Golden rays of sunshine spilt on sky-cutting mountains as white rose petals danced with the wind carried by celestial choirs. Truly the most stunning of weddings, it's a wedding some can only dream of, and one most people admire. It's to be expected of a royal wedding, really, but, even with all that there is, with all this beautiful splendour, among the many guarding knights stands Brutus, who cannot see it clearly.
As Brutus stood in formation, his view of the world was a murky blur. His vision dimmed further, and smeared the world he saw as if it was a painting yet to dry, until finally he felt a warm tear stream down his cheek, then another and another once more, because after all, the love of his life is being married off in front of his very eyes.
Julia, the princess of the new Kalegorian Empire, is marrying the heir of the duchy of Valerond, a political marriage seen by many, but to Brutus, betrayal.
Brutus and Julia grew up together since he could last remember. Brutus was Julia's assigned knight, designated to protect her by any means necessary.
However, there was also another face that Brutus can remember one much darker and sinister than Julia's, the one of Duke Valerond, the father of the heir. Coldly watching as he had Brutus's parents get murdered infront of him. All Brutus could do was watch. Watch as all he loved was torn from him.
And yet another person was stolen. No, not stolen, he could see clearly that this was what Julia wanted, that much Brutus could come to accept. However, what he couldn't understand was why marry that man of all people? She knew of what house Valerond had done to Brutus all those years ago, and yet here she is, happy as can be, marrying off to the people who hurt him most.
The more he thought, the more he could feel his blood boil, seeing the two exchange vows, that smile on Julia's face, flooded him with an endless sea of rage, and that sea boiled. And with each word that the two uttered, it boiled even more, until the moment their lips finally met.
Then the sea suddenly calmed.
The boiling ceased.
And he could feel a weight being lifted off his shoulders, one he had no clue he even had. It was at that moment that Brutus finally realised that that weight was the expectation brought down upon him, one where his life was just something to keep Julia from harms way, a meat shield. But with her lips sealing a future he isn't in.
Brutus realised that he was no longer tied down to this place.
So as their lips parted, Brutus turned his back on the ceremony and determined never to return.
He slipped through the marble arches and into the quiet corridors, he then went beyond the cathedral. And could hear the music fade behind him, slowly being replaced by the slow, steady rhythm of his steps and the parading city streets. With each step, the hollow ache in his heart deepened, but Brutus did not yield, as before him was air that he could breathe freely, and a path that he could carve himself, Brutus made his way farther from the cathedral, and eventually approached the castle gate.
His every memory tried to pull him back, but each step snapped the anchors one by one,
One step broke the chain for the memories he had in the knight order, another for the nights he spent pushing his body to the limit in order to become stronger. He kept snapping the chains. until the heaviest one remained, one of Julia's smiles, her laughs, the promises she made, and the ones she broke.
At that, Brutus stopped for the first time and looked back at the cathedral. Although he had walked a considerable amount to this point, it felt as though he was still at its doors, the tall arch, the grand spires that cast shadows impossibly far. Still loomed over Brutus, clinging to him, trying to pull him back, the music was gone now, all there was to hear was the wind whisper into his ear, and the doubts in his mind whether he truly had the strength to leave all that he had known behind.
But he felt his hollow heart whisper a quiet truth. That there was nothing left for him in these castle walls.
With a steadying breath, Brutus turned once more, and with a single step, he snapped that anchor too, finally exiting the confines of the castle.