It was difficult to say when humans had come about. When the deities of the universe were born from the void, the humans were already present, aimlessly roaming the earth. Despite being far more ancient than the gods themselves, the humans were powerless. They held no power or control over others, much less themselves. Marveled by this strange paradox, the deities looked down upon the humans and enacted tragedies upon them. Some had sent floods to wash them away, while others sent monsters to consume the humans. Yet, no matter how much they toyed with the humans, they would not feel pain. They would simply continue existing for as long as the gods allowed them to, serving as empty puppets for the gods' eternal show.
Among the deities was a young goddess named Etro. Etro was not fond of mankind. Such a simple-minded species did not deserve to exist. So, Etro began to purge the humans, granting them the curse of death. Yet when humans finally began to die, something strange happened to them. They began to... feel. As the gods enacted tragedies upon the humans, they began to act in strange ways that they could no longer predict. They began to resist the gods' plays, and mourn for the death of other humans. The gods, enraged that they could no longer contain these humans, banished Etro into the afterlife with the humans. In her dying moments, Etro shattered her heart into four pieces, called crystals, and gifted it to mankind to protect themselves from the other deities. As her corpse laid decaying in darkness, she would weakly call the souls of dying humans and welcome them into the afterlife.
---Ten thousand years later---
A lone speck in the night sky glittered like gold, casting down upon the foresaken people. The Kingdom of Lucis was no more than a single city, but a grand city nonetheless. It was called Insomnia, the City that Never Sleeps.
"Sino," A voice called out.
"Sino," It repeated.
"Sino!"
The black-haired male slowly opened his eyes, glancing through his black strands of hair. He was in the backseat of a luxurious car that was driving towards the capital building of Lucis. The male folded his arms and glanced outside the window. Among the skyscrapers were large armadas of airships sailing through the skies. They all were headed to the same place that he was.
"Our esteemed guests from Niflheim are here?" The black-haired male asked, lookng back over the the driver.
"Ah, you're finally up, Sino. Niflheim has made the terms of peace quite clear. With it, we'll finally be free to open our borders once more." The driver said in a low voice.
"You don't sound too sure of yourself." Sino glanced out the window once more. He raised one leg and rested the ankle on his other knee. "The peace treaty is too generous. We've fighting a losing war, and Niflheim only asks for a small sum of gold. They don't want anything - my father's death, the crystal, nor the city." Sino pursed his lips, as if trying to make out what the evil empire was planning. Was it really okay to surrender to them?
---One hour later---
A formal ball was held on the skyscraper across from the capital building. There, fancy-dressed nobles sipped their cocktails and shared stories. Nobles from all over the world were attending the ball in order to witness this historic event. Simply by glancing through the glass windows, they would be able to see the platform that the King of Lucis and the Emperor of Niflheim would use to sign the peace treaty. While many nobles tried to approach Sino to gain his favor, he mostly kept to himself. Instead, the black-haired male found himself glancing out the window, looking uneasily at the shimmer of gold light from the sky.
"What are you staring at, Prince Sino?" A nobleman asked, glancing at the sky and noticing nothing strange in particular.
"Do you see it?" Sino asked.
"See what?" The nobleman inquired.
The black-haired male walked away from the nobleman, leaving him rather confused by the Prince's quirky attitude.
