Arcadium

Dining Room Rwindell Castle..

The outing at the garden with the empress proved to be unproductive for Eckhard; he had learned little information about the human world. And yet, the more information he got, the more questions arose in his mind.

I had never been made aware of the existence of neither the Writer nor the Painter before entering this world. Quite frankly, it may be because I am not from this dimension, but that is also half-correct. If such a thing happened outside my domain, even I would have been aware of it, no matter where it occurred; darkness is all-encompassing (supposedly). From my view, when I was in my own domain, this world just existed. The things before that in the story... I had not witnessed them. Could it be that my view had been eluded by someone? Eckhard thought whilst being fed food by the maid.

It was early in the morning when the emperor came inside his bedroom to bring him to the dining room to eat. The emperor and the empress had been present in the dining room with him earlier, but departed, leaving him in the care of the maid.

Think of it again: who was this maid? Her uniform was certainly different, he mused.

Not long after he had finished eating, the maid suddenly bowed her head a little bit before raising it again, and then she spoke:

"It is my honor to introduce myself to the little sun of Rwindell. Your Highness, my name is Catherine Dalores, and from today onward, I will be your private maid."

Private maid? It must be a significant role. What are the chances that she would wear a more distinguished uniform than the rest of the maids, if not? Eckhard concluded.

Just a moment after the maid introduced herself, a knight suddenly entered the room. It was a handsome knight; his uniform was also different from a regular knight's. Regular knights wore red, yet the person in front of Eckhard now wore black. He also sported an insignia on his chest, which was not present on other knights. His physique was also rather large, hinting at the strength that this knight might possess.

"Oh, so you came after all…" Catherine said whilst having a dissatisfied face.

"Hey! I'm not that late!" the knight replied.

I get it now… the fella right here is late! No wonder the maid is so annoyed by it. I understand it a little; imagine being tasked to protect a castle, then you turn up late. If you're lucky, the moment you arrive, you'd still have a piece of wood to protect from the rubble.

Here's the proofread version of your new text:

"Ahem. I greet the little sun of Rwindell, Your Highness. My name is Rudolf Heim. The emperor has tasked me from now on to be your personal guard. If you want to erase someone from this kingdom, just ask me!" the knight declared proudly.

"You! mind your words in front of His Highness!" the maid scolded him again.

Deserved! Who speaks of erasing someone in front of an infant? Is he stupid? Eckhard pondered.

Emperor's Study..

Inside the room sat a man in front of a desk. A crown rested on his head, a pen in his hand. The man was none other than the emperor. As he rummaged through the mountain of documents, a knock was heard from the door leading into the room. Thus, he put down the pen and rearranged the documents on top of his desk before answering the one knocking.

"Come in," he said calmly.

And so, a man entered through the door. His jacket was that of a royal knight, but it was neither red nor black; instead, it was white. Along the collar were engravings made of gold, and on the man's chest, an insignia contained a little red jewel.

"If it isn't Sir Arselle from the House of Talos, our Knight Commander," he greeted.

"Long live the Sun of Rwindell," said Sir Arselle whilst bowing his head.

"So, to what do I owe this visit?" asked Emperor Cedric.

"We have found 'their' trace," was the rather short reply.

And yet…

The emperor's face turned serious. No longer was the smile or the calm expression painted on his face; only an unrelenting gaze remained.

"Where?"

"It was found near the southern border, a village named Umbric. We had found the traces; they were faint, but it is undoubtedly them."

"The casualties?" the emperor asked, his voice low, as he stood from his chair, looking away from Sir Arselle, gazing outside the window.

"No sign of life found," he answered painfully.

"It seems, in the blanket of peaceful times, we are yet to be truly free," the emperor sighed.

Thus, after informing the emperor of the news, Sir Arselle left the emperor's study. And remaining in the room was the emperor in his chair, reminiscing about the days.

"I can't believe it; even after so long, yet the threat still continues…" the emperor spoke, his words sounding heavy.

It was long before the prince's birth. It was jumpstarted by the possession of an artifact. The world of the Writer, after the first war against the Chromas, was not always peaceful. After the war against the Chromas, the world suffered seven more cataclysmic events, and from those events, artifacts from the old civilization were left buried and hidden somewhere throughout the world , people rever them as Arcadium.

Some of them posed no threat to the masses, but some were nothing but pure horror. The war twelve years ago was jumpstarted by one of them, a human emperor, who in an act of hunger for power, sought to use it for his own empire. No one at the time could guess that the artifact would cause another great war.

It corrupted the empire and its people, turning them into creatures made of human flesh yet possessing the souls of Chromas beasts.

The corpses of the empire's citizens piled on top of one another throughout their once-home, and yet they were not merely husks. They craved to devour more life; they were the dead walking among the living. It took two years for the coalition of four kingdoms—Rwindell, Ignia, Yuzaria, and Athia—to stop them.

And after such a brutal war, it had come to light that the one responsible for giving the mad emperor such an artifact was none other than an organization of demon worshippers. The coalition thus hunted almost all of them, yet somehow some of them survived the purge. The remnants of the group hid themselves from the coalition, never to be seen again.

As the emperor raised his hand to reach the pen on the table, his other hand brought out a mysterious paper before muttering.

"It's time."