Stanson Sothros's life, in his own opinion, could almost be defined by the unearthly number of surprises he encountered and survived. Surprise seemed to follow him around wherever he went, adding tinges of both resignation and excitement.
Today seemed like another one of those days. If the voluntary surrender of a Lord's position wasn't enough, there was also a weird boy claiming that he was the son of the First Seat V. The former, as ridiculous and nonsensical as it was, could theoretically happen, but the latter? Not so much.
"Come on. If you don't believe me, just go and inform her that Nathan is here," the boy before him argued.
"I joined the Rune Arts Federation in the same year she did. She never took leave, never mentioned a spouse. This is public record," Stanson patiently explained as if he were talking to a madman. No matter how positive he could be, the reality that Isterann was not somewhere completely safe at the moment could not be ignored. There wasn't a way he would allow a sketchy individual to meet V personally.
Nathan was getting killed by boredom; he had been arguing with Stanson for an needlessly extended period of time. Lily wasn't around to back him up. She said she would converse with her later on top of Mount Mirra, as the officials of the Rune Arts Federation would recognise her instantly anyway.
Just when Nathan was about to give up and just wait for tomorrow, a calm voice called out from above.
"Stanson, let him in."
Stanson's heart skipped a beat. He lifted his head, then shook it to confirm that it wasn't a voice in his head, and finally landed his gaze on Nathan again. Nathan's eyes were screaming vindication, "I told you."
Nathan was anticlimactically led to V's room in dead silence by Stanson. He tried to stay as composed as he could, swinging his arms around in pretended carelessness. V's room didn't seem any different from those of other officials. The reason behind such could either be Fellvion's plan or her own proposal.
He opened the door slowly, feeling the blood flowing through every vein in his arm.
V was gracefully writing a letter, with rocky hands floating around like obedient spirits, allowing her to multitask even when she was focused on the letter. She turned around after sensing the door open.
For the first time in his life, Nathan Modernson saw the face of his mother, Viviana Modernson.
Her face was much younger and smoother than the mother figure Nathan dreamed of, with a curtain of hair covering one half of it. For a short moment, they stared at each other without words; even blinking felt like an interruption.
Viviana seemed as awkward and out of words as he was. She smiled subtly and called out to him, "Nathan… Can you do me a favour?"
"Uhh…" Nathan stuttered, "Yeah, sure."
Nathan walked over while carefully avoiding the rocky hands flying from place to place, which Viviana wasn't sensitive enough to realise. He stood next to Viviana's table and waited for his next instruction.
"Can you use your Darkness Rune Art to erase this sentence?" Viviana pointed toward the last sentence she had written on the letter: "I wish you every success." Nathan scanned through it quickly; though not enough to understand everything, it was clear to him that this letter was directed to the King of Runalond, Eric Runaria. The tone was almost too casual for an exchange of information between the First Seat and the King, almost too… friendly.
Erasing something on paper is almost the easiest Darkness Rune Art apart from the fundamental ones. Even Nathan was able to do it on a good day.
He prayed in his heart that he wouldn't embarrass himself before his mother and focused deeply on illustrating the rune. Nathan let out a deep yet silent sigh of relief as he successfully managed to complete the art, more successfully than ever, if he was to say so.
Yet, Viviana chuckled in amusement, "Why so nervous? Even your rune is misshapen."
Nathan wanted to specify that his nerves weren't the ones to blame in this case. Also, the rune he drew wasn't even bad at all. The frame was perfectly circular. He couldn't even believe that the perfection was of his own hands.
"Mom," Nathan interrupted, his tone foreign to the atmosphere.
"Yeah?" Viviana replied softly, her voice unnaturally natural.
Nathan opened his mouth, attempting to ask her the question he had craved before he first opened his mouth as an infant, but somehow, he just couldn't push the words out. Isn't this what he needed? An answer, a justification for why she left her family behind in Lostburg.
"I'm glad to see you."
Nathan grinned in relief, not realising the words he said were nowhere close to what he had rehearsed. There was a weird pressure in his nose, paired with a swelling pain around his eye sockets.
Viviana lifted her head from the letter and looked at Nathan in complexity, "Nathan… You don't blame me at all?"
"No…" Nathan swallowed deeply and said with difficulty, unable to tell whether his response was a blatant lie or rather the truest sentiment of his heart. "Not at all… Mom."
"I'm just happy that I'm here with you."
A droplet of tear shamefully dropped to the ground, which Nathan awkwardly scrubbed away with his shoe.
Seeing her son's tears, V froze. A throbbing feeling began to stir in her heart, a feeling that was never a part of her, a feeling that she believed to be the definition of weakness, a feeling that she was proud to never have felt.
Regret.
"Nathan… There is a reason that you must be raised in Lostburg, away from the sight of the public…" Viviana reached her hand out to wipe the tear stain off Nathan's face and said grievously, persuading both Nathan and herself, "Whatever question you have, I will give you the answer now."
Nathan squeezed out a smile. Everyone he had met never explained everything fully to him. Finally, someone was willing to give him the answers he wished to ask. More importantly, that person was his mother.
"What's so special about me?" Nathan asked quietly. "Why is it that I can keep my head up before you? Is it just because I'm your son?"
Viviana sighed, expecting this question to come first. "Partly, but that's not the full picture."
"Nathan, do you know who your father is? Take a guess; I'm sure my son has figured it out already."
Nathan lowered his head in fear of the responsibility he had to hold if his prediction was the truth.
"My father is from the royal family, right? King Eric Runaria's brother, if I'm to guess," Nathan stated flatly, his voice neither anxious nor excited.
Viviana raised the corners of her lips in appreciation. "Splendid."
"Your mother leads the Rune Arts Federation. Your father possesses the blood of the royal Runaria family," she continued. "Nothing else needs explanation. You are an outlier in this kingdom, an outlier of the Equilibrium System that defines this kingdom. In times like this, your origin is not only powerful, but ridiculously dangerous."
"The Equilibrium System?"
"A concept suggested by the Great Advisor, one of the founders of Runalond, Adrian Paradox. He affirms that peace requires stability, stability requires balance, and balance requires opposition," Viviana began with a sigh, her voice solemn yet hollow.
"The balance between royalty and the Rune Arts Federation… so neither dominates completely…" Nathan murmured, "I see why this opposition is needed."
"Again, correct, but not quite the entirety," Viviana shook her head gently. "An equilibrium was deliberately established in everything, and everyone."
Nathan widened his eyes slightly. Viviana's words struck him like a thunderbolt, plundering his heart to his stomach.
"Nathan, Runalond is a kingdom that governs the whole world, with plentiful resources, thriving citizens, and most importantly, no enemies to threaten our positions. Life is perfect, enriched by the grandeur of Rune Art and harmony among all. At least, it could be, and it is probably what it would turn out to be if no one interfered."
"What's wrong about that?" Nathan asked with stumbling thoughts. "If that's the case, then no one has to suffer anymore, right? Even… even those in Lostburg…"
"Everything is wrong with that, Nathan," Viviana asserted, her voice turning heavy. "All concepts are relative. If everyone's life is happy, then no one's life is happy. Just like how warmth cannot exist without frost, how life cannot be precious without death."
"That… That…" Nathan continued to argue, but his words lodged in his throat, tripping over each other.
"Think about it this way," Viviana's voice softened. "A perfect world leaves no room for improvement. If everyone lives in harmony with everyone, and there is nothing to strive for in life, then how could this kingdom and this world stand? Conflicts and suffering have to exist for humans to have the motivation to continue to push themselves, Rune Arts, and humanity's culture to the next plane. The opposition between the Schwarz and the Blanc, the opposition between the Supreme Seven Seats and the Four Pathtowers, the opposition between aristocrats and commoners, they all exist for a reason. A good enough reason," she spoke patiently, like she was guiding a lost lamb.
Nathan clenched his teeth. "There has to be another way…"
"No one wants it this way," Viviana explained. "Think about it. After you left Lostburg, have there been many conflicts that you saw or experienced?"
Nathan recalled for a while and answered, "There are some, but mostly not much."
"Exactly. Citizens of Runalond, especially those high in position, are beginning to realise the truth behind these traditionally passed-down conflicts. The Schwarz and the Blanc abuse their disputes to populate their supporters. Commoners, like the man called Fellvion, are using it as a method to manipulate and boast. Things like these are always brewing under the surface of the cauldron, but you, Nathan, you are the only exception."
"Your identity is a detriment to the already fragile equilibrium this kingdom needs," she concluded simply, "Once it is revealed, what assumptions would the public make?"
Nathan wasn't listening.
Viviana waited for the response to her question, but Nathan stood completely still, his eyes quivering as they zoned out into emptiness. There was hope under the hollow surface, a hope that intensified from an unnoticeable spark to a sea of blazing flames.
"Nathan?" Viviana caressed his arm in worry. "What's wrong?"
Nathan shook his head. "Nothing important. Just some unrealistic dreams."
To Nathan, conflict was just conflict, afflicted with suffering and agony. For the worse, it had to be preserved, even encouraged, to maintain the stability of this kingdom. For both sides, those who knew the secrets and those who didn't, it was simply a burden that everyone had to carry. All were suffocating under this system, and there wasn't an escape from it.
Perhaps, there is an exit out, an exit that only needed to be discovered.
Nathan did not want to continue this topic any further. A plan began to emerge in his heart, piecing itself together with every step. Though incomplete and unrealistic for now, there is a tomorrow where it could, just possibly, work.
"My identity will remain a secret," he vowed earnestly. "I see it as if this conversation never happened."
Viviana nodded. "I know it will. My son and stupidity can never exist on the same page."
"More importantly, Mom, is Lily, The Indescribable, trustworthy? Is the conflict between you two a fabrication, too?"
Viviana's face seemed to darken as soon as she heard Lily's title. She shook her head with slight frustration. "Unfortunately, it's not. Lily's hate towards me exceeds the craziness in her character. I took everything from her, from the moment I was born."
"It's… that serious?" Nathan desperately asked. Having to choose between his mentor and his mother, the Indescribable and the First Seat, was a decision he did not have the courage to face.
"There are only two people in this world you can trust fully except your father and me," Viviana said in reassurance. "One is Henry Nox."
"The other one is Lily."
Nathan pushed the hair that was covering his ears back. "Say what?"
"Lily, to you, is completely trustworthy. You can't trust anyone more than you can trust her," Viviana's words breached confidence, without any doubt. "I'm certain because I know her better than anyone. The same is true in reverse."
Nathan clarified hesitantly, "So you allow me to be mentored by her?"
Viviana's face twitched. "To be honest, I don't want to…"
Nathan laughed awkwardly.
"But you can do whatever you want. As an absent mother, I already forfeited my command over you. If you are anything like me, warnings won't stop you for even a slight bit, too. So whatever… I can take her mockery and critiques; I'm used to those already." Viviana sighed again, giving in to her laziness to interfere.
Nathan grinned in happiness and relief. "Mom, last question, and the most important one."
He pulled the necklace out of his shirt and put it before Viviana's face, making sure she could examine every side.
"Gideon's crystal?" Viviana widened her eyes in disbelief, or in this case, eye, considering the other was covered by her hair.
"What's so significant about it?" Nathan asked desperately.
"Oh… Eric… why?" Viviana palmed her face. "To give this to our son… What are you even thinking…?"
"Can you not tell me?"
Viviana shook her head. "I guess I can… I promised you I'd tell you everything."
"Gideon's crystal is a symbol, but some say it's more than a symbol. How do I say this…" Viviana hesitated again.
A rumble from outside put a halt to her words. Shouts echoed through the halls.
"Fire! A huge fire!"