Yasuline would awaken once again, back at her room. The daylight beamed into her room and showing the regular amount of lighting that she sees often. She could still feel the dreariness from staying up so long at the night making her feel like lying back down and going to sleep even more. But the nasty taste in her mouth and the growling of her stomach choice otherwise. Heading to the door, she heard a noise on the other side. Curious, she abruptly opens the door. Causing the guards that stood at each side of them to jump from fright and aim their spears at her. She didn't know what helped her, her hungriness or her dreariness, but she didn't get scared.
"P-princess Yasuline! We're so sorry. You sure startled us. Is something wrong?" She tried to speak up, but a yawn escaped her mouth.
"Just woke up hungry. Now that I think about it, I didn't even eat dinner yesterday. Can one of you go up ahead of me and let the chefs know to double my servings? I'll be on my way soon Are my parents there as well?"
The two guards looked at one another before they replied. "Sorry princess, but the castle is in high lockdown. Orders from Captain Caliber and approved by both your parents. From now on, the royal family will be separated in rooms with maximum security to risk the chance of the White Reaper taking everyone out. So, sorry to say, but we can't let you leave the room."
"What!? You mean I'm stuck in my room? For how long?"
"We, are not too sure. Perhaps until the White Reaper himself has been captured or slew."
Yasuline wanted to argue more on this subject, but her stomach growled loudly. The two guards felt embarrassed for her.
"Perhaps we should deliver some food for the princess. It would be cruel to leave you hungry."
"Aside from food, I also need things to do. You know how I get when I have nothing to do."
"The princess is right, the captain can barely handle her on his own when she lacks activities to do."
"Hmm, then I'll go discuss with the captain on what to do while I head to the kitchen. Is that fine with you, princess?"
"For now yeah, but you better hurry." And with that, the guard left her with the remaining one standing by in his position. Yasuline would return to the bed, trying to ignore the various growling coming from her empty belly. She didn't have to wait long for the guard to come back with a cart of various food that had steam flowing out of each cooked dish to indicate how fresh it all was.
"Here's your breakfast, princess." The guard barely manages to say as she quickly rushed over to him and began to stuff her mouth with the fresh baked goods that caught her nose first thing.
"As for the other predicament. The captain had a solution. We would be able to escort you to another room in the castle as long as you remained there for the remainder of the day. Would make it easier for us to know where exactly you are if we need to fetch you for anything else." Yasuline would agree to this with a nod as she was too concerned about filling her belly up. Her belly continued to roar when her nose began to pick up the scent of food coming her way. With the help of one of the chefs, the guard was pushing a cart filled with plates and dishes of freshly baked and cooked goods. Some empty spots on the cart showed that some dishes have already been picked up by her parents.
"Have you picked a place on where you would want to be?" The guard asks. Yasu pauses before answering. Considering the many rooms she could pick from in the castle, she can only think of a few rooms to pick from. The first being the weapons room near the training grounds. There, she would be able to pick up the weapons and perhaps learn to wield one properly. With all the free time of the day, she was bound to gain some skill for them. The next one would be her room. While she disliked being cooped up in there, It was the most comfortable place for her to relax all day in. She could even just sleep through the whole lockdown. The other worthwhile place to be in is the library. It was the second-largest in Lumines and was also a personal collection of books telling of her father's adventures when he was young. She has read them throughout her life whenever she felt like reading since it was the only thing she enjoyed reading at all. As she thought, it had been some time since she had last read them.
"Hmm, I guess, the library will do." Going through the halls of her home felt completely different than the last eighteen years of her life which she had before. The tenfold amount of soldiers that patrolled the halls gave an unfriendly atmosphere. When she tried to wave at them a kind hello, they would keep their eyes fixed open. A small knock on the wall caused them all to jump in their metal armor. Which caused a domino effect and caused the other guards who didn't hear it and Yasuline herself to jump.
"What's the problem?" One of the guards exclaimed nervously as he and the others began to look up at the ceiling and nervously looks about.
"Sir! I heard a knock. Above us!"
"The fourth floor, huh? Not many people use the rooms there. We shall investigate and patrol there next. Let's go!" And with that, only a few of the guards have remained in the halls, but the high tension was still present. She attempts to greet them to lighten the mood, a method she has grown to do as a form to help the people of the castle, whenever she manages to catch someone in a bad moment of their life. But her greetings would be ignored as everyone's entire focus was on the possibility of the enemy on the next floor up. Not even the guards that were escorting her and her breakfast. She snaps them back to their main objective and they were able to continue their escort.
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The library doors weren’t difficult to find as they stand out due to the extremely decorative door for the room. This was because the room was the center room of the castle and was expected to be a multi-used room for research and other scholars in the castle to use. But they have since moved out of the castle and moved to the academy school in the capital. Opening the door, the smell of old paper and candles filled her lungs. The sight of large and wavy shelves filled her eyes. All lined up with books of different thicknesses filled the shelves and stretched up to the second floor. There was even a third floor, though small and tall as the roof was connected to the center tower of the exterior of the castle. There is a small window at the very top, but Yasuline has never seen anyone in the castle interact with it. She enters the library with the cart to food behind her. Looking around, she finds that the room was empty as usual.
“There.” One of the guards says after setting the cart near a small table where people normally sip tea and read by. “Should there be anything else important, you can notify us. We shall stand guard by the door.” They bow to her and then take their leave, closing the door behind them.
Yasuline would let out a sigh as she was left on her own once more. She doesn’t have the same anxiety from last night, knowing that there are people other than her in the castle. She would slowly stroll around in a circle and then enters the narrow aisles of the books. She had a lot of time to waste and felt her body and mind adjusting to a slow pace. She could feel her body relax more and more. She would start reading through the titles of some of the books she was looking through. “The Fall of the Demones. Legends of the Crystalbeast. The Kingdom that Disappeared One Night." Most of the books in the library were uninteresting to Yasuline who is only fascinated with her father's tales of adventures and anything exciting like battles. Thankfully, her father had taken the time to hand the journals that he took and used during his adventures to have it be replicated and sold as books throughout the world of Altas. And he was given copies of them to put into the library. That was where Yasuline was headed. Although rarely, she would be found here during some of her days as a child to pass the time. And since she uses it rarely, not often she gets bothered by someone, letting her read the books she wants most of the time she wanted. As she headed to the small section where the books were kept, she unknowingly bumped into someone. She was so distracted by tracing her finger along the binds of the books that she didn't see what was in front of her. Getting caught so much in the surprise, she falls onto her rear.
"Ow!" She cried as she reaches behind her to rub her slightly bruised back. Looking up, she would see a familiar white coat flowing over a person's body.
"H-huh? The Wh-" She catches her volume level and covers her mouth. Letting go, she controls her voice to a low whisper. "The White Reaper? What are you doing here?"
He responds by holding up an open book that he was looking through. Around him, she could see other books were pulled from the shelves and stacked. All looked to be organized from which shelf they came from.
Getting up, she would be able to see the book he was currently looking through. "Oh, the history of my family. That's a pretty boring topic. My family doesn't do anything special until my father." Yasu would say so nonchalantly. Although she doesn't mean anything by it. She never found the actions her family has done aside from forming the kingdom. She would always have to elaborate that she doesn't have an interest in many things outside of adventures and anything with action. It's what makes studying to be the next queen that much of a struggle for both parties.
The White Reaper would look at her with a curious look and then holds his hand out to her, palm open as if waiting to be given something.
"Huh? What? You want to see what I think is good books?" She guessed.
He nods.
She would smile widely. Hardly anyone asks what she recommends. Always just what they think she should read in the hopes to improve and widen her interests. She retreats into the aisle she was originally going to and picks out a white bound book with gold lettering. Proudly. She delivers the book into his hand. "The Young Adventures of King Suko Lights, Volume One" it read on the cover. With a portrait of him during his youth with a few other individuals. "This one is my favorite in the series as it contains adventures of my dad when he went to the sky and found ancient ruins of the dragos. It also has him meeting my mom for the first time. So that part is cute." She would tell with such enthusiasm. The White Reaper would put the book he had down, and simultaneously returns the gesture of handing her a book of his own choice. The cover was a design of Alta, their world. Cover reading "The World of Rebirth" Normally, Yasu would be dismissive in checking out a book that didn't to be a story of adventures and wonders. Maybe it was because he took her suggestion first or it was simply because the infamous White Reaper handed her this as a suggestion. Nonetheless, she kept hold of the book, opening the pages and skimming through it all. She quietly walked over to her usual seat where she read her stories and sits down, unaware of the White Reaper sitting in a seat near her.
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The beginning of Atlas was also the end of an era.
No one truly knows why the divine creators of the world and the living beings residing on it have started a war among themselves. But we as mortals must accept it as the reason live is now as is. For the divine creators gave birth to the first humans, soldiers, dragos, pixelwings, and dullbeasts to use as pawns for their game of war. The grass was red with blood and the airs would shake with roars from the ground, sea, the sky, and even beyond as battles occurred every moment of one's life during this period.
But the records of our ancestors have begun to count down the days after the final godbeast has slept their eternal rest to today, marking this point as Year Zero. The divine creators known as the godbeasts have ended their Millenium war with one another with a soft whimper and disappeared off the face of the world. Leaving behind massive crystals that were once their souls as coincidental graves for their final resting place. It was both a chaotic time and promising as two sides of our people reacted to the loss of our creators. The worshippers and the soldiers of the divine godbeasts have lost their purpose and nearly gone mad. The others? They began to build their future. Our present. They would begin to form cities on lands that were only designed to be used for giant battles between our godbeasts. The first cities ended up becoming what would be today's capitals. Lux, Kryst, and Twincrest.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
As the years go by, things began to evolve. Lands would change, age, and expand. And so too would the people. Other races would happen to be born. Humans with special conditions would happen and soon form into their own races. This would be the birth of the bloodfangs and the lunaclaws. Then, there would be the ones who evolve to live in uninhabitable locations like the sky and sea; the fintails, and the feathercloaks. New races also came with their own cultures and needs, forming new countries and cities of their own. Nosferatu, Llan, Atlantis, and Laputa.
Eventually, the worshippers and soldiers return to the new world, with promises that the divine creators will one day return. In their quiet madness, one of them heard a voice, and they instantly knew it to be of the one who ruled over the godbeasts; The Divine King. He spoke that he would return soon, and along with him, will his brother and sisters as he had taken them to another realm to settle their war and leave the mortals from harm. They would travel to all the lands that the races would occupy, spreading their messages of the Divine King. With new hope in their hearts, the world became even more filled with races. The angeles and the demones.
But remnants of the past which held their creators would not be forgotten. And so children of the godbeasts began to appear in the world. Crystalbeasts, as what they would be called they would be born from the very crystals that the godbeasts left behind. Acting like forms of eggs for this sacred race. Though rare, they showed great power. People began to worship as if they were the old creators. Attempts to live in peace weren't accomplishable and soon they began to go into hiding. But other children were not so lucky and something began to happen. Crystals that the divine creators left behind where they perished have begun to get corrupted and affected the world. And the children of the godbeasts weren't immune to its influence.
Shadowbeasts and Demihumans were introduced into the world. But instead of adding positive changes, they were only brought ruin. Things grew worse as the demones took the disruption to begin their ploys in reshaping Atlas into their master's desired plans. They were quickly taken down by the joint effort from the angeles and other races who banded together to fight. The banded warriors didn't finish their work on just the demones, they began to focus their efforts and strength on the rising swarms of shadowbeasts. The shadowbeasts would be quite a few as their numbers would only grow as the fighting continued, and the heroes of old would perish. Their children would take their place on the battlefield and continue the good fight. But they didn't go alone. Others joined in the fight as well, and with their combined strength and unique strengths, the numbers of the shadowbeasts began to dwindle to the tolerable amount, but could never be completely eradicated. Over time, the threat of the shadowbeasts diminished as more and more bands of warriors would join in the fight. But the fighting would be tiring for them and they would then be compelled to explore Atlas, with such strengths, not much could stand in their way.
Thus, began the start of a new culture: The Adventurers. Over the years, the thriving cultures have left their marks on the world of Atlas. Some bore fruit and delivered beautiful landmarks for travelers who were patient to see such sights. Others didn't and end up becoming leaving behind treasure for those who dare visit such sites, risking their lives for fame and fortune. Around this time, the world would be saddened to lose one of the old races, the dragos to a mysterious incident. Although the race was known to be masters of the mystics arts and arcane alchemy, they failed to truly grow, similar to the children of the godbeasts, the godbeasts.
As the years go by and the world of Atlas continues to grow and evolve along with its residents. Many historians anticipate what would be the next evolution for this world that offers many who are children of it, rebirths.
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"Wow, that was pretty interesting. I didn't really feel bored reading through that at all." Yasuline would comment in amazement as she finishes the last sentence on the page, she would curiously skim through the pages she has yet to read. The White Reaper would get up from his seat and begin to look through the row of books on the shelves. Interested in that, She would set the book to the side table between the seats to get back to it at a later point. As she stood near him, the scenario she was in begins to set in her mind. Here she was, the princess of Lumines, standing next to the world's most dangerous man anyone has ever seen. Something like this never crossed her mind when she would imagine the various scenarios and skits she would pretend would happen if she was a skilled adventurer.
The town of Garn was a quiet home to many people in the mountain region of the northern continent. Protected by mountains on all sides, they were accustomed to being among themselves and rarely had an incident caused them to develop any enemies. That would fair true if it wasn't for the day that we were introduced to the Reaper. His image was unclear at first. some believed him to be a spirit of the godbeasts, bent on punishing those who have long forgotten their creators and their love. Others claimed it to be the missing King of the demones who had taken revenge on the world and they were the first victims. In time, we would understand who this Reaper was. But to know his intent and abilities, we learned at the first impression. The peaceful town that nobody knew or disliked had disappeared off the face of the world. In its place were large stones that had fallen from the tip of the mountains once protecting the people there. A month had to pass before the goodwill of the neighboring towns who dug through would find remnants of the town. No survivors
"Oh wow, that's horrible. Umm. You didn't really cause all that did you?" She would ask hesitantly at him. Pointing at the pages that she just read. He would take the book into his hands and quickly skimmed through the paragraphs. Once he finished, he would shake his head and hands it back.
"Well, that is a relief. Though I wonder what happened to the town." She would say as she skims through the book again to find another entry about the White Reaper.
After mourning for the town, the question of why remained in the air until the next incident occurred that that Reaper commenced. The answer came unexpectedly when another town would suffer the same fate. The town was a new city, made by the last survivors of the drago race, they would attempt to build a utopia for themselves and other magic-users in the hopes of making a promising future for Atlas. Only this time instead of being crushed, the city would be imploded with some form of magick disruption. Annihilating all life that lived at the south-eastern end of Finnoe. This was when the world was able to fully identify the reaper for what he was. Donning a white coat with blue flames, it gave the people a name to remember and mark in their hearts to always be wary of; the White Reaper.
"Wow, I thought only good things happened in Atlas. This is pretty tragic. And you didn't cause this one either right?"
Yasuline was a bit surprised by his answer. Gesturing that his involvement with the incident was partial. Considering how much the world seems to label him as some evil being. She wasn't sure what to make with such an answer like that. But she didn't feel any malicious intent as he pondered about it.
'Maybe it was an accident. He didn't outright lie about it, after all.' She had thought.
Giving him the benefit of the doubt, she would skim through more. None of the other incidents would seem as disturbing as the first two. Most of them only depict him as a symbol of destruction as he would appear before any incident or disaster that occurred. None of which he would confess to doing. Digging deeper she pulls out more supposed records of him, more and more he would deny. With the one, he would nod and accept completely was the murder of the Lunaclaw Queen. With the flow of answers and thoughts in her mind, she bared a question to him.
"Was she like, evil?"
He nods. No hesitation.
Her head was filled and her heart was mostly content with the information. She looked up at the window far above in the ceiling. An orange hue ray beamed through and caused a spotlight on the wall of the other side.
"Wow, is it really that late? That's convenient, but also kinda sad. She would let loose a yawn as she heads back to her seat with one of her father's books in hand. Things got quiet between the two of them as the White Reaper. Yasuline's lack of energy made her subconsciously begin reading through her book quietly. It didn't take so long for her to fall asleep on the seat, the book slides onto her lap. The White Reaper would begin to take his coat off to offer to her like a blanket of sorts. The door to the library begins to make noise as the mechanisms begin opening up.
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"And are you sure she is in this library? We discussed how important it is to keep the moments of the royal family to a minimum." Caliber would ask once again at the guards who opened to doors for him and the King.
"Yes sir. We understand completely and we are sure she is still here. She has not exited from these doors."
"Very well then, your majesty?" He would turn to the king.
King Suko looked dreary, the lack of sleep has taken an appearance with small bags in his eyes. "Yes yes, now let us see if she isn't too mad at us."
The two quietly would begin to comb through the aisles of the books, focusing more on finding a person than a specific title among the shelves. Eventually, the King would discover his daughter resting on the chairs at the back of the library. Memories of him sitting there with her younger self sitting on his lap as he read through the latest installment of his book novelization of his adventures flash through his head. He felt melancholy as her younger self slowly morphed into her older self.
"My, how the time has flown by for me. I'm getting old and you're getting more beautiful by the day."
Caliber would find the two and slows down so his armor that clanged with every step would be hushed.
"So she was here. Good. Worried that the reaper had reached her again."
Don't speak of such horrors, Caliber." King Suko would state. He would reach out to her and lightly starts touching her cheek.
"Right, we still haven't seen him since the attack. It was just a suggestion, a bad one. I apologize."
"It is fine. How long do you think this lockdown shall commence?"
"At the latest or least, when we capture the White Reaper or have reports of him being far from the castle. Even then, we shouldn't lower our defenses in the chance that it could be a trap."
"My poor girl. Bad enough that I been too protective of her and kept her from doing anything she truly wants."
"It was for her own good. After what happened before. We can't really afford to lose her."
"You're right. But still." He would reach down and lightly pulls the book out of her lap and sets it on the table. He then picks her off the chair and into his arms. His body was familiar to this situation as well as her own as she curls up into his arms and pressed herself against him.
"I will do everything I can with the soldiers to locate the White Reaper and end this quickly. And once that has been dealt with, she could finally visit the capital as she was longing for."
"I was thinking beyond that. I think it would do her some good to see the outside world."
"You mean for her to go out into the world!?" He says, nearly losing his control over his voice and almost yelled enough to awaken the sleeping maiden.
"Yes, I've done it when I would far younger than her. I'm sure she would be able to handle such things as well. She IS my daughter. As well as Noria's."
"But she doesn't even know how to handle herself in combat?"
"And whose fault is that? As I keep hearing, she would constantly ask you to train her and you refuse to."
"Well...I.." He had no real answer. Least not any that he was comfortable to share, even with his king. He never liked the idea of his king being the one who ventured into the world either. When he thinks of the queens and princesses, he expects them to be well-mannered and never having to pick up a sword. Some of the guards have already shared their opinions about it and he was in an early process of trying to rehabilitate such opinion, all without the knowledge of the King and Queen.
"You don't have to answer. But I do expect you to begin to teach her some techniques so she can be set out and experience her dreams. Least before we coronate her as Queen."
"Yes, I can see it now. Venturing in the word would have her gain some important knowledge about the world and make her an even better leader than she would now."
The two return to the front of the library. The White Reaper crouches at the top of the shelves, quietly crouching to hide in the shadows that were forming as the sunlight began to diminish. The candles that were normally lit at this time remained unlit as the guards remained at the door.
"So what are the current plans in catching the White Reaper?" King Suko would ask.
"Right now, we have most of the forces in and around the castle. I have sent out some of our most discreet soldiers go undercover and scout the city for any signs or rumors of him."
"And nothing so far?"
"None sir."
"Hmm, what about the underground?"
"The underground, sir?"
"Yes, have you checked there?"
"No, I haven't I'll send some down and investigate to see if there are any signs there then."
"You shouldn't think of him like some common criminal. This is a man of some extreme skill and provision. Never heard of anyone of his skill. I wouldn't put it past him to not avoid risk in completing his goals."
"Yessir. I'll send some of my people and myself down to investigate it. He won't get close to you or Yasuline again."
King Suko would nod at him and the three would exit the library. The White Reaper would climb back down to snatch some of the books he tucked back onto the shelves and begins to carry them all through the window near the ceiling. As he reaches the roof, he would find many soldiers swarming around in the yards. looking all around them to ensure nobody would get passed them. He would slump on the roof and begins to read through the various books of the King's past adventures. Using the moonlight as his light source. Not bothered of the wind blowing gently in the air.