Glento, Lebrad. Year 2602.
A faint cry echoed from a modest middle-class home in western Glento.
It came from a baby girl, her mouth open, revealing a small bump on her pink gums. She was teething, and deeply unimpressed by the pain that came with it.
In her room, she lay wailing in her crib. The large wooden door creaked open, and in stepped a towering man, carefully maneuvering around her scattered toys.
He reached into the crib, his broad hands moving with surprising gentleness as he lifted the crying child. Speaking in a soft, comforting voice, he whispered,
"There, there, Amariel."
Cradling her against his chest, he began walking in slow circles, rubbing her back to soothe her.
"How is she, Julian?"
A woman entered the room behind him. Her curly hair fell just to her shoulders, and her modest beauty had a warmth that seemed to transcend appearance.
"She's teething," Julian said, pressing a kiss to Amariel's cheek. "Looks like it's going to be a rough stretch."
"I'll get Samuel to visit the apothecary again," she replied, placing a hand on her hip. "There's probably something to ease the pain."
Samuel was Amariel's older brother, an energetic, kind-hearted boy.
Their family was made up of five: Julian and Thea, their children Amariel and Samuel, and their eldest daughter, Heart.
Heart had been paralyzed from the waist down ever since she'd fallen mysteriously ill. Julian and Thea had tried every hospital, every remedy available.
It was strange how Lebrad, the Kingdom of Knowledge and Advancement, could be so lacking in medical expertise. For all its libraries and laboratories, none could offer a cure to a girl who could not walk.
Despite their unwavering determination, the paralysis remained. Now eighteen, Heart was bedridden, fragile, and dangerously susceptible to illness. Samuel, only thirteen, was often heartbroken by the sight of his sister's suffering.
Amariel began to doze off on Julian's shoulder. He noticed her breathing steady and gently placed her back in the crib.
Together, he and Thea tiptoed out of the room, carefully closing the door behind them.
In the living room, they found Samuel feeding Heart, who was bedridden with a severe cold. The boy held a spoon near her lips.
"Next one's ready, sis," he said gently. Heart struggled to part her lips. Her skin was pale, and her eyelids drooped with exhaustion.
Julian rushed over to assist, using his large hands to carefully open her mouth so Samuel could feed her.
"We are truly blessed to have a son like you, Samuel," Thea murmured, kneeling beside him and planting a kiss on his cheek.
Samuel said nothing. Any time someone brought up his sister, his mood always darkened. Dark circles hung under his eyes. It had been a long time since he'd slept properly.
Julian and Thea exchanged a look. "Samuel, honey," Julian said, "go to bed. Your mother and I will take care of Heart tonight."
Thea nodded in agreement. "You've got your exams coming up—you must get some rest."
Samuel handed the spoon to his father and quietly left the room. He didn't resent his parents. In fact, he loved them deeply. But he also loved his sister. And it tore him apart to see her like this.
"That boy…" Thea sighed. "He needs to take care of himself, too."
Julian nodded. "He thinks it's his fault she's sick. He's carrying her pain on his shoulders. No thirteen-year-old should bear that kind of weight."
"With the Protector Exams around the corner… how is he going to handle being away from Heart for that long?"
The Protector Exams tested candidates in numerous fields to determine who was fit to serve as one of the emperor's elite bodyguards.
His Majesty, Emperor Leopold Sorin, had not left his castle in a long time, ever since the rise in terrorism and assassination attempts.
In the early years of his reign, citizens had demanded he step forward and lead as a true emperor should. But after the Frery Massacre, where 162,212 civilians were murdered in a single, large-scale attack—they began to understand his fear.
It was the first time in Lebrad's history that an entire city had been wiped off the map.
What made it worse? The number of attackers, one.
One man walked into Frery and, by the time military reinforcements arrived, had already disappeared. What remained was a flat wasteland. No buildings, no survivors. Just rubble.
Thea quietly rose and approached her daughter, bending down to kiss Heart on the forehead. "Goodnight, my love." She kissed Julian's cheek as well, then departed for their bedroom.
Julian continued feeding Heart until she finished, then gently carried her to bed. Her room was decorated with drawings, most by Samuel, some from Amariel, who was just learning how to use a crayon.
He laid her down, tucked the blankets around her carefully, and leaned in to kiss her forehead.
"Goodnight, Heart."
A faint, fragile voice responded,
"...Good...night..."