Chapter Text
In the kingdom of Promare, there lived a king, Deus Prometh. He was a benevolent man, working to bring peace among two groups of people, the Humans and the Burnish. The Burnish are those who have innate magic within them, usually resembling a vibrant blaze of fire, hence their namesake. Each Burnish usually only had one special ability; some could heal, others destroy. But no matter what a Burnish could do, their human neighbors would always be wary of them.
As the king grew older and weaker, he started to worry about getting an heir to his throne. He thought that this child needed to be someone who could embody the future of his kingdom, someone to bring unity within the two discordant communities. Then, on one fateful night, Deus came across an orphaned child. The boy, no younger than 10, had a green aura around him that he had used to protect multiple people from a collapsing building. As Deus looked in awe of the child, he knew in that instant that he had found someone that could bring peace to the kingdom.
A nervous crowd had gathered around as the king kneeled towards the ash covered child and asked for his name.
The child spoke obediently, “Lio Fotia.”
“Well, Lio. How would you like to live in the palace?”
Lio wasn’t enjoying his life of luxury. Granted it was better than living in poverty, but Lio felt that he had left behind a true experience of being a Burnish child. In Promare, the Burnish were treated as lower class or criminals. Many worked low paying jobs, but had to keep their powers hidden so no one would discriminately fire them. Others worked with their abilities in secret, using their powers with good or bad intentions. But the most prominent Burnish were those of the terrorist group, Mad Burnish, those that had destroyed a huge part of the kingdom 30 years ago. The incident had destroyed homes, businesses and the lives of many people. And because of this, the Burnish people are no longer given much of a chance to redeem themselves.
Although Lio understood how the Mad Burnish were terrorists, he knew from his experience and from the people he lived with that most Burnish were kind, caring individuals who only wish to serve their kingdom. Living as an heir to the throne seemed wrong to him because it was like he was leaving his community and instead putting his safety over his kind’s. Because of these thoughts, his mind was mentally tortured by the choice he had made.
Once Lio entered the castle, though, his mind cleared momentarily. Deus introduced him to many of his compatriots: Advisor Kray, Commander Ignis and Researcher Heris. Once the vast castle was fully explored, the king led Lio into his new bedroom, which was five times a space than what Lio had usually lived in.
Deus notified the future prince-to-be, “If you need anything at all, don’t be afraid to ask me, Kray, or any of the servants here.”
Lio smiled at the king after he spoke, but once Deus made his exit, the child laid face first on the bed, his mind racing back to all his guilty thoughts. All he wanted was to bring the Burnish back with him.
As days rolled by and Lio adjusted to his new surroundings, Deus found the child spending a lot of time in the study, reading about different things: nature, mathematics, fairy tales. Every day was a new book and a different idea for the child to discover. No matter the story or subject, though, the boy still looked sad to the king.
One day, Deus sat by Lio who was reading a story called The Canary Prince. Deus offers, “You know, I could read you one of these stories, Lio. Or I could even tell you some of my own. I’ve got many tales to tell.”
Lio politely declined and continued reading his book. Deus spoke up again, “You know, this may be a bit impolite, but I wondered why you still look unhappy. Do you not like living here, Lio?”
The boy shook his head in silence. The king persisted, “Can you tell me why you’re unhappy?”
Lio remained silent. Deus paused for a couple seconds before turning around and walking back to the exiting door. “It’s alright. I don’t want to pressure you. Just know that you’ve made a bold decision, Lio. Someday, this kingdom will be yours. If you think you’ve abandoned the Burnish, don’t. Once you become prince, I’ll be sure you have the responsibility to bring support to your people.”
As the door shut, Lio couldn’t even read his book anymore. He shut the dusty pages and observed where Deus stood. He felt like he was still in a dream, he just couldn’t believe what the king told him. Lio was going to be a prince, and that he was going to be given the sole responsibility of creating laws and aide needed to help the Burnish. It was a scary thought, but Lio managed to think one thing only. That his goal from then on was to become the perfect princely figure Promare deserved.
Four years pass and Lio became more acquainted with his servants. He isn’t able to befriend most of them, though, as they were mainly way older than him. Deus notices this and decides Lio not only needs friends his age, but also friends that he can relate with. And so the palace began bringing in a couple new recruits: Meis and Gueira. Both kids were a year or two older than Lio, but each had a Burnish ability and could handle a fight.
Once all three had met, they were inseparable. During breaks from classes or training, the group would sit, eat lunch, spar and just talk about their lives. Deus glanced at the group once as well and finally saw a smile appear on his adopted son’s face. He thought that the happiness would last a lot longer than it did. But then there was a new recruit.
Galo Thymos. He was about the same age as Lio when he entered the royal army, but as soon as their eyes locked, Lio felt the kid had some sort of animosity towards him. Around training times, Galo would heavily spar with Gueira and Meis, sometimes these fights became brutal. Then, one day, Lio spotted a match between Galo and Gueira. He saw how evenly matched they’d become, but Gueira started to lose form. Galo took an opportunity to strike at him, not in the chest, not in the arm, but in the face. The brunt of his sword had left a small bruise on Gueira’s cheek. The Burnish began to spit blood and immediately fell on the grass before him.
Lio dropped everything and ran to Gueira’s side along with Meis. The two just comforted the guard whilst Galo gave a cocky smile. The noble looked at this expression and decided this would not stand, asking Meis to give him a practice sword.
Galo was surprised once he saw Lio stand up, sword in hand, ready to fight. The arrogance stayed true, though, “What’s wrong, rich boy? Your friend just lost a match. It’s all fair and more importantly, over.”
Lio didn’t respond. He just closed his eyes, and remembered what he’d been taught by Ignis when he was younger. Broad shoulders, loose grip on the left hand, the hips should be directed with legs and, more importantly, the blade should point directly at your opponent’s chest. Galo shrugged at this sight and lazily set up his stance. After a moment of silence, Lio took a deep breath, counted backwards from three, and then, he ran towards his adversary.
Galo and Lio were neck and neck, their wooden swords constantly tapping, never being able to reach the other person. Galo became more aggressive with each attack, Lio remaining calm and steady to defend himself from these moves. Soon, Galo became sick of this even game and decided to head for the noble’s feet. Lio immediately saw through this move, and so he jumped backwards and within the time Galo crouched to make his strike, Lio use the brunt of his sword’s hilt to hit Galo over the back of the head.
The guard found himself face first in the dirt at this point. He pulled himself up and rubbed the nape of his neck to try and relieve himself of his pain, but he still found himself hurt just from looking in Lio’s sights. Meis and Gueira were behind the nobleman, cheering his victory. Lio could barely hide his arrogant smirk from the public view.
Before Galo could complain, though, there was a grizzled voice in unbelievable shock.
“What happened here? Lio, what are you doing?”
King Deus faced the noble child with disappointment and dread. Lio began to convert himself back into his sad cadence once he saw his adopted father confront him.
“This behavior will not stand. I thought you were taught to be better than this.”
The king laid out a commanding hand towards the future prince and told him that he was grounded for at least three months and forbidden from doing any sparring training until he was taught proper etiquette.
Before the noble child could leave completely, though, he managed to have a passing whisper between himself and Galo. Both spoke quiet enough to not get in trouble, but each statement was poisonous enough to place a pinch of venom in the two boy’s hearts for each other.
“I hate you, Lio Fotia.”
“I don’t much care for you either, Galo Thymos.”
In another 4 years, the noble child grew up to be a talented and handsome individual. He was skilled at archery, fencing, horseback riding and speaking multiple languages. Lest people forget, though, Lio was a Burnish, and he managed to learn how to use this ability to protect parts of his body from harm or how to heal himself when he was injured or sick. Even though these powers were impressive, Lio still felt he hadn’t reached his full potential as he wanted to find a way to use this power in creating a shield: a barrier that he would plan to use to protect Promare from any attacks from neighboring kingdoms. But this plan would have to be put on hold; Lio’s Investiture was in a week and once he is given the title of Prince, his primary task will be to bring equality to the Burnish. That is what he worked so hard for.
He already felt that the kingdom was starting to reach that goal once Deus had brought Gueira and Meis to work as Lio’s bodyguards. Although the job was still a difficult one, it at least gave the two men a place in the castle to sleep at, along with proper meals and a decent wage. However, there was still a bit of discrimination being placed against them, particularly from the human servants, and even more specifically-
Knock, knock!
“I’m here, your highness.”
Speak of the devil: it was the spiky-haired soldier himself, ready to stand guard for Lio’s safety. Guards of the palace were given hourly shifts to stand guard at any room that contained the future prince and the king. The one who usually got the late shifts with the prince was Galo, which to both of them was the least enjoyable part of their nights. Lio noticed, however, that even though Galo had a shift tonight, the soldier had a cast on his left arm.
“Are you able to stand guard? Your arm looks severely broken.”
Galo shuffled his feet and began to yell accusingly, “Yeah, well, practice was just rough today. Commander Vulcan showed no mercy during our training…I’ll just have to try harder next time!”
Silence then passed awkwardly with time. Galo stayed near the doors of the study, whilst Lio continued reading a guide to different bird species. Before he could even turn to the page about swallows, though, Lio decided to break the thick tension with a sharp jab, “I’m surprised you haven’t made a complaint to Ignis yet about your shifts. Aren’t you getting tired of looking at my face?”
The guard pouted. “Don’t think I didn’t try getting shifts to guard the king! I wish I could be given that job, at least he wouldn’t have to spend most of his time in this boring library!”
Lio slammed his book in response to such an ignorant comment, “These books have more to say than that thick skull of yours. Maybe I should find you a picture book to read; that might get you to start thinking.”
Galo blushed, embarrassed. “I-I can think! I made the choice of becoming a soldier to my kingdom! I don’t need a Burnish to tell me otherwise.”
Lio rolled his eyes, “Oh yeah? And why’s that?”
Galo erupted into resentful anger.“Because I’m not some spoiled lottery child that only got here because of some atrocious ability! The king could have picked any Burnish; You just happen to be the one he saw first!” Galo was basically ranting at this point. “You’re people have caused our kingdom so much destruction and pain! All the Burnish have is the ability to bring destruction to Promare and that’s why I’m here, to keep that from ever happening again, to keep the Burnish from destroying the only home I’ve known and loved!”
…
Silence once again fell upon both the young prince and the young guard. Lio slowly placed the book onto the coffee table and then motioned with his finger for Galo to come forward. The thick-headed guard surely felt stupid now, thinking the future prince was going to fire him on the spot. Instead, Lio continued to motion the guard to sit next to him. Galo obeyed.
Lio pushed his bangs out of his eyes and looked at Galo with serious intent. “I understand your judgement on my people. There are some, especially the Mad Burnish, that I cannot forgive. But I need you to see that I’m not going to let my opportunity here go to waste.”
Galo didn’t know what to think about any of what Lio was saying. And he didn’t know what to do when Lio began to emit a small flame from his hand. But then that innate nature of running from said power kicked in and Galo leapt off the loveseat ready to escape the study. Lio gripped the guard’s wrist though, and so Galo stood still.
“It’s okay. I won’t hurt you.”
The guard hesitated, but sighed before sitting back down to look closely at what Lio was showing him. The flame remained calm, maintaining a small, orb-like shape before Lio placed the fire onto Galo’s casted arm. As expected, Galo started to flinch, suspecting pain, but found instead a feeling of warmth. A heat that somehow didn’t burn him, but rather, comforted him. The fire then began to spread out of Galo’s palm all the way to his shoulder. The experience was surreal, but also extraordinary to him, like he was feeling a friendly embrace. An embrace of someone he could love. Someone to protect .
After a few moments, the flames began to dissipate from Galo’s arm. He looked back at Lio and before he could utter a word, he found that his injured arm felt surprisingly better than it was a few moments ago. In fact, he felt like the cast wasn’t even needed at this point.
Baffled, Galo spoke only in one syllable words. “How—Whu did—-I me-Huh?”
Lio warmly smirked at the reaction. “I told you, we Burnish aren’t always gifted with powers to destroy or harm. We can also protect and heal those around us. And that is all I plan to do.”
Galo was still stunned at what happened. Lio decided then that the guard was broken from the experience, and therefore didn’t want to put him through anymore shocking discoveries. He stood up, ready to call for another guard.
“Sir Lio, wait!”
That is, until Galo spoke up.
“I’m...I’m sorry for what I said earlier. I shouldn’t have said those harsh things. I...I didn’t-“
Lio placed a finger upon the guards mouth to cease the babbling and just calmly replied, “It’s fine, Galo. I don’t mind at all. But we should probably stop speaking so casually, before we both get in trouble.” The prince-to-be winked and went towards the shelves to grab a new book to read.
As Galo reached back to his post at the door, he couldn’t help but admire Lio from where he was, seeing from the haloing lights that this once bratty-looking, Burnish child was actually a handsome, kindhearted individual that only wished to help others. Galo couldn’t help but smile humbly at that, but when Lio turned back, the guard whistled suspiciously and just as quickly turned his glance, and thoughts, away.