The bloodlust in me was growing, all I could think about how I wanted to kill that person in front of me.
His eyes were filled with malice and I knew he meant harm.
Repeatedly, he used harsh words. He was making sure that those words hurt me.
"You were not my target initially".
"Oh?", I Muttered weakly.
"You are a failure but I guessed atleast your father would still care about you but I was wrong. I should have gone for shayne or moran".
Moran was the second elder brother of Arthur, with shayne being the first and Arthur being the third.
"Well, shayne and moran both are too much for you to handle".
"They wouldn't be even caught like I was", I said with great regret.
"Well, unfortunately you spend too much time in brothels and outside the kingdom, so you are the easiest prince to capture"
"Also the most useless one".
"The more he spoke, the more I wanted to kill him, I was at my boiling point and something immediately happened and my eyes were slowly closing as the face of my kidnapper slowly disappeared from my sight".
He had punched me.
Punched me so hard that I passed out.
At the moment, all I could think of it was, shayne wouldn't have been passed out like this.
Moran would have given him back ten folds.
But here I was, on the brink of passing out.
I was a kid but still, I thought of myself as a prince who will become this greatest king or emperor even in future.
As I thought all of that, I passed out and fell with the chair.
But before all of this, I heard noise of horses and swords.
...
Several months had passed after that incident.
Moran had saved me apparently.
Shayne was unavailable as father always gave him difficult missions to shape him into a king.
These past few months, I lived in shame.
I lived like I was burden to my family.
I saw constant gazes on me whenever I attended family feast or I was out training in barracks.
I was thirteen now but my strength was not growing at all,
I wanted someone to teach me, the basics, the complicated part and basically the gist of the Arcanastra.
But there was no one to teach me, father was always drowned in duties and had already declared me useless and unworthy.
Moran used to travel the world and barely had any time for his siblings.
Shayne's situation was quite the same, but whenever we met, he told quite a few useful things.
I felt like I had less time, I wanted to prove something to everyone but in the end there was no one to teach me at all, so I did what no one would even dare to think about.
I joined a group of people who worshipped a God, a different god from ours.
That God seemed more powerful and real than the one I used to see all the time at my kingdom.
This God had certain divinity that made me feel quite good about myself even amidst all of what was happening around me.
Joining them was simple, as one only have to believe in their God and chant a single line all day until God was satisfied.
Then, the God would appear and ask for a boon, one could ask any thing except for Direct immortality.
Even thought it sounded tempting, I thought it was a trap. I know it was a big group and their,
Vision was clear and all, but it sounded too good to be true.
I believed it wasn't real.
Like there was no chance that I could get a boon just by chanting a line.
It takes years upon years for warriors to achieve the ranks of hell breaker and then go for the corresponding upper rank which is the God blade.
Even after that It was impossible for them to clear the tests of the God they pray to.
Recieving a boon from a God is a rare thing, and one who achieves this is considered a demi God themselves.
But they always have a price to pay.
A loophole that exists for every boon.
...
I was now fourteen, and the gazes of my family members grew with malice as the time went on.
I was constantly chanting but nothing have seemed to be happening at all.
I asked the members of group that when will I see the results.
"Sometimes it takes years or sometimes it takes months, depends on your belief".
"It is still easier than the conventional method".
"You are lucky".
"You are just a kid, it will happen with time".
"Maybe try sacrificing something important to you".
These were the answers I got within the year of my chanting.
And then one day out of curiosity and boredom I asked one of the members, a high ranking one, about their God.
He smiled and replied with utmost respect and faith,
"He is not a distant deity of cold perfection, but a God who feels the pulse of every heart that worships or curses His name. Joy would glimmer in His eyes when the sun rose over peaceful lands, and sorrow would weigh upon His chest when mortals wept beneath the stars. His anger was not blind fury, but the ache of a parent watching their children destroy what was meant for beauty. Love flowed through Him like a river of light, boundless yet vulnerable, for He cared too deeply for those who would never truly understand Him. In solitude, even He would wonder if His creations loved Him or merely feared the power that came with His divinity".
I didn't understood but I got one thing from these strange description was that thier god was very real or atleast they believed so, well so did I, and also their God was emotional and very senile.
Maybe that's why chant was the only way to impress him.
As other gods were filled with attitude and loved to see the chaos befall.
Just maybe, maybe this one actually cared for the worshippers.
It was doubtful but also made sense.
Thirty-three gods and several divine weapons.
Just what are gods upto?
I was very confused but also intrigued.
I wanted to become stronger and meet all of the gods.
I wanted to achieve every single divine weapons.
But I was too ahead of myself, first I needed to meet this God and gain a boon and then only I can achieve something further.
So, I continued chanting with utmost faith.
One more year passed.
Another one and then,
Another one passed just like that.
Nothing happened at all.
My faith was wavering but my chanting continued, I was now seventeen and was considered an adult according to indravelora's rules.
Maybe my chants were not working, maybe I was pronouncing it all wrong or maybe there was something that I was missing this whole time.
So, I tried asking around the group about the chants.
One of them said that It took him around ten years before he got blessed with a boon.
He said,
"Sometimes it takes years and sometimes months, remember God is within you and the key to chants is yourself".