The Divine Realm The Throne of Creation
Far beyond the physical boundaries of the universe, the Angel of Fate knelt in absolute reverence before the towering, nebulous form of the Original God.
The Angel was a singular, magnificent entity, yet it possessed two distinct, flawlessly symmetrical halves: a boy radiating absolute, unyielding courage, and a girl shimmering with perfect, omniscient intuition. Down in the mortal realm, these ancient divine souls slept seamlessly inside the five-year-old bodies of Leo and Mia.
The courageous half Leo's divine soul raised his glowing head.
"My Lord," the Angel of Fate spoke, his voice echoing with a perfectly harmonized, dual resonance. "I know the absolute truth. I know that you completely restarted time itself to give them this second chance. Even the Primordial Gods are entirely unaware that this timeline is a cosmic reset."
The Original God's blinding, supernova eyes flickered with ancient gravity. "And how, Angel of Fate, did you deduce a secret kept even from the Primordials?"
"Because it is my absolute duty to weave the tapestry of destiny," the Angel answered logically, the fabric of space bending around its wings. "When you rewound the universe, the ancient threads of fate violently snapped and had to be meticulously rewoven. The Primordial Gods exist within the flow of time, so their memories were wiped clean by the reset. But I oversee the threads themselves. I felt the exact knot where the old timeline ended in tragedy, and this new one began."
The Original God did not deny it. He simply looked down at the twin souled Angel.
"Do your work, Angel of Fate," the Creator commanded, his voice shaking the void.
"We are doing our best," the intuitive half Mia's soul whispered softly. "But why do you secretly protect these specific mortals, My Lord? You utterly despise humanity. You have always hated them."
It was the ultimate, unspoken truth of the cosmos. The Original God hated humans for a perfectly logical, heartbreaking reason: He had given them the ultimate, perfect gift of Free Will, hoping they would build a paradise. Instead, humanity used that absolute freedom entirely for greed, betrayal, war, and the systematic destruction of the earth. They had taken the Creator's perfect design and completely, selfishly corrupted it.
"My hatred for the inherent corruption of humanity remains absolute," the Original God rumbled, the cosmic galaxies swirling around him physically darkening. "But that is not your concern. Focus your power. Unnaturally enhance the luck of the pregnant Princess, her unborn twins, and the warrior Princess escorting them."
The Angel of Fate stood up, the golden light around them flaring with a fierce, radically protective brilliance.
"I will cast the magic," Leo's divine half declared, staring directly up at the terrifying face of the Creator without a single ounce of fear. "But I do not do this simply because you commanded me, My Lord. I do this because down in that mortal world... they are my parents. I will violently protect my mother, my stepmother, and my unborn siblings no matter what it takes. If I have to descend and fight the Demon King himself to keep them safe, I will do it."
The Original God slowly closed his cosmic eyes, quietly allowing the absolute defiance.
The greatest grace of the divine is not the power to coldly dictate the future, but the quiet mercy to rewrite the past so the ones who deserve to live can finally survive.
The Angel of Fate raised its glowing hands. A massive, silent shower of shimmering, invisible golden dust fell from the heavens, dropping straight down through the atmosphere toward the Kaelen Empire.
The Mortal World The Southern Border
Deep in the dark, treacherous, fog-choked forests near the Southern border, the heavy Imperial carriage rolled slowly through the mud.
Inside the cabin, seventeen year old Seris sat rigidly, gripping the hilt of her wind-sword. Her knuckles were stark white. Her honed warrior instincts were violently screaming that a lethal ambush was actively closing in on them.
She was entirely right. Hidden high in the dense, rotting trees surrounding the dirt road were fifty elite Southern hunters, heavily paid by Duke Valerius to brutally assassinate the two Princesses before they even reached the estate. The hunters had deliberately, sadistically lured a massive pack of high ranking, bloodthirsty magical beasts out of the deep woods using blood bait to cause a "tragic, unpreventable carriage accident."
"Here they come!" one of the hidden hunters whispered, grinning viciously as the glowing, starving red eyes of the beasts emerged rapidly from the thick fog.
Inside the carriage, Seris violently threw the iron door open, her pale hands instantly bursting with searing, golden fire and violent, swirling wind. She fully prepared to jump out and fight the monstrous horde to the absolute death to protect the sleeping Lyra.
But then, the invisible golden dust of the Angel of Fate settled silently over the carriage.
ROAR!
The high ranking magical beasts burst violently from the treeline. But incredibly, defying every single law of nature, they didn't even glance at the panicked horses or the massive Royal vehicle. It was exactly as if the carriage had been completely erased from existence.
Instead, the starving beasts caught the heavy, metallic scent of the blood-bait the hunters had stupidly hidden inside their own pockets. The monsters completely bypassed the dirt road, violently leaping thirty feet straight up into the trees.
Screams of absolute, blood curdling terror echoed through the dark forest as the beasts savagely and mercilessly ambushed the hidden assassins.
Seris stood in the open doorway of the moving carriage, completely frozen in absolute shock. The blazing fire in her hands slowly fizzled out. She watched the brutal, chaotic slaughter happening in the canopy above, entirely dumbfounded.
What kind of absurd, impossible luck is this? Seris thought, blinking in sheer disbelief as a severed arm dropped into the mud behind the carriage. The monsters just... completely ignored us?
Fate does not always swing a burning sword to protect the righteous; sometimes, it merely shifts the wind, leaving the wicked to be violently devoured by the very monsters they unleashed.
The terrified carriage driver, equally stunned but absolutely not asking questions, whipped the reins. The carriage sped safely and cleanly through the blood-soaked forest, leaving the treacherous Southern hunters entirely to their gruesome, well-deserved fate.
The Southern Territory The Valerius Ducal Estate
In the grand, opulent courtyard of the Valerius Estate, Duke Alistair and nineteen-year-old Elena stood arrogantly waiting in the freezing evening air.
"Any moment now, a panicked messenger will arrive to tell us the tragic news," Duke Alistair smiled wickedly, adjusting his expensive velvet coat. "The pregnant Princess was brutally torn apart by wild beasts. Such a terrible, unavoidable shame."
RUMBLE.
The heavy iron gates of the estate swung smoothly open.
Duke Alistair and Elena's jaws dropped straight to the cobblestone floor. The massive, black Imperial carriage rolled flawlessly into the courtyard. There wasn't a single scratch on the pristine paint. The warhorses were perfectly calm and unharmed.
"Impossible!" Elena gasped, her arrogant face draining of all color. "The hunters... they are the absolute best in the South! How did they survive?!"
The heavy carriage doors swung open.
Seris stepped out first. She didn't look like a polite, diplomatic guest returning to a family estate. She looked like an absolute, untouchable god of war. The ambient air around her instantly heated up, the cold Southern wind whipping violently around her pristine white cloak as she marched directly up to Duke Alistair.
"Princess Seris," the Duke stammered, frantically trying to force a fake, welcoming smile. "We... we are so incredibly glad you arrived safely…"
Seris didn't let him finish. She stepped deep into his personal space, her fierce, unyielding eyes locking directly onto his with pure, unadulterated killing intent.
"Listen to me very carefully, Duke," Seris whispered, her voice colder than Seraphina's deadliest ice. "This is your first, and your final, warning. Do not come near Lyra. If you possess a death wish, simply take one single step toward her... and I will personally make sure you are burned alive, and your ashes will be scattered where no one will ever find them."
Duke Alistair swallowed hard, taking a terrified, involuntary step backward.
"Now," Seris commanded, turning her back on him completely and gesturing sharply to the carriage driver. "We are absolutely not staying here."
Elena frowned, stepping forward defensively. "What do you mean you aren't staying here? The treaty demands she remain in the South!"
"She is in the South," Seris replied, an incredibly satisfied, victorious smirk crossing her face. "But Emperor Aldric is no fool. The law dictates she must reside in her homeland territory, but it absolutely does not dictate she must sleep under a traitor's roof."
The most absolute defeats are not suffered on a bloody battlefield; they occur the exact moment a predator realizes their meticulously crafted cage cannot hold a dragon.
Seris looked back at the utterly stunned Duke. "By direct, sovereign order of the Emperor, we are taking exclusive residence in the Imperial Summer Palace located at the absolute edge of your territory. We legally fulfill the treaty's requirement, and we stay completely out of your filthy, treacherous hands."
Seris stepped gracefully back into the carriage, slamming the heavy iron door shut. The Kaelen carriage turned sharply around and rode directly out of the Valerius Estate, leaving the Duke and Elena completely humiliated and brilliantly outplayed in their own territory.