papertin_duette
Once Upon a Time...
There were twenty-five royal siblings, each a protector of their realm. But when a great shadow fell, twenty-four of them were lost. The youngest prince survived-but barely. Grieving and broken, he lost his leg... and still their was a kingdom that needed him to save them.
A strange woman with ember eyes came to him then. She offered him a leg of tin-cold, powerful, and cursed. He stood, he fought, he won. But tin always takes. It stole his warmth, his tears, his time. Soon, the prince was more metal than man, and his heart slowed to silence.
What he didn't know was that the woman was a fallen goddess-cast from the heavens for lacking twenty-five virtues. She had stolen one soul for each trait she lacked. Twenty-four were hers taken from his siblings. Only one remained: steadfastness.
But when she reached for the prince's soul... it was gone.
Long ago, a mourning architect and her wizard husband had made a fail safe should the goddess ever attempt to steal the 25 souls. They built a final guardian-a paper dancer placed in a music box of tin. Inside her, the prince's soul slept.
As she stirred to life, she began to dream. And in her dreams, she met the prince-again and again, across lifetimes spun by the goddess. Though he slept, his soul still dreamed, and her dreams brushed his like feathers in the dark.
She searched for him, across ash and ruin. And when she found him-tin cold and asleep-she kissed him. His soul returned, and he woke, human once more.
But tin always takes as it gives and the time that had been wound up on her music box was coming to an end.
The goddess appeared then, smiling. She offered the prince a cruel deal: twenty-five years together, in the waking world. Then 225 trapped in her stories, living whatever story she choose.
And if the prince ever failed to remain steadfast his soul would belong to the goddess forever.
The prince agreed.
And so their story begins... again, and again, and again.