Magi: The Goddess of Hope [DISCONTINUED]

💮Prologue: Golden Cage

~Prologue: Golden Cage~

His dreams were strange again.

Cold rain-

Dark-

Trumpets, resounding, heralding the end-

A procession-

"NO!"

Crystals, breaking into tiny pieces, falling into a single destination-

"I'm sorry...!"

A single feather-

"TREASON! TRAITOR! - -"

"- But I can no longer allow this."

His red eyes met tearful gold-

"Free Me."

Kouen Ren woke up.

The Flame Emperor growled as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, the early morning light shining through his room's slightly ajar window. He strode over to it and opened it all the way through, letting sunlight fill the study he had fell asleep in again.

He really needed to stop doing that. The Ren Family did not need another Koumei.

After the defeat of Al-Thamen, the Kou Empire had gone into a relapse without the sinister forces to propel its growth. But in just a few years, he had reared it back to its former glory; with his siblings, of course.

He had to work on his people skills though. Alibaba had gotten married to Kougyoku, and his country's trade with the other nations had gone quite smoothly (Thanks to Koumei). The whole world was at peace thanks to that runt of a Magi; and somehow the most annoying magi in the world, a.k.a. Judal, had managed to return by what shenanigans to this world.

Well, everything but his dreams, that was.

He had them repeatedly now. The same gold eyes that was lighter than that pompous King of Sindria's own honey-colored ones haunted his dreams frequently.

A glimpse of strange creatures herding a giant with a scarlet head, a rainy sky, the fragments of pink and purple gems...

Kouen shook his head, clearing it of such thoughts. Later. As he sat back in his seat; his eyes gleamed as he continued reading the manuscript that was fragile and brown with age. As he sent expeditions to discover lost pieces of knowledge; they had found a large, abandoned village and a temple with strange markings that were neither theirs nor Torran's deep in the harsh, unexplored forests of the north.

Needless to say, He and Koumei had worked for many sleepless nights to decipher the language, inspiring more of his followers. The manuscript only told of a story; albeit a really long one. But the thing that caught his attention was the faded drawing of a woman, wings sprouting from her back, hands outstretched as if beckoning one to follow her. Long hair curled behind her, reaching beyond her feet.

It was unsettling, to say the least. Kouen sighed as he took another roll of parchment and began to decipher the passages of the ancient text.

The Goddess and her Familliars descended upon her prophet. "I have made thou wait upon me so long." Said she mournfully, looking upon her servant. "I shall reward you now; I shall take thee to the highest heights thou hast never seen!"

Then, to their surprise, the Prophet's hand clamped around the Goddess'. "Ah, yes. I have finally-"

Kouen growled. The page was cut off at that point. He called for a servant, who he asked to summon Koumei. They had a lot of work to do.