Cygne
an excerpt

Once upon a time
There was a kingdom called the Kingdom of Heaven,
the most beautiful kingdom there was.
And in this peaceful kingdom lived the angels, the children of the gods.
Very beautiful people with large wings that enable them to fly.
They were happy and prosperous and powerful.

The Kingdom of Empyrea was a kingdom that ruled the land, the sea and the skies. Empyrea was a name meant for Heaven and truly it was indeed an appropriate name for such a country. It was magnificent and peaceful, a paradise on Earth with lush green forests and meadows, speckled with colorful wildflowers, common and rare, with seldom a dark cloud in the sky. A pacifist kingdom that would rather discuss a conflict than go into war. A utopia, as one might say.

But there was a secret hidden under all that prosperity and goodness,
A secret that could very much destroy the nation itself.

A power was bestowed to the people of Empyrea. A power that could give birth to kingdoms and countries, civilization and culture. A power that could also fall and annihilate races, destroy and obliterate life. The people were first afraid of this power, that it could soon bring their nation to an end. But it was this power that had brought them harmony and opulence. It was this power that had brought them to the highest echelon of kingdoms.

In the end, however, the people grew arrogant of this power.
There was nothing more than the gods can do.

They had the power to create, to destroy, to give and take away lives. It was like the power of a god. Soon, they willed themselves to grow wings, immaculate white feathers that resembled that of an angel's, to touch the sky without the need for technology. To fully become gods themselves. And for this, they were punished, not by the gods, but by a human, the King himself, sacrificing his own life to save his kingdom.

A flood ravaged the land and everything was obliterated. Everything.
Only the Royal House stood.
But soon, the gods breathed life into the land
The kingdom flourished once more.

The lands were devastated. The cities were in ruins. The people were dead. Everything was gone. But just like a seemingly dead tree after the winter had gone by, the kingdom flourished once more. The wealth was back, the meadows and forests restored, the rivers and streams flowed. Houses, cities and citadels rebuilt, the people reincarnated. It was renamed. The New Kingdom of Empyrea. The new kingdom of Heaven.

But in order to keep this power,
The new King had to erase the people's memories of the past,
Removed the wings of their wrongdoings,
Released them from the knowledge of the power they had possessed.

However, the Royal House was still afraid of the power, afraid that the people might remember it and use it once again. Afraid that not only the kingdom would fall into ruins but other lands as well.

A creature was born
To not let history repeat itself.

It was a system created out of magic and science, out of the power bestowed to Empyrea. A system that would pull the kingdom back to its feet, to restore the kingdom back to its golden days. It was a system that would ensure the prosperity of the kingdom for centuries, even millennia, to come. And yet it was also a system that would bring grief to each generation of the Royal House. A system that would ask for a sacrificial lamb in order to nourish itself.

This creature would bear a name
It would earn a title
A curse bestowed to the youngest descendant of the House.
The fate of a young girl.
The 'treasure'.
That was how it was named.

The Odette. That was its name.