The Sole Prince of the Fallen Kingdom

"Hey, what's your name?" A young man, dressed in a denim jacket and blue jeans, asked a little boy sleeping on the side of the road. 

Although the young man drops by there once or twice a month to distribute food to the orphaned children who live beside that road, he was seeing this boy for the first time.

A little boy, no more than 5 years old, had rough golden hair covered in dirt and innocent black eyes one would expect a kid to have. His body was extremely malnourished for someone of his age as if even a little gust of wind would make his little body fly in the air.

"..." Seeing the young man, the Boy hesitated and stepped back a little in fear.

'...Am I scary?' The Young Man disheartened by the thought, picked out a Creambread from his bag, which attracted the Boy's attention.

"...You want this?" The Young Man asked the little boy as he got down on his left knee to see his eyes. He was still hesitant, but as the boy hadn't eaten for a day, he slowly approached the man.

"If you want this, then tell me your name?" The Young Man hid the bread behind him before the boy could take it.

"...My name is 'You'." The Boy said still eyeing the creambread in the Man's hand.

"'You'? ...What kind of name is that?" The Young Man muttered as he broke a piece of the bread and handed it to the boy.

"...I don't know," Nibbling down on the bread, the boy replied, "...It's what everyone calls me."

"..."

"Pfft-! Hahaha... I'm sorry, but your name isn't 'You', little one." The young man replied with a hearty laugh, muffling the boy's dirty hair.

"But isn't 'name' mean what everyone calls one by?" Finishing the bread given to him, the little boy still couldn't take his eyes off the remaining Bread in the Man's hand.

"Yes, those are Names but..." The Young Man gave the boy the rest of the creambread that he hid behind him, and a glass of water, "...there are some words that we use to call everyone and one of them is 'You'."

Gulp Gulp

"...Then what is my name?" Finishing his meal, the Boy looked at the Man in innocence. 

"Well..." The young man hesitated for a moment as the boy's hopeful look was making him nervous, "...How about 'Liam'?" 

"Liam...?"

"Yep, Liam. That's my name and I think it would fit you too."

"...Why?"

"Because you remind me of ...myself." The Young Man muttered under his breath, his words being inaudible to anyone except him.

His eyes were looking at the little Boy in a sad daze as if he was reminded of something suddenly, that he never wanted to.

"Hmm...?" The little boy innocently tilted his head to the side, confused by the sudden change in the Man's behavior.

"...Nothing. So, do you like the name?" The Young Man recovering from his daze, asked the boy.

"Yes. I do!" The Little Liam replied enthusiastically in happiness.

He loved that he shared the name with a Kind Big Brother, he always felt grateful and in debt to him for sharing his name with a stranger like him until a decade later, he read a news article about his "Kind" Big Brother which made him doubt his eyes and memory.

'Police had finally captured the mastermind and the main culprit behind the recent increase in Murders, Liam Stellsworth. 

Liam had confessed to committing 5,000 Murders in the past two years, and more than 15,000 in total. However, when our reporter asked him about how he felt getting caught after all these years, His reply was:

I don't regret my decisions even a little bit. All the people that I had killed deserved their death, and if I ever managed to escape the clutches of the Police, I would do the same thing ...again.'

**********

"Who ...Who are you?" I whimpered in disbelief as I didn't think I would get called out by that name ever again.

"I am Mortivis, God of Life and Death. Nice to meet you, Liam."

"God of Life and Death? ...One who selected my soul for reincarnation?" The words came out of my mouth on their own in surprise.

"Yes, I was the one who reincarnated you."

'He doesn't look divine but If... If he really is the God of Life and Death that he claims to be then maybe...'

"Oh? You are thinking of asking me something? Like 'Could you please let me see them for one last time?' or 'Could you please ensure their safety?' or 'Could you give me one more chance?', right?" Mortivis spoke out what I was thinking, leaving me stunned.

"Oh, C'mon. Don't be stunned by this, I told you I'm a God." Mortivis circled around me as he said that.

"..."

"Sigh~ Alright, Go Ahead and Ask anything, you have my permission."

"Then-" Let me go back! was what I wanted to say, but his next words stopped me.

"But before that, don't you want to know what happened that resulted in your Death and what after you died?"

"...It was just an assassination attempt on me, no?" 

"How Naive~ Let me tell ...No, show you what actually happened, Liam." 

And thus, a screen appeared hovering in the void, displaying what Mortivis claimed to have actually happened.

**********

[A/N: From here on, Liam or Aiden, is seeing the things that happened and is reacting because of it. Like A third-person narrative from a first-person perspective. Just thought to add the information if someone is confused.]

"...Abraham?" My Father muttered in disbelief, seeing the man in front of him.

'Abraham? My uncle?' Though I have heard nits and bits about him from Father and remembering his words, Uncle Abraham seemed like a gentleman but then why is he facing Father with a sword in his hands?

"Yes, It's me. Did I manage to surprise you, Aziel?" My uncle wore a grin as he pointed the sword at my father.

'What's happening? Why is he pointing the sword at Father? Wasn't the point to assassinate me?' I was at a loss, seeing the events unfold in front of me.

"...But Why?" My Father seemingly accepted the situation, pointed his Greatsword towards him in return.

The anger of Betrayal was clear in his eyes, but he was still hoping that he didn't have to battle his childhood friend till death.

"...Why, you ask? Are you really gonna ask why, Aziel?" A vein popped on Uncle's forehead, and he continued with anger palpable in his voice, "...You took everything from me and now you have the audacity to ask why I betrayed you?!"

"...I haven't taken anything from you, Abraham."

"Anything? Really? Are you that Ignorant, Aziel?"

"..."

"Kiera. I had my eyes set on her first, and I told you that thinking that maybe you would help me, but no! Instead, what did you do to me?" 

"I-"

"You stole her affection for yourself, isn't that right? You stole my love because you couldn't afford to see me happy, right?"

"...That's not true, Abraham. I have already explained to you that countless times-" My Father tried to reply as calmly as possible, but it was evident that his patience was nearing its limit.

"SHUT UP, AZIEL!" Disappearing from his position, Uncle attacked Father directly from the front, locking both of their swords in a Bind.

"That's not the only thing that you stole from me, Aziel. Remember when My Daughter ridiculed a commoner and burnt his house down?"

"...Yes. I executed her in the middle of the town hall for her mistake, but she burned people alive, Abraham. You have to understand it, because if I hadn't done that there would have been riots all across the country."

"...So what? Were you not able to stop a couple of Riots with your Mighty power?"

"Abraham, I can't use my power to shut people down. They are my citizens-"

"...AND SHE WAS YOUR NIECE!" Uncle retreated and attacked from the right side again and when their swords collided, the foundation of the whole Castle shook.

'...Father did all that?' I was shocked to my very soul listening to the deeds that Uncle was calling him for. 

Is that what he had to offer to be a citizen's King? Even though I could understand the reasoning behind his decisions, I just can't seem to claim that Uncle was the one completely wrong either.

'And if he did that, maybe Eugene's family too ...No, no, no, it's not possible but still...' I was confused, and my mind was not functioning at its full capabilities and my emotions were all over the place.

Some part of me wanted to side with Father but some was with Uncle too. Some part of me still wanted to go back and meet him but some part of me was afraid that he would have killed me too because of the lives that were taken in this whole attack.

'If this is your condition right now, Liam, then you better brace yourself because the things that happened after this would be even more painful for you to witness.' Mortivis said putting his hand on my shoulder in a sympathetic voice.

'...Even worse?' Though at the time, I didn't think that anything worse than doubting my morals and the person who raised me could happen but maybe as Mortivis said, I was far too Naive.