Nothing Close To Him

Ester meets Asier for the first time and gains some self-doubt. He goes into a forest to test himself.

Most of the castle was a complete wreck. The walls were destroyed, guards collapsed beneath rumble, bleeding and dying from the explosion, and worst of all, an unstable area of energies was left behind beneath the earth. From the rubble emerged one man, Nova. When he arose, he wasn’t the same child those many years ago. He was a grown man now, age 22, wearing torn jeans and a black robe that had its sleeves, hoodie, and chest torn open. He wore a red, dirty, torn shirt beneath the black robe. Instead of the curly, weak hair, he had sharp hair the same color as his father with a small piece of it covering some of his right eye. Nova wore two bands on both of his wrist, one encrypted with the words “Nebula,” and the other “SkyLand.” He was damaged, scarred, and bleeding out, but he rose for one simple reason, Ragnarok. He had left Ragnarok to fight Caesar, and now that the battle, the war, was over he had to retrieve him. Something held him back though, something chaotic and sinister. It was mostly silent, but Nova could hear a static muting out the voice he heard as a child when he and Polaris ran away.

Remembering Polaris, he looked back at the rubble of the kingdom. He wanted to shout, scream, to call his friends name, but couldn’t. Held back by the static once more, he could only move, but slowly, as if a zombie or a living corpse. Nova looked away with a single tear in his right eye, remembering the life of his friend Polaris, and the black, chaotic energy, leaching onto the left side of his body.

As he walked down the road, civilians and police rushed to the scene. Everyone saw him, they could easily jump him by how weak he was at the moment, but something pushed them back. The static.

Nova continued to walk, past the civilians, ignoring any comment, question, or insult. Children cried at the site of him, probably because of the parasite and unknown dangers that Nova was carrying on him. He finally found Caesar, stepping on the metallic head of Ragnarok, as wires and static slipped out beneath the neck and his left eye on the floor, still connected to the head with wires. Caesar was damaged, beaten up, bloody, but still able to fight.

I can’t face him like this. Nova thought to himself, but he still had to retrieve his friend Ragnarok, or at least, Nova considered him a friend.

“The hell are you doing here?” Caesar asked Nova in anger, looking at the wreckage of the castle. Nova didn’t respond, the static was still there. He took a battle stance, despite knowing he was going to lose. Caesar still had some magical energy remaining, while Nova was all out. He was able to pose his right side, but his left barely moved at all and seemed as if the bones on that side were broken.

“You’re really gonna try and fight me…” Caesar said in shock.

“You should’ve just left me, i-i-idiot,” Ragnarok said, his voice cutting and glitching out.

There was nothing but silence as the two stare down at one another. As the wind pushed back pebbles on the floor and moved their hair gently. Caesar shook his head and looked down at the floor.

“Trying to make your last stand a brave one….I'm sorry,” Caesar said, with sorrow in his voice. “But-

“-you still deserve this!” Caesar dashed towards Nova, with a ball of fire in his hand. The fire began to straighten and harden itself, creating something similar to a sword. A sword forged from flames was Caesar’s signature in battle, his, “DawnSaber.” As his blade was finally forged and complete, Caesar went for a downwards strike right at Nova. There was nowhere to dodge Nova was too slow, there was no way he could block, he was too weak, so all that could’ve was to hope and pray Caesar was using his blade as intimidation.

Suddenly, the mushy, chaotic and unpredictable, black substance on Nova’s left, began to harden and leech itself into Nova’s skin in an instant. An eerie smile and glare began to forge on his left, and his left arm moved at God’s speed. Caesar moved his blade slightly backward in hesitation, but the black arm was too fast, and it struck his side, throwing him like a javelin through countless buildings, cars, and streets.

It was as if Nova’s mind was split in half, just like his body, one felt malice, hatred, sadistic, and didn’t care if Caesar was dead. The right, on the other hand, was filled with fear with what he had done. Was Caesar dead? Were his ribs broken? The darkness wanted to chase Caesar, but Nova resisted and targeted his focus, Ragnarok.  With his right, he grabbed Ragnarok by his metal lined hair and began to walk the lonely road, away from his past, now that everything is done.

Halley jumped down behind Nova but didn’t initiate a fight. She could beat Nova, easily matter of fact, and even Caesar himself. She was probably the most analytical and strongest person Nova, Caesar, and Cyrus knew. However, she didn’t push Nova, instead, she ran towards where Caesar was launched. The darkness was unpredictable, Nova and Halley couldn’t understand it, they couldn’t sense it, they couldn’t feel it, but it was there, and it was hungry.

Nova finally got to the outskirts of the kingdom, when Ragnarok’s systems finally gained consciousness.

“B-----iTe my-_-_---_-shiny metal a-” Ragnarok said before realizing he had awoken to not Caesar, beating on him, but Nova dragging his head.

“Oh hey kid,” Ragnarok said slightly annoyed he couldn’t beat Caesar, and even more annoyed he couldn't fight his brother, Asier.

Nova stayed silent.

“So, are you gonna talk or something? Or did your daddy problems stop you?”

No response. Things remained silent between the two. Ragnarok was known to spout out whatever came to mind, completely ignoring emotion or compassion.

“So, where’s prince charming? He already head home to get laid or something?” Ragnarok said, finally triggering a response from Nova.

“Please….Ragnarok.” Nova said with a raspy, dead voice.

As Nova began to think about Polaris, he started to think of other things. If he was stronger he could've’ saved him, he could’ve’ saved thousands, but most importantly, he could’ve’ saved Nebula. These thoughts stopped coming up for air for years, but now they returned, and they were like hurricanes and typhoons. Something provoked them, urging and beckoning them to come forward. As if a leader, of some sort, was behind it, gaining strength. As the thoughts began to eat away at Nova’s mind more and more, so did the darkness on his skin began to eat it away. They were connected.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Ester began to launch a flurry of flames from his palms, as he threw each attack, he took a large step backward. Estrella charged towards him, with fire covering both of her arms. She threw a punch towards each of the attacks, nullifying it, and continued to charge forward.

The flames kept coming, and Estrella got increasingly tired. Suddenly, something clicked inside her, and her right arm was covered entirely in flames. At first, it was orange, just like Ester’s, just like it had been her whole life, but now it changed to a pinkish red color. It was fierce, unrelenting, and she blasted it towards Ester.

Instead of moving backward, Ester sidestepped to the right, avoiding the flames. His expression of shock and surprise, yet also happiness, that his sister could achieve such a feat.

Ester was knocked back into reality, when he found himself slammed onto the floor, with his sister’s heel over his chest and palm over his face. He lost.

The two siblings were training in the castles training room, where guards and other people would come in and train. There were audience stands on the east and west of the room, and little battlefields were spread across, each in the shape of a rectangle with a line in the middle to indicate where each combatant should end up.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Halley said to her beloved kids. As she walked forward, Estrella got off Ester and moved her hand forward to help him up.

Estrella was now 15, wearing a black half-tank top, with blue jeans, red heels, and a red open-collared shirt. Her hairstyle was slightly different than her younger self, still retaining her ponytail, but having a piece of her hair cover her right side. She still had her signature odyssey pearl earring, as did Ester. He was now 14, and wore black boots with iron cleats at the bottom, along with pale brown baggy pants and used a blue, karate-like belt, similar to his father. Ester also had a long sleeve dark blue shirt and an orange t-shirt over it. His hair seeming a little fluffy, yet spiked out a tad bit.

Ester held Estrella’s hand with a smile and got up, looking towards his mother, Halley. She wore a dress made of gold, with little black diamonds sprinkled throughout it. She had long sleeves that were black and her shoes a kind of golden running shoes. Halley wore a cape which was gold and had the same diamond pattern as her dress and had a hoodie at the top. Her hair a pinkish color with the same style similar to her son Ester.

“Ester,” she said,”You have a high quantity of magic but you use it scarcely and don't put enough power into it. You also got distracted and lost your footing, you could’ve used your flames to boost you upwards, scan the area, and decide where to land.” Halley was strict when it came to combat. It was as if she had a third eye and knew her opponent's every move, yet, oddly enough Ester and Estrella have never seen her fight. There were glimpses of fearful strength in her, but she always acted as well, a queen. Whenever there was a situation that Caesar caused, he would be slightly fearful of what his wife would say, but nothing happened.

“Now Estrella, you have a much smaller amount of magic compared to Ester, but yours is stronger. When you kept pushing onwards, you used too much magic to eliminate a single attack and got exhausted and the only way you won would’ve been because of luck. Speaking of luck-” Halley ran up to Estrella, with her eyes gleaming like diamonds and stars. “How did your flames end up like that? Did you do that before? Was it on purpose? Can you do it again? We need to show Cae-” Before Halley was able to say Caesar’s name, a light appeared in the sky, and out of it, came Caesar falling.

When he noticed Halley, he immediately flipped over and shot a film with his left hand, moving him to the right. Caesar made sure that his landing was stylish, and Ester did agree as he was clapping in excitement and was the first to run up to greet his father.

“Geez, if these marriage rings weren’t made out of the odyssey pearls, I would be lost in that castle for years!” Caesar proclaimed while laughing. Ester and Estrella joined him in chuckles. Interrupting the noise was Halley, in her excitement, grabbed Caesar, and took him to Estrella.

“Estrella, do it again!” Halley said quickly. Caesar looked confused but was still intrigued. Estrella started to move her energy to her palm, as it started to reach the surface and spread out, sizzle, pop, crackle, and explode, finally creating smoke and fire. However, the fire seemed confused and flustered, spreading out in the wind. Soon, it started to become focused and concentrated, changing color, back into the pinkish red color. Halley became animated and started to jump up in the air rapidly, as Caesar, ever so slightly disappointed, began to cap proudly. Halley began to grab Caesar and shake him rapidly saying, “She has my flame! She has my flames! She has my flames!”

“Uhh, mom?” Estrella said confused.

“Oh right,” Halley said, coughing to correct herself. “Your flames have mutated to that of mine. Yours has a slightly different color, but it should do the same thing.”

“Basically it weakens the opponent the more it burns them, damaging them and slowly eating away at their magic as long as it burns,” Caesar said, finishing his wife's sentence. As he looked to his left, he saw a glare from Halley, like she wanted to be the one to explain. “I’ve learned from *cough* experiences, okay,” Caesar said as the last touch.

The family was in the training hall, where guards, or Ester and Estrella, would come and train. There was another group of people, another family specifically, a father and his daughter.

“Okay, again!” Halley said. Caesar taking a seat in the audience position. As he noticed the time, he began to whisper something to Halley.

“Huh, we should get going, Asier uses this room at this ti-”

A large knock was suddenly heard, and as the royal family looked to where the noise was heard, the found a large man of tan skin wearing a bronze colored armor, holding his helmet on his side. His hair was brown and that of a buzzcut, having on a stern face and eyes. There was white fur behind his neck and a black cape that was made out of a material that was resistant to a variety of elements, like ice, fire, lightning, etc. Behind him was a girl, age 19. She had brown-gingerish hair and her style was that of a ponytail, with multiple iron bands looped around it. She wore silver colored armor, with bits and pieces of white fur around her neck, elbows, wrist, and waist. Her boots were like that of a hiker and her pants had a slate blue color. The girl had a sword around her waist and a shield on her back with silver wings similar to that of a Valkyrie along with a satchel that had a red button on it. She also had a mask that covered her face, and it lit her eyes up in an orange color.

“Oh, sorry. Didn’t notice the time Asier.” Halley said to the man.

“It’s fine, but I would like to get started as soon as possible. Come on Bellatrix.” Asier said as he waved his hand to his daughter behind him.

“It’s Bella, dad,” Bellatrix said annoyingly. She preferred to be called Bella than her actual name, simply because the “trix,” sounds weird to her. As they walked forward Caesar and Halley began to leave the room and Estrella followed. Ester has seen these people before, but he has actually never talked to them, as they were always at a distance. He figured that this was the time to talk.

As Caesar proceeded to pass by Asier, he gave a cheeky smile and put his hand out for a fist bump, but Asier just gave a little nudge. As he passed by Halley, the two nodded each other, Asier did it as respect, while Halley did it just because. Estrella just passed by Asier as she didn’t really like his stern expression, but waving at his daughter Bella with a smile. Bella waved back with a smile behind her mask. When Ester walked towards Asier, however, something changed.

“Hey!” Ester said, holding his hand out to Asier. He stopped moving, looked at his hand, and looked up at Ester.

“I’ll shake your hand when you can claim that throne kid,” Asier said to Ester. Ester jerked his hand back slightly, as he looked into Asier’s eyes and just saw a cold stare that intimidated him. He looked over to his family, Caesar smacked his forehead, Halley looked grumpy, and Estrella was running back to pull Ester away.

“You’re, what, 14? You should be training endlessly at this point being the prince. No one can predict the future, but we can prepare. You haven’t been doing any of that, you’re nowhere near your fath-” Bella punched Asier’s shoulder as hard as she could. Ester looked at the mark she left, with an indent of her fist and cracks on his armor.

“What the hell Bella!?” Asier barked at her.

“You didn’t need to say all those things! Just keep your mouth shut!” Bella barked back at him 10 times louder.

“I hate that side of me in you…” Asier mumbled to himself, still rubbing his shoulder. He began to walk off to the training stage, and before Ester could walk away, Bella grabbed his arm.

“You’re, Ester right?” Bella asked, with one hand pointing at his chest and the other resting on her side.

“Yea. And, you’re Bella?” Ester asked with a smile. He didn’t know why he was smiling, he just was.

“Sorry about him, he is just a serious guy, you’ll get used to it. Just ignore what he said, well, most, of what he said at least. I’m sure you will do great things in due time. You do, kinda need to rush though, but, don’t stress about it, you have help! Alright, ciao!” Bella said, with a kind of heartwarming feeling from her voice, like she knew how to talk to people and cheer them up. As she walked to Asier, Ester noticed the way she moved her waist back and forth, with one hand still on her side, finally letting go and getting into a battle stance. Ester seemed to smile more and more until he realized that he was being dragged by Estrella.

Ester snapped back into reality when Estrella began to rapidly shake him. He found that they were in front of the castle’s library.

“Alright Ester,” She began to say,” I'm gonna head to the library with mom, you can come too, but if you don’t want to, that's fine.”

“Wait what? Don’t you wanna go look in a forest or cave for bad guys or something?”

“Naw,” Estrella said to her brother. “I'm gonna go study some queen-ly? Yea, queen-ly  things.” As she began to open the door, Ester saw Halley in the back with a bunch of books, but what he noticed, that the one she was gleefully swinging in her hands was the story of Cinderella. The door finally closed, and Ester was alone.

He began to think about going somewhere with Caesar, but then what Asier said began to click.

You’re nowhere near your father. It rang in his head again. You do, kinda need to rush though. Even though Bella’s were meant to be nourishing, she was still, trying to get Asier’s point across, in the kindest way she could’ve. Ester decided to not go to his father for an adventure, but instead, he subconsciously began to go towards the forest to look for an adventure, a legend he could claim as his own. He only wanted to go to the first to have fun.

As Ester began to leave the castle, but before he could leave he was stopped by two people. One was particularly large. Not in muscle, but in fat. He wasn’t obese but was chubby. He had a large and curved mustache and a white bold cut. He had a purple tuxedo, with a multiple bags of, most likely, sweets, around his waist. His eyes seemed to be closed and cheery. The other was skinny, with his incredibly tired eyes with bags beneath them, and a deep purple goatee and smug hair. There were gold rings around each of his fingertips, and he also wore a purple tuxedo. They were Ester and Estrella’s “butlers,” or supervisors, to be more accurate.

“Uh, sir, are you going to leave the castle? Do you, need someone to come with you?” The larger man said. His name was Kirby. He was one of Caesar's childhood friends. Ester didn’t know their whole story, but Caesar would speak about small portions, like them hanging out at a bar, going after a gang of some sort, and finally, the mention of some wedding cake. He was a kind soul, always saying nice things to people, always trying to make work easier for others, and just being a good guy in general.

“You shouldn’t have even gone to this point without telling anyone, especially Kirby and I.” The other man said. His name was Loki. He was tired, almost everyday Ester has seen him. Loki is the opposite of Kirby, he is usually very negative about things, and seems to not care too much, except for the fact that this is his job. Apparently, he is also one of Caesar's old friends, his best man in his wedding actually. Loki is the one who actually organizes everything for Caesar. He tries to learn it usually ends up just completely confused. Ester wonders how the two became friends in the first place.

“No, I'm fine Kirby, really. Just gonna go out for the great adventure as dad would say.” Ester said with a quick chuckle.

“Aw, the solo adventure, I see! Well, enjoy yourself then. Be back soon though please, I'm almost done with the food!” Kirby said with a radiant smile. Loki just sighed and walked back.

Ester smiled briefly, then turned around and began to walk towards the castle bridge as it was above clear, pure, natural water.

“Ester!” Loki yelled. Ester turned around and found a bag being thrown at it. He caught it, but barely.

“Just in case.” He said, with the same old tired face as before. It was one of the bags Kirby had around his waist.

“Oh, all right!” Thanks!” Ester yelled back waving his hand. Ester turned and started to run towards the forest, but first, he had to get past the city. The castle was a signature in multiple kingdoms, like a kind of White House. Each kingdom had one, but that didn’t mean the world was in a medieval era. There were some places that acted medieval-like like someplace Caesar mentions a lot. However, most places, like SkyLand, the kingdom that Ester is currently in had a city surrounding the castle, with flying cars, teleportation systems, and most importantly, magic sensors all round, on every street and every corner. Some alleyways weren't connected, so fights with magic usually happens in those areas. Ester would fly across the city with his magic, using little burst of flames to push him upwards, but he always wondered why others didn’t do the same. They could get to work easier, travel easier, and life would be so much easier if they used magic, but he never saw a single person do it.

As Ester flew past the city, he began to think about a lot of things. Could he go to the forest with someone from the city? Well, no, not really. He didn’t really go in the city too often, and didn’t know anybody nor did he have friends outside of the castle.

Finally getting past the city perimeter he finally found the forest and dived down into it. Ester was a little tired of constantly letting out bursts of flames, so he took a rest on a rock he found. Another thought peered in his mind when they were kids. It was the moment back when Ester and Estrella were kidnapped by pirates. ESter tried to remember the pirate’s name but struggled to.

“What was the pirate’s name again? Wrath, yea Wrath. No, actually, Pinky?” Ester thought to himself.

Ester remembered how Caesar was flying so fast and without a struggle against a pirate while carrying Ester and Estrella on his back.

If only he could do that.

There was a tree nearby, with squirrels picking out large nuts, and other animals taking large apples. The trees were so large and beautiful, probably because SkyLand is the closest city to the sun, or more accurately, to the sky.

SkyLand isn’t just called SkyLand for no reason. You see, it is actually a giant island technically, just being carried by an endless wind. Will it ever fall? Probably not. With the strong winds carrying, it makes sense that there is an omnipresent wind. Around the hurricane beneath the island, is nothing but ocean and sea. Nearby, is the kingdom of Atlantis.

After Ester was rested, he started to walk, finding animals eating, sleeping, cuddling, and just in general, doing animal things, as Ester would describe it. Some animals were beyond normal, more like monsters, but not really seeming like fearful monsters, just, animals that were changed due to magic. Like a giant flying squirrel that actually flew instead of gliding, with claws that acted like hooks when landing.

As he walked, Ester noticed a tunnel with a sign in front of it, “beware of bears.” Ester knew what bear it was referencing, a BurstGauntlet Bear. He learned it from Loki, as he mentored Ester and Estrella in education mostly, with help from Kirby’s knowledge, even though he was learning with them, oddly enough. At times Caesar would join too, and act like a kindergarten child in class for fun. The bear had arms covered in red fur that looked like gauntlets, and could create flames from them when it slammed his fist together.

Ester continued to walk, just taking in the scenery, the light emitted from the sun, the sound of the innocent animals, and just feeling the wind brush past him. Everything was perfect, just what anyone would want, but Ester wanted more, a challenge, something he could claim as his story, his tale. A kind of achievement that could be put on his name.

He asked for more than he could chew. Like a young tiger trying to be strong like the other males, but ending up being dead meat for a greater, unknown, predator. For now, he got off the hook, but he didn’t learn later.

Author's Note

What did you like about the chapter? What bothered you? Anything that I could've done better?