Start - The World Behind the Door

*29 Years after the Battle of Heroes*

Even at home, where she was born and raised, Rie never received the kind of attention she does now. Both at home and in the places where she later lived, she was treated like trash and pushed around. But now she was cherished as if she were a princess, and they went to extraordinary lengths to ensure her comfort.

Because of where she lived, it was not easy for her to have the opportunity to take a bath. When she lived at home, she bathed with all her siblings in a small, leaky wooden basin, which was not very healthy.

Here they had put her in a bathhouse, the incense filling the marble-clad bath with the scent of roses.

At first she was irritable. She refused to be washed and refused to spend any more time here, but then, for some reason, she began to let two clowns wash her. One of the clowns was fat, almost obese, and so tall that Rie's neck ached looking at his masked face.

The other clown was much shorter than the fat and tall one, emaciated. The fat clown's hair was not visible, but the short and thin one's long blue hair was greasy and tangled.

Just like the other clown, the skinny one had a mask on her face. Her mask was a cheerful face, while the fat one's mask was a face of sorrow. They addressed each other as brother and sister.

Sorrow was the big brother and Joy was the younger sister.

Because of the life she had lived so far, Rie's body was dirty, covered in dirt and had a sour smell like spoiled fish. She had not had an easy life after all, but these two clowns washed her until her whole body smelled like the most beautiful, precious flowers.

When her body was washed, her beautiful white skin was revealed. Her face shone after the bath. Rie was like moonlight, and it was already clear that when she grew and blossomed she would make every man who saw her fall in love with her.

During her time here, the clowns bathed her every day, and she felt so good after her bath that she thought she could live here for the rest of her life.

But the attention she received today was even more special. Her body had been meticulously cleaned and perfumed, her hair neatly styled and she was dressed in an expensive silk dress that under normal circumstances she would not have been allowed to touch.

When Rie looked in the mirror, she realized for the first time how beautiful she was. 

She was wearing a one-piece white dress, with no sleeves and a skirt that came down to her knees. On top of the white dress, a red leather sash was tied around her waist. Her brown hair was like the dress she was wearing, like silk. It fell over her shoulders and she wore a crown of pink magnolias on her head.

Rie touched her hair, it was soft and fragrant. Then she opened her mouth and looked at her teeth, perfectly arranged, like pearls.

Except for the crown on her head and the silver ring on her finger, she was unadorned. Before the clowns took her away, she turned around and looked in the mirror one last time.

"If the word 'beautiful' ever existed, it existed to describe me," she thought. "I look like a moon in the sky, maybe İselle loves me."

During the few days she spent here, her stomach was always full, they fed her with things she would never have dreamed of eating on the street.

Hot meals, sweet fish, spicy meats, lemon cakes, fresh fruit, cold sorbets.

These were nothing compared to the days she spent on the street. On the street, the best she could hope for was dried pieces of bread. It was so hard for her to get a hot and fresh meal that she had to either cooperate with her friends to steal and risk a beating if she was caught, or beg for it to be given to her by one of the benevolent servants of the generous and kind-hearted god Azer.

Living on the street, both stealing and begging became a necessity for the survival of a small, weak child like Rie. Even if she didn't like doing them, it wasn't about being a good or bad boy. It was about surviving and making it through another night without going hungry.

She was not the only child living on the streets, and when she did somehow find a few coppers to buy food or a simple loaf of dry bread, she fought, and often lost, to keep them from being stolen by those who were bigger and stronger than her.

After a while this even became a daily routine, with the stronger children often coming up to Rie and beating her and stealing what belonged to her.

They brought Rie into the kitchen for today's dinner. Sorrow acted as a bodyguard while Joy brought her food on a golden tray.

Rie sat at the table and waited for the food. She was happy and felt safe. They were such good people, they would do anything for Rie. When Joy put the food in front of her, Rie opened her mouth in surprise.

"That's it? Why is there no food today?"

There was a glass of water and a piece of bread on the golden tray. She closed and opened her eyes again and again, but the tray remained the same, just water and bread.

"Today is a special day, young lady, and you must eat a little as you will be appearing before our master in a little while."

Joy spoke with more kindness than one might expect from her appearance. She was always so polite and respectful to Rie.

Still, it would have been much better if her voice hadn't sounded like a snarling animal, but it would have been a shame to say so. Rie didn't want to upset the people who cared about her.

So she took the bread she could eat in one bite and popped it into her mouth, then drank her water in one gulp.

"Thank you, Joy. Thank you."

Even though she didn't bother to prepare a meal and only brought a small piece of bread, she had to be polite. They valued her like a princess and she had to behave like one. And she used to go bed hungry, so one day without meal was not a big deal.

After the meal, they walked out of the kitchen and into a corridor.

The place where Rie was, was a mountain. A huge temple had been built inside the mountain for people to live in. There were many kitchens, bathrooms, living rooms, prayer rooms and the princess room where Rie stayed.

There must have been many more rooms, but Rie was only in a small area and did not know the rest of the temple. The temple was beautifully lit by countless torches and the interior was large and felt spacious.

There were two other girls who had been brought with Rie to the temple carved into the mountain. One of them was Miki, a close friend with whom she used to hang out on the streets. She had been brought here with him on the back of a cart.

The other girl here she didn't recognize. The last time they had stood side by side as they entered the temple and all three of them had not spoken because they were scared, but when she looked at the appearance of the other girl, whose name she did not know, she thought she might be the daughter of a rich merchant or a nobleman because she was immaculately dressed while Rie and Miki had come here covered in mud and dirt.

Yes, it was embarrassing to remember now, but the first day they came here, the first day she didn't know that the people here were good people, she was scared and she wanted to run back.

She had tried to run away from here, just like she had run away from the disgusting smiled old man's house where her father had sold her for a few pieces of silver.

She hadn't even spent an hour in the old man's house because she got lucky and one of the man's servants helped her escape, but she couldn't find anyone here to help her.

Every time she tried to escape, she was stopped by a young woman with hair as white as snow, and all her attempts were failed by the same woman.

The clowns treated the white-haired woman with respect and were afraid of her, although Rie did not understand why.

Rie was not angry with them for being afraid. At first the white-haired woman struck great fear in her little heart too, and Rie was afraid to look into her golden eyes.

White-haired women often featured in horror stories told on the streets. They were frightening, young and beautiful, but their beauty was poisonous. If you were fooled by their beauty and approached them, if you chose to be near them, you would face a catastrophe.

Witches, with their eternal youth, their mesmerizing beauty, their long hair as white as snow, were frightening. A witch's face could be the last thing a person saw before death.

But Rie no longer believed all the nonsense she had once been told. At first she was afraid of her, but now she realized what a kind and good person she was. Rie and the other two girls were probably scared of the witch too, but they understood, as Rie did, that both the clowns and the witch were very nice people.

They had spent five days in the temple in the mountain and they had only seen each other once in those five days, when they had first come here.

Tonight things were different. Tonight all three girls were gathered together. Like Rie, the other two girls had been washed beautifully and had skin as radiant as moonlight, perfumed with floral perfume, their hair combed, magnolia crowns on their heads.

She didn't know anything about the other girl, but it was the first time she had ever seen Miki, whom she had known for some time and who was a close friend of her, look so sweet. In fact, she was just now realizing that she was actually very beautiful, just like her.

"H-hello."

When the clowns brought Rie into the hall where they were, Rie felt obliged to say hello, but her voice was timid and low because something inside her told her it would be very wrong.

Neither Miki nor the other girl returned Rie's greeting. Except for Rie, both girls had their heads down. Rie waited for a while and when there was no answer, she bowed her head too.

"She's calling."

A few minutes of silence were broken by Sorrow's deep voice. Rie had heard no one, but Sorrow claimed they were being called by someone.

"Ladies, follow me."

Joy spoke after her brother. The two girls, except Rie, suddenly stood up and moved behind Joy. Rie also suddenly found herself behind Joy, she couldn't remember when she had been behind her.

They moved forward, Joy in front and Sorrow behind. They entered a hallway Rie had never seen before and came to the front of the long staircase.

"Rie."

She turned to her friend, who had called out to her when she heard her name called. Miki had red eyes like Rie and the other girl she had never heard of. Unlike Rie, she was dressed in a red outfit with a white sash around her waist.

Unexpectedly, Miki grabbed Rie's hand tightly and pulled her to him. Her hands were trembling slightly.

"There's nothing to be afraid of, Miki. Miss Witch and Mr. and Ms. Clown are extremely kind people. They want for our good, all three of them have been good to us."

Did she believe what she was saying? After she spoke, she stopped and weighed the truth of what she had said, she could not be sure. They had to be good people. If they wanted to harm them, why had they shown interest and sought their comfort in the first place?

"Let's go upstairs."