from the shadow to the grave

The morning sun rose lazily, shining over the city as it did. The orange illumination of the rising sun cast over one of the biggest machine industries in Novara Heights. The rays of the sunlight hit Kael's office window as he put finishing touches to the machine he had spent all of his time working on. A proud smile spread on his face as he hit the programme button and the robot roared to life. His chest welled with pride as he took a minute to gush over yet another one of his artistic engineering works. However, this one was a bit more special to him. He had developed it to work for his uncle, the only man who cared for him after his parents died in a car crash. He had been working on the robot secretly day and night, just to surprise his uncle. “Now, what would I call you?” He muttered, pacing around whilst staring at the robot. As he thought of what to name the robot, someone barged into his office without knocking. In surprise, Kael turned and found his cousin and aunt marching into his office. He scanned their faces for a second and noticed they weren't smiling or looking good either. “G…good morning, Aunt Marie.” He stuttered in surprise. His aunt snorted at him but went to stand in front of his robot. “What is this?” She asked, running her eyes over the robot. Although shocked, Kael thought she was there to examine his robot so he picked up his control pad excitedly and started to explain. “This is Magnus 2.0. A faster, smarter and stronger version of uncle's new launch. I built it to make uncle's vision unstoppable but it still needs a couple of adjustments and we're good to go.” He explained with pride on his face. His aunt, on the other hand, didn't seem too pleased. Her face held a tight frown and anger as she studied the robot. She didn't care about whatever Kael was building, she had just one mission and that was to get rid of Kael. She turned away from the robot to Kael who had an eager smile on his face. “Come with me to my husband's office.” She simply said and left with Leon. The entire thing seemed strange to Kael but he couldn't disobey his aunt either so he shut the robot down and dropped the control pad. On his way to his uncle's office, he noticed he was getting lots of stares. The workers at the company kept glaring at him as he passed, which was strange because he was usually on everyone's good side. An uneasy feeling crawled on Kael's skin immediately, he knew something was going on but couldn't place his fingers on what exactly it was. The guards at his uncle's office let him in and to his surprise, his uncle, his aunt, his cousin and a couple of high ranking staff were in the office and they all seemed to be waiting for him. Kael looked around at everyone's face, including his uncle's. “Am I in trouble?” He muttered with an uneasy smile but no one responded to him. “Here comes the thief.” Leon suddenly spoke up, catching Kael's attention immediately. Kael finally realized that his cousin had been glaring at him for a while now. But before he could speak, his uncle stood up and landed a slap on his face. Kael fell to his knees in shock. “How dare you try to steal my work?” Uncle Magnus roared into his face. These words caught Kael by storm, he had no idea what his uncle was talking about and he seemed to be the only one in the dark. “I have no idea what you're talking about uncle.” He barely whispered before his uncle landed another slap on his face. The second slap sent Kael flying across the glass floor. “You dare steal from me under my own roof, huh?” The stern voice of his uncle filled the room. Fear spread through Kael as he watched his uncle stomp on the ground in a terrifying manner. “I told you father. I caught him working on the robot a couple of days ago. I just had to wait till he was done to expose him.” Leon's mocking voice took over. Tears pooled in my eyes as I listened to the lies someone had obviously cooked against me. “That….that is not true. I would never steal your model, Uncle Magnus.” I stuttered, in an attempt to defend myself. “He's nothing but a liar, father. I caught him stealing the code and programme of your version to build his model.” Leon yelled, pointing fingers at Kael who was still on the ground. “Uncle, please believe me, I would never steal from you.” Kael begged with tears falling from his eyes. But the tides seemed to have turned against him. Leon stepped forward with a control pad and in a second, a video of Kael working on the robot in his office started playing on the screen. Gasps of shocks and unbelief filled the room as they all watched him assemble parts of the robots. Leon let the video play for a while before pausing it. “What you've just watched is a video of my dear cousin using my father's prototype to build his model. He stole my father's hard work and days of endless work just to build a similar version.” Leon's words carried so much poison that Kael could feel it burning through his heart. “You ungrateful leech.” Uncle Magnus approached Kael and landed him another slap in anger. His face was red with fury as he stared at Kael. “I took you in when your stupid parents died, I fed you, gave a roof over your head, I nurtured your talents, let you explore your interests in my company and this is what you repay me with?” Uncle Magnus' breath fanned down Kael's neck. The young man shivered in fear as his uncle raised his fists again. The three previous slaps he had taken almost left him blinded. “Uncle, these are all lies, I would never steal from you.” Kael cried desperately. He looked around for help but everyone in the room shot sharp glares at him. Leon watched with a proud and mocking smirk on his face. Things were going according to his plans and in no time, his cousin would be out of his hair. “When I caught Kael stealing, I decided to build an advanced model of my father's prototype. This model would only do whatever you ask him to do.” Leon turned to his father with a humble smile. In no time, the door opened revealing Kael's robot. Everyone in the office widened their eyes in surprise, including Kael. “No, no, I built that, it's mine….please believe me, uncle Magnus.” He pleaded but the guards rushed and held him back. “I worked on this tirelessly day and night, just to make it up to my father.” Leon lied with a sweet smile on his face. Kael's vision blurred, not from his uncle's slaps but from the weight of betrayal he suffered. Uncle Magnus turned to Kael, his eyes burning with hatred and fury. “Guards, take him to the dungeon and prepare him for execution. At dawn, I'll make an example of him.”