Ash and Nia were now separated as she stood behind him, watching everything with great interest. She didn't give a damn about the consequences this family would face, the only person she ever cared for was Ash. He was the only one who saw past her just being the hope of this kingdom, the one she could always go to when she needed a break from the weight thrown onto her shoulders.
So, seeing him now, stronger, taller, more beautiful than anything she had ever burned kingdoms for, she couldn't help the soft, adoring smile that curved her lips. However, as she stood off behind him her eyes kept drifting to the tiny ten-tailed fox perched on his shoulder.
One would think it was simple awe at a creature no history book had ever recorded.
HA!
'Hmm, why am I getting such a weird feeling from this thing?' She thought to herself, an instinctive prickle crawling up her spine like the fox was her natural-born enemy for reasons she couldn't yet name. Ash's melodic voice snapped her out of it. Currently, the rest of the royal family were still frozen solid, and he could give any order he wanted for the next ten minutes.
He smiled at their shocked, glassy faces, but he kept them locked in place. 'No need to hear their bullshit. I will have some fun before I truly get things rolling.' He thought before activating another skill. It was one he had forged in the Haven for this exact moment.
Snap
|Revenant Requiem|
At the snap of his fingers the skill activated and when it did the throne room vanished. The royal family was now standing or seated frozen in the same spot, yet the world around them had become an endless, blindingly white void that smelled faintly of old blood and childhood tears.
"You know… I've thought long and hard about what I should do." Ash began speaking in a slow, almost gentle manner as he started listing every sin, they had ever committed against him. "Aster… Ha, my eldest brother. Always so caught up in your schemes."
He said shaking his head and as he said this the white room melted into a vision seen through the eyes of a younger Ash himself. It showed every time Aster had pretended to teach him board games only to slam the heavy pieces across a child's back until skin split and blood-soaked velvet cushions, every "lesson" in basic fighting moves that ended with fists and knees bruising bone.
From teaching him basic fighting moves to using it to bruise and batter him. As these visions played through the eyes of Ash everyone in this domain aside from Nia and Vaeloria were feeling it all. When younger Ash got his eye swollen shut, ribs cracked like dry twigs, arms wrenched from sockets or whatever it may be, they felt it ten-fold, every nerve screaming, every tear he had swallowed now forced from their own eyes in burning like acid.
Not just that they couldn't scream, they couldn't look away at all. This was the beauty of this skill he created. Any attempt to resist, close their eyes, or use mental defenses triggered a paradox loop: the harder they fought the memory, the deeper it seared itself into their soul. They literally could not escape watching themselves be the villains.
"Then we have Shia… what a little devil you are." He said with a grin as he looked at his oldest sister.
"To be honest, I could probably understand why Aster and Draven were hard on me. But you? I've never done you jack shit." He spat as the visions rolled. From the tender age of seven, Shia had already begun ruining the life that hadn't even truly started.
All his life Ash was smaller and skinnier than those his age. Shia's first devious act was spreading rumors about how he was cursed. This led to even commoners looking at him wrongly. Imagine walking through a palace you called home, but even the maids and butlers looked at you with disgust, spitting quietly when your back was turned, refusing to meet your eyes.
The scenes shifted more from her messing with his foods, slipping things into his meals that left him curled on the floor in agony for days, teasing him about his body until he flinched from his own reflection.
The five of them by now had felt everything and more. From the loneliness that clawed hollow in a child's chest, to the pain that never quite healed, to the self-doubt that whispered he deserved every second of it, all of it.
But he wasn't done. He looked at Draven and smiled. "I will save you for last, buddy." He said before moving on.
"Oh Caelum, the oh-so-mighty King. Tsk."
The scenes began showing the times Caelum never acknowledged nothing, the times he let servants skip Ash's meals for days, the times he publicly called his own son worthless in front of cheering nobles.
"You don't even know the feeling of trying your hardest, only wanting to receive a 'Good Job Son'. But only to get a cold shoulder or spat on." Ash shook his head.
Then came his mother. He looked at her for a long, silent moment, but he truly couldn't recall a time she had raised a hand against him. The only thing he could fault her for was changing. From the mother who once sang him to sleep to the queen who looked through him like he was already a ghost.
So, looking at her who was in pain and struggling like everyone else, he only said three words. "You failed me…" Lyssandra felt her heart break into a thousand pieces as she wanted to talk to him, but she couldn't even move.
After this was done the condition of the five was anything but good. The domain shattered and the throne room slammed back into reality. However, Ash had one more bone to pick. He walked up to Draven and spoke. And with Eros Whisper still active he gave his first and final order.
"Fight… Fight like your life is on the line." As he said this he smiled like a beautiful devil.