It's been a whole year since I've been reincarnated into Snow's 7 year old body. After my birthday 8th birthday me, Dean, the twins, and Leo became quite close, best friends actually! And Sierra's finally warmed up to them after a few playdates. Last year we celebrated Christmas and... Well, the kingdom was hit by an ice storm and we decided to spend the holidays helping the towns and villages under us, handing out food, clearing paths, then by the time we were finished it was already new years so I didn't really get a proper Christmas but it certainly was an amazing experience.
Usually Christmas was spent with family so we didn't throw parties but this Christmas Sierra and her brother would be staying with us, so will Reinel, Renèe, Leo, and of course, my brother Dean.
Sierra dressed me in a gown of red and green and decorated my hair with holly berries which really excited me. "Hey, Sierra, do you know why we celebrate Christmas?" I ask curiously, genuinely curious of that story, I suppose I didn't question it much last year at all but getting all these history lessons made me question why we celebrate Christmas in the first place!
"Hm? No, princess...It's a long running tradition but the story is quite ancient and not too well known so I am unsure of the reason we celebrate it," Sierra shook her head as I look at her in surprise.
"Really? I mean...I suppose it hasn't been brought up in my lessons yet," I say as father enters my room unannounced.
"That's because it's a long story, Snowflake," my father laughed then put out his hand. "The servants told me that you were ready to be escorted out. How about we go to the reception room with your friends and I can tell you all about it," he offered as I squealed and took his hand immediately.
"Gladly, father!" I say as Sierra followed us in interest. "Ooh, I bet William would love to hear this!" She beamed as father pat her head with a laugh.
"I would hope so, your brother has already arrived as well," he said as Sierra ran towards the reception room in glee. I entered the festive room full of lights, ornaments, wreaths, garlands, and of course, a bright Christmas tree full of lights and a lovely half-finished popcorn garland which my friends were all making.
"Sister!" Dean exclaimed happily and hugged me just as I entered. "You're finally here! We already started on the popcorn garland! Oh! And merry Christmas, sister!" He said, rushing back to the twins who were eating the popcorn as Leonard scolded them.
"Could you two stop eating the decorations? This is the third bowl and we've barely even finished the tree!" Leo screamed as the twins stuck out their forked tongues mischievously at the black lion prince.
"Now, now, settle down, children you promised to get along with each other while in the palace, today is a time for friends, family, and cheer after all," King Lennon laughed, taking the bowl of popcorn as the twins whined in complaint.
"Everyone's so lively," I laughed as they all looked at me with bright eyes. "Merry Christmas, Snow!" They all greeted as I went to sit near the fireplace where my friends were making popcorn garlands. "Merry Christmas, everyone!"
"I'm still sorry Bellatrix couldn't attend today...It's a little hectic in Slade around this time of year," I heard uncle Liam say to father as my father shook his head.
"No, it's alright, I'm just glad you and your boys could make it safely to celebrate with us. Same with Lennon and Claudia, and of course Sierra and William Cheney," my father laughed heartily as I noticed Sierra and a boy, a teenager, with dark raven hair and amethyst cat eyes that looked exactly like Sierra's, they were off in a corner catching up with one another, after all it isn't often they have opportunity to talk to one another.
"Hey, Snow! Look what me and Rei did!" Renèe called as he grabbed what looked like a pile of popcorn then tied it around my waist. "I...Is this a skirt of popcorn...?" I ask in slight disbelief as the twins nodded excitedly as if it were their greatest creation yet.
"It's so cool isn't it?" Reinel asked as Dean came up to me and hung a popcorn necklace around my neck "You should have accessories for your pretty skirt!" Dean laughed as I twirled around. "It's absolutely fabulous!" I smile and do a twirl.
"What do you think Leonard?" I ask as he looked up at me with a slight smile "You look ridiculous. But it's well made," he said simply then went back to finishing the garland for the tree.
After a little while, everyone heard a sharp whistle as we all looked at father. "Now, children. Gather around and I'll be telling you the story of Christmas," my father announced as Sierra and William approached all of us in curiosity. I looked at Leo, the twins and Dean but even they didn't seem to know what the story behind Christmas was.
"There's a story behind Christmas? I thought it was just something that gave us hope and time to spend with family in the middle of winter near the end of the year," Reinel said as Renèe nodded in agreement.
"It was because of the war of races right? Our world became separate from another and all the creatures of our land fell into a great depression, and Christmas was when a new star was born and we celebrated it, at least, that's what I recall from the story," Leonard replied.
"Well, that's the simple version of the story. The story I'm about to tell you all is about the beginning of the world, and how a man actually made this land, that was supposed to be our punishment, the paradise we thrive in today," my father said, sitting down on a large chair as we gathered around him in curiosity and excitement.
"It truly would be an honor, your majesty!" William exclaimed, star struck, seated quite the distance away as my father laughed. "Sit closer, William, you may call me Victor. You are a part of noble society and will serve my daughter in the future as so will your sister, so don't be afraid to sit with them," he said, gesturing to our little circle around father.
"Yeah, Will! You're practically our big brother!" Rei laughed and pulled him next to Leo. "You can sit next to us and the house cat! Don't worry though, he's harmless," Renèe said jokingly with a smug grin as Leonard rolled his eyes and put out a hand for William.
"I'm Leonard Fantasia...If you're going to be my acquaintance can you at least be nothing like those two eggheads? Two of them is my absolute limit," Leonard said seriously as Will shook his hand with a grin.
"Agreed," he laughed as the twins gasped in shock "He's betrayed his kingdom!" I laughed as I waved gently. "Sierra's told us all about you, William, it's all good things of course, it's nice to finally meet you," I say as he bowed his head slightly with an enthusiastic smile.
"She's talked quite a bit about you too, princess...Thank you again for inviting us, it's truly an honor--" he started as I interrupted him abruptly.
"Perhaps we can talk about this more after the story," I laughed and he immediately closed his mouth and nodded, after all, he wanted to hear this too.
"And with all that settled let's move on to the story," my father said gently as even all the parents quiet down and sat to listen.
"Most people think of this as a legend or a myth. But others, identify it as our history. A long time ago, a God created the earth. He gave the earth light, land, sea, and life. The first life forms this God created were the animals of land, sea, and sky and to rule over all, God made a creature in his image. He created the first man called Adam." My father spoke as I straightened up in surprise, wasn't this the story of the Bible? But from what I know, different gods existed here too...
"But The God saw that Adam was alone, so he made the first woman to accompany him named Lilith." My father continued as I held in a slight gasp, who was Lilith? I only knew of Eve. "But Lilith was filled with knowledge of the world, she was to teach and guide Adam, but Lilith became proud. She disobeyed her husband, she began to contradict him, even fight with him and so, while Adam and Lilith were sleeping, God took one of Adam's ribs to make a new wife named Eve. And for Lilith's punishment, she was turned into an apple tree, it's fruit filled with the knowledge, wisdom, and pride of Lilith,"
She's the tree of wisdom? Adam had a wife before Eve? This was all new to me, this definitely wasn't the version I knew, but I couldn't help but keep quiet, wanting to hear the rest of the story.
"Up in the heavens, God created celestial guardians to protect, entertain, and guide the humans as a replacement for Lilith called Angels. He made many knowing that the humans as well would multiply, then among these many angels as countless as the stars, he made Archangels, the princes of angels. And at the right hand of god was the bearer of light, who held a position of immense brilliance, wisdom, and beauty and he was called Lucifer," that part of the story felt familiar to me, other than the Lilith part.
"But one day, he got a glimpse of his own beauty and was afflicted with pride, it corrupted him, he started to looked down on all the angels, but what he couldn't control was the Archangels who started to conflict with Lucifer's prideful and arrogant actions and tried to warn him of his fate if this continued. But Lucifer didn't listen. In fact, he influenced a third of the angels that he was better than the God who created them, he was going to usurp God and all the Archangels that dared to defy him, he led a revolution in heaven and was swiftly struck down, taking the form of a wingless dragon he used his tail to swipe a third of the stars in the sky as he descended into the fiery pits of their barren wasteland in rivers and rain of fire which God called hell..." my father growled as he scared all of us with a big shout.
The parents laughed as they watched us huddle into one tight hug, all of us pale and shaking slightly in fear. "W-What does all this scary stuff have to do with Christmas!?" Renèe cried out as he hugged his brother tightly.
"Shall we skip a few parts then?" Father chuckled as I quickly shook my head "No! I want to hear all of it!" I say quickly as all the others looked at each other in dismay, then agreed to listen to the whole story.
"Alright then. Adam and Eve lived their lives happily in the abundant land they called 'The Garden Of Eden' they cared for the animals and plants that thrived with them, with only one rule which was to not eat a fruit from the tree of wisdom, and God was very pleased and happy with them. But Lucifer, who was banished from heaven became jealous of these lowly creatures that God favored and devised a plan to make them fall with him," my father continued.
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"Lucifer disguised as a snake, convinced Eve to take a bite of the fruit of wisdom, then she herself shared it with her husband. Adam loved Eve and was fearful that she may disappear like Lilith if they were to end up in conflict, so Adam did think of the consequences of his actions just to please his wife and took a bite from the apple as well." I never really thought of it that way. Adam was afraid of losing Eve like he lost Lilith so he ended up stumbling.
"Lucifer was pleased that his plan worked and that Adam and Eve were banished from Eden as he was banished from heaven, but what he didn't expect was that he as well would be punished. For this trespass he had cursed Lucifer and all his followers with a constant hunger that would only be sated by devouring a soul. Every day of existence Lucifer would suffer with a painful and maddening hunger that plagued him and other fallen angels that would make them wish they were dead and the only they would be able to do that was to make sure humans are punished to go to hell for their own trespasses in life on earth for they could not physically hurt humans." My eyes widened in surprise at this part, all of us intently listening, hanging onto every word.
"Inside the garden of Eden, five animals had taken a bite of the fallen fruit of wisdom, becoming part man and gaining the knowledge of right and wrong, each animal that resided in the garden of Eden was connected with the earth in different ways and not only did the fruit give them knowledge, it enhanced their abilities greatly, a song bird became a blazing phoenix, the lion's fur turned black and gained eyes of golden light, the rabbit became sentient and it's fur blue and white, the fox's fur turned a pure white and gained additional tails, and a lizard grew large and gained flight and fire," my father said with a flourish as we squealed.
"That's us! Is that really how we came to be?" Leonard asked excitedly as Rei and Ren raised their hands, "What about the other animals?" They asked curiously as father quieted all of us and resumed his story.
"The animals who ate from the fruit were not punished for God had not given them the same warning he gave to Adam and Eve therefore were innocent and were able to reside in the garden of Eden that God protected with his angels. Those beasts who ate from the fruit had shared to many of the other animals the knowledge they had gained, some had decided against their way of living and wished to live in ignorance and others followed the beasts and cultivated their gifts together." My father explained as we all oohed and ahhhed.
"But outside of Eden, the world was developing differently, Lucifer could barely the pain and starvation, and neither could his people. But humans were not giving into temptations as easily as he thought they would. So he decided to stir chaos to feed himself and his people, since he and his people could not harm humans directly, he created his own twisted version of humans filled with his corrupted angelic power that he was divinely blessed with. His own version of Adam and Eve came to be and he called them Cronus and Rhea." He said as I gawked. That sounds...Familiar...It could be a coincidence...
"But only God could create a soul, and Lucifer's copy was nothing more than a monster with no soul, blessed with divine power. Cronus disobeyed Lucifer and was even strong enough to fight Lucifer himself, filled with greed and sin, Cronus had eaten his children with Rhea as to keep himself in power. And ultimately one of his sons that Rhea had snuck out to spare had become his downfall and his children were free, and these powerful, immortal, soulless, arrogant beings called themselves Gods. If I remember correctly the sons and daughters of Cronus and Rhea were named Hades, Poseidon, Zeus, Demeter, Hestia, and Hera,"
OH MY GOD LUCIFER CREATED THE GREEK GODS!? NOW HOLD ON...
"Though not in the original way Lucifer had thought, his creations certainly succeeded in making chaos among humans, they meddled and caused trouble and sin among humans, even creating monsters and beasts of nightmares. Spirit beasts are descended from them actually, each beast imbued with a small sliver of divine power that originated from Lucifer. Which brings us to the infamous war of races... As you all know, with all these magical beings corrupting and even destroying the world, God sent the angels to save the humans from monsters and the fallen angels they had called demons. But something happened, Lucifer and other demons had combined their divine power to create a weapon of their own they called Satan. The war between angels and demons became fierce and full of casualties and we, the beastmen, were called out of Eden to aid the humans and angels," I looked around and quietly laughed to see everyone was leaning in closer than ever.
"But this war was unknown to the humans themselves. Mages, humans with the affinity of magic, who were tasked to help with the situation also suffered great losses because of the influence of demons, the humans with their fear and anxiety had tried to purge all magic from their world, calling the mages unholy witches and warlocks. And to end this war the God who created all, had locked the so called gods created by Lucifer in a land called Olympus, the demons locked in hell, and every other magical creature in Eden, leaving the humans to inherit the whole earth," He said as if ending the story already.
"Wait but what about Christmas? I thought that was the whole point of the story?" I asked curiously as my father laughed. "What most people don't talk about are the 'dark ages' you see when the magical creature were transported into Eden, the land grew large to accommodate them and because many of these monsters were sinful and terrible horrors, the land grew to reflect them, Eden had become a wasteland of the forgotten where we were forced to rot," he continued.
"But...We protected humans...Why were we punished?" Sierra asked, her eyes downcast as she asked. "Because, dear. Humans are fragile creatures, they are treasures of the God who created all, to exist in the same plane as them would only put them in more risk and danger," my father answered gently.
"But amidst the suffering and anguish we experienced in our wasteland we once called a paradise, a new star was born in the sky and that seemed to ease our pain, new plants started to grow and animals lived and thrived for us to care for, and a few years later, a man had visited our land claiming to be the savior of all on earth, including us. He was the son of God. He cleansed our land from sin and strife, our land growing lush and abundant as it was when it was still Eden, and the day the star was born was when he was born, he told us he had died for the sin of all and could not stay for long in our land, and as he said, he did not stay long, but all we knew was that we were thankful for what he had done and celebrate him to this day, and that is the story of Christmas," My father smiled proudly, seemingly pleased how we reacted.
"Wait, wait, wait! I thought our land was called Arcanum! And what happened to the gods that Lucifer made! How come they get their own land?" Leonard asked, his arm shooting up excitedly.
"What was the name of the son of God and what is the name of said God? You never mentioned it!" Reinel asked, bumping Leo in hopes he would be answered first.
"Are those things really outside of the wall that we stay in?" Dean raised his hands as well.
"I'm more curious of what's within the walls now..." I say softly as the four of them started to squabble over who has the most important question.
"Well, we have a copy of those ancient texts in chapels and churches but from what I remember, it was mentioned that the God's name is Yahweh and his son was Jesus, and being honest we don't know what exactly is beyond that wall, no one would dare go outside. Then last but not least, Leonard, those so called gods were busy with their own affairs but when they saw the conflict between demon and angel they helped angels, the reason they own their own land, what their reasons were for joining the war, and what they do is a mystery to all of us, while our land was re-named Arcanum when trapped here," My father replied then stood up to pick me up.
"But that's enough of storytelling, tonight we exchange gifts and have a feast with family, and just be thankful for all we have in the current moment, we may be able to live forever but we're not invulnerable...I'm happy I'm alive with my daughter, my wife, in the kingdom I love, spending every moment with them," my father said gently as I hugged him and he took a wine glass, raising it up.
"Time for giving thanks is it? Well, I'm thankful for my little Leo, the friends he has and my wife who's stood by me thick and thin, and of course the princess responsible for all that I have today," King Lennon smiled, raising his wine glass as well.
"I am thankful for my friends...Lennon and Victor, the two most annoying. But competent kings I've ever had the honor of knowing, and to their children, who despite all hardships have come out on top and have made friends with my boys," Liam said with a slight mischievous glint.
"To our kingdom and their next generation, and for whatever God or savior that made this moment possible," Queen Claudia cheered as mother took a glass as well. "To prosperity, happiness, health and family," My mother added as they drank from their glasses with a hear hear.
"This is for you, Dean. Thank you for being the best brother I could ask for, merry christmas," I smile and handed him a red box with a simple green bow, he opened it and found a scarf inside. It wasn't anything too fancy but the white and brown scarf was something I made myself, then I had it enchanted to always be warm because Dean always did get cold easily.
"Thank you, sister! Merry Christmas, thank you for being the most wonderful sister," he smiled and gave me a box in exchange, it was a small black box and when I opened it I found a beautiful pair of satin gloves with laced edges.
"Oh, Dean, you remembered!" I laughed and hugged him. I constantly wrote him letters and recently I had my eyes on these gloves last time I saw them in town but when I went back they were gone. "I got it for you the moment I knew you liked them, I even had your initials embroidered here in the back," he said as I laughed.
"I love it, Dean," I said the went over to the twins. "Of course I got something for all my friends! Merry Christmas, Rei and Ren!" I said cheerily as I handed them two separate boxes.
"Holly berry bows?" The two exclaimed in surprise, it was a pair of cute bowties in the shape of holly berry leaves and pink stones as the berries. "Yep! And look what it can do!" I quickly put it on them then tapped the berry on their bowties as they teleported where the other twin was.
"Woah! That's so fun! Let's do it again!" Ren laughed as he tapped his bowtie and the twins switched places again. "It only works though when you're within a 10 foot radius so be careful!" I warned as the two nodded.
Reinel immediately got an idea then ran to Leonard, giving him a firm smack behind the head, but just as Leonard was about ro smack Rei, he tapped his bowtie and Renèe took his place.
"OW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?" Renèe screeched as Reinel started to laugh hysterically, even rolling around on the floor clutching his stomach unapologetically.
"S-Sorry...?" Leonard replied hesitantly as he just watched the twins chase each other around, rubbing the back of his head before he himself let out a chuckle.
"Leo, here's yours, merry Christmas," I say gently and hand him his gift. It was an intricate black steal fountain pen with his name on it, a small ruby embedded into it. "You...Got me a fountain pen?" He tilted his head slightly.
"I-It's not because I don't like it or anything I-I just--" He started to panic when he saw my curious gaze before I cut him off with a laugh, "I know, you're curious how I knew you liked writing. One time your father told me about how you filled up multiple notebooks with your own private research, notes, ideas, theories, and such, you basically had your own library dedicated to your writing! So I thought I would get you a personalized pen and the little gem changes the color of the ink when you tap it from black to red, just two colors though for highlighting," I say as he looked at me shocked before a warm smile graced his features.
"Thank you, Snow...I really appreciate it...I'll be sure to use it the moment I get home," He said, bowing his head slightly then went over to the side table to get a long medium sized box then gave it to me "This is for you too..." he said as I got through the wrapping to see a nice chessboard with gold detailing, I opened the box, surprised to see marbled chess pieces, each one customized beautifully, the white pieces were fox themed and the black pieces were lion themed.
"Leonard, these are beautiful!" I exclaimed as I set it up on the side table. "I just thought we could play sometimes if you'd like and since I'm a black lion and you're a white nine-tails this would be fitting..." he said as the twins appeared behind both of us.
"Oh right! Our present too!" The twins said then pulled Snow to the window. "Come on everyone! Our gift is almost here!" Reinel exclaimed as the parents looked to Liam.
"It was their idea, if you would all please look outside the window you should be able to see it," Liam laughed and gestured to the window, and as if on cue, fireworks began to light up the night sky, each one like a blooming flower, but this was a special display, there would be some in the shape of foxes and they would move! Weaving around the flower-like fireworks.
"Merry Christmas everyone!" The twins cheered as Sierra and William looked on in awe at the display. Snow was captivated by the display but still she approached Sierra and William with two gifts in hand.
"Of course I wouldn't dare forget about you two...Merry Christmas, Sierra and William," I say as they opened their gifts. William's gift was a lovely flute with intricate markings and even the crest of his house, and for Sierra it was a small harp. These two have always been musically gifted and to say they were talented was an understatement.
"Thank you, princess! They're truly beautiful pieces. Please, let me and my sister give you a gift in return, though we don't really have anything a princess wouldn't already have but we would like to offer our song for tonight," William said, gesturing to Sierra as she brightened up and tested her new harp.
"I-I made my own composition for the princess, that was my Christmas gift," Sierra said gently as her brother looked at her in surprise then took a piece of paper from Sierra then smiled widely. "My sister is truly talented, I think I've got it so why don't you start?" William asked as Sierra nodded, playing her harp.
The tune sounded familiar, William complimented the lovely harp with his flute and I recognized the song they were playing, "Oh, holy night... The stars are brightly shining, it is the night of our dear savior's birth..." I sang as all eyes were on me this time.
"That's absolutely brilliant, Princess," Uncle Liam exclaimed in surprise. "A-Ah, no...It just sounded familiar to a song I think I heard before, I refuse to take credit for it," I laughed awkwardly, it wasn't my song and I had no right whatsoever to take credit for it...
Sierra seemed downcast as her brother comforted her, "Perhaps it's not exactly original but you're amazing for composing anything at your age, Sierra, why don't we continue and the princess can continue singing?" William said gently as I looked a long guilty, if this song didn't exist here that would mean Sierra would have composed the song by herself, but I accidentally took that achievement away...
Sierra seemed to see my troubled look then smiled brightly "Please don't worry, my lady! I'll definitely write something better in the future!" She said cheerfully as I smiled back in relief. Sierra indeed was talented as a musician, she gifted Harry a composition as well in the game.
The three of us continued our performance, singing the whole song Holy Night. And this became a lovely Christmas tradition for our families, sharing songs and stories to both Sterling and Fantasia, sometimes going to tree ceremonies and Christmas festivals in our kingdoms even developing a small competition of which kingdom would become more festive. To this day, Fantasia and Sterling would compete for the title of most festive kingdom, all royals, nobles, and commoners alike participating to get into the Christmas season.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°and cut!°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
What creatures are you looking forward to seeing?
