Sleeping soundly in her bed was Nia.

Her father, along with the man Nia knew as her uncle and her father's called the prince was standing next to her bed while another man of the same stature was visibly auscultating with some sort of magic.

Being done with what he was doing, the man rose, went to Nia’s father, and then said, with a sorry face, "I am sorry,..." The disease has evolved beyond... I can no longer do anything for her. I believe the next time it happens again, it will be the last. "

At the hearing of what the man said, Nia’s father broke into a desperate one, then turned to Nia's uncle and said, "It can’t be! "You must be able to do something, right?"

With a bitter taste in his mouth, the Prince said, "I’m really sorry. My healing magic had no effect on the disease harming her. Only his magic had a little effect, but now-"

"Shut up!" He roared in frustration his body began being haloed a by a chaotic sky blue hue of mana.

"Please Mon- Calm down. You need to-"

"GET OUT! YOU TWO, GET OUT OF MY TOWER! YOU ARE ALL USELESS!" He roared, and with a flick of his hand, the two men were trapped inside a sky-blue bubble, then were extradited by these two bubbles outside Nia’s father’s tower before they could even voice a complaint.

Once the two of them were gone, in frustration and desperation, he threw away the pile of books that were on top of the table in the room, then screamed a scoffed "Aaaaaaaahh!"

All these books were written by him, and most of them were written by him especially for his daughter.

Not knowing how else to vent his despair, he sat against the footboard of the bed and tears came out of his eyes and blood from his bitten lips.

Nia was not even eleven, and yet the disease she is suffering from has already reached a state, as the man earlier said, in which her next crisis would be her last.

Nia's father sobbed because she was everything he had left: from his wife, from his family; Nia was the light of his life, and here he was trapped inside a tower, powerless to save her.

During the eight years that that disease has been plaguing her, her father has tried so many things; healing magic, traditional medicine, even going as far as trying the weird soul magic that was practiced by the man that was with the prince from earlier.

He tried everything, but nothing worked.

He had exhausted all his options, and he was painfully aware of that.

He knew that the two people from earlier did their best, and it was that that hurt him the most.

Still thinking about what he could do, he heard a weak voice from his daughter, " … Papa?"

Immediately wiping his tears, he stood up and went to her bedside. He somehow felt better seeing her awake.

"I’m here. How are you feeling now? Does your body hurt anywhere? "

"I am fine, as always, just a little bit tired. It will be fine as soon as I rest a little bit. " She said with a weak and forced smile.

He couldn’t help but bitterly bite his lips in an attempt to calm down. He knew that she was suffering more and that tore his heart apart.

"Then rest. Rest as much as you want. There will be something I would like to tell you once you replenish enough." He put a kiss on her forehead and ordered him to sleep by reading a story he had imagined in his infancy and written when he became an adult.

***

For three days, Nia rested. Only on the fourth day was she strong enough to leave her bed.

She was now in her father's arm as he brought her to the Grandeur room, but instead of entering the room,, he stopped at the doorstep.

"What, Papa?"

Her father didn’t immediately answer. He seemed lost in thought, as if remembering a very old souvenir.

"It was here that I saw her for the first time."

"Who?"

"Your mother."

Upon hearing the mention of her mother, she was immediately startled. She, as far as she remembers, had never met her mother, and her father never ever mentioned or even talked about her mother, and even if she was to bring up the topic, he would always dodge the conversation.

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Nia knew that talking about her mother was a painful matter for her father, so she stopped asking him.

"Maman?"

"Yes, your mother. That day, while writing as I used to, here, in this very same room, I noticed someone's gaze upon me. That day, I called out to the one stalking me, and that person's first reflexes were to run away from me as a thief would. I naturally easily captured the intruder. I soon realized that the said intruder was the newly appointed person in charge of delivering supplies to this tower. That person was a woman named Raissa. She was your mother."

For Nia, in eleven years, it was her first time hearing the name of her mother.

"Raissa?... My mother. "

"Yes, that day, what I captured was not a thief, but a woman dotted with golden hair and blue eyes, which you clearly inherited from her."

"... What she was like?"

Her father didn’t immediately answer. Instead, he brought her to the large table in the middle of the Grandeur room, upon which were disposed rather messily diverse instruments her father was using for writing.

He sat on the seat, then put Nia on his lap, and then sank his head against the chair.

"She was the nicest person I’ve ever seen. I admit she was obstinate, selfish, and easily envious, but she was also the gentlest and most soothing person I knew. Meeting her, catching her peeking at me, was the best thing that had ever happened to me. "

"Was she like me? Or like you? I mean, was she able to use magic? "

From a very early age, Nia noticed that she was not like her father or her uncle; They were able to use something called "magic," but she wasn’t, and never was she blamed by her father for not having it. Instead, he often said it would be fine even if she didn’t

"... Raissa, she was different from me, from your uncle, unlike us who were children of light. She wasn’t able to use magic. I was blessed or rather cursed by having magic but she... she was free of it."

Your mother was born into the same family as the prince...I … You know, what is my duty in this tower, right? "

"Yes, Papa, you are the one who fuels the barrier that protects humanity."

She didn’t know much about her father except that he was her father, but she knew of his duty, Nia knew that the world was teemed with monsters and her father was the one casting the immense barrier, singlehandedly protecting humanity.

While her father was all by himself, carrying the fate of humanity on his shoulder, she was always sick and frail.

"Yes, I, through this tower, serve as a core for the projection of the barrier, and as such, I cannot leave this tower. In fact, I had no reason to want to leave this tower. Back then, I spent most of my time here in this room, writing. At least, it was until I met Raissa. As I said, I said she came from the same family as the prince, but she wasn’t your uncle's sister, or even less cousin’s."

"Then what was she for Uncle?"

Raissa would be the prince's granddaughter. Though not directly but by following the family line, Raissa would be a granddaughter for the prince. The prince and I have lived a very long life, longer than you can imagine, but the time I spent with your mother was the happiest and dearest moment of my life. "

"Despite our differences, I loved your mother, and she loved me. She moved to this tower and made this place a home for her, but also for me. She brought joy to this tower, something that I had back then long forgotten. The inner garden was her idea. The blue flowers in it were her favorite flowers."

"We lived a lonely yet happy lifestyle in this tower, but one day it happened. She fell pregnant, Nia, there is something you must know when someone like me or your uncle tries to have a baby together with... … normal people, it never ends well. Your mother and I were very well aware of that. There was one logical thing to do, but your mother didn’t want that. She wanted the baby to see the sun, the stars, everything this world had to offer. It was then that you were born. "

"Raissa... She died shortly after giving birth to you. But to us, to your mother and to me your birth was a miracle. "

"She died by … "

"Nia, listen to me. You are not responsible for any of this. Your mother and I loved you and wanted you. You were our wish, our choices, we knew what it could cost us, but we decided to see it through, regardless. "

"You were born healthy, like any normal child, but it didn’t take me long to realize that you were more like your mother than like me. You were born mana less, but it didn’t matter to me, in fact, I thought you were for the better that you didn’t have magic for it never brought me happiness."

You were healthy, that was all that mattered to me, but then it happened; you were around 4 at the time. Though I can't leave the tower due to my duty of maintaining the barrier, I can leave this tower for several minutes before the effect of the barrier disappears. That day, you voiced your wish to see the stars from outside the tower, so I brought it, but it was then that I realized that you couldn’t leave the tower for the moment you would be plagued by the same sickness that has been tormenting you for all these years. I soon realized the reason for how you were able to... you were saved by this tower, but you were also tied to this tower, by my own magic."

"At first, your sickness showed its symptoms when going outside, so to me, as long as you were to stay inside this tower, you would be safe, but then as the years went by, we came to realize that even being inside this tower, your sickness would always show its symptoms regardless. It has progressed to reach the state you are in right now. "

Nia knew the gravity of the sickness plaguing her, but she couldn’t help but ask,

"Am I dying?"

Being on his lap, Nia couldn’t see her father's face, but when she looked upward at him, From her father's eyes were tears from which a droplet fell onto her forehead.

"Forgive me. I couldn’t do anything for you. I couldn’t even hold the promise I made to your mother. "

Not knowing how to react, Nia left her father’'s lap, and with the little strength she had, went hugging her father, then said; "... It’s going to be alright, surely it will be alright, after all you are here."

Her father looked at Nia, and thought to himself, How much of a terrible father he was to be the one to be reassured by his sick daughter instead of the other way around.

He was strong, dotted with an unparallel mana pool and an unchallengeably powerful magic, yet he could do nothing for her daughter. He could do nothing.

He hugged her back and murmured faintly, "Yes, it would definitely be alright."

These words weren't just words to Nia's father; they were a promise.

Nia had no idea at the time what inhumane lengths her father would go to in order to keep this promise, let alone the consequences it would have for humanity.