To the Stars and Back [ON HIATUS INDEFINITELY]

Prologue

What do you desire?

Money and wealth?

Honor and pride?

Authority and power?

Revenge?

Or something that transcends all these?

Whatever you desire...

Is here. 

Begins now.

~~~~~

Poised, polite, perfect. The three P's that she grew up following. From the moment she was born, she was the golden girl; the model child, flawless in every way. Never straying from rules, never skipping class, using every second of spare time to cram in additional studies to help her to ascend the tower. Every parried sword, every cut on her skin, every yell to get up, was all to prepare herself.

After years of training and passing on opportunities to leave her family, the moment finally arrived. She was finally going to enter. However, the feeling engulfing her wasn't happiness or pride; strangely enough, it was bittersweetness. 

A massive crowd of people stood at the base of a set of crystal stairs, all standing behind a singular, white-haired girl in a puffy, ankle-length wedding-like dress. Studs of amethyst and clusters of primroses and violets embellished the young maiden. As soon as she started moving, everybody rushed forwards with hands out, desperate to touch the princess for the last time before she left for the tower. But before the first hand could graze her flawless, porcelain skin, guards flocked the girl, creating a barrier between her and the rest of her people, symbolizing the first of many canyons dividing her from the world. She looked back. White tufts of hair scattered throughout the ocean of regulars and rankers represented those whom she had grown up with, trained with, suffered with. A stranger watching could have easily assumed that the look on her face was longing; in fact, the girl was longing for something. But beneath that simple expression lay a labyrinth of emotions yet to be unraveled.

She turned her back to them. Because to reach the top, isolation is the best solution.

There is less of a chance of betrayal.

The princess ascended the majestic staircase, each step slow and deliberate until finally, she stood in front of the ginormous entrance. Glancing back one last time, she caught a glimpse of the varying expressions on the faces of the people so far below her. Looks of pride, looks of pain, looks of sadness, and looks of malicious happiness greeted her back. With one last breath, she tore her gaze away from the people she grew up amongst and cast her eyes back at the doors. She reached out to open them-

And they stayed locked.

She tried again.

Nothing.

A tsunami of murmurs rippled across the crowd as everyone looked up, stunned. How could the golden girl, a princess of one of the Ten Great Families, fail to open the door to the tower?

The girl standing at the top of the staircase froze for a moment, but then shook it off just as quickly. A defeated look appeared on her face. Starting to turn around to be met with furious and disappointed expressions, she began to take a step back down the stairs.

Imagining the disdain she would suffer through for the rest of her life, she squeezed her eyes shut for a fraction of a second, wishing for this all to be a dream-no, a nightmare-and that when she woke up, she would find herself inside the tower.

Suddenly, with one foot still floating in the air, she felt a strange force sucking her backwards. Unbalanced, she fell, tripped on the many layers of her dress, and fell on her butt. Taking a sharp breath inwards, the white-haired girl's face burned in embarrassment before realizing what was happening. Alarmed, she looked over her shoulder to see a crack between the doors. A large ball of swirling shinsu could barely be seen, pulling her in like a magnet. Suddenly, she knew what was going on. Rather than resisting the pull, as she could have easily escaped, she let herself go limp, allowing herself to squeeze through the gap and flow into the unknown on the other side of the doors.

There was no going back now.

~~~~~

The crowd of people was silent. Still. Shocked. After a moment, it was as if someone had plugged them back in and provided them with some much-needed electricity to move. Like a sudden flame, everyone burst into conversation, wondering what the actual fuck just happened. One second the doors were sealed, the next, they weren't!

Still, while the normal townspeople, regulars, and rankers were creating rumors that were each crazier than the last, the high rankers in the crowd exchanged glances threaded with too many messages to decipher. However, one thing was clear:

A viper has entered the tower, dressed as a garden snake.

No one was safe anymore.

Az speaks!

Hello! This is Az! First off, I know I already said this in the Author's Note, but thank you so much for picking up this book, it means a lot to me! Second, you may be wondering, WTF IS GOING ON? Don't worry, I will add more character information and disclaimers in the nest chapter. (There are a LOT of hints in this one, so make sure to pay attention!)

Also, I promise that future chapters will be longer than this one. I'm *cringing* at how short this was. I'm kind of bad at writing original content, so bear with me please!

That's all I really had to say, so...

Make sure you eat, drink water, and SLEEP. Though I'm not really one to talk...hehe

FIRST CHAPTER, BUT DON'T COME AT ME IF I DON'T UPDATE IN A WEEK

Word count: 770 ( 🤮 )