In a certain village at the south of Yutis near the rocky hills leading to Gohar, a guard was almost dozing off at his job. Watch over a tunnel. He failed to notice a shadow creeping up the staircase created by Earth magic. A dry bashing sound and he fell on the floor, unconscious.
"
The figure clad in black crept out of the stone building and gained the empty night streets of the village.
His only motivation were vengeance and justice.
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A young woman was sitting in the chamber she was forced to occupy after she was unwillingly brought to the castle. She sighed and thought of her predicament. She expected several things when she turned herself in, but not this. She became a prisoner, her fate sealed. She looked through the opening for ventilation of the room and dreamed of the land beyond. Of the young people she was with when she committed her crimes. Of the ward she left behind. Of death and rebirth. Of heroes and martyrs. Of body-stealing mages. She prayed for their safety.
"I'll never again be allowed to work as her handmaid." She spoke with regret. She expected many things, but not this. "If I ever get to see her again."
Someone knocked on the door of the room. She knew she would be sent to another torture session, another hours-long excruciating session. And she was supposed to be happy about it.
"And if I ever see them again, I got to apologize to Sora. And punch that boy if he has awakened."
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Afternoon tea felt bland. The sweet pastries tasted bland. A princess sat on the balcony overseeing the gardens of her castle and found that even the colors of the Spring flowers were dull. Even the song of the birds were muffled. The news that reached her were dire. In any other occasion she would be gloating that one of her rivals went down, but not now. Not like this.
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Not when her vengeance plan was all set in motion. What good would be all her planning, all her painstakingly set schemes if the guest of honor was missing? Probably dead?
"Lumina... Why did you have to die?"
The princess signed the invitation anyway. She poured some of her mana on the paper to guarantee its authenticity. The enchanted paper would hold her magical signature until it was delivered to the recipients.
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A couple of adventurers ran in a dungeon. They met a group of monsters, spiders whose brains were eaten by slimes and served as hosts for the slimes. The man swung his sword and a flash of light arced from the blade, slashing all the spiders on the ground in the middle. His wife behind him chanted a spell and dozens of magic arrows sung through the air to hit the slimes riding on hollow spider heads.
"It seems we are trapped in here until we finish the final boss and break the dungeon core, my dear."
"It is one of the risks of pioneering a dungeon. But to imagine this would be a time-shift dungeon was too much."
The dungeon they were currently conquering had a 1:20 time ratio. Every day spent inside was equivalent of twenty days outside. And they were already on their second month of exploration.
"I'm worried about our baby boy." The woman told her husband.
"He is not a baby boy, he is a man already. And he is at the academy, the old man swore to watch over him. What could possibly go wrong with Aidan?"
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The leader of the mercenary company looked over the camp. They were going home after a victorious campaign. The long way home took five months across plains and forests and oceans. But they won and they got paid. Now the man only wanted to go home, to bask in the beauty of his little sister. To hear her tales of her life at the academy. To see if any boys dared to even look at her.
He looked at the portrait he had. It showed a little girl in princess dress angry at having to stay still for the painter to make the portrait. He insisted that the artisan captured her reality and not to paint a fake smile.
"Lumina, how much I miss you." The prince sighed. If anything happened to her sister while he was away, there would be hell to pay.
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A kingdom to the north of Yutis. A man wakes up in his bed and pushes a naked woman away, stirring her sleep but not waking her up. He pushes another two women before he could reach the edge of his regal bed. Donning a silk robe, he flicks his finger and magical lights illuminate the room. He gets a glass and pours himself some wine.
He scowls, unsatisfied. This man considered himself someone irresistible, someone no woman could say no to. But there was one he craved. The only one to deny him. The only one to reject him. He offered a lot in the bargain that secured her hand in marriage. And not only she was almost killed an year ago but now she was missing. Kidnapped.
"I will have her. I will find the ones that took my property away and make them suffer."
He would not be denied. He would become emperor once he conquered and annexed the neighboring countries.
"I will find you and make you mine. And you will like it, Lumina."