Chapter Text
Somewhere inside the forbidden forest lies a hidden and abandoned shack. The shack was old, dark, and cold, especially on a rainy day such as this. Nevertheless, it worked to a certain boy's advantage. Someone who is on the run and in hiding.
This boy was Yuvraj Harvey. A student of Zenith Haven Academy, one of the seven major academies across the globe. And as the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility.
Zenith Haven Academy had been attacked.
Normally, it wouldn't have caused such an uproar; the academy has been attacked on more than one occasion before, so why would this one be any different?
But it was. The enemy is strong. It attacked the weaker academies first, waited till the others began to send reinforcements, and attacked them as well.
So when the attack happened on Zenith Haven Academy, there were no backups, no help. Even some of their own came out to be traitorous. It started with an Internal conflict, and everything crumbled down.
Yuvraj's groans of agony were covered by the sound of the rain. The pain from being slashed by a cursed sword made his guts twist. In a very literal state.
Yuvraj's head was a mess, his eyes refusing to open properly as he gritted his teeth.
"Fuck..." He whispered, and he was slumped down on the cold, rickety, dusty wooden boards.
Everything had been normal when an attack happened. Suddenly, there was a war between the entire school and the people who had been harassing the seven academies.
The loss of so many lives...
"Ngghh... Ughaa!" Yuvraj held his slash wound, casting healing and purifying spells. He thrashed on the floor, sweat dribbling down his entire body.
"Urk...gahh!"
Something came out of his mouth; it wasn't exactly the undigested food he had consumed, nor was it his blood. Instead, it was a goop of slimy black liquid. It smelled like ink.
"Ugh...urk?!" He began to throw up more of this substance, the veins in his body bulging from his skin, as it turned dark.
The rain and thunder grew erratic, but it served as a way to block all of the pained noises from the abandoned shack; it also helped deter the pursuers who managed to slip his family's hold.
It seems to have been an eternity since he started to hide in the old shack, an eternity of suffering...alone, far away from his home.
There weren't that many things to know about Yuvraj. He's the head of the House of the Dragon. The supposed guardian of the east... Only to be left to die in such a ridiculous way.
"Mom..." He called out, years prickling the corners of his eyes. "Dad... Auntie..." He began to hiccup through the pain, tears finally falling down.
In the back of his mind, voices seem to whisper in his ears. The screams, the blame, the agony.
With his hazy mind, he barely remembered how he managed to end up in this dire situation.
He was supposed to be with the other prefects. His friends. But he was adamant on staying and protecting the academy, so the train, the last thing that could help them survive, left without him, much to the protest of his friends and people.
When he was sure the train had successfully left the academy, Yuvraj wasted no time flying on his broom to defend their haven...their school. He fought, got injured, won a few battles, and he...he saw. Yuvraj had seen the one who's been controlling the strings. The mastermind behind it all.
Yuvraj tried; he did. But he was no match against a dark mage several years older and more powerful than him.
And besides the mastermind... The traitors. Those vile people who had no conscience. The school had sheltered them, taught them, taken them in when the world was against them...
Yuvraj had no choice but to fight his way through. He harmed and even killed his previous housemates and schoolmates.
It didn't seem like he would win...or survive at all.
But they arrived. His family. His most treasured family...
Yuvraj started to cry, his hands clenching around his wound; no healing nor purifying spell could ease his pain.
The tears that came out began to look weird. It wasn't clear anymore. It had turned dark and viscous, which caused him to shut his eyes tightly, his brows knitting together.
"Mooom..." He cried out. His body was shivering, and his skin was turning pale. He didn't notice how much he had lost... "Daaad... Aaauuntiiieee..." He called out, reaching one of his arms out to grab something...someone.
"I can't feel," sniff, "ma leeeegs." Hic, "Ma handsss don move too." sniff. Yuvraj complained, looking at something. Hic, "Daaaad," sniff, "I...heeelp... If huurtsss... Mooom." His eyelids were getting heavy; he could barely register anything.
"Ah, my dear esteemed benefactor..."
A voice echoed inside the shack, which got Yuvraj to try and stay awake, if only to confirm who or what the speaker was.
"My proud, beautiful flower of evil."
It was then that the mirror that was hanging in front of Yuvraj glowed a bright light. "Daad?"
"You are truly the fairest one of all."
Not long after, the sound of galloping and something being dragged along the uneven path of the forest can be heard.
"O magic mirror, thy wisdom I entreat..."
Suddenly, the mirror glowed once more, a beautiful green ember. Yuvraj tried to lift his head to look closer. But he couldn't move anything.
"Reveal unto me the visage I seek. You, whose image the Dark Mirror did beckon forth..."
Someone was reaching out for him.
"Moom?" He called out, but it did not answer.
In the distance, he could vaguely hear the noise of the galloping, which grew louder and louder.
"If your heart bids it, take the hand of the one reflected in the mirror."
Yuvraj did. It took everything for his arms to move; he had placed his remaining strength into reaching out for that hand. The last push, in the hopes that he may see his family at the end.