The sage cries out.
“Open, Gates of heaven. Bless us and bestow miracles upon us!”
The sage cries out in regret.
“Close, Gates of heaven. Save us from all our sins and evil!”
The curtain closes.
The millennium comes to a standstill.
Our dreams, our hope... was a forbidden “failure” from the start.
The stars fall out of the sky.
Space closes up into nothingness.
The pathway to the center is shrouded along with our sins.
Long ago, when war had brought the world to the brink, a God and Goddess descended from the heavens. Through their magic, these Gods bestowed peace upon the world. We called them "Guardians" and they became the objects of our worship.
- Epitaph of Keepers -
“Open, Gates of heaven. Bless us and bestow miracles upon us!”
The sage cries out in regret.
“Close, Gates of heaven. Save us from all our sins and evil!”
The curtain closes.
The millennium comes to a standstill.
Our dreams, our hope... was a forbidden “failure” from the start.
The stars fall out of the sky.
Space closes up into nothingness.
The pathway to the center is shrouded along with our sins.
Long ago, when war had brought the world to the brink, a God and Goddess descended from the heavens. Through their magic, these Gods bestowed peace upon the world. We called them "Guardians" and they became the objects of our worship.
- Epitaph of Keepers -
The World is vast—and the worlds within the greater World, uncountable. Like little islands, they dot a great Ocean Between which keeps them ignorant of each other, uncorrupted. Each world had its own order. In this one small world, closer to the darkness than the rest, the Heartless were an all knowing threat. The Citizens lived humble lives, never waging war and living within a democracy, but as soon as these strange creatures came, things began to change. Paranoia struck the world as Friends became bitter enemies, blaming one another for the reasons for these strange creatures appearing, and soon battles began to occur. Without a way to defend themselves, the world would have surely perished, whether through the heartless or through the hearts of men.
And then a miracle had occurred, unlike anything ever experienced within such a small world, where two people who had no origin had appeared. One such person was a beautiful Goddess, whose very powers had brought down the black-winged demons from the skies to the to fall submissively to the ground and made the other black creatures kneel before her in her dominion over Gravity Magic. The brave God, had walked across a lake which poured out darkness and froze the very layer of it with his Ice Magic. To the citizens which had never been exposed to such magic or knew of it, this was their miracle and quickly gave themselves to these two Saviors. The land was saved, and thus a monarchy was created based on these two families.
The truth as to whether they came from another world perished with the founding members, as they never told their future children, but passed on the magics they knew. As Generations of children continued to forget their ancestor's past, many just accepted the solid truth that this was their own world and there was no other. The Goddess' family was known as 'Saints', while the God's were 'Abysswalkers' and both continued to keep the heartless as bay for as long as people could remember. The citizens worshiped these two monarch families, but as time went on, eventually the childish side of their hearts showed, mainly in Caelum and Eveline. The two clans who have always respected each other had been surprised when the first meeting between their kids ended up in a debate as to whom was the better clan.
Despite the initial meeting, the two families continued to meet and kids often met each other. As time went on, the decision was made to unite the two clans, bringing greater unity between the two families and bringing the monarchy under one banner. The world would fuse their worship for both clans into one King and one Queen. Once the two had become old enough, the decision was made and neither one had any say about it. The two friends became married, which at first was a difficult decision, but eventually they became fond of each other amongst their squabbles. Caelum's inherent bravery and recklessness combined with Eveline's calm and noble tone balanced the two, making them the perfect match. And with the dark creatures always being a threat, united they were able to keep them at bay and earn the citizens love and respect.
But, then a tragedy had occurred without cause or reason. While the King was in another location, Eveline had fallen into a deep sleep and never awoke. Once this news hit him, he arrived back at their castle only to find his wife in the same condition as the rumours were said to be. Eveline would not wake up, no matter what he tried or how long he waited. The doctors did not know what was wrong with her, nor did Caelum, and for once, despite all his grand powers and authority, the King felt powerless. But then someone had approached, an old man, who claimed that there was a way of curing the Queen, which Caelum became instantly obsessed with. If there was any chance of saving her, Caelum would do it, because he was so blindly devoted to her. But the man claimed the price would be steep, which Caelum disregarded, until he heard what it was: The Hearts of the People.
"You see them so blindly worshiping their lives to you both, yet do you think they will care about her if she were to perish? The answer is 'No', my boy. They may use you because you have the ability to protect them, but once the threat is gone, do you think you will hold any value to them? Tell me...how would you value her life to that of those you rule over? Compared to her, are they not worth the one you love? What good is a King, without a Queen? What are you...without her?"
Caelum's initial resistance faded upon hearing those words from the cloaked old man. How much did he value his love over the people? There was no scale in the world that could ever give him the answer. To the world she may have been one person, but to Caelum she was the world. The idea of living without her was too much for him, and so he gave in to the idea, and asked the old man to teach him. Despite the ritual seemingly having sounded complicated in his mind, Caelum was surprised when the old man just had asked him to merely open his heart in order to be given the ability he so wanted. The Monarch closed his eyes, surrendering himself to the sole desire that he wanted to save his wife no matter what, and in that dark wish, a sudden feeling of darkness had swept over him. Opening his eyes, Caelum saw the old man holding a strange blade, which he had never seen before and disregarded at the time, but was told that he would have the ability to extract hearts out of those he defeats, for a short time. After that, The King had begun a dark chapter in the history of his forgotten world.
How many lives were lost in that single decision? What begun as a great purge ended into a giant revolt against the supposed Mad King. Caelum was alone, but in his loneliness he found resolve, always with the thought that with every life disappearing and every heart liberated, he was that much closer to Eveline. To him, it was worth the price, and he did not care on how it needed to be done because he was so frightened. The people who once saw the God's family as protectors suddenly realized that, at the same time, oblivion could also be handed down at any given moment for they were mere mortals compared to the wielders of magic. Some gave their hearts with ease, believing so religiously to their Saint, that it was an easy process, while others took up the blade and fought back in revolt of the Mad King. But there was so little resistance to fight back. Against magic, most people were swept away with ease, frozen into place as their hearts were pulled out one by one and brought back to Eveline. The old man praised his fortitude for the job, but Caelum did not seek praise in the vile act he had done, just the desire to get his wish fulfilled.
Luckily, it was not an idle boast. Eveline did indeed awaken after being given numerous hearts, but her eyes were of a different colour, matching his own golden ones now, but that did not matter. Their first embrace and her warmth told him that it was indeed her, and that was all he wanted. When Caelum tried to talk to the old man again, he was gone, and thus the only inhabitants of the world were only the single King and Queen. Alone.
Eveline was horrified upon discovering what Caelum had done. Saddened that he would go far, to the point that it broke both their hearts, but she could not help but accept him for what he was - what he became for her sake. To deny him now would mean to leave him entirely alone in a world where there was no one left. And so, the two only had one another left. Neither one had the will to live without the other, yet neither one had the will to continue living because of what has become of them. Eventually, the dark creatures - the heartless - began to swarm in numbers as neither Caelum or Eveline saw a reason to protect the homeland anymore. And then, the world became swallowed by darkness, but they were together even then, in death. This would be their forever.
