Year: ????? - Unknown Date to the Year A.G.E. X010, April 14th.
The strange castle, once filled with life, now lay empty, overgrown and ruined. Its halls that were occupied by the royals and servants, filled with glitter, gold and other ornaments, are now looted and gone, their walls stripped of the once beautiful glory it had. The windows once filled with glass, are now broken or gone, and the animals and cold breeze make their home in the castle. Several of the rooms collected dust and cobwebs, as well as damaged furniture and items that littered their floors. The sounds and smells were limited, and the gardens were overgrown and untraversable, causing parts of the castle to not be accessed and looted. The houses outside the walls were long ruined and destroyed, filled with barely empty camps where some people lived, and the forest around them dense and overgrown.
The sound of footsteps littered one of these halls, a man with deep brown hair and with what seemed to be silvery grey eyes, and dark clothing wandered the halls. The man began to speak to himself, although the only things inside that would listen, were the animals and the empty halls that each echoed, and the unknown deities observing.
"Surprisingly, how well preserved this world is...but it just exists to remind me how happy endings don't exist..." The man muttered this to himself as he continued to wander. "I wonder if my sins will still come back to haunt me. Although, it appears that the ______ -- ____, still sucks at hiding, although, I doubt, she will come out to greet an old friend of their family." Despite his attempts at saying the unknown person's name, it still comes out distorted, to which, he considers the words he is saying to be some form of universal restrictions or taboo. As he continued to wander the castle, he somehow ended up in the gardens taking note of the overgrowth that spread, preventing him from continuing through the gardens. He began to mutter again, "Ah...-----..." Another name is distorted through his speech, although he doesn't pay it any attention. "I wonder if we can relive our past one day...and have fun once again as friends, without the cycle in the way..."
The man takes note of the silence and continues to explore the castle, taking note that some rooms that were locked appear to have been broken into or left alone, however, some rooms and areas have only lost their royal look, and the contents inside are the same as they were, although, not very valuable for raiders to take their items. He takes note of one of the doors that usually are hidden still hiding, however, behind a bunch of damaged furniture and boxes, and so, after pushing the debris away from the door and opening it, he briskly walks down the corridor and the stairs the door opened to, and enters a massive library filled with dust and cobwebs, it's books left untouched by what assumed to be centuries that passed by, to him, in a blink of an eye since he last walked these halls. Gazing in wonder, nostalgia and curiosity, he began to pick up the books and read the familiar and unfamiliar titles and pages, time appearing to have stopped as he read the books on the shelves.
One of the books caught his eye, a familiar one simply labelled "Forbidden Curses Of The Less Divine And Pere Noel", the book itself hidden within the shelves and left untouched for a very long time. He sits it on the table, before summoning his blade, though, as soon as he grips the blade, it shatters into a million pieces in front of him, their remains shattered across the stone floors of the library next to the table. The man sighs, "It seems not even my trusty blade survived the sands of time here...shame." He glances back at the book he placed on the table before opening its pages and reading it. As he continued to read the pages filled with curses of all kinds, from the less annoying to the most deadly and dangerous, he took in the familiar sheets of paper's content, before closing the book and putting it in his coat, "I'm sure they won't mind if this comes with me..." he muttered to the empty library before continuing the examine the rest of the clearly well-stocked library.
His examinations lead him to another section of the library, one filled with magic texts and tomes that grew as he read them, leading him to a strange room filled with more books, however, seeming to be much, much darker than the rest of the library. As he glanced around the shaded room, he noticed in the center of the room, despite the room being dimmed and hard to see in, lay a book on a pedestal glowing a green, dim glow, and wrapped in chains, despite being opened to a page. As he stepped closer, he took note that the book was writing itself, the object that was writing it was not seen, and the pages would flip themselves to the next page.
As if in a trance, he stepped up to the pedestal and looked down at the book, "...What...is..this..?" he had muttered as he reached his hand out to touch the book, before the room went completely dark, and bright objects floating around him a fast speed that he couldn't comprehend, before he forgot where he was and appeared in the background of a graveyard, taking notice of the scenery changing alongside the weather, and wondering where he is at, he notices in the distance a crowd of people, before wandering up to them, and taking notice of the grim state the crowd is in, and the funeral itself. He hears what is assumed to be the pastor begin speaking.
"We are gathered here today to celebrate the life and mourn for the loss of the Second Empress of the Lunia Empire, Second Empress Mirajane Rowselen Vaonia Luna, born B.G.E. X230, December 31st to the former Empress Dowager, and the First Empress of the Lunia Empire, First Empress Solaria Celeste Vaon Luna, and the former Emperor Regent, Elliot Wheatleigh Vaon Luna. She was a mother to all the citizens of the Empire, known as the Saintess to the Goddess of the Moon, and she passed away in childbirth to the last child of the Lunia Imperial Family of Vaon Luna. She will be a missed soul, and if anyone would wish to give their respects and say a few words, now is the time to do so." The pastor raises her hands as the crowd continues to be quiet, all except for a crying newborn, which a blonde-haired maid attempts to quiet down as the crowd of nobles begins to mutter among themselves, filled with silent tears and not nearly as silent whispers.