IN THE PALACE
The prince was walking through the ballroom, looking at the decorations and was impressed that everything was going well.
"Now all that's left is Luminous," the prince sighed.
He walked out of the ballroom and outside to the courtyard before turning right until he reached the stables.
"Your Highness, you're here again," the horsekeeper stated.
"Yes, Albert. You know this is my favorite place in the entire castle," the prince said.
"The stables? Oh my, Your Highness, you are a ruffian," Albert teased.
"You know that's not it, Albert," the prince replied while pouting.
The prince only showed this side to Albert and his family because they were practically the ones who raised him. His father couldn't be bothered, only seeking him out when he was of age and fit to bear the title of crown prince.
"Well, don't let me keep you waiting, Your Highness. Solitude is a rare thing to enjoy for nobles such as yourself," Albert said.
"I always tell you it's fine to call me by my name," the prince reminded him.
"I could never dream of it. Our statuses are clearly so different. I can't imagine myself calling your name. What if I'm not able to control myself in public? You know this old man is almost senile. I don't want to disappoint or cause problems," Albert said hastily.
"There you go again. You could never be a bother. Besides, everyone basically hates me for coming out of nowhere, but it's custom for a male to rule. If not, I wouldn't have been born or sought after by nobles planning to kill me and inherit my title," the prince said depressingly.
"Don't say such a thing. How many times have I told you that there are—"
"Lots of reasons to live for," the prince said in unison with Albert.
"I know, I know… but is that really true? If I didn't have a strong will, I'd probably be dead from suicide," the prince stated.
"Sigh… please, enough depressing talk, Your Highness. How are the preparations going?" Albert asked.
"I just checked, and everything is ready. All we need is the artifact. Hopefully, it should be here soon," the prince stated.
"WHAT!!! Y–Your Highness, you do know that artifact is very crucial to this ceremony, right?" Albert asked.
"I know, but for some reason my belief in a certain someone is so high. I just believe they can bring it back before tomorrow," the prince said with a smile.
"Have you been bewitched? You're betting your belief on people. That's a very dangerous thing with your status," Albert said, almost at the point of freaking out.
"It's okay. Something in their eyes makes me feel safe, and I choose to believe in that," the prince said with a contented expression.
Looking at him, Albert felt for some reason that this person was important to the prince in ways he couldn't possibly understand, because the prince's face wasn't showing signs of lovesickness but rather a gentle affection. Albert took a deep breath to calm himself.
"Well, I guess princes and kings are supposed to trust their gut instincts, though making decisions on a whim is reckless. I'm sure I raised him well enough to understand that," Albert thought.
"If you deem that they are indeed worthy enough and won't disappoint you, Your Highness, then I believe in them too," Albert stated.
"Thank you, Albert. Your support means a lot to me," said the prince.
"Anytime, Your Highness," said Albert with a smile.
---
AT THE WEEPING WILLOWS
"Ugggh, why did this have to happen? How should I proceed? What should I do? If only I had fairy dust… I can only produce enough to keep me afloat. Luminous, see why I said you were wrong? Being half and half isn't a good thing. What do I do in this situation?" Emily said through tears.
"Please, please, please wake up. Tell me what to do. I don't have the confidence to make the right choice," she wept bitterly into his chest.
Emily's cries echoed into the silent forest… unheard.
---
MEANWHILE, SOMEWHERE FAR AWAY
Luminous opened his eyes and looked around before breathing out calmly.
"Thankfully, it didn't start with dragons. That would have been a weird déjà vu attack. Though now… I'm curious about where I am and why it's so dark," Luminous thought.
He tried to stand up but realized he couldn't touch or feel anything at all. He looked down at himself and saw a white misty tail where his legs should've been, prompting him to scream—
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
—then he quickly covered his mouth.
"You can't do this. Even though you're alone, men shouldn't act weak," he thought.
He didn't care. Everyone was fragile, it just looked different. But the whole 'men should be this, women should be that' nonsense? He hated that.
He slapped his cheeks to bring himself back to focus.
"This isn't the time to get lost in thought. Luminous, focus," he told himself.
"Luminous."
"Who's there?" he asked.
"Luminous."
"Who's calling me?"
"Luminoooooooous~" the voice called in a singing tone.
"This isn't funny at all. Come out and show your face," Luminous barked.
"Ehhh, I thought bottoms weren't the commanding type," the voice said.
"Bottoms? What does that have to do with this?"
"No, never mind. I just said my thoughts out loud. Pay me no mind."
"What do you mean, pay you no mind? You basically called out to me, and I'm pretty sure only you know the answer to why I'm here."
"Ooh, we have a smartie on our hands. Hey, why don't you ditch that body and come work for me?"
"No, thank you."
"Too fast! Couldn't you at least think it over?"
"Oh no, I'm perfectly fine. I've already seen too much, both in the past and present. In one, I was naïve with a disgusting personality. In this one, I'm basically receiving one-sided bullying. What I'm trying to say is that I'm not stupid enough to think everyone is nice for no reason anymore."
"To be honest, I just wanted an excuse to beat you up for always calling gods sadistic," the voice said.
"Tch, I knew it. Gods are heartless," Luminous said.
"Hey, we make the rules. We can do whatever we please. Also, you're not surprised I'm a god?"
"Oh please… after you're given barely enough food, dragged around, overworked, and then rescued by an annoying prince and a petty fairy, you get used to these things."
"Ehhhh? Is that how it works?"
"I guess."
"So you finally have nerves of steel, huh?"
"You could say that," Luminous replied, doing a hair flip even though his hand passed through his body.
"Well, you're certainly interesting. For real this time, do you want to—"
"MIKHAAAIL!" another voice boomed.
"Ahhhhh! Badmiel, please don't come over. I won't say anything further, I promise! I'll go straight to the point!" Mikhail pleaded.
"You already did too much when you started asking the living to give up their lives. I'm sure you want to tempt him for your illegal soul-experimentation schemes," Badmiel stated.
"No, no! He would have servant status," Mikhail said as if it was a once-in-a-lifetime prize.
"Blehhh. We all know servant status is fancy dressing for using their bodies to bring your dirty, perverted thoughts to life," Badmiel replied.
The gods continued to converse in their weird, angry, submissive way, clearly forgetting Luminous even existed.
"So even the gods of this world are weird. How did I end up in a world like this? These gods are probably the reason everyone in Elarion was 'unique' in one way or another," Luminous thought.
"I wonder how Emily is doing. If I don't wake up soon… this mission fails. And when it does, the kingdom won't need excuses anymore, they'll start executing half-bloods."
The thought made him nauseous.
He secretly gave the gods the middle finger. He didn't know who brought him to Elarion, but at least doing that to these gods felt slightly relieving.