Arcturius was once a man of faith, love, and loyalty.

Abandoned to a religious orphanage when he was a baby, Arcturius's early childhood was heavily centered around the Brother Gods. He placed his childish faith in the Gods, offering prayers to both several times every day. He even once dreamed to become a Knight of the Brothers, a holy warrior in the service of the faith and faithful.

As fate would have it, Arcturius was to be become a knight, however, not in service of the Brother Gods directly. He was chosen by both the Imperial Guard and Emperor Karl himself to serve as the young Crown Princess Salem's peer and bodyguard. He would befriend the Crown Princess, all the while receiving training from the Imperial Guard to become an effective knight and bodyguard. It may not have been his exact dream, but he put his trust in the Gods who dealt him this fate.

The moment he first laid his gaze upon Princess Salem, Arcturius was captured by her unmatched beauty. He wrongly believed he fell in love with the Princess at that moment. He only realized that what he felt at that moment was infatuation for her radiance when he finally, truly, fell in love with her because of her kindness and gentleness. With this love, he affirmed his vow to serve and protect Salem until his death.

When the Emperor was diagnosed with an incurable sickness, Arcturius was the one guarded Salem's room in the Tower of the Stars, becoming her constant companions for years. He tried his best to keep the joy of Salem alive, but he could never be enough for someone who is caged. He fell into his own despair and desperately petitioned the Emperor at every opportunity to release Salem from her tower prison, but Emperor Karl would not be moved. Z

In a moment of weakness and desperation, Arcturius would accede to the singular request of Salem to send out her letters to the public. Arcturius would always remember how the joy in her smile and the light in her eye at that moment outshone everything else previously. He took comfort in their brightness and continued the act, not knowing that everything would start spiraling out of control.

One day, an adventurer by the name of Ozma arrived at the entrance of Salem's room, having apparently snuck past everyone else. Arcturius, being the only guard in the tower, dueled Ozma alone, eventually being defeated by Ozma's greater experience and knocked out. When he came to, Ozma and Salem were gone.

Shamed by his defeat, Arcturius took up the duty of searching for Salem with vigor. He did not know what kind of man that adventurer was, and so the Princess could very well be in danger.

Arcturius would continue his search even after the death of Emperor Karl but ultimately, his efforts would be worthless. Salem would return to the Empire on her own, taking the throne after being spurned by the Brother Gods.

Arcturius blamed himself for the pain Salem went through. He blamed himself for not defeating Ozma at the Tower. He blamed himself for not finding Salem before Ozma could be healed by Imperial Physicians. He blamed himself for not finding Salem as she wandered the realm alone. He swore once again that he will not fail Salem anymore.

So, when Salem wished to march against the Brother Gods as vengeance for the pain, they caused her, Arcturius was more than willing to set aside his Gods.

Arcturius led Salem's army to the realm of the God of Light. He struck down thousands of holy constructs of the God of Light and vanquished thousands more of the hellish Grimm of the God of Darkness. However, no matter how many he defeated, millions more were lost for Salem. The toll of vengeance was too high a number for even the greatest army of the realm. It was only through the magic of Salem, powered by her grief and rage, that the Brother Gods were forced to leave the world. In the end, Arcturius came out of the battle with a lost eye and hand, as well as the burden of countless lives slain.

Arcturius, even with his injuries, joined Salem as she journeyed to the realm of the God of Darkness, to make sure that there were traces of the Dark Brother anymore. However, due to his injuries, he could not react quickly enough to stop Salem from throwing herself from the Pools of Darkness.

When Salem emerged from the Pools, she realized her mistake and despaired. She both saw and felt the taint of the Pools. To Arcturius however, she was still his liege and tried to ensure her safety and escort her back to the Empire. Salem refused and demanded that Arcturius leave her be, to which Arcturius eventually but reluctantly agreed to, allowing Salem to leave.

Arcturius returned instead to Cadia, to his wife and daughter.

After some years, news arrived that Empress Salem had returned to the Imperial Palace and retaken her throne, bringing with her a reincarnated Ozma. Her return sparked Arcturius' sense of duty once more, so he set out to serve under Empress Salem.

Arcturius served his duty of guarding the Empress and her Consort well and continued to do so even when it extended towards their four daughters. He treated them like his own, training them alongside his own daughter in the Imperial Palace.

However, such a harmony did not last forever. Empress Salem, tainted by the Pools of Darkness and her own trauma, steadily grew more authoritarian and callous in her rule. While Ozma and their daughters took note of this change and protested, Arcturius chose to ignore it all in the name of duty and loyalty.

Finally, the day came when Ozma could not tolerate Salem's change anymore and chose to take their daughters away to force Salem's hand. Salem was angered by this betrayal and hunted Ozma down personally. Naturally for Arcturius, he joined her in her search, ever loyal to Salem.

They finally caught up to Ozma and the Four Princesses, who were now imbued with strong Elemental Magic, in a dense forest in Vale. There, Salem confronted her husband and daughters. When it became clear that no one would budge willingly, both sides came to blows, with Salem taking on Ozma and Arcturius taking on the Four Princesses.

Arcturius struggled against the Four Princesses, being both outnumbered and overpowered by their newly gotten powers. However, he held the advantage of superior skill honed by years of experience and the intimate knowledge of their fighting styles. In the end, Arcturius would only barely defeat the Four Princesses through virtue of endurance.

Arcturius did not even take time to rest when he rushed towards Salem and Ozma fighting with their magical powers. Even when severely exhausted, Arcturius found enough strength to keep Ozma distracted in close combat.

Unlike when he fought against the Four Princesses, Arcturius held no notion of avoiding a fatal blow against Ozma. He held no familial affection for Ozma compared to the Princesses and believed that Ozma was too dangerous to be able to be captured without casualty. So, when Ozma finally slipped and gave Arcturius an opening, Arcturius sent his sword to Ozma's vulnerability.

However, before his blade could land the final strike against Ozma, Salem cried out for him to stop. Ever loyal, Arcturius' body froze in compliance, allowing Ozma to react and strike him down instead.

Arcturius fell, his body slowly dying from the attack. At full strength, Arcturius might have recovered. With his body beyond exhaustion and badly damaged, it was a fatal blow.

Arcturius hoped that at the very least, he would see Salem finally defeat Ozma and end his treason. Sadly, what he witnessed was the defeated look of his Empress, before she took flight, leaving Ozma and their daughters victorious and him to die.

Arcturius was once a man of faith, love, and loyalty. Now he is just a dying man filled with regret. Regret for having faith in cruel Gods. Regret for being blinded by love. Regret for all he did for loyalty.

Arcturius regrets leaving his family; his own wife and daughter. He only now realizes that it was them who reciprocated his actions in kind. He only now realizes that it was them that he truly needed.

Arcturius made one last vow, this time not for Salem, but for his family.

"If there is another chance, I will choose my family."

With those final words, Arcturius, Knight of the Empire, died.


Arcturius slowly opened his eyes, the sparse light of torches still somewhat harsh to his vision. He blinked multiple times to get his bearings and soon took in his surroundings.

He seemed to be inside a hollowed space of a wall, seemingly in the silhouette of a person. Arcturius thought it strange but chose focus on checking the rest of the area.

He peered out of his hole in the wall and saw a long, stone corridor in front of him with lit torches lighting up what it can. There were banners where twin, golden, crescent moons rested on a white field in between the torches.

'They look like the Crescent Moons of Lake Cadia.' Arcturius mused to himself, remembering the unexplained phenomenon of twin moons being reflected on the lake before the moon was destroyed.

He looked to the left and saw another stone corridor, also with torches, but also with some sort of shelves carved into the walls. Upon a longer inspection, Arcturius realized they were tombs for the dead.

"That must mean I'm in a catacomb of sorts. Fitting, as I died." Arcturius morbidly voiced out for his own sake.

Arcturius then peered to his right and immediately took notice of a small figure. He looked down and was surprised to see a blonde boy, arguably having his own likeness when he was a child, looking up at him with both fear and wonder in his eyes.

"Hello, young child. Can yo-"

"AHHHH! ZOMBIE!"