1 Prologue

A long time ago, in an alternate world, there was a young man who was born in a prestigious family line blessed with great magical powers and the unnatural talent to handle all kinds of weapons.

The family in question was royalty, in line to the throne of a powerful and ancient holy kingdom that their ancestors have founded since the gods of their world deigned their attention upon them.

They were known as the 'Lucis Caelum'.

The founder of the said family was a child born from a mortal couple that the astrals deemed worthy of their trust, but he shares the divine blood and the combined powers of two astral gods, the 'Astral Goddess of Death', Etro, and the 'Astral Dragon God of Light', Bahamut.

The founder was 2/3 god and 1/3 human. Simply put, he was a Demi-God born from a human, but possess the divine blood of the astral gods.

He was created with one singular purpose in mind, and that was to put an end to the mad tyranny of the traitorous 'Astral God of Fire', Ifrit, for his reckless and vengeful actions against mankind.

At first, the situation had not been like that. Like the rest of his kind, Ifrit loved mankind as well.

Humans had been created after their image, and even though they were indifferent to the man's fragile and ephemeral existence, Ifrit had admired their strength of will.

Granting mankind his flame, a civilization flourished: 'Solheim'.

Having seen Ifrit's benevolence, the 'Astral Goddess of Ice', Shiva, was moved by his rare gesture of kindness and fell in love with him, along with coming to adore the humans as well.

The Glacian, Shiva, had also used to be indifferent towards humans, to the point of even disliking the mortals for the fleeting nature of their lives, and how they cling to their hopes and dreams.

But after witnessing their compassion and benevolence in others, she had come to love them too.

From then on, the two astral deities had watched over mankind with joy, along with the rest of the astral gods, content to simply observed the lives of humans and their progress for the future.

However, in time, some Solheimians began to see themselves as superior to the gods and spurned their blessings. Due to the perceived betrayal of the Astrals by Solheim's people, Ifrit had declared war upon them, triggering the event that was soon called the 'War of the Astrals'.

All the eight astrals had sworn to protect Eos, even from each other, and thus, the other astrals had turned against Ifrit.

Left with no allies, Ifrit was resolute in his path of destruction and then created a dangerous plague that threatens all life on Eos, the 'Starscourge'.

The Starscourge was a powerful plague that he had set upon Eos, which lengthens the night and mutate humans into creatures that was called 'Daemons'.

It was a plague that had afflicted the denizens of Eos since time immemorial. But, the true origins of the Starscourge remains unknown even to the present.

What was known though, was that the Starscourge was an appellation of organisms infected by a mutant strain of 'Plasmodium Malarie', which was a sickness that the plague had adapted from.

Once introduced to a body, the photophobic parasites would exert full control, rapidly distorting the physiology and manipulating the behavior of its host, so as to render their hosts' original forms eventually indiscernible while also dispersing a light-absorbing miasma.

Due to Ifrit's machinations and his dangerous creation of the 'Starscourge', Solheim had eventually collapsed and was destroyed via the plague by Ifrit.

The Astral God of Fire, however, was still not satisfied, and soon, he turned his attention upon all of mankind and the remaining cities.

However, his former allies got in the way of his plans.

To prevent Eos from succumbing from the Starscourge, Bahamut, Etro and the rest of the astrals had began to create a plan that will put Ifrit's reckless actions to a stop and save Eos from the plague.

The conclusion of which they had came to, was the existence of the Founder and a pious woman of the Fleuret family from Tenebrae, who was bestowed with the power to commune with the Seven Astrals. Bahamut even gave her his trident to help her battle the long night beside the founder.

With their combined efforts and determination, the founder and the woman of the Fleuret family had put an end to the long night that plagued the world of Eos for many years.

In addition, the founder had even managed to banished the God of Fire, Ifrit, into the dark pits of the unknown and well away from the realm of humans with the assistance of the astrals.

Ifrit was never seen after that time ever again, though the question remains whether he is truly dead or was simply cast out to the very depths of the unknown, healing and bidding his time to return.

After the war, the astrals had given the two mortals several things as a reward for their efforts.

The woman of the Fleuret family was given a prestigious title known as the 'Oracle', as a sign of her character, a line to the throne of Tenebrae's kingdom, and the trident that was left in her hands as a sign of the astrals good faith in her and her descendants.

The founder, on the other hand, had been given several things: large acres of land that had received the seven astrals blessings, a ring to that gave him the power over light and death, and a mysterious crystal that he and his descendants were instructed to protect with their very lives.

As it had been passed on in their family's history, the founder was said to be given these 'gifts' by an astral god with a certain purpose in mind, of which he went to work on and use it for better means.

With the vast lands, he built the very foundations of the Kingdom of Lucis upon it. With the ring, he used it as a way to signify the ruler's authority upon the kingdom and even made it as a method to select the next sovereign. And with the crystal, he used it as a way to advance the kingdom's state of technology that far exceeds the ones that were seen in other kingdoms.

The history of the young man's family line was rich with greatness, to the point that many individuals had even considered the Lucis Caelum line to be legendary and greatly blessed by the gods.

Beauty, power, intelligence, talent and wealth.

'They have it all', the people would say.

The royal family though, had paid the people's mixed opinions of them with no amount of attention and simply went on with their lives.

They felt that focusing on doing their royal duties and managing the safety and well-being of the kingdom were far more important to them than the differing opinions of the people.

However, with great attention begets great consequences, and that led to the royal family gathering unwanted attention from certain individuals with malicious intentions. The most prominent of them all was the malevolent intentions of Niflheim's Emperor.

Well-known for his almost obsessive beliefs in the myths and legends, the first Emperor had heard of the great tales that were related to the royal family of Lucis and the blessings they received from the astral deities, which had ignited the Emperor's desire to obtain that power for himself, along with his quest to conquer the entire world.

The Emperor's greed and desire to acquire the power that the Lucis Caelum possessed had led him to waging a war against the other kingdoms.

Unfortunately, at the sudden rise of the Empire's advance technology and weaponry, the Emperor's quest to conquer the world was successful for a while.

Until... it was forced into an abrupt stop, thanks to the combined resistance of the other remaining kingdoms, most especially by the holy kingdom of Lucis.

The battle against the Empire went on for quite a while, continuing well into many generations and even when the time of when the young man from the Lucis Caelum line was born.

The young man in question was given the name of Hadrianus Nox Lucis Caelum, who then grew up and went in becoming one of the youngest sovereigns that the kingdom of Lucis have had, due to certain circumstances. He was one of the youngest in the family line to rule the kingdom.

Even though he was most certainly not the greatest, he was one of them and among the wisest.

Born in a time of war of when the battle against the Empire's conquest to dominate the world was at its highest, the young Prince had eventually became the King at the tender age of thirteen when his sire, the late 110th King of Lucis, Aeneas Lucis Caelum, had fallen to an untimely end after receiving a fatal injury in his last battle with the horde and armies of the Empire.

Thus, forcing the young Lucian Prince to ascend to the throne and take on the mantle of the King with no time to even grieve for his father.

For seven years, Hadrian had done all that he could do to protect the kingdom and looked after the well-being of every one that live within its borders, all while doing his best to remain as himself.

Through it all, he did his best to not let himself become corrupted by the power of being a King and caring for his beloved younger sister, Astraea Lucis Caelum, the adored and beloved Princess of the Kingdom, who had still been quite young and innocent at that time.

With almost no regard for his own happiness, Hadrian sacrificed seven years of his life and dedicated it by being active and effective in his rule as the present King of Lucis.

He provided food, shelter and safety to people that had been unfortunate enough to encounter the armies of the Empire who destroyed their homes.

He then improved the mechanics and security of the Wall that guards the kingdom of Lucis from its enemies by removing the fatal side-effects of the barrier while its active, most especially the draining effect of the ring's to its wearer's life force, to a more manageable amount.

While the ring would still drain the life force of the sovereign as long as the Wall was active, he had managed to minimize the amount to a great degree in order to provide the next rulers of his family more time to enjoy their lives.

It was the very least he can do for his future relatives.

In addition, the Wall had become a lot stable and secure, thanks to his improvements, earning him the massive gratitude and adoration of many citizens of Lucis.

It was also worth noting that Hadrian had managed to accomplished all of these things while he was looking after his sister and making sure that she grows up well, along with finishing his studies and graduating as a scholar student from a well-known academy, and managing the state of affairs of the kingdom to the best of his ability.

Needless to say, after his ascension as the King of Lucis, he had led quite a busy life for seven whole years, with naught a hint of complaint from him, much to the amazement of his subjects and those who were close to him.

Due to his unique approach as a King of Lucis, Hadrian became widely loved and popular among the masses as a thoughtful, kind, determined yet firm and down-to-earth ruler.

'The one of a kind King', the masses would often say.

He then became even more popular after he returned from his short journey in collecting the royal weapons of the past rulers of Lucis from the tombs, and managing it in a short amount of time.

It was then quite well-known that the present King of Lucis was more powerful and creative than most of his predecessors was, and this was soon put to the test as the Empire began to test the borders of the Lucis once more... with war.

However, unbeknownst to him, just as he had spent seven years of his life for the betterment of the kingdom and looking after the well-being of his only remaining family, Astraea, little did he know that those seven years of his life would also be his last.

At the age of twenty, the young 111th King of Lucis died alongside with a few of his retainers, when he was defending the kingdom from the relentless attacks done by the military force of the Empire.

It was found that the cause of his death was due to numerous grievous wounds that he had gained from the dangerous encounter and from blood lost by moving his body a lot than it can handle.

As if fate was mocking him, Hadrianus Nox Lucis Caelum had died almost in the same manner as his late father. The only difference was that he did not go down alone. No, if he were to fall in a battle, then he would do so by taking as many enemies with him for the ride.

At the very least, he would be able to dwindle the Empire's forces significantly and provide his allies and people some time to recuperate and strengthen their defenses after the battle.

And fall down he did, Hadrian had not only successfully done what he intended to accomplish, but he did so while he received fatal injuries and only stopping after he had killed every one of the Empire's soldiers in his line of sight and the motors of his body had shut down on him.

Thanks to their noble efforts, Hadrian and his loyal subjects had caused the Empire's forces to retreat and return to their kingdom.

The Empire was unable to continue the fight due to the significant loses that they had received from the Lucian King's forces, and even ordering their remaining forces would simply be a suicidal move on their part since the Kingdom of Lucis was impenetrable to invade from the outside, especially after the Wall was improved greatly with its new security measures and the magical barrier itself.

In the end, the current Emperor had no other choice but to call off his forces and return to Niflheim to restore the losses that his army had received from the encounter, while those in Lucis were torn between relief and grief as they all eventually became aware of the passing of their beloved 111th King and the losses they gained on their side.

A few days later, the 111th King of Lucis received a proper burial fit for a ruler of Lucis, and a large majority of the kingdom had came to the day of his funeral and they wept freely at his side.

But, the ones that were most affected by the loss are the ones that were close to him, such as his friends and his only remaining family, Astraea Lucis Caelum.

She and his close friends had watched and witnessed how her beloved brother became the man that he was that day, and they all cannot help but feel that life had treated him quite unfairly.

Losing his mother to a certain illness that plagued Eos for many centuries at the tender age of seven, ascending to the throne as the King of Lucis at thirteen years old, then he was forced to handle the state of affairs of the kingdom almost right after the day his father was buried, all the while looking after Astraea and making sure that she grows up well.

If they had not known him well enough, they would assume that he was a machine with no feelings, seeing as he had managed to keep up with everything that life threw in his way, good or bad. But, it could not be more far off from the truth, and they all knew it from the bottom of their hearts.

Hadrianus Nox Lucis Caelum was the most patient, creative and down-to-earth person that they had ever known, and no one who had met him would dare say otherwise.

The one thing that kept bothering them was that they felt guilty and at a loss for not doing more to help the young Lucian King, despite knowing about his issues and somewhat reserve character.

Despite his troubles in life and his position as a King, Hadrian have been kind and generous enough during his reign. Be it a local or foreigner, he respected every one and was not the type to look down on others, no matter what their stations were.

Rather, he sees all people who dwells in Lucis to be on equal grounds.

He doesn't even reproached the ones that speak to him in an informal manner, despite knowing that he was the King of Lucis. Although, his subjects and retainers (happily) do it for him when he was not looking or distracted by something.

That was how kind-hearted and reserved the late 111th King of Lucis was in life, and they hoped that the astral gods in heaven would at least hear their prayers and give their beloved King the happiness that he deserves and was robbed of in life.

Little did they all know, the astral gods had heard of their prayers and can only approved of their genuine intentions, for they too felt that the young king had lived an unfair life.

Granted, they had seen other mortals out there that had the worst, but the young king's life can also be said the same as well, almost tragic in a sense of the word.

He might had been born from a wealthy family, fortunate enough to inherit such great prestige and the chance to become a king to an ancient, powerful kingdom, to gain a young and adorable sister, and to have friends that pledge their utmost loyalty for him and follow him even in Hell.

But, like all else in life, everything has its downsides, and Hadrian was not an exception.

Above the clouds and overlooking the kingdom, they had all witnessed the young king lived his life to the fullest, despite the many things that came in his way, good or bad.

With everything else that relates to Lucis, along with the nonsensical demands of the Empire, the vile hostility and intentions of the Emperor, keeping up his studies properly, and watching him do his best in dealing with his own demons on his lonesome to avoid worrying his loved ones.

Then finally, they watched him find the answer in his life and made peace with everything else before his last breath.

He had a few regrets lingering in his soul, but none that can disturbed his peace of mind.

'What an amazing mortal...' they all thought. 'If only there are more like him...'

The seven astral gods had all witnessed the start and the end of the life of one extraordinary young man, and they all can't help but be moved by him, along with his companions.

And so, they all gathered and had decided to help the young king as a reward for his efforts and the bad things that he experienced in life.

The 'help' though, came in the form of... dropping his soul into a different world.

In other words, the astral gods gave him the gift of reincarnation.

The astral gods were happy with this decision and the success of the outcome.

The recipient of the 'gift' on the other hand, not so much, particularly after he had realized who was responsible for it.

Just as the life of one great individual had ended in one world, the life of a new one had just begun in the other.

And thus, the start of a new cycle in the life of the former King of Lucis begins.