Silver Millennium: Prologue
Part I
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of the Sailor moon which appear The Dominion of Knights & Years of Silver Light, but I do however own the original characters which I have created for this, the Prologue, and for the Interlude.
This is the first addition in a series about the Silver Millennium, their order is as follows:
1. Silver Millennium: Prologue
2. Interlude: Snippets from the Silver Millennium
3. Silver Millennium Part 1: The Dominion of Knights
4. Silver Millennium Part 2: Years of Silver Light
5. Silver Millennium Part 3: The End of All Things
Chapter 1: The Birth of a Uranian Heir
The Beginning of King Elieon's reign upon the moon, year 579
The Imperial City, Uranus
Castle Deagelle
The wind blown valleys of Uranus were densely quiet, with not a sound being uttered above the light whisper of winds stirring their sand from its resting place. This was a land of practicing warriors, never was the air so still without the sounds of clanging swords and clattering bronze armor, but it was on this day that all of the Uranian warriors of the northern half of Uranus were idly awaiting the birth of their reigning lord's child.
No songs were written or sung by the gifted minstrels upon this day in the north, as anxiousness filled the singers hearts. No great feat of architecture was conceived upon this day, no law by the northern king's body of elders was passed. Only the priests within the temples of the gods were allowed to practice their trade, as their work may spurn the gods to bestow upon the king's wife the heir he so desired.
The Moon Kingdom at this time, as a united kingdom, was not unified underneath one solid ruler and so each planet still maintained its own monarchs, clinging fiercely to their own native identities and closing their borders to all foreigners. Uranus was a great empire, of vast providences, unrivaled architecture, unparalleled speed runners, and of some of the strongest warriors in the universe. It was unfortunately also home to one of the most tyrannical of royal families to ever rule a family, who repressed and imposed harsh laws upon their people without grasp or thought. There were only a select few, whom could be christened as good rulers, and the majority of them were later classified by the Uranian libraries as weaklings, unwilling to press the common people to their limits for the good of the state.
Uranus, unlike the other planets, had two kings as its vast stretches of land were hard for one central ruler to subjugate and rule. All planetary rulers have found this difficult, but the Uranians decided to ease their burden. In the beginning days emperors ruled Uranus. As the ages passed the emperors became tyrannical and unsound, treating the people's problems that they could not understand with cruelty and brutality.
This stung at the people's hearts much as how salt stings when it is forcefully ground into an open wound. To end this, the last Uranian Emperor, the tyrant Sarpedon Tarpiea, was executed by his own guards. He left in his place his two sons Aeolus Tenous and Alastair, both of which he had intended to rule Uranus simultaneously, but the two brothers hated each other with vengeance and so they divided Uranus up into two separate parts, one for each one of them to rule: the north and the south.
The south was to be ruled by Prince Alastair and his line of descendants whom would forever follow in his wake. The north was to be ruled by Prince Aeolus and his line of descendants who would forever follow in his wake. To distinguish the now separate royal lines from one another, the two kings spilt their royal crest in half, each one taking the symbol of strength which they thought would represent them the best.
King Aeolus Tenous took the symbols of a golden hawk clutching a serpent in its talons as his family symbol, this stated that his family was always keen to snatch up and destroy evil. King Alastair took the symbols of a golden stallion arching its head up towards the heavens, this stated how his family line wished to take their place within the heavens where all good things originate.
In this time upon Uranus, both houses are just coming into their own power. King Aeolus died of old age and left his son King Bastion to rule the north. The very monarch whom now waits impatiently for the birth of his new heir in the capital city in the north.
Deep within the heart of the Imperial city, in an ancient castle of stone, the Uranian king of the north paced nervously in his palace foyer. On the other side of the castle, in the Queen's personal chamber, a baby cried unheeded as it was brought forth into the world.
Two dark wood double doors swung open and a royal servant clad in the family colors of gold and navy emerged from the corridor to greet his king. The king had stopped in his pacing and was now standing before the foyer window watching the common peddlers and villagers before his walls go about their business in their day to day routines. The Uranian king possessed a dignified air about his ways which followed him in everything he did, along with a noble appearance encompassing neatly groomed hair the color of sand and almond shaped eyes the color of the stormiest of skies.
On this particular day, however, the king appeared disheveled as his nerves about his child's successful birth were at their peak. The royal seers and midwives had been unsuccessful in their efforts in the last nine months to tell if the Queen would give birth to a boy or a girl, with the defense that the stars were not aligned to their liking, disturbing their foresight.
This created a problem. There had long ago been a law set down on the Uranian royal house hold, by the first Uranian emperor, Sarpius, from which both of the Uranian royal families are descended. It decreed that a woman could not rule the Uranian states and if one did happen to do so, death would be the immediate punishment.
So you see, the king did not wish for his wife to give birth to a daughter whom might cause their family to forfeit their throne to another whose influence might drive them from power completely. The Uranian king closed his eyes and bent his head to his chest in silent prayer, desperately praying to all of the Gods for a son.
"My lord?" the navy and gold clad servant bowed his blonde head to his king.
"Yes, Jafari? " the Uranian king asked anxiously, turning towards his chamberlain.
The servant squirmed uneasily beneath the Uranian king's penetrating gaze, but stood his ground and stood up straight and unflinching.
"The queen gave birth to a baby girl, my lord." Jafari replied grimly.
The king's expression had become grave and he rubbed his blonde bearded chin slightly in deep thought.
"You are certain?" the King demanded of his chamberlain, "Be sure!"
"As sure as the winds blow my lord, she has brought a princess into the world." Jafari answered.
An exasperated sigh was all the king gave in reply, rubbing the back of his navy collared neck in worried contemplation while starring out the window. King Bastion had not been expecting this set back. Finally his voice resurfaced, but it was wearied and shallow.
"The poor girl, cursed will be her destiny. The queen will give birth to other children. Tell me, Jafari, do you believe the next one will be a son?" the King asked his trusted seer and chamberlain.
Jafari starred out of the window beside the king searching his thoughts for the correct answer. In the back of his mind's eye he beheld a child practicing sword play with his father's guards.
"Yes, and your successor." Jafari answered with a lilt of disdain in his tone of voice, "But his rule as king will be short and unloved."
"Why?" the king asked noting with growing annoyance how his servant remained deliberately silent towards his inquiry, "Speak seer."
The good chamberlain would rather hide the truth from his king then face execution for perjury Jafari cleared his throat and placed a smile on his face turning towards his king.
"Do not trouble yourself about that matter now, my lord, for all will be explained in due time. Now, in the present, you have a daughter; but the question is what to call her." Jafari spoke leading his master on to a different train of thought.
The king remained stoic and still, searching through word combinations of his native tongue to see which one would fit this great blemish born on his name. Searching for a degrading name, the King Bastion was swept up with pity for his child and therefore settled for a more noble one instead.
"She shall be called Regelle." the king stated firmly.
Jafari's blue eyes widened. Every Uranian royal born to this family over the last two hundred years had taken foreign names and yet the girl was to be given a name in their native tongue instead. Even more surprising, the king had given the girl quite a distinguished name.
"But, my lord…that name means to 'proudly serve', surely-" Jafari began in protest.
"Silence seer! Take me to see my wife." the king ordered, leaving no doubt to his request by the seriousness of his tone.
"As you command, my king." Jafari said bowing as he remembered his place, "This way."
The Uranian queen lay in her chambers, surrounded by linen navy blue blankets and white silk sheets while her long golden hair fanned out around her; cascading in soft waves down he pillows. . Her demeanor was weakened with exhaustion from the birth of her child as her mind kept fighting for consciousness just as sleep was relentlessly fighting a battle to take her.
In her arms lay a sleeping infant, smaller than most, but no less as strong as any other newborn babe. Her head was lightly dusted with hair the color of sand illuminated by the sun and her skin was white as freshly fallen Mercurian snow. The tiny child was curled up silently, protectively held in her mother's embrace.
"My little star." The queen cooed to her sleeping child, the baby's golden hair catching the light of the candles which kept the room alight. "How perfect you are."
"Lucilla?" a voice questioned at the chamber door.
Recognizing the voice of her husband, Lucilla called out, "Come in, Bastion."
The Uranian king entered his wife's private chambers. She smiled up at him as he entered, but frowned almost fearfully as she took in his grim expression.
"Bastion?" the queen wearily questioned her husband, finding the fact that his unwavering gaze rested on the child in her arms disturbing.
"It…the child is a girl." Bastion stated and did not waver.
"Yes." the queen replied, her pale blue eyes hardening as her protective arms tightened around her sleeping babe.
Bastion seemed lost. He made a movement as if to turn sharply to his left, but then spun back around to face his wife, his navy blue cloak swirling and then coming to rest over his shoulder as he did so.
"The Gods curse us and you cling protect fully to that abomination." the Uranian king fumed, seeming angry while holding in the depths of his teal eyes an aura of great doubt and insecurity, which were not often traits of the king . "What may she yield me? She, by her very gender, cannot be an heir. To marry her off would not lay us any further fortune accept for to lose a daughter and gain a king to claim the throne for his own family, disregarding our own. What can she possibly bring me that could be worth while?"
"Joy." The queen replied softly, appealing to the insecurity in her spouse's eyes while trying to dispel the doubt which lay there. "She will love you with all of her heart, as any child loves their father. What abomination is there in that?"
"The abomination recognized only by culture and condemned by society." Bastion replied, his continuing resistance to his wife's words stemming from a feeling deep within him, "She will love me if I treat her as a daughter should be treated, that is for certain. I am no fool. She will love me yes, but that does not secure this family any place in our world."
"This world is sanctioned by love." The queen said smiling slightly as she gazed affectionately down at the infant child in her arms, "The people bend to love, simply because it is more powerful than they themselves are. Young adults live for the chance to feel love's grace. Children rejoice in their parents' love, their naïve innocence proving more prudent than any wise man in the matter of their emotions."
"How can you deem a child as wise?" the king criticized as he used one arm to push aside his navy cloak as he sat down on a wooden stool beside his wife's bed.
"Because what they feel in their emotions they hail as the truth." the queen replied reaching out with one hand to stroke Bastion's cheek in a soothing gesture, "The world does not yet hold sway over their decisions enough to influence them in the ways of what is certain by society and of what is thought lost or without hope in culture. They know only what is certain in their own hearts, believing in any emotion they might have enough to pursue it into being. This is wise because it is truth, after all, what is truer than what is born of human hearts? Nothing outside of our hearts is certain in this world of ours, not loss, not succession, not war, nor peace.
"To that end, nothing is certain about this child. How is it that you could decide her own fate for her when your yourself have not seen it? How is it that you know she is an humiliation to your crown if your have not yet seen her quality of life? She may prove more a sign of hope than anything else has on this planet." The queen continued gazing pleadingly at her husband. "My point is Bastion, we have seen many things in our lifetime, the destruction of chaos by means of war, the birth of the immortals on Pluto, the reign of the moon, the bringing of life of earth; but none so strong as the love we feel in our hearts. As rulers, we have experienced so much in this universe where as what we have not promoted is the strength our own hearts. Whatever decision you make concerning the child, let is be born of your heart and not of your mind."
Bastion's teal eyes shifted from unyielding to completely uncertain, as his golden eyebrows knit together in prolonged thought.
"Remember, my love, only with love in toe can we truly transcend one step closer to heaven." the queen whispered and smiled softly, remembering the first date she had attended with him. "Do you remember it?"
Bastion's heart eased a bit, a rare smile warming his features, "Yes. You had asked me why, if my mother did not approve, would I still desire to love you and I had said, 'Because with you I feel a step closer to heaven.' Times seemed simpler then. "
"When looking back at events in time it always seems as if they are simpler because we are looking back on them." the queen replied.
The Uranian king cleared his throat as the smile disappeared from his face and he became stern again.
"The child is ours, and we shall raise her as our own." Bastion stated firmly. "But she is not to interfere in any political affairs. For if she does so in our government's sight, then the penalty is death."
The queen nodded and leaned over to kiss her husband affectionately, a hopeful demeanor to her features.
"I swear to you, Bastion, she will make an excellent daughter." the queen smiled, her voice hopeful as she spoke, "All she needs is the chance to live."
The Uranian king nodded his head and smiled letting his gaze fall upon his newly born child as he reached out a gruff, sword worn hand to lightly brush through the thin strands of golden hair upon the sleeping princess's head. "I will give her that, and I promise you Lucilla, that I will raise her with the same affection as if she were my son."
The queen smiled, as she looked into her husband's teal eyes she saw truth and the promise of a happy future. That was all she really wanted. This life, he baby, and him. Yes, this was to be the start of a happy new life together, nothing could hinder that now.
Author's Note: There have been some changes made to the first chapter, but not huge ones. This may sound confusing, but my story is set in such a way that chapter two actually occurred before chapter one, so it is a look back upon an event which has already taken place and which the readers have never encountered before. Most of my chapters happen this way, as I like to recall the events of the other main character's childhood at the same time as I do Regelle's, although their childhoods took place at two completely different times in the story. When reading it simply remember that the events of chapter two are a prerequisite to chapter one. Thanks! R& R!
