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It took one woman to see her darkest hour To observe an entire kingdom cower. The world was stained and burdened by the evil of mankind. This could be seen in her village. It could be seen in her home. It could even be seen in her own thoughts. However, there was one glimpse of hope. Darkness is naught but an absence of light, she thought, and for those who wish to change the world, a glimpse of hope can turn into a radiance of glory. Such was her philosophy. An adept optimist, but always a realist. Having just turned sixteen years of age, she set the standard for beauty in the village. However, courting was no part of her life, for her life and love had already been planned from the day she was born. Indeed, she thought, it was a blatant perversion of free will when a girl with dreams was forced to submit to the ideals of men. However, she was obedient and modest - a practice that would hone her personality for her supposed future as an exemplary woman. Furthermore, as a girl whose beauty surpassed all others despite her birth into peasantry, she was a natural candidate as a concubine of her land's ruler. All seemed directed and inevitable. However, her fate manifested itself in ensuing events, and her optimism saw its last days. On the eve of her kingdom's annual royal celebration, the very night before she would be accepted as a woman of the king, she met a man that, unbeknownst to himself, would change the girl's life - and even more importantly, the lives of many to come. The night had been indicative of a fantasy, and this girl experienced an aspect of mankind that she had never been the subject of - love. Without hesitation, she planned her escape from the kingdom. This was it, she thought. The only feeling that could make centuries feel like minutes. However, her romance saw no longevity. Minutes now felt like centuries, for she was now witness to the man's execution. A man taken in by her intrinsic beauty, and thus, a man whose death would be caused by her and her alone. She was physically restrained by her father as she watched the only man to ever love her be beaten and lashed by the soldier of an enraged and humiliated king. Indeed, minutes felt like centuries. The minute hand approached the strike of midnight - the exact hour she had met the man during the preceding night. The girl, with tears escaping from eyes that had seen both the best and the worst sides of a human being, stared into the eyes of a man who had shared her glimpse of love before death. In the last few seconds of his life, he muttered a barely intelligible phrase. "I love you, Mupa." And thus, the sword struck its target, and the clock struck midnight. The girl, known by her late mother's name, observed what she believed to be her darkest hour. She escaped with haste to the woods adjacent to the site of the execution. Not a soul had followed her, for this was a forest known for its insurmountable beasts. However, not a creature was in sight, for, unknown to her, they were cowering in fear from the dark aura that surrounded the now heartless girl. Her hate and contempt for men of power would go on to design her fate. Her mind was consumed with one direction - for all of the abuse she endured, she would return it tenfold to others - and indeed, the emotionally torn Mupa would go on to be a harbinger of ill fate that would seek another kingdom, and like her own, deliver to a King and his people their own darkest hour. Haramune | |