This is a sequel to Celestial Heartbeat.
If you haven't read it, I'd recommend reading it first.
Hope you enjoy this new story, which picks up where Celestial Heartbeat left off.
It's a bit darker, but I think it's an interesting plot.
~Shana~
A long time ago, in a land far away, the King of the Heavens smiled down at his beautiful wife and their newborn daughter.
"She's perfect!" The King gently picked the little girl up and examined her odd, yet beautiful green hair, "Atria, she's so beautiful."
Atria smiled gently, watching her husband kiss the tiny baby on the top of her forehead.
"We'll name her Hisui," she said gently, "Her hair - it's such an odd colour. Almost like Jade."
The King nodded, "Hisui. Yes - that's perfect!"
The King and Queen reveled in their daughter's growth over the years. She blossomed into a beautiful princess, loved by all the spirits in the Celestial Kingdom. But alas, the peace was not to be kept.
The Queen, who was a spirit herself, ran into trouble with her Celestial Mage, Antoine. He fell in love with her, and when she did not return his feelings, he flew into a frenzy, hurting the beautiful queen. The King was outraged, stripping Antoine of his Celestial power and sparking a war between the Celestial heavens and Antoine's Earthland warriors. The Earthland warriors were no match. Every last man in the war died and were sent to the pits of hell to pay for their transgressions.
But Antoine could not accept his defeat. He swore to hurt the King by taking the one they both loved. If he could not have her, neither could the King. He approached the devil himself, asking to be made a demon and then made a deal with him...give him the power to seal away the Celestial Queen in the pits of hell, and he would kill the King and Queen's daughter, Hisui, thus ending the Celestial reign forever. With Hisui dead, there would be no heir. The Celestial Heavens would die with the King in the upcoming war. And war, he was certain, would happen once the King learned of his precious daughter's death. The devil cackled, agreeing to the plan and granted the evil Antoine his wish. Start a war to end an eternal war.
Antoine kidnapped the Queen as she sat in her Celestial garden. She called for the King, but it was too late. Celestial guards flooded the garden and the King demanded how the demon could possibly gain entrance to the Celestial kingdom's domain. His beasts attacking savagely, Antoine took the moment to seal the Queen inside an egg-like urn. Just as Antoine was about to take her back to the gates of hell, the Celestial King himself intervened. He could not save his Queen from the urn, for the spell Antoine had cast was absolute, but he did manage to cast his own spell on the egg at the last minute that would keep her from going to hell with Antoine. She would remain invisible to the demons of hell for 1000 years. Furthermore, only a Celestial mage could wake her. The Celestial army beat the demon forces out of the Celestial Heavens. They would learn that the devil himself had torn a hole in a Celestial gateway – his former gateway – granting his minions a way in. They would spend months and years after that securing every entrance to ensure there would never again be a successful invasion.
Antoine, enraged that the Queen's egg was lost to him, was livid. But his objective was achieved. The King would also lose the woman he loved for 1000 years. The forlorn Celestial King hid the egg away from the eyes of the demons deep in a mountain in Fiore, returning to the Celestial heavens to mourn.
Time after time, the King's armies fought off the demons at the Celestial gates. The demons never again gained entrance, but the King knew it was only a matter of time. They were after his little daughter, Hisui. With no options left, the King realized he had to hide his precious daughter. He cast a spell on her to change her appearance, then sent her away to the Kingdom of Fiore with his most trusted advisor, Tomo, to watch over her, along with the Royal Guard, an elite force of angelic beings, to protect her. He warned her she must never tell anyone who she was. The attacks abruptly stopped. The King had found the source of the invasion and promptly dealt with it. Still, he kept his little daughter in hiding, not even revealing her true origins to her as her life would always be endangered.
Together, Tomo and Hisui posed as the King of Fiore and his daughter, changing their names and appearances every 50 to 100 years so as to not raise suspicion about their non-human origins. It was an effective disguise. The citizens of Fiore welcomed each new "generation" of the monarchy. They would use Gemini's abilities when they were not being used by their masters to replicate previous monarchs as necessary for final public views of the previous monarchy to usher in the new looks. The pair, along with the Royal Guard, went unnoticed for centuries, all while carefully guiding the evolution of the amazing country of Fiore.
The stalemate would last 1000 years, until a certain Celestial mage found the egg, ultimately releasing its captive, the Queen, who would reunite with her King, and silence the threat of Antoine once and for all.
But the devil had not forgotten that he had been deprived of his end of the deal. He waited patiently in the shadows of the underworld for his chance. He would have his payment. He would have Hisui. He would wipe out the Celestial Heavens. And he would have his war.
