"So, will you please tell me already?" A young girl who seemed to be no older than twelve years old with long dark hair questioned to a figure on the opposite side of the room. The girl was sitting at a writing desk that seemed to have been custom made for her, being both very small to accommodate to her size and very intricate with an array of fancy carvings at the side of it. The figure, who was standing at the other side of the room, gazing out through a window, smiled to the young girl graciously. The figure standing on the opposite end of the room was a woman in a bright blue ball gown adorned with many gems and a lot of lace. Her dark auburn hair was cropped short reaching to her neck and her skin was rather fair. She appeared to be a lot older than the young girl, old enough to be her mother or aunt perhaps and said,
"I've already told you Ana, Sunrises make me happy as does the kingdom, riding a bicycle, all the inhabitants of Euphorium, and most importantly, you and your father." The woman answered with a small sigh trailing after.
Ana furrowed her brows and held back on a sigh as she replied," That wasn't what I asked. I asked, why do those things make you happy?"
The regal woman shook her head and smiled a little as she walked near to Ana. When she was close enough she said,
"There are countless reasons why-"
"Queen Aurelie!" A voice called out from outside of the room," Pardon the intrusion, but we need you to look into something over here."
"I'll be just a moment!" Aurelie shouted back before turning her focus back to Ana,"We'll...discuss this a little later ok?"
Ana said nothing in response and only nodded her head, well-aware of the fact that the Queen had more pressing issues at hand that needed to be dealt. She didn't have time to waste in a debate with her, she hardly ever did. It may've been ok if she was a normal civilian here in Euphorium, just an average person without a drop of royal blood in them. But, Ana was far from an average civilian here in Euphorium, despite the fact that she looked and acted like it.
Being the daughter of the Queen and King of Euphorium technically made Emiliana, who rather be called Ana by her closest of friends along with her parents, a princess but somehow...princess wasn't really the word that appeared to Ana's life when she thought about it. She didn't feel like a princess, despite living in a castle, nor did she dress like one despite her own tailor. The only thing that she could associate with both herself and the term princess was the idea that these two were different from most people.
Ana felt as if she questioned things too much and so that often led her to being told she should just avoid over-thinking things or that if she'd wallow in her thoughts for too long she'd regret it. So, she tried her absolute hardest to keep herself from over-thinking and letting her thoughts run wild. She tried to make sure she'd ask as much as she could without being told she was looking too much into things. But, there was that one question that kept running through her mind, day and night, whenever she got bored and had nothing to occupy her.
"What is it that makes people happy?"
What do people need to feel happy? Why is it that someone's happiness might be the cause of someone's else despair? Is happiness supposed to be what we automatically always feel? What was about happiness that made that very feeling feel new every time we felt it?
Ana looked to the ground sheepishly, knowing that these were too many questions for such a topic, a topic that shouldn't ever be subject to such strident interrogation; Considering this was a land that was practically built on happiness.
Euphorium, a realm that world away from Earth, was a joyous land that brimming with cheer and magic. This land was, unlike any other in the sense that happiness was evidently the most important thing to everyone here. Happiness leads to greater things, happiness inspires us, touches our hearts in a way that no other emotion can. Happiness works in strange ways and it come and go in even stranger ways.
Ana often wondered if there was more happiness than what she had been told, considering the stories she had often been told always felt rather...non-genuine. Maybe it was just her, maybe she was paying too much attention to the point of imagining things, like the persistently wistful tone in her mother's voice every time she told her of ancient tales from Euphoria, and the cringe that appeared on her mother's face when she said "Cure Jubilance", her former alter ego.
Ana left the room and ambled off into her bedroom. It was a quaint little space with shades of yellow and dark blue present in virtually every space of the room, from her bed sheets to her walls and even her curtains. The only thing in this room that seem to violate this room's colour scheme was a clear fish-bowl with a black and white flapjack octopus residing in it. Ana walked up to the fish-bowl and stared at the little octopus. It was fast asleep and Ana simply rolled her eyes at the sight, not expecting any different. She slowly pressed her index finger to the glass of the bowl then after a few seconds, she started to jab at it impatiently, the waiter in the bowl swishing a little as she did so. Normally, Ana was quite mindful of aquatic creatures and knew she shouldn't have been poking at the bowl so aggressively. It could've alarmed the little octopus, but since this octopus seemed to only ever sleep most of the days, Ana concluded that just a little pushiness wouldn't hurt the little creature.
"Kallie, get up, we're going to the lake side." Ana declared as she stopped jabbing the bowl to go get her bag on the other side of the room.
"You lazy squid." Ana grumbled as she shoved a nearby book into her bag.
"I heard that." Kallie commented as she swam up to the surface of her bowl, her voice groggy and rough from having just woke up," And you all of people should know I hate being awoken by others because I-"
"-Need your beauty rest, I know." Ana interrupted impatiently as she dashed to Kallie's side and picked up her bowl," But, I need to get out of the castle and I want to read you a story."
"A story? Which one is it today? The History of Euphorium or the History of Euphorium?" Kallie questioned in a somewhat mean-spirited voice, only to receive a glare from Ana.
"You know I can't take out books from the castle's library yet," Ana replied in agitation as she zipped through the halls of the castle in a stealthy manner.
Once Ana exited the castle, she ran down the hill it rested on, feeling a rush of adrenaline through her veins as her feet sped down the hill.
"I'm not sure if you heard me before, but I'm taking you to your favourite place! So today our little reading will be even more fun." Ana claimed as she slowed down her place, noticed Kallie seemed very disheveled from Ana's mad dash down the hill.
Once Ana got to the lake side, sat down on the grass and took in the view, she took out the book and opened it; But not before looking both ways to make sure there was no one around.
When she opened the book, a hologram appeared of her room, the Castle of Euphorium.
"Happiness is the key to life, happiness makes everything feel right..." Ana read out, well actually recited, considering she had read this book many, many times. Kallie seemed to be interested in the book as well despite having heard this story many times. But then, just before Ana was going to read the next page, Kallie interjected,
"Can we sit over there instead?"
"But this is where we always sit-"
"I know, but I'm feeling rather chilly here, so maybe it'll be warmer over there in the sun?" Kallie suggested. Ana still seemed hesitant, but eventually she complied and walked over to the sunnier spot as Kallie wanted.
"Alright, where was I?" Ana asked, though she knew very well where she'd she left off," The path to such joy may be quite long, you may even get tempted to do things that are wrong. But have no fear, you'll find your way, for even the stormiest clouds will drift away. When happiness is found, your problems will seem small, for happiness will reign victorious above all."
"Is that so?" A voice wondered aloud from the other side of the lake. Ana darted her head up immediately, having presumed she was the only one here. What she saw staring dead at her was what appeared to be a mass of pitch black coiled rope. She seemed greatly confused and slowly inched away from her spot, standing up slowly with her eyes still fixated on the coiled rope.
"What is that?" Ana asked fearfully in a quiet voice, while doubtful that Kallie could give her an answer.
"Snakes." Kallie whispered anxiously as Ana continued to inch away.
Ana asked in another whisper,"What?"
"Ana we need to get out of here!" Kallie hollered, receiving a rapid nod in approval from Ana as she picked up Kallie and began to run for dear life. Ana tried to run but the snakes projected themselves towards Ana and latched themselves around her ankles, causing Kallie to fall out of her grasp.
"Ana!" Kallie cried out, falling out from her fish bowl as Ana tried reaching out for her.
"What do you want from me?" Ana interrogated as she writhed around in the grasp of the snakes. From the lake appear a dark figure creeping out from it, with it's only distinguishable featured being long tangled green and black hair with piercing violet eyes. The figure grew closer and closer to Ana, staring her down while Kallie watched the two of them in distress.
"Happiness is fleeting, don't you know better?" The figure questioned," This whole land runs on a myth that happiness will last forever once you truly find it, but no my little princess, that's not how it works. This feeling of euphoria is nothing more than a figment of your imagination. The only thing bound to last forever is despair. Happiness was constructed from the belief of those fools who think that there's balance in this world. "
"I..." Ana began as she continued to try and break free from the snakes' clutch, though it seemed futile at this point.
"You can't even argue with my claim because you know it's true! You know that despair will find a way to crawl into the hearts of even the most happiest people, including people like, Queen Aurelie, the very ruler of Euphorium." The figure responded.
Suddenly one of the snakes grabbed Ana's book and gave it to the figure.
"You see this? Every word is this book is pure fiction, a falsehood to make you believe that happiness will always be there. But, I know that you're not like the others here, you actually feel as if something's off. You know better than to believe this book of make-believe. So Miss Emiliana, would you like to help me teach everyone in Euphorium how happiness truly works?"
"Um, I...think I would..."Ana trailed off unsurely, the snakes slowly loosening their grip on her ankles. The figure nodded as if trying to persuade her to side with her, nearing closer and closer until her face was only a few inches away from Ana's.
Ana then suddenly kicked the figure in the face as hard as she could, causing the snakes to fling off her ankles in the process.
She collected Kallie and her bowl and ran for dear life back to the castle.
"Race you there." The figure challenged as she turned the book into a vial of mysterious black liquid and disappeared in a flash.
"Ana, you need to run faster!" Kallie demanded as Ana dashed back home.
"But, I think we lost her..." Ana panted as she rested her hands on her knees for a brief moment," But I still want to know...What was she?"
"Emiliana where are you?" Ana heard what sounded like her mother calling for her. Ana spun around in an instant, spotting her mother running down the hill as fast as she could without tripping on her dress with a few guards accompanying.
"Mom!" Ana shouted as she rush to Queen Aurelie," There was this thing by the lake and it took my book and-"
"Why did you leave without my permission?" Aurelie asked quite sternly as she glowered down to Ana. Ana then sighed as she shook her head, reminding herself that she had something much more important to currently discuss with her mother.
"There was something that attacked me by the lakeside mom, it took away my book and then it started chasing me!" Ana exasperated in one breath.
"Something attacked you?" Aurelie repeated, her voice now ringing with concern," What on earth was it?"
Ana explained,"Just this pitch black figure that looked like a person, well in the shape of a person and-"
"You said it was chasing you, is it still after you?" One of the guards inquired.
"No, we lost it." Ana responded, expecting that answer to calm down the guards but only doing the exact opposite.
The guard hastily interjected,"Your majesty, we must head to-"
"To the sanctuary I know!" Aurelie interrupted in agitation with fear mixed into her voice as she looked towards Ana," Let's go."
The group darted towards the other end of the forest where the sanctuary was located, both Aurelie and Ana running out of breath before they reached the sanctuary. Aurelie urged Ana to carry on as it was only a little farther away now. The guards were way ahead of the duo now, but Aurelie had a sinking feeling that this could've ended in disaster, so she grabbed a hold of Ana's wrist and dragged her along, practically running for the both of them. When the two reached the sanctuary, Ana stopped running just to shiver as she felt cold sensation tingling down her spine.
"Come on, let's get going," Aurelie urged as she pulled open the doors.
"That thing has to be in there," Ana said under her breath as she tried to warm up her arms to get rid of the goose bumps that had emerged.
"How lovely of the mother-daughter duo to finally arrive!" The figure said, standing behind the altar in the sanctuary, strangling one of the guards with a pulsating whip of pitch black energy, the other two guards having been defeated already. The large sanctuary was very dimly lit, only being illuminated by a few very bright colourful lights, four to be exact sitting atop the altar with both Aurelie and the figure staring directly at them.
"Wouldn't it be a shame if someone were to blow these out?" The figure wondered aloud as she placed her hands onto the altar, inhaling in a breath as if getting ready to blow out the candles.
"You aren't powerful enough to do such a thing. Only something bearing pure, untainted magic mixed your rotten magic can do something like that." Aurelie declared as she cautiously took a step forward.
"Something bearing pure untainted magic, because pure magic turned dark is of course much stronger than plain old dark magic correct?" The figure asked," So maybe something like, a wand or a brooch or even a book..."
The figure conjured up the vial of black liquid that had previously been Ana's book,"...Perhaps that shall do the trick."
"No!" Ana and Aurelie shouted in unison, with the latter running at break neck speed towards the altar. The figure poured the liquid into it's mouth and was about to blow the candles out, but Aurelie swiped the candles from the altar. Aurelie was now standing on top of the altar, with all the candles in her hands.
"I won't ever let you dim out the flames from these lights, the four Everlasting Lights of Cheer!" Aurelie decreed, just before the figure yanked at her feet and made her fall.
"How can they be so everlasting if all it takes is one corrupted shred of magic to dim them out?" The figure asked as it neared uncomfortably close to Aurelie. Aurelie tried squirming back and just before the figure moved again, Aurelie called to Ana while throwing all the candles,
"Take them and run!"
Ana caught all of the candles and ran as fast as she possibly could, with the figure trailing towards her within seconds. Ana hid behind a tree and lost her for a moment, catching her breath and looking down at the candles nervously. The candles then floated out of her hands for a moment and together they had created another candle that was, pink, blue, silver, gold and white in colour. Just then, the figure found Ana and scared her so badly she fell to her feet.
"Th-these aren't for blowing out you know, and my mom's going to be really mad if you-"
"Too late for that." The figure claimed as it took a deep breath and blew out the candles right in front of Ana.
"No way," Ana gasped out desolately as she looked at the environment around her. Things were looking just fine a few moments ago but now, without the candles, everything would fall to pieces from here on out.
"Now that you have no need for them, hand them over." The figure instructed as she held out her hand. Ana just kept staring her down, without moving an inch.
"I said hand them over!" The figure demanded, startling Ana so badly that she nearly lost grip of the candles. Just then, the group of snakes from before shot out from the figure forearms and impulsively, Ana threw the four candles up into the air. Once the candles were launched into the air, they vanished into thin air.
"They're gone..." The of two of them said together as they stared up at the sky.
"It's fine, if you've sent them away somewhere, then rest assured, they will be found. But for now, it seems my work here is done. Oh I mean..." The figure noticed the final candle under Ana's hand and gravitated it away from Ana and into her grip.
"Never mind, I'm done here." The figure declared as Ana tried to reach out for that last candle before the figure disappeared.
Ana stared off in to space, unsure of what was going to happen now, and how irreversible the damage could be. She hugged her body, the air feeling a whole lot colder to her now as she watched clouds form over her head, when Euphorium hadn't seen a cloud in years. This was likely Ana's first time ever seeing a cloud, and before Ana could ponder anymore on the thought, she heard Aurelie calling for her.
"Ana, where are the-?"
"I couldn't keep that person from blowing them out, in the end I couldn't save them..." Ana replied dejectedly before coming to a realization," But you can! You were a Pretty Cure, Cure Jubilance, you can fix everything like you did when you were-!"
"Emiliana I can't-! I...I'm much too old now, my magic as Cure Jubilance has run out. I think it's time we elect new Pretty Cure to restore the flames to the four Everlasting Lights of Cheer and destroy the thing I left behind many years ago." Aurelie decided as she took a deep breath.
Ana interrogated curiously,"Then, where are we going to find the Pretty Cure? Are they going to be here in Euphorium or are they going to be in that-?"
"Yes, yes they shall be in that place as with Euphorium getting ready to fall to shambles without those lights, we won't have anyone suitable to take up the roles of Pretty Cure to save Euphorium and that world as well in due time." Aurelie answered with much haste," However, we aren't leaving Euphorium, I actually know just who to entrust with this task who happens to be in the human world right now..."