It was April 30th, and the kingdom of Corona was filled to the brim with lights and celebration. It was the eve of the princess's wedding. Although it was fast approaching midnight, the kingdom's countless celebratory lanterns, which were set ablaze by its people, made the whole kingdom shine enough to rival even the star Polaris in all of its radiant beauty and glow. The villagers were anxiously preparing for the grande event that was to take place tomorrow, as they had gotten used to the help of their princess and it is customary for the queen and king-to-be to take the eve of their wedding day as a day of zen and relaxation—or at least, it "was" customary in generations past.
"Eugene...euuugene...Hmm, no answer", Rapunzel said. She had been up since seven in the morning doing a whole range of things: pacing around her room, reading an old book of hers and painting yet another depiction of the sun on the door, this time setting it over a beautiful tower on a hill.
"Mmmphmmf...", he groggily responded in a half-asleep stupor.
"...Ok, that's it. It's almost noon, and I'm about to go crazy.", she said. "Pascal, do your thing...Pascal?...Pascal...?"
She looked around. The room was dead silent. She tried calling out one more time.
"Pascal...Pascal, this is not funny, I really need your help with Eugene!"
Again, an eery quiet enveloped the room. Even Corona itself was mysteriously quiet, with the sky itself beginning to take an ominous shade of violet, almost as if the entire kingdom itself were being taken away from time itself. Rapunzel started panicking, as Pascal had never left her side like this before. As she was just about to get her shoes to check for Pascal in the horse stables, Rapunzel began to hear a strange music coming from the window. As motivated as she was go to find Pascal, there was something about this music that kept her feet stuck in the position they were in, an entrancing trait that kept her immobilized. As the music kept getting louder, she began to hear the voices of a choir singing in some sort of foreign dialect. What dialect it was, she couldn't tell—all she knew was that the voices, though they sounded like a normal choir, had an unusual quality about them, almost as if they weren't human to begin with.
Moments later, a slow, rhythmic vibration began to shake the floor of the room, growing louder and louder, almost as if they were coming from an enormous bird, flapping its wings through the open sky. Both the choir and wings continued to grow louder and louder, piercing Rapunzel's mind as she struggled to muffle the sound by covering her ears. She looked to back to the bed where Eugene was sleeping, hoping to see her husband-to-be awake and just as terrified as she was. Yet all she saw was the mangled face of a corpse staring right back at her, kept aglow by a bright red aura emanating from the window. She quickly averted her eyes from the image and tried staring out the window instead, yet what she saw left her without words. The kingdom was in flames, with the shrieks of the citizens fanning the ever growing fire covering Corona.
She couldn't take it anymore. She closed her eyes. Even so, the sounds and lights kept growing louder and brighter, almost melding together in a chaotically dissonant melting pot of sounds until they suddenly stopped. Rapunzel waited a moment, keeping her hands close to her ears and her eyes completely shut until she felt the coast was clear. Almost a minute passed by in complete, almost-deafening silence. Yet, as quiet as the air was, it almost felt as if someone, or something, was with her as well.
"Child of the Lumen flower...", a deep, almost guttural voice said from the other side of the room.
Rapunzel, startled by the voice, opened her eyes; and was left almost without words. A white, bird-like creature, bipedal in appearance, stood before her in grande stature. Covering it's body was a pearl tunic, emblazoned with teal patterns she only had seen in mosaics across the castle walls. On it's head was a blood red helmet, making it seem as if the creature was preparing to go to war.
"Child of the Lumen flower...heed my utterances...", she felt the creature tell her. Although she saw no movement of the creature's beak, she felt its voice reverberating in her head.
"On this day...the kingdom of Corona will fall. There is nothing that can be done to prevent the curse that will soon envelope this land. You must see for yourself..." As he said this, a great explosion came from the village square. Rapunzel, suddenly able to move her legs, ran to the windowsill and watched as a dark violet plume of smoke rose from the square, accompanied by the agonizing screams of nearby villagers. Tears started to stream from her eyes. Her kingdom was falling apart before her eyes, pascal was nowhere to be found, and Eugene was dead—he was really dead. Worst of all, there was nothing she could do to stop it.
"There has to be a way! There just HAS TO!", Rapunzel pleaded.
"Child of the Lumen Flower...", the creature spoke as it hovered closer and closer to Rapunzel, who was once again unable to move.
"Kill the one...", it said.
The creature was only mere inches from Rapunzel's face. A bright light suddenly came from the creature's right arm which spawned a glowing, golden axe, emblazoned with the Coronan sun in the center of the weapon. The creature slowly raised the axe, centering its aim on Rapunzel's head.
"...the one who's power threatens the light, the one who threatens Paradiso itself..."
The creature extended its wings, which seemed to span the entire length of the room as it continued to speak.
"So say I...Affinity...messenger of Jubileus". With a mighty roar, Affinity swung down its axe, leaving Rapunzel in a vacuum of total darkness.
"I'm dead...no...we're all dead...and it's all my fault", she thought.
"Rapunzel...Rapunzel...", a voice from the void spoke.
"Rapunzel...? Blondie...!", the voice continued.
"Eugene...?", Rapunzel thought.
"Rapunzel...! Geez...Pascal, a little help...?", the voice spoke.
Suddenly, Rapunzel felt a cold surge hit her as she opened her eyes to the sight of Eugene, alive and well, along with Pascal, who's tongue was curiously attached to something. Her ear.
"Aack!", she shrieked as Pascal, startled half to death, jumped through the air and right back down onto Eugene's shoulder.
"Geez blondie, ever heard of 'rise and shine'?", he exclaimed. "Change your cloths, we have to welcome the wedding guests today remember?"
"Wedding...oh, the wedding...Yes.", Rapunzel yawned.
"Geez, I knew we shouldn't have gone lantern-watching yesterday. You're gonna fall asleep on the guests, and I heard that one of the guests...Duke of Weaseltown or something...isn't so keen on informalities."
Rapunzel chucked, "Ok Eugene, let me get ready."
"Oh, I almost forgot...you need to wear this."
Eugene tossed over something to Rapunzel.
"We gotta at least maintain some sort of retro tradition in Corona after all."
Rapunzel looked down at the charm, it was a little flower shaped in the form of a ring. She smelled the ring. Rosemary, her mother's favorite flower.
"Wow, it smells amazing! Where did you get it?"
"Your mother made it, she's really good at crafting you know."
"Yeah, no kidding! What's the occasion?"
At this, Eugene smirked as he mimicked the voices of the castlemaids.
"Why Rapunzel my dear! Don't you remember?"
He yanked a black curtain from one of the neighboring windows and placed it on his head, while Pascal sat on top, waving his little arms which, like his whole body, were as red as a tomato.
"Today is Walpurgisnacht, the night of the witches."