The sky above was never blue.
It was a grey, rocky ceiling, dripping with the sewage and waste of the "Masters" living above.
We are the dwellers of the "Bottom". Mere shadows living beneath the feet of the Royal City.
"Dad... my stomach hurts."
I whispered, pressing my small hand against my belly. Hunger here wasn't a fleeting feeling; it was a permanent companion, slowly gnawing at our insides.
My father rubbed my head with his rough, soot-covered hand. "Endure it, Ren. Prince Valious's procession will pass by today. The nobles sometimes throw their leftovers to the commoners as a form of amusement. We will get something to eat."
We stood by the muddy road with hundreds of other starving souls. Suddenly, the Royal Vehicle appeared.
It wasn't an ordinary carriage, but a pristine white vessel hovering silently above the mud, never touching it. Its design was sleek and simple, yet it screamed wealth and power. The mere existence of such pure whiteness amidst our filth was provoking.
A young man with blond hair stepped out, wearing a long white coat. Prince Valious.
He looked at us the way one looks at annoying insects.
"What a suffocating atmosphere," he said, covering his nose with a handkerchief. "The smell of poverty clings to clothes."
At that moment, my father couldn't take it anymore. The sound of my intestines screaming from hunger drove him to madness.
He rushed past the guards, dragging my mother with him, and knelt directly in front of the Prince.
"My Lord! Your Highness!" my father shouted, his voice trembling. "Please... my son is dying. We don't need money. Just bread... even if it's stale! Please!"
The Prince stopped. He looked down at them coldly, then smiled a hollow smile devoid of any emotion.
"You dare approach me?"
He raised his hand slowly. He didn't gather a fireball, nor did he mutter a long incantation.
All he did was snap his fingers.
Snap.
A simple sound, yet it was deafening in the silence.
In the blink of an eye, a pillar of scorching light exploded where my parents stood.
"Dad! Mom!"
I screamed and rushed toward them. I didn't care about the danger; I just wanted to pull them out.
But when I arrived, I found nothing.
Their bodies had vanished. Nothing remained but a small pile of grey ash on the muddy ground.
I fell to my knees in front of the ash. I reached out with a trembling hand to touch it. It was hot... that was all that was left of them.
"No... no..."
Tears streamed from my eyes, carving paths through the dirt on my face. I felt my heart shatter. I no longer felt hunger, but a terrifying emptiness. I screamed at the top of my lungs, the scream of a child who lost his entire world in a single second.
The Prince turned toward my scream with boredom.
"How annoying. One little insect remains."
He snapped his fingers again, aiming at me.
A beam of light shot toward me.
I raised my hands in front of my face in fear, closing my eyes, waiting for death to join my parents.
The magic hit my body.
But... the scream stopped in my throat.
There was no pain.
Instead of burning me, I felt something strange. I felt energy flowing through my skin, seeping into my pores, and gathering in my empty stomach.
The magic didn't kill me... my body was "drinking" it.
The taste of the Prince's magic was delicious, filling, and warm.
I opened my eyes slowly. The flame was gone, completely absorbed by my body.
I looked at my hands; they weren't burnt. Instead, they glowed with a faint white void aura for a moment before fading.
I wiped my tears. The grief that had squeezed my heart a moment ago suddenly turned into something else. Into a cold rage... and a new hunger.
I looked at the back of the Prince, who was boarding his vehicle to leave, thinking he had finished me off.
I grabbed a handful of the ash remaining from my parents and clenched my fist until my knuckles turned white.
"I won't forget..." I whispered, my voice filled with malice, my eyes fixed on the white ship.
"I will climb up to you. And I will eat all your magic, until nothing remains of you but ash... just as you did to us."