"𝖨𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖾𝗇𝖽, 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲𝘀
𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝗃𝗎𝗌𝗍 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀."

𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗦𝗢𝗟𝗘𝗠𝗡 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗘𝗦
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

It was tedious,

watching how these baseless idiots tried so desperately to capture his attention. They spoke idly, calling it a way to pass time, when it was all just a denial excuse to console their mere, small-time significance. He himself believed it to be an unknown chronic illness of some sort, how something as intriguing as their gossip would immediately shift to a string of white noise. How despite all those that admired him, all that he was privileged with, there was still this lack of— something.

And perhaps Ness noticed Kaiser zoning out, or perhaps he was bitter of how the conversation that was originally centred around his emperor had dwindled to frivolous, prosaic chatter. Either way, his current displeasure was established from the great views he had for Kaiser, the man he pledged to follow like a loyal chevalier.

"Ah! Before we leave for practice, do you know anyone that has studied the national french school curriculum?" Ness broke the sound of nugatory, his poised, close-eyed smile indirectly warning them to not further swivel the conversation as he impatiently fiddled his grip on the strap of his duffel bag.

"Uhh... the french school curriculum..?" One questioned with a waver in his tone, brow raised in puzzlement.

"I want to ameliorate my penmanship. Cursive is primarily taught in France, and I'd like to use it during french." Kaiser replied immediately, irritation clawing his throat at the lines of inquiries that did nothing but pass time. He could already hear their coach's persistent scolding from afar.

"But can't you just hire a qualified calligrapher?" I mean you have the money for it. Tree 'A' rolled his eyes inwardly, revealing the inner resentment held captive between the crevices of his mind.

"I value experience over qualifications."
The corner of kaiser's mouth curved down in exasperation as a scoff adorned his silvery voice.

"Oh—! I— um, I think there was someone with the name M-Mirabel that was from there.. or even Nerlica?" Tree 'A' stuttered over his response unsurely, a gulp shortly following at the possibility of Kaiser reading his drama-instilling thoughts.

"You mean, Maribel Ferreira?"
Ness queried, lifting a brow in expectation, he was sure that was some girl in his science class with good marks. Though her intelligence couldn't even be compared to the genius of Kaiser's, it was just bewildering to even give such thing a thought.

"Ooh! even her surname sounds french, it's definitely got to be her!" Tree 'B' exclaimed, hope glistening in his eyes at the thought of being praised by the great Kaiser.

"The name Ferreira originates from Portugal and Galicia. Are you idiots that incapable of distinguishing whether this person is from France or Portugal?" Kaiser inquired rhetorically raising a brow tauntingly as his gaze darkened on them.

"But of course you swines wouldn't know, bet you can't even differentiate between the flags of Romania and Chad." Kaiser gloated with a smug grin that accentuated his blessed features, amusement laced his smirk when picking a difficult analogy to explain his point, it most likely was only him with his meta vision that could comprehend such difference. He observed with slight anticipation as they squirmed in discomfort under his watchful gaze. Retaliate. He scrutinised for any change in their body language whilst unknowingly biting back a breath. Go on. He demanded inwardly and aspired to crack their facade publicly. Express how you truly feel about me.

But alas, they failed to meet his surreal expectations and an exhale of disappointment sounded from him. Imbeciles. As always, everyone was always in awe of him or cared too much for their position to ever talk back to his teasing. Adjusting the strap of his duffel bag, he began walking away with a scowl, eyes blank with annoyance that Ness was sure would be taken out on him. And so the loyal dog couldn't help but call out worriedly, "Ah! Kaiser wait—"

Ness turned towards the other two that scratched their head in culpable manner and he had to restrain himself from voicing out a chain of colourful words that would lay bare to his diabolical thoughts. He shook his head, right now he needed to go and beg for Kaiser's forgiveness after having stooped to the level of the clowns that wasted his time. He ran beside him, remaining a few steps behind in respect and with his head inclined down in shame, desperation gnawed his voice as a string of apologies, self-degradation and impetuous promises left his lips like a broken record.

But it was all for naught as every dolorous plea fell deaf upon Kaiser's ear. He was preoccupied eavesdropping in a conversation from the classroom nearby that coincidentally had its window opened, almost acting as a catalyst for whatever was to come because that ridiculous claim from the drivel spouting girl left him in a state of ataxia with his pupils shaking in disorientation. As if he had just finished his intense training routine, Kaiser fell short on breath.

"Yeah, I'm gonna teach a vellakarum how to wash his arse after taking a dump and probably marry him after or something, I don't know."

life goal: teach a vellakarum how to wash his arse and probably marry him.

She was gonna marry some guy after teaching him how to wash his arse????

Never in all his years of living had he heard such nonsense. And the strangest part of all was that even someone like Kaiser, the embodiment of poised and calculated, was moved by the sincerity of such absurd words. Had he finally gone mad from deceit, pretence and hypocrisy? It was obscure how that day he swore he felt every emotion fathomable to mankind, all with such intensity that he believed it to be some unknown phenomenon where he used up a whole lifetime's worth of emotions all at once.

But what bewildered him even more was how no one seemed to notice the weight of her words. Did they think her words were just humorous?

It was ludicrous to even believe that he could possibly be the only one that could comprehend such passion, and yet, it was equally elating. The more he contemplated it, her words was the exact poetry he wanted to write; simply poetry in a world that was still learning the alphabet, so no one could appreciate such complexity except him. Only he could.

It was also comical how her words had woken the pitter-patter of the rain straight after. Gazing up at the sky, he watched as the clouds obliged and how the rain descended in little gleam-drops of silver. The sound of the rain was a harmonic thrumming, nature's white noise, and perhaps white noise wasn't so much of a bore anymore. He remained gazing longingly as the patches of greyish brown murk soon filled the canvas of clouds, the work of an artist accidentally spilling his pot of dirty paint water.

"..." Kaiser admitted that rain never looked nice. Rather, it looked like art. But truth was, art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel things. Colour was colour, whether vibrant or dull, it was still colour in the end. And Kaiser... Kaiser appreciated any colour on his blank canvas.

But that was irrelevant, for even a dull colour such as brown contained secrets of vibrant reds, yellows and blues. It was a know fact that primary colours couldn't be made by a user, but Kaiser, he who unveiled the impossible, surely— surely he could do it. Surely, he could unveil the truth.

That afternoon, three solemn promises were made. One where some ridiculous girl vowed to teach a vellakarum how to wash his arse and marry him, the other where Kaiser vowed to discover the secret vibrants of brown and study the complex art of the alphabet, and the last one where Ness...

Well Ness vowed to remain loyal to his emperor.

𝚃𝚘 𝙱𝚎 𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚎𝚍 ➪

@𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗼𝗿𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘄𝗶𝗳𝗲

𝗩𝗼𝘁𝗲, 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲

prologue out! i hope you enjoyed reading this bc i feel like it's kinda cringe 😭 but yh pls don't be a ghost reader. pls