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2412, Tull 14, Briss

A night unlike all others.

A woman stood by the window of the tallest tower in the Palace, overlooking the dark sky. She took a deep breath, inhaling the cold, night breeze. Her eyes scanned the grounds below her.

Lesser towers stood on guard around her tower. A sense of power wrapped around her veins. This was what someone like her should have. She wasn't just anybody. She was a Queen. Shouldn't she deserve all things in the world?

She squeezed the stone sill of her window, bunching the flesh of her palms. Numb. She was numb. All this power, all this authority. It was not enough.

More.

She needed more to save this dying territory. Strength was a currency in this world and as a Queen, shouldn't she have the most?

Creatures in the dark prowled in wait for a moment of weakness. The Queen wasn't going to give them that. Those creatures existed to wipe her race from the face of the island. To devour them until there was nothing left.

She should act first.

That was why she was up this late. Something was keeping her awake. Her sense told her that something was going to happen tonight. Something special. Something...beneficial to her plans.

Cold blew into her skin. She shivered and stiffened. The wind shifted, carrying with it an ominous feeling. She inhaled. Freezing air assaulted her nose. Wait. Wait and see what this was about.

Lights erupted in the sky like the creature shows in the Festival. She leaned half of her body out of the window, jaw dropping at the show of thousands of bright lights gliding in thin lines across the inky sky. This...

The stars, themselves, dimmed in contrast to the lights' harsh brightness. Colors splashed and mixed. Blurred, intertwined yet stayed separate. Fiery meteors with lengthy tails blazed by in silent but resounding proclamation.

The lights sang in an untold language of magic. Verses upon verses of unheard tales chanted a lore of undiscovered might. Somewhere on the island. Just within her reach.

Her lips curled into a menacing smile.

It was truly a night unlike all others.

A traitor.

That was what his enemies said about him. After all, he was a thief and a liar. A bounty was put on his head. Sooner or later, they were going to find him and they would reap from him what he deserved.

He shook his head with a sigh. No matter. He did what he could. They were not going to listen to him even though he told them what he discovered about their enemy. It wasn't the island. It wasn't the magic riding the air around them. It was...themselves.

They were the enemy.

Hiding a lore of violence, of revenge, and of the endless quest to power. That was that they stood for. That was what they were all about. It was enough to drive him out of the stronghold. Sadly, it seemed like he was never meant to go out once he got in.

He kicked a pebble, uprooting sand in a dusty shower. If it wasn't for a promise he made, he wouldn't have had to sneak into that blasted organization. If it wasn't for an oath he uttered in honor of a friend, he wouldn't have found himself in this complicated web of games and betrayal.

The sea was calm tonight. There was not a single ripple slapping the pointed rocks jutting from the shore. It unnerved him. He had been on the run for so long that he forgot what a quiet night looked and felt like.

He stuck his hand inside his pockets. His fingers brushed the thing that branded him as a thief. A compass.

A special compass, nonetheless.

The waters carried enough tranquility to set an antsy feeling inside of him, like a thousand snakes slithering down his spine. He shivered. No wind. No movement. Not a single noise. It was too silent.

A night unlike all others.

He scoffed and shook his head. What was this absurdity?

Suddenly, the sky lit up. Lights blasted in wide swirls of color. He stood among the lights with his jaw partly open. This was a strange sensation, having understood what the lights wanted. Color turned the strangely moonless night into a painting to rival the galleries in Nanvera. They heralded a path to power and a way towards something they have waited for.

Something burned the skin in his thigh. He yelped as he fished the compass out and threw it into the sand. What...?

One of its faces glowed like burning coals in a furnace. He squinted against the lights reflected in its glass surface. It wasn't just glowing. It was burning.

The smell of sand burning reached his nose. He coughed and waved his hand over his face to drive it out. Damn. That's nasty. Then, his eyebrows met. Wait.

He held the hand that touched the compass, inspecting it for burns or for possible pain. There was nothing. His skin remained untouched. No pain.

Strange.

A sigh burst out of his lips. He bent down and poked the compass's glass. Cold. Huh.

He wrapped his hands around it and hefted it up. The needles didn't point north. Instead, they pointed...west. Towards the other end of the island. Where his friends said it would.

He turned the compass over, hoping to find more clues. The lights reflected his face back at him over the metal cast of the compass' back. He ran his finger over a smudge of dirt. Not just his face. There was...

His finger came away dusty and silver. An inscription.

Evrima fe laspien al propiokos.

His gut sank. Find the Child of Prophecy. Just as his friends feared. Just as his best friend predicted.

The organization was after the child as well.

Holy gods of Calaris.

Then, the traitor smiled. He may be a thief but he might have stolen something worthwhile, after all. Wait until his best friend heard about this.

He set his lips into a thin line. He must do what his best friend couldn't do on his own. Consider this as a favor. There might be a few ill blood between them but he didn't stop being their friend. If none of them can reach the child in time, it was up to him to step in.

For his friend and his wife. For the world.

His fingers curled around the compass. The needle pointed towards Cardina. Here goes nothing.

His feet sank in the sand as he moved forward.

Time to follow his destiny.

Her feathered wings perked at the sight of the enchanted lights flashing outside the window. Something thought to be a myth and an object of an obsolete prophecy was now being fulfilled in front of her eyes.

The child existed.

She cursed, her tongue rolling off naturally at the sound of it. It won't be too long before the others get wind of this. A gasp flew out of her mouth as she flinched. It won't be too long before the Heiress comes knocking.

It was bad enough that she has the whole island to look after as its highest Monarch. She had inherited a crumbling dynasty and a court that didn't trust the bloodline anymore. She had no choice but to do everything she could to survive.

That included allying herself to a being that promised her the help she needed to secure her place in the throne.

What for, even?

For family. Because not only would she lose her head, her children would follow in her footsteps the moment she showed a sign of weakness. Auberon wouldn't like that.

She sighed. In the honor of her first and only love, she swore in his spirit that she would protect her own. Even if her own didn't or couldn't protect her.

As the lights raged outside, her own soul went along with it. She couldn't believe she had been so silly. Stupid. Before she knew it, her desire to save herself and her family had turned into a decision that she couldn't take back. That decision she made years ago would cost her and the island everything.

If she didn't do something first.

She reached back and plucked an ivory-tented feather from her wings. The consequent pain was almost welcome. After years of doing it as a habit, she barely winced as she watched her own blood crawl down her hand and stained the white feather in her fingers.

Perhaps, her own prophecy would come true. Someday.

Or if her plan succeeds, soon.

The air inside her room shifted. Fear wrapped around her heart. A heavy presence filled the empty spaces. Her wings jerked.

The Heiress was here.

The assassin panted as he clutched his throbbing heart. He looked up to the heavens, wishing for the gods to just end his suffering. This was too much. He would not survive.

Pain riddled his muscles. His head swam as he stumbled off the dark alley and into the dusty streets. The Humans were sleeping. There was not a nightlight in sight. There was...no one to help him. No one can ease the curse eating his heart.

Find the child.

That was his mission. That was his entire purpose.

Deliver her to Lanteglos. Then, he would be free.

A weak laugh shook his battered chest. Freedom. Such a flimsy concept from someone like him who had spent his entire life following orders. What would it feel like? What would he do first?

He stumbled forward. His stomach twisted, churned. He wanted to hurl but there was nothing to spit out. His fingers gripped a wagon. The splinters dug against his palms. He breathed once. Twice. Wait for the pain to be bearable.

He didn't know how he survived all these months with this curse wrapped around his heart. It didn't let up. Even his sleep was filled with nightmares of his heart erupting. Perhaps, dying in one's sleep was the perfect way to enter Pidmena's realm.

He edged away from the wagon and staggered forward. The dagger strapped to his belt an unfailing reminder of why he chose this path. To save himself. To run and escape his fate.

A life for a life. A soul for a soul. One destiny to another.

He would be free, One day.

Then, the sky above him flashed in a shower of lights and magic. This was...

He inclined his head and took a deep breath, expecting to encounter the hitch and stabbing pain to his side. It didn't come. His eyebrows met.

He tried again. No pain.

His heart quivered as his eyes widened. She was here. He was in the right place. In this foreign land of hopelessness and labor. In this strange land of hate and prejudice.

She was here. The way to his freedom and the healing to his suffering.

He stumbled forward, relishing the relief the lights gave. More. He wanted more of this. Please. In the moonless night, the lights served as his guidance towards the fulfillment of his dreams.

He would be free. Soon.

The fairy's wings flapped. Wind drove her hair back from her forehead. It was a treacherous time to hunt today, especially in this time of day. Without much of a choice and unless she wanted to die of hunger for the next few days, she was out in the dark, canopied forest, chasing her prey.

The creature skittered in and out of bushes. She cursed. Pesky critters and their pesky tactics. She spread her fingers and summoned her magic. A protruding branch slapped her forehead. She yelped as she tumbled and crashed backwards, having lost control of her flight.

Ugh.

Something warm and sticky dropped from the side of her face. She clicked her tongue and braced a tree trunk as she stood. She wiped her nose with the back of her hand, sniffing the foggy night.

She stepped forward when she noticed the light dancing through the gaps in the canopies. Strange. There were no moons tonight.

As if sensing her apprehension, the lights flared brighter. Fog hissed and scattered at the intensity of the colors that flashed in the sky. What in the—

The sky howled. She braced her head under her arms, dropping into a crouch. Were the gods punishing her? What was this?

Something slammed into her brain. Something her brother said before they parted.

Watch out for the lights.

No way. Was this...

Her jaw clenched. It was what her brother was telling her back then. Her duty has come. The reason why she was holing out in this part of the island was finally here. The plan could finally move forward.

To save the island. To fight the enemies from the shadows. They needed the subject of these lights. Wherever it was, it would be the answer to the question she had been asking for a while now.

Just where did myth and reality coincide? Where did prophecy end and where did its fulfillment start?

It's now. Unfolding in front of her.

She clenched her fists by her side. She won't fail this time. Unlike what everyone thought her to be, this time, she would save what mattered most. She would protect what her mother died for. It was all she lived for.

This was what she was meant to do.

She has to win the war that's about to start.

Two women have more things in common than they liked to admit

Both of them were outcasts. Both were nothing but faded legends in Umazuran minds. Forgotten. Forsaken. Past their time.

They didn't mind. In fact, it served their purpose. Being unknown meant more control. More...room to move from the shadows.

Centuries passed yet both of them didn't forget the very thing that set them on this path in the first place. It was an endless battle between good and evil, light and dark. The catch was none of them knew which was which.

They both wanted the one and same thing—complete control over the island's magic.

Synketros. Cardovia. Nothing was different.

So, in the eve of the lights parading in the sky, both of them leaned against the sills in their respective rooms. Future glory that they would attain flashed in their minds. A treasure has revealed itself. A treasure that would soon be theirs, no matter the cost.

No matter the time it took.

The Heiress leaned back against the wall of her tower. It was magnificent—majestic, even—to watch the fulfilment of a great prophecy. Cardovia would soon be at the top of the world once the strings she tied led back to her and the gears she set started turning.

She pushed away from the wall and called her magic. Warmth wrapped around her skin. The stage of planning was over.

The time for action was here.

Meanwhile, The Sovereign dropped her quill on her desk, splattering ink across the parchment in an ugly blot. She clicked her tongue. No matter. Parchment could be replaced. This sight, however, could not be.

Her heart beat in her ears as she stumbled towards the window. Thousands of lights shone in bright swirls in the sky.

This was it. Umazure's savior has come.

In the dead of night, seven people waited for their destinies to be revealed.

The lights signal many things: the coming of Umazure's savior, the dawn of its new age, and the beginning of the centuries-old war that plagued its shadows from the start.

The race for the center of the world was upon them.

It begins now.