antebellum
antebellum. it means before the war.
by la rose de versailles
He was not always like this.
But that was how most villains began. They never did a particular thing wrong and there was never anything traumatic in their childhood that could have created them this way. They never meant to do this. They never meant to do that. They never meant to hurt the people that they loved. He had been a child then, when his father discussed treaties between the Waisen Empire and Kaleila. The prince had always been in pursuit of intelligence, always reading and fascinating himself with the findings and teachings of the world.
He wanted to change the world, make an ideal place for the people who he loved to live in. He wanted to make them happy. He wanted to make everyone happy. A world where fighting was unheard of and no one person was ever unhappy. It would be a grand place to live and perhaps it was just that in which compelled him to look for a way to change the world to his liking. This would be good for everyone, he said.
He had a kind heart. But it was just that one desire that created his downfall. The prime minister of the Waisen Empire told him of how a book could change the entire world to the prince's desires. He had demanded to know where this book was. Any book with the power to change the world was important enough for him to read. It was called the Book of Prophecy. It had the power to create both miracles and tragedies. And like that, the prince of the Waisen Empire left his home to find this book.
And like that the prime minister's trap snapped shut. The prince was trapped.
It had been in the middle of the night when all humans and monsters alike were asleep. An assassin had snuck into the prince's tent after receiving the clear from the prime minister. A simple thrust of a sword and he was nearly dead. Werman gave specific directions to not kill him entirely. The body could not have died completely. The heart still had to be beating, and it was much easier to send the spirit of a demon lord into a body when the owner's spirit was weak. It was easier to overcome than a strong will.
It was for that reason and that reason only that Werman did not kill the Waisen prince.
Kullervo, the demon lord, lived again. He harmed the people that the prince held dear, ruined a treaty, and started a war. And the prince, still weak inside his own body, could not fight back. He could only submit to the will of Kullervo. It was no longer the world that he had wanted so badly. No, instead it was a war between two kingdoms. He wished, wished so desperately for the strength to fight back the demon lord that now shared his body. But he never received it.
It took a girl, his own age if not a bit younger, with a book to bring forth salvation to the land.
It took her to correct all the wrongs he had done. Although he had committed so many wrongs against her as well, she held no grudges. How could she love a world that had turned against her? She forgave all the people that betrayed her. Her strength fascinated him. Through it all, she had found the ability to continue loving the world that he had become disgusted with. He had asked her once, and she only laughed. She told him of how the world is not entirely filled with bad people. There are always good in everything. Even in Kullervo. Even in him, the Waisen prince.
She showed him kindness, coming by every day and giving him a small present from her book.
She gave him a flower once. It was called a silver azel. He could not understand why she had, though she only smiled and said, "It means to give support. I want to support you in everything you do. So maybe you will find a way to make a world where no one fights." He only stared at her with wide eyes. "You can start with your own kingdom and Kaleila." He closed his hand around the stem of the flower, and nodded slowly.
She smiled.
It was these days now in which Valdo wished for the antebellum. He recalled the word from a history book he had read once. Antebellum meant for the period of time before a war. Perhaps then, he would have been able to love her as much as she loved the world.