Two years later, after the incident at the palace, Rayon felt a new warmth, a terrifying, suffocating pressure, and then a shocking, brutal cold. A slap on his backside. He drew in a breath to scream out his anger, but all that came out was the helpless wail of a newborn. His helpless cry for vengeance has made nature to reincarnate him into another family but in the same kingdom.
What a great relief for him. Nature could be kind at times when you are faced with betrayal. This was the reality of young prince Rayon.
Rayon's new name was Matins, son of Ivana and Marvin. This was the name of his new parents.
Ivana and Marvin were weavers. Their hands were always stained with dye because of the nature of their work, and their small home was next to the palace, under the shadow of the very palace walls he had once called home.
Rayon, once a prince of the realm, was now Martin, a commoner. The irony was a bitter pill he had to swallow every day. His crib was made of wood, not polished like the one in the palace. His lullabies were sung in a soft, tired voice, not performed by a court maid.
The love his new parents showered on him was fierce, genuine, and utterly inconvenient. They were doing everything in their capacity to ensure he was happy. They were too naïve to understand the whole scenario, but their only happiness was that they were delighted to have birthed a child of their own. They already felt accomplished, and they tried to carry out their duties as new parents.
But Martin didn't want this new harsh reality to weigh him down; he had a plan. A magnificent, terrible plan.
He would bide his time, and he would let his magic return, and it would. He could feel the ember of it already, smoldering in his new chest. And he would nurture it in secret without repeating the mistake of telling his new parents about it.
He would learn everything he could about the palace's weaknesses, and when the time was right, he would unleash a storm of vengeance that would make his premature display in the atrium look like a candle flame.
As night turned into day and day into night, Martins began to grow gradually from an infant to a toddler under the care of his new parents.
By the time he was eleven years old, he began to practice how to make use of his magical powers.
His first year was an exercise in frustration. He was trapped in a helpless, drooling body, forced to endure cuddles and cooing when he wanted to study some mysterious secret and plot how to eliminate the royal household.
As he grew older, approaching his teen years, he began to make more progress in his work. He would always look out the window of their small home, staring up at the pyramidal structure on top of the palace building.
His magic began to manifest in small, controllable ways. He could make his wooden blocks float when no one was looking. He could summon a single perfect flame at the tip of his finger to light his mother's candles, earning him praise for being so helpful when all he was doing was practicing control. He could glance at a tree and pluck the fruit from it without the aid of any object whenever his parents weren't around.
His new parents were kind to him. They saw a thoughtful, serious boy and loved him more for it. They saved for months to buy him a set of beautifully carved toy soldiers and some nice clothes.
He had always told his parents to stop buying him toys because that's not what he desired at this stage and moment. However, his parents felt he was just a child and didn't listen to him. It didn't stop there; his new parents ensured that they got him anything that would make him happy.
As the years rolled by, Ivana began to nurture a feeling of depression regarding Martin's state. "Why is my child not like any other happy children? And what could be bothering him at this young age?" This was the question that ravaged her mother's mind every day, without her having knowledge of the powers Martin possessed.
Martin celebrated his thirteenth birthday, and it was such a happy moment for Ivana and Marvin. They felt blessed to know their handsome son would soon grow into an adult in a few years. There was food and drink for everyone who came to the birthday party. People had so much to eat and drink.
However, they were faced with a bigger problem: they couldn't bear another child, so they kept praying and hoping to have one so that their beloved son, Martin, could have a playmate. They felt the reason for his depression was that he was lacking a sibling, even though he had some children around with whom he could play and have fun.
"Magical powers, they say, rule the world; you can have anything and desire whatever you wish for." How true is this statement? You can see it manifesting in the family of Ivana and Marvin because Martin has used his magical powers to stop them from having any other children. He doesn't want to have any brothers or sisters. He feels that being alone could help him master his magic even more.
He avoided anyone who extended a hand of friendship to him. He has never had any friends despite living among many children of his age.
Despite the love shown to him by his parents, he doesn't feel any need to reciprocate it. Since he has been betrayed before by those who claimed to love him, he feels that their love is not genuine and does not come from their hearts. His hatred is his compass, his purpose, th
e core around which his new life is built.