Prologue: Welcome to Elysium

Have you ever been killed by the one you love?

The one who makes your heart race. The one who you treasure dearly. The one who you want to protect, even if you have to forfeit your life.

I have.

The feeling of cold steel running through my heart. The crimson dress dyed with my blood. The shining sword, with its eloquent decorations, slipping from my hands. The faces of onlookers, distorted with disgust, turning their gazes away. I remembered it all.

Yes, I remembered it all. Even my fiancé’s gallant glare, and that bitch’s teary eyes.

“Enrique… why…” I whispered, my strength leaving me with each passing second.

Silence was his answer, as a stream of blood ran down his blade. With a clean move, he pulled his sword out of my body, and let gravity guide my body to the crimson floor.

“Celestia…” he finally whispered back, but I could answer his call no longer. Darkness enveloped my world, and the light in my eyes faded. Only in death, I found my answer.

I was the villainess, and for my villainous acts, I shall receive divine retribution.

On that day, I was executed for attempted murder of my own sister. With that, my soul should burn in Hell for all eternity, for the gates to Elysium shall remain forever closed to the sinned.

Or so I thought.

“Your work is not yet done.” In the eternal darkness, an angel whispered.

———————

“…She’s awake! Call the doctor!”

…So noisy. Am I even being denied a rest in peace? Was that the extent of my sin?

“Hey, you! Can you hear us?”

…Let me sleep a bit more. I worked hard enough already. Hellfire can wait…

“Can you hear me? Yuri!” A voice called for me.

Now, who in the Goddess’s name is that? Can’t you even recognise who I am, you goddamned devil? I am Celestia Inkfield, the eldest daughter of Duke Inkfield! No one in the Kingdom would mistake me for anyone else, not even a common peasant would!

“Yuri! Open your eyes!” Another insolent devil insisted. I needed to give her a piece of my mind.

I opened my eyes.

The ceiling was white. The walls were white. The light, unnatural and sterile, was white. Hell surely looked different to their counterparts in the Scriptures, I thought.

“Thank goodness!” The little devil jumped at me, tears running down her cute face. Her fellow demon, a man with clean but plain looks, stood firmly besides her. Even devils look different to what the Scriptures say. Far from being monstrous and murderous beings, they look indistinguishable from humans. Even the little demon’s long, wavy hair is so fluffy…

…Indistinguishable from a human?

It was then I started to notice my surroundings.

People in exotic dresses. Unknown machines. Large, glass windows. And what lied beyond those windows:

Brilliant lights that pierced through the night. Horseless wagons running on roads of asphalt. Statues of glass reaching for the heavens. Buildings of stone, interconnecting and never ending, reaching for the horizon.

I know this place. This is not Hell. Rather, if the Scriptures are right, this is—

“You are finally awake.” A voice spoke in my head. The same voice I heard as my consciousness faded before my fiancé. An angel’s voice.

“I—” I tried to speak, but my lack of strength betrayed me.

“Your soul must not yet rest. Your soul, tainted by sin as it is, yet fulfils a purpose. For that, uprooted was your soul, and settle here it should.

“Welcome to Earth, to the Commonwealth of Great Britain and Ireland. Mayhaps you know it by a different name.

“Elysium — the Realm of Gods.”