A Broken Heart

Dear Vorick,

This morning you asked why I was in your room and why I volunteered to help you get ready and I will explain everything in this letter. Firstly I'm so sorry that I had to lie to you, mom and dad didn't want me to ruin your big day before you even ate breakfast. The truth is I was born without a mana core. That's right your twin brother is a useless waste of space. Evergreen law states that anyone in a position of power, weather they are part of the royal family or a noble, must have a mana core. When the council found out they stripped me of my title and everything and declared me a commoner. For this reason I was forced to leave the castle forever. That's why I volunteered to help you. I wanted to see you one last time . To hug you and tell you how much I love you. I wish I could have been their to see you awaken I'm sure your affinity is fantastic and strong. I got some more news, on top of not having a mana core I am trapped as a 9 year old boy forever unable to age. So thats why you are bigger then me and you'll keep getting bigger then me. I don't know when the next time we will meet. Hopefully it's often. I don't want the only memories we have of each other to be childhood memories but my status has changed and you won't be able to show favoritism just because we share the same blood. So I don't know how to continue our relationship. It seems impossible plus mom and dad won't let you leave the inner grounds which is a road block.

I am unable to wear the royal crest so I have gifted all of my fine clothes to you as well as all of my toys and nicnacs. You'll find them all inside the trunk. Don't be angry at mom and dad they did what they had to do. They are bound by the laws and can't make exceptions for family. I will be ok so don't worry to much. I'm going to miss seeing you everyday. I wish now that I had spent more time with you. I've always looked up to you. I think you have what it takes to be a great king one day but you'll have to do it without me by your side.

By the time you read this I will have already left.

Love you always,

Mack

Vorick had felt pain before but this…..this was on a whole other level. Mack was right, this hurts more then anything. His brother was gone. How was he supposed to help him now. He'll have no choice but to go to his mom and dad and explain Mack's situation but right now he just wanted to cry like the little kid that he still is. He took his clothes off and turned to walk to his bed but stopped dead in his tracks. What he saw on his bed, leaning up against his pillow brought tears to his eyes. He walked over with tears running down his face and grabbed the note.

This is teddy. He wants to help you. So I told him he could be your companion in my absence. Hopefully he can help heal your broken heart.

Love,

Mackey

Vorick hugged his brothers stuffed bear like it was going to try an run away from him. He curled up into a ball and sobbed softly into the bear. He was lost and didn't know what he could do. Suddenly he remembered that he didn't read the instructions on how to complete the mission given to him by the system. The moment he thought about the quest the tab opened and a transparent screen appeared in front of him.

[Active quests:

Cure brother of illness before it's too late.

Reward: instant level up, +1 skill card

Punishment: death of Mack Evergreen, -8years of age]

"Wow that's extremely steep. Failure is not an option. I refuse to go back to toddlerhood" he thought. He continued to read

[mission instructions:

The god of youth has felt your pain and has decided to extend a helping hand by gifting his divine daggers to your brother. You must find the divine daggers and make sure that your brother is holding one in each hand.

WARNING: mission is subject to change. No rewards will be given if brother finds daggers himself.

"Oh great, that'll be easy" he said with sarcasm as he wiping his eyes. "I don't even know where to start looking for the daggers. Probably would help to know what they look like as well"

[host can ask the system any questions he needs answered. The systems knowledge is vast do to being created by a god.]

"Well that's convenient" he thought "system, what do the daggers look like"

[The daggers are made out of a Material known as divine ore. It is pure white in color once the hardening process has completed. The hilt is encrusted with light blue mana crystals with an engraving of a sleeping lamb on the blades]

"Divine ore, I've never heard of it" said Vorick as he scratched his head in thought. His and Mack's tutor had made them read dozens of books on history and not one mentioned divine ore or divine weapons for that matter. "Do you have any suggestions on where I should start looking" he asked the system

[the god of youth gifted the daggers to his first son, your ancestor, but he was unworthy of Wielding its power so he gifted it to his son but the same thing happened so it was kept in the treasure vault where it remained until 200 years ago. People all across the realm had heard of the rumored power of the daggers and their were many attempts to steel the weapons over the centuries but The kingdom's neighbors The Yama Kingdom had payed off some of the staff and guards to get the weapons for them. They managed to get the weapons out of the treasure vault and had hid them in a house on the outskirts of the castle grounds where it was to be picked up and smuggled out of the kingdom but that person never showed up.]

"So their still on the castle grounds then. Thats great" he said as he yawned and rubbed his eyes and eventually he fell asleep still clutching the teddy.

It was late afternoon when the king and queen decided to visit their sons room to check on him. When they got their and opened the door they noticed he was asleep but still went in anyway. They noticed the trunk in the middle of the room and an open letter on the table beside it. Mary walked over to the chest and peered inside and confirmed her suspicions that it was Mack's belongings that he gave to Vorick. She glanced over to Thomas who was reading the letter and frowned slightly when she noticed the tears in his eyes. She walked over and read the letter while looking over his shoulder. The contents of the letter were hard to read but eventually they got through it. And went over to the bed where they both gasped at what they saw. In the center of the bed they saw their son in nothing but his underwear, which wasn't the surprising part, what surprised them was the teddy bear clutched in his arms and and the evidence of tears that stained his face.

"Oh Thomas" sighed Mary "he must have cried himself to sleep, the poor little thing"

"Isn't that Mack's teddy bear" asked Thomas

"It is" she confirmed "I can't believe he would part with his Teddy. How's he going to sleep tonight.

"I'm sure he'll manage" whispered Thomas. They watched as Vorick stretched and yawned.

He jumped in surprise "dad" he gasped out

"What are you guys doing in my room he said as he noticed his mom.

"We just came to see if you were ok dear" said Mary

"You guys knew" Vorick said "his whole life you knew and let him believe he was normal"

"we were told of his condition when you guys were born. But I didn't believe it. I didn't think it was possible to be born without a mana core. So we continued on as normal. On your second birthday we started potty training. You grasped it immediately and was eager to prove that you were a big boy and he was as well. You were completely potty trained in one week with only a few accidents here and their. Mack was able to grasp the concept of using the potty but his body was not on board. No matter how much we tried or what we did, he could not hold anything in at all. An it took consistent practice and special exercises given by the doctor. And finally at the age of six he was able to stop wearing diapers during the day."

"Yeah, I remember that" said Vorick "he was super excited"

" well it was during this time that we started to figure out that something wasn't right. When you guys started warrior training, again, you excelled where as he didn't. You started to gain muscle and was becoming more agile. Whereas he was clumsy and constantly getting hurt. But still we held out hope. The final nail in the coffin was when you started to train for your awakening. We could see the mana fluctuations around you but nothing around him. We all thought that he just wasn't doing it right but we later discovered that he was in fact doing everything right. When we asked him if he could see his core world he said no and that's when he gave up on physical training all together and we never made him go back."

"Oh so that's why. I thought it was just because he was lazy." Said Vorick "so what was your plan after that?"

"Well, we didn't really have a plan" the king answered "I had no intention of letting him participate in the ceremony however. Even I know that would've embarrassed him and me. But for some reason, Veritas and Nicholas got it in their minds, that I was going to let him participate, knowing nothing would happen. So they went to the council. And the council threw the book at me, and you know the rest."

"So if you guys knew all this then why didn't you tell him?"

"To protect him" said Mary "this was inevitable though. Even if the council didn't find out when they did, everyone would've been asking questions as to why Mack Didn't participate and it would have eventually come out anyway. we'd still be in this situation."

"But why did you send him away"

"The only way he could have stayed in the castle was for us to hire him as a servant. We gave him the choice and he chose to leave. Stating that it would have been to awkward and I do agree with him" said the king

Just then a transparent screen popped up in front of Vorick.

[it is highly recommended that the host not reveal the system or how he got the system or who gave him the system. The time is not right to reveal this information.]

The system was right. He cant reveal his secret but how was he going to tell them The severity of Mack's situation without revealing any of his secrets.

"Hey dad how long do people live without a mana core?" He decided to go with the asking questions route "you know like when it's destroyed in battle"

"Usually it's only about a week" said the king "they start to decline rapidly as the days pass and they always end up passing away on the seventh day. Why do you ask?"

"Did Veritas happen to mention to you guys anything about Mack dying?"

"He did mention a mortality rate. He stated that all of the children that had his disability ended up passing away."

"Mack's health is going to start to decline rapidly. He'll be dead by this time next week" he blurted out "I had a vision during my awakening"

"Is that part of your affinity" asked Mary

"Kind of. But I know how to save him"

"We are all ears" asked the king "we knew that he was going to die but we didn't think it would be this soon. Veritas I told us that there was one or two that left past the age of 10, so we thought we would have longer."

"Hhhhhhh their are a pair of daggers that are divine ranked. They are family heirlooms. They are pure white with light blue crystals in the hilt and the engraving of lamb on the blade. Do you know the ones I'm talking about"

"I think so, but if it's the ones I'm thinking about then they were stolen 200 years ago. It would be impossible to find them now. Why do you ask."

"They have the power to save his life. Do you know the history of those blades dad"

"I wouldn't mind be taught" he responded

"Well they belonged to The god of youth before he ascended. They hold a portion of his power inside them. That's why they were so sought after."

"even if we were to find those weapons son, Nobody knows how to use them. Nobody could even tap to them"

"that's because they were all deemed unworthy" said Vorick

"It's a useless endeavor son. Those blades are long gone."

"what if I told you that they never made it off the castle grounds"

Now Thomas was interested because he had remembered what Roy had told him about the old man claiming to have found the blades "go on"

" they were successfully stolen out of the castle and were hidden in a building on the outskirts of the castle grounds. I'm just having trouble figuring out where they could've possibly hid them. Anyway, The person that was supposed to smuggle them out of a kingdom either got cold feet or was killed and never completed the mission. So they have been in the hiding spot for 200 years."

"The stables" the king whispered to himself

"What was that dad"

"The stables, it's the only place I can think of that someone could smuggle something out without being searched. The old caretaker claimed to have found the blades. Of course, nobody believed him. He tried to use them to curse one of the instructors of the Academy. But it backfired on him, and he is now a four year old boy."

"that definitely sounds like them. I have a theory behind why he was cursed."

"Of course you do" his mom chuckled

"number one you have to be an Evergreen in order to use the weapons. Number two you need to be a child. And number three you need to not have a mana core"

"That's very specific" did the king

"So….when can I go see bubby" he ask while putting on his most sweetest and cutest face possible