INTERTWINED DESTINY

7. Stephen

                  Stephen's p.o.v

Prince Stephen, the fourth son of empress Greater and the great emperor John was how a few servants called me when in reality I was far from that status. 

A dog was better than I was, in everyone's eyes I was a curse they feared to get close to, I was a monster that no one wanted to talk to or look at.

I was born in a cold winter after the Empress had suffered with a lot of blood loss and pain. My birth was different from my brothers, not only did the birth take time, it installed fear in the mid-wives that the empress might lose her life.

But that wasn't why I was hated and treated like trash. The reason why my own parents disowned and despised me so much was because of my eyes.

 My pure red eyes that no one had ever seen before, in all royal generation. I was the only one who had eyes that shone so bright like the colour of blood.

My own mother the empress couldn't even look at me in fear and regret. She was so sad that she later passed away after a week. The (emperor) my father hated me so much that he ordered a servant to take me away from his sight until I was older.

The old servant who was given this task was so gentle and kind, she was the only one who treated me like a human being. To her, I was like a son. Unfortunately, when I reached the age of 10, that old woman passed away.

 And then the rumor began to spread of a cursed child who had red eyes, that sucked the soul of an old woman who took him in to raise him. I was so heartbroken and very afraid. I couldn't understand why bad things were always happening to me. I cried for her for days, I even made a promise to the heavens to give up my life so that it could send her back to me. But that cry was a child's, I was so naive not to see the horrible reality I was facing.

The emperor heard the rumor and he didn't want the news to reach the people outside the palace. So he ordered the guards to put me in a dungeon and never let me out. There, I was chained by the legs and only allowed one meal after two days and a cup of water. I was rarely taken to the bathroom or toilet and never allowed to see the dawn or light of day

Every night I would cry myself to sleep. In the morning I was woken up by cold water being poured on me by the servants in charge.

They badly mistreated me and called me names. While others went as far as to hit me badly to the point of bearing scars on my body. 

As years went by I accepted my fate, I no longer had tears to shade. I stopped hoping and wishing to be treated well. I grew thin and weak in strength but I kept on living without committing suicide because of one thing, the will to survive and avenge all those that had dared to mock, laugh, and hurt me. All I needed to do was to be patient and wait for the right moment to escape.

One day I overheard the servants crying, saying how the emperor had died, but luckily passed on his throne to the first born, my brother Prince Richard.

I dared not to hope, sadly I couldn't help but have faith that my brother would take pity on me and allow me to live.

But then I realized that I was stupid, my fate was already sealed and my death inevitable. The servants would laugh at me telling me how my brother was planning to kill me and erase me from the face of the earth.

It was hard to believe but I did, the day that Richard came to my dungeon he looked at me with disgust. He yelled at the servants who were in charge of me for feeding me food. He ordered them to let me starve and die, he didn't even glance at me while he spat his horrible words. It truly hit me that I was alone.

Yet again I sat at the corner of the dungeon talking to myself, the two guards who were standing next to me were busy laughing loudly.

"I don't understand why the emperor hasn't killed this crazy bastard yet, look at him. He's disgusting and crazy." One guard said.

I ignored him and continued to talk to myself.

The reason I was talking to myself was to keep my sanity and voice stable, there was a time I almost became mute because I couldn't talk or find my voice, and that time was when I had cried so much for being locked up and hit badly.

I didn't care if I looked crazy to everyone as long as I got to keep my voice and sanity intact.

"Is this trash ignoring us?" another guard asked.

I stopped talking for a second and embraced myself for what was going to come next.

"Let's find out shall we." The first guard answered.

"Hey bastard look at us?" One ordered.

When I didn't, he grabbed me by the hair and punched my face with force.

I held in my voice and took in the beating quietly. I was no match for them and fighting back made the pain only get worse.

I fell on the ground as they continued to hit me with their feet while laughing. I covered my face with my hands and bite my lower lip.

My mouth was filled with the taste of blood and my eyes were filled with unshed tears.

I knew it was of no use but my heart was bleeding and crying out to the heavens to either relieve me from the pain or end my life.

My vision was becoming blurry and my breathing laboured.

"Hey stop, look at him. I think he's dying. Let's get out of here as quickly as we can." One guard said.

I heard their footsteps then the set of keys making noise. My eyes were getting very heavy, as I closed them the words I had never wanted to say slipped past my lips.

"Help me please."