"You can't do this to me!" Neva screamed, voice cracking across the grand throne hall.
He thrashed in the iron grip of the palace guards, their gauntlets biting into his arms. Chandeliers rattled overhead, stirred by the echo of his desperation.
He stared with bloodshot eyes at his rival.
"Neva, you lost," Ceder said coolly, a faint smile dancing on his lips.
He took a measured step closer, hands clasped behind his back in perfect posture.
"You might be the crown prince, but I'm true royalty as well. Your attempt to rig the Royal Battle, to silence me, is a crime under the Domain's laws — one I intend to see punished."
"Uncle Yoma saw through your filthy scheme, Neva. He dragged me out of the gutter where you left me to rot. And now that I stand grown, I'll let Father judge you — as you tried to judge me." Ceder said, crossing his arms as he turned to the King.
A faint smile on his face as the day he had been waiting for had finally come.
Resentment mixed with disappointment flickered across his eyes as he looked at his siblings. Their hunger for power had destroyed a bond that should have been unbreakable.
That should have been as tight as the muscles holding their bodies.
Yet for power that was ruined.
Ceder tightened his fists, vowing to take the throne and bring the reform that they desperately needed.
Neva continued to struggle within the guard's grasp. His lean, athletic build burst with power, nearly causing the guards to lose their grip on him.
"Father, listen to me. I have always placed the kingdom first. This trial - this trial is wrong!" Neva growled as more guards gripped him to restrain him.
With Neva firmly restrained, all eyes looked at the King.
The King sat atop a marble throne etched with ancient scales of justice, his heavy crown casting a deep shadow over hard-set eyes. The lines on his weathered face tightened with each passing moment, a storm of grief and duty warring behind them.
He didn't want to punish his first son. Unfortunately, he had no choice.
The evidence was overwhelming. Neva had illegally interfered with the sacred Royal Battle.
As the king of the Jewel Kingdom and Domain lord of the Law Domain, he also had to follow the rules. He couldn't add, modify, or remove any regulations without the royal court's approval.
So, he had to punish his first son to the fullest extent of the law. Failure to do so could cause the Domain that had held steady for generations to collapse.
Causing not only millions of deaths under the fog but his and his family's deaths as well.
It was a nonstarter.
Thousands of memories as a boy rushed through him – but he suppressed them under the supreme weight of the Law.
With a slam of his fist, the King straightened his back. The grief and sorrow in his eyes faded, replaced by the unfeeling justice of the Law.
"Neva," the King thundered, voice echoing like a hammer through the hall, "as crown prince, you have failed your sacred duty. Plotting the failure of your sibling and manipulating the royal battle breaks the very laws you swore to protect. The law is clear, and it finds you guilty."
He let the words hang in the cold air, as heavy as a death sentence.
"As required to the extent of your crimes, you are hereby expelled from the Jewel Kingdom and no longer welcome in the Law Domain!"
"Guards, gather a backpack of supplies for Neva and strip him of his royal attire."
Neva's face turned pale. His knees turned as weak as jelly.
"Father, please! You can't send me out there — the fog will kill me!" Neva's voice cracked as his eyes darted desperately around the room.
He looked towards his dozen siblings, whom he had grown up with. Yet none of them looked him in the eye.
Seeing this, Neva's eyes dimmed with despair. His chest felt squeezed when he realized that, under the judgment of the law, their relationship meant nothing.
The King remained silent.
"Father—! Please! I did it for the kingdom! The kingdom is flawed! I'm trying to fix it!" Neva tried to plead, but the guards dragged him away before he could choke out another word.
As he passed the doors, Neva's despair turned into rage. His bloodshot eyes locked on Ceder.
This baby brother of his was too naive. Others might not see it, but he could.
Ceder's reform plan was too optimistic. He didn't see the actual flaws. He only wanted to treat the symptoms.
If Ceder took the throne, he would completely ruin their chance to break free of this cycle, truly.
"Sya, listen to me. Don't let Ceder win –"
Before Neva could give his final warning, the doors shut. The guards stripped him of his royal robes. The silky fabric that had caressed his muscles was replaced by coarse and scratchy fabric.
"Your Highness, don't resist." A soft, aged voice spoke, drawing Neva's attention.
He immediately knew who this voice belonged to.
"Council Leader Gingrich," Neva calmed down, seeing the old man standing in front of him.
Gingrich stood still, his wrinkles deep from decades of stress, yet he hid a lifetime of experience. His pristine white robes embroidered with the council's unique baby blue hammers gave him a sense of prestige that even the others couldn't match.
His face lacked its usual kind smile, yet Neva held onto hope that Gingrich could save him.
"Talk some sense to my Fath –"
Gingrich interrupted Neva's plea, "Your Highness, the law is the law. I cannot reverse your sentence."
"I am merely here to guide you."
Gingrich paused before sighing, "It's so disappointing. The council and your father had high expectations of your potential, but a visionary has their own ideals."
Neva deeply frowned, "What are you trying to say? I only look to correct the wrongs."
"You look to build another world," Gingrich interjected.
"You might not see it yet, but this old man knows you all too well."
"So you're sending me to my death!" Neva flared up with rage. He tried to struggle, but the guards quickly suppressed him.
Sending him to his knees. Something humiliating to someone who had grown up royalty.
"Not quite, Your Highness. Your potential is too remarkable, so the dangers of the fog might not even obscure your brilliance. Though the chances are slim."
Gingrich fell silent after saying everything he wanted to say. His aged hands, spotted by time, raised and sliced the air in front of him.
Without a sound, the world of fog appeared. Shadows within the endless white fog danced with joy as if aware that a fresh plate of food was being sent to them on a silver platter.
Neva's heart clenched with fear. Seeing the fog that had brought horrors beyond imagination in front of him temporarily made him forget about his rage.
Then Neva snapped.
"Gingrich, you cold-hearted bastard! Giving false hope to me!" Neva gritted his teeth as he couldn't see how anyone could survive.
"Let me take the crown from you, Your Highness." Gingrich ignored Neva's curses and reached for the golden crown on Neva's head.
The crown that had been his since his youth was ripped off, setting Neva's heart ablaze. He was about to fight for his crown, but before he could, the guards shoved him into the fog.
Surrounded by the endless white fog that had taken countless lives, Neva slumped in despair.
"Ahhh!" Neva screamed.
Back into the palace.
As soon as the doors closed, Neva's twelve siblings silently breathed a sigh of relief. Grateful that the number one obstacle to their ascension to the throne was eliminated.
And joyful that the man nicknamed the Mad Prince was no longer around to rain terror on them.
No longer would they have to hold their breath in fear that his insanity would flare up again.
No longer would the Mad Prince, the King's most favored son, cover them with his shadow.
The King sat on his throne in silence. He watched his children sigh with relief and closed his heavy eyes.
Completely hidden from the world.
Just then, the doors opened. Everyone held their instinctive breaths but breathed another sigh of relief when they saw it was Council Leader Gingrich.
When their eyes fell on the golden crown in his hand, they were filled with mixed emotions. Some are torn between happiness, grief, indifference, and curiosity.
Hearing Gingrich's footsteps, the King opened his eyes. He stared at the crown with concealed emotions.
"It's done, my lord. Thank you for handing me the supreme duty to enact the verdict." Gingrich said sincerely as he got on his knees, handing the King Neva's crown.
"The Council Leader is the best for the role," the King said calmly.
His voice boomed throughout the hall.
"How was it?" the King suddenly asked.
The question confused the crowd of spectators at Neva's trial. What did he mean by that?
Was he trying to get a sense of what Gingrich felt after expelling his favorite son?
The confusion of the people didn't faze Gingrich as he already knew what the King meant.
"Magnificent," Gingrich said with a growing smile.
"Witnessing the former crown prince's Domain expanding as he fell into the fog was a privilege I might never see again. Thank you, my lord, for giving me the opportunity before this old man's death."
As Gingrich's voice fell, so did the jaws of the spectators and especially Neva's twelve siblings. Their faces blanked as all thought left them.
Only a single question filled their minds.
"Fa–Father, what did Council Leader Gingrich mean by Domain? He isn't implying that Neva became a Domain Lord." Sya, the eldest princess, spoke up.
Her soft demeanor broke as she couldn't hold back her disbelief.
The King glanced at Sya and slowly answered.
"Of course not, Sya."
Sya and the rest of the siblings visibly breathed a sigh of relief. Forgetting even to maintain their appearance.
They were terrified at the prospect that the Mad Prince they feared had become a Domain Lord—a being on the same status as their father.
The only beings that had a chance to survive outside a domain and inside the fog.
"Neva became a Domain Lord long ago. Without his crown, his domain merely reappeared from its sealed state," the King said slowly, looking at each of his children with an emotionless expression.
Sya's face instantly paled.
She wasn't the only one. The rest of her siblings' hearts clench from fear.
They all knew Neva. If he survived, he would return.
Ceder's pupils shrank, clenching his fists as he thought: Disaster is coming.