ᴡᴍᴍᴀᴘ: ℌ𝔢𝔯 𝔊𝔬𝔩𝔡𝔢𝔫 ℭ𝔥𝔞𝔦𝔫𝔰

Prelude

To the beginning of fortitude, let not importance be forgotten, nor for celebration.

Her blonde locks caught the shimmer of the icy water, the gold woven through like sunlight during midday. The first few delicate rays of the rising sun all but dappled the lake, the lake she had not once, but twice, she giggled as she remembered, fell into. 

Albeit once had not been the fondest of memories, but it was in the past now, and she could use it often to poke fun, jesting at her life.

The quiet stillness of the golden dawn that was only for the earliest of wakers was broken by the birds singing their little tunes, awakening at last, and chirping from all around, the rose gardens coming alive as she felt the breeze whooshing past her ears. 

The air might be cold enough to see her breath, but she thought not of the consequences of staying out for too long, dipping a hand into the water that rippled over her fingers, the water pearling as she drew away to dry her hand with a wisp of her magic.

Her clothes didn't help much with keeping any sort of heat in, not that she minded the cold that much, it was a welcome morning, unlike the summer days that she had suffered in training outside. 

A thin cloak of deep, red wool draped over her thin shoulders, her night dress a pale, sky blue as it blew up her ankles with the gust of wind.

But the sun bathed her face in tingling warmth, threading through the deepest parts of her soul as she breathed in the scent of morning dew on roses and pine, the lake water an icy blue tinge, wafting past her nose. 

She sneezed, sniffling as she touched her slightly red nose, noticing her fingernails are the shade of blue mixed with the palest of purple. Not bothering to heat herself up with her mana as she waits, the clouds drift over the skyline. 

Waiting for someone.

The crunch of grass covered in frost, and approaching steps to the edge of the lake where she still waited, and a tall man, a lighter blond than she, drew close. He stood next to her, wrapping her in his careful embrace, and she returns it to him with an adorable pout on her face. 

His lips twitch up into a faint smile as she ducks under his arm playfully and hugs him even tighter than before, his arms coming around her waist to draw her in tighter, stroking her lower back as he does so.

"It's soon now?" he asks, some emotion leaking out of his voice as he tries not to let his dark anger seep out and taint the rosy hue of the sight they were watching before them.

She nods, mouth grim as she replies, "A little while...and then all we have expected will come to pass before the world turns." She looks up at him, craning her neck up to sneak a little cheeky peck on his cheek in welcome. 

"It will be a wave that will crash down upon us, something we have never even seen before- never encountered in the long history of our venerated Empire." She looked out towards the placid lake.

"But we will resurface, stronger than before, for we are not blind any longer." He frowns slightly, muttering, "The sooner it is gone, the better it will be for you and for me, for all of us," a little wrinkle between his brows, and she tiptoes to smooth it out with the pads of her fingers, a knowing smile upon her lips. 

Reassuring him with a soft whisper, "Together, we will make it that way, papa."

In a room full of dolls and lace curtains, a girl with brown hair and large red ribbons adorning the sides, packs the things leftover from the cleanup from the day before into a small moss green bag. 

Most of her belongings had been thrown out, as she would no longer be needing them where she was going, or so she believed.

She held two dolls in her hand, both blonde, and she danced around her room with them, her ring glowing on a windowsill. A pair of narrowed golden eyes with faint wrinkles at their corners watching her dance before slipping away into the shadows unnoticed by the young girl.