Chapter Text
Long ago, in a time that has been long distorted, warped through oral tellings and fanciful stories, the kingdoms of sky, land, and sea lived together in relative peace. Their bonds were strong, alliances faithful, and the ruling families of each kingdom got along perfectly, friendships so sound, not even the gods themselves could tear them apart if they tried, however, that is only how their relations appeared on the surface.
The cruel, searing reality was this; Royal meetings were nothing more than dominance wars, full of challenging stances and venom filled eloquence. Almost all of the ruling parties were at odds with each other, their strained relations going so far as to infect and ‘unintentionally’ manipulate their heirs, their children, the youngest being only seven years of age, into recreating the same hate filled duality of public and private relations and personas.
The constant battle of wits, words, and power lasted just over a vicennial , only ending when one of the kingdoms reached its breaking point, an understatement, considering the following years of bloodshed, heartache, and terror that reaped throughout their lands.
And yet no one fully remembers which kingdom it was that started the Ancient war, nor were many records kept safe and detailed because of the hurried scramble to defend their own lands and attack those who had once spoken of unbreakable allyship. Lying snakes! The lot of them!
Mistrust and discourse overtook every aspect of life for everyone, leading to even the kindest of healers occupying villages and towns they traveled to under the guise of ‘healing all in need’, instead spreading illness, stealing, and burning supplies that were to help the sick, dying and wounded.
The horrors never seemed to end, and many never got the chance to see the light of another day. Never knowing the taste of a future where things were different, settled, but the past bloodshed and horrors still very much a cruel reminder to never return to a time of mistrust and anguish.
Before The Ancient War, twenty kingdoms spanned the connected territories they all shared and called home, the end was a far cry from the falsehood of grace all twenty upheld, only eight being left in the wake of smog and ash.
Twenty kingdoms, eleven wiped out completely and absorbed into those who conquered them. One kingdom missing, vanishing without a trace.
No one knows how an entire kingdom seemingly vanished, what the name of that kingdom was, or where any of its land was once located. All traces seemed to have been scrubbed from every record, written or otherwise, its very existence absorbed into an ethereal void of forgotten memories and nothingness. The only knowledge remaining being that it existed at all.
Many an adventurer take it upon themselves to find the lost kingdom, none have been successful, and yet one by one they proclaim they will find the lost kingdom and bring salvation and prosperity in their wake.
Common folk of all kingdoms create tales surrounding the mysteries of this missing kingdom.
Some saying it was swallowed by the earth itself, all being punished by the gods for birthing the awful wartime into reality. Others whisper about how it was a hidden space for the gods to reside, and upon the outbreak, they all left and abandoned even their most loyal followers in retribution for their crimes. Others chatter and scoff and deny its existence altogether, proudly proclaiming that the mysterious forgotten kingdom isn’t real at all, nor has it been or ever will be. To them, it’s simply a fantastical tale, made up by people long since dead.
And yet those who live upon the lost kingdom know how real it truly is, how real they are. And only they know the reason surrounding their disappearance, with only the tiniest whisper of a memory bearing witness to its enigmatic existence.
☁️☁️☁️
“Papa!”
Shirakumo Oboro glanced behind him, a grin overtaking his features at this sight of his five year old son excitedly running towards him, something very obviously clasped between his tiny hands.
“What do you have there, my little cloudling ?” He asked, crouching down to the child’s height, his gaze fond.
The tiny child stopped in front of his father, small puffs of air leaving him, and his freckled face dusted a light pink from excitement and the exertion it took for him to run across the palace garden.
“Look what I found!” He chirped, opening his hands, showing.. Well, he didn’t know, but it was pretty! And he was certain Papa would like it too!
“Woah!” His father gasped, genuinely impressed, sue him for being a childish adult and entertaining his kid, “That’s called a butterfly, Izuku.” He said, catching his child’s excited attention. An elated smile spreading ever wider across the child’s face, “They come from the surface.”
“It’s pretty!” He cheered, before letting out a cry as the small, purple butterfly flew away, Izuku pouting in disappointment. Tears began pooling in his eyes, eyes that were as green as the surface below.
“Hey, it’s ok,” Oboro soothed, picking up Izuku, whose eyes were starting to mist, a side effect of being a Mistborn . Cloudlike features were very peculiar.
“But it’s gone.. And I’ve never seen one before,” He sniffled, rubbing away the tears in one of his eyes. He didn’t want to cry, princes don’t cry! Thats what Two always tells him..
Oboro combed his free hand through Izuku’s fluffy, light green hair, a soothing, gentle smile on his lips, “I know. We don’t get them very often up here, it’s usually too high and too cold for them.” He said, “But think of it like this; that butterfly came all the way up here to see you. It traveled all this way to come visit.”
“R-really?” Izuku asked, eyes still misty.
“Mhm. But it couldn’t stay because it needed to go home.”
“Like.. Like we go home after seeing auntie Nemi?” Izuku sniffled, the mist around his eyes clearing as his tears slowly stopped.
“Exactly like that.”
A peaceful, contented silence surrounded them for a few moments. The two of them calmly strolling around the garden, looking at all the pretty flowers and other plants the druids were able to grow atop the clouds on which they all lived.
Astriceli was truly an odd place, but it was the only home the people there have known for well over a century.
Izuku snuggled farther into his father’s arms, “Papa?”
“Yes, my little cloudling?” Oboro asked, already knowing what Izuku was going to say. It was routine for the two of them.
“Story?” The small boy asked. Oboro could’ve mistaken him for a clouder with the way he was pleading with his eyes.
Oboro nodded, happy to entertain Izuku’s small wishes, truly a hard dichotomy from the wishes of the elder council , “Once upon a time there was a princess who was very lonely. She was locked in a cursed tower by an evil sorcerer all her life, and was never allowed to leave.”
Izuku gasped in protest, “No! Thats mean! Why would they trap her? Can I be her friend?”
Oboro merely smiled at his son, always one to care for others, even in old fabricated stories, “One day, a brave and beautiful dame in shining red armor came to save her, after hearing the princess sing from within her tower, but try as she might the brave knight couldn’t break the curse.”
“She refused to give up, however, and came back every day for many years to try and free the princess. And every day the princess would tell her that it was hopeless, that she was trapped forever. The dame didn’t believe this to be true, and instead continued to come back, much to the princess’s secret delight.”
“She was happy to have a friend?”
Oboro nodded, “Eventually, the princess realized, she was in love with the dame in shining red armor, and the dame was in love with her as well. The next time the dame showed up at the tower, the purple glow of the curse disappeared from the tower, and a stairwell opened, leading to the princess at the top of the tower.”
Izuku gasped again, this time in delight. He always loved stories like this, “The curse is gone! The- They can be happy now!”
Oboro grinned, “They both ran to the other, and met in a loving embrace. Not long after, they returned to their kingdom and got married, living happy lives happily.”
Izuku’s grinning, joyous expression suddenly fell. His eyes trained on the fog-like grass beneath his father’s feet, “How come in these stories..” He trailed off.
“What was that Zu?’ Oboro encouraged, running a hand back through his son’s wispy hair.
“How come in the stories they always.. Always are on the surface?” He asked quietly, afraid of making his father mad. His father had never gotten mad at him for questions like that, but others have.
Oboro blinked in surprise, usually, children thought of the stories being on Astriceli not.. “What makes you say they’re on the surface?”
“Well.. We don’t have tow-towers like that, and we don’t.. We don’t have a lot of things mentioned in the stories..” He said, “Like, um. The pegasus with no wings? An’ the water that- that runs across the ground!”
Oboro let out a fond huff, how did his kid end up so smart? Cause it definitely wasn’t from him, “Horses, are the pegasi without wings, and the waters are called rivers.” He explained, “But, you are right. They’re stories from the surface, Cloudling. They are.. Very, very old stories-”
“Why don’t we live on the surface?” Izuku asked, before slapping his hands over his mouth. The last time he had asked that Councilman five got mad at him and-
“Izuku,” Oboro whispered, quiet and stern, “You.. You’ll find out why when you’re older, but for now please be careful when you ask that.”
“Because they don’t like it..” Izuku muttered near silently, eyes downcast.
Oboro blinked in surprised horror. Had Izuku asked something like that- “Izuku, cloudling, did you ask something like that to the council?”
Izuku nodded, cringing away when Oboro reached to comfortingly play with his hair again as if Izuku thought he would..
Oboro froze for a moment, ice entered his veins and a cool concealed rage festered at the forefront of his mind, before continuing his ministrations of combing through Izuku’s hair with his fingers. The council fucking touched his kid, they likely hit him because he asked about the surface-
His cloudling wants to know about the surface, Oboro will teach him all he can. If Izuku wants to leave to the surface in the future then so be it, Oboro would rather see him go and be free and happy, than continue living in this pretend paradise amongst the sky.
"Why don’t we go see what they have at the bakeries in town?” Oboro asked in an attempt to quell his anger. He could plan and act against the council in secret rebellion later. Right now his son was his priority, Izuku was always his priority.
“Yes!” Izuku beamed, smile as bright as pyrin feathers under the scorching summer sun.
His son would be okay.
☁️☁️☁️
Izuku whined when someone gently tried to shake him awake, instead opting to cover himself with the thin blanket, designed to keep people cool in the hot summers, and snuggle deeper into his bed. A futile attempt to sleep more and escape what little royal responsibilities his Dad couldn’t take from him. He’s not lazy just.. struggling with dysania .
Oboro chuckled in amusement, even though Izuku was a morning person, it was still too early for him. Quite telling of the time, if the nonexistent sun outside didn’t give it away already.
Oboro attempted to wake his child for the second time in three minutes, unsuccessfully trying to pull the blanket off his deceptively strong child. Seriously when did he get this strong!
Sighing to himself, the King decided to use his trump card, because his child was more stubborn than a grudgeful oowanyx , “Happy birthday, Izuku.”
That caught the young man’s attention, causing him to sit up and stare aol-eyed at his father, unblinking for a moment. A bright, but tired grin that could replace the missing sun outside overtaking his face.
“Thanks, Papa,” Izuku finally sat up, yawning, “But why did you wake me up so early? The suns not even out…”
“Well… I have something I need to talk to you about-”
“Me taking on more royal responsibilities? I could’ve been doing that this-”
“The exact opposite actually,” Oboro said, ending this, admittedly frustrating and amusing, game of cutting each other off back and forth, “You.. back when you were small, do you remember asking about the surface?”
Izuku blinked in surprise. He used to ask and talk about it all the time, but after a while, he kept getting in trouble with the council.. So he stopped asking, even if his Dad was always excited and willing to answer, “Yes?”
“Well.. Back then I made a promise to myself, and to you, without you knowing.. and I’ve been preparing this for a long time now,” Oboro prepared to continue, attempting to calm his nerves by breathing in the cool early morning air. Gods this was so nerve-wracking, “I’ve set it up so you will be going to the surface and rekindling our lost bonds with the other kingdoms.”
Izuku forgot how to breathe. His lungs stopped working at the amazement of that statement, How was he supposed to react? What should he say? What could he say? “How.. How did you- The council wouldn’t allow that-”
“I know. I made it a royal order . They can’t refute it and even if they could, it’s set to be announced by the town crier at first ligh t .”
Oboro gently cradled his son’s shaking hands in his own, grounding the young man who was on the verge of tears, eyes creating two miniature waterfalls of mist in the process, “The kingdom will know you are to depart soon, you’ll be free, even if it’s only temporary.. You do have to take a guard with you, and unfortunately have to be a prince in terms of attempting to reconnect with the other kingdoms, but..”
“But other than that I’m free to do as I please.. I- I can explore, and make friends, and see the world from the ground!” Izuku gasped, eyes lighting up in elation, throwing himself at his father, trapping him in a welcome, bone-crushing hug, “Thank you thank you thank you!”
“You’re welcome, cloudling. You need to get packed and be in the courtyard before first light. I’ll have a guard there that will be traveling with you and there will be documents you need to keep with you that don’t get destroyed. After you’ve visited all the kingdoms, even if they don’t.. Well accept us or believe you, you’ll come home using a warping crystal I had Nemuri make.”
Oboro stood to leave, “I have a few last-minute preparations to get settled. You have a few hours before sunrise. Try not to pack anything too unnecessary.” He added teasingly, knowing that Izuku had a habit of carrying around unnecessary things. How does one casualty forget they have an entire tart they’d stolen from the kitchen in their pocket?
Izuku rolled his eyes, far too used to his father’s childish teasing, “I’ll keep that in mind, Papa. I’ll see you when I’m finished packing?”
His father nodded before walking out and shutting the soft skywood door behind him, leaving Izuku to his own devices and emotions. Curse his weepy, sentimental nature, he was bound to be crying his eyes out by the time he left. Hopefully, it would be most happy tears..
No matter. He could focus on his disdain for his fragile tear ducts later, he has things to pack, and a journey to prepare for.