-Break-
ΦI have always been strong and gifted. Since I was a little boy, power has come towards me, born talented in hand-to-hand combat, born with the eyes of a hunter, born with the strength of a wonderbeast, and born with the powers of a god in this body.
I was Ronald Fuinseog, a warrior who had never known fear. But that's just the lie I tell myself to keep myself together.
There wasn't a day of my childhood in which I didn't know fear.
My older brother, Dónal, was a failure to my parents, and the shame he had brought upon our house made it so that our parents didn't want their other three kids to turn out like that.
My sister Aisling was forced to learn all of the secrets that could be expected of a noblewoman, and when she failed, my parents said, "Your dinner goes with you."
Aisling, with tears in her eyes, says, "I am too hungry, I can barely focus."
"Nonsense, in the same situation, I managed to get through it. Keep your excuse to yourself, now balance the books on your head and maintain your posture. Your beauty is your only blessing, so sharpen it as much as possible."
With tears in her eyes, my sister tries her best to balance the books on her head, but when she fails, all kinds of slurs and insults are thrown her way, breaking her down a bit, by bit.
My brother Cillian was forced to seal away his heart.
With tears falling from his face, Cillian holds a blade over his pet rabbit and says, "Da,d I don't want to do this."
My father struck him with a single hand, leaving a mark on his face, and he says, "Stop being a coward. We are a family of hunters above all else, so you must know how to strike it down."
"But I raised it, it's a friend. It's alive."
"You did that so you could closely observe its patterns. The lives of those you choose as prey have no meaning; it is simply no different from the wind, which moves according to factors. Learn their pattern and strike them down."
Cillian holds his blade over the rabbit, but drops it and says, "I can't."
That day, he was beaten yet again, but unlike the other days, it continued until my brother was put in a state in which he had to choose whether his life or his pets were more important.
Both of them were breaking down, and I wanted to protect them more than anything. So, I worked harder, I learnt decorum, I learnt military strategy, I sparred with the best in the house, gaining on them with each blow.
My parents were a jealous duo who had lost the right to become the ruler of Gorias to the young Lugh Ó Faoláins and wanted to make an heir to overtake him. So, I decided to be that being, I decided to be the warrior who could allow them to dream.
And in response to this, their hatred fell on my siblings less and less. They were able to smile more and stopped being attacked.
Even as a family, we started to have meals with each other, sitting around a table. But no matter how hard I tried, there is one child I could never get them to accept.
With comically tiny portions on his plate, my brother Dónal lowered his head, making sure to never cross eyes with my parents in the slightest, but by the off chance, he glared at the happy family in front of him.
My father would say, "Don't let my eyes ever catch your face, or let my ears ever hear your voice."
Dónal lowered his head and looked down at his plate, not even motioning to my father that he heard his response. I felt sorry for him at the time, but there was one thing I never understood back then: why he smiled after what our father said.
Time moved on, and I continued to gain strength until I eventually hit something that almost destroyed my future. My growth started to have diminishing returns.
At first, I was just struggling to understand more advanced literature, but soon I couldn't beat the soldiers in combat or in the wargames. This all eventually reached a head when I failed to hunt my first wonderbeast during the annual Fuinseog hunting festival.
After that day, my parents both despaired and made a resolution in front of us, "For Ronald, we have put far too much faith in you, so both Cillian and Aisling will have to step up."
Soon, the torment they had endured had returned to its former levels, and each night both of them would come to my room and cry in my arms. So, I had to work harder for them.
Yet every day felt worse, I wasn't improving, and the state both of my siblings was in crushed my soul. I needed help, I needed someone to help me carry this weight.
So, I went to the only person I knew who could help. In front of Dónal, I ask, "Please, would you be able to help around more? If you do, it will lower the burden on us. I don't think I can take this anymore, so please, brother?"
With his same defeatist look, Dónal rubs my head and says, "I can't do that; if I tried, I would just make it worse. But you're strong, Ronald, I am sure you can do whatever you put your mind to."
On that day, I learned, something this pathetic creature didn't deserve to be called a person; he didn't even deserve to be called my brother. He had already given up on everything and got to enjoy a comfy life doing whatever he wanted while his younger siblings suffered.
How could a brother look at this and be ok with it when my mind breaks each day seeing Aisling and Cillian getting hurt and abused? There was a reason he was born a rat; it was by no misfortune.
Still, he could be of some use to us. Each day, Cillian, Aisling, and I vented our frustration and abuse on his body. Everything we face was pushed on that scum.
Again and again, we broke him down to raise ourselves up, and with that power, I moved forward. My rage and hate for this family, for the ones who I was supposed to trust in lead me forward.
I must become the head of Gorias because power is the only thing that I need.
I dedicated my heart and my soul to this mission, eventually reaching heights no one expected. Along with the power of my legacy, I became a modern-day hero and the next head of the House of Fuinseog.
But one day Dónal returned, with the head of the Sealbhóirs at his side, and in mere moments my life was flipped on its head.
Standing in front of his siblings with Bricriu at his side, he says, "Father and mother have recently passed away, and it is their will that they have named me the next head."
Cillian, walking forward, says, "What are you talking about, you stupid rat? The next head will obviously be our brother and hero, Ronald."
"It's not, so move forward and get over it."
Cillian moves to hit Dónal, but Bricriu catches his hand and says, "You just tried to assault the head of a Red branch family, are you ready for the repercussions?"
"I will never accept him as the he-,"
Dónal punches Cillian in the face, knocking him to the floor, and as we are all shocked by this action, he says, "It doesn't matter what any of you think; you all have no power. From this moment, I am Donald Ó Fuinseog and the head of the House of Fuinseog, that's all you ingrates."
With Bricriu, he leaves, and the three of us stay there, shocked.
Aisling holds and inspects Cillian's wound, but he tries to stop her out of shame.
However, none of that matters to me as a deep rage builds within my body.
I need power.
So much power that no one will ever be able to hurt us again, so I will become stronger and fight more enemies. Find favour with the strong like Setanta, and if he falls, move on to the next like Ferdiad. Gain as much as you can and leave no openings to be struck from.
All of this I did so one day, I can finally have the power to control my destiny, and take everything back from those who robbed me, my parents, my brother, and even you, Bricriu.
Location: Northwestern Defensive line; Fort Niall
Entering a room with Cillian at my side, I look around and see Bricriu along with a group of generals, then say, "I have arrived with my soldiers to act as reinforcements to this line."
With a smile, he says, "I was hoping we could do our combination again. You randomly abandoned me to go flirt with other generals."
Sighing, I say, "We had to break up to reinforce all of the land we have taken."
Moving close to me, Bricriu says, "What's with the grumpy look? The combination of our two forces has defeated far more humans than anywhere else in the conflict so far."
"I don't find a defensive war fun, especially one where I have to hang around unsavoury characters."
"You say that, but both of us have become rather good friends recently."
Getting up close to me, he says, "Besides, if you work hard, I am sure a great future awaits you."
When my brother no longer interests him, he moves to me as if he wasn't the one who caused my biggest problems.
Walking forward, I say, "What are the details of our plan?"
Bricriu says, "For not it is to act as a special flanking unit for the main army. A recent report says that the Laoch will be moving from their current position past the massive human army in front of them to try and retake a lot of the land that has been stolen."
"Who will be taking over their previous defensive position?"
"The Cathals will be moving from the eastern border to the western defensive lines. I am rather surprised the High King would send his favourite into harm's way, but it seems love can't overtake his pragmatism."
The things he alludes to with his words would get the average person killed, but he has made himself far too important to the beastkin.
Despite my hatred of him, Bricriu really does have power, a tangible force which cannot be refuted by any who would try.
"So, I assume we plan to support the Laoch's charge when needed, while also using them as a distraction to find the home base of the humans?"
"Exactly. How brilliant, my Ronald, now all we need to do is prepare our armies to get to work. Right now, I have around 15,000 soldiers here, and along with you, 15,000; we should be able to do our job rather effectively.
Please also make efforts to educate my men on the proper procedures to be safe around your wonderbeast riders. I know you hunters have a lot of them with you, and I know how sensitive it can be."
So he wants to gain information about how we handle our wonderbeast? Well, I can play his game as well. "Please make sure to inform my brother of all your tactics. If you don't inform us and our battle plays out like before, where we didn't know what we were doing, I might make an order to simply ignore your requests."
Bricriu says, "I see, will do."
Suddenly, someone rushes into the room and says, "Emergency!"
The soldier stops in front of us, and Bricriu says, "What is it, Did the Laochs fail?"
"No, right now, a 70,000-man army of humans is heading towards us. But worse than that, we have spotted that Charles Animus himself is heading here!"