*Giggling*
A small child was seen laughing and playing in a field of golden wheat under the setting sun. She was running around full of energy, her cheerful smile was as bright as the sun itself, bringing warmth and happiness to the one whom it was directed at.
She had only recently learned how to walk, yet nonetheless, she was running, stumbling and tripping over her own feet every other step. Yet though her knees may be covered in scrapes, and her face smeared with dirt, her smile never faded and the sound of her laughter never stopped, because she thought it was so amazing. To stand, to walk, to run, to move this fast for the first time ever. Something so simple, so normal, yet to a budding new life, it was such a new and exciting experience.
Time shifted, and the child was now a little bigger. She was dragging her father through a festival street, excited about something, that same radiant smile so full of life on her face. She dragged her poor father to a festival game stall, her gaze fixed on a giant purple teddy bear on the prize table, sitting right next to a tiny wooden mannequin doll. Seeing what his daughter wanted, the father placed some silver teals on the counter.
The scene shifted to a few hours later.
The father sat dejectedly next to his daughter, his pockets completely empty. He had spent every penny on him to try and win that teddy bear for his little girl, but he was terrible at it, he only just managed to get the easiest prize, a simple wooden mannequin. Yet when he looked over at the little girl next to him, expecting to see disappointment on her face but when he turned to look, he was startled to suddenly find a wooden doll covered in plants shoved in his face.
His daughter had been happily playing with her new toy, making it a wig and clothing from grass and flowers she found on the ground. It may not have been the thing she had wanted, but it was the thing her father had gifted her after trying his best, and that was worth far more than any old toy. Seeing her father feeling down, she held up her new friend to try and cheer him up, only to burst out into laughter watching her father suddenly jump in fright at the ugly plant monster that suddenly got shoved in his face.
*Pang*
Suddenly, there was a loud sound. Being caught off guard, the little girl jumped in fright into her father's embrace for safety. However, as he stroked her head to tell her it was okay, she opened her eyes and was enamored by the glittering stardust of the colorful fireworks going off in the sky.
The little girl sat on her father's lap, having her head stroked, watching the colorful sparks in aw and amazement until she eventually fell asleep. Even as she dreamed, the happy smile never left her face.
Time shifted. The girl was now a teenager.
The smiles and laughter from the past were now long gone, replaced by frowns and angry shouts. She and her father were shouting at each other. Her father's hair had started to gray, and wrinkles were forming on his face, however, the most noticeable change might be the missing arm. They seemed to be arguing over something while a bird-headed golem watched from behind.
The scene shifted.
The father entered the bedroom looking for his daughter however, the room was empty. On the desk next to the open window sat a note. Reading the note, he rushed to look out the open window into the foggy rain outside. Unable to see her, the father rushed outside in a panic to look for his daughter.
Days later, he returned to the house alone, covered in dirt and bags under his eyes. He had searched high and low tirelessly, but the weather and terrain worked against him, slowly erasing her tracks before he managed to catch up. Even so, he spent several days desperately looking without a wink of sleep, before finally returning. Not because he had given up, but because he knew he needed to sleep if he was to continue his search.
However, just as he grabbed the doorknob to his bedroom, his tired eyes turned to look at his daughter's vacant room just next to his own. The door was ajar, luring him in.
The room had been completely untouched from the moment he rushed out the door several days ago. Her old toys were messily stuffed in the toybox in the corner of the room. The closet, wide open and now only contained old clothes that no longer fit but they were too lazy to throw out. The neatly tucked bed sitting on top of many years' worth of dirt and dust which she had tried to hide beneath it. Even the note that he had dropped on the floor was still there.
Not knowing why, he picked up the note, reading it over and over again, each time, hoping, begging for the words to change, but they never did. Exhausted while feeling a surge of different emotions come over him, the aging man lashed and punched the nearest wall so hard it went straight through, while severely damaging his one remaining hand.
*Bang*
*Thud*
His frustrated emotions still did not calm down, he was about to trash the room, but then he saw it. The vibrations from when he punched the wall had knocked down the tiny little mannequin sitting atop a nearby shelf.
*Sob*
With shaky hands and teary eyes, he gently picked up the little wooden doll from the floor, and as the rainy night fell upon the world, vailing the room in darkness, the luminescent stars and moon stickers dotting the walls of the room lit up. Hugging the doll close to his chest, the father fell to his knees and cried loudly. Regretting every angry word spoken, every scolding given, and every shout. Wishing above all else, to take it all back, to return to those happy days.
Time shifted.
It had only been a few years, but the father looked like he had aged a decade. His hair had completely grayed and his face was littered in wrinkles, but the most noticeable difference might be the metal prosthetic arm replacing his missing one.
He was in a dark room lit only by candles placed around a ritual magic circle drawn using his own blood. At the center of the circle sat a strand of his daughter's hair, floating inside a cup of water.
Desperate to find his daughter and out of leads, the man had delved into black magic to look for a way to locate her. He had failed countless times and made all kinds of sacrifices just to see her again, one last time. Not to force her back home, but to tell her how sorry he is. He did not know how much longer he had left, and he did not know what might become of him after now that she would not take up his mantle, but he knew he did not want their last words to each other to be what they were, and fortunately for him, he finally succeeded at divining her location. However, the tears of joy on his face would soon change.
*Bang**Boom*
In an effort to escape him, his daughter had fled all the way to the other end of the continent, ending up in the empire of Nishi, where she had suddenly been kidnapped by the emperor himself. For several years, she had been held against her will and violated until she eventually bared him a child.
*Boom*
*Baby crying*
Upon discovering this, the father had been outraged. He had summoned the full force of his family heritage and stormed the palace to rescue her. There, sobbing and crying in the wreckage of a burning building, he saw her, his daughter. Her radiant smile in his memory nowhere to be seen as she sobbed and cried, shivering helplessly amongst the mayhem while carefully cradling a newborn baby.
*Swoosh*
"AFTER THEM!"
After finding her, he grabbed her, hopped on one of his flying golems and escaped as far away from this place as fast as he could. However, his daughter did not seem happy to be rescued, for to her, going back to her family would be nothing more than switching one prison for another.
"You finally got what you wanted! Your stupid bloodline continues, just like you and our ancestors wanted! *Sob* Are you happy now?" His daughter cried out.
The two were the last living descendants of a long line of golemancers, the Watanabe. As such, it was their duty to continue the bloodline. However, the girl had not wished to take part in their family's traditions and customs. When her father, pressured by their ancestors, had demanded she'd get started on preparing for the next successor after her, that had been the final straw. Ironically, in her attempts to escape her family's demands, she ended up fulfilling them in the end, as evident of the purple-haired baby in her arms.
"I'm-! *Sob* I'm *sob* so sorry! *Sob* This is all my fault!" The father sobbed out, wishing he could turn back time to undo everything.
Mistaking the genuine regret and sorrow in her elderly father's eyes for an act to placate her into returning willingly, she was about to berate him, but then she saw it. Dangling on the side of his belt like a good luck charm was the little mannequin she played with as a child. The moment she laid her eyes upon it her head started pounding as the fog over her memories cleared up, recalling the past. Those happy days with a father that was nothing like the one she had run away from.
*Crying*
Biting her lip as the tears ran like rivers down her cheeks, she said nothing as she just hugged him. Not because she had forgiven him, nor did she accept the life her family wanted to force upon her, but she just couldn't hold it in anymore. She was scared, angry, depressed, anxious, and hurt. So, like she did as a child, she clung to her father for comfort and safety as she cried her heart out.
Seeing her shiver in his arms, he gently stroked her head to comfort her as they flew into the clouds. If he could have one wish at this moment, it would be for this to be the end to the tragedies that befell his beloved child.
But fate listens to no man.
*Cough**Splash**Wheeze*
Suddenly, his daughter stopped crying, then spasmed while coughing up mouthfuls of blood.
"WHAT'S HAPPENING?! WHAT'S WRONG?!"
What they did not know when he rushed in to rescue his daughter was that the Nishida secretly places a death curse on all the royal concubines in case they ever escape as a means from keeping information about the empress being a practitioner of the dark arts a secret, and to make it easier to retrieve any children they might try to escape with.
"Dad *Cough* I'm scared! *Sob* I don't want to die!" The daughter cried holding on to her father's old hand as blood ran down her mouth.
"You won't! I promise! Your father loves you! Even if it means holding up the heavens and the earth, I swear your father will not let you down!"
*Cough**Cough*
"Hehe!*Cough* Hahaha!"
All of a sudden, the daughter just started laughing through the coughs, as they ascended above the clouds while increasing their speed.
"I remember! *Wheeze* That golem on your hip! *Wheeze* You made the same promise when you said you were going to get me that teddy bear! Hehe! *Cough**Cough*" The daughter chuckled out before coughing up more blood.
"Save your strength! If we can make it back home! If you can just hold on until then, I can-! *Sob* I'll-!" The father stuttered out in tears.
"The stars are so beautiful! It reminds me of the fireworks from back then! Do you remember, *Wheeze* dad? *Wheeze*"
The realization of the worst beginning to sink in, he bit into his lip so hard he drew blood. The elderly man then recalled his regret of letting their last words be in anger. Fearing the worst should happen, he forced a smile to try and hide the terror and sorrow as he replied with tearful eyes.
"Yes! They were really pretty, weren't they? So pretty you refused to let us leave that spot until it was over, only to then fall asleep part way through! I still recall how tired I was after carrying you back home! Haha! *Sob* Hahahaha! *Sob* Hahahahehehehuhuhuh…"
Not knowing what else to say, he just started laughing, as if the moment he stopped making noise, the young woman in his arms would perish. However, as the realization that the body he was cradling had long since drawn its final breath, the chuckles slowly turned into cries.
*Loud Crying*
Possibly the worst part of this situation was that the death of his daughter could have been easily prevented had he not acted so impulsively. When he first heard of his daughter's situation, the father had rushed in without thinking things through, in favor of rescuing her as fast as possible. Had he stayed calm like he usually would, if that voice in the back of his head had not egged him on to rush in head first, he would have most definitely discovered this death curse thanks to having needed to delve into similar magics to track her down. If he had known about the death curse, he would have been able to prepare any number of methods to counter it, or failing that, preserved her soul inside a golem, but because he hadn't, he now had to watch his only child die in his arms.
*Loud Crying*
*Baby Crying*
Suddenly, he noticed another cry alongside his own. The baby his daughter had been carrying with her when they escaped was crying, having lost its mother.