I'm here again.

Looking up into a vast, dark sky, I see a sea of lights shining in it.

Each light sparks brilliantly with a somewhat familiar white. Although it is a white that would usually choke the life out of me, its overly shiny and mysterious nature does anything but that.

Looking at those skys I long for, it almost feels real this time, is what I keep chanting to myself over and over with my slightest glimmer. 

But somewhere in my mind, I already know. This is a dream. Like it was the last time, and the time before it. but I don't care anymore. 

As long as I can keep looking at it, I don't mind it not being real. If i could just stay asleep forever, i might be able to forget everything else, maybe i'll even forget that this isn't real. If I could just keep staring at those beautiful, shining lights, forever, and ever…

*knock knock*

Wouldn't I then start seeing them the same way I see at the sun...?

*knock knock*

I open my eyes to the same large, empty room.

Laying on my bed, I wistfully look at the bright ceiling, filled with pure white runes.

To the side of my bed, I look at a clock situated beside a large, open window.

[9:23]

I woke up quite late today.

*knock knock*

Two more knocks thump into my room's door. 

Is it really that necessary to wake me up today? I signed everything yesterday and… yesterday was… right.

"The door is open."

As the door in front of my bed creaked open, a strict looking old butler entered the room.

"Good morning your highness, his highness prince Rogier is waiting for you in the dining room."

I can tell the old butler is trying to be as respectful as he can, but I can see through it all. He hates me, displeased to even be here, uttering his every word with anger.

"I will be there soon, tell him not to.. no, nevermind, you can go now."

"Yes, your highness."

In his eyes is a bit of curiosity, immediately replaced by his previous anger as he leaves.

Sitting up on the bed, I looked out of the window, at the dark clouds filling the sky, and the bright, pure white sun in their midst, unmoving. I stare at the unchanging scenery for a bit. All I can think of now, when looking at this lifeless scenery, is that vast, dark, and mysterious sky I keep dreaming about.

Before long I change my clothes and go down an empty stairway, heading for the dining room.

Going down a corridor filled with bright runes on its walls, I see a couple of maids younger than the butler who woke me up, who seem to be chatting. As I come closer to them, they turn their heads towards me, looking rather confused. They quickly greet me and continue moving. Looking at their departing backs, I think of the angry butler who woke me up, before being filled with a bit of much needed optimism.

At the end of this long corridor I go through a door, into a hall as bright as the corridor. Looking at the table in the middle of the large hall, I notice a plate filled with bread, meat, and a few red and green fruits, in front of it an empty chair. Not bothering to raise my head, I quickly sit on the chair and start eating.

"I hear Robert woke you up today, unusual."

That dream did feel longer than usual today, a shame it didn't last longer… I had a feeling that if I looked at those lights just a bit longer, I would finally be able to uncover even a bit of what I saw behind them… But then I was woken up? By.. Robert? I feel like I should know this name… A guard? No, a personal attendant of..

"Dhaar?"

Right, I heard rogiers voice.

I raised my head to see Rogiers focused, blue eyes looking at me from under his flowing blond hair, his almost perfectly shaped face with a sad smile on it, and his expression full of pity. Fancy, white garments, adorned with golden depictions of the sun clung to him, the same clothes I see my father wear to formal occasions.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Well, formal occasions are the only times I see him, every few years.

Surrounding Rogier were countless servants and guards, who had only one thing in common, they looked at me with anger. Some servants were sorrowful, while the guards looked as if they were prepared to go to war…

I guess the maids outside weren't Rogiers servants? I did hear about how, when a soldier died, his comrades would feel intense grief for him, but should I have expected Rogiers followers to be as close to each other as soldiers on the battlefield?

"I apologize for the atmosphere being this way when I called you here, but they insisted.."

He said, with the same look of pity he always gave me. I wonder what it would take for me to do before he looked at me differently, if even yesterday wasn't enough…

"You shouldn't worry yourself too much about yesterday, there are more important things to think about for now."

With that as a signal, the followers around him turned even angrier, but the anger that should've been for Rogier, instead only intensified theirs towards me.

Quite a reverence towards their prince.

"The war between Aartel and Horus has gotten worse these last few days, but it hasn't worsened to a point of no return yet. I believe that if we work hard to unite these two, or at the very least break them apart, we will be able to weather through this war."

"Do you really think optimism and hard work will be able to stop a war that has been waiting to start for decades? Even if we do stop them it will just escalate again, the next time even faster than before. This is how those blue bloods have always been, if they will never forgive their own family's mistakes, why would they forgive a hostile nation's, even if the mistake happend such a long time ago."

With a sad smile on his face, Rogier's look of pity grew deeper.

"Dhaar, we cannot allow any wars around us with demons so close at hand. Every war is an opportunity for countless demons to become stronger, and Draxus will surely bear the impact of every demon on the continent if they see the wall of kingdoms surrounding us weakening, you should know this too.

Even if there is no point, we must try everything we can if it means we can stop one more demon from getting closer to the sun, and deepening its cracks. Remember, regular citizens can run and hide in the darkness, but without the sun's light, we are nothing but demons ourselves."

The same tired words, the same old lecture, and the same damned pitying look.

Not that I should've expected much else from Rogier.

"Like you said, I have a lot of hard work to do, or simple documents to mindlessly sign, all so we could "weather out the war". So I guess I'll go now."

As I started walking to the door, ignoring my leftover food-

"Wait."

I was stopped in place by a few guards standing at the door.

"What is it, brother?"

Using the calmest voice I could muster, I looked at the guards with anger.

"A letter will be sent to you later today, somewhat related to the war. Oh and the documents today-"

"I'll sign them, now tell them to move."

"Right, sorry. Just.. prepare for tomorrow."

Tomorrow? Doesn't matter…

Grinding my teeth, I quickly ran past the guards, going past the long corridor again, and then upstairs. When I arrived at a room as empty and bright as my bedroom, my eyes immediately moved to the only table in it, surrounded by racks full of drawers.

The table was in the middle of the room, right below a window with a clock beside it. On the table were neatly placed gray documents and a few slim sticks with runes on them.

I don't think I've seen these runes before… they should spell out focus. Focusers? They can only be used to sign high grade, important documents. Is this why he called me to the dining room today?

Letting out my leftover anger, I sat on the desk's chair, before taking a document closer to me and picking up a focuser.

With the focuser in hand I put my thumb on the rune closest to its end, and while taking deep breaths I began looking into myself in search for a power I hadn't used in a long time, my essence. After sitting there in silence for a few seconds, the runes on the focuser lit up one after another, flashing a mixed orange and yellow color.

When the light got to the rune at the tip, it focused into a tiny point of light that would burn through any normal paper instantly, but the paper in front of me was no normal paper, made out of forest kin trees, it was harder than rock, and these papers were only used only when we wanted documents to last a long time.

Does Rogier think the war will last long enough to warrant using these? Or is he afraid regular documents would be destroyed? By who? Either way he should know better than me how many forest kins we have, and I heard it takes a long time to produce them…

I guess it doesn't matter. If he gave these to me then I suppose they were already checked to make sure I wouldn't mess with their work.

Looking out of the window with an eye on the documents, I began signing mindlessly. 

Every time rogier talks to me, he tells me about our fate. About how we would be nothing but demons if not for the sun, but I always wondered… is it worth living this empty boring life, if it means i won't be a demon? 

Every day, i wake up to the same scenery, eat the same tasteless food, and mindlessly sign documents like a slave. At this point, what does the sun matter to me if not for a simple decoration?

"Why not just run away then?"

Right, it would all be so much easier, if i could just forget about everything and run. Looking at beautiful scenes all around the world, eating different food, waking up to a different sky, I might even be able to find those lights…

Wait… who- 

"Hey there."

In front of me, on the desk, was a little humanoid shadow. It had a smug smile, and one messy looking black eye on its left side. On its head were five dark golden horns, adorning it like a crown.

It was a Demon.