PART I
CARPE DIEM

Prologue I
~ It Starts ~

— Year 653 —

Two decades later, General Kael made his men halt their horses upon reaching the shore. The red sand can barely be seen with only a half moon giving light to the Escudo sentinels making their nightly rounds around the castle walls. Sentinel Shin, the general’s prodigy, turned his head to look questioningly at the man.

“There’s something there, by the rocks.” The general squinted his eyes.

The other sentinels tried to see what their old general was seeing. Minhyun Shin frowned. “I’ll go check on it.” He dropped down from his horse and proceeded to walk towards the rocks.

As he waded into the shallow part of the beach, the red water lapped at his boots. He ignored the how it looks so much like blood under little light. Instead, he focused on where a figure could indeed be seen. When he was near enough, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.

“General, it’s a person!” he shouted, quickly running towards the rocks.

He swore upon reaching the person. It was a girl! Praying that the red on her was just the cursed water of Cruor and not blood, he checked if there is still a pulse and if she is still breathing. He gave an exhale upon finding relief that she was alive. He then looked for life-threatening injuries and when he found none, he gathered the little body into his arms and quickly returned to the others.

General Kael had made the sentinels come near the rocks, bringing Minhyun’s horse. When he saw the prone figure of the girl, his mouth dried. Even with red water soaking the girl’s hair, it could not hide the pure white color of it.

“She’s alive, but barely. She must be brought to the healers immediately.” Minhyun said.

“Verto, help Minhyun bring the girl to the nearest healer available.” The general ordered.

Verto got off his horse to get the girl as Minhyun got on his horse again. They put the girl in front of Minhyun so that she will be safe as they rode off. Verto quickly returned to his horse and followed Minhyun back into the walls.

General Kael looked at the slowly disappearing figures. With a quick prayer to the goddess above, he continued to lead his sentinels around the kingdom wall, ma