1 A Deal

The third princess of the Glacia Empire, daughter of the emperor, Maximilian Verglas, and a lowly maid in the palace, Hannah Crox.

She should not exist.

After a hot, steamy night with the emperor, Hannah realized that she was pregnant. At first, she could not believe it. The emperor's child! But soon she realized the price of such a commitment. The empress and the emperor's concubine would never leave her or her child alone. Her beautiful baby would grow up in solitude, scorned for her birth as the illegitimate child of the great emperor of a prospering nation and a lowly maid. Hannah cursed the emperor for putting her in such a position. She tried to kill herself as well as her child multiple times: falling down stairs, leaning too far over a balcony, drowning, and many more. But each time she tried something, there was always someone there to stop her from the sweet, sweet relief of death.

In the end, Hannah gave up, and after enduring nine months of torturous belittlement and harassment, the day the child would be born finally came. But to the surprise and shock of everyone, the baby came out dead. It was a baby girl, entering the world by leaving it. Perhaps this is the finale of a symphony that was never really played. The end of a story that did not have a beginning. Hannah was shocked. She was torn between joy and sadness. She had nurtured this child for nearly a whole year, only for all her hopes to be in vain. Only for her to fall so hard after flying so high.

She refused. She refused to accept that her daughter was dead. She refused to admit defeat.

For three days and nights, Hannah barely ate or drank. Instead, she spent her time praying day in and day out at the church. She prayed for peace. She prayed for her daughter's life. She prayed that her daughter would have the life she always dreamed of, but never had. But none of the gods answered her prayers. Even Serenity, the kindest of the deities, turned a blind eye. Hannah was hopeless. She did not understand why everyone refused to answer her. What she did not know was that her dead daughter, if alive, would cause the greatest calamity the mortal world would ever face in past, present, or future.

On the morning of the fourth day, an answer came. An answer to all of Hannah's prayers. A portal, sparking with bright fiery light, appeared. Then, a young man stepped through the portal. He was dressed in a black and red formal suit decorated conservatively with gold trim. His hair was black as despair, and his eyes, the color of fresh blood, bore into Hannah as if they could see into her very soul. Hannah waited with bated breath for this unknown entity to speak.

"God...you mortals are so loud," the young man said, yawning. "Don't you know you shouldn't bother the devil?"

"P-please! Help my child! She-"

"I know, I know. Born dead. It happens from time to time. What do you want me to do about it?"

He examined his nails.

"Please save her! I can give you anything you want! Just save my child!"

"Any...thing?"

And so, the devil struck a deal with Hannah. He would revive the child, but in exchange, he would seal away her emotions, reducing her to an almost robotic creature. But each gain is at the cost of another. If only Hannah had known that she had another child, the twin brother of her dead daughter, then maybe she would not have forgotten about the well-being of her own body. After the deal with the devil was set, Hannah passed away peacefully, not aware of the chance at power she had left behind.

But no deal with the devil is ever truthful...