Chapter 1: The Tenth Prince
The Imperial Capital had not changed.
Its towering white walls still reached toward the heavens like the spine of some sleeping giant, bright stone catching the afternoon sun while golden banners bearing the Imperial Dragon moved above the battlements. Thousands passed through the enormous gates below them in a constant stream of merchants, nobles, adventurers, laborers, soldiers, and travelers arriving from every corner of the Empire. Wagons rattled over the stone road, horses pulled decorated carriages toward the inner districts, and merchants shouted over one another as guards inspected cargo entering Aurelia.
To the people moving through those gates, it was simply another ordinary day. Nobody paid much attention to the lone young man approaching the Imperial Capital on foot, and there was little about his appearance that demanded they should.
His black traveling cloak had been worn thin by years on the road, its lower edge carrying old tears that had been repaired more than once. Dust covered his boots, and a weathered longsword rested across his back beside a staff wrapped carefully in faded cloth. Raven-black hair moved across his forehead whenever the wind shifted, occasionally falling over crimson eyes that looked far older than the seventeen-year-old face surrounding them.
Kael stopped several hundred meters from the gates.
For a while, he simply stood there, letting the traffic pass around him as he stared at the walls he had once believed were the boundaries of his entire world. As a child, Aurelia had seemed impossibly large. The palace had seemed eternal, his father invincible, and the Imperial family something that could never truly change. Ten years away had taught him differently.
So this is it, Kael murmured beneath his breath, a faint smile pulling at one corner of his mouth. I’m finally home
The words should have carried excitement. Instead, they left behind something quieter, something he could not decide was relief, dread, or nostalgia.
Ten years.
It had been ten years since a frightened seven-year-old boy had passed beyond those walls and vanished from the Empire without leaving behind a clear trail. Ten years since Prince Kael Asterion had disappeared from Imperial records and slowly transformed from a missing child into a tragedy people spoke about in past tense. His ruined carriage had eventually been discovered. His escorts had been found slaughtered, and what little evidence remained had convinced most of the Empire that the Tenth Prince had died somewhere far from home.
Kael lowered his eyes and released a slow breath.
I wonder if Father is still as stubborn as ever
The smile returned for only a moment before fading. Thinking about Augustus made the years between then and now feel strangely smaller, and Kael wasn’t certain whether that made returning easier or worse.
A familiar presence stirred within his mind before he could dwell on it.
[IMPERIAL SYSTEM]
[Homecoming Quest Initiated]
[Objective: Return to the Imperial Palace]
[Reward: Unknown]
Kael stared ahead for several seconds before sighing.
You’re still terrible at giving useful information
[Negative]
[The System is exceptionally useful]
A quiet laugh escaped him despite himself. Right. Of course you are
The System offered no further response, which somehow made its earlier statement more irritating.
By the time Kael resumed walking, several guards at the capital gate had noticed him. Travelers entered Aurelia with weapons every day, but armed strangers who approached the Imperial inspection line without slowing tended to earn attention quickly.
Halt
Nearly twenty Imperial guards shifted at once, spears lowering into a disciplined barrier across the road. Their armor carried the golden Dragon of the Empire, polished enough to catch the sunlight, while the captain stepped ahead of the formation with one hand resting near his sword.
State your identity
Kael stopped several paces away. His gaze moved over the men, lingering briefly on the Imperial insignia before returning to their captain.
It’s been a while. I’d like to enter
The captain stared at him.
That’s not an answer. Name
Kael’s eyes drifted toward the Imperial Dragon banner hanging above the gate. Seeing it this close brought back memories he had spent years trying not to revisit: ceremonial courtyards, tutors, siblings arguing in palace halls, servants chasing children who believed rules applied only when adults were looking.
Kael
The captain waited.
Kael what?
Kael looked back at him.
Kael Asterion
For one brief moment, the road seemed unusually quiet.
Then one of the guards laughed.
Another followed him, and within seconds disbelief spread through the formation. A younger soldier nearly lost his grip on his spear before catching it again, while another looked Kael up and down as though trying to understand how anyone dressed like a wandering adventurer had chosen such an absurd lie.
Did he just say Asterion?
The Imperial family?
You’ve got courage, I’ll give you that
The captain did not laugh. His expression hardened instead, and the hand near his sword settled firmly over its hilt.
Impersonating a member of the Imperial Bloodline is punishable by death
Kael nodded once.
I know
Then stop joking
I’m not
The amusement among the soldiers gradually disappeared. The captain studied Kael more carefully now, his gaze moving across his face, clothing, weapon, and posture as if searching for the flaw that would reveal what kind of criminal stood before him.
The Tenth Prince disappeared ten years ago, he finally said. His carriage was found destroyed, his escorts were slaughtered, and there wasn’t enough evidence left to give the boy a proper burial. You expect me to believe that after ten years he simply walks up to the eastern gate dressed like a traveler?
Kael’s expression barely changed.
When you say it that way, it does sound unlikely
The captain stared at him.
This isn’t amusing
I wasn’t trying to be amusing
Then give me proof
That stopped Kael.
Proof.
He had spent years surviving places where his name meant nothing, and for most of that time being Kael Asterion had been something he actively avoided proving. He had no Imperial seal hanging around his neck, no royal escort waiting nearby, and no document from ten years ago capable of confirming that the boy everyone believed dead had grown into the young man standing before Aurelia.
Kael considered the problem for several moments before giving the captain a faint, almost apologetic smile.
I suppose I don’t have any
The soldiers immediately started laughing again.
I knew it
Another lunatic
Throw him back onto the road before he gets himself killed
The captain looked less entertained than any of them.
You’ve made your joke. Leave before—
A horse cried out behind the inspection line.
The guards turned almost immediately as several mounted Imperial escorts approached from inside Aurelia. People hurried out of their path, and the soldiers at the gate straightened when they recognized the crimson robes of the elderly man riding at the center of the group.
The captain dropped to one knee.
Grand Chamberlain
The other guards followed.
Kael remained standing.
The elderly man barely noticed the soldiers.
His eyes had already found Kael.
Confusion appeared first.
Then disbelief.
The Chamberlain’s posture changed so abruptly that one of his escorts reached toward him, perhaps fearing he was about to fall from the horse. He ignored the hand, dismounted with unusual haste, and simply stood in the road staring at Kael as though the past itself had walked out to meet him.
Kael’s expression softened.
It’s been a long time
The Chamberlain’s lips parted, but nothing came out.
He approached slowly, each step seeming harder than the last. The closer he came, the more visible the trembling in his hands became, and whatever doubt had existed in his face began breaking beneath memories only he could see. His gaze passed over Kael’s hair, his eyes, the shape of his face, and finally stopped there.
Impossible
Kael did not move.
The Chamberlain came within a few feet of him before lifting one weathered hand. He hesitated before touching Kael’s cheek, almost as though he feared the young man would disappear the moment contact was made.
Your Highness?
Kael nodded.
I’m home
That was enough.
The Grand Chamberlain dropped to one knee so suddenly that Kael instinctively reached toward him. Tears had already begun slipping down the old man’s face, and when he spoke again, his voice carried farther than either of them expected.
The Tenth Prince has returned
Everything around the eastern gate seemed to stop.
The Imperial guards stared at Kael in horror. Merchants who had been shouting seconds earlier fell silent, nobles turned away from their carriages, and travelers gathered along the road as the words spread outward from person to person.
The Tenth Prince
He’s alive?
The Lost Prince?
I thought he died
Kael stood motionless at the center of it all while the city seemed to remember his existence at once.
A messenger broke away first, sprinting through the gate toward Aurelia’s interior. Another followed, then a mounted Imperial soldier. Within moments the news had begun traveling through the capital faster than Kael himself ever could.
Prince Kael Asterion was alive.
The Lost Tenth Prince had returned home.
Far beyond the eastern gate, deep within the Imperial Palace, Emperor Augustus Aurelius Asterion stood before a towering window overlooking Aurelia. The capital stretched beneath him in white stone and gold, exactly as it had for years, though the hurried footsteps approaching the chamber door announced that something had changed.
An Imperial knight entered and dropped to one knee.
Your Majesty, a report has arrived from the eastern gate. The Grand Chamberlain has personally confirmed it
Augustus did not turn immediately.
The knight swallowed before continuing.
The Tenth Prince has returned
Silence filled the chamber.
For the first time in many years, the Emperor’s expression visibly changed. Augustus closed his eyes, and a quiet breath escaped him as though he had been holding it for far longer than anyone around him understood.
When he finally opened them again, his crimson gaze remained fixed on the distant capital gates.
So, Kael
His voice was almost too quiet for the knight behind him to hear.
You finally came home