Will of a Prince

Pelo led Slimo into a room with dozens of bookshelves. Every row of each case held hundreds of books with thick pages. Pelo walked to a specific shelf and pulled out three large texts. He blew across their covers to clear them of any dust that had built up over the years. After handing the texts to Slimo, he began walking towards a table in the center of the room.

"These are all the records of every known prison camp, outpost, and headquarters of those fiends. To be honest with you, only a few people know they exist. I lost many men trying to keep these texts a secret. However, there is one man in particular who I put in charge of this library who saved these texts, even when the Epigones managed to steal these pages back. His name is Willow. He was able to replicate any text he read with perfect accuracy after a single read. I offered him a high position in my government, but he declined to retire early with his family."

He pushed the books towards Slimo.

"He is to thank for providing you this information."

Slimo opened the books and skimmed through the texts. Hundreds of coordinates, specific directions, and even passcodes were written on every single line. It was like staring at the holy grail of information. The sight made Slimo want to cry tears of joy.

"This is... immaculate. He memorized all of this?!"

"Indeed. When he retired, I made sure he was well off for his services."

Slimo absorbed the information like a sponge. He couldn’t believe some of the detail that went into describing these places. However, the longer he read, the more pressure he felt weigh on his shoulders.

"This is quite a lot of places. I don’t know how many we’re going to be able to take out before we can help you with the war."

Pelo nodded his head.

"I assumed you knew how many there were."

Pelo sighed deeply.

"Listen, I understand you are a strong group. You all even managed to take out a warden. However, if you want to make any sort of progress, each and every one of you needs to be able to accomplish that in a small group. Two or three people max."

Slimo paled hearing his father’s estimate. However, he knew that he was right. There were simply too many places to deal with. If they wanted to make any sort of dent in the Epigones numbers, they needed to split up into as little groups as possible. Slimo rubbed his face.

"Me and Avala will make it work somehow. But they will need to be pushed beyond anything they’ve been pushed before."

Pelo smirked.

"Are you aware of what your sister is capable of now?"

Slimo looked at his father suspiciously.

"Not really. As you can probably tell, I was a bit too busy killing your assassins to worry about making a trip back home to visit."

Pelo cleared his throat.

"Anyway, if you remember, her power has to do with friction. She is able to manipulate the friction of any surface she touches."

"Yah, that ability sucks. How did she manage to climb to her position with something like that?"

"It’s because she knows how to utilize it perfectly. You should spar her and see for yourself. You would be demolished!"

"What’s the point of bringing up how powerful she is?"

"What I’m trying to say is you are going to want to keep her with you for every single training session. Make her use her ability on every floor or surface to help the others work on their balance. The terrains around some of these camps are... unforgiving to say the least. If you don’t want her to stay with you, just have her use a release on whatever surface you want to stay a certain friction, and it will hold."

"Does she have a transformation?"

"Of course she does. However, it would not prove useful in training your people to find use their own transformation. Every single one is different. They have to discover how to find and use theirs themselves."

Slimo sighed. He was desperately hoping that Avala could show Squabee how to utilize her Angel Incarnate transformation, but it seemed like he would have to wait a while longer before they could use that.

Slimo leaned back in his chair, lost in his own thoughts.

’When was the last time dad and I had a conversation like this? I’m not sure how to feel about it.’

Slimo refused to look back at his father. Pelo noticed this and spoke up.

"What’s the matter? Did I rain on your hopes?"

"No. Sorry. It’s just been a little bit since we’ve had a conversation like this. That’s all."

Pelo’s face suddenly turned serious.

"You’re right. It has."

An awkward silence hung in the air for three moments. Neither one of them looked at the other. Surprisingly, Pelo was the first one to break the silence. He sighed deeply before speaking.

"Why did you do it, Slimo? Did the throne really mean that much to you?"

Slimo rubbed his hands together then crossed his arms.

"I keep telling you, but you keep forgetting."

"You’ve told me that before, but I don’t remember you ever telling me anything."

"Come on dad, do you have any idea how stupid what you just said sounds?"

"But how could I possibly forget such valuable information? You’re telling me that there was a real explanation for why you pushed a blade through your brother’s heart and sat there to watch him die? What kind of context could defend that, Slimo?"

"A context that is bewitched to keep you ignorant. This whole thing has been one big ploy to split us up. It always has been."

"Why does everyone else seemingly forget then? Why are you the only one who remembers."

Slimo’s tone remained calm and steady. He was getting tired of blaming his father for feeling anger towards him when there wasn’t a way for him to defend himself.

"I am not the only one who remembers. There are two people in my party who have been capable of remembering things when others cannot. One of them is the girl I was talking about earlier, the one who is immune to fate and destiny."

"Who is the other one?"

"The marked man who ran off with his girlfriend."

"Why can he remember?"

"Actually, they are the only ones with Zalos who can remember. Any normal person is capable of listening and understanding what I am telling them, but if they try to clear my name and tell any of you who have Zalo’s, you all forget. The information is corrupted. That’s all I know."

Pelo held out his arm towards Slimo. He looked at it confused not knowing how to respond to the gesture.

"Can you promise me something, son?"

Slimo didn’t speak, but Pelo still continued.

"Promise me you truly didn’t want to kill your brother. Swear on it."

Pelo’s arm was shaking. It was clear that this gesture was taking a lot in him to offer. However, instead of grabbing his arm, Slimo pushed it away. Pelo looked at Slimo with shock.

"I’m sorry, dad. I can’t let you forgive me. Not until I forgive myself."

Pelo slowly lowered his hand.

"You wish to push a peace away that I have offered between us?"

"I wish to earn my place back as your son. Even though there is an explanation for why I killed Leno that I am positive you will defend me for, the fact still remains that his blood is on my hands. I... can’t let anyone forgive me until I forgive myself."

For the first time since starting their conversation, Slimo looked directly into his dad’s eyes.

"I will redeem myself, father. I will earn back my place as the Prince of Paria Empire. I will atone for everything that I have done."

"Do you not harbor anymore ill will against me for sending killers after you in my anguish?"

"I would have done the same if I was in your spot. I was angry at first, absolutely furious to know my own father would try and have my head. However, I realized that I wasn’t angry at you for coming after me. Seeing the killers was simply a reminder to me of what I had done. I was angry at myself."

Pelo stood up from his chair and looked down at Slimo.

"I see. I promise that you will be safe here while you train. However, please keep our visits brief from now on."

He turned around and began walking towards the door.

"I only hope that one day, I will come to understand you, my son."

Pelo closed the door, leaving Slimo to himself in the dim light of the room. Slimo wasn’t reading or looking for information anymore. He simply sat in the comfortable silence of his solitude that he was left in.

He rubbed his eyes and looked around the room. In the corner, there was a large pile of junk stashed with an assortment of ruined books, broken quills and ripped cloth. However, what caught Slimo’s eye was a small, dented box that was hidden under most of the junk. Slimo walked over and pulled it out lightly, careful not to spill anything on the floor. Attached to the empty box was a small card with a brief paragraph written on it.

"Happy birthday, Slimo. I managed to get a hold of this piece when trading with some of the smaller kingdoms. Please make sure to take good care of it and share it with Leno. You make me so incredibly proud to be your father. I love you, my son.

-Dad

Softly, Slimo cried to himself while grasping on to the broken present.