felt that anger, could not be contained anymore. However, sentiments kept running inside his head, making him remember them as the gentle people that he protected personally. The images in his mind kept showing him the gentle side and the cruel side and was confused. That was the last straw.

Isaac remained in his position while his personal knights awaited his orders. Seeing as he was not moving, they also kept silent. Most of them shaking their heads as they also knew the people leading the attack. They were all friends from the same territory under Isaac, and the neighboring village was a place that they also visited from time to time when they patrolled. It was heartbreaking to them, but they were knights. When and if their lord ordered them to move and kill the raiders, they would move, if ordered to kill the villagers they would move. They were that loyal to a fault. However, they did not know that at that time, Isaac had already broken. The magic energy that he had not agitated for more than 20 years in his life had now been stimulated by anger. No one could distinguish this change in him instantly as they were not used to detecting magic energy. They fought what they faced in front of them, not the invisible wind. And so, Isaac's wrath raged and boiled to the point of no return in that place.

*boom*