The Prince of Demons

The next year passed in a flash. Nothing overly exciting happened, just alternated practicing my , , , and my . I still couldn’t beat Lux in our morning play. She learned and adapted way too fast. Just you wait, you smug little beast, you will cower before my might! The only exciting thing that happened I didn’t even get to see. Nox and Nez got married, but as I was a baby my parents were worried about me crying or getting restless in the ceremony, so I got to spend it surrounded by ten guards in a secured room. Nez started training me for as my parents were keen on me learning it. It involved him using little flashcards with pictures, showing the idea behind how worked. I wish I could stare him dead in the eye and say I understand every word you are saying but that would raise some flags. From what I could grasp, was the of nothingness, it had a few interesting properties. It could be used to nullify other or cut through effects such as . How it worked I was trying to grasp. Nez I feel was laying down some sort of building blocks or ideas that were super basic to how it worked. He would only use baby words around me and refused to give more than explanations like Nothing ! and make the empty! The only thought going through my head was EXPLAIN FURTHER WHAT YOU MEAN NEZ! WHAT ON TENEBRAE DID EITHER OF THOSE MEAN?! That was a mystery to decode.

My mom was pregnant again. To my knowledge, she was three months along. I am going to be an older brother; I wonder what having a sibling is like? My body was much more mobile now, I could walk with no problems. My speech improved immensely, but I had to actively make sure to speak like a child. I opted to remain quiet a lot to avoid accidentally using sentences that were too complex. I needed to read more on the subject. The library was vast, so there was bound to be a book on being a sibling. Maybe. But then I couldn’t read on or . Or how to or objects. Crap. If it was not so difficult to sneak away from Nox and Nez to the library; those two watched me like hawks at night. I want to sneak to the library! It is not a crime! I will not live in such a repressive regime! I shall be free of such oppressive tyranny! I shall read those books as much as I want! It also served as a practical demonstration of Nez’s . He loved using it to stop my cold.

Currently, I was plotting my next escape attempt. Nez was being a dirty cheater and put a pre-emptive around me. Nez was currently sitting on Nox’s lap, and the two of them were being awfully flirty and honeymoon couple like. It was nauseating to watch. Oh look at us, we are all happy together and romantic. We are such a happy couple! Look at how much we love each other! Supportive and kind to each other. I probably wouldn’t have been as bitter about it if it wasn’t for the fact while being so lovey-dovey they effortlessly thwarted most of my escape-to-the-library attempts. The combo of and was honestly pretty terrifying, and highly effective at crushing the escape attempts. I practiced my in these moments. My head always felt like it was thrown into a grinder after practicing, but after the horrific sensation faded my connection with always felt better. My was slowly improving as well. It honestly improved the slowest of all the things I trained. I could observe with some difficulty, and always got vague sensations of events to come. They were always weird, general sensations like I would see a bird, or one piece of a meal would be cooked a specific way. Honestly, it needed serious improvement.

When my head felt like it was about to burst, I gave it a rest. The problem with is if I pushed it too far it led to immense discomfort. No matter how many times I experienced it, the sensation was horrible, and I just could not get used to it. That peculiar emptiness was horrific. I was getting ready to call the night as Nez’s were invincible as far as I was concerned, when I ran through my normal final checks. All was normal until I reached my as I could see small lines running through the , which were a very translucent grey color. What are these? The lines pulsed and webbed throughout the . I looked around, and saw a thicker line running from Nez to the . Hold on. I formed my , which was it’s usual black color. I focused on a nearby blanket, and ran to it. The appearance was quite similar to the one from Nez to the . It’s his . It is the he infused in the . I did notice Nez and Nox taking a slight interest, having sensed my . Observant uncles.

I willed my to try and copy Nez’s. Nothing. Nothing ! and make the empty! were the crap Nez always spouted. HOW DO I DO THAT? Become translucent grey ! You got this. Come on , become grey like Nez’s! You can do it! Yea that was a long shot. is nicknamed Nothing because it is a complete absence of . It is essentially pure which is a large part of the reason it is so good at dispelling other . Do I pull the color out of my ? It had to be better than talking to my like it was a dog. Am I going a little crazy from having to act like a baby? I needed to keep an eye on this. After staring at the rope of I created for several minutes, the tip started to slowly turn clear. I could feel sweat dripping down my brow after continually pulling out my natural . My uncles were watching me closely, curious as to what had my attention. I am going to bust out of here. Putting up your cheating . After a solid twenty minutes of effort, I had maybe two inches of what I believed was .

Lux? I asked, trying to stir the fast asleep beast. She yawned and glared at me for waking her.

What? Lux asked, her bell-like voice tense and annoyed. I knew she hated being woken up.

Get ready to attack my uncles. I instructed. She looked quizzically at me, but nodded slightly to let me know she was ready. My uncles at this point were starting to get up, knowing I was clearly up to something. To put it gently, Lux was generally best left asleep; she did not generally take being woken up well.

I launched the clear end of into Nez’s on the side of my uncles. After it impaled itself into the , I forced as much of my through it as I could. A massive surge of crackled through the air, before the shattered. Lux launched like a cannonball right at my uncles as I away. I quickly up into a small enclave and laid as far in as I could. I tried to conceal my presence as best I could as well, a difficult task given I had no idea how it really worked. My body felt considerably drained. It’s okay, I think I have successfully escaped my uncles. I thought as Nox materialized in front of me, glaring at me. Damn. I should have committed to the library. Might have been hard for how drained I felt.

“Little brat. Never can give up, can you?” Uncle Nox asked, glaring at my exhausted body. I want to but I just don’t have it in me. Uncle Nez appeared on the edge of the enclave, with a floating Lux behind him. Nez excitedly rushed over and picked me up, lifting me above his head. Why is he happy I tried to escape from them?

“You did it! It was rough, but that was definitely ! You are learning!” Uncle Nez claimed excitedly.

“Are you going to praise him for him yet again trying to sneak into the library at night?” Uncle Nox inquired.

“He just wants to learn, that is not a crime. Plus he just used ! Who’s the best little nephew!” Nez replied in a baby goo goo gah gah voice.

My Uncle Nox let out a long sigh. Nez and Nox brought me back to my room and laid me back in my crib. I will succeed tomorrow you blasted uncles; I shall read in the library at night! Lux was set next to me, clearly disappointed at the lackluster escape. I let out a small huff as I went to sleep, consigning myself to trying again tomorrow.

*

I woke up and was brought by my mom to breakfast. My uncles were talking with my dad and Cesar. I could hear Nez discussing my success using last night. My mom and dad both looked very eager, and Cesar just let out a sigh.

“How did he use it?” my mom asked, setting me in my chair for breakfast.

“My adorable little nephew here used it to force his into a and shatter it for his little escape attempt.” Nez explained, using his baby voice while pinching my cheeks. I am an adult mentally! STOP WITH THE BABY VOICE AND CHEEK PINCHING! I CAN ONLY TOLERATE SO MUCH MORE OF THIS!

I tried to swat him, but my little toddler body still lacked the speed and coordination needed to so much as graze him. My mom and dad laughed at my little swat, and asked Nez some more details, which he happily provided.

“I did want to ask your Imperial Highnesses one question about Nil’s teaching.” Nez asked my parents.

“What is it Nez?” Mom checked.

“Do you know what he is wanting to ask?” Dad probed Nox who just shook his head.

“Can I start teaching him more seriously? You asked me to keep his teachings suitable for a toddler, but I believe he is capable of more. He does read a lot in the library and I think he understands more about than we realize. I feel like teaching him the way I am is just hampering his growth. I think his immense talent is being squandered at the moment.” Nez replied. Yes! That's what I need!

“We are aware, Nez, it’s just, we are worried about his exceeding what his body can handle. Last time he was given even remotely direct training his grew dangerously fast and he kept injuring himself with it.” Mom informed him.

“I have heard, but can we do a small test trial? He has been constantly training his and his so his should have a long way to go before it gets dangerous for him. He also has that he has been steadily getting better with which can help take in any excess .” Nez retorted. Go Nez! Hit them with that logic! PLEASE!

“I don’t think it would hurt.” Dad chimed in, to which my mom shot daggers at him. Nox looked at Nez with an ABORT MISSION face. Do not give into tyranny Nez! You are my only hope!

“You are quite bold today, Nez.” Mom snarled. Nez flinched for a second before continuing.

“Empress Senna, I understand that Crown Prince Nil is a precious treasure, but don’t you want your precious little gem to shine as much as he possibly can?” Nez countered. Go Nez!

My mom’s face contorted into an expression I didn’t recognize. My dad and uncle's eyes went wide. Way to go Uncle Nez! She opened her mouth to say something and then stopped. My mom just let out a deep sigh.

“I guess it couldn’t hurt to try a small trial of teaching him more seriously.” Mom conceded, defeated.

“How about a week? I will teach him seriously for only a week and see how far he grows?” Nez proposed.

“Only a week.” Mom agreed quickly.

Nez smiled and nodded in agreement. To my knowledge, he was the only one able to win in arguments against my mom. Cesar, Nox, and my dad all just flew the white flag when she began to dig in her heels. Breakfast ended soon after, and Nez took me for my lessons. Helga followed us diligently, still watching me just in case an attacker could over power Nez somehow. Nez set me in the child seat, and pulled up his blackboard where he normally drew his crappy little lessons. I wonder what his serious teaching is like? I was bouncing up and down, wondering what his lesson was going to be like.

“Okay Nil, I think it’s time to try and get you to form pure . You came close last night, but you can do better. Now try and form Nil.” Nez chided in a much more serious tone.

I formed a ball of , which was black. After struggling for ten minutes, I managed to drain all the color out of it, making it the translucent grey that Nez did. He observed it for a second, then with a quick flick of his wrist shot a needle of his into it causing it to dissipate in an instant.

“Not pure enough. Formation was weak and took too long to convert from your innate .” Nez lectured.

“Sir Nez, aren’t you being awfully harsh on the Crown Prince?” Helga interjected.

“Nonsense, he isn’t going to learn if we coddle him. Nil here is a practical demonstration of how to form .” Nez explained matter-of-factually.

Nez formed a ball of silver , and then it turned almost completely clear. He took his ball and threw a needle into the ball, and it just embedded itself, not dissipating the ball. Nez dissipated it all, and then formed another ball of silver .

“Sir, what are you doing?” Helga asked.

“Nil will understand. He used his to copy the of my poorly formed , rather than following those explanations I was giving him. I am showing him as I think he will learn faster through mimicry than theory at the moment.” Nez informed her.

“Nez is best!” I chimed. Uncle Nez is teaching me for real! Wait a second, did he intentionally make the like that?

“Now Nil, when you are trying to remove your to make , you are not thinking about this the right way. Now, like this requires you to turn your natural into the type of you are trying to perform. As you have a very pure , you cannot change your to match my innate for example, it limits you to a with a neutral alignment. For , try making your into nothingness. Imagine converting your to an emptiness. Remove the sensation of yourself from your , now try again.” Nez explained, as he kept flickering his orb of from silver to clear on command with ease.

I formed an orb of again, which was black with my . How do I convert my to be clear? Or turn my into nothingness? I watched Nez do another demonstration. His seemed to effortlessly flick between being silver and colorless. Wait a second. It was flickering; all at once. I stared at the orb my uncle had made, and stabbed some into it, trying to get a sense of what it felt like. My quickly dissipated as it hit it, but I got a feeling of how it worked. I turned my head towards my orb, and willed it to feel similar. The orb turned almost translucent, it was an incredibly light grey; definitely better than before. Nez threw a needle into the orb, and it stayed formed much longer before eventually breaking apart.

“Much better! Now do it again!” Nez cheered with a small clap.

Nez spent the entire three hour session making me form orbs over and over. By the end, my was completely exhausted. The last orb was the clearest one I had made; it lasted nearly five minutes before the needle of dissipated it.

“That was an excellent session Nil! Now remember to practice your and before our session tomorrow!” Nez instructed as he left.

Helga bid Nez farewell with a bow as he left the room. I formed a miniature orb as he was leaving, forming it to be an entirely clear ball of . Nez whipped around and threw a needle at the small ball. It buried itself into the ball, but seemed to dissolve upon contact. Nez smiled and continued to leave.

“What was that sir?” Helga probed.

“Nil finally formed pure . Make sure he does train his and today before he takes a nap.” Nez explained with a grin.

Helga nodded with understanding before returning over to me. Nez you taskmaster. Not that I am complaining, I formed ! A basic ball, but it was still ! Now I needed to learn and , which I think are the same thing. Not sure, but from what I could tell from what I read in the library they were. I stretched out to take a nap, to which Helga made a tsk tsk noise. Fine, I will do those two before I take a nap.