The world began to disappear more and more in the white light. Like it and everything from the colors, the sounds, and the ideas were all being replaced. And in time, the light began to be erased as well until only darkness was left alone.

She woke up with a jolt going through her body. Her heart raced rapidly, the heartbeats echoing inside her ears caused her to almost missed how loud she was panting for air during her panic. Her light-green eyes wide from the shock as the memory of her nearly meeting her death drifted away into her subconscious as quickly as it came within the dream.

‘It was that dream again.’ She thought to herself as she tried to get her body to calm down by controlling her breathing to slow down and take longer inhales. Looking down, she could see that she was gripping the bedsheets with such force that she never knew she had. Feeling her nails piercing the fabric and leaving a mark on her healthy peach skin. She could also some water drips on the sheets indication that the tears and sweat she felt on her face was that intense. Pulling the silk sheets off of her, she slips leg slender legs off the bed and begins to walk over the small private washroom that only connected to her room. With a wet towel, she quickly wipes all the liquids off her face. By now, her body calmed down from such a dream. But then comes the problem of struggling to even remember exactly what caused her to feel such an experience. Just vaguely remember some evil king.

A knock at her bedroom door disrupts her though. Stepping out of her washroom, she hears a voice on the other side.

“Princess Yasuline, are you awake?”

“Yes, yes I am.” She replied. She quickly heads into the washroom to look in the mirror and scan to see any wild cowlicks in her pink hair. The coloring coming mainly from her mother’s side of the family, Noria Lights.

The doorknob rumbles a bit, the sound of a key being used is heard, and the door opens up. A woman enters wearing a pink and white uniform of sorts that is inspired by the traditional maid outfit seem at a noble’s home.

“It is very surprising to see you this early in the morning, princess.” And it was true. On most days, Yasuline would sleep in until her stomach got the better of her.

“Yeah, well, today is a special day, so I think I needed to start early.” She reasoned, hiding the truth as she feels no threat from it to cause weary.

“Hmm, that is true. I didn’t think you would consider today to be important enough to wake up for. Anyways, you might want to head to the dining room before your parents are finished with breakfast.”

Hearing that she might make it in time, Yasuline quickly rushes toward her closet, removing his nightgown along the way.

Her wardrobe has mainly consisted of dresses. Colors in all variety, but the majority were in the colors of pink and white.

Stepping into the hall, Yasuline was met with a wide collection of décor of many arts. Vases with colorful bouquets in them. Various portraits of the royal family occupy the walls left and right of her. All done by many famous artists of Atlas. With portraits of her father, Suko Lights. being the most common royal family member featured in them, mostly during his adventurous youth. He would develop stories to tell to his daughter Yasuline throughout her childhood. And she doubts that she has even heard all of them. His strength is the best in the kingdom, with the only one able to rival his strength and skill would be the captain of the royal guard, Caliber.

“Princess Yasuline.” A male voice calls out of her from her slow process through the hall as she looks on at the portraits.

Turning around, she was met with an uncommon sight. Caliber wore the usual uniform of his white and gold armor set with the pink cape that flows majestically behind him when out in the field. His smartly cut blonde hair gave off an angelic glow to it that would often make the maidens of the castle to stare stupidly at. Something that Yasuline could never understand. His face was often praised to have been “carved by angels” according to the maidens as well.

“Oh, hello Caliber.” She says with a low-energetic tone as she returns her greeting.

“It is a rare sight to see you this early in the morning. Have you finally begun to adjust your schedule to take your role more seriously?” He asks in his usual professional tone.

“No, today is a special day for me. I was on my way to eat with mom and dad. What about you, mister? Slacking off?”

“Jokes this early? You may not know this, but I patrol the castle halls during the early morning.”

“Oh I see. Didn’t know you do that. I mostly see you at the training grounds doing those cool sword moments.”

“Spying on my techniques again, princess? We have already done this discussion about this. The battlefield has no place for a princess.”

Yasuline would sigh as she hears this phrase once more from him. Even after the news of one of her close friends, Mitsuko a princess from the dark kingdom: Finnoe, practices the sword to protect herself from would-be assassins, he would persist from teaching her anything, not even bending to the words of her father. Yasuline has spent the recent years of watching him from afar and mimicking his actions with a training sword she had taken from the knights.

“Yeah yeah, I heard. Anyways, did you want anything else? I’m kind of in a hurry here.” She says as she hopes she can hurry to meet up with her mother and father before they finish.

“Is that so, well then. I’m sorry to have taken up your time.” He says, folding his hand over his chest and delivers a bow to her. Yasuline would take this as an ending to their conversation and quickly steps away from him.

Her mood quickly reverts to her typical cheerful self as she reminds herself of the glorious reward waiting in the afternoon.

She had finally reached the doors to the dining room. While it is called the dining room. It is a multi-purpose room. It is the throne room where the king sits and performs his daily ruling over the kingdom and listens to the problems that might have occurred overnight. The ballroom that houses most parties for the nobles and royal families, and the main hall where most people come to meet with the king.

It was also where the party was held for her eighteenth birthday a few days ago. Decorated to the point it was almost unrecognizable to be the same sturdy old door carved out from pixelwings from the Gaia Isles. The design on the door was of the Tree of Life that towers over all the giant trees planted throughout the islands. It is home to them and other incredible beings. It is also where one of her other close friends, Alice comes from.

Opening the doors, she is happy to see that she made in time. A lone table was sitting in the very center of the hall. Decorated of various scented candles to camouflage the many smells of the food. And she could see that the steam from the cooked meals has long been gone, but that didn’t seem to bother her parents who were still eating. Her father sat one end, as she walked closer, she could make out crumbs from the various baked goods digging his face into a large bowl of oatmeal, likely enforced by her mother. Keeping a watch on her husband, her mother was sitting next to him on one side of the table. She looked to be eating a plate of picked and chopped fruit.

"Good morning mama. Morning papa." She spoke up as she began to walk around the impressively long dining table. Her greeting caused them both to sharply turn their heads to her with a surprised look and smiled.

"Well, look who finally woke up in time to eat with her parents!" The king yelled with a mouth full of bread. Chewed bits flew out of his mouth. His jolly tone was something that was appreciated by all the maidens and guards in the castle. It made him approachable and lighten the roles they have all taken. Despite being their king, he considers them all a friend, even when they often feel too beneath to be considered equals. Yasuline doesn’t recall someone by name who isn’t a friend of his.

"Did you have trouble sleeping, Yasuline? It's rare to see you awake at this time of the day." Her mother also pointed out her own daughter's unusual presence at the table, displaying a look of worry that her father lacked. She sat in her chair while holding onto a cup of tea like a true noblewoman. Something she did herself to live up to her crown. She was married into the royal family, and while the family approved of her inclusion due to her incredible magic skills in healing, she felt she needed to work hard even further to be good enough to be Noria Lights. Yasuline can hardly believe her father when he reflects of her youthful years where she was a farm girl who tended to the herds and picking crops under the sun. Her mother and father couldn’t be any different, she thought to herself one time after helping her mother with some new flowers that have arrived at the castle. King Suko was one who always energetic and the first to jump to action for anything. Her mother would quietly compare him to a pet dog she had when she was younger. Noria Lights was calm and soothing. She was also the only one who could get him to calm down once he is overly excited over something, like after getting the urge to rush out to adventure. However, there are two things they have in common, which both of them have started to Yasuline herself. They both love to smile and they love each other.

"No no, I slept as good as always. I just had a bad dream was all. But, that doesn't matter since I'm awake and ready for the day!" She replied with her typical cheerful tone as she goes to sit next to her mother and began to fill her plate with some fruit and sweets from the center of the table. Something she enjoyed out of the many kinds of meals she was offered from the kitchen.

"Someone sure is excited for today. Does this mean that you will be joining in for my speech?" The king asked as he drenched his appetite with some freshly squeezed juice.

"Dad! Did you forget that today is my first public appearance!?" She shouted as she rose from her seat and slammed her hand on the table.

"Public appearance?" He repeated as he scratches his head showing his confusion. His magnificent beard covered of crumbs of food, only made his expression even more pitiful for his air-headedness.

"Did you forget dear? You promised Yasuline as a special gift that she would be allowed to go out into the capital during the anniversary of the kingdom. We’d agreed that it was about time for her to finally be out of the castle." Her mother reminded him as she casually sipped her tea from her cup.

"I did, did I? Hmm, I can’t remember the conversation. But if you remember it, it must have happened." He struggled to regain his memory of the incident. But over the years, he grew to fully trust the memory of his wife. Too much, if you had asked her about it.

"I know you tend to forget stuff that you don’t care for, but it was for my eighteenth birthday! And it wasn’t even that long ago! Even I don’t forget things too soon!" She lectures her father and finally begins to eat her breakfast which her mother picked out for her. It was mostly consistent with fruits and sugary baked goods.

"...Oh right! I did promise that. Well, well, it seems my age is finally catching up to me now." He laughed off his confusion as he starts to eat his third serving. Yasuline sighed at her father's forgetfulness.

"But why would you even want to go out there? If you wanted something, just ask one of the maidens. They'd be more than happy to get something for ya That's their job anyway."

"I don't want anything. I just want to be out there. It's boring here." She says as she fidgets with some of the fruit on her table and quietly munches on a piece of grape.

"Hmph, boring you say? You still have many lessons to attend to if you wouldn’t stop running away from your teacher. Try reading for once and you won't be so bored. Studying would do you some good." Her mother spoke up after she had finished her tea.

Yasuline groans and lets her head down on the table, While her mother was often appreciated to be used as an anchor to wring down the king when he gets too hectic for anyone, it often meant that it made it tough for Yasuline. Even her father looked distasted at the idea of studying, as he groans while in the middle of biting on a loaf of bread decorated with butter and jelly.

"Honey, you gotta admit. Reading is pretty boring. Who wants to spend their time reading words of something happening when they could just do it or even watch it happen. Why, back in my youth, I would travel across the many lands, discovering new things, and conquering dangerous terrain with nothing but my wits and strength. Books can't repeat the same thrills and excitement!" The king ranted on and on while he filled his mouth full of food. Merely just talking about him was getting him excited. And it was getting excited too as she added to his rant. “Beating up bad guys, saving people, dueling other strong warriors with a sword, and blasting big monsters with super powerful magic skills!” The two laughed heartily as they continued on and on.

"Honestly, I don't know why you two are so against it, at least someone in this family enjoys reading what we have in our library." Yasuline's mother whispered as she half-listened to her husband's rambling while she continued to drink some tea.

Finishing her meal, she bids her parents a small farewell for the moment and began to head out into the hall once more. She sees the familiar sights of the day that she is used to when she wakes late in the day. A large number of maidens are seen marching through the halls in their daily mission to keep the castle interior free of dust and messes. Her sudden appearance likely caused them to make a second guess as they stopped for a moment to look at her.

“Good morning, Princess Yasuline.” They say in unison. Each giving bow one after another for a visual pleasing wave.

“Good morning to you as well ladies.” She returns their greeting. And headed toward the east side of the castle, as it was the closest to where she wanted to go. Going through a series of doors and passing a staircase, she makes it out into the side yard of the castle grounds. Although she has never stepped outside the castle herself, she often feels less inclined to run away into the capital. The birds chirping atop the trees that have expertly been growing on the corners of the walls and vines stretching against the walls made it seem like a prison and more like an extension to the garden her mother has grown.

She follows the wall to the back end of the castle where the guards and knights use the space for training. She was disappointed to find it to be scarce aside from a few who are only around to idle around.

“Hey, where are all the knights and guards? No training today?” She asks as he approaches one of them.

“Oh, sorry to say princess that most of the knights have been dispatched into the capital by the order of the captain. The guards are all in their posts and any extras would be placed at the gate to handle to crowds during the king’s speech.”

With a huff, she walks through the large open area typically filled with young and old soldiers training until the sky turned orange. The world was considered at peace, but that didn’t mean her father and the other rulers of lands throughout Atlas were willing to lower their guard down.

Especially with known villains roaming about the world without someone available to keep a check on them.

With multiple names being listed as dangerous to the world, one stood above them all. Even the likes of the captain and her parents get intense and worry about him.

A voice shouting catches her attention and she sees the captain looking to instructing a few soldiers who were lined up against the wall of the other side of the castle. With some hope in that he might be changing his tune and allowing the training to commence, she dashes toward a few greenery that was peeking out of the garden portion of the yard to overhear the commotion.

“Listen men, it may be a day of celebration for us all, but that does not mean that we should slack off and do whatever we wish to do!” Yasuline looks closely and sees that the guards seemed to have been slacking. The pieces of their armors look looser and easier to break off with the right hits and some still held food in their hands instead of the pikes they typically carry about.

Caliber would be to rant on about the importance of their position and the roles they all play. Something that he always states when a new bundle of recruits joins the army and the castle guards. Quickly losing interest in them, she turns to the garden after the wind blew with the scent of the flowers being carried by it.

The garden was her mother’s prized possession in her life, aside from her marriage to her husband and her child, as she continues to defend. Still, the garden was something both she and her father knew it was important to her, as her hometown was an infamous one that protected a special hill with rare and valuable species of flowers, and was capable of growing every known flower species without a struggle.

"Shouldn't you be preparing to be with your father?" Her mother’s gentle voice behind her spoke up as she was slowly strolling through the garden, letting the atmosphere calm her impatience.

Yasuline turned to see her mother standing behind her with a bouquet of colorful flowers in her hands. Villages from around the kingdom would often deliver the castle, and more specifically the queen flowers. Knowing she was very fond of them and in hopes the queen would give their village or harvest her blessings. A small rumor has been passed that her mother contained an ability of blessing that would give good luck and fortune to whoever was given.

"What’s there to prepare for? All he is doing is making a speech to everyone. All I have to do and say hello to all my future friends, right?" She rebuts with a smile.

Her mother would shake her head with a smile. "Reminds me of the time when your father said the same thing when he was supposed to practice our wedding ceremony. but not so surprisingly, he even showed up late and that other time when he was late on his ceremony when he was to be crowned as King." She said as she appears to be daydreaming of the memories once more.

"I heard those stories enough times that I can even tell it to you, mom. Don't you have anything else worth telling me?" She says, sensing that her mother was going to tell each event in detail.

"I don't have any other stories worth talking about."

"Liar mama. Aren't I the most amazing story you have." She says as she climbs on the bench and stands on it similarly to how Caliber did during their conversation. “Like how I was born, but still dead and then a miracle happened and I was alive again?" Yasu excitedly brought up as she sits back down and shifts around in her seat to be as close to her mother as possible.

"You have the oddest desire to hear that terrifying moment. A mother does not want to be reminded of such horror. It was only a miracle that you were revived. It was like some otherworldly magic of some kind."

"Don't we have healing magic skills?"

"Nothing that powerful enough to bring the dead, only the feathers of the godbeast Phoenix. Well, there is some dark magic that can do that, it's very different than what the miracle did to you."

"Bet there was like a prophecy or something about me being a legendary hero born for greatness, saving the word with a legendary sword of some kind, right?" She continued to persist., beginning to show the side that enjoys legends and fables similar to what her father used to read to her before bed every night.

"You asked this before and the answer is still no. We call it a miracle because there's no other explanation for it. We tried to find the one responsible but no one stepped forward for it. Even when we promised rewards for it. We were so determined to thank the one who saved our daughter."

"I guess that is true. But not knowing why I'm still alive is pretty annoying." Something about the fact that it just happened for no reason bothered her greatly. Like a thankless deed was done and no one seems to want to know who done it. Despite thinking this, her love for adventure often escalates it into being for a great foretold prophecy of a legend.

Bells suddenly began to ring from the top of the castle tower, followed by some cheering. Yasuline jumped from her seat and looked about, then at her mother. “Wait, is it already time!?” Her mother would just raise an eyebrow at her. “It is already time for the speech. That’s why I had asked if you shouldn’t be with him right now for practice.” “You could have at least told me the time! I don’t want to be late!” She quickly leans in to kiss her mother on the cheek and begins to run toward the castle. “Bye mother! I’ll tell you all about my trip to the capital when I’m back!” She shouts without turning back to see her wave her off with a smile.

The Capital known as Lux is a city known to always be bustling with life. Built as a town around the Castle of Lumines and gradually built up to be a grand city unparalleled to any other. The capital resembles a web circling the castle itself. The main street is filled to the brim with shops of various goods, styles, and sizes that occupy the sides. It leads straight to the gates of the castle and has remained shut for a long while, but never sealed for long. This was one of the occasions. After 20 years, the gates would open and the citizens would be able to meet with their rulers that they adore.

Entering the city gates were two unique strangers, one of them was a child due to their size. Soon they lost themselves in the surging crowds as everyone anticipates for the King’s speech.

Everyone is oblivious to the hunt happening atop the rooftops of the buildings. Two hood figures creep from roof to roof; their sights dead set on the castle itself. A few buildings away, another person in a hood was following their lead. Hiding even further in the shadows of some tall exterior portions of the buildings. The gates began to open up with the crowd below in the streets erupt in a cheer. The two hooded figures begin to get into position for something. And the other remains in the shadows and carefully observes. The merchants temporarily close their shops to listen to their king. Except for one who deemed it more important to stock their pockets with coins than to participate. The two newcomers on the street have already split from one another and attended to their desires and activities. The stage has been set.

Yasuline scarcely pays attention to the roles her father takes in his daily life as ruler of an entire kingdom. Even though she will one day take the throne from him when he retires. Even then, she is still required to participate in some events such as this one, as well as study in private lessons to boost her education to be above the ranks of other nobles.

Today was an anniversary of when the kingdom was founded. How old? Yasuline wasn’t exactly sure of the age. But it was long enough for her to be considered the fifth generation of the Lights family.

As she heads to the second floor of the castle, to reach the front balcony where her father would be present to address the citizens of the capital, she can hear mumbles of his speech echo in the hall. She could feel her heartbeat in her chest. The ends of her smile slightly twitched from how nervous she was getting from the idea that her life is finally going to change and her life would be filled with excitement and adventures. she would develop friends of all kinds.

Hearing her name, she takes a deep breath and begins to step forward, for her future.

Yasuline felt something fly by her face. As she slowly turns her head, she sees a lone arrow piercing the stone of the wall beside her. Caliber seemed to have understood the symbolism of the arrow and quickly called out to the knights around the area to a specific point where the arrow seemed to have been shot. As they all scatter about, the crowds begin to understand what has happened. Even the king took a while for him. Panic began to form in the voices of the crowds, as it picks it, it begins to set inside both her and her father’s. The knights around them, by the order of their captain begin to pull the two royal family members back into the castle.

Suddenly, off the corner of her eye, Yasuline spotted something fly by in front of the balcony. Something large and fast.

“I-it’s him!” A female voice cried from the crowd below.

“He is here for the king!” Another voice added in.

Such quotes drew out her curiosity. Just who were they referring to? It was likely something serious, as she could see that Caliber had look enraged as he scouted around for the person they were talking to, frantically jerking his head left and right, up and down.

Unknowingly, she was struggling against the knight that was aiding her escape. As she tried to head back to the balcony to see what everyone was seeing, the knight pulled her back in a panic. In the short struggle, she accidentally strikes her head against the door frame. Her view darkens to a pitch black and she could feel her body slowly lose strength and falls onto the ground. Someone catches her mid-way and the sound of a muffled yell could barely be heard.

Her conscious goes on and off for a few moments, but in the end it begins to fade. The last thing her senses could pick up before she fainted was “There he is! The White Reaper!”