What is freedom?
Arthur had asked himself this question countless times. Was it the absence of chains? The ability to do as one pleased? Or was it something deeper, something untouchable, always just beyond his grasp?
For him, freedom wasn't a state of being.
It was a law of existence, one that had been denied to him.
He had never known warmth, never known his family. He had no tragic past, no great betrayal. His parents had simply vanished from his life, leaving behind nothing but silence. No graves to visit. No names to remember, just absolutely nothing.
And that was fine.
Attachment was a weakness for others to abuse.
Fifteen years of life on the streets had taught him that freedom was a delusion. The world was a prison disguised as a civilization, its people content in their cages. Laws dictated their actions. Fear kept them compliant. Even those who thought themselves above it the criminals, the rulers, the so called powerful were bound by something far greater. Even if you transcended all of it. There was still death, naturally or caused by something different. How could someone be truly free if he is dead?
Arthur had spent his life just living by those chains: unseen, unbound. Until a curse took hold of him, he was at least somewhat free.
That was when he understood the most important thing in his life.
No one is free. Not until they destroy fate by themselves, it doesn't matter how strong or rich you are, or how high your status is.
You will never be able to win against fate, even if you can split a mountain in half, you are still human and will eventually die by old age.
As a human it is impossible to live forever unless you destroy fate itself.
And so, Arthur made a decision.
If the world denied him freedom, he would carve it out with his own hands, he would kill everyone that keeps him from reaching his dream of true freedom.
If laws and gods or even Fate itself stood in his way, he would erase and devour them.
If chains tried to restrain him, he would shatter them.
Arthur exhaled slowly regaining his composure from his deep thoughts, adjusting his pace as he walked through the crowded marketplace of his town.
Even though he lived in the outskirts of his city, his dreams where the highest a human being could ever think of.
He was just one out of countless thousands in this rather small city to live in the outskirts.
The streets were his domain, he knew them better than anyone else ever could, after all he lived on them for nearly 15 years now.
Merchants shouted and people bargained from the side of the street. The scent of roasted meat and fresh bread lingered in the air. He barely noticed any of it, it was all way too expensive. Even though Arthur nearly never payed for his food because he was too poor.
His gaze locked onto a wooden fruit stall, stacked with plump red apples.
Arthur moved without hesitation, gliding toward the stand like a shadow.
"Welcome, dear customer, to David's Fruit Empire!" the merchant boasted. "Looking for something sweet, fresh or maybe the best deal in town."
David seemed to be the shopkeeper of this little wooden stall, right now he looked at a young boy whoose head was covered by a black hood of his dirty coat, he had shoulder long dark hair and was covered in dirt and dust.
Arthur barely spared him a glance. "Just looking."
When David looked at the young boy he only thought of as another outskirt rat he would'nt get a deal out of, the boy raised his head looking him into his eyes.
A sudden shock overcame the merchant, when he looked into the ethereal, deep blue eyes of the kid, he sensed a breeze of fear that intimidated him.
Arthur lowered his head again looking at the delicious red apples.
"Well if that's the case, take your time sir, and call me if you need anything or want to buy something at my modest shop." He said with a slightly frighted voice.
Arthur's fingers closed around an apple.
A flicker of movement. A transaction without words.
Their eyes met.
David's expression shifted from casual to alarming. By the time realization struck, Arthur was already moving.
"Thief!" the merchant bellowed. "Filthy little thief! You dare steal from me!?"
Arthur neither sped up nor slowed down. Panic was for those who feared consequence. He was not one of them, still Arthur ran at an impressive speed.
He turned into the nearest alley, the merchant's shouts fading behind him. The streets were a maze, but Arthur had lived here long enough to navigate them in his sleep, he knew every corner of them.
Suddenly he vanished behind the next corner.
The merchant was burning with fury because he was so easily fooled by Arthur, David turned the corner only a few seconds after him, but Arthur was gone. Only an eerily silent alley stretched before him, flanked by many buildings.
"Damn brat," David muttered under his breath. "You better pray I never see you again."
Arthur watched the angry merchant stomping and walking back to his stand with anger, from the rooftop. Silent, still, and without any emotion in his face.
The marketplace stretched below him, a collection of moving figures, unaware that they were nothing more than like pieces in a game of chess, Arthur heard of "Chess" from one of the older teens in the outskirts as a game the richer kids played.
The rooftops were his domain. Up here, he was feeling invincible and powerful and most importantly... calm.
The wind brushed against his face as he took a bite of the apple.
"Sweet", with a faint smile on his face he thought that maybe this was the place where he posessed the most freedom of all he has ever been to.
And yet, it meant nothing.
Because this was not freedom.
This was survival.
Arthur's glowing blue eyes narrowed slightly. His fingers curled around the apple, knuckles turning white. A pulse of something inhumane ran through his veins, cold, measured, and endless.
His whole body was glowing with a faint ethereal glow, under the skin barely visible at day, but glowing more bright at night.
The Curse.
It came in a single night a few weeks before.
A sensation, cold and suffocating, curling around his mind like invisible chains, he was forcefully pulled out of his sleep and felt a pain aching around his heart, but not a single bit of pain inside of it. It felt as if his heart was being surrounded by chains that were unbreakable but he never found out what it was.
And then, he heard a voice.
A voice that did not belong to this world, it sounded rather emotionless, like that from a being that was never human.
It did not speak. It's voice simply appeared in his mind.
It only spoke a few words, but these words alone were enough to send a shiver down his spine.
Not only because the voice knew the human language, but because it spoke it perfectly.
The words it said made Arthurs soul tremble, it was basically a death sentence to him.
[ Arthur Moonlight, You Have Been Chosen by the Curse. ]
[ Prepare for Your Trials... ]
A sentence. His fate sealed in an instant.
No warning. No explanation. Just a truth imposed upon him.
His world slowly crumbled into pieces.
Arthur had heard countless bad things about the Curse before.
Some said the people that got infected enraged the gods and Were already dead. Others called it the will of fate itself.
It didn't matter.
What mattered was the game he had just been forced into.
The trials that resembled inhuman challenges filled with nightmarish creatures, would soon begin. Monsters lurking in unseen places, waiting for the weak to fall.
But there was a flaw in this design.
Those who conquered their trials were given power beyond human imagination. A gift. A weapon. A path.
It was their way of maintaining balance. A cruel trade, death for strength, suffering for control. But wasn't that how the world was already, only the strong would survive, and the weak succumbed to the strong.
But Arthur was not like the others.
He saw through the illusion.
The curse was not a blessing. It was a cage. A leash dressed as an opportunity.
And Arthur would not be bound.
A Cold, Unforgiving Path.
Power granted by force was never truly one's own, that was a fact.
The gods, fate, whatever forces had chosen him and truly believed they could control him.
They were completely wrong.
If they wanted him to fight these trials, he would do so.
But not as their pawn or slave.
Not for their amusement.
He would do it for one reason and one reason only.
To break free and destroy whatever seems to be the creator of the Curse with his own power. After all he wanted to obtain true freedom.
If he had to destroy every obstacle in his path, he would.
If people stood in his way, he would erase them without hesitation.
There was no morality or pride in survival.
There was only one goal.
Freedom was not something granted. It was something taken.
And Arthur would take it all.
He is a not yet big enough threat, but he soon would be, maybe even sooner than he thought.
A weapon with a will of its own.
A force willing to cut down anything in its way.
Arthur exhaled, his gaze fixed on the setting sun.
His trials had not yet begun.
But when they did, he would not hesitate.
One way or another.
Even if he had to erase the entire world to make it happen...