Midnight Paragon
Savior of Dusk
Solberg Estate, 5:33 P.M
It had been quite a long day for the tired Lord Solberg as he emerged from his potion room from the secret door in the library and stretched with a loud yawn. Julius had spent the entire day with his alchemical ingredients trying to perfect an experimental blend of curative, a particular blend he had been trying many months now to perfect, and still had come no closer to reaching his goal. A sigh escaped him as he looked out the library windows to the setting sun. 'That late already?' He thought to himself as he pulled a small pocketwatch from his breast pocket and checking the time. Indeed, many hours had passed since he first began his experiments for today: he had most likely skipped lunch without realising it. As if to reiterate that fact, his stomach let out a long gurgle, and he stretched his arms once more before walking out of the library.
As he made his way through the halls of the Solberg Estate, each one elaborately decorated courtesy of the Estate butlers and maids, on his way to the dining area to see if dinner was ready, he found his thoughts returning to events of the previous month. Mother and Father had both decided to take a very sudden vacation, leaving all duties to Julius to uphold. Where his life before had been nonchalant, consisting mainly of days filled with experiments for new potions and elixirs, it was now mainly eaten up by the duties that came with being Lord of the Estate. Inwardly, Julius cried out in frustration: there was so much less time to do anything fun anymore! It was all signing documents and going over weekly reports: Julius barely had any time to work on his alchemy, not to mention his reduced time with his siblings. The stress was obviously affecting Julius, but for his siblings, he did his best to keep his worries under wraps. They didn't need to worry about him right now, especially with the midseason ball coming up...
Eventually, Julius came upon the staircase to the main floor, and he paused as he took his first step down its velvet path. He remembered this staircase vividly yesterday: there was a small bulge in the carpet on a certain step that almost made him fall over yesterday. Scanning the steps, his eyes fell onto the red urp in the carpet, camouflaged with the rest, and a mischevious smile spread onto his face. He deftly stepped over the rift of carpet and settled on the step next to it. He raised his fist in the air in triumph with a laugh. "Not this day, Villian of Velvet!" He proclaimed loudly, but mostly to himself. He turned back around with a smile on his face and took another step down the stairs- only to lose his balance on this one and fall over. The tumble down the large stair was not the most graceful of acts Julius had ever participated in, and with the little shrieks and moans of pain as he fell, it made for quite a pitiable sight. He stopped at the end of the stair, facedown on the marble floor, his hair and clothing disheveled. A low moan echoed from the floor as he lay motionless upon it. "Whhhhhyyyyyyyyy....?"