The woman who referred to herself as my mother pulled me in and stared into my eyes.
"Have your eyes always been this color?" she asked, lifting my chin to get a better look. "Is this normal?"
The priest stepped up to check for himself. He waved his hands, and runes and symbols began to form again. Th symbols were slightly different than before, but it mostly still resembled a cross.
"His eyes look yellow," the priest mumbled. "No, it's more similar to gold. My magic isn't picking up any anomalies. What color were the prince's eyes before?"
"They were brown, like mine and his brother's."
The priest continued to examine my eyes, and before long, the door parted again, and someone stepped in. It was a blonde-haired knight. Just like Dunken, he wore a silver cape. I noticed that only the two of them were wearing it while the other knights didn't wear any capes at all.
The knight was accompanied by a small child who looked to be around five years old, with light brown hair and brown eyes. The child and the knight approached, and Dunken quickly got on his knees to greet the child.
"Young Prince Alaric," Dunken said stoutly.
My mother stepped forward and lifted the child.
"You wanted to see your twin brother, didn't you?" she asked.
"Is Perci alright?"
"Yes, dear, your brother will be just fine." My mother then turned to me. "Perci, you might not remember right now, but this is your twin brother Alaric."
I stared at them blankly. It was all a little too much to take in at once. Shortly after, I fell asleep from all the excitement. It took some time for me to adjust to everything. Being a prince, having a twin brother, and even having a mother.
In the days that followed, my mother kept me inside my room, partly out of fear that I might get hurt again and partly because I needed to heal some more.
During my time in confinement, I spent my days on the balcony overlooking the city.
It was a beautiful city, reminiscent of what I thought a medieval city would look like. The buildings were made from limestone, and the roads were paved with cobblestones. It was bustling with life as vendors sold their waves from stalls and horse drawn carriages made their way around. Not only horse, but their were different creatures pulling the carriages too.
From my room, I could catch glimpses of soldiers and mages training in the yard. Magic was truly a thing of wonder, but unfortunately, I didn't have the pleasure of wielding it. According to Dunken, everyone had a holographic scream floating in front of them that they referred to as status screen.
The screen showed their physical stat, along with the affinity of magic they had and the different spells they had unlocked through their training. I imaged these status screen as something like a grimoire for them to channel their magic. Since I didn't possess magic, I had none of that. The only thing that I had was my demonic eyes.
If I focused hard enough, I could see more small runes and symbols floating everywhere I looked. I questioned Dunken about whether he could see these symbols, but he only looked at me with a confused expression and said no.
He knew nothing of the symbols I saw when the priest was casting spells, which led me to conclude that the only reason I was seeing them was because of the eyes Enma gave me. It was the only explanation that made sense.
Driven by curiosity, I started drawing these symbols and studying them to see if they might have meant anything. I tried to remember them and comparing them to see if they shared any similarities.
In my old life, I loved studying scientific textbooks, math, and sometimes geometry. My grandma called me a genius and told me that if I ever got the chance to go to school, I would become an important person one day; perhaps a professor or mathematician.
My grandma wasn't good at math or any of the sciences, so I got most of my information from textbooks. I studied them religiously, so much so that I could perform complex calculations without even using a calculator.
Thankfully, I seemed to have retained my intelligence from my past life. Studying these symbols was a good way to pass the time in my room, and I ended up enjoying it.
My paternal twin brother, Alaric, visited me at first. It was strange; he was assigned a knight just like me, but instead of being accompanied by his knight, he came with the same priest who healed me.
Knights like Dunken were called Silver Cloaks. They were the highest rank of knights and were mostly assigned to a member of the royal family.
Dunken was the knight assigned to protect me from birth. He was always present outside my room. He was a quiet man, rarely speaking unless spoken to, but I could tell he took his role as my protector seriously.
Apparently, the day I fell from the wall was the very day everyone found out that I couldn't use magic.
Coincidence? I wasn't sure.
Not only that, but my brother was the one who inherited our family's light magic.
My brother's visits grew less frequent, and after a while, he stopped coming altogether. My mother was sickly herself, so she didn't visit me as often either.
The days passed, and just as I was about to lose my sanity from being cooped up for so long, my mother came to rescue me from my own mind. She told me that my father wanted to see me and my brother and that today was the day he would announce his heir. The person who would inherit his throne.
The handmaidens came. They bathed and dressed me in the finest clothing.
"My prince," Dunken bowed as I exited my room.
I was brought to a vast hall lined with nobles dressed in silk velvets and elegant dresses. The hall smelled of various flowers, likely due to the different flowered ornaments being used as decorations. The nobles smiled at me and my brother as we walked toward a man seated on a throne.
The man had crimson-colored hair and a wrinkled face. My heart throbbed in my chest as I made my way closer to him.
Soon, we were face to face.
"My sons," his voice rang with authority. It seemed as if the whole hall lit up just from him speaking. "One of you will inherit the crown and become king of Palasia when I am no more. Every man here is bound by law to serve whoever I decide will become king."
No one uttered a word. No one dared to. The knights were on their knees with their heads bowed and swords across their knees.
"For generations, our family has been blessed by the God of Light, granting us, and only us the ability to use light magic. This gratitude he has bestowed upon us must be carried on, and it is the duty of the firstborn son to ensure that happens."
The king paused and set his eyes on me. Before, I didn't know who was the firstborn between me and Alaric, but his gaze made it obvious.
"Percival, you must carry the hope of this kingdom by becoming its future king."