"You are the greatest king we have had in the history of Moonlight kingdom," a minister said and everyone chuckled.
"You shouldn't say that, there are great kings that reigned before me," the emperor said, smiling. He was at his parlor with his ministers having a drink after conquering in a war.
"You are really the best king, even the people are happy," the general said.
"It's all because of you, if not for you that fought our war, our kingdom can't be in this position," the emperor said and served the general a drink. Everyone knows that they are best friends. They have been together right from when the king was very young.
"I don't want to learn," they heard a tiny voice yell. It was the crown prince. He was running while the maids ran after him and it was surprising that none of them could catch him even though he is just five years old.
"I can foresee it already, prince Raven will grow up to be a very strong king," one of the ministers said as they focused on him.
"I know, but he is quite lazy," the king said and they all chuckled.
"That's because he is still very young, soon he will realize his purpose and focus more on it," the general said as they watched him run around the whole place.
"My prince, your teacher is waiting for you," another maid said. They were panting already so they gave up chasing him since it was obvious they couldn't catch him.
"I want to swim, we can go after that," the little cutie said and smiled broadly. Before they could stop him, his clothes were gone and he jumped into the large stream.
"My prince!" the maid yelled fearfully since there was no movement from the water. The king and the ministers quickly rushed toward the water but he came out before they could get there. They all stared at the boy in shock.
"Dad," he called and smiled at the king. His father bent in front of him and patted his hair.
"You guys should be careful when dealing with him," the king told the maids. They bowed their heads respectfully. Little Raven went to meet his maids and that is when they noticed the mark on his back. It was the shape of a red dragon. The king looked shocked while looking at the back of his son. Without being told by anyone, he knew what the mark meant. It was the demon mark. Why was the mark suddenly on his son's back? He couldn't explain. Those with the mark were born with it. They were killed immediately they were born so why did the mark suddenly appear on his son's back? He couldn't say.
The ministers whispered among each other but none of them said anything.
**LATER IN THE NIGHT**
Little Raven was carried by his father. He was asleep but woke up when he was being dropped in someone else's arms. It was one of the king's guards.
"Please make sure you protect my son," he heard his father's voice before his father ran away.
"What is going on?" He asked while raising his head from the shoulder.
"That will be later my prince, you have to be saved first," the man said and used the back gate of the palace. He was dropped in the palanquin. He could see his three months old sister also lying in the place. Soon they left the palace premises.
"What is going on? Where is mum and dad?" He yelled but he was ignored. He stared out of the window and saw the general leading hundreds of armies to the palace. They quickly covered the palanquin so he wouldn't be spotted.
"We want the traitor out now," the general yelled loudly. They were in front of the king's palace. The king came out with his queen and was shocked to see his friend leading the armies.
"Why are you guys here?" The queen asked.
"Emperor, we want you to bring out your demon of a son, so that he will be executed," the general said.
"My son isn't a demon, he hasn't had the mark before, I don't know where it came from," the king said.
"Do you expect us to believe that? You know your son bears the forbidden mark but you hide him for five years. I want you to bring him out now or I will drag him out myself," the general said and brought out his sword.
"No one will touch my son," the emperor said and brought out his sword. He started fighting with the guards. One suddenly stabbed him in his belly and he groaned before vomiting blood.
"What is your problem, how can you hurt your king?" The queen yelled and carried a gun but she was stabbed in the chest by the general.
"My queen," the king called in tears as he moved toward his wife. She could barely talk until finally her eyes closed.
"I will kill you," the emperor yelled and carrying his sword, he started running toward the general but was stabbed by one of the guards.
"You will surely pay for this," the emperor managed to say before falling to his death.
"The child is not in the palace," some guards reported after checking everywhere.
"Look for that child and kill him," the general said.
"Yes sir," the guard said before running out of the palace.
"What are we going to do about them?" The assistant general asked while looking at the dead bodies.
"Spread rumors that the king and his wife were killed because they committed treason by hiding their son who has the demon mark," the general said.
"Okay general," he bowed before going.
The general looked at the body of the king and smiled mischievously.
The death of the king has spread throughout the whole kingdom. Some were crying while feeling pity for their king while some said he deserved what happened.
Raven heard everything that people said around him and he also learned that his parents are dead. He started crying inside the palanquin.
They wanted to go out of the border but they saw some guards watching. They quickly turned back and used the deep forest.
The guards journeyed for days. They also stopped to feed the kids and sometimes they hid from the guards that were looking for them.
They finally got to a town. It was very small and peaceful. They didn't know anything about the demon mark so they accepted them. The women in the town took care of the kids.
Few weeks later, rumors spread in the village that the general has become king after killing the previous king.
Prince knew right there that he has to take revenge for his parents and his people that they killed at the palace.
**FIVE YEARS LATER**
Prince Raven was now ten years old. He was a reserved boy and didn't speak to anyone except his sister. He loved staying alone and people avoided him because of the chilly aura around him.
The children of his age hated him because of the way he always separated himself from them. He loved playing the harp and avoiding people.
"Look who is here, it is the white hair weirdo," one of the kids that bullied him daily said behind him. He stopped playing his harp but didn't turn to look.
"Come on, are you afraid?" Another one asked and touched his hair. He just stood up and wanted to go but was dragged back by one of the boys.
"Where did you think you were going?" The boy asked and kicked him. He fell to the ground but stood up calmly without saying anything.
"Do you know why I hate you? Because you always act like the world revolves around you," the gang leader said and kicked him.
"Stop avoiding us and face us," they yelled and started kicking him.
"What are you doing? Stop hitting my brother," his five years old sister ran to the scene. Her name is Alicia. She was very pretty.
"Stay out of this," one of them said and pushed her. She fell on the ground.
"Don't touch my sister," he managed to say.
"Wait, did the weirdo just talk," they all mocked as they looked at him on the ground.
**MOONLIGHT KINGDOM**
"Congratulations your highness, your wife has given birth to a girl," the midwife announced to the king (the general).
"A girl? Again, why can't I just have a male child," he groaned and scattered everything.
"Your highness, we actually noticed a special mark on her," the midwife said and the king followed them to the room. His wife was lying with the little girl on her chest. He carried the baby and stared at her forehead. There was a mark, a red mark but it is not the demon mark.
"What is this?" He wondered and wanted to touch the mark but it glowed.
The mark at Raven's back also glowed and they were about to hit him but he got the boy's hand and stared at him with his red eyes.
The boy went blind immediately and others looked at him in shock.
"Please spare us," they begged with their heads bowed. He finally released the boy who was still crying because he can't see anymore. He left their presence immediately. He didn't know what happened but since that moment things have changed.
The villagers are always visited by a group of bandits. They collect all their food and properties and also kill some strong men.
So when they visited this time, Prince Raven stood up to them and defeated them all without moving from a spot. This gave the villagers hope and soon they started fighting the people that came to them and they conquered.
With the help of the ambitious prince, they started building their small village. The place is filled with a lot of resources and they don't have to go to any other kingdom to get anything.
They were so lucky that they found gold. Soon it was nicknamed the kingdom of gold because it has more than enough gold.
A lot of kingdoms came to fight them but they lost and became slaves to their kingdom. The place starts from a plain village and goes into a great kingdom with a heavy powerful wall. The interior was built with gold and it became the richest kingdom.
Prince Raven was made the king of the kingdom and it soon became Emperor Raven. He became king at the age of twenty and the kingdom continued to grow.
People are scared of the king because of his cold nature but they are also confident in their powerful king because he always saves them.
His cold stare sends fear into their hearts. No one dares to stare at his face or the person will go blind immediately. Some people believe he can't speak because they have never heard any word from him. He stayed in his palace all day and was only visited by his sister and his mistress. He killed mercilessly too so the palace maids avoided him. His white hair is as sharp as a dagger.
In one word Emperor Raven is a king that is feared by all kings. Everyone knows he is the Cursed Prince and the Moonlight Kingdom prayer is that the king should not come near their kingdom but it seems like their prayers were not answered.
**TEN YEARS LATER**
The Emperor has been ruling the kingdom for ten years. He is thirty years old now though he looks very young. He stayed in his cold and dark palace everyday and only came out anytime he had something important to do.
He was lying on his bed with his eyes open as the thing that happened in the Moonlight Kingdom, twenty five years ago came to his mind. His father has sacrificed a lot for the kingdom, helping them to fight a lot of wars but they rewarded him with death and put a traitor on the throne.
He is going to make the whole kingdom suffer for it.
"Your highness, can I come in?" Jimmy, his personal guard asked from the door.
"Come in," he said and disappeared to a seat. The door opened and the handsome man came in. He could barely see because of how dark the room was.
"I finally did some research on the kingdom, and I found out the king is celebrating his birthday party tomorrow night," Jimmy said and gave the emperor the invitation letter.
"Good, I think it is about time I visit my old kingdom," Emperor Raven said with a creepy smile.